Title: Open Doors – Part 7 - Laughter
Author: Xanfan
Fandom: Buffy/NCIS crossover
Rating: Potentially R/Mature
Pairing: eventually Tony/Xander
Summary: SLASH - When some doors slam shut, others open. Two men with a history of being pushed aside learn that it's the small moments that can change everything.
Spoilers: up to Boxed In, season 3 of NCIS, All of Buffy, post Chosen
Warnings: Slash M/M
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
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"I like him."
Xander turned away from admiring his almost boyfriend talk to Gunn about a subject he himself would never understand and towards the soft voice next to him. "Yeah?"
Angel rolled his eyes teasingly. "Yeah, I do."
"Me too," Xander said softly, a blush rising up to stain his cheeks.
"Well, duh," Angel said with a grin. His grin deepened when Xander started to giggle.
"You sounded just like Cordy," the younger man said between giggles.
Angel smiled, the thought of his late seer no longer causing sadness. "That was kind of the point."
"Not nearly bitchy enough sounding though, you'll have to work on that," Xander pointed out playfully.
"I'll go home and practice in front of my mirror," Angel deadpanned.
Xander's eye widened comically before he burst out into loud guffaws of laughter.
****
Tony turned from the conversation he had been having with Gunn on the finer points of a good defense in basketball towards the laughing man on his other side. He didn't know what Xander's friend Angel had said to make him laugh that hard, but whatever it was, he was glad. His bartender's laughter was booming and joyful and sounded wonderful to Tony's ears.
He saw Angel's eyes drift past both him and Xander and he knew the other man was looking towards a table not far from them. The NCIS agent struggled not to turn around and follow the gaze towards the little pack of snoopers that resided there.
He wasn't sure if he was angry or flattered that his teammates had followed him here. He chose to set aside both emotions for the time being and just enjoy being here with Xander and his friends, enjoy the gentle camaraderie and genuine affection between them. It was just like he always thought a team should be. And Tony had no illusions that this group of friends was anything but a team. He didn't know exactly what they were teammates in, but they interacted in a way that reminded him of some of the units he had met through work, especially the ones coming back from missions or tours in Iraq. Those men had stood side by side, back to back when need be, in some pretty damn harsh conditions and stood proud in the fact that they had survived and would go and have each others backs in whatever else came next.
Tony had no idea what these people had faced, what they had survived, but he instinctively knew he should be grateful for it. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. Yeah, Xander had secrets, but whatever those secrets were, he wasn't ready to tell him yet. And surprisingly, Tony didn't have a problem with that. The man who habitually snooped into people's wallets and purses just for the fun of it was willing to wait patiently for Xander to spill. The special agent was a little taken aback by his own reaction, but his gut was telling him that he just needed to be patient. Xander wasn't keeping things from him because he didn't trust Tony. It felt more like Xander was protecting him from something and waiting for the right time. And for whatever reason, Tony wasn't bothered by it. Weird, huh?
Tony settled back into his seat to watch the man he wasn't yet ‘officially' dating laugh at his friend's words and he felt a sense of peace fall over him, a feeling that had become oddly familiar in the time he had known Xander Harris.
****
After Tony's ‘friend' had dropped his little bombshell, then walked calmly back to his seat next to Tony, Gibbs had played over in his mind the events of the evening and wondered how he had missed that Tony had known they were there all along. Had he really lost his touch? Then he realized that it was probably more the fact that Tony was just that good.
Gibbs saw the one-eyed man lean towards the man on the other side of him from Tony and wondered what the dark-haired man had said to cause the bartender to blush like that. Moments later Tony's ‘date' let out a long and loud laugh. When Tony turned towards them, Gibbs had wondered if his agent would get jealous that someone else had made the man laugh like that. It surprised him when Tony just looked on fondly, with a slightly goofy smile showing from the profile view Gibbs had. It seemed his second-hand man wasn't jealous; instead he was basking in his friend's amusement. Gibbs tried not to let the surprise and disquiet he felt show on his face, but he wasn't sure he was successful when he saw the man who had caused the laughter look at him. He couldn't avoid meeting the intense man's gaze and for one of the first times in Leroy Jethro Gibbs' life, he was the first to look away.
****
"What's so funny?"
Xander turned from Angel towards the man on his other side and took a couple of deep breaths to settle himself down. He didn't realize that he had caught the notice of everyone at the table and a few of the surrounding ones, he just noticed Tony's attention and enjoyed the curl of warmth in his stomach at feeling the other man's eyes on him and the affection reflected in those eyes.
"Angel just made a comment about looking in the mirror and considering how much time and effort go into making his hair look ‘just gravity defyingly right,' I couldn't help but laugh," Xander replied mischievously, grinning at the huff of indignation from Angel.
Tony knew there was more to it than that, especially when the rest of the table burst into slightly evil snickers, but for once he wasn't worried about not being in on the joke. He figured the joke wasn't at his expense and that one day, with any luck, he'd be in on it too. For right now, he was too busy enjoying the mischief dancing in Xander's eye to care.
"I have to admit I sometimes take some extra time in the mirror to get the ‘messy look' for my hair just right. It takes a lot of effort to look effortless, you know," Tony said, more than willing to poke fun at himself to keep Xander laughing.
Xander smiled at the good natured grin on Tony's face, secretly admiring the other man's ‘just rolled out of bed' hairstyle. And speaking of ‘just rolled out of bed'… Xander blurted out the first thing that came into his head. "So, you want to go out some time?"
The other occupants at the table turned their snickers into genuine laughter at Xander's question, especially when Rona said, "Man, isn't it a little screwed up when you make him meet the gang before you've even gone on a date?"
"I'm pretty sure nobody has ever claimed either of us were normal," Tony said to the dark-skinned girl, his eyes never leaving Xander's face.
"Tomorrow night? You're off at six, right?" Tony asked.
"Uh-huh," Xander said eloquently.
"A date it is, then," Tony said with a smile.
Open Doors by xanfan