“You don't need to leave on my account.” Xander tried to not seem like a nuisance.
“No, it's about time we all left anyway,” Lana insisted.
Taking his phone out of his pocket to check the time, the numbers 6:32 shone brightly on Xander's screen. He wasn’t meant to arrive until 7pm, and now realised Luka’s friends would’ve been long gone if he had stuck to the original timing.
“Okay, I'll help carry one of the boxes,” Jayne offered, heading around the corner and presumably into Lana's old bedroom.
“I'll get the other,” Ash said before disappearing as well.
“I'll wake Elliot up,” Lana said to Luka.
“Go team, go!” Luka clapped his hands together as he cheered his friends on.
Once it was just Xander and Luka alone in the kitchen, the room fell uncomfortably quiet.
“I promise, Ash didn't say anything bad,” Luka tried to reassure him.
But the way Xander raised his eyebrow told Luka he didn't believe him.
“Right, what did he say, then?” Xander asked.
Glancing behind him to make sure no one else was around, Luka opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by Jayne.
“We're ready,” she said as she returned to the kitchen with a large cardboard box in her arms.
Ash soon followed with a box of his own, although this one was double the size.
“The room is ready for you to move into, Xander,” he said.
Xander really, really, didn't like hearing his name come out of the guy's mouth. Even if Ash wasn't being rude or anything.
“Thanks.” Xander managed to maintain politeness for Luka's sake.
Lana emerged from Luka's bedroom with a sleepy-looking blonde woman beside her. Xander recognised the woman as Elliot, Lana's girlfriend—fiancée now. But he wasn't sure if she would recognise him, considering the only other time they had met was two years ago, it was late at night, and she had her head between Lana's legs. An accidental encounter.
Elliot rubbed her golden eyes as she entered the kitchen.
“Mornin’,” she greeted everyone.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” Luka said back, even though it was already evening.
Xander wondered why she had been sleeping in Luka's bedroom.
With a yawn, Elliot slowly opened her tired eyes and settled them on Xander. Golden hair fell over her shoulder as she tilted her head, curious as to who was standing in front of her.
“New roommate?” she asked, pointing at Xander.
“Yup! This is Xander,” Luka introduced, not mentioning the fact that they had actually met before.
“Actually—” A look of realisation spread over Luka's face before he turned to Xander. “—What do you want my friends to call you?”
Everyone in the room looked confused. Everyone except Xander, who was secretly happy that Luka asked. Well, maybe not so secretly, as the little curl on his lips gave his glee away.
“What do you mean?” Jayne asked.
“Well, technically, his name is Alexander,” Luka started to explain. “I'm the only one that calls him Xander, everyone else calls him Alex. Unless that's changed recently?”
Luka turned to Xander.
“Yeah, nah, still just you.” Xander didn't realise how proud he sounded.
“Oh? Why is that?” Lana asked.
“Because I'm special!” Luka exclaimed with exuberance, not going into detail about how when they first met Xander had given Luka a different name due to thinking he was a creep.
“Special, indeed,” Ash joked. “So, what should we call you then?”
“I’d prefer if you called me Alex,” Xander answered promptly.
In a split second, Ash, Jayne and Lana all shared a glance between each other before their combined gazes settled on Luka. He ignored them.
“That settles it, no one else is special,” Luka said with a casual wave of his hand.
“Okay, Alex it is,” Lana agreed. “I guess I should hand this over to you.”
Lana held up a single silver key on a chain and offered it to Xander. Reaching out his hand, he nervously took the apartment key. It was official, he was going to be living here for the next three months. A sense of excitement and nervousness filled his chest.
“Thank you,” he said, staring down at the small piece of metal in his hand—it felt heavier than it should have.
“Okay, let's go, this box is getting heavy!” Jayne demanded, shuffling closer to the door. “It was nice meeting you, Alex!”
“You too,” he said, giving a faint wave.
“Feel free to leave if you get sick and tired of this guy,” Ash said as he nodded his head towards Luka. Xander couldn't tell if he was trying to make a joke or not.
“Right…”
“It was nice seeing you again, Xan—I mean, Alex,” Lana smiled warmly at Xander as she guided her fiancée past him.
Elliot waved listlessly.
“Bye,” she said once they got to the door.
Her golden eyes still fixed on Xander, they widened substantially when she finally recalled why he looked familiar.
“Oh! It's takeout guy!” she exclaimed, right as Lana shut the door behind them.
Xander's face turned beet red, knowing that Elliot remembered their first encounter when he and Luka had walked in on her and Lana about to have sex on the kitchen counter. The very same kitchen counter that Luka was now leaning against.
“Oh, God! She remembers.” Xander covered his eyes with his hands as if it would hide his embarrassment. It did not.
Luka chuckled, seemingly unbothered by the fact that two of his friends knew they had a previous sexual history together. “Hah! I guess she does.”
What Xander didn't know was the fact that both Ash and Jayne also knew about their previous sexual history, as well as the fact that Xander had been in love with Luka, and Luka didn't reciprocate his feelings. But that was all two years ago, and now they could look back at the past and laugh. Right?
“I wasn't expecting to meet all your friends tonight,” Xander said as he lowered his hand to his side, revealing his still-blushing face.
“Yeah, sorry about that. They were supposed to leave before you got here,” Luka said. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just…” Xander scratched the back of his head. “You all seem very close, I felt a bit like a fifth wheel.”
Luka pushed himself off the kitchen counter and stepped in front of the fridge.
“I understand, but I think you made a good impression,” Luka said as he opened the fridge door. “Hey, do you want a beer to commemorate officially moving in?”
Xander smiled. “Are you going to open it with another beer?”
“I can if you want.” Luka flashed a prideful smile.
Pulling out the last two bottles of beer, Luka held one on the table with his hand gripped around the bottle's neck. The second he held by the body, and used the lid as a lever to pop open the first. He had done it so quickly and casually that Xander missed the chance to get a proper look at the process.
“Here,” Luka handed the bottle over.
“Mate, next time you need to actually show me how you do it,” Xander said as he took the bottle, bringing it up to his lips. Crisp and refreshing.
“Sure, but you buy the beers next time, alright?” Luka said, opening one of the kitchen drawers and taking out a bottle opener, using it to open the last beer.
“Deal.”
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