"Good morning."

Xander stirred at the soft voice and the gentle touch on his arm. Used to be he'd have slept through such paltry attempts to wake him, but the couch was too damn short and he didn't sleep soundly on it.

"Hate this couch." The grimace on his face - and the popping of his joints as he stretched - underlined the words.

William smiled down at him. "You should sleep in the bed with me and Spike."

Xander laughed. "Yeah, right."

"Well, then, perhaps you and I should share the bed and Spike should be relegated to the couch."

"Now you're talking." Xander smiled up at William until he noticed that Will was shivering. "And then you wouldn't have to get out of bed. It's freezing in here."

"Well, then perhaps somebody should invite me to share his blankets."

Xander held the blankets open and Will immediately settled his body on top of Xander's, sighing with contentment as Xander draped the covers over the both of them. Their faces were inches apart.

"Don't you know you have a standing invitation?" Xander asked. "And what time is it? How long before I have to go to work?"

William's breath tickled Xander's nose as he spoke. "You have about half an hour before you have to get ready."

"And where's Spike?"

"Fast asleep. Why?" William teased. "Would you like me to fetch him?"

"Hell no," Xander said before covering Will's lips with his own.

Will's kiss was sweet and soft but as far from innocent as Xander could have imagined in his most secret fantasies. A kiss from Will got into his bones and blood in a way that could leave him with a goofy grin for hours. "You have the sweetest smile."

Goofy, sweet - Xander would take it. "Um. Thanks. You're pretty sweet too - I mean your smile - I mean - I'm making this worse, right?"

"No." Will shifted around until he could curl up to Xander's heat, tuck himself into a ball, and blanket Xander's entire left side in warmth - without commenting on the parts of Xander that were now very awake and extremely happy to see Will. Who would never ever make a move on him in the middle of the night - and, okay, Xander was still not thinking about that.

See?

Not thinking.

Watch Xander not think.

"Been awake long?"

"About an hour."

"Oh - huh? Why didn't you come out earlier?"

Will lifted his head, smiled in a way that guaranteed none of Xander was going back to sleep. "You seemed tired last night. I wanted to let you sleep in. I always wake up early. Unlike you and my brother, I'm a morning person."

"You are?" Xander gave a look of mock disgust. "You do realize it's now officially over between us? I can't deal with morning people. I mean, what's the poi - "

"Shh," William said, smiling as he tilted Xander's face toward his. "Don't talk."

Then William was kissing Xander again and sliding his tongue into Xander's mouth and it was so nice, but God help him, William's choice of words was so not helping Xander with the not-thinking thing. *And how wrong, wrong, wrong is it when the guy you want more than anything is all over you and you keep not-thinking about his brother? His brother, you big perv.*

But it wasn't like he didn't know this was Will kissing him. Or like it wasn't Will he was hard for. Who he'd been hard for for weeks. Will, his Will. Will, who'd never been with a man before. Who'd never been with anyone before, for that matter, but who'd been learning very, very fast. Will, who Xander had been so careful not to rush, who Xander was very much enjoying teaching every kissing technique he knew. Will, who, by this point, was teaching Xander a few new techniques of his own.

No, it wasn't that Xander wasn't 100-percent focused on Will, it was just that the thing with Spike was so unresolved. Not that it needed resolving, because they both know it was just a comfort thing. It's just that they had never talked about it, never even mentioned it. They'd just gotten out of bed and brought Will home and taken shifts nursing him back to health.

And once Will was healthy enough to make his intentions toward Xander clear - so so clear - Spike had backed off. Had backed way the hell off. Which was about as close to approval as Xander figured he could get.

But Xander wasn't thinking about Spike right then. Not with Will nibbling at his ear. No, he wasn't.

And really, Xander barely even saw Spike now that Will was mostly better. Spike tended to be out by the time Xander got home from work at night and still asleep when Xander left for work in the morning.

Which was fine.

Really.

Better than fine because Xander got moments like these that were better than sex - okay, better than the sex he wasn't having because Xander knew sex with William when they got there would be about the best thing on earth.

And until then there was talking.

And groping. And petting. Petting that was getting heavier and heavier as time went on, though it had yet to get under the clothing. Or at least the pants. And rubbing. Can't forget the rubbing. So, yeah, groping, petting, and rubbing.

And lots and lots of talking.

Xander hoped he didn't turn completely into a girl by the time William was ready because that would complicate the sex plans a lot.

William was very gay.

And so long as Xander remained safely in possession of his manly bits, that was a-okay in his world. "Huh?"

"Come back to me, Xander." Will stroked Xander's cheek, soft tickling touches that told Xander he should add an extra five minutes to his routine this morning and shave. "You haven't asked me anything yet."

"Yes I did." Xander protested for the sake of protest - because protesting meant that Will would keep talking and if Will kept talking that meant Xander got to keep listening and Xander liked Will's voice. That was the point of his morning questions - every morning Will told him a story.

He now knew that Spike had earned his name their first year in a new school - state school, whatever that was. They'd both been skinny and small - natural targets until the day Spike took every penny of his Christmas money to Camden Market and came out covered in spikes. Spiked collar, spiked bracelets, spiked army bag, spiked belt, spiked boots, spiked rings until he bristled like a metal hedgehog.

The boys had laughed at him until the first time they tried to pick him up. Not only had the spikes made him heavy, they'd made him sharp. And eventually, Spike had learned how to do more damage to the other boys with all of the sharp bits than to himself.

"You most certainly did not." Guh! - Xander loved William's stern and proper voice. "You merely informed me that it was over between us."

"No I didn't."

"You're saying I'm mistaken?" William tried to hold the stern expression that went with the voice - because he knew Xander liked that too - but a grin peeked through.

"You must most certainly be mistaken, Mister Datchery," Xander replied, in the British accent he'd been working on, which was still so bad it made William cringe. He switched to a Western drawl. "'Cause that there's crazy talk."

Now the drawl was an accent he knew Will found adorable and, as he'd hoped, it earned him an enthusiastic kiss.

"So," William said as he pulled back. "Am I to presume that there is nothing more about me you wish to know?"

Xander slid his fingers down along William's sides where he knew William was very ticklish. As William giggled and squirmed, Xander shuffled their bodies around so he was on top, looking down into Will's face.

"I will never not want to know more about you." Xander announced with absolute certainty. He considered for a moment, then decided to ask the question he'd been dancing around for days. "Tell about how you and Spike came here."

"By airplane."

"See? And already I want to know more."

William chuckled, coughed quietly and wiggled until he found a comfortable rest against Xander. One thing Xander had learned about William is that he loved the warmth. He'd take all the body heat he could get and even huddle close to the toaster and stove when they were on. "Our mother was English. Our father is American. She died when we were fifteen."

Xander shot William a startled look but William looked totally serene, absolutely calm.

"To his great displeasure, we were sent to live with him and his new wife. He agreed only for appearances and only until we turned eighteen." William burrowed deeper into Xander's warmth, nose cold against his throat but Xander didn't mind. "We turned eighteen almost a year ago."

Xander froze. "He kicked you out."

"We knew he would - we knew it was only until the law no longer protected us." William's fingers crept down Xander's arm to his wrist, tangled with Xander's fingers. "It was a relief to go at first. Hansel and Gretel without the breadcrumbs."

Xander squeezed William's hand and cuddled him even tighter. "I guess that makes me the Big Bad Wolf."

William giggled. "That's Little Red Riding Hood."

"Oh, right. So then I'm... the witch with the house made of candy who lures you in and fattens you up so that I can - and, wow, that metaphor went pornographic really fast."

William giggled again. "You still have it wrong anyway."

"Hansel and Gretel wasn't the witch?"

"No, it was the witch, but you are not the villain. You're the hero."

Xander blushed and looked away, but he couldn't say he hated the idea of being Will's knight in shining armor. "I should get ready for work. Need to shave."

William remained snuggled under the blankets and adjusted his body to let Xander up off the couch. Xander stood looking down at him for a long second, then started to turn away, but William's arm darted out to stop him.

"Why didn't you ask why we ended up on the streets? That's always the first thing people ask. Why didn't we get jobs or stay in a shelter?"

Xander smiled down at Will, gave his hand a squeeze and let go. "Cause I know it's not the right question."