*****

"Xander! You have a visitor!"

The brunette groaned. Just what he needed. A mother on one of her up days *and* someone expecting him to be hospitable. He was barely *awake*. Sighing, he carefully moved his legs out of bed and began the slow process of getting the rest of his body out of bed. Then he looked up and saw his visitor.

"Hey. I brought breakfast." Oz moved warily, as if Xander was going to leap out of bed and attack him at any moment.

Xander sighed and snuggled back into his cozy cocoon. "What are you doing here? Back in town for a quick round of break-Willow's-heart-again before traipsing back off to parts unknown?"

It was Oz's turn to sigh. "Can we talk? I mean, I need to talk to someone. Will's not an option. I can't talk to Devon about this. I tried to go to Giles, but Willow and Buffy were there. I don't want them to know I'm back. Not yet. Somehow, I ended up here. I felt like I was pulled here or something."

The body in bed curled around his pillow. "Gee, thanks. Make me feel needed."

"It's not that. It's just..." Frustrated, Oz ran his fingers through his hair. "It's not something I wanted to dump on you. That's not what you deserve."

"What are you --"

Xander's mother's cheery voice broke into their discussion. "Xander? I'm leaving now. Clean up any messes you make!" He closed his eyes and rolled over onto his stomach, pressing his face against his pillow. Maybe if he was really, really lucky, he would suffocate. Her up times only served to remind him how really bad her down times could be. He tried to look at the bright side. At least Oz wasn't seeing her during one of her down times when all Xander could think about was what life would be like if his mother was on lithium.

"Hey." The side of his bed dipped, and a warm hand settled on his back. "Are you okay?"

Oh. Right. Oz was here. Wanting to talk about... Xander frowned and pulled his face away from his pillow. "What did you want to talk about?"

Oz shrugged. "I'm not really sure. It's just been a while since..." He grew perplexed, obviously unsure how to finish his sentence. "It's been a while." Now Oz stood, stretching. "I do have to say it's nice to be in an actual house. Living in a van leaves a lot to be desired."

"I remember."

"Huh?"

"Well, okay, not in a *van*. But over the summer, I spent more than a couple of nights in my car." Xander paused, clearly debating whether to say more. "Want to take a shower?"

Oz blinked. "*What*?"

"That was one thing that surprised me. How much I missed nice, hot showers." Xander's voice took on a dreamy quality that matched the expression on his face. "With lots of shampoo. And a loofah. And fluffy towels. And --"

"Okay, I get the idea. You want me to bathe." The redhead frowned. "Not that I can blame you. I'm sure I smell nice and ripe."

Xander shook his head. "That's not it. I just thought --"

"Hey. Kidding." Oz stood. "And thanks. You're right. A shower sounds like a very good thing right now."

~~~

Half an hour later, Oz reappeared in the basement. "Okay, I'm ready for a nap."

"Great. You're on your own. If you want to hang here and watch tv or sleep or read or whatever, go for it. But don't answer the door. I have to go."

Oz blinked. "Huh?"

Xander looked up from his backpack. "Job. Me. Work. Now." He glanced at his watch. "Crap. Late." Grabbing his keys, he quickly slipped on his jacket. "And the door thing is nothing personal. It's a Harris family thing. I'll be back in a few hours."

~~~

A few hours turned into the rest of the day. By the time Xander returned to his house that evening, Oz was pacing restlessly. "You're back!"

Xander smiled at the smaller man's enthusiasm. "Yeah. Did you miss me or something?"

"Actually, yeah."

That bit of information clearly startled Xander. "Oh. Um, okay."

"Your mom didn't seem too freaked about having a strange guy wandering around the house."

"Yeah, well, I think she got used to it when Spike stayed here."

Oz blinked. "Spike? *Spike* Spike?"

"Yup. He's kind of on our side now. It's a long story." He moved to the pile of laundry at the foot of his bed and pulled out a few garments. He held them up as if they explained everything. "Shower."

~~~

When Xander returned to his basement room, he found Oz stretched out on his stomach on Xander's bed, feet bobbing to the music on the radio, head bent over a magazine someone had forgotten at some point. "So. You wanted to talk."

Oz shoved the magazine to the floor and climbed off the bed. "Yeah. I did. But now I don't."

"Oz --"

"It's not because I'm avoiding things. It's just... I'm just really tired right now and not thinking too clearly. You would think that I would be all rested up since I didn't *do* anything today, but I'm not."

Xander sighed. "Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be one of those incredibly draining emotional discussions?"

"Because it is."

The matter-of-fact way Oz delivered that line startled Xander. If *Oz* was preparing for a heavy, exhausting discussion -- somehow, Xander knew it wasn't going to be a confrontation -- then maybe he had better take the warning seriously. He sighed. "Okay. Sleep tonight, big discussion tomorrow?" Oz nodded in agreement. "Good."

Oz moved to the easy chair. "Is this okay? I mean, if I sleep here?"

Xander shrugged, fluffing pillows as he spoke. "This bed is big enough for two. Or three. Buffy, Willow, and Anya all slept in it a while back."

"Together?"

"Yeah. Riley's pals --" He stopped. "You probably don't care about that. But we all had a sleepover. Giles and I were on the floor. It was big fun."

Oz sighed. "Sounds like a lot has happened."

"Pretty much." Now Xander sighed. "Look. It's been a long day for me. If you want to crash on the chair, that's fine. But I'm going to crawl in this nice, comfy bed. As long as you don't try anything funny, you're welcome to join me."

Later, Xander would realize that Oz stood there with an odd look on his face for a long time before shaking off his daze. "Okay. I'll try to refrain from groping you."

~~~

To Xander's relief, he had managed to fall asleep quickly and soundly. Since he had started... dating Anya, he had noticed that the presence of another body in his bed usually prevented him from doing so. But this time, he had barely remembered about Oz until he emerged from slumber.

But even as he attempted to awaken, he realized something was... off. Different. He remembered Oz was there, and he attributed the strangeness to that, shutting his eyes as he tried to go back to sleep.

And then it hit him. Oz wasn't just in bed with him. Oz was wrapped around his legs, carefully, deliberately *humping* him. Xander weighed his options. He could "mistake" Oz for Anya. He could pretend to wake up loudly, thereby giving Oz enough time to regain his senses and pull away before Xander officially acknowledged consciousness.

The discovery of his third -- and, as it turned out, final -- option was a fluke. He slowly, carefully opened his eyes just enough to be able to *see* what was going on.

And found Oz gazing directly at his face. And felt one pale hand creep under his shirt hem, thumb gently prodding his navel.

"Um, Oz?"

The smaller man just continued his movements. "Hmm?"

"Uh, do you mind --" Xander gasped as that hand on his belly dipped under the waistband of his boxers. "What's going on here?"

Oz shrugged, still grinding against Xander. "If you can't figure it out, I guess I'm doing something wrong."

"Oz..."

The movement finally stopped. "Right. Okay. Sorry. That was completely uncalled for." He shifted, sitting on the edge of the bed and facing away from Xander. "So I guess this is the part where I leave and hope you never get mad enough at me to tell everyone about this, right?"

Xander sighed, still sprawled on his bed. "Look. You just show up here out of the blue after being missing for months. And then I wake up, and you're wrapped around me, doing something to me that would be illegal if this was a strip club." He sighed again. "Look, I'm not awake. Do you think we can talk about this later?"

To Xander's surprise, Oz glanced over his shoulder at the prone body. The brunette realized he had expected the older man to walk out without another word. Instead, Oz shrugged. And then moved back under the blankets. "Is this okay?"

Xander released a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Almost."

Neither man moved for several seconds. "Xander?"

Instead of answering, Xander draped his arm around Oz's body before wrapping his own legs between and around Oz's. And began to mimic the careful, deliberate grind that had pulled him awake. "There."

~ the end ~