#buffy!au

Gavin later felt immensely guilty about his assumption concerning Michael’s snubby friends. Turns out that a few were actually some of the coolest people Gavin had ever met. None, in Gavin’s opinion, had the same draw as Michael, though.

Geoff Ramsey, the jock that was conversing with Michael in the courtyard the day they talked for the first time, was the first to approach Gavin. Broad-shouldered, tattooed, and ultimately an extremely intimidating man, Gavin’s eyes just about bugged out of his head when he bee-lined straight for him. Gavin knew logically that Geoff probably couldn’t hurt him unless he was hiding a stake somewhere on him, but his cover at this school would be blown if some jock went flying through the school after being Falcon-punched the hell out of here. Then he’d never get the chance to get to know Michael.

But all those daunting thoughts vanished the second Geoff thrust a hand out and cheerfully said, “I’m Geoff Ramsey. Nice to meet you, Gavin Free.”

Gavin returned the shake with a greeting smile. “Nice to meet you, Geoff Ramsey. How did you happen to come by my name?”

“Michael Jones had it on his tongue,” was Geoff’s strange response, and wow – was it inappropriate for Gavin to be a little turned on? In his defense, Geoff worded it in possibly the worst way. Or maybe not, because the guy had a very suspicious glint in his eyes. Gavin liked that glint. It implied a lot of things.

“Ah, yes. Mutual friend, then?” Gavin said casually, shrugging his backpack further up on his shoulder.

“We’re all friends, then,” Geoff replied. They were about the same height, so when Geoff slung a friendly arm around his shoulder, he was glad to find it wasn’t a too awkward fit. They continued their walk to the parking lot, the school day having ended twelve minutes ago.

“Yo, Geoff!” a voice behind them called. Both turned to see three boys trotting to catch up. Gavin recognized all three, but had never talked to them before. The one who’d yelled was Ray Narvaez, a lean Hispanic boy with glasses and a quick mouth. The other two were Jack Pattillo and Ryan Haywood, and those two Gavin didn’t know all that well. He knew that they were all buddy-buddy with Michael, however, and with that knowledge, slapped a grin on his face as they ran to catch up.

“This is Gavin,” Geoff said, sounding proud, like he was showcasing a prize-winning dog. “Gav, this is Ray, Ryan, and Jack. Jack is on the football team with me, Ryan is a tech nerd, and Ray is a videogame loser.”

Gavin grinned. “Tech and video games; easy to roll with. Football? Not so much,” he said to Jack, who laughed. Jack, Gavin thought, looked a lot like a bear. Tall, big, and hairy. He laughed from the gut, too, a real genuine laugh.

“It’s not our specialty, either,” Ryan said as they continued walking, the pace slow to allow more talking time.

“It’s nice to meet you all?” Gavin said, making it a question.

Geoff grinned at him. “Michael fangirled to us for hours, so we figured we had to meet the meat in person!”

The words sent a pleasant warmth sensation spreading through his gut. A smile stretched his lips before he could stop it. “The meat?”

“They play a little rough,” Ryan told Gavin.

“Hope you don’t mind getting your shit pushed in,” Ray chimed in with a boyish grin.

“Are you heading home?” Geoff asked. “We could give you a ride.”

“No, I got my own car,” Gavin said. “But thanks. Do you all carpool?”

“Yeah, it’s really gay,” Ray said. “Not all of us fit so we have to sit on each other’s laps, without pants, of course, because it gets all hot and sweaty –”

Geoff shoved a hand over Ray’s mouth and said, “He’s just kidding. We have to go, Ryan’s little bro has a soccer game that starts in twenty. It was nice meeting you, Gav, and oh – here comes Michael. Later, Gavin!”

A chorus of farewells followed the men as they continued to the parking lot. Gavin stopped to wait for Michael, who was trotting up behind him, backpack slung across one shoulder and hair rather messy.

“Don’t ever talk to them,” Michael begged without hesitation as he came within speaking distance. “They are huge dorks and will embarrass each other, you, me, pretty much everyone.”

“They seem like cool guys,” Gavin said.

“No, they are the absolute fucking worst,” Michael said, but Gavin could tell he wasn’t serious. Michael grinned. “How was your day?”

Gavin felt an unreasonable, stupid flutter in his stomach at the question. “It was top,” Gavin answered, and in the middle of speaking was struck with an idea. “Hey, I know its last minute, but it’s Friday and I have nothing planned. Would you be up for a swim at the pool?”

Michael looked slightly crestfallen. “I don’t have my swimtrunks.”

Gavin was quick to reply. “Me neither, but unless you’re commando under there, then I don’t think it’s a problem.”

Michael beamed at him, his mocha eyes glimmering. “Well, then I’m game. To your car then?”

“To my car, then.”

---

As it turns out, the pool was completely empty by the time they arrived. The car ride had been filled with light chatter, the two boys asking one another about their personal lives and each answering with vague, shallow answers. It intrigued Gavin more than he thought it would – the mystery was attractive.

Gavin pulled to a stop in one of many empty spaces and put the car in park before turning to smile at Michael invitingly. The redhead grinned back and suddenly it felt oddly intimate. It was quiet in the car as they shared a long, pleasing moment just looking at each other. Then Michael broke it, a little too soon in Gavin’s opinion, and hopped out of the car. Gavin could see him trip when he landed; the car had high wheels for off-roading and was abnormally high.

Gravel crunched under their feet as they headed towards the gate. Self-conscious thoughts ran like wildfire through Gavin’s head.

My arms look stupid swinging this much.

I’m squinting like a loon.

Ugh, why did I ask him so out of the blue? I didn’t have time to do my hair – it’s probably sticking up in all the wrong places.

“Gav?” Michael said, breaking him out of his revere. The redhead was looking at him with concern.

“Hm? Sorry, thinking about this weekend,” Gavin invented wildly.

“What’ve you got planned?” Michael asked as they left dirt tracks on the smooth concrete surrounding the pool. The surface of the chlorinated water was clear and blue, perfect for swimming.

“Nothing,” Gavin said. “That’s the problem.”

“That could change,” Michael said. At the innocent statement, Gavin’s nervous mind instantly filled with wonder. Was that supposed to mean more than friendship? God, Gavin hoped so.

“I hope so,” he replied calmly.

After they plunked their bags by one of the pool chairs, there was an awkward moment where both boys simply stood there, fidgeting and giddy with excited nerves. Gavin looked around for something to break the spell and grinned when an idea occurred to him.

“Come on,” he said to Michael, and ignoring the strange look Michael was giving him, he took his shoes and socks off and rolled up his jeans to his knees. The water was chilly against his skin as he sat on the edge of the pool, legs kicking lightly at the water until Michael sat down next to him, having discarded his Converse and bright blue socks on top of Gavin’s. His legs were shockingly pale next to Gavin’s naturally tan ones.

Michael released a long, exaggerating sigh of bliss. “I love pools.”

Gavin hummed in agreement, leaning back on his elbows. Michael mirrored the action.

There was a companionable silence as both boys relaxed. Looking up, Gavin determined it was nearing five o’clock. The sun was going to start setting in a few hours, and Gavin planned to make the most of their time, even if it was just sitting by the pool.

Around twenty minutes of lounging later, Michael sat up straight with a groan. Gavin’s eyes widened when he struggled out of his black tee shirt, the collar getting caught on his head for a moment before he chucked the offending material away from him. Gavin was abruptly thankful for his vampire-induced photographic memory; just once glance at the other’s chest was not considered weird and now Gavin could access the beautiful sight at will. The skin was smooth and flawless, his pectorals subtly defined by what Gavin guessed was some sort of daily labor. His nipples were supple and pink, tiny and perky. At that point Gavin had to close his eyes and will the lovely image away; he was pretty sure a boner would be noticeable if it was tenting his pants.

Michael stood up, wet footprints following him as he stepped back, unbuttoning his jeans and sliding the material down. Gavin looked away, face slightly pink, and chose to follow suit, stripping his torso. His shirt landed on Michael’s.

Gavin was splattered with water droplets when Michael canon-balled into the water. Gavin giggled and booed playfully when the other’s head broke the surface, red curls rebelling wildly. “I give it a five,” Gavin told him, tugging his pants down.

Michael looked down, face flushed. Gavin vainly hoped it was from the sight of him undressing. “Shut up,” the younger said, smiling at the water.

“The splash was too big,” Gavin continued, stepping closer to the water before jumping in, artfully landing in the pool with barely a splash. Showing off was his best forte, and the worry that he’d overdone it was vanquished when he surfaced to see Michael’s face beaming at him, eyes wide with awe.

“That was actually real fuckin’ good,” Michael said, allowing his body to float. He closed his eyes against the sun. “I’m a little annoyed.”

“It’s pure natural talent,” Gavin said seriously, breaking into laughter when Michael splashed him. He, of course, splashed back and thus began a small water-war.

When a well-placed wave landed a direct hit on Michael’s face, Gavin giggled, stupidly high-pitched. Michael choked and gagged.

“You got me in the face!”

“Does that mean I win?”

Michael growled a negative and, shocking the hell out of Gavin, launched himself away from the wall, his warm, water-slicked body barreling into Gavin’s. The force pushed both of them a few feet back.

A hand found its way to Gavin’s head and dunked him under the water. Gavin opened his eyes to see bubbles expelling from Michael’s laughing mouth and began laughing along with him, momentarily forgetting that he had no need for breathe. Michael’s hand was gone from his hair, but Gavin stayed underwater, eyes soaking up the view of his crush. The other boy’s legs really were very pale, and his stomach was flat and toned. His boxers were black with blue stripes, and Gavin had never seen such a nice sight. He sighed into the water, bubbles rising to the top as Michael did. Gavin realized he’d been down there a little too long.

He took in a large, unneeded breath when he surfaced, grinning at Michael.

“Damn, you can stay down there for a long time,” Michael said, eyebrows up. Gavin felt like punching himself in the face.

“Like I said, it’s natural talent,” he said, and technically it was honesty. He didn’t want to lie to Michael.

The other rolled his eyes. “Natural talent my ass. Are you on the swim team?”

“Nope. Natural talent,” Gavin persisted, grinning.

Michael just rolled his eyes again and began floating away on his back, arms stretched out and legs spread.

The sun began sinking far too soon for Gavin’s liking. Darkness clotted the sky and wrapped careful shadows around their surroundings, and though Gavin often welcomed the night, he wished it hadn’t fallen.

Michael looked up at the star-filled sky with a look of melancholy when the last ray of light disappeared. “I should probably be getting home,” he said.

“I suppose,” Gavin said. “Do you want to leave now?”

“No,” Michael laughed, rubbing the back of his neck with prune-like fingers. “But my mom is going to start worrying soon. I don’t normally have a social life.”

“What?” Gavin said, surprised. “But – at school –”

“I have friends, but I don’t really… have time to hang out with them,” Michael said awkwardly. His eyes shifted away from Gavin and stared a hole into the darkness.

“Don’t have time?” Gavin repeated.

“We should get going,” Michael said when the street light turned on. Gavin frowned but nodded, placing his hands on the side of the pool and effortlessly heaving himself up. He was feeling distinctly cheeky when he turned to see Michael blushing and looking away.

Oh yeah. Definitely more than friendship.

“Coming?” he goaded when the redhead continued to stare at the now lit-up pool water. Lights underneath their feet had turned on about an hour before, casting strange shadows over their face.

Michael nodded almost vigorously, a hand coming up to rub the warmth from his cheeks. He paddled over to the side and lifted himself out of the pool, his muscles shifting and pulsing with the exertion. Gavin watched almost hungrily. Great, the dry throat was back.

It only increased when Michael stood and stretched his back, hands laced above his head and he leaned back. Gavin licked his lips without thinking and turned away when his fangs extended in his mouth. They pricked his tongue.

“Don’t turn around, okay?” Michael said nervously.

“Alright?” Gavin said, cocking an eyebrow. He watched the waves of the pool for a bit before he heard Michael let out a yelp. Gavin spun around to see Michael pinwheeling one arm as he tilted over and landed on his knee. His feet were in the same pant leg and – oh.

“TURN BACK AROUND, STUPID,” Michael yelled in embarrassment. Gavin did as told, but he couldn’t contain the blush that spread across his face or the giggle that slipped through his lips. Michael had stripped out of his wet boxers and the sight of his pale, well-shaped, and damn fine ass sent blood not only to his face.

Michael was cursing up a storm behind him, sending Gavin into a fit of giggles, but his enjoyment was abruptly cut short when a familiar, yet foreign scent reached his nose.

Blood. Blood.

Michael was bleeding.

Gavin sucked in a tight breath and held it. He was old enough to not go blood-crazed when the smell happened to appear, but damn… Michael had some sweet smelling blood. His fangs poked at his tongue again.

“Are you alright, Michael?”

“No, you just saw my fucking dick!”

“No, I didn’t,” Gavin said soothingly. “Are you alright?”

Michael grumbled to himself before he answered. “I’m grand,” he said, slightly sarcastic. Gavin sneaked a peak over his shoulder and turned to face him when he saw Michael was fully dressed and sitting on his butt on the pavement. Gavin could still smell the blood through the clothes, but the fabric diluted it thankfully. Enhanced eyesight allowed him to spot the speck of scarlet staining through his jeans near his knee.

“Dicks, man,” Michael said to him, hurriedly adjusting the material over the scrap. “Banged my knee a bit.” He sighed. “I’m ready to go.”

“Do you need help?” Gavin asked, though he was almost certain Michael would refuse any aid.

“Of course not,” Michael said fiercely as he stood up. Gavin grinned. “Come on, slow poke.”

Gavin, instead of dressing out of his wet boxers, just pulled his pants over them and tugged his tee shirt back on. He grabbed Michael’s shoes and tossed them to him. They simply carried them back to the car. Gavin led the way down the sidewalk and opened the passenger door for Michael before climbing in himself.

“That was fun,” Michael told him earnestly. Gavin looked at him and reflected the smile. He committed the sight of Michael’s dimples, heavier on the left side than the right, to memory.

“It was top,” Gavin said, throwing the car into drive and backing out of the lot. The streets were vacant as he pulled out. “Address?” he asked reluctantly, not wanting this night to end.

As Michael reeled off his place of residence, Gavin committed that, too, to memory. It felt a little stalker-ish.

And when he stopped outside of Michael’s house, a two story brick house with a lovely black-wooded porch, he felt like a real creep when he walked Michael to the door and took a big whiff. It smelled like Michael and brown sugar and ice, which was a strange but addictive combination. He sniffed around carefully but as far as he could tell, only humans had entered the property.

It was definitely feeling like a date by the time they stopped outside of the door. Michael looked up at Gavin, and for an ecstatic moment Gavin actually thought that he was going to kiss him, but then they were suddenly nothing more than friends again, and Michael was laughing and clapping him on the shoulder, telling him they should go back to that pool again, and soon. Gavin nodded and agreed, waving rather dorkily as Michael said goodnight and closed the door.

As he walked back to the car, Gavin ran his hand over everything he could reach. The thought of another vampire happening across his crush’s delectable scent and moving in caused Gavin’s vision to go red around the edges, so he made sure his pheromones were well distributed around the territory.

When Gavin was getting ready for bed that night, he reached a hand up to lightly touch his lips, which were still stretched in a smile.

He may’ve been the only vampire with a soul, and his heart was pumping the blood of some unnamed humans’ donation, but he didn’t think it was possible for his muscles to become torn or even wear down. And yet…

Gavin didn’t much fancy the new kid, or so he said. He was loud and fit in almost instantly, unlike Gavin, who’d been at this damn school for two years and had yet to make a proper friend. But the moment Michael Jones set foot in this school, he was flocked with people – a lot of them girls – asking, “Hey, Michael! Do you want to hang out after school?” or “Michael! Wanna go see a movie this weekend?”

It drove Gavin nuts. Not only because his popularity skyrocketed without Michael having to do anything, but because he too saw the draw. The kid – who really wasn’t a kid, he was sixteen years old, and the only reason Gavin called him a kid was due to the fact that Michael was a year younger than him – was undeniably cute, with auburn, almost red curls donning his head and freckles covering his cheeks. He was a little dorky, Gavin thought, but unfortunately that only increased the draw for Gavin.

So despite his grudge against the nerdy kid with pale skin and a pouty mouth, he watched him like a jealous hawk across the courtyard. Gavin was sitting with some distant friends, who he happened to actually not like at all, while Michael was sitting the middle of the most crowded table in the entire patio. Someone’s arm was slung around him, but Gavin couldn’t see who it was because some person’s back was in the way. He had a clear view of Michael, however, and just the sight of the freckled sixteen year old made his gut burn with not only jealousy, but also with something Gavin didn’t want to think about or acknowledge. He didn’t want to deal with his personal biting-people problem on top of a crush.

He propped his head up with his palm and resigned himself to just staring at Michael from afar. He felt the normal ache of thirst in his throat, but whenever he looked directly at Michael, his hunger seemed to surge. It was as solid of a sign of a crush if Gavin had ever seen one, but he chose to pretend it wasn’t there. All signs were showing Michael was into girls, anyway.

He gave a hopeless sigh as chatter ensued all around him. Staring shameless wasn’t Gavin’s usual way of flirting – and he was a natural flirter, trust him – but he figured he could do no harm.

But when one of the girls Michael was sitting with suddenly got up to leave, Michael’s brown eyes shot his way. Gavin couldn’t believe it – they were sharing a gaze for a long, intense moment before Gavin suddenly was snapped out of it by a hand on the shoulder. Angrily, he turned to glare at Carli, a slightly chubby brunette with really thin eyebrows. She was grinning at him.

“What?” he snapped, glancing back over his shoulder to see Michael engaged in conversation with one of the players on the football team. His heart sunk slightly.

“Dasi was just saying that you and her would make a great couple for the dance,” she said, pointing to her best friend Dasi, who was a little too gothic for Gavin’s taste. Her blood was probably as black as her lips.

“Ah, no, sorry,” Gavin drawled, trying to ease his way out of the conversation. Physically backing up seemed to do the trick as well; he stood up from the bench, the leaves crunching under his feet as he straightened. Dasi and Carli watched him with confused expressions. “I’m afraid I’ve already gotten a date,” he lied. “Now if you’ll excuse me…”

He practically ran away from the group and into the school building, sparing a final glance at Michael before closing the door behind him. He was in the East Wing of the building, close to his next class. When he got to the classroom, he was pleasantly surprised to find it open and slipped inside, leaving the lights off.

But before he could sit down at his normal desk, the door opened behind him. He spun around and to this day he swore his heart fell through the floor.

“You’re Gavin Free,” Michael Jones said, and wow, Gavin didn’t really think he’d sound so hot. He also had an accent of some sort, but Gavin had trouble pinpointing it. Up this close and being able to look Michael straight in the eye without being spotted, Gavin could see his freckles more clearly. They were defined against pale skin and wow – Gavin was having trouble swallowing.

Gavin realized belatedly, after having his mini-freak out of course, that he was waiting a little too long to respond. He was thanking his lucky stars he was a natural smooth-talker. “Ah, yup. And you are?”

Michael scrunched up his eyebrows, but it was gone in a heartbeat. “Michael Jones. I moved here a few weeks ago.”

“Oh,” Gavin said. “That’s interesting. Where did you move from?”

“Jersey,” Michael said, and that explained his accent. Gavin bit back a smirk. “I’m guessing somewhere from the UK, unless you’re faking that accent.”

Gavin grinned, exposing his sharper than normal canines. “Oxford,” he confirmed.

“I don’t know where the fuck that is,” Michael admitted with a smile, rubbing the back of his neck.

“So where are your friends?” Gavin asked, because seriously, when did he ever see Michael alone? Never, that’s when.

Michael looked away, aiming a sigh at the desk he then sat down at. His bag hit the floor with a thud. “Back at the lunch table. Where are your friends?”

“Don’t have any,” Gavin said bluntly, curious to see how Michael would react.

“Bullshit, I saw you sitting with them,” Michael said without missing a beat. “At lunch. Not ten minutes ago.”

“Oh, please,” Gavin said. “I hate them.”

That threw Michael a little. Eyes wide and confused, Michael asked, “Then why do you sit with them?”

Gavin shrugged and shook his head. He didn’t want his first and hopefully not last conversation to take a bad turn, so he changed the subject. “How do you like it here?”

“It’s fucking hot,” Michael said without preamble. Gavin was surprised – in all his years he’d never met someone so goddamn blunt, not with someone he’d just met.

He liked it.

“That’s what you get when you move to Texas,” Gavin laughed, taking a seat next to Michael. It was still dark in the room, but there was a glint in the redhead’s eyes that Gavin loved.

I should not be feeding this infatuation.

But as Gavin watched Michael laugh, his throat burned and his canines sharpened. He didn’t let his panic show, however, and managed to charm Michael into another full-bodied laugh, where the younger threw his head back, causing the tendons in his neck to extend. Gavin bit back his moan.

“I don’t know, man, the pools here are pretty sweet,” Michael was saying as Gavin forced his focus off of the thought of Michael’s throat and back on the conversation. “Back in Jersey everything was gross and crowded. The pool around the corner here, just down the block? That’s pretty fucking nice. It’s clean and nobody seems goes there. I haven’t been there yet, but I’ve walked by it a few times.”

Gavin was nodding as Michael spoke, and before his better judgment could catch up with his words, he said, “Would you like to go? I go there just about every other day. It really is a neat place. It’s a shame you haven’t been yet.”

Michael’s eyes lit up. “I’d love to go.” He paused. “Do you drive?”

“I do indeed,” Gavin said, smiling. “A 2012 Black Jeep Wrangler.”

Michael wasn’t as impressed as he should’ve been, in Gavin’s opinion. His car was a sweet one. “How old are you?” Michael asked, looking a little confused.

“I’m seventeen,” Gavin answered.

“You’re a senior?”

“Yes?”

“I thought you were a junior!”

“Why would you think that?”

“You look like a junior,” Michael said with fake disdain, turning to face the front. The giggle he let slip ruined his look of disgust.

Gavin laughed. “Why are you acting like that? You’re a junior! And what do you mean I look like a junior?”

Michael giggled into his hand and didn’t answer. The bell rang, loud and obnoxious, and Gavin could see kids beginning to fill the hallways once more. His stomach fell; their private time was about over.

“Since I have a car,” Gavin said quickly. “Would you like me to pick you up? We could drive over to the pool and have fun swimmy times.”

“That’d be great,” Michael answered just as the door opened. The teacher and four other students filed in, chatting merrily and taking their seats. Gavin quickly spun to face the whiteboard, thoughts consuming his brain and thankfully blocking out the sight of Michael being swarmed by two girls who were badgering him to move seats to the back. He refused, but Gavin’s mind was already neck deep in worry.

I’m a vampire, what the hell am I doing prancing about with some random human?

A cute human.

It doesn’t matter what he looks like! He’s still food.

I won’t eat this one.

I wonder if he knew it was a date, because it was definitely a date.

Telling someone “I’ll pick you up,” totally qualifies as date, doesn’t it?

And as class started, Gavin caught Michael sneaking his own glances at him, and each time both boys would turn back to the whiteboard with a cheeky, slightly shy smile.