AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ah, well. Writing S/A is simply more fun with Angelus being Spike's sire, so sod the canon. Big thanks to Avarice, my gorgeous beta chick and queen of pronouns. *g* Hugs to Luna, Netia and everyone else who encouraged me to continue this. Lyrics taken from Garbage's "Vow". Words in * * are thoughts.
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Suddenly one of the heavy boxes was tossed away and Angel became visible.
"Spike?"
No answer.
"Spike, are you okay?"
There was a faint noise from underneath one of the boxes.
"What did you say? I can't hear you," Angel said, looking around, trying to locate his childe.
He lifted a couple of boxes and threw them away, and to his relief he suddenly noticed a strand of blond hair peeking out from underneath the broken remains of a box.
"I said I'm great. I just love being buried underneath millions of pieces of broken wood! Get me out already, you bloody idiot!"
"Hang on, I got you."
Relieved, Angel shoved the pieces of wood away. As long as Spike was still swearing, things couldn't be all that bad.
The younger vampire was stuck between the large and heavy remains of a broken box and stared at him through narrow, angry eyes.
"This was the very last time I've listened to you, you bloody son of a wanker! 'Powder of hemlock makes the chaos demon disappear... Just sprinkle some on it, it shouldn't be dangerous!' Ha!"
Angel just smirked. "Well, it did disappear, didn't it? Can you move?"
"No. I'm stuck between boxes," Spike said dryly, eyeing his sire with an annoyed frown.
Suppressing a chuckle, Angel pulled his blond childe out by the arms and helped him up. With an amused little smile on his face the taller man dusted the younger vampire off.
"You look like a wood-worm!"
The blond just gave him an annoyed look, something dangerous twinkling in the deep blue eyes.
"You think that's funny?"
His sire shrugged with an innocent grin. "Well... yeah, it's kinda..."
Spike cut him off, continuing. "You think *I'm* funny? Funny de-fanged useless Spike tagging along, sprinkling demons in soddin' hemlock powder? Are you having a good time?"
He gave his sire a good push, causing the older man to stagger backwards.
The dark haired vampire got serious immediately.
A hard punch in the face flung his head sideways and stopped him from finishing his sentence. Bewildered, Angel stared at his childe.
"What on earth was that for?"
The blond demon took a deep unneeded breath.
The handsome brown-eyed vampire sighed deeply and took a step out of Spike's range, rubbing his hurting cheek. He was trying hard to understand how Spike could have gotten so upset about the lack of violence in the fight with the chaos demon.
"Look, I'm sorry. We can't always beat them up and put a stake through their hearts. Chaos demons are simply killed that way."
Spike shrugged, not even caring, and stepped past Angel to walk to the door.
"So what? We still could have staked that smarmy git! Just for the fun of it!"
Angel followed him, catching up with his childe with a few long strides, exiting the very battered looking building after the younger vampire. He closed the front door firmly, and a second later the old wooden edifice collapsed behind them with a loud crash.
The Master vampire only glanced back over his shoulder but kept on walking, unimpressed. He looked at the younger man, half-smiling, continuing their conversation.
"Yeah, we could have, but then it would have killed you. And we don't want that, do we?"
The blond demon glanced at him, still annoyed. "Especially not you, right, peaches?" he said in a sarcastic voice and walked on faster.
The souled vampire stopped for a moment and thoughtfully watched his childe walk away. The black leather duster swung softly with the catlike movements of the peroxide blond.
*****
It was the least the dark-haired vampire had expected to happen when he had invited Spike to stay at his place about three weeks ago.
Angel smiled a little to himself. Beautiful. Strong. Mesmerizing. There was no word that could possibly have described what he saw every time he really *looked* at his childe, and somehow he couldn't avert his eyes from the attractive vampire for a long moment. Even now, in his chipped state, you could almost feel the power radiating from the young man, as if his charisma were a living and breathing thing, gasping for air, trapped beneath the firm grip of a microchip holding him down. But nevertheless beautiful. Truly beautiful. The most passionate being the tall vampire had ever known, with such a raw lust for life, so intriguingly wild and untamed.
He envied him. Oh yes, he did.
He envied him that recklessness, that boyish charm that he had kept through all the years. There was something so pure inside those heavenly blue eyes that always seemed to mock him, as if silently he were saying:
Suddenly Spike turned his head and looked at him.
"What?"
Angel quickly looked away, caught. "Nothing."
The blond raised an eyebrow. "Nothing? You were staring at me."
"Was I? I didn't notice," his sire lied, not daring to look at the younger man again.
Spike eyed the dark-haired man suspiciously, then turned away, trying to concentrate on the game show again. Not that he really cared, but he was nevertheless trying hard to appear like he did.
He could still feel Angel's eyes resting on him.
With an annoyed snarl, the blond vampire turned off the TV and got up from his chair. He glanced at his sire and began to walk around the room, looking for something to distract himself with. Finding nothing, he sighed and lit a fag, inhaling the blue smoke deeply as he leaned against a sideboard.
Spike's eyes wandered over to the older vampire who was reading in an old leather-bound book that looked really important. Frowning slightly, he studied the handsome features of Angel's face, the beautiful, bottomless, dark pools of his eyes you could drown in, the soft curves of his lips...
The truth was that his sire still had it within him. The darkness was still there, the blond had glimpsed it when they had been fighting demons side by side. *So don't give me that 'Oh, I'm Saint Angel, I have a soul' crap, pal. No, you're a killer. You're just too chicken to live it. And the most pathetic thing about it is that you don't even know what you've got.*
He had been staying at the tall man's place for almost three weeks now, and in moments like these he asked himself why he hadn't taken at least one of the countless opportunities and just *staked* him.
With great relish, Spike took a long drag on his cigarette, fantasizing about his final day of victory, when all the Buffys, Angels, and the rest of these unnerving all-around-good-guys would go to hell, unlife would be a never-ending party, and everything would be... just as bloody boring as it was right now, with his luck.
He sighed deeply and frowned at his sire.
"Angel, did I ever tell you about this bloke who brooded so much he eventually died of cerebral hemorrhage?"
"No," Angel answered without even looking up from his book. "But I'm sure it's a haunting story."
"'Tis indeed. And you've got the potential. Wait, is that a bruise there on your forehead? No, couldn't be. You actually need a brain to get brain hemorrhage," the blond demon smirked.
Repressing a deep sigh, the souled vampire glanced at him.
"Aw, Angel," Spike sighed, sadly shaking his head. "Do you know what your sense of humor is definitely lacking? The humor."
"Why would I need a sense of humor when I've got you to laugh at," the older man grumbled and turned the page.
"Ouch, and that's two points for the man in black with the nancyboy haircut, thank you. You've got more to offer or is that the best you can do?"
Breathing in sharply, Angel shot his childe a dark glance. "Spike, it may have escaped your notice, but I'm actually trying to read."
"So? It may have escaped *your* notice, but I'm your guest." The blond crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back. "Entertain me."
"You're *not* my guest, Spike. You *work* for me. You're here entirely on a favor," the dark-haired man said in a matter-of-fact tone, still not bothering to interrupt his reading.
"Do you want me to polish your ego as well, you arrogant wanker?" Spike raised his middle finger in an unmistakable gesture.
"Pay? You mean in addition to free food and stay?" Angel arched an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah, that's right, you haven't told me how generous you are today." The demon put his hand on his heart dramatically, eyes twinkling dangerously. "Thank you, Angel, thank you for letting me sleep on your stinkin' couch and making me feel like a piece of gobshite underneath your boot."
Realizing that he had touched a sore point, the older vampire finally closed his book and looked at his childe, watching as Spike grabbed his leather duster and headed for the elevator.
"Spike, wait. I didn't mean to... Where are you going?"
"Where anybody with any brains would go: As far away from you as possible," the blond hissed and put on his duster, getting ready to leave.
Angel rose from his armchair, suddenly worried. "No, I mean, it'll be light in an hour..."
"I'll be back before the clock strikes twelve, dear fairy godmother."
"Spike, I don't think this is a good idea. Why don't you stay here instead. We could..."
"...Sit around and try to bore each other to death some more? Naw, thanks, peaches. I've had my fix for the night." Said it and closed the elevator door behind him more violently than necessary, going up before Angel could even argue.
Left behind in the abrupt silence that was so much louder now than it had ever been before Spike first arrived here, the handsome dark-haired vampire sighed deeply, silently cursing himself.
Yes, he knew how that felt. He understood perfectly.
Seeing Spike like this made something within him spin wildly, made it ache so deeply, wanting to make the other vampire see that there was a way to cope, a way to go on. Wanting to help, wanting to make it better, wanting to...
Wanting.
Closing his eyes for a moment, Angel drove the blond's handsome face from his mind, struggling against the emotions stirring deep inside of him, making him feel guilty.
Hoping that the blond wouldn't get so plastered as to not make it home safely before the sun rose, the dark-haired vampire sighed and sat back down. Angel stared at the book he had put down beside the armchair and frowned.
****
"All I'm saying is that - from an entirely objective point of view - it just isn't *fair*!" Wesley concluded his rant with a frustrated expression on his face and sank down on Cordelia's desk. Shifting a bit to turn around and look at the young woman, the Englishman tilted his head.
The long-haired beauty tore her eyes away from the computer screen and looked at him blankly, her eyebrows raised, a sweet smile on her lips.
Sighing a little, Wesley just looked at her for a moment, a bit like a lost puppy. Then he took a deep breath and decided to sum up his previous five minute speech in one sentence.
"I can't stand him. Spike. I tried, I really did. But I can't stand him."
With a sympathetic smile, Cordelia patted his arm.
"But Cordelia, don't you understand? Neither of you seems to notice what he's trying to do!"
Crossing her arms in front of her chest, the young woman leaned back in her chair and fixed her colleague skeptically.
"Alright, Wes. Tell me. What is Spike trying to do?"
Leaning closer, with a look of complicity on his face, Wesley whispered: "He's trying to get between Angel and us. - Ah, I know what you're thinking. He acts like he doesn't care, but I'm telling you, that vampire is a shrewd operator! He's only just pretending that he doesn't care. You turn your back to him and *snap* he steals your job. Mark my words. That's exactly what he's planning to do. Just wait and see."
"Of course, now that you mention it, everything suddenly makes sense!" Cordelia nodded gravely and suppressed a grin as the image of Spike sitting at her desk typing bills and painting his fingernails crossed her mind. The actress gestured for the man to lean in closer. "I think I figured out what our problem is." She paused dramatically and looked deeply into Wesley's eyes.
Pulling away abruptly, Wesley frowned and got up. "I assure you, I'm perfectly clear. Ever since that... that rude and bad-mannered demon arrived here, Angel hasn't been the same. It's always 'Spike this, Spike that'... He's never around anymore!"
"Wesley, you sound like a jealous ex-girlfriend."
"Jealous! Ha! I am cautious, that's an entirely different thing. I mean... Spike! Why does it have to be Spike out of all living creatures on this planet? We all know that he's not trust-worthy. You can not turn your back to him, not for a second."
Cordelia shrugged, turning her attention to the computer screen again. "Angel probably thinks that he owes him somehow. Because he made him or something. I don't know."
"Actually, that's a good point, Cordelia. Yes, I can see that," Wesley said thoughtfully.
Cordelia shrugged. "Stop your whining and be a man about it. Everything's going pretty well the way it is. See it that way: You don't have to put yourself in danger all the time anymore. Spike's tough job guy, and you're research guy. That doesn't mean that Angel cares less about you. He values you even more now because he knows he can trust you and rely on you."
"Do you really think so?" Wesley smiled, blushing a little.
"Definitely," Angel said with a smirk, stepping into the room.
Clearing his throat, the Englishman's handsome face turned a deep shade of pink.
"Wesley. Cordelia." Angel nodded to his friends and took the mail the dark-haired woman handed him.
"Hey, you," she said with a smile and cocked her head to look behind him. "Where's blondie?"
Glancing at her, the vampire frowned a little, looking worried.
"Well, if you must. But you can do that later."
****
Due to the new case, Angel hadn't been able to go looking for Spike all day. Normally he wouldn't have bothered, but he hated the way they had parted last night. Yes, it had come that far with him already. He admitted it to himself with a half-hearted smirk.
God, he only hoped Spike was alright.
****
Unaware of his sire worrying about him, Spike sat on top of a car parked at the edge of a hill towering over the bright lights of the city and took a swig of his bottle of JD.
He had really had it with Angel this time.
Summed up, his trip to L.A. hadn't exactly turned out the way he had planned.
Determined to get the Gem of Amara back form Angel, he had left Sunnydale three weeks ago, knowing that this insignificant little stone had the power to make him invincible and help him to finally get rid of the chip. It had probably been his very last chance... and turned out to be a total flop when he had learned that his brainless sire had simply destroyed the Gem because he thought it was dangerous.
The truth was that Angel had been right when he had persuaded him to stay, reminding him that he wasn't able to defend himself anymore. Methuselah's grandma could have kicked his ass without him being able to do anything about it. And, let's face it, Spike just wasn't someone to duck, hide and stay out of trouble. Sooner or later they'd get him by the ass. It was only a matter of time.
So why was that such a bloody big deal?
There had to be another way...
The thought of going back to Angel's made him clench his teeth angrily.
The vampire couldn't stand being around that ever-brooding bastard with the guilt-ridden look in those bottomless dark eyes.
Sometimes when Spike looked at the vampire who had turned him, he wondered if the dark-haired man had any idea what he had done to him.
Hell *was* a place, and whenever Angelus had been with him, Spike had known that he was in it.
It had always been hell, and eventually hell had become home.
Being with the tall, handsome vampire all the time, and knowing there was no way of ever getting closer to his sire.
Anything.
And even now, knowing that the man he had been staying with was not Angelus anymore, Spike could never forgive him that he had never given him a chance to prove himself.
Even if it was that same old smirk there on the older vampire's handsome face, his sire was *not* the same, bloody hell. It was time to finally get that straight for once and for all.
But still... why was Angel trying to help him then? What did he want from him? Why did he do all this if he couldn't stand him anyway?
*Aww, someone just stake me, please. Put me out of my misery. Or maybe I'll just stay here, wait till morning and get a nice tan.*
Pitying himself, the blond vampire fished for his last cigarette and let out a frustrated sigh when he realized he had lost his lighter.
*Only problem is I don't want to die.*
He sniffed.
*Sod it, I'm not gonna crawl back to Angel. Let that arsewipe rot in hell, I don't care. No matter what happens, I'm not going back there. Ever.*
Feeling really good about this decision, Spike nodded to himself. He knew he was going to stick with it this time.
In that moment, someone stepped beside the car the vampire was lying on.
"I knew I'd find you here."
****
Not showing the slightest sign of surprise, Spike slowly turned his head and looked at the dark-haired man.
"Got a light?"
"You know I don't smoke."
"You're such a pillock. You do know that you can't die of cancer, don't you, peaches?"
The older vampire shrugged and climbed on the car, flopping down beside Spike.
"Nice view," he remarked after a long moment of silence in which both stared down at the city.
"Yeah. Nice view. Why don't you sod off and let me enjoy it. *Alone*."
Angel turned his head and looked at the younger man.
"I came here for a reason, and I'm not gonna go until you've listened to me," he said quietly but firmly.
Pulling up an eyebrow, Spike glanced at him.
"Alright then. Make it quick. You haven't even started and I'm bored already."
Smiling a little, the souled vampire sat up and rested his arms on his knees, thoughtfully looking at the city again.
"You know, when I left Sunnydale and came here, I didn't really know what to do. I had no purpose, no friends, no one who cared about me, no one I cared about. I thought it was better that way. But I was wrong."
He paused and glanced at Spike who rolled his eyes, but refrained form saying anything, waiting for the other man to continue his story, but he didn't. Instead he asked:
"I've got a soul, you've got the chip. Didn't it ever cross your mind that maybe... there's a reason for all this?"
"Well, I know my bloody reason. It's called the Initiative," Spike frowned.
"Can't you be serious for a minute?"
"I am, bloody hell. As soon as I get that soddin' chip out I'm gonna find whoever's responsible for..."
"Knock it off, Spike. Save it for someone who hasn't heard it a hundred times before," Angel sighed.
He leaned back against the car and looked up to the stars twinkling above them.
"I never asked for this. But I believe that there's a reason for everything that happens. I know that I can help people. That's why I'm still here."
"Don't flatter yourself, mate," the younger man said with a cold smirk. "You're not nearly that important."
The tall vampire only smiled.
"Never said I was."
Spike gazed into the warm brown eyes for a moment, then he snorted.
"That's right, you never were."
Angel frowned, not taking his eyes off his childe.
"Alright, Spike. I know you're having issues with me not being Angelus anymore. There's just one thing I don't get: If you hated him that much... How come you hate me for not being him anymore?"
After a beat, the younger vampire turned his head away, his eyes blazing angrily.
"You've got it all wrong, soulboy. The real question is: How could anyone *not* hate you, the bloody son of a wanker that you are?"
Angel stared into the darkness surrounding them, the expression on his face betraying nothing.
He sat up and jumped down from the car, turning around to look at his childe who was staring at him through narrow eyes.
He turned around to go but hesitated for a moment.
Feeling his childe's unbelieving stare at his neck, the vampire slowly walked away.
****
Had Angel really said that?
****
The next evening at Angel Investigations Angel and Wesley were having a debate about their latest case. The insect stalker had turned out to be a giant three-headed spider, and Cordelia, who was still trying to recover from that shock, was watching the two men with a blank expression on her face.
"You can't fight this thing on your own, it's too dangerous!" Wesley insisted. "We should wait until Spike..."
"He's not coming, Wesley," Angel said firmly. "If we don't act now, the girl is dead."
"I can handle this. Don't worry."
Stepping in his way, the Englishman shook his head.
"No, Angel. As your friend, I can not allow that. If you're going, then I'm coming with you."
Staring at him, the vampire frowned.
The ex-watcher took an axe from Angel's hand.
The young woman behind the secretary's desk stared at them. "You're crazy, both of you!"
Glancing at Cordelia, the tall man sighed. Wesley was right, he really couldn't fight this thing on his own. At least not without getting his head bitten off or something. He hated having to do this, but their chances were definitely a lot better when they were two of them.
"Alright, let's go."
"Where are we headed?" a voice with a British accent suddenly said behind them.
"Careful with that, chap."
"Spike!" Angel's face lit up, and immediately darkened again when he noticed. He quickly looked away, pretending to check the weapons in his arms.
"Oh, thank god!" Cordelia, who seemed to have snapped out of her daze when the blond demon entered the room, left her desk and stepped beside Wesley.
"Nobody gets chopped here," Angel said with a frown. "I hope," he added quietly too himself.
When the door had closed behind the two vampires, he shook his head to himself and sighed deeply.
"Ouch!"
"You're research guy, you definitely are."
****
"Why did you come back?" Angel asked after a long silence on their way to the spider monster, glancing at Spike who was sitting on the car seat next to his.
The younger vampire shrugged. "Didn't have any better plans for tonight."
His sire smiled and concentrated on the road again. "Yeah."
Raising an eyebrow, the blond looked at him. "I'll think about it."
"You know, maybe I've been wrong about you. You're not as much of a tosser as I thought."
Chuckling at the comment, Angel stopped the car at a red stoplight.
They glanced at each other and quickly looked away again.
God, he wanted to touch him.
Right here and now.
"Angel?" the younger vampire asked softly.
"Yeah?"
"I don't think the stoplight will turn any greener."
Violently snapping out of his thoughts, the vampire floored the accelerator and the car sped away with painfully screeching tires.
****
"That didn't help much, it's still as ugly," Spike remarked dryly when Angel managed to cut off one of the three heads of the enormous spider.
With its two remaining heads, it hissed angrily at a painfully high-pitched frequency that gave the two vampires the creeps.
"Will you die already, you stupid bitch," Spike yelled back at it and, with a daring move forward, managed to cut off one leg.
It was over.
The older vampire exhaled deeply, double-checking to make sure the monster really was dead, then he turned around and hurried over to Spike, who was lying on the ground a few feet away.
Blood was streaming from a nasty wound on his chest.
"Jesus!" Angel sunk down beside his childe and looked at the younger man. "Spike, are you okay?"
Slowly the blond sat up, pressing a hand to the heavily bleeding wound.
"Looks like more than just a scratch to me," his sire frowned worriedly and took Spike's arm to help him up, but the younger man shook his hand off and climbed back to his feet on his own.
"I said I'm fine. Can we go now?"
"Sure." Angel glanced at his childe, still concerned, but relieved to see that the wound obviously wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. He collected the rest of their weapons lying around, and they headed back to the car.
****
"It's just a scratch," Spike insisted when they entered Angel's apartment. "Really."
The older vampire left him standing in the middle of the room and went to get bandages and other medical supplies.
"Sit down and take off your shirt. The wound needs cleaning."
Mildly annoyed about his sire's seemingly unnecessary concern, Spike walked over to the couch and flopped down, dropping his duster on the way. He took off his black shirt and leaned back, inspecting the wound on his supple chest himself.
"This will probably..."
"Ouch!"
"... hurt a little," Angel said with a smirk and cleaned the wound with a disinfectant fluid.
His childe gave him a look.
"I can do that myself, you know."
"Really." The older vampire leaned back and handed him a bandage.
Spike grabbed the bandage and glanced at the tall man beside him before trying to wrap it around his chest. As expected, it didn't quite work like that, because his arm just wasn't long enough to go all the way around his body, and if he tried to hand one end of the bandage from one hand to the other behind his back, he had to let go off the other end, which ruined everything, of course. Nevertheless, the younger vampire kept trying with a grim expression on his face, determined to get this right on his own.
With undisguised amusement, Angel watched the blond's desperate efforts.
"I don't need a bandage anyway," he snorted and flung the bandage into a corner, avoiding the other vampire's eyes.
His sire chuckled and grabbed a fresh bandage, beginning to wrap it around the younger man's chest without a word. This time, Spike didn't complain.
Softly the souled vampire's fingers touched his childe's white, silken skin a couple of times as he covered the wound good and tight. He could feel Spike trembling lightly underneath his touch. An excited little shiver ran down his spine, but he tried to ignore it.
Feeling the young man's eyes resting on him, Angel looked up, his eyes meeting Spike's clear blue gaze.
This time, neither of them looked away.
And then Spike leaned in close and simply pressed his lips to his.
It felt like an electric shock running over his body, making his skin prickle as it covered with goose-bumps within microseconds.
Closing his eyes, Angel pulled the younger vampire close, returning the kiss hungrily, feverishly, as a wave of ecstatic emotions washed over his body.
Abruptly breaking the kiss, Angel pulled away. He stared into his childe's burning eyes and swallowed hard.
"Spike, I can't. I... I really can't."
"What?! Damn it, Angel, you can't just stop now! We've only just begun!"
"I have to," the tall vampire said firmly, trying to cool off and come down again. "I can't do this."
Laughing unbelievingly, Spike shook his head. "What do you mean, you can't do this? You either want it or not, it's as simple as that!"
His sire sighed deeply, aware of the disappointment and hurt in the younger man's eyes. "I wish it were. You don't understand. I can't do this at all, especially not with you."
After a beat, Spike crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared at him. "Okay. Explain."
Angel looked down, avoiding his gaze. "It's the curse. The moment of true happiness."
Spike rolled his eyes. "Oh, sod the bloody curse! I'm not going to... Wait a minute, you think that I could give you a moment of true happiness?" He stared at his sire, a sly grin curling his lips. "Angel, you old wanker!"
"Spike, it doesn't have anything to do with you. It's... sex. Ecstasy. Moment of true happiness. Get it?"
The blond chuckled. "Oh, I see. That's why you're living like a monk, Saint Angel," he teased.
"It's not like I'm enjoying it, if that's what you think," the tall man muttered.
"Now don't get pissed off. It's not like you've got a lot to lose, you know. It's just a soul, to hell with it!" Spike moved closer again, but Angel backed away, raising his hands.
"Spike, I can't. I mean it."
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Spike let himself fall back against the couch.
He grabbed his shirt and put it on again, then he got up to pick up his duster from the floor.
Angel watched him with a concerned frown.
"What does it look like?"
"You don't have to go."
"You're too generous," the young man replied sarcastically.
Angel stepped to his side and took his childe by the arm.
They looked into each other's eyes for a long moment, and there it was again.
Every fiber of the older vampire's body seemed to scream for Spike's touch, wanting to hold him tight, to lie with him, let his fingers run over that silken white skin, aching for the lust and for the passion, wanting to hold him just for this one night, without consequences. But he knew it could not be.
Slowly he lifted his hand and gently caressed his childe's cheek. Spike closed his eyes, shivering at the soft touch.
"Maybe there is another way," Angel whispered. "Maybe we can still..." He trailed off. Realizing that it was useless, he let out a deep sigh.
The younger man grinned. "Shagged like rabbits?"
Angel looked away, hiding a grin. "Yeah."
They smiled at each other.
"You know, I really hate you," Spike said, still smiling, and took a step towards the elevator. "For being such a wanker. Most of all for doing this to me. - Are you sure you don't want to shag?"
Angel shook his head laughing. "You never give up, do you?"
"Can't help it," Spike answered with a little smile, the sparkling blue eyes resting on the tall man standing in front of him.
The older vampire watched with a warm smile as Spike got into the elevator.
"See you tomorrow?"
The blond only grinned.
His grin widening, he pressed the button and the elevator started to go up. Angel's rebellious childe winked at the handsome dark-haired man slowly disappearing from his view.
"Definitely... Maybe."
Shaking his head with a smile, Angel walked over to his armchair and sat down, opening a book. Closing it again just a moment later, the vampire stared at the bandage lying in the corner, smelling sweetly, temptingly of his childe's dark blood, and the smile slid off his face as it switched to brooding mode.
-fin-