Pleasant Surprise
Apr. 25th, 2022 04:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerMain Points:
Buffy/Devil May Cry/Resident Evil/Background NCIS Crossover
Chapter Summary: Xander's not used to this kind of thing.
Word Count: 1208
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Leon/Xander
Midway through a story about Hunnigan and how they’d probably get along (because vague stories about his coworkers don’t violate the NDA and he suspects Rosenberg has the clearance even though he was unable to find her file; he’d checked, twice) Miss Rosenberg disappears into the hallway, only pausing to snag the chocolate she’d yet to accept. He’d tried not to take her choice to not take the chocolate personally, but it was hard when this was all so personal. Maybe this is an improvement, though her not even staying through the end of his sentence still sends some mixed signals. He’s disappointed for all of two seconds, because he’d thought they were getting along fairly well, before he realizes exactly why. Suddenly he’s full of nervous energy and starts tapping his foot in the hopes it’ll get some of it out so he isn’t immediately obvious. It’s ridiculous; sure, he’s been a little nervous before, because he hasn’t really gone out of his way recently to make friends, so showing Xander his fairly empty apartment or asking if he wants to hang out were a little intimidating to start with. But the nervous butterflies weren’t anywhere as bad as right now. It’s not even that much higher stakes; sure, he can mess it up, but they’ve already both proved that they care and they’re invested, so he’s pretty sure Redgrave will forgive him even if he does make an ass of himself.
“Hey, Xander! We got you a surprise present!” She’s very chipper, and Leon tries to stifle a laugh, because yep, he gets the feeling he’ll get along fine with her. Even then, if the half-devil’s paying attention, he will still probably have heard him, no matter how quiet he tries to be, so he might have given himself away.
“Can it wait, pretty please, Willow Tree? I am starving,” Redgrave whines, and Leon hides a fond smile. Nope, he hadn’t noticed, because Xander’s gotten into the Food Tunnel Vision state.
“The surprise includes food. Get in there.” From the sound of it, Willow shoves him, because the next thing there’s that gorgeous face he’s been wanting to see. Xander stumbles into the room rolling his eye and clearly ready to collapse into the nearest horizontal surface. Willow kicks the door shut behind him.
He’s so tired, from the looks of things, it takes a moment or two for him to even comprehend what he’s seeing, at which point the stunned, blank look on his face doesn’t change much. The eye, blue and beautiful, just widens a little more.
Leon gets up quickly, pulling out the second chair like a gentleman for Redgrave to sink into, boneless. He does with a groan followed by a yawn, but from the way he’s trying not to close his eye, he’s not entirely sure what he’s seeing is real.
“They, uh. They didn’t kidnap you?” he asks, and—yeah, actually, that is kind of what it looked and sounded like. Oops.
“If anything, I kidnapped myself.” It makes absolutely no sense, but then, he’s nervous and it’s the kind of random, inane thing either of them would say. It makes Xander laugh, and that gives him the boost of confidence he needs. “I wanted to make it clear you’re not the only one who can pull off a surprise.” Xander finds his smirk attractive, he’s pretty sure, given the blush as he looks away.
“You’re terrible.” The insult has all the impact of a dry pool noodle, given the tone and the fact that Xander’s grinning too.
That’s a good enough transition. “Pizza offering?” There’s a smaller box on top, a brownie. Willow had suggested it and he had absolutely no reason to turn down the advice. From the hungry look in Xander’s eyes as he sets aside his exhaustion for the time being, he’d made good decisions twice over.
The door opens forcefully, not quite slamming into the cabinets. “You’re definitely meant for each other,” the Slayer, who he hasn’t met, announces. He’s not surprised, really—that there’s apparently been gossip about him and Xander, that she’d heard the soft pun through the door with Slayer hearing, or that food is liable to attract hungry teenagers with a heightened ability to sniff it out. What he does know is that if he doesn’t act quickly, Redgrave might not end up getting any.
“This one is just for the handsome gentleman right here, but I think Willow mentioned something about ordering pizza for all of you as well?” And just as soon as she was summoned, she’s gone, with a smile and a wave, closing the door as gently behind her as a woman on a mission for pizza can be.
Xander, meanwhile, has gone quieter than normal the instant he’d been given a compliment, blush visible in the faded overhead lights. He hesitates, then reaches out a hand. Instantly, Leon meets him, lacing fingers through Xander’s. Some people might think that’s kiddy, like he’s taking this too slow, but he’s always been a romantic, and it sounds like Xander is too, and also not everything is about sex. This feels right.
“Miss Rosenberg said she cleared your schedule, so if you wanna eat, nap, or work on this massive project, it’s whatever you want to do, babe.”
“Ugh,” Xander replies to the pet name, smiling even as he’s shaking his head. “And here I thought I was going to turn into a puddle of goo with your flirting before.” He reaches out and opens the pizza box with his free hand, snagging a slice and stuffing it all into his mouth. He looks a little like a squirrel, but from the rigorous chewing, he was just that hungry.
“I can tune it down,” Leon offers, because he’s still feeling his way through this one.
The emphatic “Mmmf,” combined with far more energetic shake of the head says that the answer is ‘absolutely not’.
“You’d still make for a very attractive puddle of goo,” the Agent adds, and Xander chokes a little before swallowing the whole thing down.
“That’s it; if I end up a goo-monster in the next month, I am blaming you,” he decides, rolling closer to Leon’s chair until they’re side by side. Just how it should be. “And yeah, I mean, I didn’t talk about your looks specifically, but I kinda didn’t hide my crush very well, so the Slayers and Witches and Watchers pretty much all know you as the ‘cute agent’. I think there’s even a betting pool, but I don’t know what it entails.” He rambles for a while, relaxing and occasionally taking a break to stuff his face. Leon eats a single slice just because Xander insists and responds—about the latest movie trailer, about that one they’d watched last year, about what his immediate schedule looks like—as needed. He’s gotten fluent in tired, rambly Redgrave.
And then, when Xander’s eaten his fill and curls up on his chair and leans over to bury his face in Leon’s neck, the agent promises, “I won’t let you fall over or roll away.”
Redgrave snorts and curls in closer and promptly falls asleep, and Leon tries not to think about what are probably bloodstains on the half-devil’s clothes or the possibly literal interpretation of the words ‘punching bag’.
Buffy/Devil May Cry/Resident Evil/Background NCIS Crossover
Chapter Summary: Xander's not used to this kind of thing.
Word Count: 1208
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Leon/Xander
Midway through a story about Hunnigan and how they’d probably get along (because vague stories about his coworkers don’t violate the NDA and he suspects Rosenberg has the clearance even though he was unable to find her file; he’d checked, twice) Miss Rosenberg disappears into the hallway, only pausing to snag the chocolate she’d yet to accept. He’d tried not to take her choice to not take the chocolate personally, but it was hard when this was all so personal. Maybe this is an improvement, though her not even staying through the end of his sentence still sends some mixed signals. He’s disappointed for all of two seconds, because he’d thought they were getting along fairly well, before he realizes exactly why. Suddenly he’s full of nervous energy and starts tapping his foot in the hopes it’ll get some of it out so he isn’t immediately obvious. It’s ridiculous; sure, he’s been a little nervous before, because he hasn’t really gone out of his way recently to make friends, so showing Xander his fairly empty apartment or asking if he wants to hang out were a little intimidating to start with. But the nervous butterflies weren’t anywhere as bad as right now. It’s not even that much higher stakes; sure, he can mess it up, but they’ve already both proved that they care and they’re invested, so he’s pretty sure Redgrave will forgive him even if he does make an ass of himself.
“Hey, Xander! We got you a surprise present!” She’s very chipper, and Leon tries to stifle a laugh, because yep, he gets the feeling he’ll get along fine with her. Even then, if the half-devil’s paying attention, he will still probably have heard him, no matter how quiet he tries to be, so he might have given himself away.
“Can it wait, pretty please, Willow Tree? I am starving,” Redgrave whines, and Leon hides a fond smile. Nope, he hadn’t noticed, because Xander’s gotten into the Food Tunnel Vision state.
“The surprise includes food. Get in there.” From the sound of it, Willow shoves him, because the next thing there’s that gorgeous face he’s been wanting to see. Xander stumbles into the room rolling his eye and clearly ready to collapse into the nearest horizontal surface. Willow kicks the door shut behind him.
He’s so tired, from the looks of things, it takes a moment or two for him to even comprehend what he’s seeing, at which point the stunned, blank look on his face doesn’t change much. The eye, blue and beautiful, just widens a little more.
Leon gets up quickly, pulling out the second chair like a gentleman for Redgrave to sink into, boneless. He does with a groan followed by a yawn, but from the way he’s trying not to close his eye, he’s not entirely sure what he’s seeing is real.
“They, uh. They didn’t kidnap you?” he asks, and—yeah, actually, that is kind of what it looked and sounded like. Oops.
“If anything, I kidnapped myself.” It makes absolutely no sense, but then, he’s nervous and it’s the kind of random, inane thing either of them would say. It makes Xander laugh, and that gives him the boost of confidence he needs. “I wanted to make it clear you’re not the only one who can pull off a surprise.” Xander finds his smirk attractive, he’s pretty sure, given the blush as he looks away.
“You’re terrible.” The insult has all the impact of a dry pool noodle, given the tone and the fact that Xander’s grinning too.
That’s a good enough transition. “Pizza offering?” There’s a smaller box on top, a brownie. Willow had suggested it and he had absolutely no reason to turn down the advice. From the hungry look in Xander’s eyes as he sets aside his exhaustion for the time being, he’d made good decisions twice over.
The door opens forcefully, not quite slamming into the cabinets. “You’re definitely meant for each other,” the Slayer, who he hasn’t met, announces. He’s not surprised, really—that there’s apparently been gossip about him and Xander, that she’d heard the soft pun through the door with Slayer hearing, or that food is liable to attract hungry teenagers with a heightened ability to sniff it out. What he does know is that if he doesn’t act quickly, Redgrave might not end up getting any.
“This one is just for the handsome gentleman right here, but I think Willow mentioned something about ordering pizza for all of you as well?” And just as soon as she was summoned, she’s gone, with a smile and a wave, closing the door as gently behind her as a woman on a mission for pizza can be.
Xander, meanwhile, has gone quieter than normal the instant he’d been given a compliment, blush visible in the faded overhead lights. He hesitates, then reaches out a hand. Instantly, Leon meets him, lacing fingers through Xander’s. Some people might think that’s kiddy, like he’s taking this too slow, but he’s always been a romantic, and it sounds like Xander is too, and also not everything is about sex. This feels right.
“Miss Rosenberg said she cleared your schedule, so if you wanna eat, nap, or work on this massive project, it’s whatever you want to do, babe.”
“Ugh,” Xander replies to the pet name, smiling even as he’s shaking his head. “And here I thought I was going to turn into a puddle of goo with your flirting before.” He reaches out and opens the pizza box with his free hand, snagging a slice and stuffing it all into his mouth. He looks a little like a squirrel, but from the rigorous chewing, he was just that hungry.
“I can tune it down,” Leon offers, because he’s still feeling his way through this one.
The emphatic “Mmmf,” combined with far more energetic shake of the head says that the answer is ‘absolutely not’.
“You’d still make for a very attractive puddle of goo,” the Agent adds, and Xander chokes a little before swallowing the whole thing down.
“That’s it; if I end up a goo-monster in the next month, I am blaming you,” he decides, rolling closer to Leon’s chair until they’re side by side. Just how it should be. “And yeah, I mean, I didn’t talk about your looks specifically, but I kinda didn’t hide my crush very well, so the Slayers and Witches and Watchers pretty much all know you as the ‘cute agent’. I think there’s even a betting pool, but I don’t know what it entails.” He rambles for a while, relaxing and occasionally taking a break to stuff his face. Leon eats a single slice just because Xander insists and responds—about the latest movie trailer, about that one they’d watched last year, about what his immediate schedule looks like—as needed. He’s gotten fluent in tired, rambly Redgrave.
And then, when Xander’s eaten his fill and curls up on his chair and leans over to bury his face in Leon’s neck, the agent promises, “I won’t let you fall over or roll away.”
Redgrave snorts and curls in closer and promptly falls asleep, and Leon tries not to think about what are probably bloodstains on the half-devil’s clothes or the possibly literal interpretation of the words ‘punching bag’.
