Title: House Arrest 7/20 + Epilogue

Author: Forsaken2003

Pairing: William/Xander
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own none, all belong to Joss Whedon
Comments: Always welcomed!
Summary: William is under house arrest after assaulting his teacher. When he starts people watching he notices something strange about his neighbour.
Warnings/Spoilers: Human Verse. Out of Character.

Note: (An S/X adaptation if the movie 'Disturbia'.) Uses actual dialogue from the movie Please don't sue!

Beta'd by: Whichclothes

Part Seven

The next day William was clean-shaven as he sat on the front steps. He eyed his watch, and then stretched his neck. He yawned and saw something. Down the street, Xander's station wagon rounded the corner. With lightning speed William was on his feet, and quickly fixed his hair as the car drew closer.

Casually he strode across his yard, and approached the kite string boundary and mailbox. Then as he kept his feet planted in what looked to be a much practiced maneuver, he suddenly fell forward against the bushes. William reached around with his free hand, opened the mailbox lid, and went to grab the mail inside just as Xander pulled the car into the driveway. He glanced at William who nodded and smiled back.

William tried to push himself upright but he ended pitched forward even more. He glanced back over his shoulder, saw that Xander got out of the car and looked his way. William struggled under his own weight, and tried to keep his feet from crossing the line. He looked back to Xander who was now headed toward him. A slight smile crossed William's face.

"Can I help you?" Xander asked as he looked at Williams' awkward situation.

"Nope, no I'm fine," William said with a shake of the head.

Xander ignored his decline and decided to help anyways. "Too late," he said, hoisting William upright.

"Thanks, that was really humiliating," William said to Xander and was finally able to straighten himself up.

Xander reached in the box, grabbed the mail and handed it over. "Please. I think any pride you had left was gone a while ago."

"Oh, you mean that thing with the cops? They had the wrong guy, total foul up." William tried to sound nonchalant about the situation.

Xander nodded with a polite smile, and started to head away.

William panicked that he was going to lose his only chance to talk to Xander. William called out, "Hey, so… how'd the move go?"

"Still going," Xander replied.

"I'd help, but..." William waved his hand towards the ankle bracelet. "I'm a little spatially challenged at the moment."

Xander walked closer to William to check out his ankle bracelet. "Yeah, you've kinda got the whole Martha Stewart thing going on."

William nodded, "But minus the 48-hour allowance for office visits. I'm not very good at decorating pastries, either. It's not one of my strong suits." William grinned when he got a laugh from Xander. "So where'd you move from?"

"From the city, born and raised. Now..." Xander glanced around with a sigh. "Forcefully relocated."

"That doesn't sound good," William said sympathetically but on the inside he couldn't have been happier.

"Xander? Can you come in here, please?" Jessica asked her son while she eyed William warily.

"My mom… she's very polite, always says 'please' but she's got that tone, did you notice?" Xander asked and pointed back at his mother who was waiting impatiently for her son.

"I know the tone." William replied. His own mother used that tone from time to time.

Xander turned and walked towards his house. "Oh by the way, I'm Xander."

"Noticed that too," William said. "I'm William."

Xander smiled, "I'll see you later, Will." He disappeared inside.

William was in love.