Subject: [BA_Gutter] Charming Billy XVI From: "spikesfool2003" Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 02:33:22 -0000 Chapter XVI "Come along, Liam. Don't lag. We'll find him near that small creek we saw earlier. I'm sure of it." Billy cast a quick smile over his shoulder as he reached the top of the incline. "He's made a bloody mess of things, hasn't he?" Billy lifted his face to the rising sun and inhaled the intoxicating aroma of an sea of summer-warmed wild flowers. Liam chuckled. "I see my Irish ways are rubbing off on you, boyo. Bloody this and bloody that! I'll have you speakin' proper in no time at all." As he reached the smaller figure, Liam tugged Billy backwards into his arms and placed a soft kiss on the fuzzy brown nap covering his skull. "Let's not blame me poor, bewildered Angel entirely. Your Spike's prickly as a hedgehog. If he'd only let the man speak his mind, 'stead of storming off like the willful Sassenach he is, things might not be in such a bloody tangle." "What? I hardly need point out it's Angel who lacks the ability to be honest about his feelings, Sir." "Now, now. It's both their faults, me darlin' and well you know it. Let's leave off the harsh insults. We can agree on one thing. The great lout needs our help." The pair moved down through the early morning fields towards a stand of oak trees running along the banks of a half overgrown stream. The summer breeze ruffled across the meadow bending the grasses as it passed like a giant hand stroking its lushness. "He dreams a pretty countryside," Liam commented. "Yes, I'll grant him that. Very....poetic. Perhaps, I'll write a little verse later, when this matter is satisfactorily concluded. The day quite inspires me." Liam snorted affectionately. "More wee beaks, is it?" "Perhaps." The sound of their mingled laughter drifted pleasantly into the trees. In his dream, Angel stirred. A voice was whispering to him. It was soft and lilting like a Gaelic lullaby from his childhood. It brought memories with it; thickets dense with summer foliage, the sharp smell of gorse and bracken. Under the hypnotic shimmer of golden sunlight that drifted through the canopy of green overhead, Angel lay on his back, head resting on his folded arms, face bathed in flickering warmth. The soporific gossip of a nearby stream weighed his drooping eyelids. "Have ya learned yet, lad, what's in yer heart, as we did?" Liam questioned. Billy knelt in the grass beside Angel. His blue eyes held the sleepy brown gaze blinking up at him. He traced the curve of Angel's cheek with a gentle hand. "What is essential is invisible to the eye. A writer born long after us said that. Our Spike is quite appreciative of his works. You might take a moment, Sir, and read a bit of him. Very concerned with honor and duty he'll be....sometime in the future. Just as you are. Never forget, Love is the most essential thing. " Liam, standing behind the smaller figure, rested a hand on the tempting curve of Billy's shorn skull. "I found him for ya, Angel. You must keep him if yer heart's ever to be whole." Billy smiled in the dream. It was a smile Angel longed to see on Spike's face, open and full of contentment. He was so beautiful, made more so by the love shining in the depths of his piercing eyes. He was Spike looking at Angel with love. Angel was humbled by the realization. "I'll wager you'll not forget us soon, lad." Liam grinned. "Try to be honest. It's all he's ever wanted in his blunderin' English way." Billy gave Liam a hard nudge in the ribs with his elbow."Really, Liam. This is not the time for your inappropriate Irish slurs." Billy ran a finger over Angel's lips. "Open yourself to him—in every way—Angel, and you'll have what you seek. Don't lose him this time. Perhaps he is prickly as Liam says, but it's only on the outside. His insides are very tender. He's worthy of your love." Angel found it hard to speak. Words often failed him and actions were so much easier to deal with. The words he wanted now were large thorny objects lodged in his throat. "I'm done hurting him, Billy. I promise you that. I can't lie anymore. It hurts too much. I love Spike. Jesus, I can't believe I'm saying that out loud. And you know what?" Billy shook his head, but there was a small smile playing over his lips. "I like the sound of it. I love Spike. I don't think I ever realized before how empty my life would be without him. If he'll give me the chance, I'll make it up to him." A sense of urgency swept over Angel as he lay there in the grass, a dash of chill water, as though he'd fallen into the nearby stream and were drowning. Billy and Liam were suddenly fading back to the place they'd come from. He grasped at them in panic but they were merely phantoms wisping through his outstretched hands. As they vanished, Angel was overwhelmed with the conviction it was too late. Spike was lost to him. In the dream, he started to run as terror suffused the depths of his soul. A dense fog had risen. He blundered in the gloom, barely catching glimpses of a figure receding just beyond his the tips of his questing fingers. The pale blur eluded him, taking refuge in the shifting depths of smoke. The smell of ashes assaulted Angel's senses. The haze sparked and a roaring conflagration sprang up all around him. Angel knew the danger here. He searched for Spike frantically in the billowing darkness. His hand touched naked flesh. He drew it close, watching for the sweet rapture of acceptance to flood Spike's face. They would be safe from the engulfing flames if they were together. He pushed into the pliant body he cradled against him. The gush of their germinal rain could smother the fires of hell. Even in the dream, Angel cringed. Damn, he really was a poof. Spike had been right all along. Why the hell else would he feel the sudden urge to write poetry? Rose are red, Spike's eyes are blue.... Angel jerked awake to find his arms full of Spike. His first disoriented confusion gave way to a hum of pleasure as his senses took inventory. Bare flesh was pressed from his shoulders to toes, strong legs entwined, feet rubbing together. The ridges of belly muscle under Angel's palm were tacky with the sensuous soup of Spike's drying cum. Angel became aware of silky hair tickling his nose. Warm lips rested against his throat. Best of all, their bodies were still joined by Angel's half-erect cock caught in a sleepy squeeze of snug rectal muscles. The bed was ripe with the aroma of their spending. Angel allowed himself to luxuriate in the purest of sensual delights. He moved his hips tenderly to reestablish a firmer connection. His prick stiffened with delicious gratitude at the sensation of being buried deeper in Spike's hole. Remembered moans filled his head from the previous night. Their languorous coupling had made him.... A buzz of alarm shot like an electrified charge through Angel's veins. Shitohfuck! He'd....sweet Jesus! He hadn't meant to do that. No way had he meant to do that. But, try as he might to deny it, the proof was in Angel's arms. He'd fucked Spike when the injured vampire was drugged up on the sedative he'd been feeding him. Angel head swam with panic. He had no doubt what Spike's reaction would be to the violation when he woke up. Protestations of innocent intent would be lost in the uproar of believed injury. In trepidation, Angel extracted himself from the tangle of naked limbs and slid out of bed, taking great care not to wake the bed's other occupant. Spike was happy. He wiggled his hips enjoying what the motion did to his half-erect cock, caught as it was between his stomach and the mattress. Nose pressed into the pillow, he took several long, slow breaths letting the scent of Angel and cum nudge him towards the surface of the ocean of bliss he was swimming in. Every inhalation deepened his sense of home and safety. It was bloody close to perfection. He snuggled his arse back, searching for the protective curve of a naked body that should be close behind him, his bastion of peace. And speaking of piece... A sleepy giggle escaped. His questing hand slid over the cool, empty expanse of sheet encountering—nothing. An eyelid twitched trying to force itself open to find the missing component in his little bit of paradise. A small peek of groggy blue, then darkness again. Spike rolled over. "Angel?" Spike half lifted on one elbow and looked around, tousled hair immediately falling into his eyes. Impatiently, he brushed it aside. Should have cut it. The thought ghosted through his woozy brain as he strove to focus. Across from the bed, a figure sat hunched in a chair. There was something so somber about Angel's expression, it sent a flood of presentiment washing over Spike's body. "What's wrong, luv? What are you doin' way over there all grumpy when you should be in here shaggin'...." Spike's husky-voiced question faltered as the synapses in his brain began firing. His gaze swung from side to side taking in the messy bedroom, dropping to the tight wrap of blood-stained gauze around his belly, the cluster of bottles and salves on the bedside table. Spike's arse gave a low throb of well-used appreciation. Huh? His eyes widened. Reality came rushing back and smacked him in the face. The sense of well-being he'd felt only moments before drained away as time and place returned and he realized with a sick lurch in the pit of his stomach that sometime during the night, Angel had.... "What the bloody hell have you done?" Angel blinked at Spike shamefacedly. He could see Spike's fury building as his nose and—other body parts—told him exactly what had happened. Spike's nostrils flared and he pointed at Angel with a trembling finger. Words failed him for once, only the shocked glitter of his eyes evincing his deep sense of betrayal. <> Billy's voice whispered excitedly. <> Angel didn't know what to say. How could he explain what happened when he didn't understand it himself? It was a mistake obviously. He could see that now. He'd made some beauts over the past few years, but this was shaping up to be the biggest balls up of his unlife. Christ, it was an innocent impulse to be close to his injured childe. He'd had the best of intentions. But there had been a dream. It didn't seem worth mentioning in the face of Spike's burgeoning anger, though it appeared to be still playing in his head. "You interfered with me." Spike was clearly outraged. "I can't believe you did that, Angel. Knew you were low, but using me like some sodding whore after...everything that's happened." It wasn't like that at all. Shit. Angel had only been looking for some small bit of solace after a night filled with shocks. He was worn out and sick with worry over Spike and the thought of losing Spike for good. He'd just wanted to hold the sleeping vampire in his arms, maybe impart a little of his own strength through that closeness to speed Spike's healing. He'd never meant to do anything else. "I wouldn't. I didn't. Spike, it wasn't like that. Okay, I understand you're pissed, but at least give me a chance to explain what happened." <> A second voice joined the conversation in Angel's head. "How you gonna explain gettin' off on my unconscious body?" "You were NOT unconscious." <> came the mild comment. "Near as. Don't kid yourself. If I weren't out of it from blood loss and havin' my belly ripped open, I'd have torn your knackers off when you put hands on me. Think I'm that easy—that cheap?" "I don't think...." <> "You never do." Spike took a deep breath and began again. "You told me you didn't want me, Angel. And fine. That was...fine. I'm man enough to face gettin' the boot." "I did NOT give you the boot. I just wasn't ready to....have the conversation you were trying to have." <> Spike started to protest but Angel waved him down. "Wait a minute, will you?" He tried desperately to gather his scattered wits. Okay. He was willing to admit he'd made a mistake getting in bed with Spike—naked. That was a start. "I made a mistake." <> It was a comfort thing, damn it. Everybody needed comfort now and then—even Angel. Falling asleep was unexpected and he certainly hadn't planned on what happened after that. He was no interferer....er. At least he didn't think so. He'd been making love to Spike to save them from the fire. "I'd never...errr...interfere with you. I'm not even sure what that means." Angel lifted his hands, palms out, placating and rose from the chair where he was sitting. He backed off more rapidly when he recognized the fury building in Spike's eyes. It had happened. Yes. But it was a natural reflex not some dire plot. "You've got it wrong, Spike. Don't fly off the damn handle. Let me explain." "Don't need an explanation, do I, when I can smell what happened. Feel it." Spike's cheeks flushed a little at the last words. "Explains itself." Angel's mouth opened. He had to make Spike understand. It wasn't anything as simple as want, take, have. It hadn't been using. He'd been dreaming—a strange dream. It just sort of flowed from that. And if the fucking voices in his head didn't shut the hell up, he was gonna kill somebody. Spike's angry words pierced Angel's memory of the dream and his fury at having two ghosts joining the argument on the opposite side. "You molested me, you sodding pervert." That brought Angel's focus back to the furious vampire confronting him."Shit. It wasn't like that Spike. It was an accident." <> <> "Accident! Having your dick up my bum was an accident? Let me get this straight, pillock. You just happened to be in the same sodding bed naked and—oh look at that! A convenient hole. Think I'll fuck it! "Before Angel could answer, Spike went on. "Fallin' down the stairs is an accident, mate. Fuckin' my arse AIN'T!" Angel had never seen Spike's eyes quite that shade of deadly blue. He hastened to put the chair he'd been sitting in between them, trying to think of an explanation that didn't make him sound completely.....gay. He couldn't very well say he wanted to spray cum on the car fire like rain and make Spike's love for him grow. <> "I'm sorry. Calm down." Angel looked hopefully at Spike. "We need to talk about this." "You're sorry? You violate me and you're sorry?" Spike crawled shakily to the edge of the bed and forced himself to his feet. The man he loved, who'd rejected him outright, had used him to get off when he thought Spike was too out of it to put up a fight. He felt sick Angel backed up a step not sure what Spike was going to do, but recognizing by his expression that it couldn't be anything good. "Let me get you some blood. You look really weak. Then we'll sit down and..." "Don't want any blood!" Before Spike could stop him, Angel whirled and rushed off. The room tilted. Spike reached a hand behind him until he found the bed, sinking on the edge with weak knees. This wasn't good. He should be feeling stronger now, the cuts almost healed. He pried the bandages away with curious fingers and found amazingly, the cuts were only pale ridges on his stomach. The lips of the gashes had healed well. Evidence of the injuries was fading fast. Spike rubbed a hand over his eyes. How could Angel have done that to him. And why the fuck did he still feel like a newborn calf, his legs wobbly and his head spinning? He looked up as a cup of blood was shoved under his nose. The smell made his belly roll. "Told you I don't want any." The shifty look in Angel's eyes sent a stab of suspicion through Spike's unfocused thoughts. "Why you so hot all of a sudden to feed me up?" Angel took a step back, the cup trembling in his hand. He tried to hide his guilty expression and failed. As they both watched, the nervous shake of the cup sloshed a wave of blood over the porcelain lip where it spattered on Spike's bare knee, deep red on pale skin. Spike's head came up slowly. He touched a finger to the spill and brought it to his mouth. "You've been druggin' me." It was a flat-voiced statement. <> <> Liam supplied with a delighted laugh. <> The rush of adrenalin-fueled rage cleared Spike's head and lent him strength. His immediate attack knocked Angel over backwards. The cup flew out of Angel's hand, landing somewhere across the room with a loud crash of shattering china, blood stippling the nearest wall. Neither vampire heard it. The battle was engaged. Flailing, they rolled into the chair where Angel had been sitting a few moments before flattening it to splinters, neither aware how close they came to extinction at its wooden collapse. "You filthy bugger." Spike's hiss was filled with hatred. The thin line had been crossed. "Think you can use me like that?" Punctuated with a knee to the stones. The vampires had brawled many times over the past century, the advantage usually going to Angel by virtue of his superior height and weight. But when he wanted it badly enough, Spike knew how to win. Angel turned green, clutching himself as they slammed into the bedroom wall. Spike scrambled with the agility of a wildcat to pin Angel beneath him while he was still in agony from having his balls pulverized. "Spike! I don't want to hurt you," Angel gasped between clenched teeth, wondering where the fuck his 'little helpers' were now that he needed them. "Think you can anymore?" Spike laughed. It was an ugly sound. "Give it your best shot, cocksucker." Every punch Spike landed filled him with elation. Gut, chest, face. He was gonna pound the bastard into mush, then he was gonna stake him. He was finished with all this bloody bollocks and he was finished with Angel. The flurry of blows he directed at Angel's face turned it into something closely resembling raw meat. Blood painted Spike's fists, skin ripped and bruised. Spike's assault increased in its ferocious power. "Quit it, Spike or I'm gonna break you into little pieces." Angel was fast losing his patience. Okay, he loved the little bastard but he wasn't prepared to be used as a punching bag. "God damn it. Cut it the hell out." The words no sooner left Angel's mouth than a fist crashed into it. Initially, he'd held back feeling Spike's anger was justified. But Angel realized now, it was fight or dust. Unable to effectively counterattack until Spike tired and the ferocity unleashed against him eased, Angel was quickly reduced to throwing his arms over his head to protect his face from further punishment. As soon as Angel lifted his guard, Spike's murderous assault zeroed in on his gut, pounding the exposed area with manic intensity. Angel doubled over and rolled. Spike lost his dominant position and scuttled sideways, snatching up a wooden leg from the destroyed chair. "You're dust," he hissed. There was madness in his eyes. <> <> << I beg your pardon. It was more than a smidgeon of our own doing.>> An outraged voice exploded.<> The powerful punch to his belly knocked Liam's legs out from under him. He gazed up at Billy with shocked eyes. <> Two ghostly figures rolled together in a flurry of punches. Spike lunged after Angel's retreating form stabbing with preternatural power, driving his makeshift stake into Angel's thigh impaling him. The dark vampire's roar of pain filled the room. Game faces exploded. Spike hauled himself up Angel's prone body with the help of his improvised weapon, using it like a piton embedded in the granite face of a mountain. Bellows of anguish were torn from his opponent's throat. Fangs crunched down on his wrist where he clutched the stake, crushing gristle and bone as they penetrated. Clamping together, the razor-sharp fangs met in the mangled flesh. A torrent of Spike's blood joined the fast-spreading lake of Angel's beneath their struggling bodies. It was Spike's turn to howl as his wrist was savaged. He kicked out viciously, dislocating Angel's jaw to break the hold, but nearly succeeded in ripping his own hand off in the process. Whimpering, Spike struggled to pull the stake loose from Angel's mutilated leg with his uninjured hand, fingers slipping on the gory shaft. Angel shook his head to clear it from the red veil of pain that encompassed him. His leg was a hot bolt of agony. Heedless of his injuries, he twisted and dove for the stake Spike was trying to wrench free before he could do more damage. They fought viciously over the scrap of wood, both vampires lost to all reason. "Think you can beat me, Spike?" Angel heckled his tormentor. "You're fuckin' lunch." He grabbed a fistful of hair and snapped back the head it was attached to, exposing a smooth expanse of unprotected throat. Fangs already dripping with gore honed in on their target. *********************** Wesley was in a meeting when alarms went off all over the building. >From his desk, he could see staff members running in agitated circles unsure what was happening. He sprang up just as Gunn burst into the office wild-eyed and breathless. "Come on, man. Now! Something's goin' on in the penthouse. Maybe it's the Mu'uaxas back. The janitor says somebody's bein' murdered up there." He brandished a lethal-looking axe giving Wesley a feral grin. "They're not gonna take me down this time." Wesley waved his hand impatiently. "Meeting concluded." Ignoring the gaping mouths of the businessmen seated around his desk, Wesley grabbed a sword from a wall display. Almost an afterthought, he tugged a desk drawer open and snatched a stoppered jug of holy water from its depths, stuffing it into a trouser pocket as the pair of men ran from the room heading for the bank of elevators across the lobby. He didn't like thinking what he was thinking, but one could never be too careful. The elevator shaft was a wall of noise funnelling down from the battle above. Roars of fury, shrieks of pain, the smash and crash of furniture being destroyed assaulted their ears. They exchanged shocked glances. "We've got backup coming," Gunn assured Wesley at the look of consternation on his face. "Don't worry. They'll be here any minute." The elevator doors slid open on mayhem. A few feet from the shocked men, Angel lay pinned to the floor by a wooden lance through his chest. Another three inches to the left and it would have punctured his heart. Spike clutched the stake in a rictus of agony, head thrown back, Angel's fangs buried in his throat. It was a tableau of insanity. Without a moment's hesitation, Wesley snatched the holy water from his pocket, pulled the stopper and threw it over the vampires. Spike jerked backwards as the liquid fire ate into his bare skin like acid. In an juddering convulsion to escape the deadly rain, he ripped out a chunk of flesh from his own throat as he tore away from deeply embedded fangs. Angel rolled sideways as the weight on his chest lifted, nearly finishing the job Spike had started when the stake in his chest broke off and splintered under him. Everyplace the water touched boiled with tendrils of smoke and fiery pain. Steam hissed over the shouting as Wesley ran to Angel, Gunn sprinting to Spike's side. Spike had taken the worst of the dousing being naked. He curled in a ball moaning as Gunn tried to dry the resultant blisters with a torn scrap of material from God knew where. A pattern of scarlet burns boiled over the broad curve of his shoulders and down along his spine. The blood from his torn throat and shattered wrist splattered the floor. The pandemonium went on for many minutes while the two men attempted to treat the various injuries and ease the vampires' pain. Angel had suffered stake wounds to his chest and thigh. His jaw was dislocated and his face a grisly mass of blood and bruises along with burns from the holy water. "Ain't this where we came in?" Gunn's voice was thick with disgust. "And how old are you? Cos six come right to mind." "I don't know about you, Charles, but I've had about enough of this." Wesley was unrepentant. "I'm not about to stand here and watch you two destroy each other over another spate of self- congratulatory insults, even if I have to dump a gallon of holy water on you. I'm long past putting up with this. You've been behaving like petulant children for months. Your injuries will be healed by tomorrow. But the danger you represent to the rest of us will go on unless something is done to put an end to it." The vampires were huddled forlornly on either end of the couch, the only piece of furniture left standing. Neither responded to Wesley's tirade. They were too busy casting confused glances at each other. The fight might have gotten a little out of hand. They'd concede that. But, the provocation was undeniable and the result justified. They pouted. While the two men were still groggy with pain and sulking, at least temporarily, in a quiet way, Gunn and Wesley conferred. Their tentative solution was somewhat childish in its own right, but needs must. Gunn left quickly to secure some magically enhanced handcuffs he kept in his desk. When Wesley raised an eyebrow at their revelation, Gunn only shook his head. "Ask me no questions, man. I'll tell you no lies." On his return, he grinned briefly at Wesley as he pulled Angel's arms back and snapped the first set of cuffs around his wrists, then threaded the second pair through the vampire's bound hands and tugged Spike over, cuffing them back to back. "What is this?" Angel blinked blood from his eyes and scowled angrily at Wes. The shock of being doused with holy water by his friend had taken some of the fight out of Angel. "This is me telling you to settle this thing between you or I will." At Angel's look of derision, Wesley merely shrugged. "I'm fairly certain Pavayne would be happy for a little company. Your actions are endangering all of us. I have no qualms about locking you both up until you come to your senses." At the steely glint in Wesley's eye, Angel tried to pull away from Spike, who attempted a backward head butt that failed to connect with the impact he'd been aiming for. They scuffled briefly, then stilled in shock as Wesley leaned in and smacked them both on the side of the head. "Stop it you bloody babies." "I didn't start it. He did." Angel pouted. Huddled under a torn blanket, Spike tried vainly to maintain a little of his dignity which wasn't easy being he was handcuffed backward and naked to the world's largest wanker. "I didn't start it. He molested me while I was drugged up on that tainted swill he was feedin' me." "Keep this up, baby, and I'm gonna start thinkin' there's something wrong with my technique." Angel grinned evilly remembering the encounter against the windows. "Every time I fuck you, you try to kill me." This set off a handcuff-rattling altercation of major proportions. The pair toppled off the couch and writhed on the floor, struggling to do each other the most possible damage before their jailers intervened. "You bloody bastard. Shut your hole." Spike was livid. "And will somebody get me my bleedin' pants!" Wesley and Gunn each grabbed a flailing body part and hauled Spike and Angel back onto the couch. "Make your peace with each other and I will." "What have my fuckin' pants got to do with us making peace?" Gunn tossed Wesley the key which he held up significantly then tucked into his shirt pocket. "This is stupid, Wes. You can't solve a century's worth of problems by hand cuffing us together. I've always admired your intelligence, but this....this is asinine. We'll only find another way to kill each other once we get loose." Spike nodded his agreement. Angel glanced back over his shoulder at the movement and sighed. "See. Even the idiot knows I'm right." "Stop calling me that, damn it." "Well I would—but it's true." They tussled again, jabbing elbows at each other. Gunn shook his head looking to Wesley. "This is a shit idea. They'll just find some way to dust each other. We should probably let them go at it. If we're lucky, we'll come out with one champion and call it a day." "Maybe you're right, Charles. I wash my hands of this mess." Wesley went into the kitchen. He took the key out of his pocket and tossed it angrily on the counter amid the smashed crockery and spilled food that was meant at one time to be Spike's breakfast. "Here it is then, if you can managed to get in here without destroying each other you can free yourselves. I'm done with you both." "Kinda makes you Pilate don't it, pet? All the hand washing?" Wesley pursed his lips. "Perhaps, but it certainly doesn't make either of you Jesus Christ." "Makes him Judas, if you ask me." Spike's snipe brought a growl from Angel. "Well nobody did. So shut the fuck up!" Left alone the two men sat awkwardly back to back trying not to touch. The silence stretched on as vampiric healing powers kicked in, knitting together injured bones and flesh. In the teeth-gritting quiet, a pair of disheveled ghosts made their reappearance. They were grinning happily, Liam's arm tight around Billy's neck. <> Billy nodded his agreement at Liam's words. He lifted one eyebrow encouragingly at Angel. The dark vampire studied the contentment shining in the ghostly eyes trained on him. His anger began to drain at the recognition Billy and Liam possessed what he wanted so desperately with Spike. "You really would have dusted me over one fuck?" Angel blurted out. Spike sighed in exasperation."You know it had very little to do with the fucking. Why pretend otherwise?" "Otherwise? Who's on his high horse now? Whatever you say—Biiiilly." Angel snorted then sobered. "Is it because I said you'd cost too much?" Spike struggled abruptly to his feet pulling Angel with him. "Let's get the bloody key, Angel. I can't talk to you with my dick wavin' about like a sodding metronome." He started for the kitchen with Angel shuffling awkwardly behind him. "Least they could have given me my pants." "Maybe you should have put them on before you started the fight." "Maybe you should shut the fuck up before I really do dust you." <> Reaching the kitchen counter, Spike hitched up on his toes fumbling for the key. It skittered away as though possessed. Cursing, he drug Angel forward effectively trapping his cock between Angel's arse and the wooden cabinets. He stifled a low groan and concentrated on getting the key. Straining up and over, swallowing his need to pant at the stimulation to his naked dick, he scrabbled determinedly until he captured the little fucker with his chin, then nudged it cautiously to the edge of the counter amid bits of scrambled eggs and toast. On his toes again and his fingers closed around the small piece of metal. "Soddin' Watcher's got a bloody strange sense of humor if you ask me." Spike blinked trying to keep his voice even, though he could feel himself leakin' and knew soon Angel'd be smellin' it. "You find this humorous, Spike?" There was a pause. Angel craned to see Spike's expression. A soft laugh surprised him. "Well now that you mention it, yeah. I do. Us making a bloody hash of trying to kill each other is always good for a chuckle or two. And pretty enjoyable in the doin', come to that. Chainin' us together with me bare arsed is kinda funny in its own right. Plus, I've got egg on my face." Angel glanced back, then tried to hide his grin at the sight of scramble egg hanging off Spike's cheek. "You're just....very weird." "Yeah, maybe. Been told that a time or two before. But there's nothing weird about gettin' off on a little blood and pain. We're not humans anymore, Angel. We're vampires." Angel eyed the two ghost watching them solemnly. "We seemed to get along better before. I don't remember you trying to kill me then." Angel rubbed his wrists as Spike finally managed to get the key in the lock and free him. He quickly reciprocated before his mind had the chance to suggest other things. "You were getting off on it? The attempted murder part?" "What's not to enjoy? Beatin' the shit out of you is the most fun I've had in....minutes." Spike snatched up the blanket that had fallen to the floor as he struggled to reach the key. Without another word, he wrapped it tightly around his body and hurried into the bedroom in search of his pants. He didn't wanna have this conversation naked. It made him feel too vulnerable. Angel gave him a moment of privacy then appeared in the bedroom door as Spike buttoned up his jeans and began to search for a shirt in the rubble. "Looks kinda like my crypt after that visit from the giant Hall Monitor." "Riley? God I hated that bastard." Angel waited for Spike to explain, then let it go. They had other things to discuss. "Why don't you piss off, Angel? This is pointless. I'll get my stuff and get outta your way." Spike suddenly felt the need to retreat even though it had was Angel who was in the wrong. He didn't want to hear again how worthless he was. Only the accident had brought him back here in the first place and in the second place....he was feeling like shit, although the injuries were already healing nicely. Angel didn't seem to be having much trouble flapping his yap, though he kept rubbing his jaw where it had been reset. Too bad he hadn't.... "Spike?" "Huh?" Spike tugged a tee shirt over his head and turned to face Angel, who was looking at him with an expression he couldn't quite read. "Don't go. We really do need to talk." Angel shook his head when Spike began to protest. "I know. We've never been great with the communication thing. But I think that's part of our problem. Maybe if we had sat down a long time ago and hashed this all out, we wouldn't be at each other's throats now." Billy and Liam were smiling. "Don't you think I know that? Talking's never been your strong suit, mate." Spike tugged nervously at his mop of hair. "I say too much and you....you hold me off with insults." Angel nodded."That's fair....but, maybe I don't wanna hold you off any more." Spike was flummoxed. He meet Angel's beautiful brown eyes and felt a flutter of hope stir in his gut. For a moment, he couldn't think of a response. "You're more honest about your emotions than I am, Spike. Emotions scare me. I can't seem to feel things in moderation. For hundreds of years my emotions meant death and destruction to everyone and everything around me. I reveled in it." <> <> "Yeah. Okay, fair enough." Spike serious gaze pinned Angel in place. "But, those emotions weren't tempered by your soul. It's different now. You don't have to be afraid to feel things. You just have to face the truth. It's been starin' you in the face for..." They said it together. "...over a hundred years." They exchanged shy smiles. Then Angel shook his head and took a deep breath to steady himself. "You don't understand. I have loved with the soul and you know that. But it never ends well. Buffy...." At Spike's sharp look Angel shrugged his shoulders. "I thought I loved Buffy. I thought it was something eternal. You know. Master Vampire and...ummm....teenage human girl." Angel giggled. "So not eternal. Don't get me wrong. I still have a place in my heart that belongs only to her, but how can a human...a woman, ever be the object of all the....emotion I have to give....someone? It would destroy them. It would destroy him." "Angel." Spike took a step forward, but Angel held up his hand, stopping him. "I don't know if I can give you what you want, Spike. I'm afraid you'll be disappointed in me." "Think it was easy facin' up to how I feel about you?" Spike asked softly. "Well, it bloody well wasn't. My track record's not the best either. Get shot down in bleedin' flames every time I make the mistake of showin' how I feel. Liam is the only person who didn't rip my heart out and eat it when I gave it to him." Liam's smile softened and he pulled Billy closer running his palms gently around his waist, embracing him. Angel's face crumpled, a suspicious mist filling his eyes. "I won't eat your heart." "That's not enough." Spike voice was stern. "Huh?" "It's not enough. You won't eat it?" Spike smirked. "Some fuckin' romance that is. I want more, Angel." "More? Like an apology or something?" "The hell! Come on, Angel. Quit fuckin' around. All you gotta do is say it to me." "Why do I have to be the one to say it first?" Angel's sulky face sent a shiver of excitement through Spike's gut. "Because you already know how I feel?" The smirk was gone. The first open smile Angel had ever seen glowed on Spike's face. Billy was nodding with pleasure. Though Liam was trying to be very manly, he couldn't stifle the joy that was sparking in his eyes. Angel's smile was blinding. "Yeah. I do know how you feel." "I don't think I've ever seen so many of your teeth at one time." Spike chuckled. "'Less you were bitin' somebody." Angel hung his head, his face becoming serious. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it with a snap. Spike tsked. What he said next was very soft, meant only for vampire ears. "I see your lips moving, honey, but I can't hear the words." "You know I do," Angel finally managed. He was having difficulty swallowing and his cheeks felt warm. Something like a heart was pounding in his chest making his ears ring. "Yeah, yeah. But I wanna hear it. You think I'm gonna let you off without sayin' it?" Angel's grin returned. "Don't whine, baby. It's not a pretty look on you." He watched as blue eyes were suffused with a sweet fire he'd never seen before. It was a night of firsts for Angel. "Come here." Angel snagged Spike by the swell of one powerful biceps pulling him so close the smaller man had to tilt his head back a little to see his expression. "I... Okay, I..." Angel's voice sounded strangely rusty, a creaking hinge on an unused gate. "You bloody..." Spike bared his teeth. "I..." Angel's mouth opened and closed. He cleared his throat again. Why was this so damned difficult? "Sodding..." "Stop interrupting. How can I say it if you keep interrupting?" At Spike's sudden silence, Angel swallowed and began again. "I think..." He blinked as the rest of the words got stuck somewhere around his adam's apple. "Oh no you don't, tosser. No thinkin' involved." Spike caught hold of Angel's chin refusing to allow him to look away, holding his eyes. "You know it. Now say it." "Okay, okay. You're right. I know...." Angel stopped again and felt a sweet curl of pleasure in his gut at Spike's expression—knowing this time he could say it and mean it completely and forever. "ANGEL! You great...bloody...sodding...." "I love you, Spike." Spike's arms wound around Angel's waist. He pressed his face to Angel's chest with a sigh of relief. "Jesus. That was worse than the time you tortured me with the dentist's pliers." He tilted his head to the side and smiled sweetly. "I love you too, honey. Now kiss me." And then because he was Spike and he could, he added, "Or are you gonna stand there like some fucking Saint Bernard and drool on me for the next century." Angel's hearty laugh was full of joy. "Drool, I think. Or no. Kiss..." They found each other. The kiss was slow, mouth opening to mouth, tongues entwining, sweet as sugar candy. Across the room from the embracing men, two ghosts of themselves mirrored their actions and faded into the place close inside their hearts where they belonged. Spike broke the kiss, laughing as Angel attempted to latch back onto his mouth. Trying to force the words out, he struggled to escape the lips that were pressing soft kisses everywhere they could reach. He blinked as a tongue laved his eyelids, then quickly reappeared in the hollow of his throat, running mindless circles around the smooth bowl until it was slick with Angel's saliva. Spike's buttocks tightened when hands pushed into his jeans. The pleasure of having his bare cheeks stroked, skin to skin, then squeezed convulsively, short circuited the thought he'd been attempting to voice. Spike's knees wobbled and he wrapped his arms around Angel, holding himself up by pressing his flattened palms to the swell of flexing shoulder muscles, hooking one ankle around Angel's spread legs. "Wanna do ya," Spike finally managed just before his mouth was captured again by another mouth and devoured. "Mmmmm," Angel hummed back as he found Spike's tongue. Who would ever have imagined spit could taste so good? He sucked hungrily, enjoying the way Spike pushed against him trying to fuck his backbone with frantic little thrusts of his hips, his butt clenching and unclenching as he drove himself against Angel's prick. Big hands closed more strongly on Spike's ass cheeks, lifting him up until the smaller man was stretched high with his toes barely touching the floor. It brought Spike a sweet burn, makin' his thighs shake and his chest heave for air, dick belly-bumpin' responsively with the need to fuck. Nipples tightened in anticipation of what was to come. The hard squeeze of pebbled flesh brushing cotton-covered into Angel's chest made him lose focus. Eyelids fluttered down at the overload of sensations and he hung splayed against the large body holding him up. "Oh shit, pet." Spike's words were a fevered growl. "Gonna lose it." "No you're not. Because, you know what I want and you're gonna give it to me." Angel's voice sounded choked, maybe because it was difficult speaking when his mouth was suddenly being fucked so intensely by Spike's long, luscious tongue or maybe because he was so unaccustomed to the swell of love that pervaded every inch of him. "I wanna feel you do it. Lose it inside me, baby. I need your cock on the inside where I can feel your cum fill me up." The bed was magically under Angel's back. In the struggle to lose clothes and find the essence of each other, the vampires twisted and turned together, the air thick with the mingled release of sweat and the juices of their bodies preparing to fuck. Angel shinnied down Spike, holding him in place to examine the instrument of his soon-to-be deflowering. He took Spike's cock in hand, studying it with fascination as Spike cursed and shuddered under him, trying to lie still for Angel's pleasure, but going nearly wild when Angel ran a finger down the turgid length, and watched seemingly mesmerized as it jumped and dripped heavily at his touch. "Angel. Angel. Let me up, luv." The meek plea in Spike's voice made Angel chuckle. There was still a bit of Angelus left inside as well as Liam. The cock in his hand was so thick. He marveled at the picture of what it would look like when Spike shoved something so large and hard up inside him. It made Angel shiver with excitement and a bit of fear. He studied the flushed beauty more closely. He loved the way it bent inwards a little towards Spike's belly. He'd never noticed that before. It danced appreciatively when spoken to. Angel knew this because he couldn't seem to stop himself whispering compliments and dirty promises to the rampant, responsive beauty. With a kiss to the plummy head which seemed to want to nestle into his mouth when it came so close, Angel licked the sweet smelling flesh with the flat of his tongue, savoring the essence of Spike's spunk and crawled back up the whimpering vampire giving in to the increasingly urgent pleas for mercy. "You're beautiful," he whispered huskily into the shell of Spike's ear. "I love you and you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Spike gave a shaky laugh of relief at being released from the torturous examination. "I love you, too. Now, you're gonna pay for that little tease. It's your turn, luv. Show me what I want." Spike nudged Angel gently onto his back and settled between his thighs, positioning his feet flat on the bed and pushing his knees open. "Ahhh. There it is. Been chasin' it for a long time." Angel blushed and Spike leaned forward on one hand. "Don't try to tell me you didn't know, honey. Cos you can't. You've wanted it for as long as I have." At the open look of desire on Angel's face, Spike dropped closer to find his mouth. A strong finger nudged between the powerful spread cheeks, teasing softly over the pretty pink rosette of clenched muscle. They kissed and kissed again, the demands of their bodies taking over. Angel loved the how the feel of Spike's fingers made his belly go tense, then everything loosening at the strange sensation of having his rectum gently opened and explored. He lifted his hips a little, tentatively pushing down on the stiff brace of digits finger fucking him. Spike had slicked his hand with their combine juices before beginning and the sensation was smooth and intrusive all at the same time. Angel whimpered when a third finger forced his hole wider. "Won't hurt you, my love," Spike whispered reassuringly against his ear. A wet tongue probed the warm shell with the same rhythm three fingers asserted deep in Angel's body. The fingers still. There was a strong pull as they widened the already stretched hole and something big and smoothly wet nudged next to them. Another pull and as they slid out, the plump head of Spike's cock slipped into their place, breaching Angel's anus. "Oh! Christ!" Angel half jack-knifed off the bed at the sensation. Hot and cold shivers rent his body. The sight of Spike, braced above him in a taut bow of restraint, teeth buried in his lower lip, was like a powerful aphrodisiac. Angel's thighs clutched the slim body tightly. He pulled Spike forward with a surge of his hips. "Fuck me." It was a demand met by immediate response. Spike had meant to take things slowly, though his body was screaming for the special release only Angel could give him. Suddenly finding himself buried to the balls in Angel's arse made his head explode. He dropped down, a hand on either side of Angel face, finding his mouth in a hungry kiss. His buttocks clenched , his hips pistoned and the fuck took over. Angel's arms around his back urged him on. The slide and the squeezed, muscles holding him, everything wrapped in a hard, wet heat as their bodies moved together instinctively, nothing holding them apart, flesh to flesh. He pumped it all into Angel and Angel met him at every thrust. "Up your creek, baby." The moaned words sent Angel into a furnace of desire. A strong hand found his prick where it smacked with a wet, fleshy sound between their jerking bellies. Spike loved the feel of Angel's dick in his hand, a fistful of iron and velvet. He rubbed faster, his fingers soon soaked with Angel's need for him. He pushed Angel's thighs higher, wider, laying on them as he drove them both towards the peak. He wanted to hold Angel's balls, know what they felt like when he released, but there weren't enough hands and there weren't enough ways to stave off their spending. Next time. And next time. There would be a million times and a million ways to show each other the depth of their love. Spike felt it first. The pulse of his spunk hardened his sac. It shot like a guided missile into the depths of Angel's body, a geyser that twisted his hips and stiffened him to shuddering release. Angel roared. The gush of wetness high in his ass went straight to his own cock. It erupted with sympathetic intensity, whiting out his vision, the universe narrowed to a pinpoint of light with Spike's beautiful face at its center. Loose limbed and replete, they lay in the mucky sheets, twined together, whispering soft words they'd never shared before. Hours passed them by, the passion rising and falling like the seminal flow of the ocean's tide, unable to tear themselves away from the place where they'd shared everything, but knowing the world had expectations they had to meet and the new day waited. Angel forced himself from Spike's embrace for the sixteenth time. He stroked Spike's cheek tenderly then shook his head at the mischievous sparkle lighting the world's prettiest blue eyes. "You know we have to get up. Wes and Gunn will be up here with stakes ready to dust our asses if we don't get busy doing the champion thing. Aww. Come on, baby. Don't look at me like that." Spike lowered his eyes shyly. "Like what? I'm certain I have no idea what you could mean by such a puzzling statement." He licked his lips leaving them wet and tempting. Blue eyes peered up from under thick lashes. "Want me to say it?" "Jesus, don't you dare. You know what that does to me. We have to get up." "Hmmm. Yes, you're right. We do. Let's see... Unhand me, Sir." "I didn't really wanna go back to work anyway." Angel rolled Spike under him and kissed him until all else fell away leaving only the essential thing that was invisible to the eye. Their love filled the world. The End