Title: The Road To Los Angeles
Author: bethynyc
Pairing: Giles/Xander
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2351
Disclaimer: I don't own them at all, just playing in Joss' sandbox.
Warning: Massive amounts of deus ex machina
Setting: S5 BtVS/S2 Ats
Thanks to: wesleysgirl for her wonderful and superfast beta magic!
Written for: maleslashminis, second Xander round, for lostgirlslair. Her requests at the end.





It had been a Thursday; Xander remembered it quite clearly. He was over at Giles' place, pretending to help him research while Buffy and Willow did the whole college experience thing. It almost made Xander wish he had applied, but all that studying...well, he could do that here.

Giles cleared his throat. “Xander, I wonder...did you have any plans this weekend?”

Xander was so surprised that he almost dropped the extremely old copy of Hazelden's Mysterious Prophecies, Vol. VI. “Um, not really. Anya won a weekend spa package, well, actually, I won it, since I bought the raffle ticket, but it really isn't my bag, and Anya was all excited about being wrapped in seaweed with cucumbers on her eyes and, no, I don't have any plans.” He shelved the book, mentally cursing himself for falling into his patented nervous Xander-babble. “Which is kind of sad, actually, considering my girlfriend's an ex-demon, my best friend's a witch, and my other best friend's the Slayer.”

“Understood.” Giles said. “It's just that the last time I made the trip down to Los Angeles...”

“Wait, you go to LA? When?” Xander wasn't really shocked, but it was kind of fun to get under Giles' skin. It was a good way to hide the uncomfortably sexy thoughts that popped up in his brain whenever he was around the Watcher. Giles sighed, and Xander knew his mock-shock had hit the mark.

Giles wandered over to the kitchen and started the tea. “I go every couple of months or so. Wesley has access to books I can't get here easily, and I have some volumes he uses sometimes. Sort of a lending library.”

“Oh.” Xander followed him and leaned against the counter, noticing how the hair at the back of his neck curled just a little bit as he filled the kettle. “So why do you want company now?”

“Last time I nodded off on the highway, and almost got into an accident. I thought it best to have a companion on these trips from now on.”

Xander nodded sagely. “Good idea. No problem, I can go. When do we leave? Not that I particularly care about seeing Angel. Or Wesley. Or Cordy, even, but I'm totally behind not being in Sunnydale for a day or two.” He paused for a moment. “You have a CD player in your car, right?”

And that was that. The plans were quickly made. Giles and Xander would spend the night in Los Angeles and maybe sightsee a little before driving back. Easy. Nice little break. Xander could do that.

He wouldn't think about his stupid crush on Giles at all. Besides, he had a girlfriend, and Anya was everything he could want in a girlfriend—pretty, horny, and refreshingly straightforward.

Really. He wouldn't think about Giles that way at all.

~~~

They left later than expected on Friday, mostly because of an influx of customers at the Magic Box and a sudden errand Xander had to run for his supervisor. It wasn't quite late enough to stay home and Giles thought they might actually miss the usual traffic going into Los Angeles, so even if they had to check into a hotel late, it was worth it to leave Friday night at nine.

Once they were finally on the highway, Xander, having been thwarted from changing the radio station to one that played music from the last decade, commented, “This is just like how those old movies started out.”

“Which old movies?”

“You know, the Road movies. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby travel to Bali or Morocco, meet Dorothy Lamour, get into trouble and sing about it. Not that I'm requesting singing, just, you know. Buddy movie.”

Giles glanced over at him, a smile hovering on the edge of his mouth. “And just how is it that you know so much about these old movies?”

“The summer we were twelve, Willow got chicken pox, so I made sure I got it too and we spent a couple of weeks reminding each other not to scratch and watching old movies on the public access station. Hell of a way to spend a summer vacation.”

“Ah.” Giles nodded. “Obviously some sort of arcane childhood bonding ritual.” He sounded a little aloof, but Xander could tell he was amused by the story.

The strains of Für Elise filled the car, and it sounded like it was coming from the back seat. “Damn. Xander could you get that? The phone, it's in my jacket pocket.”

“Since when did you get a cell phone?” Xander draped himself over the seat and dragged Giles' jacket up to the front. The phone was in the third pocket he check, and he flipped it open. “Giles' phone, Xander speaking.”

“Xander? This is Wesley, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.”

“Wesley. We're on our way now.”

“I'm sorry to say, it's, um, not quite convenient for us to have visitors this weekend.” A loud thump and some creative swearing, possibly from Cordelia, filtered through the phone.

Xander shifted the phone a little. “Anything we can help with? I think G-man has some weapons in the trunk. Er, boot. That's what you Britishy guys call it, right?”

“Xander, don't call me that.” Giles' long-suffering tone made Xander smile, and he turned to the window to hide it.

"No, it's just, well, a rather uncomfortable situation here, and it might be better to put off the visit until next week.” Wesley sounded a little tired, and definitely busy. “I did want to let Giles know about an estate sale he might be interested in. I can't go, but perhaps...”

Tucking the phone between his ear and his shoulder, Xander rummaged around for a pen and a scrap of paper. “Give me the info, and I'll let Giles decide if we should turn back or not.”

Wesley read off the address, broken occasionally by the sounds of muffled swearing, clatters, and thumps. Again, he heard Cordy screeching God, they're everywhere! in the background.

“What's the problem?” Giles asked.

Wesley apparently heard him, because he answered. “Bulgur demons.” A soft dusty sound echoed through the phone, and Xander heard Angel, Wesley, and Cordelia cough and gag.

“You guys all right?” He glanced at Giles and whispered, “Bulgur demons?” at him, only to see him wince and shake his head.

Wesley coughed, and when he spoke again it sounded like he was holding his nose. “We'll survive. One just, um, released its defense mechanism.”

Cordy's voice came through loud and clear with a long Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww! “Ah. I'll just get Giles to explain. Call when you've finished exterminating.” He clicked off the phone. “So what are Bulgur demons?”

Giles smiled. “Sort of a cross between a cockroach and a stink beetle, only about the size of a Labrador. Not intelligent at all, but some demon species keep them as pets and use them for pranks and such. Their stench is quite memorable. Not dangerous, but definitely annoying.” He shuddered. “Someone conjured one, just one, and put it in the dorms my second year at the Watchers Academy, and believe me, it isn't something you want where you sleep.”

Xander pictured it and smiled. “Should we feel sorry for Angel, then, with his super vampire sense of smell?”

Their eyes met, and they both grinned at the same moment. “Naaahhh.”

~~~

The estate sale was in Lemoncove, not exactly on the way to Los Angeles, but they managed to get halfway there before they were too tired to drive any further. They quickly found a Motel Six with a vacancy. Giles paid for a room with two double beds, but Xander was too tired to feel guilty. They crashed and Xander didn't even dream.

When he woke up, though, it was a different story. He'd rolled over onto his side, blinking in the early morning light that seeped in through the curtains, and saw Giles.

Giles was on his back, sheets tumbled around his legs, and his t-shirt had ridden up, showing a strip of his abdomen. Xander had a sudden urge to crawl into Giles' bed and nuzzle his belly. His cock, already semi-hard because it was morning and he was a guy, took interest as well. He glanced back at Giles and saw the older man also had the same issue.

Giles mumbled a little in his sleep, and one hand flopped over onto his belly, then drifted down to his cock. Xander had done the same thing in the haze of half-sleep, not jerking off, just holding it. He inhaled sharply, and Giles' eyes snapped open.

Panic drove Xander to roll off the bed and dash for the bathroom, hoping against hope that Giles would think he'd just woken up, wasn't watching him. Please, let him not have seen. He jumped into the shower and turned on the cold water, hoping to scare his erection into submission. It worked, mostly, as long as he didn't think too much about Giles' hand cupping his cock.

Of course the flaw in this plan became clear when Xander realized that he didn't have any clothes in the bathroom. He wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out.

Giles was on the phone, wearing a bathrobe, of all things. His expression was concerned to say the least.

“All yours.” Xander gestured to the bathroom.

Giles handed him the phone. “I think you should take this.”

Xander tightened the towel and took the phone. “Hello?”

“Xander? You went away.”

“Anya? Well, you went away, too!”

Anya made an exasperated sound, and Xander could almost see her eyes rolling. “Yes. But that doesn't mean you can go gallivanting off to LA with Giles.”

Xander sighed. “How did you get this number, anyway?” He glanced around, but Giles had disappeared into the bathroom with his overnight bag. He held the phone with his shoulder and pulled his boxers out of his duffel bag.

Another sigh. “I gave him the phone. It's so I can get in touch with him if there is a problem with the Magic Box.”

“Is there a problem with the Magic Box?” Xander wiggled into his underwear without removing the towel until his Simpsons boxers were safely in place, and then pulled on his Dingoes t-shirt as quickly as he could.

“No. But I left the spa because I needed to talk to you, and I couldn't find you anywhere, so I called Giles to see if he knew where you were.” She was pacing, he could tell.

“What can't wait until tomorrow?” Xander could almost hear Anya thinking.

“I'm trying to do that thing where you, you know, soften a blow. But I can't figure out how.”

Xander sat down on the edge of the bed, his jeans still pooled around his ankles. “Ahn? What are you saying.”

“The spa.” The next part all came out in a rush. “I met the owner, Thomas, and he wanted me to tell him what I liked and what I didn't like, so I did, in detail, and he offered me a job. As manager at the spa. I get more money than at the Magic Box, plus an apartment on the grounds, and all the seaweed wraps and Swedish massages from Sven and Paco I could ever want.”

Xander's heart sank down into his ankles. “But, what about...us? I mean, that spa, isn't it in Oregon?”

Anya sighed. “Yes. I didn't want to do this over the phone. Willow and Buffy told me it was definitely the wrong thing to do, but I want to move as fast as possible. Just in case Thomas decides to hire someone else instead of me.”

“Are...are you breaking up with me?”

“Yes.” Anya was decided.

“On the phone?” Xander hit a pitch he hadn't known since puberty.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

She was silent for a minute, and just as Xander was certain that her blunt ways would fail her, she responded. “I don't think I'm first in your heart. I think I was, but there's something different now. And I wanted to get out before I got hurt.”

“Anya...”

“Xander, I'm sorry. If you hadn't gone off this weekend, I would have told you in person, and you would have yelled at me in person, and we would have had really good breakup sex, and I would have gone off to Oregon and you would have stayed in Sunnydale.”

Giles had come out of the bathroom, still in his bathrobe. He was freshly shaved, and had a towel draped around his neck. Xander couldn't bear the look of sympathy on his face.

“Anya. I-I can't talk to you right now. Just wait for us to come back, okay?”

“Xander, I...”

“Bye.” He hung up and stared blankly at the phone.

Giles sat next to him on the bed. Without his glasses he looked both younger and more appealing, but Xander didn't want to think about that right now.

Giles cleared his throat. “When, when Buffy was in this situation, I offered ice cream. Um.”

A bitter laugh came from Xander. “I don't think that works as well for guys.” He shook his head ruefully.

A warm hand rested on his shoulder. Giles smelled of toothpaste and shaving cream, and Xander leaned into his touch. “The funny thing is, she was right about something.”

“What was that?”

Xander shook his head. “My feelings for her...aren't as strong as they were. And I wonder if they were strong in the first place, or if it was just hormones.”

Giles put his arm around Xander in a comforting fashion. “Then it's probably better to know now.”

Xander turned to face him. Giles' eyes were so green, and he realized that he was sitting in his underwear and he really didn't care. Giles, always there, strong and admirable. Suddenly Xander wanted to know more about him. He wanted...

He leaned forward, kissing Giles softly.

Most important, Giles didn't pull away. He kissed back, just as gently.

“Yes.” Xander whispered. “It's better to know now.”

~~~




lostgirlslair asked for: Xander/Giles, a trip to LA, a change of plans, and a first kiss with no heavy angst or non-con. Hopefully that angst isn't too heavy!