![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Title: In Sunlight or Shadow (11/?)
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chocgood84
Pairing: Spike/Xander
Rating: NC-17 overall
Notes: Vamp!Xander series; the usual applies: blood play, smut, schmoop and man-luvin
Disclaimer: I don’t own Spike, Xander, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If I did, this wouldn’t be fanfic, it’d be cannon. These belong to Mutant Enemy and its creator, Joss Whedon. No harm, no foul.
Previous parts: here.
Xander could have sworn he felt his nonexistent heart skip a few beats. Meanwhile, his brain went into overdrive, the Xanderbabble lever being thrown. He started laughing hysterically – even Helen Keller could’ve known it was nervous and panic induced.
“Wha-“ His voice cracked. He coughed and tried again. “What are you talking about, Buff? I made sure I got some Jelly-filled.” More nervous laughter as he hoisted the doughnuts into the air.
“Knock it off, Xander – Willow told us everything,” Buffy said, bitterness dripping from her lips like morning dew on ivy. She sprinted the few feet between them, bringing the stake precariously close to Spike’s septum.
“Oi, Slayer! I’ll thank you kindly to get that overgrown toothpick away from my new shirt,” Spike taunted, a cobra ready to strike.
“Buffy, back off. No one gets to shove wood in Spike but me,” Xander growled. Blink. Blink. “And I so did not just say that.”
“Buffy, come on, relax,” Willow called from the table in the middle of the room. Tara’s arms were draped over her, evidently holding her back.
“Uh, hmm – no!” Buffy screeched back. “This undead walking bottle of Oxi-Clean has gone too far, this time.”
Without thinking, Xander dropped the green checkered boxes and slid gracefully between the two faux-blondes, pushing Spike behind him.
“Xander, you’re not thinking!” Buffy yelped as she tried to sidestep Xander, grunting as he matched her step for step. “He’s got you in his…thrall or something! Like – just like Dracula did!”
“I resent that you bloody munter!” Spike growled from behind Xander, trying to reach around him and get a hold of the slayer. “Nothing like that ponce!”
Buffy, despite the fact that she didn’t understand the insult, knew an insult when she heard it. She charged at Xander, hoping he’d move.
The result was a Xander sandwich in which the two end pieces were struggling to rip the other’s heads off. For a brief second, Xander’s brain wandered to the no-no place as he felt the two of them wriggling against him. He managed to bring himself back, though, and pushed both of them off and away from each other.
“Both of you!” He hollered. “Calm the fuck down! Back off, Buffy – I’m not fucking telling you again.”
Xander prayed she hadn’t noticed the golden rage flash through his eyes as the demon struggled to come through. Right now it was screaming inside him for vengeance and blood from the person who challenged its mate.
“Xander!” Willow scolded. She broke away from Tara and saddled up next to Buffy, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.
“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell,” Xander’s voice was softer now that he didn’t have two raving lunatics battling for his soul on his body. “Can we just all relax and talk about this? I can explain everything.”
“Yeah – that’s a good idea!” Willow chimed, taking Buffy’s arm and steering her back towards the table. “See, this is me, enjoying that idea.”
Buffy grunted, glared, and glowered, but allowed herself to be led back nonetheless. She sat next Tara, who was biting her lower lip nervously and eyeing both Spike and Xander suspiciously.
Xander looked back to find Spike making faces at Buffy behind his back. Xander had the urge to slap him, but found himself taking the older vampire’s hand instead. Spike’s eyes gazed briefly into Xander’s and saw the pain lurking there, maple eyes gone muddy, dry eyes gone moist.
“Sorry, love,” he whispered, leaning in and brushing his lips against Xander’s cheek. “I’ll try. For you, though – not for those bugger-alls.”
Xander felt his lips twitch into a smile and leaned into the purring strength of the master vampire. The master vampire who loved him.
Despite the gagging sounds coming from the Slayer, the two lovers strode proudly down the steps and found their seats at the round table. To Xander, it felt like it had been an eternity since he’d sat here.
“Wait, where’s Giles?” He asked. “And Dawnie?”
“Oh, Giles had to fly back to London this morning,” Willow chimed helpfully. “Something about some Council meeting; very mysterious.”
“And Dawnie’s staying at Claire’s tonight. She said she wanted to something normal for a change,” Tara said softly. Her gaze caught Xander’s and her eyes went wide, her mouth hung open. Before anyone else could notice, she regained her composure.
“Oh…uh, I was kind of hoping they’d be here. Oh well,” Xander muttered. Nervous didn’t begin to describe what he was feeling. These weren’t butterflies inside of his hallow chest; they were elephants – very hyper and unhappy elephants.
“Can we get on with this so I can save you and stake him?” Buffy whined, not taking her eyes off Spike. Spike just glared back, smiling smugly as wrapped one arm around Xander’s shoulder and pulled him just a little closer. Buffy rolled her eyes.
“Buffy, come on. Be fair –“ Willow tried.
“Fair? You want me to be fair? He’s tried to kill us all at least a hundred times this year, and you want me to be fair?” She snapped.
“Because I’m asking?” Xander muttered.
Another eye roll, a heavy sigh and a few minutes of intense breathing, and Buffy finally nodded acceptance.
“Okay…well…I don’t know where to start, really,” Xander breathed. He felt Spike’s arm squeeze a little tighter around him. He sighed into it, needing that anchor, that support.
“Xander, it’s not that we mind –“ Willow elbowed Buffy before she could interrupt. “I mean, we are a little worried about you. It’s just, this is Spike. The vampire you hate, the man you once described as a ‘bleached-out Billy Idol impersonator on coke who’s only purpose in life is be a moving archery target’. And now all of a sudden, you’re…lovers? That takes a little…getting used to.”
Xander snarked at the glare Spike sent his way, but brought himself back to the task at hand.
“Willow, I know what I said. And before everything that happened, I believed it. But, after Anya left, Spike let me just talk. He just listened and kept pouring the booze while I kept drinking and talking. He didn’t give me advice, didn’t tell me how to act or what to do. Just listened…” Xander glanced at Spike who wore an expression of unrequited possession and surrender, love and pride.
“Xander, we did the best we could,” Buffy tried, her voice groggy as her throat tightened to hold in the threatening tears. “We, we tried to be there for you.”
“I know you did, Buff. And I appreciate it. But the truth is, it just wasn’t what I needed, wasn’t what I…wanted. Spike gave me that – he let me bawl and bitch and stayed through all of it…” Xander’s voice trailed off, and for a moment the only sound that filled the store was three beating hearts.
“Oh, Xander – “ Willow sniffed, letting a guilt-idled tear fall.
Tara wrapped her arms around the redhead once more, pulling her close and kissing her cheek gently. She thumbed the hair out of Willow’s eyes and kissed her forehead; tender and protectively.
“It’s okay, baby – he’s not blaming you. He just needed more than you could give him, that’s all.” Tara said, her voice full of passion and sympathy. Xander smiled his silent thanks, nodding slowly. He sighed again, and continued his story.
“And then that witch demon happened. I just wanted everything over with, and I was stupid –“
“Bloody right, you were,” Spike chided.
“I was stupid,” Xander continued, casting a scowl at his bleached lover. “And I called up the demon. I’d heard it could…change things. Anyway, Spike came galloping in and saved the day, er, night. Boy was I pissed at him…” Xander remembered again the fight they’d had; the confession Spike had made.
“Anyway, Spike went and killed the thing, but it backfired. Demon had some kind of Sleeping Beauty failsafe, and Spike nearly died.”
“Yeah, we know that, Xander – you told us you were going to find him. Didn’t think you’d find him and bring him back,” Buffy skulked.
“But I did. I found him and managed to…bring him back from the trance or spell or whatever it was. And I guess that’s it. Somewhere in there, I managed to fall in love in the Clorox Crusader.” He laughed at the thump Spike gave his head, but leaned on him anyway, enjoying the weight of the arm around him and the smell of leather surrounding him.
The table was silent for a few minutes as everyone took in the story, processed it and filed it for later review. Tara was smiling warmly at them, her arms still around her sweetheart. Willow was slow to warm up, but soon she was wearing her own smile, happy for her friend. Buffy just looked disgusted.
“It’s like a fairy tale,” Willow said, trying to lighten the mood.
“Only on the Hellmouth could this be considered a fairytale,” Buffy grimaced. “Xander, I can’t tell how much I don’t like this. I mean, the gay thing – sure, I kind of figured that anyway. And even the vampire thing – I can understand that almost. But, Spike? The king of annoyance of peroxide?”
“Buff, did I ever say anything about you and Angel?” Xander asked, surprisingly calm now that everything was out. Well, almost everything.
“Every chance you got-“ Buffy retorted.
“Exactly, and how much did that hurt?”
Buffy sighed as she remembered just how much it had hurt that Xander hadn’t accepted it. How much he had hated the only man she’d ever really loved.
“Alright,” she said bitterly. “Okay, alright, I get it. ‘Find love in the strangest places,’ or whatever the saying is. I won’t stake him for now, but all bets are off at the third sign of weirdness. And believe me, I’ll be watching like a peeping tom at a Baywatch taping.”
“Deal,” Xander agreed, beaming a smile as white as the moon.
“Oi, you pratt! So much for defending my honor,” Spike slumped, snuggling against his boy anyway.
“I think this calls for a celebration!” Willow chirped, getting up from the table and bouncing to the refrigerator. “We have one can of grape soda and…ew, something green and bubbly in a Tupperware container.”
“We could go to the Bronze,” Tara supplied.
“Sounds good to me – I wanna show off my hunka-hunka-cold heartless boyfriend,” Xander bellowed, feeling somewhat like the man he used to be.
“Hpmh, not a trophy vamp, pet,” Spike barked.
“I could definitely use some tension release. Stupid Hellmouth being all quiet and actually dead for once,” Buffy pouted.
“Then the bronze, it is!” Willow declared, sounding liker her normal sugar-dependant self.
“Wait, Buffy – didn’t you have something you wanted to say tonight? I thought that’s why we were having a meeting in the first place,” Tara wondered, suspicion trickling into her words.
“Uh, I think it should wait till Giles gets back. I don’t want to…jump to any conclusions.” Tara’s suspicion must have been contagious, because Xander seemed to have to.
“Well, come on, haven’t got all night,” Spike rallied. “Wanna get this over with so I can snog my boy some more.”
“Gross,” Buffy snarled, rolling her eyes.
Everyone in the room turned to glare at her, making her wilt a little.
“I’m sorry, it’s just going to take a little getting used to. I may need to make many, many remarks and bad things before I get it out of my system.” Buffy responded truthfully.
“S’okay, Buffy, I understand,” Xander soothed, escaping from Spike’s grasp.
They were all gathering their things and getting ready to leave; Spike was talking quietly with Tara towards the back of the store and Willow was hugging Xander for the fifth time in two minutes.
“Okay, Wills, I get it – you’re sorry, it’s okay.” Xander announced.
“I’m just so…so sorry, Xander. And happy for you. Happy and sorry.” Willow babbled.
“Really, Wills, it’s okay. Can we just go?”
“In a minute,” she said. “I need to go see a man about a shovel.”
With that she was gone to find join Spike and Tara, replaced by Buffy. For a moment, he panicked, hoping she wouldn’t catch the lack-of heartbeat or the obvious-to-him faux breath.
“Despite the person, Xander,” she grimaced. “I am happy you found someone. I was…worried about you.”
She hugged him, and for once he didn’t fear a cracked rib. He returned the embrace, careful not to do some damage of his own. The let each other go, and made towards the door.
“Hey, Buff – you said ‘at the third sign of weirdness.’ What were the first two?”
“Oh, well number one is dating Spike,” she replied with Duh Face. “And the second is your clothing. Who dressed you tonight, GQ?”
Xander laughed as he realized the Scoobies hadn’t seen his new wardrobe. He looked down at himself and smiled. Green and gray pinstripe khakis, a charcoal v-neck cashmere sweater with an olive t-shirt under, a black leather pea coat, and of course a pair of Doc’s. He had to admit – they were like chocolate for his feet.
“Heh, you know it’s funny, Buff. I proclaimed my love for Spike and rescued him from an undead coma, and he told me he wouldn’t be caught alive snogging me until I got a new wardrobe.”
“Damn him,” Buffy snarled.
“What?” Xander asked, concerned.
“I might have to start liking him now…” She admitted.
Sunrise found Spike and Xander safely tucked away in their apartment, Docs and boxers, jeans and khakis strewn all over the entranceway. They stood in the middle of the living room, arms wrapped around their naked bodies and swaying softly to the music that blossomed from the stereo.
“You know,” Xander rasped, his throat a little sore from the action it had had not half an hour previously. “I gotta say, that went a lot better than I thought.”
“That it did, love,” Spike said, smiling as he spun Xander slowly.
“Of course, it’s not going to be pretty when they find out the rest…”
“No, s’pose it won’t.”
“But, at least now I get to mack on you in public.”
Sinatra came rolling out of the speakers, low and sweet. Romance never sounded so good.
“You know you can’t hide forever, love,” Spike advised, spinning his wicked pretty boy again.
“I know,” Xander admitted, nodding to the beat. “Don’t want to, anyway. But, something’s coming, Spike. I can feel it.”
“Me too, Xander. Worried, love?” Slowly turning, running his hands up and down Xander’s flank with one hand, wriggling his fingers against Xander’s with his other.
“No, actually. I know you’ll protect me.”
“That I will, love…”
“I love you, Spike. No matter what, know that. I love you.”
“Love you too, Xan. More than you’ll ever grasp in that thick head of yours.”
Spike leaned in and kissed Xander’s cheek tenderly, soft lips against tender flesh.
They spun in time with music, humming softly to each other. The apartment grew brighter as the tangerine light of daybreak struck the outside of the blinds.
The music wound down on the stereo as the filtered light climbed the walls.
Spike bent Xander backwards, dipping him confidently and lovingly. Xander came back up slowly, slipping his arms around Spike’s waist and pulling him close for a kiss as the music tapered off into silence…
“You are all I long for; All I worship and adore…In other words, please be true. In other words, I love you”*
*Lyrics from Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon.
Author:
chocgood84Pairing: Spike/Xander
Rating: NC-17 overall
Notes: Vamp!Xander series; the usual applies: blood play, smut, schmoop and man-luvin
Disclaimer: I don’t own Spike, Xander, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If I did, this wouldn’t be fanfic, it’d be cannon. These belong to Mutant Enemy and its creator, Joss Whedon. No harm, no foul.
Previous parts: here.
Xander could have sworn he felt his nonexistent heart skip a few beats. Meanwhile, his brain went into overdrive, the Xanderbabble lever being thrown. He started laughing hysterically – even Helen Keller could’ve known it was nervous and panic induced.
“Wha-“ His voice cracked. He coughed and tried again. “What are you talking about, Buff? I made sure I got some Jelly-filled.” More nervous laughter as he hoisted the doughnuts into the air.
“Knock it off, Xander – Willow told us everything,” Buffy said, bitterness dripping from her lips like morning dew on ivy. She sprinted the few feet between them, bringing the stake precariously close to Spike’s septum.
“Oi, Slayer! I’ll thank you kindly to get that overgrown toothpick away from my new shirt,” Spike taunted, a cobra ready to strike.
“Buffy, back off. No one gets to shove wood in Spike but me,” Xander growled. Blink. Blink. “And I so did not just say that.”
“Buffy, come on, relax,” Willow called from the table in the middle of the room. Tara’s arms were draped over her, evidently holding her back.
“Uh, hmm – no!” Buffy screeched back. “This undead walking bottle of Oxi-Clean has gone too far, this time.”
Without thinking, Xander dropped the green checkered boxes and slid gracefully between the two faux-blondes, pushing Spike behind him.
“Xander, you’re not thinking!” Buffy yelped as she tried to sidestep Xander, grunting as he matched her step for step. “He’s got you in his…thrall or something! Like – just like Dracula did!”
“I resent that you bloody munter!” Spike growled from behind Xander, trying to reach around him and get a hold of the slayer. “Nothing like that ponce!”
Buffy, despite the fact that she didn’t understand the insult, knew an insult when she heard it. She charged at Xander, hoping he’d move.
The result was a Xander sandwich in which the two end pieces were struggling to rip the other’s heads off. For a brief second, Xander’s brain wandered to the no-no place as he felt the two of them wriggling against him. He managed to bring himself back, though, and pushed both of them off and away from each other.
“Both of you!” He hollered. “Calm the fuck down! Back off, Buffy – I’m not fucking telling you again.”
Xander prayed she hadn’t noticed the golden rage flash through his eyes as the demon struggled to come through. Right now it was screaming inside him for vengeance and blood from the person who challenged its mate.
“Xander!” Willow scolded. She broke away from Tara and saddled up next to Buffy, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.
“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell,” Xander’s voice was softer now that he didn’t have two raving lunatics battling for his soul on his body. “Can we just all relax and talk about this? I can explain everything.”
“Yeah – that’s a good idea!” Willow chimed, taking Buffy’s arm and steering her back towards the table. “See, this is me, enjoying that idea.”
Buffy grunted, glared, and glowered, but allowed herself to be led back nonetheless. She sat next Tara, who was biting her lower lip nervously and eyeing both Spike and Xander suspiciously.
Xander looked back to find Spike making faces at Buffy behind his back. Xander had the urge to slap him, but found himself taking the older vampire’s hand instead. Spike’s eyes gazed briefly into Xander’s and saw the pain lurking there, maple eyes gone muddy, dry eyes gone moist.
“Sorry, love,” he whispered, leaning in and brushing his lips against Xander’s cheek. “I’ll try. For you, though – not for those bugger-alls.”
Xander felt his lips twitch into a smile and leaned into the purring strength of the master vampire. The master vampire who loved him.
Despite the gagging sounds coming from the Slayer, the two lovers strode proudly down the steps and found their seats at the round table. To Xander, it felt like it had been an eternity since he’d sat here.
“Wait, where’s Giles?” He asked. “And Dawnie?”
“Oh, Giles had to fly back to London this morning,” Willow chimed helpfully. “Something about some Council meeting; very mysterious.”
“And Dawnie’s staying at Claire’s tonight. She said she wanted to something normal for a change,” Tara said softly. Her gaze caught Xander’s and her eyes went wide, her mouth hung open. Before anyone else could notice, she regained her composure.
“Oh…uh, I was kind of hoping they’d be here. Oh well,” Xander muttered. Nervous didn’t begin to describe what he was feeling. These weren’t butterflies inside of his hallow chest; they were elephants – very hyper and unhappy elephants.
“Can we get on with this so I can save you and stake him?” Buffy whined, not taking her eyes off Spike. Spike just glared back, smiling smugly as wrapped one arm around Xander’s shoulder and pulled him just a little closer. Buffy rolled her eyes.
“Buffy, come on. Be fair –“ Willow tried.
“Fair? You want me to be fair? He’s tried to kill us all at least a hundred times this year, and you want me to be fair?” She snapped.
“Because I’m asking?” Xander muttered.
Another eye roll, a heavy sigh and a few minutes of intense breathing, and Buffy finally nodded acceptance.
“Okay…well…I don’t know where to start, really,” Xander breathed. He felt Spike’s arm squeeze a little tighter around him. He sighed into it, needing that anchor, that support.
“Xander, it’s not that we mind –“ Willow elbowed Buffy before she could interrupt. “I mean, we are a little worried about you. It’s just, this is Spike. The vampire you hate, the man you once described as a ‘bleached-out Billy Idol impersonator on coke who’s only purpose in life is be a moving archery target’. And now all of a sudden, you’re…lovers? That takes a little…getting used to.”
Xander snarked at the glare Spike sent his way, but brought himself back to the task at hand.
“Willow, I know what I said. And before everything that happened, I believed it. But, after Anya left, Spike let me just talk. He just listened and kept pouring the booze while I kept drinking and talking. He didn’t give me advice, didn’t tell me how to act or what to do. Just listened…” Xander glanced at Spike who wore an expression of unrequited possession and surrender, love and pride.
“Xander, we did the best we could,” Buffy tried, her voice groggy as her throat tightened to hold in the threatening tears. “We, we tried to be there for you.”
“I know you did, Buff. And I appreciate it. But the truth is, it just wasn’t what I needed, wasn’t what I…wanted. Spike gave me that – he let me bawl and bitch and stayed through all of it…” Xander’s voice trailed off, and for a moment the only sound that filled the store was three beating hearts.
“Oh, Xander – “ Willow sniffed, letting a guilt-idled tear fall.
Tara wrapped her arms around the redhead once more, pulling her close and kissing her cheek gently. She thumbed the hair out of Willow’s eyes and kissed her forehead; tender and protectively.
“It’s okay, baby – he’s not blaming you. He just needed more than you could give him, that’s all.” Tara said, her voice full of passion and sympathy. Xander smiled his silent thanks, nodding slowly. He sighed again, and continued his story.
“And then that witch demon happened. I just wanted everything over with, and I was stupid –“
“Bloody right, you were,” Spike chided.
“I was stupid,” Xander continued, casting a scowl at his bleached lover. “And I called up the demon. I’d heard it could…change things. Anyway, Spike came galloping in and saved the day, er, night. Boy was I pissed at him…” Xander remembered again the fight they’d had; the confession Spike had made.
“Anyway, Spike went and killed the thing, but it backfired. Demon had some kind of Sleeping Beauty failsafe, and Spike nearly died.”
“Yeah, we know that, Xander – you told us you were going to find him. Didn’t think you’d find him and bring him back,” Buffy skulked.
“But I did. I found him and managed to…bring him back from the trance or spell or whatever it was. And I guess that’s it. Somewhere in there, I managed to fall in love in the Clorox Crusader.” He laughed at the thump Spike gave his head, but leaned on him anyway, enjoying the weight of the arm around him and the smell of leather surrounding him.
The table was silent for a few minutes as everyone took in the story, processed it and filed it for later review. Tara was smiling warmly at them, her arms still around her sweetheart. Willow was slow to warm up, but soon she was wearing her own smile, happy for her friend. Buffy just looked disgusted.
“It’s like a fairy tale,” Willow said, trying to lighten the mood.
“Only on the Hellmouth could this be considered a fairytale,” Buffy grimaced. “Xander, I can’t tell how much I don’t like this. I mean, the gay thing – sure, I kind of figured that anyway. And even the vampire thing – I can understand that almost. But, Spike? The king of annoyance of peroxide?”
“Buff, did I ever say anything about you and Angel?” Xander asked, surprisingly calm now that everything was out. Well, almost everything.
“Every chance you got-“ Buffy retorted.
“Exactly, and how much did that hurt?”
Buffy sighed as she remembered just how much it had hurt that Xander hadn’t accepted it. How much he had hated the only man she’d ever really loved.
“Alright,” she said bitterly. “Okay, alright, I get it. ‘Find love in the strangest places,’ or whatever the saying is. I won’t stake him for now, but all bets are off at the third sign of weirdness. And believe me, I’ll be watching like a peeping tom at a Baywatch taping.”
“Deal,” Xander agreed, beaming a smile as white as the moon.
“Oi, you pratt! So much for defending my honor,” Spike slumped, snuggling against his boy anyway.
“I think this calls for a celebration!” Willow chirped, getting up from the table and bouncing to the refrigerator. “We have one can of grape soda and…ew, something green and bubbly in a Tupperware container.”
“We could go to the Bronze,” Tara supplied.
“Sounds good to me – I wanna show off my hunka-hunka-cold heartless boyfriend,” Xander bellowed, feeling somewhat like the man he used to be.
“Hpmh, not a trophy vamp, pet,” Spike barked.
“I could definitely use some tension release. Stupid Hellmouth being all quiet and actually dead for once,” Buffy pouted.
“Then the bronze, it is!” Willow declared, sounding liker her normal sugar-dependant self.
“Wait, Buffy – didn’t you have something you wanted to say tonight? I thought that’s why we were having a meeting in the first place,” Tara wondered, suspicion trickling into her words.
“Uh, I think it should wait till Giles gets back. I don’t want to…jump to any conclusions.” Tara’s suspicion must have been contagious, because Xander seemed to have to.
“Well, come on, haven’t got all night,” Spike rallied. “Wanna get this over with so I can snog my boy some more.”
“Gross,” Buffy snarled, rolling her eyes.
Everyone in the room turned to glare at her, making her wilt a little.
“I’m sorry, it’s just going to take a little getting used to. I may need to make many, many remarks and bad things before I get it out of my system.” Buffy responded truthfully.
“S’okay, Buffy, I understand,” Xander soothed, escaping from Spike’s grasp.
They were all gathering their things and getting ready to leave; Spike was talking quietly with Tara towards the back of the store and Willow was hugging Xander for the fifth time in two minutes.
“Okay, Wills, I get it – you’re sorry, it’s okay.” Xander announced.
“I’m just so…so sorry, Xander. And happy for you. Happy and sorry.” Willow babbled.
“Really, Wills, it’s okay. Can we just go?”
“In a minute,” she said. “I need to go see a man about a shovel.”
With that she was gone to find join Spike and Tara, replaced by Buffy. For a moment, he panicked, hoping she wouldn’t catch the lack-of heartbeat or the obvious-to-him faux breath.
“Despite the person, Xander,” she grimaced. “I am happy you found someone. I was…worried about you.”
She hugged him, and for once he didn’t fear a cracked rib. He returned the embrace, careful not to do some damage of his own. The let each other go, and made towards the door.
“Hey, Buff – you said ‘at the third sign of weirdness.’ What were the first two?”
“Oh, well number one is dating Spike,” she replied with Duh Face. “And the second is your clothing. Who dressed you tonight, GQ?”
Xander laughed as he realized the Scoobies hadn’t seen his new wardrobe. He looked down at himself and smiled. Green and gray pinstripe khakis, a charcoal v-neck cashmere sweater with an olive t-shirt under, a black leather pea coat, and of course a pair of Doc’s. He had to admit – they were like chocolate for his feet.
“Heh, you know it’s funny, Buff. I proclaimed my love for Spike and rescued him from an undead coma, and he told me he wouldn’t be caught alive snogging me until I got a new wardrobe.”
“Damn him,” Buffy snarled.
“What?” Xander asked, concerned.
“I might have to start liking him now…” She admitted.
Sunrise found Spike and Xander safely tucked away in their apartment, Docs and boxers, jeans and khakis strewn all over the entranceway. They stood in the middle of the living room, arms wrapped around their naked bodies and swaying softly to the music that blossomed from the stereo.
“You know,” Xander rasped, his throat a little sore from the action it had had not half an hour previously. “I gotta say, that went a lot better than I thought.”
“That it did, love,” Spike said, smiling as he spun Xander slowly.
“Of course, it’s not going to be pretty when they find out the rest…”
“No, s’pose it won’t.”
“But, at least now I get to mack on you in public.”
Sinatra came rolling out of the speakers, low and sweet. Romance never sounded so good.
“You know you can’t hide forever, love,” Spike advised, spinning his wicked pretty boy again.
“I know,” Xander admitted, nodding to the beat. “Don’t want to, anyway. But, something’s coming, Spike. I can feel it.”
“Me too, Xander. Worried, love?” Slowly turning, running his hands up and down Xander’s flank with one hand, wriggling his fingers against Xander’s with his other.
“No, actually. I know you’ll protect me.”
“That I will, love…”
“I love you, Spike. No matter what, know that. I love you.”
“Love you too, Xan. More than you’ll ever grasp in that thick head of yours.”
Spike leaned in and kissed Xander’s cheek tenderly, soft lips against tender flesh.
They spun in time with music, humming softly to each other. The apartment grew brighter as the tangerine light of daybreak struck the outside of the blinds.
The music wound down on the stereo as the filtered light climbed the walls.
Spike bent Xander backwards, dipping him confidently and lovingly. Xander came back up slowly, slipping his arms around Spike’s waist and pulling him close for a kiss as the music tapered off into silence…
“You are all I long for; All I worship and adore…In other words, please be true. In other words, I love you”*
*Lyrics from Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon.
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*tsk*
:)
Neat! They go through that all right, then.
And the naked dancing! The dip!
Sweet.
Nice chapter, bay-bee!
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