“What happened? It’s been hours and what are you wearing?” Dawn stepped aside as they entered, grinning wildly. Wills and Tara sat on the couch, and Buffy cracked up laughing.

“One of the vials broke and w-we...We--had a fight, and Angel won...” Xander babbled in a panic. 

Spike looked from Angel to the human. //*That* is the best lie he can think up?//

“And I guess the whelp lost--” //Since he was on bottom most of the time.// He earned a glare from Angel, who had figured out their positional code and stood brooding. “--Two or three times.” His sunny grin only made the rest of the Scoobies more suspicious.

“No, really...what’s with the get-ups?” Riley walked in with a bag of popcorn, eyeing the men.

“During the...*fight* our clothes got messed up, so we had to change. The only clothes available used to belong to Angelus.”  Xander had lost the coin toss, and since he also wasn’t an undead guy with super strength, he’d gotten the worst ensemble.

Skin-tight vinyl stretched across his hips, the gleaming material calling all attention to his butt. Xander had left the silk shirt un-tucked, but it didn’t hide the way the fabric accentuated his package.

Spike looked comfortable, since he got the black velvet button-down shirt. The buttons started about mid-chest, showing off his pecs. Angel glanced down at his red silk shirt and leather pants and cringed.

“So what’s the plan, we fight the bad guys and you distract them with dance moves?” Riley snickered, and Angel grabbed his arm.

“We found one crate of vials and we have Ethan in the trunk...” He fished in Spike’s pocket for the car keys, tossing them to the ex-soldier. “--Take him to the basement, so he can tell us if there are any more of the formula.” The evil glint in the older vampire’s eyes held the promise of another torture lesson.

Riley caught the keys and, practically humming with excitement, ran to the car to retrieve the unconscious man. Buffy pulled Dawn away from ogling the guys, then explained what had happened with the rest of the group. They had found a way to destroy the main components of the demon ritual, so things on that front were okay.

Xander was in a tailspin. He finally figured out what he wanted, but it was too late. The human fought the urge to drag Spike out of the room so they could talk this out. The vampire looked calm and collected, like they hadn’t spent the past few hours folding each other into anatomical origami. His body was still humming over what had transpired between the three of them. Not that Angel was exactly someone he wanted to settle down with. All that fit in his brain right now was Spike.

`*^~--.;'.--~^*`*^~--.;'.--~^*`

Angel and Riley disappeared into the basement, and Spike went outside to smoke a cigarette. Of all the creatures in the world, he had to fall for Xander Harris. Sure, right now, the boy wanted to be with him. But the second the vampire got his hopes up, the whelp would change his mind. The whole scenario was too familiar to him, and he wasn’t going to spend one more second groveling for someone’s attention.

The soft click behind him notified the vampire of Xander’s presence.

“Spike, about what happened...”

“Sod off. I’m tired of being the one who never gives up. You know that the closest I ever came to dumping anyone was when I staked Harmony?” Spike sat down on the front steps and took another drag. “Bint didn’t even die.”

“But you don’t understand! I’m sure about this--I want to make this work with you.”

The vampire stood up and whirled around, tears in his eyes. “Like you did in the bloody crypt when you swore you would always be back? Or when you were trying to shag me in front of the Slayer and Red? I didn’t want to believe you because I knew you’d just go away again. I’m tired of waiting on you to make up your fucking mind, Harris!”

“I’m s-sorry, Spike.” The human was crying now. “And you have no reason to trust me, I know. Can we give this some time? Show you that this can really happen? I can take it slow, whatever you agree to--just *please*--It’s like this is burning me up from the inside, these feelings for you. And what happened at the mansion. God, I don’t know what to think about that. Everything with you was like coming home. But Deadboy there just made it weird. Fun, but weird.” 

Spike took this opportunity to change the subject. He *definitely* needed more time to see if the boy would be ashamed of being with him.

`*^~--.;'.--~^*`*^~--.;'.--~^*`

“Fun and weird, that’s Peaches for ya. It’s an on and off thing with him, you know. Some shaman fixed it so his soul’s secure if he has sex, but not if some wanker drugs him. We’re all screwed up now because of what happened, you know that, right?”

“How?” Xander was glad to be talking about something with the vampire, even if it wasn’t about the possibility of a relationship. It had been so long since they had a conversation that didn’t involve insults and threats or situation-influenced sex.

“If a childe does his sire, he’s no longer a lower vampire. They’re equals. That’s why I always say that Angel’s my sire, because I took Dru, and that made me Angel’s childe instead. Think of it like a vampire promotion. It’s biological too, we’ll start to feel more like equals: me not goin’ to him for guidance so much, and him not trying to be all daddy-like.” Spike flicked his cigarette to the lawn and watched it smolder as he sat back on the steps.

“But you guys weren’t that close, so how does it change things?”

“We used to be inseparable, since I was his favorite. Some Masters, and I think the Poof is one of them, get a kind of ‘empty nest’ feeling after losing all they’ve created as vampires.”

“And here I thought vampire lore was fiction.” The human sat down and scooted closer to Spike.

“Most of it’s bollocks. We don’t have customs, just ways of going about the same physical urges.” The vampire looked into his eyes, and Xander was melting again.

“So what happens with the empty nest thingy? Do they convert the extra bedroom to a gym, buy an RV, and start taking trips to the Grand Canyon?” 

“More like they get the itch to turn or claim a human.”

“Well, we don’t have to worry about that. He’s good now, so he’s not going to be out turning people. And there’s no record of him claiming anybody--what’s claiming?”

“Don’t have much information on that. Angelus hated humanity, and Dru was too insane to teach me. All I know is when a vampire claims a human, that human becomes his consort. Just more of that lore crap that I never bothered to learn.”

Buffy peeked her head outside, “Hey, I found some clothes you left here. So you can change unless you like the Boy Band look.” She grinned mischievously and went back inside. The vampire and the human followed her inside.

 BLISS TOOK HOLD 22