The sparring gym was a smaller ‘L’ shaped room with punching bags, a rack of poles, plus various other practice equipment, in the side alcove. The floor of the larger main section was covered in protective rubber matting, typical of a standard martial arts training floor.

Xander smiled a little as he saw his partner’s response to the new environment. The limp was almost gone, though the knee was obviously still tender, but it was the general demeanor that made Xander happy. This was Spike’s domain. In circumstances that none of the other men in the room could possibly imagine, Spike had honed his skills in spaces like these, on and off, for over a hundred years. In street fights and wars that were the stuff of nightmares, his lover had fought hand to hand battles for unlife and limb, and later for the life and limbs of countless others. Spike turned to look at his partner with a glint of glee that Xander was *sure* he had not seen since the day Spike discovered he could fight demons, all those chipped years ago in Sunnydale.

Jarred had very obviously ‘kitted up’, making quite a show of expertly strapping his hands using the rolls of material from his own sports bag, then taking out two relatively pristine black sparring gloves to complete the exercise.

The other men chose from the generic sparring-mitts available in a general use box near the punching bags.

As the men formed various pairs, Spike moved to sit with his back against a wall, content to wait. The group was obviously fairly used to this scenario, and quickly spread themselves around the room a bit of a ‘bout on the mat’.

After ten minutes or so of watching them spar, Spike was not so much bored with the wait, but simply by the relative ineptitude of most of the ‘fighters’ in the room. He scrutinized Xander’s style, certainly not textbook, but still showed evidence of some recent training and years of Hellmouth ‘workouts’. Spike made a mental note, Xander could do with a better opponent rather than the fairly slow and amateurish Andy, and certainly some solid coaching to hone his skills. Spike wandered over to casually hit the punching bag, simply warming up muscles that had not been used since pre Christmas Boston.

Jarred stepped into the area, facing him from behind the punching bag. “Well come on, thought you were going to show us a thing or two.” Along with his condescending tone was a smirk that reeked of arrogance and demanded some simple attitude correction from Spike.

“You and I?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you. Wouldn’t want you to need more medical attention now would we.” Again the tone was meant to insult.

“Right…”

“Surprised you don’t have your own gloves since you’re supposed to be the expert, so I guess you’ll have to use these – come on.” Jarred threw some sparring gloves at the vampire and grinned with what he thought was confirmation of his own sure win, when Spike dropped one.

Spike walked to the middle of the sparring area and as he faced off with Jarred, Andy and Xander ceased their efforts in order to watch. Jarred’s previous partner was already seated next to the water cooler and the rest of the group stopped and sat down also.

“Minimum contact, OK”

“Whatever you say pet” At the last word Spike picked up a wave of anger from the much taller and heavier Jarred.

The larger man took up a fighting stance and began moving forward aggressively. Spike simply sidestepped and forced his opponent to circle in one direction, then the other. When a number of stock standard series of jabs and moves came, he more than readily deflected them, at the same time distracting Jarred by occasionally tapping at the inside of his ankle as though he was about to knock his leg from under him. Already frustrated that he had yet to land a punch or kick cleanly, it was when Spike deflected every one of a flurry of moves, then grinned and blew him a kiss that he really ‘saw red’.

A furious “F@$#ing faggot” was said loudly enough for only Spike to hear.

Spike continued to spar easily but made a little effort to lean forward and whisper “And proud of it mate.” The next time he was close enough he added with a wink, “Least I’m gettin’ some, unlike present celibate company.” This was enough to tip Jarred into a rage, he attempted to really hit and kick Spike with any move he could and obviously disregarded standard rules of karate etiquette. Spike for his part, easily deflected the blows, making sure to land frequent light touches with hand or bare foot, that would have been a definite maiming or killing blow in other circumstances.

Andy leaned over to Xander who was staring transfixed at his lover’s graceful feline-like motions and effortless technique. “He’s amazing Xan, I would never have thought.”

Xander smiled, “Yeah he is, and he not even trying.”

“You two practice together ever?”

“Last time we sparred was down in Sunnydale.” Andy knew his friend well enough not to pursue discussions of Sunnydale, as it always seemed to evoke a look of desperate sadness from Xander.

“You should have a bit of a go tonight. You couldn’t do much worse than the big feller out there now!”

Just then, the man did a low sweep attempting to take Spike’s legs from under him. The vampire simply hurdled the moving limb and while his opponent was still off balance, toppled him onto his backside with a well placed foot and a gentle shove. Grinning he put a chivalrous hand down to assist the other man up again. As he did so, Jarred used the joined hands and a foot behind Spike’s sore knee to knock him onto his back in front of the now standing human.

“See how *you* like it down there.” He snarled, but Spike simply arched and flipped onto his feet with a speed and dexterity that had the audience gasping.

“Look mate, I think you’ve had enough yeah? I could go on like this all night but I’m getting a bit tired of the remarks, so if you don’t mind.”

He went to walk away when Jarred swung a punch at the back of Spike’s head. The vampire spun around, and in one blindingly fast move, had the man in a half Nelson with one hand, and crabbed fingers of the other at his throat, touching firmly enough to make a point. He squeezed the wrist behind the man’s back just hard enough to hurt a little without leaving a mark and growled into his ear, “Just. Leave. It.”   

Spike released his opponent, deliberately turned his back on him and walked over to his lover.

Jarred sullenly picked up his gear, excused himself through gritted teeth, then walked from the room.

Andy was grinning at Spike as the vampire approached, “Don’t think you make a friend there Will, ahh well. Say, that last move was brilliant!”

“Just practice mate. So, any of you other lads want a round or two?” All shook their heads or made excuses, except for Xander, who looked lovingly at him with a goofy grin firmly plastered on his face. “Right then, it’s you an’ me Xan, let’s us dance shall we?” The head cocked to the side and trademark wicked grin of the original Big Bad had Xander’s heart pounding even before he got up. Spike could smell his lover’s arousal from the middle of the room, and grinned even wider as he wondered how the jock strap (Spike assumed Xander was wearing) was holding up.

The bout between the two lovers was light hearted and fun, with Spike taking great delight in tapping his partner lightly in places he knew to be sensitive, whilst being careful to make the moves complex enough so their audience would fail to realize his intent to arouse.

After barely fifteen minutes Xander was breathing hard and dripping with perspiration, and called time. “I’ll take you another day S..William.” he said with dramatic flair and a grin.

As Spike walked past him toward the exit, he purred “Just take me everyday an’ I’ll make sure that *never* goes down.” Already half hard before the comment, now Xander *really* needed to get rid of the jock strap!