#inspired by yet more accusations of 'they were just gal pals'

[tunemyart]

X/G #8

#8: A shocking announcement (or the reaction to it)

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"So I was wondering," said Virgil one night when Gabrielle was sufficiently healed from her run-in with the cannibals that she no longer winced when she twisted her torso, "and this might be a cliche, but I was wondering if I could take you to a nice tavern sometime."

Virgil's expression was boyishly earnest. Gabrielle couldn't help but laugh, but the sound was disbelieving. She supposed she really should have been expecting this. “Virgil,” she said, but it was all she could get out before she gave up and buried her face in her hands. Where could she even start?

“I’m sorry if I’m being too forward,” he hastened to say, misreading her. “We've been through a lot recently, and a beautiful woman like you, I mean, your life has been so big, you’ve seen so much. I just feel more and more all the time like we shouldn’t wait to tell people we love them.”

“That’s very wise,” Gabrielle agreed. “And I’m flattered, Virgil - I really am - but…”

At least he didn’t make her say it. “I get it,” he said with a brave smile that was too easy to read through. “You don’t need to say it, but if things ever change for you - "

“Virgil,” she tried again.

“ - not that I think they will, or - I mean, not that they should - "

“Virgil.”

“ - but all I mean is I understand that travelling is your life and I wouldn't want to suggest that you stop - "

“Virgil!”

That at least got his attention, and for once, Gabrielle didn’t think twice when she plowed on into his wide-eyed silence with “I’m in love with Xena.”

The silence stretched out until it was very long and very thin. Virgil appeared not to know what to say. Gabrielle didn’t regret saying it, but she was also about five seconds away from rolling her eyes and sighing emphatically with every weary part of her body.

“Wow,” Virgil finally said at length. “Wow. Does she know?”

Gabrielle laughed again, more disbelievingly that the first time. “Yes, she knows.”

“Oh. So, uh…” he began as he sat back down next to her, concern and curiosity warring on his face as he lowered his voice. “What are you gonna do about it?”

Gabrielle’s disbelief finally seemed to register for him, and he very quickly put together the rest of the obvious pieces.

“Oh! You mean she’s also - "

“Uh huh.”

“Oh. Wow. How long - ?”

“Years.”

“Wo - Wait, did my dad know about this?”

Gabrielle’s smile was a real one when she thought about Joxer. Poor Joxer. “He understood enough,” she allowed. Joxer might have always suffered from his feelings for her and the way she’d ignored them, but he’d always understood that she and Xena loved each other in a complete, forever kind of way. “But if you’re asking if we ever sat him down and explained it, no. It’s not like we ever tried to hide it. It’s not like we ever do.”

“Huh,” Virgil said after he’d digested this information. “I guess I’m pretty dumb, huh?”

“Virgil,” she said again, but even she winced at the pity in her voice, and she couldn’t blame him when he stood up again.

“No, no,” he said with another of his brave smiles. “I’m glad you’ve got each other. I’m just gonna… well. You know. I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?”

“Sure,” she agreed.

“Alright,” he repeated, and then, as he left, “Goodnight, Xena.”

Gabrielle did roll her eyes then, and sure enough a few seconds later Xena dropped down next to her where Virgil had been sitting.

“Nicely done,” she said with a hint of a teasing smile on her face - just enough to make the too-empathetic part of Gabrielle relax, as Xena no doubt had known it would. “Should we just start making out in front of them?”

“It’s not our problem,” Gabrielle said wryly.

“Nah, I guess not - not when you’ve got that little performance in your back pocket.”

But she was teasing, and Gabrielle smiled tightly again.

“I dunno,” Xena continued. “There’s something to be said for getting it all out in the open. There’s not a lot to misinterpret when I’ve got my tongue in your mouth and you’re - "

“Just how far are you wanting this hypothetical display of yours to go?” Gabrielle demanded. “And you have the gall to complain about my performances. Which that wasn’t, by the way.”

She was rewarded for that comment by a quick skittering of fingers up her inner thigh, just enough to make her jump and her blood pulse. Xena laughed and held up her hands as a show of truce before they settled into a comfortable silence.

“Virgil will get over it,” Gabrielle said into it after a while. “He’ll nurse his bruised ego and come back and be fine. But Joxer..."

“Yeah,” Xena agreed. “I know. He did have a lion’s heart after everything, though.”

“He loved us,” Gabrielle said, old tears stinging at her eyes.

“He knew we loved him.”

“Yeah.” Gabrielle hoped so. “But I think Virgil was right about one thing, anyway - you shouldn’t wait to tell people you love them.”

Xena took it as a cue, though Gabrielle hadn’t meant it as one, and kissed her - first tenderly, and then thoroughly. Years of this now, and Gabrielle thought she would still always feel in awe of Xena’s love.

“I love you,” Gabrielle whispered in the space between their lips when they parted.

Xena’s lips quirked and she pressed another small, lingering kiss to Gabrielle’s lips. “I love you, too,” she said - and then ruined it when she said, “Too bad nobody was around for the show. I thought we were pretty convincing.”

Gabrielle let her take her to bed anyway.