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Fic: Happenstance 2/4
After the revelation of the summer, Riley has to go back to work.
Intro to Psych was finally over and Riley sighed with relief as the last of the students left. He rolled his head on his shoulders in an attempt to release the tension in his neck. He tried to make the best of it, but he really hated TAing for that class. It wasn't just the material, although listening to the same lectures he'd sat through last semester was excruciatingly boring. No, Riley's real problem with the class was Parker Abrams. Part Three
He hated the man. Riley had seen him around campus last year, seducing young women and leaving them hurt, then bragging about his conquests to his friends. It disgusted him and always had. This year, the disgust was tainted with a new exasperation. Because Riley Finn suddenly found Parker attractive. Ever since Graham's coming out party this summer, Riley found himself noticing certain men, especially ones who resembled the stripper who'd started it all. Parker was definitely Riley's type. Tall, with a strong, lean frame and brown hair. Worse, Parker had beautiful eyes and an easy smile. If only the man weren't a total ass, Riley could have happily fantasized about him all through class. Instead, Riley's newfound attraction only made him more angry at the feckless man.
Forcing irritated thoughts about Parker out of his head, Riley bent over his desk to start gathering his books and papers together. An uncertain step behind him made Riley turn around. He found himself staring at a man who made him forget all about Parker Abrams. And pretty much everyone else. He made not have been a runway model, but this man came close to summing up Riley's masculine ideal. He swallowed hard. A niggling memory tugged at Riley's mind, although he was sure they'd never met before.
"Um, hi," the brunette said with a crooked little smile. "Is this Intro to Psychology with Dr. Walsh?"
"It was," Riley answered. He was surprised he had breath to speak. "Class is over. I hope you're not enrolled." Because TAs shouldn't really date their students.
"Whoa!" the man said, his thick eyebrows flying up. "You guys take freshman hazing seriously at this school."
Riley winced at his own clumsiness. "That's not what I meant. I just..." He fumbled for an explanation, "Professor Walsh has a really strict attendance policy, and I would hate for you to fail or be dis-enrolled for missing the first few classes."
The other man relaxed. Spreading his arms and hands in an expansive gesture, he said, "Well, then you're in luck. I'm not even a student, so she couldn't flunk me if she tried. I was actually just looking for some friends of mine. Willow Rosenberg, Buffy Summers, and Oz - Daniel Osbourne. They're all in this section, right?"
Even if he hadn't been in Special Ops, he'd had student safety drummed into him by the university. He knew not to give out information about his students' schedules. "They could be," he said evasively. He waved his hands, indicating the empty classroom. "Everyone scattered as soon as Professor Walsh released them."
"You make it sound like prison," the man snickered. Riley noticed that his eyes crinkled up when he laughed. It was nice.
He should have just let the man leave, but Riley wanted to keep those warm brown eyes on him. He said the first thing that came to his mind. "You could call their rooms."
"Nah. I already tried. I got voicemail for Buffy and Willow, and I left a message for Oz with Devon...who was so hungover he probably couldn't even see to write it down." The brunette's shoulders slumped and his face took on a downcast expression. Riley wanted to erase that look, but he couldn't think of anything helpful to do or say.
"Is it an emergency?" the graduate student asked, grasping at straws. Inwardly, he cringed. He'd never been a brilliant conversationalist, but this was terrible.
"Just the lunch kind of emergency that comes up everyday." The grin was back, even if the light in those dark eyes was still diminished. "I just wanted to check in. Buffy was having some trouble adjusting, and I thought I could interrogate her about it over pizza."
"I'm sorry," Riley offered.
"Don't worry about it. I've survived worse things than lunch alone. Do me a favor?" the man asked. "Next time you see them, would you let them know I came by? Just in case they don't check their messages."
"Sure!" Riley would have agreed to a great deal more than that. "Who should I say came by?" He mentally patted himself on the back for his cleverness in asking the guy's name.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I lost all my manners in a poker game. I'm Xander Harris." Xander held out a long fingered hand. Riley took it, pretending he wasn't tingly and excited just from touching his hand.
"Riley Finn." He forced himself to let go of Xander's hand before it became creepy.
"It was nice to meet you, Riley." The dark haired man seemed to have a vast lexicon of different smiles. This one was softer and shyer than his previous grins. It was oddly familiar, and it made Riley's stomach flip over.
"Yeah," Riley said as Xander left. "Nice to meet you, too." He turned back to his desk to finish gathering his things. Suddenly he couldn't wait for Intro to Psych to meet again. It would give him an opportunity to find out more about Xander Harris. The TA-cum-soldier went to report for duty with a dreamy smile on his face.
***
When the class filed in two days later, Riley scoped out his targets. They had arrived early and were all sitting together. He remembered the girls from the bookstore, where Willow had impressed him with her enthusiasm and knowledge and Buffy had knocked a book on his head. He hadn't paid much attention to Daniel Osbourne, other than to think it was a shame the man was so clearly in love with Willow. He was totally Graham's type.
Riley put on his best inoffensive smile and approached the little group. "There was someone here looking for you three after class the other day," Riley said. He watched the three freshmen freeze and wondered if his instincts about Xander had been wrong. God, he hoped not. He didn't want to be attracted to another jerk. "He said his name was Xander Harris," he offered. He gave a purely internal sigh of relief when they all relaxed at the sound of the visitor's name.
Buffy looked concerned. "Did he say why he came? Was he in trouble?"
"No, nothing like that. He said he just wanted to get some lunch and see how you were all adjusting." Actually, he'd only mentioned how Buffy was adjusting, but Riley had *some* tact. "He said left messages for you, but he didn't know if you'd get them."
Oz raised an eyebrow. "Devon left a note about something, but the only thing I could make out was an 'X.' Knowing Dev, I kinda thought it was about porn."
Buffy smiled at that, but Willow clutched her notebook anxiously and said, "God, I'm such a bad friend. I didn't see him all summer while he was gone, and now that he's back I've hardly made any time for him and I didn't check my messages." She turned worried green eyes on Riley. "Does that make me a bad friend?"
"Yes," Riley said. "From a psychological point of view, it does." Seeing her stricken look, he relented almost immediately. "I'm kidding. Meet him for lunch sometime and I'm sure everything will be fine. Anyway, it's not the end of the world. I'm sure he can hang out with his girlfriend while you all adjust to college, right?" He was now shamelessly fishing for information. He only hoped it sounded more subtle to them than it did to him.
The three friends exchanged uncomfortable glances. "Not so much. He and Cordelia broke up months ago. Plus, I think she moved, so no opportunities for hanging out there." They looked at each other in silence.
Buffy sighed and slumped down in her chair. "We need a better outreach program. All our recruits leave." Her hazel eyes took on a forlorn cast.
"No, no!" Willow hastened to comfort her. "Not everyone leaves. Oz hasn't left."
The small man nodded. "Notice my physical presence."
"And Xander could hang out with...with Giles!" the redhead said, as though suddenly inspired.
Buffy groaned and let her head drop to her hands. "We've exiled Xander to Giles-land. You were right, Willow. We are sucky, bad friends. He's going to be stuck alphabetizing books about de- dogs. Dogs. And after you've snickered about Shitzus, there's no more fun to be had with that subject."
Riley wanted to ask who Giles was, but Professor Walsh came in and put an end to his information gathering mission. He went to the front of the room to call roll. Riley schooled his face to an expression of attention as the lecture began, but his mind was on other things. As Professor Walsh talked on about Freud and Jung, Riley planned out schemes to get Oz, Buffy, and Willow to tell him more about Xander. He had to laugh at himself. He felt like he was fourteen again and trying to figure out how to make Amber Meyer like him back. The comparison cheered him a bit, actually. Amber Meyer had asked him to the Sadie Hawkins dance that year. He wondered if Xander knew how to dance.
The end of class startled Riley back to awareness. He'd managed to daydream through the entire lecture. He hurriedly stood. Attempting to look like he was ushering the students from the room, Riley positioned himself near Buffy, Willow, and Oz and lurked unobtrusively. His stalker-like behavior paid off. He heard Xander's name and giggling almost immediately. "...still can't believe he could do that!" Willow was saying.
"I dunno, Wills," Buffy replied. "Remember when he was undercover on the swim team? He looked yummy in that red Speedo. Even I noticed."
Oz nodded his agreement. "I think Larry kept a picture of that in his locker."
Willow rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean he *physically* couldn't do it. I meant..." but her voice faded as she walked away, so Riley didn't get to hear what she meant. He might have trailed along behind them if he hadn't been rooted to the spot by the mental image of Xander in a Speedo. He barely managed to respond to Professor Walsh's polite goodbye. Standing alone in the deserted room, Riley jolted himself out of his frozen state and grabbed his things. It was suddenly imperative that Riley get somewhere private that had a lock.
There was a restroom a few halls over. Riley put his books on the shelf by the door and claimed a stall. His sensibilities flinched back from the idea of jacking off in a public restroom, but...Xander in a Speedo. Riley didn't think he really had a choice. He made sure the stall door was locked and unzipped his pants. His cock was already hard and damp at the tip, and he gratefully pulled it free of his boxers. He closed his eyes and gave in to his fantasy.
Riley would be waiting by the side of the pool. Xander would climb up the ladder, water sheeting from his body and leaving him glistening. His hair would be slicked back from his face, making him look older, more dangerous. Riley slid a hand up under his shirt and tugged gently at a nipple as he pictured the dark haired man, drenched and covered only by a tiny red Speedo. In his fantasy, Riley would come closer and trace a hand down Xander's chest. He would notice the swimmer's erection clearly outlined by the tight red fabric and stroke it teasingly. When the tip of Xander's cock pushed up to peek out at the waistband, Riley would help him by stripping the Speedo away.
Riley opened his eyes and looked down at his own hard, heavy erection. He wondered what Xander's cock looked like. Suddenly, without warning, he wondered what Xander's cock tasted like. He shivered. Riley had received blow jobs, but he'd never even considered giving one. Now he couldn't get the thought out of his mind. Still gripping his cock with his right hand, he swiped his left thumb over the head, coating it in a glaze of pre-come. Riley slowly slid the thumb into his mouth, pressing the pad down against his tongue. Sucking at it and tasting himself, Riley closed his eyes again and slipped back into his imagination.
Riley would slide to his knees in front of a now naked Xander. He would lick at the tip of Xander's cock, running his tongue all around it. He would press his tongue into the slit and hear Xander groan. Long fingers would bury themselves in Riley's hair, urging him on. He would take in more, bobbing his head. He would suck and lick and gently nibble until Xander came, calling Riley's name. The thought of hearing Xander cry his name as he climaxed, of the young man spilling into Riley's mouth pushed Riley over the edge. His orgasm was long and intense. He took a few minutes to recover, standing there weak kneed, with his thumb still in his mouth. He moved to clean himself up and found that he'd spattered the top of his pants and the hem of his shirt. Riley couldn't find it in himself to care. He would hold his books in front of the mess while he walked back to Lowell House to change.
Riley made up his mind there in the restroom while he was washing his hands. Stupid military policies weren't going to stop him. Next time he ran into Xander Harris, Riley was going to make a move. He smiled as he picked up his books. After his experience with Amber Meyer, Xander Harris didn't stand a chance.
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You *did* take Riley to Sunnydale! And he met Xander! *squeals*
*gets a grip*
Sorry, I was just hoping the story would do that.
Yes, I'm liking it very much. Why do you ask? *winks*
Pesti
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Riley being disgusted by his attraction to Parker was a nice detail. Parker and Xander are physically similar, so it makes sense.
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Thank you for your kind comments!
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Riley and Xander. Such a better pairing then B/R. :)