Pursuit of Happiness
Nov. 15th, 2021 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerIt took me nearly 40 minutes to decide on a last name for Xander to swap to.
Main Points:
Buffy/Dresden Files Crossover
Chapter Summary: Willow and Steel have a talk.
Word Count: 640
Rating: Teen
One of which, if the Xanman learns about this little meeting, he’s going to pout for days.
Steel sighs. “I am capable of interacting with people outside of business dealings, thank you.”
I’m taking my best friend’s word for the man’s incredible amount of control, mostly because I don’t want or need to soulgaze him, too. But I do see a bit of a hint of it in the elegantly casual, friendly but not friendly way he interacts with the servers.
He’s just generally polite with them, but he has genuine interest in me, and he’s not pretending, either. He’s not trying to do the shallow thing where you fake caring just to earn brownies and some praise from friends or inside information. (Yeah, brownies; I do a lot of baking.) I’m pretty sure, given his widely known protective streak, that it’s a case of ‘you are important to him and therefore important to me’.
“I’m pretty sure I’m not the one you want to have involved in your personal life.” Xander is either the best or worst of influences. I’m not sure which.
The strangled sound is quiet, but he’s doing a good job trying to conceal his discomfort. The servers definitely hadn’t noticed. “I suppose I’ll ask directly. I am not harassing Mr. Kaplan or wasting his time?”
It’s really sweet of him to be worried, and yeah, I’ll conspire every time with someone who also wants to see him happy. Particularly when he, so far, has avoided going behind his back like this.
It’d be fun to keep the banter going, but this has been going on for a while now and Xander’s brooding about a crush gets painful. “Oh, no, he’s interested. In fact, he keeps doing this ‘I’m happy for you and want you two to be happy but man will I never be loved’ routine every time we meet, because he’s under the impression you like me. He’s also completely oblivious to his own feelings, never mind that you’re genuinely flirting with him, so good luck, he can be really dense.”
It’s painfully familiar. But I understand how it that’s impossible, now, how we’d just hurt each other. And I do want him to be happy and feel safe.
The man closes his eyes in an upper-class version of a facepalm. “That would explain a lot.”
“I trust you not to hurt him on pain of a wizard’s wrath.” I smile sweetly, and he nods gravely, like it’s perfectly natural.
“I can’t promise a relationship free of problems, as that does not exist, but his well-being and happiness is a top priority,” he responds. And I’d known that, or I wouldn’t have come.
“Realism. I like it,” I tell him, and for the first time he relaxes.
Main Points:
Buffy/Dresden Files Crossover
Chapter Summary: Willow and Steel have a talk.
Word Count: 640
Rating: Teen
“I’m not working for you,” I say as I sit down. Honestly, I don’t think he’d ask me. He’s been really accepting of Xander’s boundaries, a fact that I know has been confusing Xander to no end, poor thing. He’s not used to people actually listening and paying attention to his comfort. So when he said “stop trying to recruit me” and Steel actually listened, I’ve been having to listen to relatively a million extremely concerned conversations about what he might be planning. I’d try to actually tell him what’s going on, but he’ll think I’m just making fun of him. This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to warn him about someone finding him attractive and he’s just blown me off. Up until the Faerie mantis tried to eat him, because Buffy wasn’t wrong, we’re all apparently a little cursed in a way even Mr. Giles hasn’t been able to detect. Being honest and straightforward is serving him well, because it’s clearly what Xander wants, but along the way he’ll have to deal with the insecurities.
One of which, if the Xanman learns about this little meeting, he’s going to pout for days.
Steel sighs. “I am capable of interacting with people outside of business dealings, thank you.”
I’m taking my best friend’s word for the man’s incredible amount of control, mostly because I don’t want or need to soulgaze him, too. But I do see a bit of a hint of it in the elegantly casual, friendly but not friendly way he interacts with the servers.
He’s just generally polite with them, but he has genuine interest in me, and he’s not pretending, either. He’s not trying to do the shallow thing where you fake caring just to earn brownies and some praise from friends or inside information. (Yeah, brownies; I do a lot of baking.) I’m pretty sure, given his widely known protective streak, that it’s a case of ‘you are important to him and therefore important to me’.
“I’m pretty sure I’m not the one you want to have involved in your personal life.” Xander is either the best or worst of influences. I’m not sure which.
The strangled sound is quiet, but he’s doing a good job trying to conceal his discomfort. The servers definitely hadn’t noticed. “I suppose I’ll ask directly. I am not harassing Mr. Kaplan or wasting his time?”
It’s really sweet of him to be worried, and yeah, I’ll conspire every time with someone who also wants to see him happy. Particularly when he, so far, has avoided going behind his back like this.
It’d be fun to keep the banter going, but this has been going on for a while now and Xander’s brooding about a crush gets painful. “Oh, no, he’s interested. In fact, he keeps doing this ‘I’m happy for you and want you two to be happy but man will I never be loved’ routine every time we meet, because he’s under the impression you like me. He’s also completely oblivious to his own feelings, never mind that you’re genuinely flirting with him, so good luck, he can be really dense.”
It’s painfully familiar. But I understand how it that’s impossible, now, how we’d just hurt each other. And I do want him to be happy and feel safe.
The man closes his eyes in an upper-class version of a facepalm. “That would explain a lot.”
“I trust you not to hurt him on pain of a wizard’s wrath.” I smile sweetly, and he nods gravely, like it’s perfectly natural.
“I can’t promise a relationship free of problems, as that does not exist, but his well-being and happiness is a top priority,” he responds. And I’d known that, or I wouldn’t have come.
“Realism. I like it,” I tell him, and for the first time he relaxes.
