The Guy Thing--Parts 3,4
Part 3: Rebetika
The regulars were staring at the two, obviously trying to figure out who they were. One of them, a little drunker and a little more gregarious, eventually got sent over to their table to check them out. He pointedly ignored Riley, who was obviously not Greek, and instead asked Xander something in Greek.
Xander shrugged, "Sorry."
"You don't speak Greek?"
"No...." Xander shook his head.
The man nodded slowly. He indicated the bottle on the table, "You like Metaxa?", he asked, giving the name of the brandy a pronunciation Xander knew he would later try to imitate. Xander nodded and took another sip to prove it.
"Good. Metaxa is good. Me, I drink ouzu." He held out a hand. " Tassos."
"Xander." He shook hands.
"Good to meet you, Xandros." His speech was only slightly slurred. Xander usually corrected people when they mispronounced his name, but somehow 'Xandros' sounded right coming from this guy.
"That's Riley." Xander pointed his chin at his drinking buddy.
Riley nodded. The fisherman gave Riley a perfunctory glance and returned his attention to Xander. He shook his head, "'Riley' is not a name. 'Alexandros', that's a name. Your mother is Greek?" Riley grinned amused, as Xander shook his head.
"Too bad." The fisherman said sympathetically, as though not having a Greek mother was the worst fate that could befall a man.
"My mother is still in Greece." The fisherman sighed deeply, as though that explained everything. He lifted his glass filled with some milky-white stuff to Xander, who responded in kind and said "Yasu." The fisherman beamed and replied, "Yasu, Xandros." and went back to his friends at the bar.
Still watching the fisherman, Xander said to Riley, "Must be hard to be away from home like that."
"It is." Riley said, looking down at the table, then lifted his glass and drained it.
Xander's head snapped over to Riley, who was contemplating his empty glass with all his energy.
"You miss it? Iowa?" Xander refilled both their glasses, hoping that Riley wouldn't comment on the fact that he was really only topping off his own even as he refilled Riley's empty one.
Riley nodded, slightly amused. People from California were always surprised that you could be in California and miss somewhere else. "Yeah, a lot, sometimes."
Xander nodded, not really understanding how someone could miss home, yet envious of anyone who did have a home that they could miss. He tried not to let that show in his face. Riley caught it, flashing a slightly sad grin at Xander. "My mom would love you."
Xander shrugged it off, "Yeah, everyone's mom loves me."
Riley heard the unspoken "... except mine" in Xander's voice, and regretted he'd said anything. Too late now, he forged ahead. "I can see you in the kitchen while she's making supper, you making jokes and cracking her up while you steal pieces of carrot or whatever it is she's cutting up. Her asking you what you want her to make for dessert, because you're the guest and because you're making her laugh."
Xander smiled at the image. Then at Riley. A crooked smile. "Sounds nice. I can see why you miss it."
Another pair of glasses were filled.
Riley shrugged, and took another sip of Metaxa.
"Tell me about it. Down on the farm and all that."
Riley leaned back. "It's beautiful there. Just corn fields for as far as you can see. You can just make out the neighbour's silo from my bedroom window. And in the summer you can see if anyone's coming for miles, cause of the dust their truck kicks up."
"Truck?"
"Yeah, Xander. Farm, with barns, and horses and cows, and people driving pick-up trucks wearing John Deere caps, the whole nine yards." Xander grinned, and nodded for Riley to continue.
"There's this creek below the house, with a grove of trees. Just a place to go walk the dogs after dinner, playing fetch with 'em, and joking with the rest of the family. And going back up and having desert and coffee on the porch in summer, watching the sunset. Mom and Dad sitting on the porch swing, just barely touching each other."
Riley sighed a bit. "Mainly I miss just sitting on the porch after supper, while mom is doing the dishes. Dad talking about the crop this year, looking at the sky to see what weather's coming in from the west, and wondering whether the new seed that Monsanto is trying to sell him would really increase the yield enough to make the extra fertilizer it would need worth while. And him asking me how's it going with me. Cause he knows I can't talk about exactly what I do, so he never asks details. And he throws me this look. Like he's ..."
"... proud of you."
"Yeah."
"You told 'em about leaving the military?"
"Yeah." Riley looked down at the table.
"How'd they take it?"
"Mom was relieved, I think. Doesn't have to worry any more about me getting shot in some country she's never heard of."
"And your Dad?"
Riley looked at Xander and finished his glass. "He just said he knew I was doing what was best ..."
Xander looked at him carefully. "But..."
"I dunno, he just sounded..."
"... disappointed."
"Yeah."
"I know that one." Xander examined his half-filled glass, hoping his tone had been light enough. Knowing that Riley had a hint of what his home had been like.
"Xander, you gotta know that your parents are ..."
Xander's head snapped up and he cut Riley off with a barked, "They're the only parents I got, Riley."
Riley backed off. "Sorry."
"Don't be." It took Xander a moment to be able to meet his eyes. His voice collapsed to a whisper, "Shit. I know, OK?"
Riley nodded. Xander grinned a bit sheepishly.
"What?"
"Nothing. It's just when I was a kid, I used to lie in bed fantisizing that my real parents were out there somewhere and they were gonna come to get me one day and take me to my real home."
Xander saw that Riley was giving him a pitying look. Quick... "Yeah and my real home had ponies, and a secret elevator from my bedroom down to this cool dock where my speedboat was, and there was a fireman's pole from my playroom, where all the toys were, down to the kitchen, where there was a cook whose only job was to make me snacks whenever I wanted."
Riley was laughing, "I see you gave this a lot of thought."
"Yeah, I kind of spent a lot of time lying in bed, trying not to listen to them."
Riley poured them each another. He stared at Xander.
"If I'm outta line here, tell me. Look, I ran into a lot of stuff with guys under my command. I mean, my Dad put a belt to my ass more than once ..."
"Don't." Xander couldn't meet his gaze.
Riley was surprised by the edge in Xander's voice. "You got it." He answered softly.
Xander looked at Riley and barely nodded in thanks. Yeah, helluva friendship going on here, based on him never asking Riley about Buffy, and Riley never asking him about his parents. They could talk about anything except the important stuff. The stuff that made them crazy.
Riley looked at Xander and gave him an encouraging smile, "You got Anya, she'd do anything for you."
"And does."
"You dog." Total macho comraderie in that voice. "That's gotta be nice."
"Anya's great in her own way."
"Not a lot of enthusiasm in that voice."
Xander shrugged.
"You love her, don't you?"
Xander shrugged again. He looked up at Riley, "I don't know."
"If you did, you'd know, Xander."
"Yeah, I know. But she needs me."
Riley smiled and nodded. "And then there's the fringe benefits..."
Xander bristled, "It's not like I'm just in it for the sex."
Riley backed off. Forrest or Graham would have taken that as a total compliment, evidence of studliness. Not Xander. Riley sighed. He looked at Xander. "You're a good guy, ya know."
"Yeah, that's me, everybody's favourite nice guy."
"No, I mean you're this really decent guy."
Xander looked at Riley, looking for the joke. His brow wrinkled as he didn't see it in that farm boy face.
Riley broke the gaze and looked down at the table.
Xander took a long sip and changed the subject. "You going to Iowa for the holidays?"
"Dunno. Don't think I'm going home this year. You gonna spend Christmas at home?"
Xander shook his head. "I'll probably stop by my parents' place for a few minutes in the morning, before they start."
Xander heard himself and was surprised that he already thought of the house where he had always lived, till just a few weeks ago, as 'his parents' place', whereas Riley thought of a house where he hadn't lived for years and hadn't even seen in a year as 'home'.
"'Before they start'?"
Xander raised his glass as he raised his eyebrows.
Riley nodded. "Got it."
A couple of guys went over to the ancient jukebox, and after a moment's discussion, put in coins, pressed buttons, and waited for the song to start. They stood next to the juke box, glasses in hand and sang along to the slow song. It was a lament, almost blues-like, pure sadness in 9/8 time. By the second verse, arms were over each other's shoulders, heads almost together as they sang the song, mournful, nostalgic, heart-rending.
Misery, but misery shared.
Xander looked at their seemingly easy and uncluttered camaraderie. Looked enviously at it. Why should just putting your arm across a bud's shoulder, just touching him, letting him know you're there, seem so exotic, when it looked so natural? He looked over at Riley and sighed.
Riley glanced at the guys singing, then met Xander's gaze. He shrugged as if in answer to Xander's unspoken question.
"You miss the other commando guys." It wasn't really a question.
"Yeah. I miss all that."
"It was like a second home for you, wasn't it?"
Riley thought a second and then nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."
"I just get the feeling that I'm subbing here. Cause the first team isn't around."
Riley blinked once. The look told Xander he'd hit the nail on the head.
"It's cool." Xander reassured him.
Riley shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Xander, I ..."
Xander grinned, "Like I said, it's cool. They're like your scooby gang."
Riley bristled a little at that. "Xander, the U.S. Marine Corps is *not* like the scooby gang."
Xander shrugged, "Bunch of people united in a common cause, people you know you can depend on, trust with your life, all fighting the enemy."
Riley sighed, silently conceding the point.
"OK, you guys have cool uniforms and better weapons and real training and secret instalations and stuff."
Riley chuckled, and then took another sip of the Metaxa. He got serious, "Xander, I had a mission. I just don't know what my mission is here."
"Helping to fight the forces of darkness at the center of mystical convergeance isn't enough?"
"I thought it would be. I really did ..."
"If Buffy ..."
"Yeah, if Buffy..." There was a real finality to Riley's unfinished sentence. There was a moment's hesitation. Riley picked up his glass and finished the little that was left in it. "I thought I was gonna find my place fighting alongside Buffy. But she really doesn't *need* someone fighting alongside her."
Xander looked at Riley and recognized the scared lost kid in those eyes. "But *you* do."
"Yeah," Riley stared at Xander, taken aback. "Yeah, I guess I do."
Riley picked up the bottle and poured them both another. He smiled in satisfaction as he poured the last drops into his glass. "Dead soldier." He announced, holding the empty bottle upside down.
Xander knew the last thing he needed was another drink. But somehow, that didn't matter now. He picked up the glass and held it out. Riley copied his move and they touched glasses and knocked the drinks back, and the two glasses hit the table, Riley's a millisecond after Xander's.
Xander regretted it almost immediately. "Oooh!. OK. Greek brandy, tasty, but ultimately dangerous."
Riley grinned and nodded in agreement.
The bartender made an announcement in Greek. Half of the guys spoke up, and drinks were poured. Tassos the fisherman glanced at Xander and Riley and said something to the bartender. The bartender nodded, and came out from behind the bar with a bottle of Metaxa.
"To teleftaio." He saw the confusion on their faces, and repeated, "The last one, OK?" He poured them each a shot.
Even though he really didn't want another drink, Xander smiled and nodded.
"Thanks."
The bartender looked at him with half a smile and shook his head slowly and told him "This is a Greek Bar, you should say it in Greek. It sounds friendlier."
Xander nodded. If the guy was gonna give them free drinks, it was the least he could do. The bartender grinned and, as if teaching an errant child, enunciated slowly, "Ef Har Iss Toe".
"Efharisto." Xander said, raising his glass to the bartender, who nodded in approval, then turned expectantly to Riley, who also repeated "Efharisto".
The bartended gave the two a smile and a nod. His good deed for the day done, the bartender went back and began to clean up the bar, and put away bottles.
The two guys at the jukebox pressed the buttons for one last song. Another sad slow one. Xander could almost feel the lyrics. "I've already had too much to drink."
"Yeah, it's pretty late. My bad."
Xander and Riley looked at each other, raised glasses in unison, and downed the brandy, the two glasses hitting the table at the same moment. Xander stood up, and immediately regretted it. Riley stood up more slowly, easing himself into his windbreaker. He was feeling it too, in a big way, but had more practice in not letting it show.
"Come on, big guy. Last train is leaving the station." Riley said sympathetically. The two headed slowly towards the door, walking almost in time to the music.
"OK, I think I need to sit down."
"You'll be OK, Xand." Riley put an arm across Xander's shoulders to steady him, and let it stay there. Riley chuckled, "Besides, I think I kinda need you to hold me up."
A groan came from Xander, " I definitely drank too much. I'm totally wasted."
Riley chuckled, and gave the shoulder he was holding a squeeze as they walked out the door.
Several of the fisherman perfunctorily called out 'Good night' in Greek or English as the two headed out into the slightly cool November night. Once outside, Xander put his hand on the back of Riley's far shoulder as they walked unsteadily back towards the centre of town, back to what now passed for home for each of them.
// and as the evening ends,
and it's a pity that you are ...
... that we are so sad and pathetic.//
*****
Part 4: Morning After
Xander awoke with the biggest headache of his life. He opened his eyes. WHOA! Big mistake. He tried to raise his arm to look at his watch but his arm wouldn't move. Oh, shit. Was paralysis one of the side-effects of drinking Greek brandy? He took in a deep breath and tried to clear his head, but only succeeded in making himself wince in serious pain.
He opened his eyes again, this time more slowly. He saw the time on the alarm clock face. OK, he still had an hour before he had to go to work. He moaned and tried to move again. Funny, he could move his legs, but not his arms. Xander wasn't sure, but he thought paralysis started in the legs and worked up. Something else clicked in his head. His alarm clock used to be digital, when did it suddenly acquire a clock face?
He opened his eyes again and looked at the wall. Not his wall.
Not his room.
And so, logically, not his bed. Not Anya's either. No chintz. Just a stark, cheaply furnished bedsitter. He looked down and saw the arm around him, pinning his arms to his sides. He was suddenly aware that that arm belonged to whomever was pressing himself against his back.
OK. This was new. He had heard about guys getting wasted and waking up in someone's bed without a clear recollection of what had happened the night before. OK, last night. Greek bar. Greek brandy, Metaxa. Yasu. More Metaxa. With Riley. Riley, who now had his arm around him, and was snoring lightly as he pressed himself against Xander.
OK. Riley. Riley's bed. Xander looked down. OK. Still dressed. That's probably a good sign. He was pretty sure he remembered leaving the bar with Riley and walking back, arm over shoulder, feeling very drunk, and close to
Riley ...
OK. Very close to Riley in a drunken bud kind of way. Not in a wake up in Riley's bed with Riley's arm around him kind of way.
Gingerly, Xander lifted Riley's arm from around his chest, and slid out of the bed. Riley gave a groan and rolled over onto his stomach. Xander slowly stood up. The pain to the part of his brain right behind his eyes was excruciating. He stumbled around the bed and into the bathroom. He had to rest his head against the tiled wall as he unzipped and took a leak. The sound of piss hitting water was really loud. He closed his eyes.
Finished, he zipped up, and automatically flushed, and immediately regretted it. Damn, that was loud. He opened the medicine cabinet. Riley had Alka-Seltzer, aspirin, Tylenol, and two kinds of over-the-counter hangover relief medicines. Unable to make a rational choice, Xander grabbed one of the hangover relief ones, and carried the packet over to the sink. The one glass there looked fairly skuzzy, but any port in a storm. He rinsed it out, more as a gesture than in a real attempt to clean it, and emptied the powder into it and half-filled the glass with water from the tap. He stirred it with a finger. He stared at it for a second, and then downed it, almost gagging on the slightly acidic taste. He put the glass down, and put both hands on the edges of the sink and sighed deeply.
He looked up and saw his face in the mirror. Not the best Xander-face he'd ever seen. More like a been run over by a streetcar and kicked around by demons sort of face. Xander turned the tap back on and splashed cold water on his face, then grabbed the not very clean towel and dried off. He was suddenly aware that the towel smelled like Riley.
He was also struck that he found it completely natural that he knew what Riley smelled like.
He walked back out to the one room of Riley's apartment. He saw the Mr. Coffee machine. He wasn't sure his stomach could handle coffee, but he was positive that his head needed it. He opened the cabinets as quietly as he could, partly so as not to wake Riley, but mainly to protect his pounding head. He found the filters and the can of Folgers. He grinned at that. Riley was a farm boy: no Kona dark roasted beans waiting to be ground before making the coffee. All-American coffee straight out of the All-American can. Xander emptied the coffee pot of day-old coffee, rinsed it perfunctorily under the tap and went about setting the machine in motion.
He switched it on and started looking for a cup. Two mugs, both dirty. Xander actually washed one of them and set it soaking wet on the counter. Against any real hope, he opened the fridge and found a gallon jug of milk.
He grinned. Riley was fulfilling all of his Iowa farm boy stereotypes. Nonetheless, he opened the jug and sniffed it and then took a bit of a swig to make sure it hadn't gone bad. It tasted funny ... or rather his tongue felt funny as he tasted it.
He poured some milk into the mug, and left the jug on the counter. There was a good cup of coffee already in the pot. Unwilling to wait for caffeine, Xander pulled the pot out, and filled the mug, and put the pot back under the drip before too much dripped onto the warming element. The wasted drops of water sizzled between glass pot and heat.
Xander raised the cup to his lips and took a long drink.
"My dad would kill ya if he saw ya doing that."
Xander spun around and saw Riley lying on his side smiling at him.
"Uh, good morning."
"He hated it when someone took the first strong part of the pot."
"Uh, sorry." Xander looked at the offending mug he was holding.
Riley put legs over the side of the bed and sat up. He briefly put his head in his hands before standing up.
He walked over to the sink, grabbed the other mug, and shook the water out of it, and poured himself a mug of coffee. The machine sizzled loudly again.
"I'm not my dad." He grinned as he put the pot back under the drip. Xander smiled, then grimaced as his head reacted to too many muscles moving at once.
"I remember leaving the bar and walking ..."
Riley nodded. "Yeah, we made it back here, and you pretty much just crashed."
"Sorry."
"Not a problem. Better that than you trying to walk home by yourself in the state you were in."
Xander looked at his watch. "Oh shit! I'm gonna be late!"
Riley smiled at him. "Xander?"
"Yeah?"
"It's Saturday."
"You sure?"
"Uh, yeah." Riley's face turned into almost a smirk.
"OK, OK." Xander took the mug and went over to the couch and sat heavily.
It hadn't escaped his notice that although he woke up in trousers and shirt, Riley was pretty much just in his boxers.
He took another sip of coffee. "Uh, Riley?"
"Yeah?" Riley said as he walked over and sat in the one chair, across from
Xander.
"Did we ...? Never mind."
"We got very drunk, came back here, talked a bit, and you crashed hard. End of story."
Xander nodded, looking down. Grateful that he hadn't had to actually ask the question. Embarassed that he felt like he needed to ask it. He would wait until later to think about why Riley had no trouble answering it, and smiling ...
"You don't remember, do ya?"
Xander shook his head, more than a little embarrassed.
Riley sighed deeply.
Xander searched Riley's face. "What?"
"Nothing, just drunken talk."
Xander smiled a little. "I remember each of us telling the other what great guys were are."
Riley nodded.
"And we trashed Angel, a lot."
Riley nodded again. "Yeah, your words were 'Deadboy is pretty much the bloodsucking fiend from hell, and that's on his good days'. And something about Cordy and Angel deserving each other."
Xander blushed. "I didn't mean that... no one deserves Angel... or Cordy for that matter."
Riley grinned at him slyly as he took another swig of coffee. "Does Anya really keep a running tally of her orgasms?"
"Shit, I told you that?"
"You were very drunk."
Xander nodded. "Yeah, I must have been, ... and yeah, she really does."
"It's kind of sweet, in a really perverse way. Not to mention kind of impressive."
Xander nodded at the compliment, but his tone of voice was a bit subdued, "Yeah, that's me, orgasm-boy."
Xander noticed that Riley was looking at him, really looking at him. Riley caught himself.
"Lemme buy you breakfast."
"I don't think I could eat, Ri."
"I promise you'll feel worse if you don't."
"OK. Just one thing, though."
"Name it, Xand."
"No Greek food."
"You got it." Riley laughed.
Xander winced. "Hey! Laugh quieter!"
Part 5
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