March 29, 2009
789 words
Written for Mireille719 in the Xander round @ Maleslashminis. She wanted
"a chili cheeseburger, 3-D glasses, and unexpected honesty."
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1.
L.A. was cold and wet, and for once in his life, Xander missed snow, not that anything could get him to leave L.A. right this minute, but snow; it almost made winter worth it. "What do you mean, gone?"
Charles Gunn looked at him from his hospital bed and raised his eyebrow. "I think it's pretty self-explanatory," he said, his usual mocking tone a little rough from the pneumonia. "I ate the last one."
"I hate you," Xander replied, slumping down on the only plastic chair. "I have to go to the diner now."
"And you hate that." Gunn snickered, pulling himself up and resting his head on the pillowed headboard.
"Smartass," Xander shot back, grinning. "Want me to bring you something on the way back?" He didn't really have to ask; chili cheeseburgers were what had gotten them into this mess. One lunch at the diner, and Xander had ended up smitten. And now, well… Standing vigil at his boyfriend's bed wasn't exactly how he'd expected this vacation to go, but it was better than sitting in Giles' living room wondering if Gunn was going to ever get out.
"A chili burger," Gunn answered predictably. "And you."
Xander reached out to squeeze Gunn's upper arm, reminding himself that Gunn was going to be "just fine," the doctor had said. "I don't know about that. The Fifth Street Diner doesn't seem like a place that would sell one of those"
He left Gunn laughing, Xander smiling at the sound that was just soft enough not to trigger another coughing fit.
2.
Having a friend for a boss was the best when you needed extra time off to play nurse for your lover. Not that Xander was doing so much nursing as just hanging out and fussing--Gunn was pretty good at taking care of himself--but Giles' "of course, take as much time as you need," had been welcome.
"Want these?" Gunn asked from the couch, holding out the box of Twinkies, thumb on the "3-D glasses inside!" note. "Not sure they'd do anything for you, though."
Xander put down Gunn's plate on the coffee table and dug his hand into the Twinkies. "Probably not, but life in blue is always fun," he said, pulling at Gunn's arm until there was space for him to slide underneath him, Gunn's head settling back down on his lap. "Got you some stuff to eat."
Gunn nodded, mouth full of chemical cake. "Thanks," he muttered around the food.
Glasses on his nose--not holding all that steadily either--Xander looked at him. "You look funny."
"You look funnier." Gunn held out one of the controllers to the PS2. "Lets see if you can beat me with those things on. You sure can't without."
"Oh, you're on," said Xander, poking Gunn in the ribs before closing his hand on the controller.
3.
"Want to stay?"
Gunn had a way for asking the difficult questions minutes before Xander had to go through security. Last time, it had been "Can I kiss you?" which had only taken Xander three seconds to answer--obviously, the answer had been positive. But this one…
"You couldn't ask that last night, could you?"
"Didn't know how," Gunn admitted.
Xander hadn't been expecting Gunn to answer him with the reason--just a yes or no would have done--but he was glad he'd done so, even if it left his throat feeling tight. "This way works fine with me," he finally replied, swallowing past the lump in his throat. "The answer is… well, it's complicated."
"I expected that."
Gunn's tone was a little too disappointed for Xander's liking. "Let me talk to my boss and see if L.A.'s in need of a base of operation."
Gunn nodded, but didn't say anything. He crossed his arms, keeping his eyes on an elderly couple eyeing them with something like disgust.
Xander wanted to yell at them to mind their own business, but he kept his calm and reached for Gunn's forearm. "You know, you could come up to England whenever you want."
Gunn grinned and let his attention fall back to Xander. "I guess that'd be interesting."
"Yeah. Come in the next couple of months, and I'll introduce you to a snowball fight." Xander answered Gunn's grin with one of his own. Snowball fights were the only good reason for snow to exist, in his opinion.
"Sure, that sound like a plan."
"Good." Xander looked at the clock and then at the security line up. "I should go."
"Yeah." Gunn squeezed Xander's hand, and leaned forward.
When they pulled apart, Xander shot a grin at the elderly couple still watching them. They scowled. "Yeah. We're good."
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