Priceless

Priceless

Disclaimer: The characters and world of this story belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I'm not making any money off either this site or the story itself.

Sequel to Watchmen and Sacrilege. Written for my day in the Spring with Xander Fest. Thanks to Fuzzyboo for beta reading.

Feedback, while never required, does help feed the Muse. As always, it's sahiyaATgmailDOTcom or simply follow the link at the end of the story to leave a comment at my LJ.

In the end, it cost Xander over two hundred and fifty dollars to finally have sex with Giles. It was like one of those Mastercard commercials:

Massage oil: £5.49
Condoms: £4.99
Movie tickets for twenty-two slayers and a mystical key: £115
Finally seeing your boyfriend naked: Priceless

"How much for not bringing them back before midnight?" Faith asked, smacking her gum and leaning in the threshold of the house. Xander could hear Buffy breaking up an argument outside about who got to drive by proclaiming that she would drive, a declaration that was met with twenty-one howls of outrage and terror. The only thing worse than Buffy driving was Buffy driving on the left side of the road.

Xander glared. "How about my undying gratitude and a serious improvement in both our tempers?"

Faith grinned. "Yeah, that'll do. You sure you don't want me to show you -"

"No!"

"I'm just saying, your first time out giving head to a guy can be sorta hairy - pun totally intended. I could really give you some -"

"FAITH!"

"All right, all right. Have fun - oh, and use lots of lube and I do mean -"

Xander slammed the door shut. Then he leaned against it, half bent over, put his head in his hands, and stayed there until he saw the toes of Giles's shoes come into view. "Drink?" Giles inquired mildly.

"Please," Xander said, straightening and giving him a small smile. Two weeks. Two weeks since they'd gotten back from their watcher retreat, and all they'd managed was some pretty steamy snogging, as Giles called it, when no one was looking. Or at least they had until Buffy had walked in on them and flipped her lid. She'd calmed down eventually, despite her claim that she was going to need decades of therapy in order to deal, but after that there hadn't been any snogging, at least not when there was the slightest chance anyone would catch them. Since Xander thought that was half the fun, he was pretty disappointed.

He accepted the scotch and soda Giles handed him and knocked back half of it while Giles had his back turned examining the contents of the fridge - as though they were going to waste time eating dinner at this point. Then he set it on the counter, grabbed Giles by the shoulders, and kicked the fridge shut. Giles opened his mouth to say something, but Xander had lost interest in talking about five days ago. He shoved Giles up against the fridge, plastered himself up against him, and worked his knee in between his legs.

"I thought we were going to take this slow," Giles said.

"We've been taking it glacial," Xander told him. "I don't think taking it this slow is actually healthy."

"But -"

"No buts. Besides, we were taking it slow for me, right?"

"Well, yes -"

"So?" Xander pressed closer and slipped his hands beneath Giles's shirt. "Come on, tell me I didn't just blow a ridiculous amount of money getting the slayers out of the house."

"No, no, er, no, but, but - I thought we might have dinner first," Giles said.

"Why? We can eat after."

"But I wanted - I thought it would be, er, roman -"

Xander kissed him. And kept kissing him, until Giles finally gave up and kissed him back, threading his fingers into Xander's hair and palming the back of his head. It wasn't that Xander didn't want romance - he liked romance a lot, actually, especially as a prelude to sex. But romance required patience and delayed gratification, and frankly Xander'd run out of the first and just about had his fill of the second.

He kissed Giles until they were both breathing raggedly, and then Xander realized the fridge was actually tipping backwards under their combined weight and this probably wasn't the best place to do this. It killed him to pull away, but he did it anyway, intending to ask if they should move this to the bedroom. But then he tilted his head back to meet Giles's eyes and got a full-body jolt when saw they were almost all dilated black pupil with just the slightest ring of green-hazel at the edges. Xander could feel Giles against his hip, could feel exactly how aroused he was, but it was the desire in Giles's eyes that undid him and made him wonder if he could make it up the stairs after all.

They hadn't even gotten any clothes off yet, but he already felt like all the barriers between them had been stripped away. Maybe it was a watcher thing. Or maybe it was just a Giles thing. Somehow Xander was betting on the latter.

"Xander?" Giles asked, in this husky tone Xander'd never heard from him before. Good thing, too, 'cause it shot straight to his groin.

Xander's mouth had gone dry. He had to swallow a couple of times before answering. "Maybe we should move this to bedroom?"

"Yes. Mine."

Xander thought about the state of his room and decided he definitely didn't have a problem with that. He followed Giles up the stairs, unbuttoning his shirt as he went just to get a head start on the clothing-removal process. Giles looked kinda shy as he opened the door. Xander raised his eyebrows at him and ducked inside. It seemed Giles had thought ahead a bit better than Xander had - not only was the room clean, but there was a little thing of incense burning on the nightstand. Xander sniffed the air. "I like it," he said, unbuttoning the last of his shirt buttons.

"Oh, I, uh, picked it up at the, the magic shop. The woman said it was, ah, an, an -" He broke off.

Xander grinned. "Aphrodisiac?"

"Um." Giles ducked his head, blushing.

"I don't think we'll need it," Xander said, "but I like the way it smells anyway." Giles nodded and went to sit down on the edge of the bed, but Xander caught him up again, kissing him, going to work on his shirt. He pulled away to nuzzle Giles's neck and heard Giles's breath catch in his throat. "I thought I was supposed to be the nervous one," he murmured.

"I, er." Giles swallowed. "It's been a, a long time," he said at last. "For me. With, with anyone."

Something in his voice made Xander leave off and look at him. Giles's eyes were closed, but there was an unhappy tightening in his jaw. "Giles," he said softly, curling his hands around Giles's wrist, "when was the last time you weren't lonely?"

Giles swallowed again. "Jenny," he whispered.

Xander had known that. He'd never really thought about it, but somewhere deep down he'd known it. "I'm sorry," he said, which was all he could think to say. Giles started to shake his head, about to protest, and Xander stopped it by brushing his lips against his. "Not anymore, all right?" he murmured. "No more loneliness." Giles nodded, clearly unable to speak. That was okay, though - Xander didn't need him to speak to do what he wanted to do. Xander kissed him again and finished with his shirt, slipping it off Giles's shoulders. He wore an undershirt, of course, but that just gave Xander a nice warm place to slide his hands.

Giles seemed to have recovered. He nuzzled Xander's neck, which just about made Xander's eyes roll back in his head, and palmed Xander through his jeans, slowly. Xander let out a long, shuddery breath. "How do you want to do this?" Giles asked, breath ghosting over Xander's collar bone.

"Do this?" Xander managed. All higher brain functions had ceased. Some of the lower ones, too.

"Mmm."

"Um." Too late he realized that both the massage oil and the condoms were in his room. But then, if Giles had gone to all the trouble of the incense, he'd probably remembered the basics.

Giles pulled back and smiled at him, a suddenly glint in his eye. "Never mind. I have an idea." He shoved Xander back, gently but firmly, and he fell across the bed. Giles stripped off his undershirt and followed. It was almost dark in the room, but then Giles reached over and turned on the bedside lamp. That was good. Xander wanted the full sensory experience of naked Giles. He'd certainly waited long enough for him.

Giles lay down, sorta half on top of Xander, and kissed him. Xander reached down between them and stroked Giles through his jeans like he had Xander. It made Giles go very still, his lips parting in an almost silent gasp. Xander felt an answering throb in his own groin and couldn't stifle a groan. Not that there was any reason to stifle it, not when Giles was looking at him like that.

Xander withdrew his hand - Giles made a noise low in his throat, almost a growl - to tug at Giles's belt and trousers. Giles smiled at him and sat up, not wasting any time in stripping them off. Xander's jeans took a bit more effort, because he was lying down, but Giles lent him a hand and they were gone, dumped in a heap by the side of the bed. Boxers, too, and wow, wasn't that mind-trip. He and Giles were naked. Together. Like together-together, not just in the same room together. Pressed together, skin on skin. Xander was running a hand through Giles's chest hair, which was a bit sparse and sprinkled through with grey. And then he was touching Giles, just lightly.

Giles's eyes fluttered shut and Xander decided to touch him some more. He was firmer this time, with even strokes, and he swirled his thumb around the head, just like he liked himself. It seemed Giles liked it too, because his breathing came faster and faster, until he tried to pull away, but Xander stopped him. "This wasn't the idea I had," Giles muttered, falling to one side on the bed.

"No?" Xander said innocently, propping himself up over him. "Oh well."

He kissed Giles and kept on stroking him until Giles started pushing himself into Xander's hand, moaning into his mouth. "Harder," Giles said at last, an edge of begging in his voice, and Xander tightened his grip, stroking faster until Giles's fingers tightened on his arms and he spilled over Xander's hand, gasping, his head thrown back, exposing his throat. Xander leaned in and bit him, not too hard, but it made Giles jerk again against Xander's hand. He stroked him through the aftershocks, until Giles lay back, eyes half-shuttered, sweat beading on his shoulders, his neck and temples, his upper lip.

Who would've ever thought, Xander reflected, that debauched would be such a good look on tweedy book guy?

Xander nuzzled closer, cuddling, but also trying to draw Giles's attention to his erection, which was currently begging for attention, preferably Giles's, but Xander's would do at this point, too. Maybe he'd done too good a job with the debauching. But then Giles's eyes slitted open and he looked at Xander, a smile playing around his lips.

"That was not my idea," he said.

"What was your idea then?" Xander asked, starting to smile.

"This." Giles pushed him over onto his back, crawled on top, and swallowed him down. Xander bucked, every thought in his head wiped out by an endless, looping chorus of hot wet good suction oh my God. Xander thought he should probably be taking notes, since he'd have to do this at some point, but he didn't have enough brain cells left for it. Every synapse had just short-circuited right out. He moaned, hands tightening on the sheets, and knew that he was probably about to embarrass himself by coming way too fast, but he'd actually lasted a good long while and - and - holy cow, he had to get Giles to show him whatever he'd just done with his tongue, because Xander thought he might've strained a muscle in his back arching off the bed.

He didn't even really try to last after that. Giles pressed that sweet spot right behind Xander's balls and that was all it took. Giles let him thrust up into his mouth and Xander came, sparks going off behind his eyelids. He collapsed back against the pillows, breathing hard. Hopefully he'd never need to move again. Ever.

Giles crawled up beside him and kissed him, then rested his head on Xander's shoulder. Xander's hand came up to curl into Giles's hair. "All right?" Giles murmured.

"Oh yeah," Xander breathed. "You?"

"Mmm."

Xander pried his eyes open. "I meant what I said before. I wish I'd known. Maybe this would've happened sooner."

Giles shook his head. "It couldn't have happened sooner, Xander. For so many reasons."

Xander sighed. "I know. But -"

"Hush. It's all right." Giles drew him closer and kissed him again, long and slow and sweet this time. The smell of the incense was heavy in the air and Xander sank into it. What might have been didn't matter so much, after all, because here they were, in the now.

A couple hours later Xander heard the girls return, clattering and shrieking their way past Giles's room on the stairs. Then came a heavier tread and he heard Faith declare, "No more fucking Starbucks, Jesus goddamn Christ" as she trudged past. Buffy's voice said something indistinct in an equally long-suffering tone, and Faith replied, "Leave 'em alone, B, the two of them've earned it."

Buffy must have taken her advice, because they vanished upstairs without knocking. Xander stifled a snort of laughter, turning his face into Giles's bicep. He heard an answering low chuckle from Giles and raised his head to smile at him. He pushed himself up and traced patterns on the hair on Giles's chest. "So, we're not going to have to kick them out every time are we?"

Giles sighed. "No. Though I can tell you right now that my exhibitionist streak is exactly zero."

That was sort of a shame, but Xander could certainly live with it, and everyone else in the house would probably be a lot happier. Xander nuzzled his way up Giles's throat to his ear and tugged on his earring very gently with his teeth. Giles went very still beneath him - at least most of him did. Xander slipped a hand beneath the covers. "Then we'll just have to be very quiet."

Fin.