Stupid hat
 
Author: Lilithangel
 
Website: www.livejournal.com/users/lilithbint
 
Fandom: AtS
 
Characters: Spike/Angel
 
Genre: fluff
 
Rating/Warnings: PG for m/m kissing.  Four candy cane story.
 
Summary: a Santa hat, a sprig of mistletoe.  A recipe for disaster for Angel.
 
* * * * *
 
Angel looked at the abandoned Santa hat unsure what had happened to leave him feeling so empty.
 
It had been a great morning.  Everyone had been in good spirits with Christmas approaching.  Lorne had mixed up a bowl of eggnog and everyone had taken a glass before they realised how much whiskey had been added.
 
Somehow Fred had ended up wearing a Santa hat with a sprig of mistletoe tied to the bobble.  Wesley had taken advantage and grabbed a kiss so Fred had declared it the kissing hat.
 
The resulting round of enthusiastic kissing had everyone laughing.  Everyone had kissed everyone until Angel was faced with Spike, who should have looked ridiculous in the hat but managed not to.  Angel had hesitated and drawn back to see all the amusement drain out of Spike’s face and be replaced by the hard scorn he was used to seeing.
 
The hat was dropped to the floor and Spike was gone, sucking all the joy out of the room.
 
“Geez… overreaction or what?” Angel had said only to be faced with disappointed faces that rapidly left him alone.
 
He hadn’t meant to reject Spike; he had just been surprised that the other vampire would want to kiss him and reacted instinctively.  It wasn’t his fault that Spike was so sensitive.
 
He had to have been imagining the look of hope that had so startled him.  Otherwise he had made the biggest mistake of his two hundred plus years.
 
He should have taken the chance to kiss that damn mouth with the pouting lower lip.  He should have risked the ridicule of Spike pulling back at the last moment to avoid getting a return to the expression he had hoped their recent truce had chased away.
 
He shouldn’t be made to feel like the bad guy because of Spike’s insecurities.  Just because Spike felt abandoned and unworthy of love, how was that his fault?
 
Angel hated having to make amends.
 
* * * * *
 
When Spike returned to the office everyone looked worried and confused.  Harmony jumped on him as soon as she saw him.
 
“You have to do something,” she said, “everyone else has tried but all he does is sit in there sulking and holding that hat.”
 
“What hat and why me?” Spike said.
 
“The Santa hat.  First he was all angry guy demanding to know where you were and complaining about oversensitive dead poets.  Then Wesley said something to him and he went all broody-pants.”
 
“So that would make it Wesley’s problem,” Spike said.
 
“No…” Harmony rolled her eyes, “that would make it Angel’s problem but Wesley said you would have to fix it.”
 
“So I have to go and apologise for something I don’t know I’ve done just to make Angel feel better?” Spike’s voice rose high enough to penetrate the door to Angel’s office.
 
Angel flung the door open and strode over to Spike.  He thrust the hat at the blond and glowered.
 
“What?” Spike looked at the hat in distaste.
 
“Take the hat, Spike,” Angel said, “take the hat and put it on.”
 
“You have got to be bloody kidding,” Spike said flatly.
 
“Please put on the hat,” Angel ground out.
 
The please surprised Spike and he took the hat from Angel.  He looked around the lobby in suspicion and then put the hat on with a sigh.
 
Staring at Angel in defiance, Spike opened his mouth to say something only to have it covered by Angel’s.
 
Angel had intended to quickly kiss Spike in apology for refusing before and that would get things back to normal.  Instead the little squeak of surprise and the soft lips were too much for him and he found he had pulled Spike close and deepened the kiss.
 
Spike was going to protest Angel’s actions just as soon as he sorted out whose tongue was in whose mouth.  He had forgotten what a good kisser Angel could be.  Not surprising considering how few kisses there had been, but they had all been memorable.
 
Finally Angel pulled back from the kiss suddenly aware of the heavy silence in the lobby as everyone simply stared.  He was really only interested in the blue eyed gaze slowly focusing on him.
 
“What was that about?” Spike said.
 
“Me kissing you the way I wanted to,” Angel said.
 
Spike slowly pulled the hat off his head and silently offered it to Angel who stared at it dumbly.  “Take it,” Spike said gruffly, “put it on you plonker.”
 
Angel barely had time to put the hat on his head before Spike was attached to his lips again, this time with complete abandon.
 
This time when they surfaced Angel looked around at the fascinated audience and growled.  “Everyone go home.  You get the rest of the day off, that means everyone.” He glared at Harmony and then dragged Spike to the elevator as the rest of the staff scattered.
 
Harmony waited until everyone had gone and was treated to another wall melted kiss image as the elevator doors closed.  Then, and only then, did she pick up the discarded Santa hat and consider it.  There had to be something mystical or spelled about the darn thing to get that reaction out of Angel and Spike.  Spike had never kissed her with that sort of passion.
 
Stuffing it into her purse Harmony went looking for that cute guy from accounts.
 
And everyone had a very merry Christmas indeed.
 
_