Drabble Set: "Two Old Strangers Met" (Xander/Wesley)
These were written for last weekend's challenge of "rain" at open_on_sunday, and it was suggested that I crosspost them here.
I love the idea of Wesley and Xander being in a relationship, and think that especially after Chosen and NFA (well, if one major thing had happened differently!) they would fill genuine voids in one another's lives.
These are brief glances into a developing relationship. Angst and sweetness, my favorites.
It rained the night Wesley met Xander again. He'd lost track of how many years had passed since his shameful tenure as Faith's Watcher, yet had never quite forgotten the young man's face.
All the same, he had changed. The differences disturbed Wesley. Thin cheeks, a dark growth of stubble, scars, and strands of silver in dark hair. They might have passed, battle-weary strangers, save for a brief moment of recognition, meeting of eye to eye.
And in that moment, a second of something like pure empathy for they, the sole survivors alone in a crowd, in the falling rain.
It rained during their first -- could one call it a date? Perhaps not. They didn't know each other well enough, weren't sure if they trusted even simple companionship. Xander had phoned Wesley and suggested they catch up, but far too much had happened to both to make them easy with small talk.
Sitting in a diner, nursing cups of steaming black coffee, they'd both said: "God, I wish this had a shot of brandy in it" at the same time.
Glancing up, they'd burst into laughter.
A friendship, the beginning of better things, was forged in that golden moment.
It rained the morning when they first kissed. Hesitant and shy as if it were the first time he'd done such a thing, Wesley cupped Xander's hollow cheek in one hand, stroking the cheekbone with his thumb. Xander had glanced down, embarrassed.
"Don't," he'd said. "Not on my bad side."
It had been natural and sweet as the spring rain falling around them to lean in and brush their mouths together. Soothing. New. Reviving. Cracking through the shells both had walled up around them.
"Xander," Wesley had replied, lips against his friend's, "you have no bad sides I can see."
I love the idea of Wesley and Xander being in a relationship, and think that especially after Chosen and NFA (well, if one major thing had happened differently!) they would fill genuine voids in one another's lives.
These are brief glances into a developing relationship. Angst and sweetness, my favorites.
It rained the night Wesley met Xander again. He'd lost track of how many years had passed since his shameful tenure as Faith's Watcher, yet had never quite forgotten the young man's face.
All the same, he had changed. The differences disturbed Wesley. Thin cheeks, a dark growth of stubble, scars, and strands of silver in dark hair. They might have passed, battle-weary strangers, save for a brief moment of recognition, meeting of eye to eye.
And in that moment, a second of something like pure empathy for they, the sole survivors alone in a crowd, in the falling rain.
It rained during their first -- could one call it a date? Perhaps not. They didn't know each other well enough, weren't sure if they trusted even simple companionship. Xander had phoned Wesley and suggested they catch up, but far too much had happened to both to make them easy with small talk.
Sitting in a diner, nursing cups of steaming black coffee, they'd both said: "God, I wish this had a shot of brandy in it" at the same time.
Glancing up, they'd burst into laughter.
A friendship, the beginning of better things, was forged in that golden moment.
It rained the morning when they first kissed. Hesitant and shy as if it were the first time he'd done such a thing, Wesley cupped Xander's hollow cheek in one hand, stroking the cheekbone with his thumb. Xander had glanced down, embarrassed.
"Don't," he'd said. "Not on my bad side."
It had been natural and sweet as the spring rain falling around them to lean in and brush their mouths together. Soothing. New. Reviving. Cracking through the shells both had walled up around them.
"Xander," Wesley had replied, lips against his friend's, "you have no bad sides I can see."