Di looked at the paper that held the prophecy again, silently wishing for precognition instead of empathy as a talent. She looked up to see Buffy watching her and shook her head, sipping her coffee as she reread it for about the thousandth time. "I still
 don't see it."

"I do, it's Willow. She's doing the offering." Di frowned at her. "She is! Who else would be ready to do this kinda stuff?"

"Just because she's the consort of a demon doesn't mean she's going to start making offerings to him. It's not mandatory. Having relations with him if he should make it back to this plane, yes, sending him virginal males, no." She got up, heading for the kitchen to renew her coffee supply. She came back out, looking at the woman she was supposed to be guarding. "If it is her, let's just make some assumptions to see where you're heading, who would the offering be? Both men she intimately know are disqualified."

"Not really," Buffy pointed out. "Xander's still partially a virgin. I don't think he's done more than dream about women." Di frowned, leaning back and rubbing her head. "Okay, so what about her using her new powers and looser morals to make someone do it? You said she was more powerful now."

Di nodded, looking over her shoulder at the kitchen, listening to the coffee maker drip. "Very true, she could theoretically do that, but we can't just jump because she's the only one you know."

"Di, thought here. Why not just allow us to stake Angel one day while he slept to stop the prophecy?"

"So you couldn't interfere?" the older woman suggested gently. Buffy scowled. "Hey, you might not want to but your emotions can make you do some strange things, including running and telling him to be careful." She shrugged and got up to pour some more coffee into her cup. "Though, she may be the easiest choice to monitor."

"I *really* wish Giles was here," Buffy called. "He knows all about the demony stuff."

Xander walked into the apartment, smiling at the two women. "He and Oz are talking outside." He took a seat, looking at them. "What's up? Sounded urgent."

"It is," Di said, sitting back down. She looked at Giles as he walked in, nodding at him.

Giles bent down and kissed her cheek. "I was truly under her spell, but I came out of it as I was casting and it was too late, she pressed me to continue," he said quietly. He sat down beside her, taking her hand in his. "I'm truly sorry I had to delude all of you. I had no choice in the matter."

"It was all Willow," Di finished for him. He nodded, smiling sadly. "You know she's back, right?" He nodded again. "Came back after ten days?"

Giles let Di go, getting up to head for his bookshelves, pulling down one and handing it to her. He looked at Buffy. "I hope you can forgive me."

"Yup, wasn't you, not so bad a bad." She patted his arm. "Now, we have a major prophecy and we're deciding on who's offering." She handed him the paper Xander and Oz had read.

Giles read it quickly, taking the book back to flip some more pages, handing it back. "That was a faulty translation. It's not a teen, it's a young man, or a newly made man." He sat down, pointing at the symbols. "See, in Greece, there were certain things that marked you as a man."

"But the virginal thing counts?" Buffy asked, looking at the symbols and shaking her head. "Looks like math to me."

"It is," Giles said absently, "mathematicians corrupted the language for their own use." He turned the book around so they could all see it, running his fingers along the words. "A virginal newly made man in his prime shall be offered up to the Virgin Breaker and Corrupter to atone for the offering one's sins. He shall bear the marks of a man but still be underage and under tutelage to prove his manhood and she shall know him." He
 looked at Di and they both looked at Xander. "I'm afraid this does fit you if we're considering Willow as the offering one."

"Great, first the slug and now this?" he said, getting up and heading for the door.

"Wait," Oz called softly. Xander came back, sitting down again. "How do we fight this one?"

"We can either invalidate him or we can figure out who else it could be and eliminate them."

"Hold on," Xander said. "I've *had* sex." Oz coughed, turning a little pinker. "Sorry, oh, God, am I sorry." He hugged him.

"Hey, no big," Oz said against the firm shoulder. "They needed to know." He pulled back, shaking his head. "But only them, okay?"

"Yup, no one else needs to know." Xander brushed over a bite swollen lip before turning back to Giles. "We've fixed that problem."

"Not if this is Greek," Di said. "It was common practice for young men to .... service the older ones. The young men were usually technically men, meaning they had passed through puberty, but weren't really ‘adult' sort of men. Say, late teens and
 normal college years."

"So I need to find a woman?" Xander asked, disgust showing on his face. "Can't we just lock me up?"

"No," Giles said, pointing at a new symbol. "The time set is for five days hence, at the full moon."

He glanced at Oz, who was absolutely stiff. "And if you're caged, then you're easily taken as an offering."

"What about Oz then," Buffy asked.

 "Not eligible," Oz said. He squeezed Xander's hand. "We just have to fix this then." He pulled himself up, bringing Xander with him. "We'll go figure out how to fix this and talk to you in the morning."

"Oz, it may not work. If she's the one and she's decided on him, she may be able to interrupt or something similar so you couldn't ‘fix' it." He looked at Xander, who was now leaning against a wall. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, got an idea," Buffy said. "Does it say how to fix it?" Giles shook his head. "And no who either, right?" He shook his head again, frowning at her. "Then we can fix it in a way that would protect Xander. All we need is someone strong enough to do
 that."

"NO!" Xander and Oz said together. Oz glared at her.

 "Hey, emergency here. I don't want him, just offering. Would probably take ten minutes, you could be there," she blushed slightly, "but I wouldn't be pushy about the afterwards stuff. Consider it a bad moment and move on."

Oz shook his head. "I don't want that. Casual encounters like that ruin things." He tugged on Xander's hand. "We'll fix it our way." They left, not quite slamming the door.

Giles looked at Buffy, one eyebrow raised. "I do believe you scared them."

"Hey, I scare lots of men, that's why I don't get asked to things." She got up, taking Di's cup into the kitchen to get her some more coffee.

***

Xander stared out the front windshield of the van as Oz parked them in the forest, blindly letting his mind work for him. "This doesn't look like a brothel," he said finally, still not looking at his friend and lover.

"And it won't be." Oz brushed down the tense arm, turning his seat to face the younger man. "I know this is scary but we have to plan some things."

"I need to get laid and you need to do the change thing in a few days while I'm in danger."

"Xander," Oz said quietly, making him look at him. "I didn't want this to happen."

"Me either. I'm finally *happy* and this happens?" He laughed sourly. "This is majorly the Hellmouth trying to do crap to us." He looked down at his lap. "I don't think I could even if I had to," he admitted. "Haven't been having happies about women in a while."

"What about men?" Oz asked. Xander shook his head. "None at all?"

"Not really. I mean, I have them but I don't have a particular image and I don't usually dream about women. Sometimes other things, but not usually women."

"Hmm, then we may have a chance." He leaned over, kissing him. "What about someone who was dressed like a man?"

"A transvestite?" Xander asked, giving him a shocked look. "Wow, well, um, wow." He shook his head to clear it. "Interesting way to solve the problem." He leaned forward, kissing his lover gently. "You'd be there?"

"Yup, holding your hand if you needed it."

"Then I think I could do anything." Xander kissed him again. "Could I have some good Ozlovin' afterwards?"

"During it if I had to so you don't leave me."

"Never leaving you. The demon can try and take me but I'm not going." He brought Oz's face closer to his. "Never leaving you, Oz, get over it."

The older teen sighed, getting up to sit in the younger's lap. "Xander, I think I could really easily love you but I'm *so* thinking you're going to pull a Willow here."

"Hey, not leaving. I cling, worse than those things they scrape off boats." He grinned, nipping Oz's chin. "I have no desire to leave. Not ever. You make me happy, something that nothing else has ever done. If you asked, I'd follow you into *Hell*, Oz.
 There is nothing stronger than what we're building. I won't be denied my happiness, not after all the other stuff I've had."

"Okay." Oz cuddled closer. "We should go do that."

"Does that mean you know someone?" The older man nodded, lifting his head up to look at him. "Then we should do that so no one stands in our way."

"I want to do something, I found out about it in one of Giles' books."

"Is it risky?"

"Very. I want to give you a few drops of my blood. Not enough to turn you but enough to taint you so everyone knows you're mine."

Xander grinned, pulling his head up. "Go ahead," he said. "I like that idea."

"That means you can't leave," Oz told him. "Never." He pulled the head down to look in the expressive eyes. "Never."

"Yay, weren't you listening?" Xander leaned closer, nipping Oz's lip and sucking on it. "Oz, my happiness has never been a priority, but now this, us, feels really right. I can't explain it, but it's like everything before now has been getting me ready to appreciate this. You." He nipped him again. "And I want this. I'm not going to grow tired of you, want to leave you. I told you, I cling. It's how I've been trained. Even if it turns out to be wrong for me in thirty years, I won't leave because I can't." He looked up into the
 green eyes. "Okay?"

"Yeah. Actually it clears some things up for me." Oz got up, heading for the futon in the back, pulling it out. "Come on. Want to hold you while I do this."

"Got a better idea," Xander said, crawling back to the bed. "Make love to me while you do it."

 "Nope, not mating with you." Oz patted the mattress. "Mating with people has almost always led to being bitten according to the books. I can't do that. Not to you."

"Oz, truth here. How likely is it if we stay together that I won't be exposed?" The older man's shoulders slumped and he started to move. "See, I've had major thoughts about this stuff while you contemplated Willow." He rubbed the strong arm. "And I've come to the decision that the risk is worth having you." He grinned at the shocked look. "What's really bad about it is that most of the time the werewolf thing isn't that bad a curse, only those three nights. If you could learn to control those three nights then it might be a blessing." He pulled the older man back beside him. "Do you see it now?"

"You found something?" Oz guessed.

"Remember that Psychic Fair we had a few years back?" The older man nodded slowly. "Well, I had a reading done. She said I was going to have an end to the pain and hurt when I met a very special man that made me happy. That I would find a purpose with him and that he would rule my life for eternity." He nudged him playfully. "Sounds familiar to me."

"What if she made it up?"

"That's the same one that once told Willow that her future would lie in a library."

"Ah. Same time?"

"Just after mine," Xander said. "I've never heard of her readings being wrong. Everyone else that had one done has had theirs come true. And I'm guessing that you're mine and that's a good to me."

"I'm a good?"

"You're a great. An excellent, a stupendous. And a lot of other words I don't know or use."

"You know, if we actually do this, you're not going to be able to play stupid ever again."

"Hey, I'm not that bright."

"I bet," Oz said, kissing him, laying them both back on the hard mattress. "So, you wanted to have me?"

"I'm yours, Oz," Xander whispered, "do with me as you will."

"Red flag," he warned.\

"Not a bull," Xander noted with a grin, "even if you are built like one." He patted the bulge that was just starting to come up. "Just be gentle with me," he whispered.

"Never anything but unless you ask," Oz promised, stripping off his shirt. "Do you want me to rip your clothes off or are you going to actually take them off."

"No mushy stuff?"

"Tomorrow night." Oz leaned down, getting close to the younger man's lips as he whispered the rest. "Love mushy stuff before I change. Want to pet you then." He grabbed a quick kiss. "But for now," he said as he sat back up, " I want to have you then have us go fix you so I can have you again."

Xander grinned, getting up to strip himself. "Okay then. I'm so with that plan." He lay back down on the futon, stretching himself out for his lover's approval. "Okay?"

"Very nice." The older teen brushed down the naked chest. "How would you like it?"

"Long and pleasurable?"

"I meant positions," Oz said, tapping the wiggling stomach. "Ticklish?" he asked, hitting that spot again.

"YES!" Xander shrieked, rolling to get away from the fingers, making it to his knees and being tackled by his boyfriend so he could be held still while he was tickled hard.

By the time Oz had had his fill, the van was alive with the sound of laughter and happiness, and Xander was seriously ready to beg for more, which was what he wanted since his lover was still sore from their first time. He grabbed the lube, slicking himself up and pressed against the waiting hole. "Want to try something, just relax," he whispered, tickling lightly to arouse the younger man as he started to push inside his body.

Xander moaned, his whole body going limp as the head pushed through, the small burning sensation less than worthy of his attention as he felt the hard cock fill him. "Yeah," he whispered, pushing back. "Um, need more lube," he said when it hurt a little. "Kinda dry."

Oz nodded, pulling back out and adding some more lube to his cock and starting to slide back in. "Better?" he asked, holding his lover still as he came to his final destination. Xander nodded so he pulled back, thrilling at the small whimper, pushing
 back in almost immediately. "Want you," he whispered against the firm back, "so very much want you."

"Want you too," Xander moaned, working himself up to his knees and pushing back. "More?"

"No, slowly this time. You wanted to make love and I refuse to rush us."

"God, I made the right choice." He closed his eyes, grinning at the small nip to his shoulder. "Hmm, kinky?"

"Just a little but it's an urge." Oz pulled back out, taking a slower stroke this time, working all he had in the only way he knew how, making it as good as he could. "You're so tight," he whispered, nipping him again. "Never been anywhere this
 tight."

"Shh," Xander whispered. "Love your voice but want it in my ear." He flopped onto his side, forcing Oz to come with him, and snuggled back into the comforting arms. "Okay, now talk to me."

Oz laughed, shaking his head. "Goof."

"Yup, big, fluffy one. Please?" His eyes closed as the warm breath played across his ear and the strokes started back again. "Yup, definitely yours."

"Even if I make you beg?"

"Even if you remake me in your image and strip all my Xanderness from me." He turned his head at the gasp. "I meant it, Oz, I cling. You could start to hurt me and I'd still be here because it's how I'm meant to be. I shouldn't be alone and I need someone like you. You let me care and cling and help and comfort. I'm meant to do that."

"You really want that stuff?"

"Yup, I really want that stuff. I want to cling to you. No one else for this boy, not for me. I only want to cling to you. I could even go so far as to call it almost-love, only because I'd have to think through a few more things first."

"Wow."

"Yeah, that's what I felt that first time too." He grinned at the pinch, putting his head back down. "Where we go is up to you from now on." His breath caught on the slow pull out of his body, but his eyes closed on the even slower thrust back in. "Thank you," he whispered.

"No, thank you." Oz leaned down next to his lover's ear. "I had a reading done that day too. It said I should find the one that pushes me to be me and let him hold me."

"I'm your man," Xander panted, trying so hard not to force the pace to go faster. "Please?"

"Take it. Show me what I did for you that first time."

Xander whimpered, moving back against the firm body of his boyfriend, taking control, taking what he wanted and needed more than air, using what little leverage he had to make the pace a little harder, a little faster, but less satisfying. He slowed back down, his whole body protesting, but this is what he needed. He licked his lips as he felt something hit them, eyes squeezing shut tighter as he tasted the metallic heat of the older teen's blood. He worked himself harder and slower, then faster and gentler, doing all he could to prolong what they had, make it the best he could for Oz, but his own orgasm beat him over the head, taking over for his mind.

Everything rushed toward that one moment, that one bright moment when his mind expanded and he was one with the world. It was something he had found in his lover's arms and he would never give it up. He groaned as he came, whispering Oz's name as the first stream flew out of him, his breath coming in shudders as he finished.

"So beautiful," Oz whispered, taking a few more strokes and finishing himself, eyes squeezed shut as he clung to his new man. They relaxed for a few minutes, just holding the other and enjoying it, when Oz slipped out, earning a little catch from Xander, who rolled over to hold him. "Hey, we're together," the older teen said quietly, wiping down the sweaty back with a towel that was laying around. "You're mine."

 "I'm yours," Xander agreed. He looked up, his eyes still moist. "That was incredible," he said quietly. Oz nodded so he kissed him. "I'm not giving you up, no way in any plane."

Oz just simply got a small, shy smile and hugged his lover closer.

Part 10