Title: Life Bites

Authors: Creed Cascade and Echo's Revenge

Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Pairing: Oz/Xander

Rating: NC-17

Status: new

Archive: If you want it, go ahead. Just knock me upside the head and let me know.

Feedback: creed_cascade@hotmail.com and echosrevenge@hotmail.com

Other websites:
http://insaneasylum.slashfanfiction.com
http://www.geocities.com/echosrevenge7/index.html

Disclaimers: We have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy. You don't ask where we get these strange plots starring mysteriously familiar characters, and we won't tell you that I make no money, only
deliriously happy satisfaction. Very hush-hush.

Notes: We made up Oz's family. So there.

Summary: Xander ends up with the last person he thought he would and under unusual circumstances.

Life Bites
Written by Creed Cascade and Echo's Revenge

Oz wandered off with Willow still talking to him. He wished she would just leave him alone. She didn't seem to understand that there was nothing she could say to fix this. After he'd seen her kissing Xander in that warehouse there was no way he was taking her back. He was embarrassed about attacking Xander though. He'd been the one laying there wounded with Willow all over him. He should have given Xander a chance to explain before trying to take his anger out on him. When he finally got away from Willow he decided to go for a drive and skip his last few classes. He was going to have to go see everyone in a few hours to get locked up anyway.

He hated waking up in that cage, but he knew it was necessary to protect his friends. His heritage demanded that he give into the need to roam at his own free will in his werewolf state, but his duty to his friends made him fight his instincts. So fifteen minutes before sunset he pulled up to the school and went into the library.

He nodded at everyone as he wandered in and started checking out the inside of the cage to make sure everything was ready. He could tell just by looking at Buffy, Willow and Xander that the girls had been talking about him and not in a nice way. Xander looked like he had been pissed about whatever they were saying. He was alternating between glaring at both the girls and looking over at Oz with a slightly embarrassed expression.

"Do I want to know what you were talking about before you lock me in my little home away from home?" Oz quipped.

"Um, you want some food, Oz?" Xander asked getting up. "There's enough time for me to get something and be back before sundown."

"Uh, no thanks," Oz said. "I ate before I came. It’s better if I change on a full stomach. The beastie seems to behave better that way."

"Okay, I volunteered to watch you tonight," Xander said. "Hope you don't mind."

"It’s not like I’ll care who watches me or not when I’m playing Cousin It." He and Xander still had a tense relationship at the best of times. Sarcasm was a way they could at least communicate without fists.

"Oz, can't we talk before the sun goes down?" Willow finally asked after a kick from Buffy under the table.

"You can’t say anything new, so why bother?"

"But why can't we talk about it? It was a mistake I won't do it again." Willow looked about ready to cry. Buffy just looked pissed off and Xander was going between embarrassed and regretful.

"You know wolves aim to mate for life," Oz said as if off hand. "I never would have done that to you, Willow."

"I don't even get one mistake? That just not fair. You know I don't really like Xander," Willow said.

"You smelt like him!" Oz growled. "My girlfriend, the person I thought was my mate smelt like another man. You don’t know what that did to me."

Xander was slumped down in his chair and looked like he really didn't want to talk or draw any attention, but he was the only one watching the clock. "Oz, sorry man, but it's almost time." He pointed at the setting sun through the window.

Oz’s skin was already bristling and his temper was rising, all signs that the change was coming close. "Fine. Fine! Getting in my cage!"

"Don't have to give me fucking attitude," Xander shouted as he got up and pushed Oz toward the cage. "What the fuck? My skin feels like it's on fire. Did you do another fucking spell, Willow?"

"You probably just forgot to wash again, Harris!" Oz shouted and pushed Xander in turn.

"You smelled yourself lately?" Xander said scenting the air around Oz. "Smells like you haven't washed in days." His foot caught on the edge of the cage when Oz pushed him again and he fell into the cage. "Shouldn't have done that," he growled starting to get up totally ignoring Buffy and Willow looking at them with stunned expressions.

"What you smell is my true self," Oz growled, following Xander into the cage. His eyes had already turned yellow. "You smell my strength!"

"Not impressed," Xander snapped back. His eyes were shifting facets of yellow and green as he advanced on Oz. When he heard the door to the cage slam shut he whipped his head up and growled at the girls on the other side. He recognized the one who had rejected him before.

Oz was starting to change, but he still had enough cognizance left to laugh. "You’re pack! I made you pack!"

"Buffy," Willow yelled. "What's going on? Xander is acting really weird and you just locked him in with Oz."

"Something hincky is going on with Xander," Buffy shouted back. "I can sense he’s not normal anymore!"

"I'm going to call Giles. He said he was going to be working at home and not here until later," Willow said heading to the office and the phone. "Don't let them hurt each other, please."

"That’s easier said than done," Buffy muttered under her breath. Oz and Xander were currently circling each other in the cage and growling. Buffy rattled the bars and shouted, "Hey, stop it!"

They continued circling until the change was complete. Once they were both in werewolf form, Xander leaped on Oz. Even as a werewolf he was larger then Oz and his extra mass was even more of an advantage in this form. Buffy was almost considering getting in the cage to pull Xander off before he killed Oz when the growling stopped.

"Ewww, scarred for life," she said when she realized what they were doing now couldn't be considered fighting. She was tempted to go lock Willow in the office before she could see this.

Oz and Xander were now rolling around the floor and Buffy turned her back. The sounds and smells coming from the cage was getting louder. Willow ran into the room, babbling until she saw what was happening. "Giles said he’ll be here right and he said… oh! Oh, my!"

"Sorry, Willow, but they aren't really hurting each other I think. I don't really know how to try to separate them," Buffy said leading Willow to the table and sitting her down with her back to the cage.

"But they… can’t… I mean, why?" Willow stuttered, near the point of crying.

"I'm not sure. It has to be some sort of werewolf thing because neither of them are gay," Buffy said. "Giles will be able to explain it and maybe know how to separate them.."

Willow looked back at the cage and cringed. "Separate them? What they’re doing now doesn’t even look physically possible."

It was then that Giles came running into the library flushed and out of breath. He was glad he hadn't gotten pulled over on his way to the school. "Oh my," he said when he got a good look in the cage and then at Willow's face. "Buffy, can you tell me exactly what happened?"

"The furballs decided to suddenly buy curtains together?" Buffy quipped.

"Buffy, this is serious. How did they get in the cage together and did they say anything before they changed?" Giles asked.

"Oz pushed Xander in, then I pushed Oz in and locked the door. When they were playing ‘I’m more macho than you are’, Oz said something about turning Xander into pack."

"And Xander's eyes were weird. Well they were weirder then Oz's," Willow said. "They are like green and yellow instead of just yellow and the colours were kinda of moving."

"Oh dear," Giles muttered. His brain was already mulling over the possibilities. "Oz must have bitten Xander some time. The only time I remember Xander ever having green eyes was when… Oh dear, indeed."

"Way too many 'Oh dear' statements there, Giles," Buffy said. "You know when you say that too often we start to get really worried." Whatever else Buffy had been planning to say was cut off by frantic howling from the cage.

"Maybe we should just throw a cold bucket of water on them?" Giles sighed. "That always worked with my mother’s terrier." He doubted that would help and thought maybe leaving the room was a better plan.

"I think they're done for now," Buffy pointed to the cage where the larger werewolf was curling up around the smaller one. "So maybe you can explain what's going on here. I get the Xander turning into a werewolf thing, but not the getting groiny thing."

"It’s not like I have some special insight into the gay thing," Giles said defensively. "Maybe they’re just gay werewolves. It could happen… especially in Sunnydale. I suppose if I had to hypothesize on their behaviour, I might think that it has something to do with the residual effects of the hyena spirit Xander encountered. The hyena hierarchy is based on a matriarchal structure and Xander’s demon was an alpha female."

"Can we separate them now?" Willow asked. "I don't think Oz is going to be very happy about what Xander did to him."

"No, it’s not safe to go in there." Giles shook his head. "Besides… they’ve appeared to have worn each other out for now. We can’t risk going in there without be better prepared. We’ll just have to prepare a separate cage for Xander tomorrow."

"Don't we need to patrol?" Willow asked Buffy while trying not to look over at the cage or think about what had gone on in there. "And someone is going to have to watch them since Xander was going to do it, but he can't now."

"Buffy, go patrolling and I want Willow to take some books home to do extra research on werewolves cross-referenced with demons. I’ll stay here." He didn’t want the girls exposed to anything else explicit.

<><><><><><>

A few thoughts flashed through Xander's mind as he slowly woke up. First, he wondered when his bed had gotten so hard. Then he wondered where his blankets had gone and why he was sleeping naked. It was his final thought that had him scrambling up and backwards with his hands covering himself when he realized he had been wrapped around Oz and from the smells and they stickiness his hands were feeling they had done more then just cuddle.

He cracked an eye open and spied spiky red hair and squeezed them back shut. Yep, that was definitely red hair and it didn’t belong to the last curvy red head he’d kissed. Everything from last night was fuzzy and the last he remembered, it had been dark out and he’d been squabbling with Oz.

"Ah, Xander, you're awake," Giles said. Eliciting an embarrassed yelp from Xander which woke up Oz who started to roll over on the floor.

"Where are my clothes?" Xander demanded. His first priority was to get dressed and worry about and explanation a little later. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what happened.

"Oh dear, I forgot about that," Giles said pulling a pair of clothes for Oz out of a cupboard. "I didn't think to get some clothes for you, and none of Oz's are going to fit. Your clothes got ruined when you changed."

"Changed?" Xander squeaked.

"I'm not the only werewolf in this group," Oz drawled as he pulled on his clothes. He was remembering bits and pieces of the previous night and was not sure how he felt about things. All he had to do was get dressed and he could get out of here and think. He was pretty sure he would not be attending class.

Xander’s confusion turned into anger. "You turned me into a fucking werewolf!"

"Maybe. Might have happened when we fought after you kissed Willow," Oz shrugged. "Don't remember any biting though. Maybe someone else did it."

"There’s not a lot of other werewolves running around."

Xander went to follow a now dressed Oz out of the library but was stopped by some frantic throat clearing from Giles. "If you'll wait in my office," he said handing Xander a towel. "I'll call Buffy and have her bring you in come clothes. We can talk about all this later."

"Fine, but this is far from over Oz!" Xander turned and stormed off to Giles office.

<><><><><><>

The day had been beyond strained for all of them. Willow refused to talk to Xander at all. Oz was nowhere to be found. Xander had pretty much refused to talk about what had happened with either Giles or Buffy, insisting he knew all he needed to about werewolves.

He was currently pacing in the second and much smaller cage Giles had somehow managed to get installed in his office during the day. "Bout fucking time," he yelled when he saw Oz walk in just before sunset. "Thought maybe you'd decided to split."

"I’ve learned to live with what I am," Oz yelled back. "You’re the only thing that kept me away this long!"

"Get over here," Xander bellowed shaking the door to the cage. He could still smell Oz even if he couldn't see him and knew he was being locked in a separate cage. He didn't know why, but he knew that was wrong.

"Why don’t you come here?" Oz screamed, his eyes flashing yellow and he rattled the bars on his cage.

"Giles, are you sure this is a good idea?" Buffy asked as she stood watching both cages shake under the assault from the almost totally changed werewolves. "I'm not sure that new cage is going to hold."

Each young man was trying their best to get out of their respective cages to get to the other. "Xander’s eyes are almost completely green!" Willow shouted out.

Oz was throwing himself against the door to his cage now and starting to whine like he was hurting himself. Everyone was looking over at him and Giles was considering sedating him. None of them noticed Xander had gotten the door to his cage open until they saw him darting across the room to Oz's cage. Oz calmed down immediately when Xander started yipping at him and reaching through the cage to feel him.

"That’s kinda cute," Buffy chuckled. "But maybe we should get Xander into the cage with Oz before he goes more nuts."

Giles cut off whatever protest Willow was going to make. "We don't really have a choice. We can't keep them sedated all night, and, however, embarrassing this is for the two of them, it's better then one of them getting out and killing."

"I think they’re more interested in doing something else other than killing right now." Oz was rubbing his face against Xander’s hand and Xander’s growls were getting louder. Buffy grabbed the key ring and jingled it. "Hey, puppy!"

Xander growled at her but didn't move as she moved toward the door and unlocked it. "Go inside, Xander, please. I don't want to make Giles shoot you," she said hoping he'd go in on his own. She was pretty sure if they shot either of them the other would go nuts.

Xander’s eyes darted to the open door, obviously plotting on getting Oz out before he made a break for it. He growled at Buffy before dashing into the cage and she slammed the door behind them. When Xander spun around and started banging on the door trying to get back out it was Oz who distracted him by starting to whine again. With one last growl Xander ignored everything outside the cage and went over to Oz.

They watched with amazement as Oz bared his throat to Xander, letting the bigger werewolf pull him into a protective embrace where he started to nip and nuzzle Oz’s throat.

"At least they’re not fighting for dominance…" Giles sighed.

"Nope, not fighting, that's for sure," Buffy pointed out as Xander started to get more playful. "I'm going to put up some sheets to block out the cage because I don't think I want to see any more," she added.

"Maybe ear plugs would also be in order?" Giles quipped as Oz let a particular loud yowl of delight.

<><><><><><>

When Xander woke up the next morning wrapped around Oz again he didn't freak out as much as the day before. He had a feeling if he gave Oz any sort of chance he'd run off again and he really wanted to talk to him before they repeated this whole thing again on the third night of change.

"Oz?" he asked not moving.

Oz didn’t give a recognizable verbal response, instead making something between a whimper and a grunt. He cuddled down against Xander’s chest and huffed at the disturbance.

Xander's breath hitched. He didn't think he was quite ready for the gay cuddling on the floor, in the library, naked. He gave Oz a small shake, "Oz, it's morning. Time to wake up."

Oz grunted again and hid his face against Xander’s chest. He was not a morning person and it after last night, he was particularly worn out and sore. Okay, Xander decided. The cuddling thing was a more then a little strange but not entirely bad. He decided to give Oz a few more minutes to wake up before he tried to talk to him again. Just to be polite.

Xander wasn’t really conscious that he was essentially petting Oz’s skin. He noticed along the smaller boy’s neck and shoulders were a series of dark hickies. He even surprised himself when he reached out and caressed the mark, his inner wolf satisfied at the marking.

"Don't wanna get up, Xan," Oz mumbled into without moving his face from his chest.

Well, at least Oz remembered who he was with. He should have been upset that Oz remembered he was another man and still continued to cuddle with him, but hell, he knew that to and he was still doing it. "Not a morning person, huh?"

They were interrupted by the door clanging as Giles’s hand reached through to drop a pile of clothes on the floor being very careful not too look inside. "It would be best if you got dressed before anyone shows up," he pointed out from the other side of the sheets that had been put up for privacy.

Both boys groaned in unison and rolled away from one another. "Thanks, Giles," Xander managed to squeak out.

"Ditch?" Oz asked as they pulled on their clothes with their backs to each other.

"Like I want to face the girls right now." Xander pulled his jeans on quickly, but couldn’t help but sneaking a quick look over his shoulder at Oz as he changed.

"They're out there now. Can smell 'em." Oz whispered in Xander's ear once he was done dressing.

Xander sniffed the air too, using his new heightened senses for the first time. "Is it always like this?"

"Yup, can be annoying, but cool. Ready?" he asked standing in front of the door.

Giles had left the cage door unlocked when he’d left the clothes for the boys, so they were able to walk out. One of the first things Giles noticed was how close they were standing, with Xander standing slightly in front of Oz.

"We're gonna take off, G-Man," Xander said. "Still dealing with the whole 'I'm a werewolf now' thing. You'll cover for us right?"

"I suppose…" Giles hesitated. "But perhaps it’s not the best idea for you take off. I think we should sit down and have a discussion."

"Yeah, you can talk to Giles about werewolf stuff and I can talk to Oz," Willow said circling around Xander toward Oz.

Xander quickly got between Oz and Willow. "I don’t think so, Wills."

"Oz, we really need to talk about what's going on. I mean were even now right? So maybe we can try again?" Willow said.

Xander’s eyes flashed yellow with tinges of green and growled, "He’s mine."

Oz pushed himself out from behind Xander to face Willow. "Nothing to talk about now," he said apologetically.

Xander laid his hand on Oz’s shoulder and starred down Willow. "That’s right, we were just leaving."

"Okay, that was way weird," Buffy said after the two werewolves walked out. "It this some strange werewolf side effect because they weren't wolfie but Xander seemed to be all over Oz."

Giles took off his glasses and rubbed his temples. "For what ever reason, Xander is obviously more feral than Oz. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it’s his first change and he’s… claimed a mate, who just happens to be his sire or whatever you want to call it. Of course, then again, there are the possible effects of the hyena demon."

"You mean they're going to be together even when they're not in werewolves?" Willow asked.

"I don’t know," Giles sighed. "We’ll just have to wait and see. No watcher has ever tried to tame werewolves before. We know very little about their culture and mating behaviour."

<><><><><><>

Oz had driven the van to McDonalds and gotten them breakfast. They were sitting in the back of the van eating. "So, what's going on here other then the Xander's a werewolf thing?" Xander asked.

"You should tell me," Oz gave him a pointed look. "You’re the one who’s going all freaky, grabby on me."

"I'm not sure. It's pretty obvious what's been going on at night, but I don't remember anything after I change. I just know I wasn't freaked out too much this morning and I really don't want Willow near you. I'm not sure why though." Xander said looking down at the food wrapper in his hand.

"I remember a little more than you do," Oz admitted. "I’m not sure you want to hear this, but you claimed me as a mate."

"Like married mate?" Xander said. "Are you mad at me? I don't think I really asked ahead of time."

"You won it," Oz shrugged. He had eaten the paddies out of his hamburger with out eating the bun and was breaking into small pieces. "You’re the alpha."

"But you don't want me, do you?" Xander asked. "I'll stay away. They can lock me up somewhere else tonight if you don't want me around."

"We don’t have a choice in the matter. They tried to separate us last night and it went badly. You broke out of your cage."

"Then they can knock me out. You don't like me I can deal with it but I'm not forcing you to do something," he voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm not my father. Not ever going to be like him."

Oz pulled his knees up to his chest. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Xander when he whispered this, "You didn’t force me."

Xander had moved over to him and was rubbing a hand over Oz's back before he realized what he was doing. "It's all right. So I'm not mad at you and you're not mad at me right?"

"I guess so." His own had migrated to Xander’s thigh. "If we’re not mad at each other, then what?"

"So you're really okay with this? Not just the wolf part, but the Oz part?" Xander asked as he moved his lips barely an inch from Oz's.

"A bunch of different parts of me interested in you right now," Oz whispered back.

Xander closed that last inch to kiss Oz. He was careful to keep his hands from grabbing or pulling. He wanted to give him every chance to pull away if he wanted to. As soon as Oz's lips opened up underneath his though, hands were moving without conscious thought. He pulled Oz up against him deepening the kiss.

Oz was all but pulled into Xander’s lap and he wrapped his arms around the larger boys neck. This was the first time that both his wolf and human side were completely focused on a partner.

Xander started pushing Oz's t-shirt up over his head. Breaking the kiss for a second he got the t-shirt all the way off and tossed it on the floor. His eyes were drawn to the hickies again. "Doesn't hurt does it?" he asked leaning over to kiss the ones he could reach.

"Nah." Oz was breathless and slightly dazed. "Kinda like it."

"Good, they look right there," Xander said shifting them both to the floor of the van. Once they were both on the floor he rolled on top of Oz.

Oz shifted his legs so that Xander fell between his thighs. "You seem to like it up there…"

"I'm doing this right aren't I?" Xander asked freezing. "I've never really done this before so tell me if I'm doing something wrong."

"Not like I know…" Oz tried to comfort Xander and bring him back to the more important issue at hand of getting laid. "Feels damn good to me."

Xander gave him a small grin and reached down with one hand to start undoing Oz's pants. "You should've worn sweats like me," he grumbled when he couldn't get the button open.

Oz was busy pushing Xander’s sweats down swiftly. "Oh yeah, I like sweats all right. Definitely easy access, man."

"Finally," Xander said as the button gave way. He was almost distracted from pushing the pants down when Oz started wiggling his hips to help. He got them all the way past Oz's knees and decided he could get them the rest of the way of if he wanted. "Mmmm," Xander said as he settled his weight back on top of Oz.

"It really is our first time," Oz groaned. Sure he knew what they had done and even vaguely remembered it, but this was real.

Entirely too much talking Xander thought. Which was not something he thought he'd ever associate with Oz. He had and easy way to stop talking though he thought as he went back to kissing. They were both moaning as their cocks rubbed against each other between them.

Oz should have been freaking out when he was having his first sexual encounter with a man, but after being outed as werewolf, having feelings for another man just didn’t seem to matter. He might have resented Xander for kissing his girlfriend, but there had always been another reason behind the tension between them.

Xander was picking up the pace as he felt them both getting closer. Operating almost entirely on instinct now, he broke the kiss to bury his head against Oz's neck to re-enforce hickies from the night before.

Oz moved his head to allow Xander easier access to his neck and pushed his hips up to meet Xander’s thrusts. He continued to be vocal during their encounter, even if he wasn’t speaking, he was groaning and whimpering.

It didn't take much longer at all and both of them came. Xander's howl was muffled against Oz's neck, but Oz had nothing blocking his and they filled the van. As soon as they were done Xander rolled over, pulling Oz on top of himself, and relaxed with his hands gently running up and down Oz's back.

"Van sex is good," Oz mumbled sleepily.

<><><><><><>

"Hmm, as nice as that was I really think we should try having sex somewhere other then a floor sometime," Xander mumbled as they both woke up still on the floor of the van where they had fallen asleep. Oz, still half asleep, got a cute, confused look on his face and Xander decided he didn't really need an answer as he gave him a wakeup kiss.

Oz’s normally spiky hair was completely out of control. He blinked at Xander owlishly and rubbed his eyes. "I can get a mattress for the back."

"Might be a good idea," Xander said sighing. "Dad always uses the excuse that he thinks I'm gay, among other things, when he needs to take out his frustration on someone.. Don't know if I can stay there if he finds out about us."

"It might be better if you come at stay with my family now that you’re one of us," Oz said, thrilled with the idea of introducing Xander into his own pack. "They know about what it’s like…"

"You don't think they'd mind?" Xander was more then a little embarrassed about being introduced to Oz's parents as their son's lover. It would have been a little easier if he'd met them before, but if it meant getting out of his house he could deal with the embarrassment.

"You’re my mate," Ox said as his that explained everything. "Besides I bit you, so I’m responsible for you and they’re my family, so they are too."

"Okay, can we talk to Giles tonight? It's still a few weeks before I turn eighteen and I don't want my parents trying to stop me from moving out just to screw with me," Xander said. "And this is, like, a full time thing right? I mean, we're together all the time not just every full moon?"

Oz was still on top of Xander and he pressed the larger boy down. "Can’t you feel it, Xan?"

"Yeah, but don't really know all the details of this werewolf thing. Asking about mating habits of werewolves or vampires would be far too blush worthy in front of the Scoobies considering…" Xander's voice trailed off for a minute. "I just don't want to assume you want me all the time. You'll tell me if you want me too leave you alone right?"

"Sure, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen," Oz said, giving Xander a light slap on the shoulder. "Been a long time since I had any company other than my hand."

"Giles told my parents I was on a field trip until tomorrow so I can't really go home until tomorrow. We can do whatever you want to until we have to get back to the library," Xander said resuming the slow petting he had stopped while they talked.

"I’d suggest going back to my house, but even if my parents are easy going hippy wanna-bes, they’d be pissed if I skipped school," Oz admitted. "We just… hang out together and talk?"

Xander chuckled. "Who knew the talkative Oz only come out during sex. I like it." He wiggled a little bit. "You got anything in here we could clean up with?" he asked.

"I talk more when I’m around family." Oz shrugged and huffed a little.

Xander got a goofy grin and being called family and was still smiling while Oz used an old t-shirt to clean them both up.

<><><><><><>

This time when the boys reported to the library, they went into the same cage without comment. They made sure the sheets were secured around the outside of the cage, undressed and even went so far to make a nest out of blankets in the farthest corner. They curled up on the nest and waited for the change to over take them.

"I thought they'd be here by now," Giles said to someone as he walked into the library. Xander tensed when he heard the voice and made sure the sheet was blocking both of them..

"We’re here," Oz called out, reaching out and grabbing Xander’s hand.

"Both of you in…" Buffy's mouth snapped shut when she looked around the sheet hanging over the cage and saw the two of them.

"Hey!" Xander squeaked and covered them both below the waist with a blanket. "Little privacy here!"

"Sorry, so, um, I guess where to put both of you is settled?" Buffy asked from safely behind the sheet.

"It’s our decision." Xander could feel the blush rising on his skin and almost wanted the sun to set more quickly so he wouldn’t have to deal with this.

"It's alright," Oz whispered. "We just surprised her I think. She probably had some great plan to keep us separate that we ruined."

"We’re gonna find some place else next month," Xander whispered back. "This is the last time I’ll let them humiliate us like this again."

"I sent Buffy out to patrol," Giles said loudly a minute later. "I'll be staying here tonight." His voice returned to normal volume as he it approached the cage. "Are you two alright? Do you need anything before it gets dark?"

Giles had been very much a father figure to him and could be an ally against the girls. "No, we spent the day together and got everything we needed. Ah, Giles?"

"Yes?" Giles answered able to tell Xander needed to talk but not sure if he should pry.

"This… thing between us isn’t over with tonight."

"I didn't think it would be. I'm actually quite happy to see that both of you are okay with it, but the girls may need more time. Are you going to tell your parents about all this?" Giles asked.

This wasn’t best conversation to be having behind a sheet when you were naked, locked in cage with your new lover. Giles was one of the smartest men he knew, but he also had a narrow world that centred on Buffy. He’d never noticed the bruises on Xander or his less than stellar home life.

"That’s not an option if I want to keep either head attached to my body…" Xander muttered.

"Oh," Giles seemed to be briefly shocked into silence. "You could always stay with me if you need to you know."

"Xander’s going to be staying with my family," Oz piped up.

"But I might need help with my parents. They'd try to keep me there until I turn eighteen just to make me miserable. I thought maybe you could help with them Giles?" Xander added.

Giles looked out the window and saw they had very little time left before the change happened. "How about we talk about this in the morning boys? We’ll be able to work the details then."

"No peeking while we're wolfie," Xander managed to growl out as the change started to hit them. It was a lot nicer this time though. With Oz already in his arms he was staying calm during the transition.

<><><><><><>

There was no way they could have ditched class today without getting into trouble with Giles. They made it through the day, making sure to stop between classes to see each other. They were just about to escape from the building when Buffy and Willow stopped them.

"What's up?" Oz asked cocking an eyebrow at the two of them and slipping an arm around Xander's waist.

"We need to talk about this… thing." Buffy waved her hand at them vaguely.

"Not much to talk about," Oz answered for them both when Xander tensed beside him. "We're together now."

"You mean you from hating each other to… to… this?" Willow sputtered.

"I never hated Oz," Xander protested. "You know that, Willow. We had never really talked before."

"So you needed to get groiny to talk?" Buffy challenged them.

"Stop," Xander said flushing beet red. "You're so not the person to be complaining about who other people sleep with, Buffy."

"We’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you waking up gay!"

Xander shrunk back pulling Oz behind him. "What, you wanna pretend you're my dad and beat me up for it? If six years of that hasn't worked I don't think one Slayer beating's gonna do anything."

"You’re so over reacting and I think we would have noticed if you’re dad smacking you around," Buffy huffed.

"I would have thought to too," Xander said quietly.

"Xander…" Oz was starting tugging Xander away from the girls. "Let’s get out of here."

"This is for real isn't it?" Willow asked. "We're not going to get another chance?"

He didn’t want to do this here, but he had to make her understand. "Willow… I want you to understand. He’s not just my boyfriend… he’s my mate.."

"Sorry, Wills, but that's just the way it is now," Xander said. He could tell she was on the verge of tears and wanted to give her a hug or something, but Oz was upset too and he wasn't going to pull away from him.

"I don’t think we should do this drama now," Buffy said. "It’s still close to the whole wolfie changie thing. Maybe this will all wear off."

"Won't wear off, but we really need to get going if we're going to get my stuff from the house before my parents get home," Xander said taking the chance to escape.

"You’re leaving your parents house?" Willow had started to follow them. Tears were flowing from her eyes, but she was still Xander’s best friend. She had been there to clean up Xander’s wounds since she was little girl. "Did he do something really bad? Where are you going?"

"Not hanging around to find out what he'll do. You know what he's like, Wills. Kinda afraid he'd actually kill me if he found out I about Oz and I," he took a deep breath and rushed out the next part. "So Giles talked to them and I'm moving in with Oz today.."

"You’re moving in with Oz? Aren’t you rushing things?" she asked this while she was sniffling.

Oz gave up on trying to talk to them. Willow wasn't really listening because she didn't want to admit what was going on and Buffy was pretending it was temporary. "Come on, Xan. We should hurry," he said tugging him toward the exit.

"Yeah, okay," Xander agreed, turning his back on the two girls. He really hoped that Willow would come around eventually when the pain of the break up was over. It wasn’t like Oz was cheating on her since their relationship was over.

<><><><><><>

With both of them working and Oz's van waiting it hadn't taken long to load up all of Xander's stuff. A few bags of clothes, a box of collectables, a few posters, and some basic bathroom supplies and they were done. His parents thankfully hadn't shown up while they were there so Xander left his key on the table and walked out.

"Okay, that was easy. Now I just have to meet your parents. I can't believe I'm meeting them for the first time moving in with you," Xander said. "Wait, do we have to stay in separate rooms?"

"We don’t have a spare room," Oz snorted. "We always have family coming in and out of the house, so what’s one more person under foot? One thing you’ll learn about werewolf families is they have a tendency to move around a lot so no one will find out our secret. Right now we have my sister, brother-in-law and their four kids staying with us. And someone, who I think is a second cousin, sometimes crashes on our couch."

"Can we just meet your parents and unpack before bed?" Xander asked with a gulp thinking of all those people. "I've got all weekend to meet everyone right?"

"We’ll meet everyone at dinner tonight," Oz explained. "Everyone who’s turned will be coming home tonight from where ever they were held up during the past three days. There’s always a big celebration afterwards… it’s sort of a tradition."

Xander shuddered. "I don't do big family things too well, but I'll try not to freak out or scare them off. They're all gonna be judging if you made a good choice aren't they?"

"Ummm, maybe?" Oz admitted. "But they’re really not that bad. Just don’t mind my older brothers and cousins, they got all this macho shit going on."

"And, um, do they know about us? I mean the Scoobies us? I don't want to bring up the fact that I hang out with a slayer, a witch, a watcher, and sometimes a vampire I can't stand if they don't already know."

"That’s one of the reasons we moved to Sunnydale," Oz laughed. They were still sitting in the van in front of Oz’s house. His hand moved to Xander’s thigh and he started nuzzle his neck. "They figured we’d fit right in."

Xander pulled Oz over into his lap. Any distraction was good and this distraction had the side benefit of calming him down as he smelled Oz while nuzzling him back. Finally he lifted his head up. "I guess we should go in. I think we can get it all in one load and dump it in our room before I get put on display."

"Won’t be too bad now." Oz smiled at his lover. "You smell like me."

Oz's mom met the two of them at the door and took one look at how loaded down they were before leading them upstairs to Oz's room. Xander could hear people talking in the living room, but, other then the little kids who were peaking around corners to look at him, he didn't see anyone else on the trip up.

"Danny, do you want some time with your new… friend before you come downstairs?" Beth Osbourne could smell her son all over the boy, but she wanted him to explain the new arrangement. The poor thing looked spooked and ready run if you even looked at him crossed eyed. On top of that, he looked far too skinny and she made a mental note to get Rob to throw another steak on for him.

"Maybe you could get dad up here?" Oz asked. "Think Xan would rather start small."

"Sure thing, sweetie," Beth agreed and went to the top of the stairs and screamed at the top of her lungs. "Rob! Get up here!"

Oz moved in front of Xander and pulled. He moved around until he had Xander's arms circled around his waist knowing having a hold on him and being able to smell him would keep Xander calm. "Don't worry, my dad will be cool with this," he whispered to Xander.

Rob came barrelling up the stairs and came to rest at the doorway of his son’s room. "What is it dear? The kids are circling the barbeque."

"Dad, I wanted you to meet Xander before everyone else," Oz said still wrapped in Xander's arms.

Rob looked at the taller boy in his son’s arms, took in the boxes and sniffed deeply. "Nice to meet you, son. I’ll put another steak on for you."

"Thank you, sir, and thanks for letting me stay here," Xander said formally. "My parents didn't care where I was going so Giles didn't tell them, but if they cause problems I'll take care of it."

"Danny, is this boy your mate now?" Rob asked point blankly.

"Actually, I'm his," Oz said. "But, yeah, we are mated."

"And you bit him?"

"Yeah, but things are kinda different then normal. He was possessed by a hyena pack leader last year and some of that came back out with the wolf," Oz answered.

"Xander, this won’t cause any problems here will it? If you’re going to be living under my roof, there will be some rules I’ll expect you to follow." Rob Osbourne wasn’t a big man, not standing taller than his own son, but he was very intimating standing there with his arms crossed.

"I won't cause any problems, sir, I promise" Xander said carefully as he pushed Oz behind him and moved back and away from Rob.

Rob actually broke into a booming laugh when he saw Xander’s protectiveness of his son. The boy was obviously afraid and yet his first instinct was to protect his mate. That was enough to prove his worthiness for now. "That’s enough of that sir crap. Call me Dad."

Xander knew that Rob wasn't going to hit him. It was still hard walking over to shake his hand, but he wasn't going to disappoint Oz by being rude. He did keep Oz behind him though as he walked over and shook Rob's hand. "Just let me know what rules are, Dad, and I'll do my best to follow them" he said as they shook hands.

"I trust Danny’s judgment that you couldn’t stay with your parents anymore and it’s better to be around your own kind. When the time to change comes around we insist you be at a secure location. I expect you to stay in school and get decent grades. Try to keep your mess restricted to Danny’s room."

"I can do that," Xander said finally starting to feel at ease and letting Oz move up from behind him. "Well, the grades part could depend on what you mean by decent but I always pass my classes even if it's not A's. Plus, I've gotten pretty good at fitting studying and patrolling at the same time when I need to."

"We’ll maybe it’s time you both cut back on patrolling then," Beth said. "Danny could use the boost in grades, too. He doesn’t need to repeat again, do you Daniel?"

"We'll keep up in school. Xander's passed everything and helped save the world from being sucked into hell twice. Now he'll can make me study when he does so I'll pass too," Oz said before switching tracks. "We're gonna try to get him all unpacked before dinner, okay?"

"Alright," Beth nodded. "Do you want me to tell the others about you?"

"Yeah," Oz answered for Xander. "Should cut down on the questions some when he meets them all. He's had a busy day."

Rob patted Xander on the back. "I’m sure he did. The first change is always the worst and to have found a mate at the same time…"

"That was the best part," Xander said with a goofy grin. "If it weren't for that I'd going crazy about the werewolf thing probably."

"It’s not so bad. At least your mate bit you instead of a one year old," Rob said with laughing eyes looking at his son.

Oz just glared at his dad, this was an old joke by now and one he knew was not going to go away, then dragged Xander over to the bed. He figured that would leave Xander to embarrassed to talk and get his parents to leave the room. When it went according to plan he pushed Xander onto the bed. "We can lay down for a few minutes then unpack before dinner," he said.

"Your parents are…" Xander wasn’t even to put in words what he felt. He’d only seen functional families on television. All of his friends had had dysfunctional families too, just in different ways than his own.

"Yeah, they are," Oz agreed knowing what Xander was thinking. "The rest of the family is cool too, but my brothers will probably give you a hard time for the first few days while they get to know you."

"I thought the ‘beware big brothers’ rule only applied to dating girls," Xander groaned.

<><><><><><>

Xander definitely felt like he was on display as he and Oz walked down the stairs to dinner. The fact that almost everyone discreetly sniffed the air as they walked into the room made him glad he and Oz hadn't really done anything while they were up in bedroom.. Everyone was polite though as he was introduced before they all sat down and dinner looked better then anything he'd ever seen at his house.

He also felt like the jolly green giant surrounded by Oz’s family. He was the tallest one in the room, even when you considered the people who had married in. All of the Osbourne’s were red headed and fair skinned.

One of the men sitting across from Xander was handling a plate of steaks. He dug a fork into the top and looked a Xander with a smirk on his face. "Do you like meat, Xander?"

"Yeah, meat is good," Xander said before the double meaning of the question sank in. Then he turned beet red and grabbed for a glass of water.

Oz growled at his brother that looked like an older version of himself. "Stop it, Thomas. I noticed you took a pretty big piece yourself, that reflect anything?"

"Dad cooks a good steak?" Thomas asked trying to look innocent.

"Asshole," Oz growled under his breath.

His other brother was sitting next to Oz and leaned over and tapped the bright hickies on Oz’s neck. "If I didn’t know better, I woulda thought Xander was trying to eat you alive."

"Hands off," Xander growled before blushing again and wondering just where the hell that had come from.

"Hey, this one is possessive," Thomas crowed. "You are so whipped now, little brother."

"Doubt it will bother me any more then has you," Oz shot back while looking meaningfully at Thomas' girlfriend. While he was talking he leaned over enough to rub his shoulder against Xander's.

Thomas snorted and shrugged his shoulders, then looked over at his father. "Guess it runs in the family."

"Don't pull your mother and I into this," Rob said waving fork with a piece of steak speared on it.

"These dumbasses are giving Xander a hard time," Oz pointed out.

"I don't mind other then the blushing," Xander said quickly. "I don't wanna start a fight or anything."

"The boys are always fighting like that," Beth said, giving her sons a meaningful look. "It means they like you. If one goes too far, by all means, go ahead and hit them."

Oz glared at his mom and shook his head no. "What's for desert?" he asked quickly to change the subject. He knew it was a chocolate cake and chocolate could always distract Xander and he had a feeling talking about hitting family members wasn't a good idea.

"Chocolate cake," Beth echoed back and saw Xander’s head snap up. "Big moist, homemade chocolate cake with ice cream."

"Okay, now I really don't care how much I get teased. As long as Oz is here and get to have homemade chocolate cake I'm happy," Xander said. "Is it time for desert yet?"

"For you honey it is," Beth smiled. She now had another child to spoil.

<><><><><><>

By the next morning Xander felt like he was going to explode. He'd wanted to do more then just cuddle with Oz all night but he couldn't get over the idea of most the people in the house being able to hear and smell whatever they did. "We need to take a drive as soon as breakfast is over," Xander said after he'd given Oz a wake up kiss. "Or maybe before breakfast if you want."

"That bad, huh?" Oz teased, but then Xander squeezed his cock through his boxers and he groaned. "Okay, okay… me, too!"

"Just going to take me a while to get used to doing stuff here I guess, or you can just keep me in this room a few more hours. By then I won't care if your whole family is sitting in the hall listening," he mumbled into Oz's neck.

"Xan, now you know why my family so open," Oz said. "It’s hard to hide anything when you can smell or everything going on down the hall."

"Trust me, after last night I know," Xander said grinning as he remembered some of the things he'd heard during the night. "And speaking of smelling, I think I smell breakfast.. Does she really cook like this all the time?"

Oz sniffed deeply. "Bacon, sausages, pancakes and hash browns? No, she usually adds eggs, too."

"Definitely breakfast then van escape. I'm going to need my energy for the rest of the day and so are you," Xander said.