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Donovan knew he wasn’t the best friend in the world, but he did try to be there for his friends when he could manage it. As such, he’d been gone to the Amazon for the last few months, completing what had to be the assignment of the year for the magazine, an entire issue dedicated to his vibrant photos, but he’d missed so much in his time away. In the meantime he’d heard that Xander had had a hard time and the two of them were friends, or so he still hoped, do he picked up a pack of beer and headed over one night as soon as he’d taken a little time to unwind after his trip.

“Oi, Xander!”

He’d called ahead, of course, not wanting to just show up unannounced. Maybe he had another woman friend to entertain or something. He had little idea just how long ago this had happened or how broken up he still was by it. He thought a little bit about Rose, the two had been on a date once, but honestly Xander took precedence. They’d been friends first and, you know what they say...bros before -

Nevermind -

“Open the door. It sounds like you and I need to do some serious drinking tonight. I’m home, lad! I brought pictures of where I’ve been. You wouldn’t believe the stuff down there. The rains can knock you right on your arse.”

Which had only been amusing the first time that it had happened.

Xander opened the door happy to see the familiar face of his friend whom he hadn't see in a long while. He smiled taking note of the beer and giving a laugh before hugging his friend. “After the past few months, not sure beer is going to exactly cut it.” He was joking of course, probably not a joke Donovan would expect from the good doctor, but Xander had changed quite a bit over the past year.

He released his friend and moved to the side to let the man in, heading towards the stairs, “Hopefully the library isn't too boring a place to catch up, but it's bigger than the living room and quieter too. Not to mention my dad old scotch stash is up there.” Another chuckle, another unexpected joke … Not that he would turn down a drink at the moment. It was not like he drank very much or very often. It was very on the occasion with coworker or with Lindsey when they were together.

“Come on. I’d like to see the photo’s. I bet they are amazing.”

He accepted the hug and smiled as they parted, shrugging helplessly because he knew it had been a while. He immediately invited himself in with the invitation and passed by Xander in the entry to a wider place. It wasn’t as awkward as he was expecting, which was nice, and he let out a laugh at his friend’s deprecating words.

“Whatever floats your boat, lad. I’m here for you.”

Donovan frowned as Xander immediately bypassed the beer for stronger liquor. He was all for strong liquor, of course, but there was also the caveat that if scotch was needed in this situation it was much worse than he ever knew. It drew on his fears of not being a good friend. Not wanting to turn down good booze he followed and discarded the beer on a convenient table as they passed by it.

He patted the satchel her wore slung over his shoulder with his pictures and other small trinkets as tokens of his journey.

“You wouldn’t believe the sights. The jungle has things in it that could knock you on your a** with their beauty. The magazine is coming out soon, if you wanted to see what they picked out. The reporter is pretty good with a turn of phrase.”

The truth was that the experience was something out of this world. He’d eaten freshly roasted warthog and smoked fish caught from the river. He’d spoken to tribes that usually remained hidden from sight and chased down the rare jungle treasures with them. He saw things that brought out the wonder in him, every day, and that was only dampened by the idea that while he was enjoying his life and his work his friend had suffered, and apparently dearly.

“Take a look.”

He handed him the satchel and turned to get seated on a convenient leather couch.

Xander took the satchel, but put it on the table before heading over to what looked like a few cabinets with shelves of books on either side. Looked like simple storage, but Xander reached up, pulling out a book and opening it. It was blank and there was a hollowed out space that held a key, which he pulled out and inserted into the larger of the cabinets to reveal it was actually something a fully stocked liquor bar.

“This doesnt get used very often … but doesn't matter, because most of this doesn’t, but if you’d like something feel free to have whatever you please. My dad use to entertain business partners in here when we were younger … he let me know about the key when graduated from college before though I’ve not used it, but I think my sister has.”

He turned to the other cabinet pulling the handle at the bottom and the space to reveal a tiny freezer with ice trays in it. He was surprised, they had a few freshly filled, but there were soda in this one, and it wasn't locked, so it was used far more frequently. “There is also soda and juice in this one,” he said pointing to the larger door, “its cold in this side, as it a refrigerator … but the other side has like plastics cups and extra soda so we can refill.”

He pulled a few ice trays out and filled the little ice bucket in the cabinet before grabbing a glass and pouring himself scotch on the rocks. He didn’t drink often, so he wasn’t sure about mixing things and didn’t. Whatever he drank, it was always simple and never very much. He couldn't exactly handle the stuff that well.

He grabbed the satchel and sat on the couch pulling out the binder and flipping it open. It had some of the most beautiful pictures in it and while they were obviously different, it made him think of the beauty of his wonder. He never thought to attempt taking picture until just then. “Wow, what it must be like to travel to exotic lands.”

He sipped the scotch briefly, but otherwise discarded it in favor of the binder.

“Someday you might come with me, lad.”

Donovan busied himself with the Scotch, skipping the soda part in lieu of a rather large ice cube to prevent the booze from being diluted. Then he moved back to the sofa where Xander was to watch him as he combed through the pictures. All of them were different but lovely, works that he was particularly proud of. The best one was set for last, nestled in its own sleeve at the end of the binder. It was a shoot of the sun setting behind one of the many waterfalls they’d discovered in the jungle landscape.

“That one,” he began, his voice full of emotion. “You wouldn’t have believed that sight if you didn’t see it with your own eyes. “It was the end of maybe the second week there; we were looking for somewhere to make camp when I happened to see the sunset. I almost missed it, searching for my camera.”

If he had he would have considered it a tragedy. The green canopy of the jungle gave way to the crystal blue of the pond and the cascade of water over the moss covered face of rocks with the bright orange, magenta, and navy hues of the setting sun. Even the photograph didn’t serve justice to actually experiencing it. It was easy to tell by his expression and tone of voice why he stuck with his job despite the long trips and harsh conditions he encountered. On assignment, he was not pampered and put up in a five star hotel. He was always out there on the front lines, down and dirty with everyone else.

“Nothing replaces travel, Xander,” he said quietly. “If you want to travel do it. Do it while you’re young enough to get in on the ground floor and experience all of it.”

He seemed to realize how nostalgic he was being and broke himself out of the spell, shaking his head and compensating with a long drink from his glass.

“So tell me why we’re breaking into the liquor tonight. Never used to be your cup of tea…”

Xander looked through the book, sipping his scotch on occasion. He nodded when Donovan said he might come with him, agreeing in a way … not that he would be able to get decent time off to travel, but it was a nice thought.

The last picture Xander realized was clearly something special to his friend and so he spent a bit more time looking it over and smiled at it. “I love waterfalls … well water in general he admitted … this picture reminds me of something from a dream.” He was lying about the latter, as it wasn’t a dream, but his wonder that had many waterfalls flowing on it. He stood atop and at the bottom of many of them and so the image and many of the pictures brought him back to thoughts of his wonder. He didn’t even realize how special the place had become.

Xander put the binder to the side and frowned when Donovan asked him what was going on. He grabbed his scotch sipping it again and slouching down into the chair. “No and you're right … I will never been much of a drinker,” he gave a small laugh, “this is already starting to get to me.”

He put the drink to the side … “remember the girl I was engaged to … well we are no longer engaged … things just didn’t work out and even worse recently my daughter … you remember Dessie the runaway I adopted … well she ran away … I found her … but this city … she ended up badly injured.”

He sighed feeling the need to just down the scotch, but refraining, “life is just stressful right now and has been for a bit … being a full time ER doctor doesn't really help, but that can't be helped.”

“Oh, lad, that’s awful.”

He couldn’t imagine the person that would leave Xander, or what could go through their heads to think that giving up a man like him was the best thing to do. It was awful and he couldn’t imagine putting himself in that place to not only get that close to a woman and try to marry her, but to be left in the middle of making that kind of a commitment. Better sooner than later in that case, but still a damn shitty thing to do all around.

“Is the girl going to be alright?”

There were lots of ways in this city that a girl like that could end up injured and some he knew all too well. Some he was even a part of and was moving up, he supposed, as a Knight. That was something he hadn’t and couldn’t share with his friend, no matter how much he might want to.

“I’ll keep an eye out for her, if you like. I might be of some help.”

He took a deep drink from his tumbler, finishing the amber liquid with barely a grimace as it burned its way down his throat.

“Cor, this stuff must be bloody old!” He laughed. “Your father knew how to pick them.”

The older it got, the more potent it was until even the pirate could feel himself floating just a tiny bit when he closed his eyes. He found himself thinking about Xander and their somewhat lasting friendship, which was surprising, but also how much he wanted to comfort his friend. He put a hand on his knee and looked up at him.

“Its my own fault … to busy always too busy. I’m a doctor … she didn’t see my often enough I think. The hospital is always shorthanded and this city … us in the ER, well we are very overworked, but I tried …” He shook his head and took another drink, this time giving in to the urge to down it and coughing slightly at the burn. He realized of course that he probably shouldn’t have done that when he stood and his head swam a bit causing him to sit down again immediately.

“Dessie’s fine. Out with my sister’s at the moment, even though she is grounded until she's married.” He chuckled, because he never imagined saying that, and he sounded like his dad. “If you could keep an eye out for her that would be nice though.”

He had an apology on his tongue when Donovan said the scotch was old, but quickly realized old must be a good thing. He leaned back against the couch and nodded, “I suppose though it could also be that we’ve had it for a long time, either way glad to know its good.”

The hand on his knee made him roll his head to look at Donovan and give him a smile, “I’ll be fine. I mean it’s not like I’m totally alone and beside I got on well enough without a girlfriend, fiancee or even friends really before. At least I've got friends still.”

He chuckled and gave hims friends hand a squeeze, rubbing it briefly. Things would be alright, everything got better with time right?

“You work hard to provide for her, for yourself. I’ve met plenty of women that would love the chance to be with a doctor, believe you me.”

Instead, they normally got a devious pirate and moderately successful magazine photographer for a night. Not a bad thing, but certainly not anything lasting. Hell, being a doctor was a great profession, noble and all of that. He just managed to scrape by on having a somewhat decent eye for a good photograph. He’d never won a pulitzer or anything but he was content with his money and his travels.

He nodded about Dessie, though, and made a silent promise that he would look out for her in and out of uniform.

“You have friends, lad,” he protested softly, wondering why he was staring at his lips like that. It took only a heartbeat later to realize his lips were pressed against his friend’s with his hand cupping the back of his head. When he did realize he pulled away quickly, embarrassed and also very concerned that he was taking advantage of a hurt and somewhat inebriated friend.

“s**t,” he cursed. “Oh, Xander, I’m sorry.”

His heart was hammering in his chest and he found, somewhat to his surprise, that he had not wanted to stop. In fact, he still didn’t but his sense of honor demanded that he do nothing to jeopardize their friendship or take advantage of the situation. He was not that man, for all his swagger and questionable choices, but he was still looking at the other man with large, pleading eyes. As someone who had considerable experience with women and none at all with men, this was entirely uncharted territory for the pirate.

“If you want me to leave…” If he’d absolutely ******** everything to hell, he promised himself to understand.

Xander certainly felt a little better at the words from his friend. That had been what he was doing … did he necessarily have to work so much … no, but he had Linds, and 4 others to provide for and he did his best. He wanted to be the one that took care of the house, all the bills and food. He didn’t want his sisters, or Dessie or Ian needing to contribute to that. They did with food and cared for themselves … save Dessie … he showered the girl in everything she could possibly need or want.

A moment later Donovan was kissing him and he was surprised, having not expected it at all, but he didn’t push his friend away. Donovan instead broke away before Xander even really could respond apologizing and leaving Xander staring a bit lost. He knew this feeling … whenever he’d kissed before it was the same. Xander had learned in the last two years that kissing was something he really enjoyed not that he’d kissed more than one person … now two.

He was quiet for a long moment, before he came out of his stupor. “It’s okay … um you don’t have to leave … I uh.”

He wasn’t really sure what to say at the moment, but it had been while since he had done any kissing … and he wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or that, but he wasn’t exactly opposed to his friends advances. Was that odd? He wasn’t sure.

He probably looked unsure, even while basically staring at his friend's mouth and moving closer. He didn’t realize what he was doing until he was basically nose to nose with the man.

Donovan almost held his breath until Xander spoke, letting it out in one long exhale. Being the kind man he was, he wondered if he was only trying to spare his feelings and scrambled to figure out anything logical in this scenario. He couldn’t think; he could only feel and his entire body was lit on fire by the thought of what had happened and what could be happening. A thing which seemed to be all the more imminent by the fact that Xander was moving closer to him and bringing his lips dangerously close to his own.

“Christ,” he muttered before stealing them.

This time he didn’t stop, taking it as permission. He cupped Xander’s face with both hand, crushing his lips to the other man’s and guiding him back against the couch back. Once the initial shock of it wore off he found he was enjoying himself. More than that, it felt strangely right in a way he had not considered before. His tongue slipped past the other man’s lips, tasting him fully as he pressed their bodies together. So good, that was his main thought. Everything was so good.

Once he guided Xander’s head to rest against the back of the couch he settled astride his lap, kissing him deeply and passionately, letting his hands wander and find skin for the first time. It made him moan to feel it, pulling back a split second so he wouldn’t do so into the other’s mouth and also to afford himself a second to grit his teeth and catch his bearings.

He was terribly, desperately aroused.

“Xander…”

His lips traveled down his neck lightly, trying to taste every inch of skin they could reach.

Of all the things he expected from the day, making out with another man was no one of them … making out with his friend was not one of them. He found though, that he didn’t mind this turn of events and made no efforts to try to stop or slow his friend. Instead a hand slipped into Donovan’s blonde locks, gripping the back of his head and kissing his friend back eagerly.

Donovan’s tongue was just as eagerly welcomed and it was probably obvious that the red head under him, might have been feeling more than a little deprived even if he wasn’t the type to show it, or maybe didn’t even know it, but Xander was currently nothing but eager response.

His free hand traveled to Donovan’s waist, brushing over the fabric of the shirt, before he found the hem and pushed it up a bit to expose the man’s skin. He ran his hand up Donovan back only stopping as Donovan pulled away and started to attend to his neck causing Xander to moan next grip on the other man's hair tightening slightly as his own arousal rose with the administrations.

It wasn’t hard to realize where this was going and he did wonder if maybe they should stop, but he found he wanted to just pull his friend closer and let this happen. Was that maybe not the best idea? He wasn’t sure, but he hoped it wouldn't be a bad thing.

Donovan moaned, straining against the touches and kisses he was giving and receiving. He hastily tugged the other man’s shirt completely off, taking a moment to look at the skin he uncovered before moving to kiss him again. His touches were welcome, his back arching as the hands traveled along his skin leaving fire in their wake. Stopping was not something he would have had the strength to follow through with, even if it had entered his mind. Instead, he pulled away for a split second and cursed passionately.

“s**t, Xander.”

He turned them both, landing with his back on the couch cushions and the other man on top of him. His own shirt was sagging open in the front, messy but adding an adorable eroticism to his look. Even his eyes were clouded with lust, watching Xander before he took his lips again. His hands traveled toward his pants, thinking to be finished with clothes entirely, no matter where that act would lead them. Probably toward heaven, possibly to hell, but he was in it for the long haul.

No, stopping was the last thing he could conceive of now; it wasn’t going to happen.

“Where is your bedroom?”

Xander was very turned on and the flittering thoughts of stopping abruptly halted at there switch of positions especially with Donovan trying to undo his pants. He moaned lightly into the kiss and frowned a bit with something of a pout when Donovan stopped the kissing even if it was to ask him where his bedroom was. If he was honest, he wasn’t terribly interested in moving, but he did realize that all this might be easier in his bed.

He leaned down kissing Donovans neck and giving him a n** before responding to the question thought the answer was broken up by the kisses Xander chose to press to the man's neck and shoulder.

“Down … at the … other end … of the … hall. Master … bedroom is mine.”

He gave his friend a smile before capturing the man’s lips and being of little help when it came to removing his pants.

He pulled back after a moment, “library probably isn’t the best place for this state of dress … We can move … if you want?”

“Might come a point where you’ll be thankful for a door that closes and room to move.”

Donovan’s voice was husky with desire and he wasn’t really all that interested in moving himself, but there was little else for it but to move to the bed. Obviously this was moving in a bedroom way and they needed to heed that call. He wasn’t exactly unfamiliar with couch time but depending on all kinds of factors he thought the other man might be thankful for the privacy.

“Besides,” he admitted. “I’ve never done this before, but damned if I don’t want to.”

It was easy enough to tell that in a way no adjusting could hide. Picking him up he carried him down the hall and deposited him on the bed, moving to close the door behind them.