Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/80007.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer
  Relationship:
      Ethan_Rayne/Xander_Harris
  Character:
      Ethan_Rayne, Xander_Harris
  Series:
      Part 2 of Sorcerer's_Apprentice
  Stats:
      Published: 2008-07-18 Words: 609
****** Ask a Stupid Question ******
by trollopfop_(storyinmypocket)
Summary
     Ethan attempts to divine the secrets of Xander's soul. The results
     really shouldn't surprise anyone.
It began as a whim: a pretty little gift dropped into his lap, a chance to get
back at Ripper for all he'd done and all he'd never thought to do. It became
something more, in a slow, steady process that reminded him of nothing so much
as his own gradual corruption.
The boy could see.
His first teacher had said that much about him, once. He saw what others
didn't. An old man, nearly toothless, skeletal hands clawing at his trousers,
but no matter what his other inclinations, he could recognize talent when he
saw it, and the secrets whispered between frenzied grunts more than made up for
any temporary discomfort.
And Xander... Well, it hadn't been terribly difficult to discern the insight
behind the stream of babble. Xander spoke, thought in such a frenzied rush to
cover the truth of what he saw, to hide even from himself the simple gravity of
perception. It was charming, really.
He devoted nights to making Xander aware of that gift, cultivating it,
stripping away layers of pretense to find the truth of the boy's mind and body.
The magic between them was of the most ancient sort, flesh and fluids and
friction, and for all that the basic ingredients were common enough, it was no
less potent.
Months of preparation, and it came down to a night, an altar, candles lit,
incense wafting through the room, and the knife angled between them. Blood
spilled from them both, mingling in crimson streams, staining them both with
every thrust into the tight heat of his boy...
And in the last moment, as he brought them both to release, darker magics than
even Ripper had ever dreamed of swirling around them both, he asked a question.
It was the only question that mattered, in the end.
"What do you want?"
Simple enough, but in this moment, with Xander stripped bare in body and soul,
left vulnerable and gasping beneath him, such a question had significance
beyond the mundane. At a moment like this, the power surrounding them both
would reach out and make that desire manifest in ways neither could foresee.
This was trust. It was magic. It was an opportunity rarely offered, and a
chance for Ethan himself to get a deeper look into the boy's soul.
"I want..." Xander stared up at him, licked kiss-swollen lips. At a moment like
this, anything less than complete honesty would be impossible. "I want...
pizza. Please? The kind with everything on it, except for peppers, because
really, no offense, the peppers are kind of disgusting, and if there's anything
really evil about you, it's how you can eat those things."
Pizza. Hours of ritual, months of worming his way into the boy's soul, and his
most fervent desire in the world was for...
Ethan stared at him for a moment, watched Xander grow more nervous.
"...and that really wasn't the right answer, was it? I want other things, lots
of them, and most of them involve you and some nudity, or a lot of nudity, for
that matter, but we just finished the nudity part and... I'm kind of hungry?"
Ethan felt the corners of his mouth curving up, though he was quite sure he
hadn't intended to smile a moment ago. "Then we'll just have to order in.
Especially since I don't think I want you getting dressed just yet."
And as he turned away, his shoulders began to shake, ever so slightly, with
suppressed laughter. He could speculate as much as he liked about the nature of
a soul, but...
Well, the nature of a teenage boy was a far simpler thing.
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