Reindeer Games
He couldn't stop thinking about Willow's face. Her pixie features twisted with disgust and pity as she tried to let him down gently. She shouldn't have bothered. Sharp and cold was the sting of her rejection and the sympathy-sweet, candyfloss voice she used just twisted the knife. She had a chance with Oz and had to take it. All energy needs to be focused on Oz, not Xander's stupid Christmas party that she'd been going to with him for the last ten years. Okay, she hadn't really said that, but as far as Xander was concerned, it was implied.
So, here he was, surrounded by screaming children at his dad's office Christmas party. Oldest Œkid' here by a mile. Dragged along so Tony Harris could show off his virility and, hey, since Xander turned fifteen he' makes a great (and free) designated driver. It hadn't been so bad, back when Willow would come along and they'd sit in the corner, eating cookies. Not so much tonight. Tonight sucked.
Xander sat in the corner of the small playroom, watching the daycare leaders try and wrangle the wired children into watching a video. Nice try, but 15 kids under the age of ten and a buffet table full of candy, Christmas booty and the promise of a visit from Santa, do not a calm evening make. He glared at Sheila, the main wrangler, when she looked to him for help. The kids weren't so bad, but he wasn't going to be roped into free baby-sitting. He had his standards. Standards that included moping, pouting, and gorging himself on Christmas cookies and candy.
Candy cane number 15 and the world started to look a little shinier. He leaned back on the cushion he'd stolen from the couch in the corner and watched the blinking lights in the corner around the only window. Meanwhile, some of the children had settled down to watch old Christmas movies and the opening strains of the Peanuts' Christmas Special. Great. Just when things had started to turn a corner. Xander sighed and covered his eyes.
He felt a nudge in his side and looked up, rubbing at his eyes and trying to clear away the halo effect. "Larry? What are you doing here?"
"Merry Christmas to you too, Harris." Larry smirked and sat down. "My dad's the accountant. And he heard that he was supposed to bring his kids to the Christmas party, so I'm here with Brianna." He pointed to a little blond girl in the corner.
"Oh. I'm...ah...not here with anyone. My parents drag me along every year. It kinda sucks, mostly, but I've gotten some kickin' toys from the man in red. Why, just last year, I got a tickle me elmo. Laugh now, but I made a mint on the black market."
"You're so weird, Harris." Larry laughed and leaned back on Xander's pilfered pillow, so close Xander could feel Larry's breath on his throat. "Strange, but kinda cute."
Xander squeaked and sat up quickly. "Okay, Larry. I am not cute. Okay, I am, but I'm not cute to you."
"Geez, chill out. doesn't mean anything." Larry stared up at him from his place on the pillow. "Just trying to have a little fun with you. Come on, it's Christmas. What do you say to sneaking into the adult party and having our way with some of the more potent eggnog?"
"Best idea of the night. I'll distract Sheila while you sneak out."
Twenty minutes later and Xander wasn't feeling any pain. Potent eggnog, indeed. Larry grinned at him, a small drop of eggnog caught on his chin.
"You've got a little something there, Lar. Hee. I rhymed."
"What? Where?" Larry wiped along his face, following Xander's vague hand motions and not even coming close to removing the distracting yellow gleam. "Dude, stop. Just tell me where."
Xander's hand involuntarily reached to Larry's face. "It's right here. And now it's gone." His hand lingered, rubbing the stubble of Larry's chin and for a second, he wondered what kissing Larry would feel like. He pulled his hand back quickly and laughed nervously. "Heh. All gone."
Larry eyed him quizzically. "You are a freak, Harris. A cute freak, but heavy with the weirdness. What's up with you and Cordelia? I heard rumors about you and Rosenberg, but she seemed pretty into Oz the last time I checked."
"Yeah." Xander glanced down at the coat room floor. "Pretty much. Cordy and I are last year's news. Willow and Oz seem joined at the hip, I guess. Can we talk about something else?"
"God, Harris. Don't be such a downer. It's Christmas. And I'm drunk." Larry grinned and pulled Xander up off the floor. "Come on. Let's go explore." Another fifteen minutes, and they'd seen all there was to see in Sunnydale's third finest reception hall and stumbled tipsily back to where they started in the coat room.
"Well, that was fun. In a stirring, in no way was that entertaining, sort of way. But boy, are my parents drunk. Drunk, drunk, drunk. Hey, you know if you say that word too many times, it starts to lose its meaning. Drunk, drunk, drunk, dru--"
Xander's drunken babbling stopped as Larry crushed his body into the door frame. "Shut up. Do you ever shut up?" Larry asked as he put a finger on Xander's lips. "Just for a minute, okay?"
Xander, shocked into silence, stood trembling in the doorway, held up by Larry's football-playing arms, and wasn't that weird? Larry was staring at his face, as if searching for a sign, and Xander couldn't stand that for long, so he looked up. "Hey, is that mistletoe?"
Larry stepped back and looked up as well. "I do believe it is, Har--"
Xander, feeling very tipsy, rushed forward and covered Larry's lips with his own, satisfying his earlier curiosity. It was rough and soft, and not at all what he thought it would be like and, oh my lord, was that Larry's tongue? Larry's hand crept up Xander's back and settled in the crook of his neck, fingers clasping and unclasping as they deepened the kiss.
Xander's eyes closed, and he wondered where this feeling had come from. Larry was nothing like Cordelia, with her soft lips and tiny moans. Larry was all force and roughness with an edge of innocence in his soft grunts, but Xander couldn't deny he liked it. He liked it a lot. And, apparently, so did little Xander. And oh! Was that little Larry he felt when he leaned into Larry's arms?
Xander pulled back and stood panting against the door. "What the hell was that?"
"You're asking me? I have no idea, dude, but you started it."
Xander smiled shyly at the floor. "I did, didn't I?" He kicked the floor and sat down hard. "I'm so drunk."
Larry looked down at him with a smile that didn't go to his eyes. "Yeah. Me too, I guess." He joined Xander on the floor. "But it wasn't bad. Nope, not bad at all." Then he reached over to Xander's jeans and slowly started to unbutton the fly. "But it could be better."
Xander feebly tried to push Larry's hand away, but his hands had other ideas. He gasped as Larry tugged hard on the denim and pushed aside boxers. Xander moaned as Larry's hands pulled at his cock, grasping and twisting and doing very, bad, naughty things. Oh yes, this was not approved. This was bad. But it felt so good and Xander groaned as he leaned forward, his lips searching for Larry's.
He attacked Larry's lips with a vengeance, biting down a little hard when Larry's hand returned the favor. "God. Oh my god. Larry. I..."
"Shut up, Harris." Xander's mouth snapped shut as Larry's hand was replaced by a wet, hot mouth. Licking and slightly nibbling and Cordelia had never, ever been like this. Xander's soft groans were replaced by whimpers as the pulls got harder and he got closer. Xander's fingers dug into Larry's shoulders. "Larry, oh god. I'm goin--"
One last pull and the world imploded then exploded and Xander was left a simpering mess on the coatroom floor with Larry's catlike grin staring up at him.
"Um. Thanks. I guess."
Larry smiled that sad little smile. "You're welcome. I guess." Xander lay, bones gone, and listened to the piped in Christmas music drifting in from the hall, panting and spent. When he heard footsteps, he quickly tucked himself back in.
"Larry, I--"
"Don't worry about it, Xander. Just...merry Christmas." Larry stood quickly and walked over to the door. "I won't tell any of your friends. Not like I talk to them anyway."
"Wait, Larry. I don't know what just happened, but it wasn't bad. And I--"
Sleigh bells started in the distant hallway. "Shh...listen. Santa's coming. We better get out there. I'm supposed to take a picture of Bri with the big guy." Larry looked back at the disheveled Xander in the tiny coatroom. "Come on. You can't stay in here forever."
"I'll be there in a minute." Larry nodded and left, leaving Xander in the closet. Xander turned back to the coats, fingers ghosting over his lips, listening to the sleigh bells and the distant sound of laughter.