Xander and Faith Harris's apartment, 10.47 pm, shortly after 'back to the golden oldies'
Xander Harris got home from another of his 16-hour workdays looking forward to nothing more than a shower, a meal and sleep. Pushing the apartment door open he tossed his laptop bag onto the couch and walked in, utterly exhausted. The paperwork had really piled up while he was in Nevada, and running Al's Handymen was a lot of work anyway. But he had been made a reserve officer for a reason, and if he hadn't been there the final assault might have gotten REALLY, REALLY ugly, instead of just really ugly.
It was the sight of Tara wearing a towel around her head that stopped him. It was a large blue towel, his favourite actually, large, thick and absorbent. It was all she was wearing.
"Oh, Xander, you're home." The girl – no, having seen her in the flesh he would never think of her as that again – woman said, with only a trace of the usual shyness in her voice. She turned to face him, towelling her hair and showing no trace of the 'run screaming with her hands covering herself' response he would have expected if it had ever occurred to him he would be in this situation. She was showing everything else, of course. "Go shower and I'll get your dinner ready."
And with that she walked off to the kitchen. For a few seconds all he could think about was that she was the womanliest of the Scooby's, if there was such a word. The rest were small and slender, girlish, Willow's girlfriend 'just keep reminding yourself she's your oldest friends girlfriend' was taller and had curves that made even Faith look boyish. The bathroom was on the other side of the bedroom and, as was his habit, he just walked right in.
"Oh, Boytoy, your, oh, here, oh, did you, oh, meet Tara, oh, oh, oh…" Faith said, in an amazing show of her ability to focus while distracted. And given what the red headed Wicca was doing to her she was presumably VERY distracted.
By this stage the company manager was no longer thinking of how tired he was. He was, in truth, not having much in the way of structured thought at all. Mechanically he continued walking to the bathroom, it was the direction he was heading in anyway and he really did desperately need a shower. And food, and sleep.
'I'm turning into Giles.' He thought to himself as the hot water washed away the stresses of the day. 'Or maybe some other middle aged tweedy guy. There's three naked women in the house and all I can think about is how hot, tired and hungry I am.' The whole Mr Businessman thing was responsible, he was certain of it. Still, it beat being Mr Drunken Wife and Child Beater, which he had always thought he would be.
Willow and Faith had changed positions when he got out but were still going strong. He went back to the dining room to find Tara, now towel less, putting a meal on the table. Roast beef, potatoes, pumpkin, corn and peas, with gravy, and a beer already poured but still icy cold. He sat down, and noticed the blue towel draped over the back of the chair so he could sit back on it wearing only the towel he had around his waist without his back sticking.
"Is your food ok, we ate earlier?" He looked up and smiled without stopping eating. It was wonderful, including his favourite beer, which he had not even had stocked in the house. She looked a little nervous, but it seemed to be principally about whether he liked what he was eating. Finally he cleaned the plate, sipped some more of his beer, and spoke.
"Tara, what the fuck, and I use the term deliberately, is going on?"
"Didn't you like the beef, I thought you would like it rare rather than overdone, which isn't easy when it's not served with the others and…"
"Tara, dinner was absolutely amazing, really, I wish I ate like this all the time." The former Zeppo said patiently. "I mean while I'm eating this my oldest friend is eating my wife while you're out here naked as the day you were born and not at all shy about me…"
"Drooling? I like being nude, I never wear clothes around the house if I can avoid it." She said with the first real smile she had shown that night. It was a wonderful smile and he thought she should show it more often. "Well I was taught to respect marriage vows, so when I seduced Faith I owed you."
"Owed me?" Which was all he could think to say. This was getting surreal, in a low budget porno movie sort of way. She seduced Faith, not the other way around, dear shy Tara seduced Faith? "Owed me what?"
"Me. I had sex with your wife, so I owe you a turn." She seemed confident on this score, if less than thrilled about the consequences.
"I thought you were a lesbian?" Keep in mind that the dark haired man was still in 'stunned ox' mode to a fair degree.
"I am." She conceded. She was standing next to him now, clearing the table except for his glass. "It's been a long time since I had a woman other than Willow, but I remember the etiquette. I used to do this in high school, I seemed to be the only lesbian and the other girls all seemed to have boyfriends."
He looked up at her for a moment, noting her expression of certainty as well as the large, pink nipples. Her expression changed, as she seemed to make up her mind about something. Then she reached down and undid his towel, allowing his erection to jump up. Silently she took his hand and led him to the bedroom, where Faith was finally coming.
"Willow my love, I brought you a present." The red head looked around, noticing her oldest friend was in the house for the first time. She had been eating out the dark slayer and hadn't had an orgasm yet. Standing up she walked over to Xander and put her arms around him while kissing him.
"Tara, you always know exactly what I want." Tara MacLay had been willing to pay a debt, if necessary, but she knew her Willow and what she really wanted. And the other had wanted what was even now sliding into her so much for so long, it was the obvious thing to do. Faith was watching the pair, then looked up at the larger of the Wicca.
"Having fun?" The Bostonian asked casually.
"We should do this regularly." Was the response.
"I think we can arrange Xman's schedule that way, yeah."
"Would you like a beer while I'm getting one for myself?"
"Sounds great."
A coffee shop near UC Sunnydale, the next day.
Xander was finishing his second cup of coffee when Buffy and Faith arrived. He usually had breakfast here while doing the 'paperwork' that could be done from a laptop and notes. Which was a fair bit of it, really, and he enjoyed sitting in the shade, looking out over the lawn and trees, watching the girls go by and the breeze sway to tree tops.
"So Xander, I hear Tara came on to you." Buffy announced. She was wearing one of the t-shirts he had had made up when he stared selling franchises. Al's Handyman Service, not Xander's, to separate his real and business personas, and it sounded better to his marketing advisor.
"No, she thinks she owes me a debt she has to pay with her body, and I will NOT be collecting, now or ever." Harris the younger and wealthier was not a lot of things. Not super strong and fast, not magical, not a watcher. But he was perceptive, much more so than the rest of the group put together.
It had not taken much perception to realize that Willow's girlfriend had been gearing herself up mentally to go through with the 'I pay my debts' philosophy, rather than actually interested. His red headed oldest friend had confirmed that she really did habitually go naked in the house, but it had been at least partly in the nature of psyching herself up for the main event when she had chosen to not dress when he arrived.
"I know you think she's cute boytoy, I watched you watch her."
"Yes, but it would be wrong." He did not add that Faith really did handle all his needs anyway. That would mean that if she wasn't he would take advantage of Tara, and he wouldn't. He would rather die than take advantage of someone like that.
"So, you're not angry at her or anything?" Buffy asked. And exactly why she was here was a question he wanted to ask later.
"No, I mean Faith's been all 'Willow, come over to our place and get kinky' since high school, if I was going to get angry at her being taken up on the offer I would have said something before now." The woman he loved was not, and never had been, a nun. There were things he genuinely would object strenuously too, even divorce her for, and he had told her exactly what they were very early in the relationship. "So, buffster, what's the deal, why aren't you in class?"
"My shrink says my taste in men proves I'm crazy, and I want to get with you."
"Was that a compliment or an insult Buff, it's kinda hard to tell from here?" Sure sounded like an insult.
"No, well, he says I had Post Traumatic Stress from losing Merrick in LA, that I was loony when I came here. Hence Angel, Riley and Spike, which is so unfair, Riley was a normal guy except for the control chip implant and the genetic enhancement and the mind control drugs and…"
"Yeah B, we get the meaning." The dark slayer responded. "So why are you deciding to join us, note the use of the plural, I am learning something in my high school equivalency classes."
"I mean Buff, you've been on a all male no normal humans diet for a while now." Xander said as the extra coffee's he had ordered for everyone arrived. "Don't you think playing for both teams is a bit of a radical change to make just because of a casual comment from your psychiatrist. It's not like he actually gave hyou a prescription saying 'go out and fuck some totally normal guy and his girlfriend and all your problems will go away."
There was silence at the table.
"You mean he DID prescribe sex with us as…"
"No, well not exactly." The bottle blonde announced. "Not in so many words."
They sat sipping their drinks for a while before another comment was made. He knew why they were here now. Faith had heard the offer and been all in favour of taking it, but decided to clear it with him first. Last night was different, Faith had been openly propositioning Willow for two years, Willow and Tara since they got together.
Buffy was different, this represented a radical change of sexual orientation. So the Boston slayer had been iffy about it, and come to him for guidance, as she always did. It was one of the things that held them together, mutual respect that was genuine and very new to both.
"Buffy, don't take this the wrong way but I want at least a second opinion on this before we try anything." Which would give them an emphatic NO, he was certain. The blonde slayer was in far to fragile a mental state, it would be exploiting her sexually and he wouldn't. And him saying no meant Faith keeping her hands to herself, she was faithful to him by her own definition of the term.
"Ok."