Title: House Arrest 15/20 + 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 Fifteen

William sat in the dark at his dad's desk. He was on the phone, pressing his other finger to his ear, and trying to drown out the noise that originated from Xander's party next door. Oz's voice mail picked up. "This is Oz, leave a message." He slammed the phone down onto the desk.

A roar of laughter made William jumped from his chair. He grabbed the binoculars and headed to the window. Xander might have told him not to spy on the party but that didn't mean he agreed. He scanned the crowd until he found Xander; Xander was talking with a group of partygoers. As he pretended to listen to one of the guys' stories he furtively glanced toward William's window. But it was quick; William couldn't be a hundred percent sure if it had been on purpose or not.

"Wait, what was that? You think I'm watching? Well, I'm not... Nope, I am minding my own bloody business..." William lied to himself.

He watched as Xander excused himself from the group and approached the drink and food table where Liam (a.k.a "Peaches") stood, as he nitpicking over his snack choices. Xander hugged him his eyes flickered up to William.

"You think I'm buying that?" William continued to watch as he wished it was him Xander hugged. "I'm not biting…"

Xander glanced up in William's direction again. It was more obvious this time as he kept hugging Liam.

"That's it," William said as he gritted his teeth. He tossed the binoculars down and headed out.

A short time later William slammed a ladder up against the side of the house. Carefully he carried a speaker up to the roof before slamming the speaker down on the edge of the roof that faced Xander's house. He made sure the speaker wires were securely clamped in place, and then unwound the roll of wire back across the roof toward the ladder.

William ran the wire down the hall and into his dad's office. He connected the wire to the bookshelf amplifier, and cranked the volume control knob. His thumb hovered over the play button of his iPod. One more look at the party and William pressed play. The speaker exploded with the roar of Barry Manilow's Mandy.

Xander's party came to a grinding halt, except for Liam who was swaying slightly as he mouthed the words along with Manilow.

William saw Xander glare up at him, fire in his eyes as he stormed out of sight. William smiled with perverse satisfaction as he tilted his head and anticipated the doorbell ringing. He had to admit Xander looked hot when he was pissed.

Not even two minutes later the doorbell rang and William descended down the stairs. He maintained his wicked grin. He opened the door for Xander, but instead he was pelted with a storm of water balloons.

William stood there, frozen as the Greenwood brats from across the street jumped from the bushes; they laughed and raced away into the shadows. He was about to attempt to pursue them when the sound of a door opening stopped him cold. He spun around to see Xander storm in from the kitchen and march up the stairs.

"Hey!" William called after him and raced up the stairs after him.

Xander increased his speed. He stormed down the hall and saw that the speaker wires ran into William's dad's office. He slammed through the door, spotted William's iPod, and ripped it out of its dock. The music stopped. Spinning around, Xander ran smack into William who swiped the iPod out of his hand and slammed it back in the dock. The music blared once again.

Xander moved in, but William blocked his path. Xander tried to get around him but William stood firm. Xander peered out the window; his eyes widened. "Oh my God…"

William fell for it; he looked. Xander shoved him out of the way and grabbed the iPod. William glared as Xander bolted down the hallway and into William's bedroom.

When William caught up to Xander he had his hand that held the iPod out the window that held onto the I-Pod. William stopped in his tracks.

"Back off or I'll throw it where you can't follow." Xander threatened and leaned over the window more.

"Bloody hell; take it easy, that's sixty gigs of my life," William let out a small whimper.

Xander grinned, "Even better."

"Okay… okay." William backed away slightly.

"What are you doing?" Xander demanded to know.

"What are you doing?" William repeated the question.

Xander glared at William, "I'm trying to enjoy my party. Wait, that's wrong. According to you, I'm trying to conform."

"Coulda fooled me," William muttered loud enough for Xander to hear.

Xander frowned, "What does that mean?"

"Forget…"

"No, I'm not going to forget it." Xander crossed his arms and made sure he had the iPod tucked tight against his chest.

William pointed an accusing finger. "You wanna blend in with that crowd, fine, but stop looking up and trying to get a bloody rise outta me."

Xander's eyes widened, "So you were watching me. Question is for how long? Just tonight? Or maybe a week? Two weeks? Since I moved in?" William tried to respond, but Xander kept pressing. "And the whole 'my-neighbor's-the-killer' thing. Great cover…"

"It's not a cover," William replied insulted that Xander thought he would lie about something like that.

Xander glanced around. "So what is it, Will? Huh? What else have you seen?"

"What else have I seen?" William asked and wondered how much he should tell.

"Yeah. What else?"

"Okay - I've seen you're the only one in the world who eats pizza-Flavored Pringles. You're also the first person I've ever seen who spends more time on their roof than in their own house. And what do you do out there? You read books. Now one would think with the whole numbers thing you've got going on that you'd put them on your shelf alphabetically, but you don't. Your system's much more perfect. The ones you like go on the bottom, the ones you love go in the middle, and the ones you need, the ones you keep going back to... well they go straight to the top next to the dream encyclopedia. You know what all this tells me? You know how things should be, 'The world according to Xander.' And guess what? It's a very entertaining and beautiful thing, even when it takes a hit. When you end up in a place like this... when your parents dump their baggage on you, or just... when it seems like those curveballs are never gonna stop. It sucks, but just so you know… I get it." William took a deep breath from his ramble. He sounded like an idiot, he knew that, but he wasn't finished. Xander wanted to know so he'd tell him.

"But I've also seen those designer window shades of yours, and guess what? They always go up the next day - no matter what. And even if no one else has, I've noticed that. And I'm not bloody sorry. The only thing I'll even consider apologizing for is... not dropping the binoculars and telling you this a lot sooner."

Xander stared into William's eyes before he stepped closer, "That was either the creepiest... or the sweetest thing I've ever heard."

William leaned in and kissed Xander. They pulled away and locked eyes. Xander pulled William by his soaking wet t-shirt and kissed him back even harder. They stumbled back toward the bed.

"Remember the other night? When we talked about my issues?" William asked in between kisses.

"You said you didn't have any issues," Xander replied and tilted his head back and let William kiss his neck.

"Did I? That was bullshit. I got a million issues." William sucked on Xander's neck.

Xander gasped and let out a strangled laugh, "For a guy who killed his teacher?"

"I didn't kill my teacher," William whispered before he started kissing Xander again

Xander's hands pulled William closer as they continued. His eyebrows furrowed when he heard loud banging coming from across the street. "Will…" Xander pushed William off and made his way to the window. He gazed at a window that was lit up; something was smeared on the glass. Looking around quickly for the binoculars that were nowhere to be seen, he leaned forward to get a better look, "Holy shit."

"What is it?" William asked and looked over Xander's shoulders.

"Red smears." Xander whispered.

"Blood?" They ducked down when Michaels opened the side door and dragged out a blue plastic tarp that was tied up. A blue tarp that was covered in blood. Michaels opened his garage door and he and the tarp disappeared underneath it.

Xander looked at William with wide eyes. "What should we do?"