Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable, all that stuff belongs to someone with a heck of a lot more money then me.

Summery: This is an AR with an all human cast. Spuffy Fic. William is a great writer. On paper he can be witty and suave but only on paper. In life he is quiet and tends to fade to the background. Allowing his best friend to bask in the spotlight. Unfortunately with his best friend gone it makes his lack of presence more obvious to himself. Tiered of this and how the world views him, he decides to change. The problem is after a accident he becomes what he wanted to be his true self now literally forced to the background. Tragedy strikes while he hides within his new persona. Finding someone who means the world to him in need of him the way he was. But when the dust settles will he find this person loves him as himself or as someone else…

Authors Note: This idea actually came to me when I was listening to Dancing in the Dark, by Bruce Springsteen. (Just the seed afterwards my muse gave it a life of it's own) Now I will try to stay true to the characters as possible, but keep in mind due to the different dynamics of their relationships in this fic they may come out a bit off. Either way, I hope you enjoy…..

Prologue: In The Beginning

William never was much of an adventurer. He was an observer. He was the one who wrote about the adventurers. Secretly he wished he was outgoing enough to be like his best friend Riley. Riley was the confidant one, the jock, the lady's man … in other words, the hero…

William didn't begrudge his best friend this. How could he? Riley was always trying to get William to crawl out of his shell. But William never had Riley's confidence. So he spent his life thus far being a sidekick, if he even ranked that…

But no matter how different, they were best friends since they were seven. Growing up living on the same street, going to the same schools. Hanging with the same friends. They even ended up in the same collage. They would go home for visits together. Usually William staying at Riley's house because his own parents were away on business. As they usually were…as they had been for most of the big days and holidays of his life. What little time he did spend in their presence was to be carted off across the sea to England to attend one boring family function or another. If it weren't for those he doubt they would remember his name. Although William's parents house was only a couple houses away. William liked the close family atmosphere of his friends home. Especially compared to the bleak loneliness of his own home.

Riley also had a sister, Buffy. She was four years younger then William and Riley. Growing up Riley and William would often include the littlest Summer liking the feeling of big-brother-dom. But that got old quick as the boys entered high school and life seemed to begin and end on a weekly basis. Making it so usually Riley and him avoided the exuberant youngster when they where at the Summers home. Coming home to visit during collage he started to see changes in the girl he once knew. It was almost like while he was gone she blossomed a little more from his best friends little sister in to a beautiful and sophisticated young woman. Not that Riley or his sister knew of the change in his feelings. William was always good at hiding his feelings, never letting them out anywhere but on paper. You see on paper he had all the right words the confidence and the wit. But only on paper….

After graduating collage Riley joined the military. He'd wanted to join just out of high school but agreed to attended collage first to make his parents happy. It was hard loosing his life long best friend. But it made William look at what he wanted in life. After graduation William fallowed his dream to be a writer. Deciding he needed for once in his life be bold, he decided to turn down his parents offer of financial help and do it on his own. He worked as a research assistant for one Mr. Rupert Giles, a professor at Stanford Collage. It was enough to pay the bills and still left room for his writing.

It didn't take long for him to sell his first book. His novels usually took place long ago in the time a lords and ladies. But they were always packed with the right blend of excitement, adventure, and romance. The hero always quick witted and debonair. He was a great writer. And a best seller. His publisher received bags and bags of fan mail on his behalf, Partly because he was also a mystery. His book jackets never contained his photo, and he wrote under the pen name, Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. Only a precious few knew who he truly was.

After a while although he still had a good amount of die hard fans his book sales dropped off. As the readers have started turning to more modern based novels. And so began the needling from his publisher to "give the people what they want"

William shied away from such writing because he wasn't sure he could pull off that world. The time which he wrote about was chosen because the hero was expected to be debonair with a certain amount of decorum, fighting the good fight purely out of conviction and perhaps the love of a good woman. But modern heroes where tough and sarcastic with a devil may care attitudes. You Basic 'bad boys' with hearts of gold. And although golden hearted, William hadn't the first clue of how to be a bad boy, much less write one…
And so our story begins…..

A/N : Ok, that was the intro, I hope it wasn't too confusing. Once again I'd love to hear what you think….