You Can’t Hurry Love

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When Xander finally returned home, it was well past dark. There was light in the front room, indicating that someone had waited up for him. Sure enough, when he stepped inside, both Saelen and Pairdra were sitting at the table, finishing off dinner. Xander looked around, but didn’t see the kids. They were probably asleep.

“They’re with Rhash’nin,” Saelen said, not looking up. He’d asked the young warrior turned teacher to take care of the kids for a couple of days. They liked her well enough, and he, Pairdra and Xander needed some time to talk.

Xander nodded and started to walk toward the stairs. Before he got there, however, Pairdra reached out and stopped him. Xander twisted away but didn’t continue. “What?” He growled.

Pairdra lifted an eyebrow. Saelen sighed and stood up. “Care to explain what this afternoon was about?”

No, not really. Xander didn’t see a way out of this, though. Both siv looked serious. He could see their point. After all, he had pretty well attacked Pairdra. Actually, he’d claimed him as his mate. Even Xander, in all his obliviousness, knew what such a bite meant. Still, that didn’t mean he was happy about it.

“Fine.” He flopped down on a bench on the other side of the room. If they wanted to talk, he’d accommodate them.

“So?” Pairdra asked.

Xander looked at the floor. Damn, this was hard. How did you tell somebody you beat them up because you thought you might want them? It just as easily could have been Saelen; the only reason it was Pairdra was because the dark siv was more aggressive and easier to provoke. Saelen would have tried to talk through it. “I…”

Saelen watched Xander squirm. “Did Pairdra do something to offend y’? Y’ do know what…”

Exist. “No, it’s not that, and yes, I know,” Xander muttered.

“Then what?” Pairdra pushed.

Saelen watched as Xander got up to pace the floor. “I… I don’t know!” He’d spent hours out by the sea, trying to clear his head. He thought he’d gotten there, but apparently he hadn’t. Now that he was in front of them, he didn’t know what to do.

He could admit to himself that he was deathly afraid, both of them and of himself. Whatever he’d felt when his and Anya’s marriage was getting closer was nothing compared to this. It frightened him to care so much for them, for two people that didn’t need him. Anya had needed him, in some way. She had to have someone to balance out her utterly inhuman nature. Xander had been a teacher to Anya, a guide in the sticky world of interpersonal relations. But Saelen and Pairdra didn’t need him. Why was he with them? He felt like a dependent, someone they took care of like Mai’zi or Hainien.

On top of all that, he still didn’t understand the dynamics of this sort of relationship. You didn’t just waltz in on an established couple and flop down in their bed! That just wasn’t done. He should know; he’d nearly ruined his best friendship by doing just that.

Saelen and Pairdra looked at each other in surprise. They wondered if Xander knew he was talking out loud. Although some of what he was saying made no sense at all, they did pick up enough to know what was causing him so many problems.

“Xander.”

Xander stopped to look at Pairdra, who had spoken his name.

“What?”

Pairdra got up, followed by Saelen. As one, they picked up the frantic youth and carried him upstairs. He was already talking when he landed on their bed.

“Huh? Hey, guys! What’s going on?” Xander squawked.

Saelen curled up on one side of Xander, with Pairdra on the other. “We’re getting some sleep, because we’re tired. Y’should rest too, since y’spent the day practicing,” Saelen said to Xander’s face.

Xander turned over, only to be faced with Pairdra. “Just go to sleep, Xander.”

“But we…I…gods this is insane!” Xander cried.

Saelen gave up and clamped one hand over Xander’s mouth. Pairdra reached over and draped his arm across Xander to hold Saelen. Xander tried to talk from behind Saelen’s hand, but couldn’t get much out. After a few minutes, he looked over at Pairdra. The siv looked asleep. Still, he couldn’t get away from the two of them. Oh hell.

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When Xander woke up the next morning, he was still in the middle of the two of them. They were both still asleep, and still holding him so he wouldn’t go anywhere. So much for the theory that it had all been a bad dream. “Um…”

Saelen snorted and softly kicked Xander in the calf. “Ouch!”

“He always kicks. Y’have to let him sleep facing the wall or the edge of the bed,” Pairdra whispered. “I’ve been getting kicked for decades.”

Xander squeaked when he heard Pairdra’s voice. Looking up, he saw the siv grinning down at him. “Sleep well?”

“Awk! This is—“

“Insane. Yes, y’ve said that a lot lately. I don’t know why, though,” Pairdra remarked. He brought his free hand up to rub the top of Xander’s head in a fond gesture.

“Because it is!” Xander replied.

“Why?” Pairdra asked, moving closer to Xander.

Xander resisted relaxing and letting Pairdra do whatever he wanted. “Because y’two are…”

“What? Together? Yes, we are. Y’can be with us too, though,” Pairdra whispered. “We’d like that, y’know.”

Xander swallowed. “Yeah, I know. I just…don’t wanna rush things, y’know?”

Pairdra laughed silently. No need to worry about that. At the rate Xander was going, the kids would be well grown before they got around to anything. “I don’t think y’need to worry about that, Xander.”

Saelen stirred and kicked Xander again. “Switch places with me?” Xander pleaded with Pairdra.

The siv shook his head. “Nope. I’m enjoying not getting kicked every few minutes.”

“I heard that,” Saelen muttered. “Could y’two be quiet?”

“Doesn’t like mornings either,” Pairdra whispered. That got him a thwap on the head. “Hey, it’s true! Y’re no count until nearly midday.” Saelen reached over and swatted Pairdra’s head yet again.

"Excuse me? You're the one that's no count in the mornings. I always have to make sure you don't eat the soap and wash with the fruit!" Saelen said, poking Pairdra across Xander. "Just because I want to sleep a little right now means nothing!"

Xander lay still, acting as a barrier between the two playfully arguing siv. Saelen continued to send a few insults over to Pairdra, who thumped him with his tail. Finally, though, Xander couldn’t keep silent any more.

“Do y’two argue in bed all the time?”

The pair fell stopped arguing for a moment. “No, sometimes we--“

Saelen slapped a hand over Pairdra’s mouth. “Get along just fine, Xander.” Xander grinned at Pairdra, knowing what the siv was going to say.

“I see. Well, then, by all means, continue.” Xander extricated himself from the bed and went downstairs to find something to eat. He was glad the kids were off visiting Rhash’nin. While he realized that they thought that he, Saelen and Pairdra were all together; he didn’t feel like trying to explain anything to them just yet.

When Saelen and Pairdra came downstairs a few minutes later, he handed them bowls of fruit and told them he was going out for a swim. They nodded, knowing that swimming was his way of clearing his mind and thinking about things.

The water was warm and calm when Xander got there. Sunlight glinted off bright blue water, calling to him. Stripping off his clothes, Xander dove into the waves, heading up the shoreline. He’d gotten back into pretty good shape, swimming several times per week, and could go for some distance now. That was good, since he figured it would take a while to clear his mind.

Back at the house, Saelen and Pairdra finished breakfast and talked. “What do y’think?” Saelen asked.

Pairdra thought for a moment. “It’ll be fine, I think.” Saelen nodded his agreement.

“We should go get the kids,” Pairdra added. “Mai’zi’s going to want to swim.”

“Yeah, she’ll be mad if we leave her there,” Saelen agreed.

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Xander saw Saelen, Pairdra and the kids and angled toward shore. He stopped when Saelen waded out and handed him Mai’zi.

“She wants to swim,” Saelen explained.

“Adyeta! I wanna swim with y’,” Mai’zi cried. Xander grinned and took the little girl. She was a natural and had taken no time to learn how to dive through the water. Xander still stayed right with her, since she was so small. While he entertained the little girl, Pairdra and Saelen waded in the shallow water, splashing Hainien and laughing at his antics. From the way the baby acted around water, Xander figured he had another fish in the family. If only he could get the adults to learn!

Mai’zi tired pretty quickly, so Xander scooped her up and headed for shore. Saelen collected their clothes, since the swimmers were too wet to wear them, and the family headed for home. The sun would set soon and Xander wanted to get Mai’zi bathed, dried and inside before she caught a chill from the water.

Unfortunately Mai’zi had other plans. She took great delight in scampering all around the house, avoiding the grasping hands of her parents. All three of them chased her around, threatening all sorts of punishments, but she just kept avoiding them, giggling and darting here and there. Finally, though, Pairdra cornered her in an unused bedroom and hauled her to the bath.

“So, who do y’think will win?” Xander asked Saelen.

“Oh, she will,” Saelen answered.

Sure enough, when Mai’zi ran, clean but still wet and unclothed, out of the bath house, Pairdra followed looking like he’d been put through the ringer. “Next time y’do the bathing,” he muttered at Xander. Xander just grinned. He knew better than to try to stay dry when giving the girl a bath. It was something Pairdra hadn’t quite picked up on yet.

Saelen busied himself shoving little bits of fruit into Hainien. The boy had gotten big enough to eat small solid food, and they were encouraging him to do so. Nobody, including Hainien, really liked the mashed up stuff.

It was several hours later before they got the kids into bed. “People kept telling me kids were a full-time job, but I never believed them,” Xander commented as they closed the door on an already asleep Mai’zi.

Saelen smiled. “Yeah, and one we’d managed to avoid for more than a hundred years.”

Xander shrugged. “Y’take me, y’take the kids.”

“We’ll, what do y’say, ‘cope and deal?’” Pairdra replied lightly.

Xander turned to walk upstairs but was stopped by Pairdra. A pointed look had him following them back toward their room. Oh yeah, we was staying there now. Somehow he’d managed to conveniently forget that.

He wasn’t sure what to expect out of the evening, but his new…whatever they were surprised him by simply piling on the bed, with him mixed in, and settling down to sleep. Xander was getting used to the siv habit of sleeping in mixed up, bodies here-and-there messes, so this wasn’t anything new. The occasional caress from a wandering hand was, but he didn’t mind. It felt nice, like a reassurance that he was wanted.

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When he woke up, Xander found himself between two considerably more affectionate siv. He lay there motionlessly for a couple of minutes, getting used to the feeling of bodies moving around his. He could tell that Pairdra and Saelen were kissing, and now and then an arm or leg bumped into him.

When a hand pulled him over and on top of someone, though, Xander was roused out of his stupor. “Sleep well?” Saelen asked, grinning up at him.

Xander smiled weakly in return. “Um, yeah. Y’know, I’m probably heavy,” He said, squirming to get off the siv. Saelen just wrapped his arms around Xander and pulled him down for a kiss.

Xander wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of a physical relationship, but he certainly wasn’t expecting it to be so…pleasant. Kissing Saelen wasn’t anything like kissing Anya; thinner lips, a more agile tongue, and a lot more hair made him very aware that what he was kissing wasn’t human. Nimble hands pulled at him and Xander found himself in Pairdra’s arms. He was as different from Saelen as Saelen was from Anya, oddly gentler and far slower than his mate. Xander found the contrast intriguing, and not at all what he would have expected from the dark siv. He didn’t mind, though, just went with it.

Saelen watched the two of them, smiling fondly, before joining back in. He pushed Pairdra over, clambering on top of him and pressing him down into the bed. Xander sat back, studying them as they writhed next to him. After a moment, Saelen looked up at him expectantly. “Xander?”

Pairdra huffed and grabbed Xander’s arm, pulling him back to the pair. He found himself pressed against both of them, rolling around on the bed. Hands grasped and tickled, caressed and fondled. Xander was impressed with himself that he didn’t even scream when someone brushed against his growing erection.

Saelen nipped at Xander’s fingers, biting the thick, sensitive pads and making him squirm. He hadn’t thought that his hands would be particularly erogenous, but then again he’d not done a whole lot of investigating lately. Xander was so distracted by Saelen that he barely jumped when Pairdra’s hand closed around his cock and began a slow, soft stroking. It felt very different than before, with the added fur and thick skin, but not at all unpleasant.

Determined to participate, Xander reached for Saelen, biting him gently on the arm to get him to let go of Xander’s hand. The red siv grinned and wriggled away, only to come back a moment later and start tickling Xander. He laughed and squirmed, attempting to avoid Saelen’s hands. He couldn’t though, because Pairdra’s free arm reached around him and brought him flush against the dark siv’s body. He froze for a moment, feeling Pairdra’s body hard against his own, but relaxed and pushed back, eliciting a hiss from the siv.

Saelen came up to kiss Xander, at the same time capturing his hands so Xander couldn’t retaliate. Eventually Xander freed himself and reached down to attempt on Saelen what Pairdra was doing to him. He’d never tried it on another guy, but it couldn’t be that difficult. It wasn’t, judging by Saelen’s moan and thrust into his hand.

Xander began to move faster against Pairdra, getting closer and closer to orgasm. He could feel it swelling at the base of his spine, making his nerves sing. Pairdra twisted his hand suddenly and Xander cried out as he came, thrusting hard against Pairdra. As he shuddered, Pairdra pushed against him and came as well. Saelen followed shortly thereafter, muffling his scream against Xander’s arm.

Xander fought against the drowsiness that kept dragging him down, knowing that they’d need to clean up. The idea of leaving come to dry in his fur was distinctly unappealing. He tried to get up, but Saelen held him down. “Where are’y going?”

“Clean up. Don’t wanna stay sticky,” Xander mumbled.

“What? Why would y’be sticky?” Pairdra asked.

Xander stared at them in disbelief. They didn’t mind? He looked down, prepared to point out just what they’d been doing. But he didn’t find anything. Nothing at all. What the… “Um…don’t we…I mean…humans usually…”

Saelen looked at Pairdra. Apparently Xander was still having difficulties differentiating siv and human bodies, in terms of what they did. “What are y’talking about?”

Xander groaned. It didn’t matter that he’d just had sex with them, having a sex talk was embarrassing. “Um, humans usually…produce semen when they come.” He used the personally awkward but more accurate term so that they’d know what he was talking about.

“Oh,” Saelen said, thinking. “I think that’s where humans and siv differ, Xander. Actually, I think siv are different from a lot of species in that regard. We don’t release semen unless we’re mating.”

Xander stared again. “Um, and what we did was…”

“Mating,” Pairdra said, “but different. The fluid isn’t released unless the mating is for reproduction. We don’t produce it unless we’re mating with a female.”

“Oh,” Xander murmured. Well, wasn’t that handy. No jizz, no mess. Had he tried to jack off at some point, he supposed he would have figured that out. It didn’t matter now. He lay back in the bed, processing the new changes to his body he’d just learned about. It did explain why he hadn’t had any wet dreams since getting here. Even if he had, he never would have known it because there wasn’t any evidence.

Unfortunately for them, Mai’zi woke up a few minutes later and demanded that Adyeta come get her. Xander dragged himself out of bed and pulled on some clothes. He loved his daughter dearly, but she had absolutely horrible timing.

“Adyeta!” Mai’zi squealed as he entered her room. “Chashol!”

“Bossy little thing, aren’t y’?” Xander muttered as he lifted her up to carry her downstairs. As he passed the bedroom, he called for the others to take care of Hainien. Mai’zi’s yelling would have woken the little one up.

Mai’zi was pacified by a bowl of cut-up chashol fruits and Xander sat back to think. He wondered what his friends would say about him now. He’d gone from zeppo to monkeyboy, from the fiancé of a female ex-demon to the lover of two male siv, from running scared away from children to adopting two of them.

Yeah, he’d changed a little. It made him wonder about things, though. How much of whom he was consisted of where he was? In Sunnydale he’d been hyper vigilant and paranoid, always watching for the bad guy, the vampire around the corner and the trick up someone’s sleeve. Out here, he was relaxed and content. Other than the war they’d just lost, his life was pretty much peaceful and there weren’t a lot of dangers to avoid on a daily basis. Maybe this was what life was like for most people, if they didn’t live on the Hellmouth. The most important problem in his life was who to get romantically involved with. There wasn’t a sword dangling over his head, or something after his throat.

In a way, he wished that his friends were here, rather than him being there. What would Buffy be like in a world that didn’t expect her to save it? How would Willow be in a place that didn’t need her magic? Could Dawn grow up normal and not scared of her own shadow, because no one here cared if she was the key? Those questions nagged at him, more now than in the past. Despite the initial threats to his life, he liked it here. He just wanted to see his friends again. Well, maybe not Anya. He was still sure that somehow she’d been responsible for this. On that front, it didn’t matter that he was happy; she had sent him to another dimension!

Mai’zi caught his attention by throwing her bowl at him. “More!”

Laughing, he peeled and tore up another chashol for the growing girl. She eagerly sucked on the fruits before chewing them up, delighting in Xander’s disgusted expression. She knew it bothered him when she did it, but it was fun making him squirm. “Y’know I don’t like that, Mai’zi. Why do y’keep doing it?”

“Cause it’s fun, Adyeta,” Mai’zi answered. “Almost as much fun as getting Hainien’s food in Pairdra’s fur!”

Xander shook his head. The kids certainly did like messing with them, each in their own way. Pairdra they kept dirtying, him they just annoyed by eating funny, and Saelen—who was the most easygoing around them, they got to by not obeying even the simplest of requests. He’d never seen the siv so angry as when Mai’zi determinedly refused to get dressed one morning. He had argued with her for two hours before Pairdra calmly picked up the little girl and dressed her. He then handed her to Saelen and told him to take her to school, and that was that. Saelen stood there for a full minute with his mouth open. Xander had laughed his ass off.

When Pairdra came down holding Hainien, Xander made a hasty exit with Mai’zi for the sea. They were going swimming again, and Xander really didn’t want to hear Pairdra fuss again when Hainien threw baby food into his fur. Let Saelen put up with the groaning and bitching.

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