Title:  Uncommon Distractions
Author:  Kay
Email:  kaygrr@hotmail.com
Feedback:  Please?  Because watching a grown girl cry is just pathetic.
Website:  ssfdu.tripod.com/kay/journal.htm (love for Sandy) Archive:  Just
let me know, eh? Fandom:  Buffy Pairing:  (Xander/Graham) + (Xander/Spike)
= Xander/Graham/Spike Rating:  PG-13 Disclaimer:  Mine?  What? *These*? 
No, they're Mutant Enemy's.  They just followed me home and wouldn't leave
until I played with them. Spoilers:  The last season of Buffy.  The
incident with Glory, and the ep "The Body".  (Look at me, trying to be
vague).  And that ugly rumor about Spike and a certain blond slayer? 
Never happened. Summery:  Graham and Riley are called back to Sunnydale
when the area destabilizes.  When they return, they discover there are new
factors in lives of the Scooby Gang, especially in Xander and Spike's.

Part 8/?

Graham caught Riley's eye and nodded quickly.  Riley winked to signal that
he understood and Graham tensed his muscles, ready to put their plan into
action.

The past few days had been killing him.  Spending a few hours every night
in Xander's company had sealed his fate:  he was now in love with the
other man.  The way Xander smiled at him, the way he never complained even
though he was obviously tired or hurting, the way he listened to everyone
speak and was guided by them in making decisions, the way his pants clung
in all the right places when he hunkered down to watch their prey...it all
combined to cause him to fall helplessly for Xander.  He was incredibly
grateful to have been ordered to work with Xander because there was no
other way that he would have been able to get to know the other man.  He
was finally able to see beyond the always-cheerful surface and see the
dedicated, determined man hidden beneath.  He was in love with Xander.

Now if only Spike would get the hell out of the way so Graham could *do*
something about it.  The damn vampire was always there, always standing
between Graham and Xander so that Graham couldn't say anything to the
dark-haired man without Spike being a part of the conversation.

If he hadn't been so hung up on Xander, Graham might have decided to make
a play for Spike and turn the vampire's presence to his own advantage. 
Spike was handsome, no denying it; and the way he moved and talked pretty
much screamed sex.  Graham hadn't been immune to the attraction when Spike
had been captured months ago and he wasn't immune now.  This time around,
though, his heart was involved and that changed everything.  He could
still feel the pull of Spike, but it was Xander that captivated him.

That was the reason he had convinced Riley to help him.  Not only could he
count on Riley's help because he was a good friend, but also because it
was sure to irritate Spike.  Riley still hadn't forgiven Spike for giving
him hell about his relationship with Buffy.  Graham was inclined to think
it was a head game Spike had played with Buffy and Riley both; if he
really wanted her, wouldn't he be hanging around her now?  He wasn't going
to argue with his friend, though, not when Riley was about to run
interference for him.

Acting on Graham's signal, Riley picked an argument with Spike.  "Are you
sure you know how to handle these demons?  I ran into something like them
with the Initiative and we did something different."

"Pissed yourselves and ran screaming for mommy?" Spike suggested snidely.

The argument was off and running.  Riley held Spike's attention by first
challenging his knowledge and then just by bickering with him.

Not wasting the chance given to him, Graham quickly moved to take Spike's
place at Xander's side.  He smiled at the dark-haired man.  "Hey."

Xander smiled at him.  "Hey."

Graham felt like an idiot.  Here was his one chance and he had no idea
what to say without coming off as an idiot or overly creepy.  'Hey, I'm in
love with you'?  'I know we've just met but would you like to stay with me
tonight, stay with me every night'?  He'd just send Xander fleeing in
justified terror.  He glanced over at Riley and Spike.  "They sound like
an old married couple."

Xander rewarded him with a grin.  "God, you're right.  Just don't tell
them that."

Graham felt better.  At least he'd made him laugh.  "So are these
Glidernts the usual demon?  Slavering for human blood and all that?"

"All that and ugly.  Ugly by even Hellmouth standards."  Xander shuddered.

"I noticed that," Graham said.  "I never got to see anything attractive
when I was stationed here."  Now or never.  "Not until the past few days,
that is."  He held Xander's gaze.

Xander stared at him for a moment as the meaning of Graham's comment sank
in.  Color rose up in his cheeks, but he didn't look away.  "I've, uh,
noticed that the quality of the nightlife has gone up myself."  His voice
was a little shaky, but a hesitant smile that played at the corners of his
mouth.

Xander was flirting back!  Graham managed to resist the urge to do a
victory dance.  He smiled and scooted closer Xander.  "Would you like to
try exploring some of the new nightlife?"  He winced.  He always ended up
sounding cheesy when he tried to be coy.

The color deepened on Xander's face, but he held Graham's gaze.  "I
haven't gotten a chance to do much exploring lately," he said.  His
expression became a little naughty.  "And most of my interaction with the
local nightlife involves pointy objects."

Graham laughed.  "Ain't nothing wrong with pointy objects."  He sobered a
little as he said earnestly, "We could start exploring with something
small. 
  A movie theater maybe?  Or a restaurant."

Xander grinned at him.  "I think that could be a lot of fun."

"What could be a lot of fun?"  Spike's voice was loud in Graham's ear.

Graham swore and took a few steps back, thoroughly startled by the abrupt
interruption.  Spike took advantage of his startlement and eeled his way
back to stand beside Xander.  Graham glared mutinously at Spike and
refused to answer.

"Hurrying up and taking care of these demons so I can sleep.  If we finish
quickly I'll be able to sleep for six hours!  That sounds like fun to me."
 As he spoke, Xander glanced over at Graham and the blush stayed on his
cheeks.

Graham grinned at him.  Xander was willing to keep their date a secret and
he was looking forward to it.  He caught Riley's gaze and shot him a
surreptitious thumbs up.  Riley grinned, sharing in his triumph.

As they neared the place that Xander had identified as the demons'
location, Graham calmed down and focused on the fight that was coming up. 
All of them readied themselves, pulling out weapons they'd brought with
them.  The building the Glidernts were hiding in was little more than a
one room shack and Graham didn't like the idea of being hemmed in so
closely with the demons.  "Maybe we could lure them out?"

"With what?" Riley asked.  "Tell them that we're the take-out they
ordered?"

"No way," Spike muttered.  "Glidernts have taste."

Graham and Riley both turned on the vampire, but Xander was there in
between them.  "Let's focus on getting the bad guys before we turn on each
other, all right?"  He looked at Spike.  "Do you speak their language?"

"Not much," Spike admitted.

"Enough to say something about their mothers?"

"I could imply that they have mothers.  That should be enough to bring
them out here."  Spike looked toward the shack and yelled in a language
that was mostly gargling.

The response was immediate.  Two demons came crawling out of the shack,
shrieking at them in the same gargling language.  They scuttled forward on
four legs, waving another pair in the air as they charged the men facing
them.

Graham hoped his face wasn't twisted up as much as he thought it was. 
Ick-face wasn't especially an attractive look for him, but those things
were *nasty*.  He blasted away with his zap gun without hesitation, not
wanting the damn things to get to close.  After a few rounds, he noticed
something.  "Shooting them only pisses them off!"

Spike sneered at him.  "Guess I'll have to take care of things the 
old-fashioned way, then."  He pulled a long knife out of his boot and
gargled out a few more insults.

Graham pulled out his own knife and moved to help Spike.  He knew Riley
could take care of himself; his friend was slicing away at the second
demon with a definite look of disgust on his face.  Ignoring Spike's
snarls, he helped the vampire stab the Glidernt, learning its weak spot by
trial and error.

Just as it fell lifeless to the ground, Graham heard Riley's shout for
help. 
  He turned and watched as the second Glidernt caught Riley with its front
  
legs and heaved him into the air.  Xander abandoned his own efforts at
slicing and dicing and tried to help Riley, only to be knocked down hard
to the ground when Riley fell against him.

Graham wasn't quite sure how he crossed the distance to reach the second
demon; one moment he was standing over the dead body of its pal and the
next he was stabbing it vengefully, one thrust for Riley and the next few
for Xander because no one hurt Xander while he was around.  He was vaguely
aware of Spike at his side, spewing curses and tearing the creature apart
with his own blade.  The Glidernt soon collapsed in a lifeless heap. 
Graham took a few steps back, panting a little from the exertion.

"Damn."  Riley stared at the ruined pile of flesh.  "Damn."

Maybe he went a little overboard with the killing.  Then he looked at
Xander, who was rubbing the back of his head with an expression of pain
and changed his mind.  He wanted to kill the demon all over again.  He
moved toward Xander, but Spike beat him to his side.  Graham managed to
ask his question first, though.  "Are you all right?  Are you hurt
anywhere?"

"Riley's no light-weight," Xander admitted, letting Spike help him to his
feet.  "But I think I'm OK.  I bumped my head a little."  He stared in
horrified fascination at the dead Glidernt.  "Wow.  Did it yell something
back about your mothers?"

Graham kept quiet and ignored Riley's too-mild expression.  He was going
to hear about this later, he knew it.  All his protective instincts were
over-active where Xander was concerned and Riley wasn't going to pass up
the chance to tease him over it.

Spike seemed to want to ignore the question as well.  "Let's get you home,
eh?"

"You'll be able to sleep," Graham added.  The way Xander looked at him
with a hidden smile told him that Xander hadn't forgotten their earlier
flirtation.  The flicker of warmth inside him grew.  He fell into step
behind Xander, keeping Riley quiet through judicious use of death glares. 
The teasing was going to have to wait until they were alone.  He didn't
want to take any chances.

Xander invited him and Riley up to the apartment to wind down and have
something to drink.  Graham accepted immediately, but Riley came along
willingly.  Graham knew Riley was getting to like Xander more; by spending
time with him without Buffy being a factor, Riley was becoming Xander's
friend, instead of just being his friend's boyfriend.  Plus, it pissed
Spike off every time they came up.

When they were all sitting down and supplied with something to drink,
Xander looked over at Riley.  "Um, have you seen Buffy at all yet?"

The smile faded from Riley's face.  "No."

"You should, man.  You two need to talk.  There was too much going on when
you left, too many distractions that you couldn't get past then but I
think now you might have a chance."

Riley stared down into his glass.  "I want to think that, Xander.  I do. 
I just can't talk to her.  I'm not ready yet and I'm...I'm under orders."

Xander nodded in immediate understanding.  "That sucks.  Just think about
it, ok?"

Riley nodded.

When Spike stood abruptly, Graham braced himself for a scathing comment
that would compel him to help Riley kick the vampire's ass.  Spike
surprised him, though.  Instead of attacking Riley's relationship with
Buffy, he looked at Xander.  "I've got to make a blood run.  I'll be back
in a few."  He walked out without any further explanation.

Graham couldn't believe it.  Not only had Spike ignored a chance to make
Riley crazy, he was also leaving Xander alone with them!  He watched as
Spike left, then shared a confused look with Riley.  What the hell was
going on?

Never one to waste an opportunity, Graham got up and moved to sit beside
Xander on the couch.  He noticed that Xander looked a little confused as
he stared at the door.  "Are you all right?"

Xander looked at him.  "I'm fine," he said quickly.  He blinked again and
seemed to realize that Graham was sitting beside him for the first time. 
A small smile touched his lips.  "I'm fine," he said in a more normal
tone.

"And how's your head?"

"Hurts," Xander admitted.  "And having all two hundred pounds of Riley
land on top of me didn't help matters."

"Hey!" Riley objected.  "That remark is going to cost you a beer."  He got
up and headed for the kitchen.

Graham vowed to put up with Riley's teasing later without complaint.  His
friend was trying to give him some privacy.  He shifted so he facing
Xander. 
  "Have you given any more thought to joining me on an expedition?"  Hey,
  it 
might be cheesy but it seemed to work with Xander.

Xander nodded.  "I think that I'd like that a lot.  Of course, to cut down
on Hellmouthy interference, it might be a good idea to try doing something
in the daytime first."

Graham's mind immediately flashed to Xander working on the construction
site, arms flexing as he positioned each piece of wood before cutting it
down to the right size.  "Daylight can be good," he agreed quickly. 
"Anything in particular you'd like to do?"

"Hey, this is your expedition," Xander said, laughing.  "Just so long as
it's not a fun-filled tour of Sunnydale's purveyors of junk food, anything
will be good."

"What?"

Xander blushed a little.  "I used to see you at my jobs a lot," he 
explained.  "I figure you must be a fan of the fried variety of cuisine."

It was Graham's turn to flush.  Now or never; holding back wasn't going to
gain him anything.  "It wasn't the junk food," he admitted.  "It was the
cute guy behind the counter serving the junk food."

Xander stared at him, shaking his head a little.

"It's true," Graham said.  "I'm really not that big a fan of the hot dog. 
I'm just a fan of you."  He held his breath, hoping that Xander wouldn't
decide he was a stalker and make a run for it.

Lips parted, Xander laughed quietly.  "I used to pretend that," he said
quietly.  "You know, that you'd come to see me."  The blush was back on
his cheeks.

Graham couldn't resist, not with Xander blushing and looking at him with
honesty and nervousness and the flickering beginnings of heat.  He leaned
forward, moving slowly so Xander would have every chance to stop him. 
Meeting with no resistance, he gently pressed his lips to Xander's.  The
barest brush of mouth on mouth and he leaned back, checking Xander's
reaction.

Brown eyes slowly drifted open and Xander licked his lips before moving to
repeat the kiss.  Soft lips on his own and Graham was lost, leaning
against Xander and reveling in the warmth of his skin and the scent of
him, so close and finally there to be touched.  He sat back after a few
more moments, not wanting to push Xander.

Xander smiled up at him.  "Wow."

Wow?  He rated a wow?  Not that he disagreed.  The kiss had seriously
short-circuited his vocabulary, but he thought wow pretty much summed it
up. 
  "Wow is good.  I can take wow.  Does wow mean that you'll be going out
with me?"

"I've got a few weeks of half-days coming up soon.  I think I could fit
you into my busy social calendar."  Xander sat back a little as Riley came
back into the room.

Graham decided to let up as well.  There was no telling when Spike was
going to return, either, and he wasn't looking forward to a fight.  He
knew there would be; the vampire was too protective of Xander to ever let
anything like this go.  Maybe once Graham got a little closer to Xander
he'd be able to figure out what kind of hold Spike was trying to gain over
Xander and then he could protect Xander from him.

He reached out and touched Xander's arm.  "Do you want anything more to
drink?"

"Another Coke would be good.  It might help with my head."  Xander moved
to get up.

Graham beat him to it.  "Let me."  He had to get out of the room for a
moment before Xander or Riley caught sight of the lunatic grin he could
feel stretching across his features.  He couldn't help it.  He'd kissed
Xander.  Xander had kissed *him*!  It was grin like an idiot or do a
touchdown shuffle, and the grin was easier to hide.  As he pulled another
can out of the fridge for Xander, he steadfastly ignored the bags of
blood.  He could pretend that he'd never seen them just fine, thank you. 
He turned around to head back for the living room just as the door to the
apartment opened and Spike walked in carrying a cooler.

Spike set the cooler down on the counter.  "You still here?"  He spoke
generally, but his eyes were on Graham.  "Past your bedtimes, isn't it?"

Graham wanted to argue with him, but he knew Xander was tired and hurting.
 He didn't want to start a fight that would ruin the happy little buzz he
was feeling, either.  He glared at Spike.  "I guess we'll be seeing you
tomorrow, then."

"Guess you will."

Ignoring Spike's matching glare, he walked past the vampire into the
living room.  He handed the Coke to the dark-haired man.  "See you
tomorrow," he said, his smile under control but still huge.

Xander grinned back up at him with hidden warmth in his gaze. 
"Definitely.  And thank you."  He took the soda, fingers lingering as they
brushed over Graham's.  "Good night."

Yes, it certainly had been.  "Good night."  He didn't bother to look at
Spike as he and Riley left.  He did keep an eye on Riley, though, timing
how long his friend would be able to keep his peace.  Riley managed to
hold it in down the stairs, out onto the street, and even into the
vehicle.  Graham made sure to take the driver's seat; he didn't want Riley
be distracted while driving.

Riley made it until they were about a mile down the road before erupting
into laughter.  Graham waited for him to get it all out, not wanting to
interrupt and make it last any longer than it had too.  Finally, Riley got
a hold of himself, although laughter still rumbled up out of him every so
often.  "I thought dating Buffy was bad.  I never had to use tactical
maneuvers just to talk to her!"

Graham grinned.  "But they worked!  Thanks, man.  I owe you."

"You owe me big time, if what I heard from the kitchen is any indication."

"What did you hear?" Graham demanded.

"Nothing."  Riley winked at him.  "That's what makes me think it went
well."

Graham stared resolutely out the windshield for a few moments before he
couldn't hold it in anymore.  "I kissed him," he said.  "I kissed him and
he said he'd go out with me."  He had to say it out loud and make it real.

Riley laughed.  When Graham glared, he held his hands up defensively. 
"Hey, I'm glad it's working out for you.  Congratulations on finally being
able to do more than just stalk your crush."

Reminding himself that without Riley's help he never would have been able
to talk to Xander at all, Graham decided to forgive Riley for laughing. 
"It's not a crush anymore," he admitted.

Riley sobered immediately.  "It's serious?"

"Yeah.  I didn't know him before."  Now he did, and it was all over.  He
knew Riley would understand - the same thing had happened to Riley when he
finally gotten to know Buffy.  He went from liking her to loving her
powerfully.  Graham had fallen into the same trap; now that he knew
Xander, he wasn't going to be able to walk away from him.  "But now I do,
and I'm going to get to know him better."

Riley just sat there and smiled at him.  "You do have it bad."

"It's only going to get worse," Graham warned.  He was going to take
Xander out and give him the chance to fall as hard as he himself had.  He
was going to earn Xander's trust and his love.

He was also going to figure out what Spike wanted with Xander.  He knew
that look Spike had given him was a challenge.  He wasn't going to let
Xander be hurt in one of the vampire's schemes.  He winced a little as his
thoughts wandered as he considered the vampire.  He couldn't think about
Spike without picturing him in his mind, and he couldn't do that without
feeling the lingering traces of lust.  He'd noticed Spike when he was
imprisoned within the Initiative and had stared at his image on video
monitors and through the shatter-resistant plastic shield that sealed his
cell.  Even exhausted and desperate, Spike had moved with an innately
sexual grace that had drawn Graham in despite knowing what Spike was. 
Graham couldn't quite trust himself when it came to Spike, not with lust
clouding his judgement about the other man.  The best he could do was
focus on his love for Xander and trust in that to help him keep to the
right course.

His thoughts back on Xander, Graham settled himself down for the ride back
to base.  He'd have to endure Riley's teasing and a quick debriefing, but
then he'd have the rest of the night to remember what it felt like to hold
Xander and finally know his kiss.

*****