Welcome to Gaia! ::

He was really hoping it wasn’t a ‘bad’ thing that Nelson wanted to tell him, but he’d seen a lot of movies to be fair. If you started dating and someone decided that they had something ‘important’ to share with you, it was normally something awful like “A fortune teller said I’d die in three days and a doctor confirmed it” - which might have been a little exaggerated but, some time’s that was just how brains worked.

So… all things considered, having gotten that message he was a little nervous.

So he brought Boba, it might not fix anything but it might soften whatever news there was. Maybe there was a slim chance it was a good thing after all. Then it could be a celebration boba.

He knocked on the door with his foot, balancing the boba because he’d brought extra’s for Q, he did not want to turn up and not give her a boba when he brought Nelson one after all.

“Course I brought boba! Boba is like…the drink for any kind of thing!” Xander nodded.
“What’s up! Is everything ok? Do I need to make chili pepper brownies? Nair shampoo? More boba for celebration?” He needed to cover all his bases for options after all.

He wiggled Nelson’s favorite boba free of the container and offered him the oversized drink because of course, he’d bought the biggest size they offered.

“Also I brought one for Q! So she won’t like… acupuncture us to death.” He grinned and then looked thoughtful.
“Is that a thing? It’s probably a thing with her even if it's not normally a thing. She could probably just… look at you and you’d die with needles sticking out of you in one way or another.”

He was mostly teasing.

“Yeahhhhh” Xander grimaced at how tense Jace was about the upcoming exam. “Like, I don’t even think he COULD fail unless someone lobotomized him at this point. But… You know mom.” He sighed.


He followed Nelson inside without protest, curious but glad it was nothing ‘revenge’ worthy at least.

“Breathing Nelson! It's a good thing! It’s ok! You know I’m an open book, you’d know if I was offended!” He patted his shoulder.

“I mean, I trust you not to murder me too, okay? We can take a walk or whatever you want! Also like… if you DO decide to murder me, wait till my Mom is mad! She’d probably pay you for it! I could help put you through college!” He teased.

“That sounds like the sort of evil mastermind plan that I am absolutely here for, then we tell Jace he has to ‘hunt you down’ to revenge his adopted brother and we have the perfect coup!” He grinned.

He followed compliantly behind Nelson, hoping very much that a) there would be more kisses, he liked the kisses, and b) that everything really was okay. Nelson seemed awfully nervous.

“Did you want some of my boba? you drank your own wicked fast!” He added.

“I mean, yeah it’s a city I guess, it is pretty odd like we’re not…Gotham levels of odd but… it’s got its quirks.”

Ok, that was … oddly specific. He looked at the news reports, partly because he was curious and part because his Mother would absolutely hate it.

“Y-yeahhh?” He asked cautiously. “You didn’t run into one of them did you?” He asked with growing alarm.

“Wait…. is this…. are you like…Batman? Do you know Batman? Are you moonlighting as his Alfred?” He was probably going to be told he was being silly, right? Who would take Nelson out as a vigilante?!”

Xander’s mouth opened, and… for once, didn’t produce words. He closed it again, lifted a hand like he might punctuate some words to follow…and failed again.

“I… what?” He blinked.

“You… ah….”

“… My, boyfriend is, super…Buttler?” He blinked, not registering at first, what he’d just been asked.

“Wait… With you?” He blinked and focused on Nelson’s face….which somehow didn’t quite look like Nelson’s face. it was sort of like, Clark Kent and Superman he thought.

“I can do that?” He asked cautiously. It…seemed really cool. Who -didn’t- want to be a superhero after all.

“Awww, so is your…mentor Alfred? is this like a level up to Alfred?” He grinned still teasing.
“Also thanks to your Mentor! I’m….really glad you aren’t dead!” He added.

“I don’t buy that I’m worth two of you to be honest, but…” he bit his lip thinking. He could…protect Nelson, he could maybe protect… everyone.
But he could do it quietly, and that was even better. They’d never know it was him (well other than Nelson) - but that meant most people couldn’t scold him for interfering.

“… Does Q know?” he asked curiously.

“This isn’t a no!” He added.
“I am… really curious.” He offered a flicker of a grin.
“Basically I'm, imagining of Jace or Mom caught me doing this.” He laughed. “It sounds like, you know… you could use a super-buddy.”

The idea that Nelson had nearly, honestly truly, nearly… died. Not once, but twice, made him deeply…

Worried.

He might otherwise have remarked that it was an interesting name, but…

Someone had nearly killed Nelson, twice.

“Yeah…” He nodded. “Yeah I’ll do it,” he said without even letting himself consider the risks. Nelson after all.
He wasn’t going to let that happen again if he could help it at all.
“What do I do? Just…don’t tell me that a little not-cat is going to show up and offer me a contract, I saw how that one ended and I don’t want to be a weird paper cut out nightmare that eats magical…people.” He quipped.