Time After Time Series

[Flashback]

Spike heard the whinnying of horses and knew... just knew where Alex had disappeared to. By the time he reached the corral outside the stables, the king's stallion had mounted the mare they were breeding. The horses were almost finished...

Just looking at the horses and remembering the king had wanted Alex there with him, Spike knew why. He had always known, but recalling how watching Alex fuck the whore had made him come all the harder, he understood it better now.

"Alex! Alex!" he shouted, walking into the stables and taking his life into his hands. And there they were, both of them flushed. Spike staggered to a stop and gave the king a bow. "Apologies, I didn't know you were with..."

Alex stumbled back, freeing himself from the king's embrace. They had been walking along the stables talking about the next part of the king’s battle plan when suddenly Alex had found himself pressed against a pole and kissed within an inch of his life. At first he had been too shocked to respond but then...then he realised he liked the feel of the king’s lips against his. Unfortunately that stage did not last for long. All too soon his brain provided him with endless comparisons between the brief experience he’d had touching Spike’s skin and the current state of affairs. The king’s lips became too broad, his skin not pale enough, his eyes were the wrong colour.

"It’s Spadakos!" he said inanely. "My friend. Whom I love and I should go with because he obviously needs me for something important, right? Right!"

When Spike walked into the stables Alex had been about to disentangle himself and make some kind of excuse to leave. He had to think about things, about what it all meant and he couldn’t do that with the king kissing him now, could he?

"These are my stables. Are you a stable hand?"

Spike saw the steel in the king's eyes, the rage in his tone. "No, my Lord. I apolo...

"See that I don't see you in here again, absent a direct order from me."

Bowing, Spike backed out, very aware that Alex was following him ... and that the King was angry enough to have him flayed and fed to the barbarian crows. Taking out his fear and anger on Alex, he shouted at him. "He fucked you, didn't he? You let him fuck you."

"NO! Of course not! I only just realised what he wanted!" Alex immediately protested. He looked anxiously back at the direction they’d come from. "D´you think he’s angry?"

"Of course he's angry. At me. And don't lie to me," he snarled. "You're flushed and your clothes were... And he likes it when the horses do it, that's disgusting!" And why the fuck did he care?

"You...you think that’s disgusting?" Alex asked, stepping back a little. "We didn’t do anything but that. I mean, he kissed me and stuff but nothing more." He looked at the ground then back at Spike. "You really think it’s disgusting?"

"Yes, it's disgusting... needing to watch a horse fuck to get himself hard and... I'm not discussing this with you. Go back to him," he shoved Alex away, and stomped off towards the forest. He needed wood supplies, and he'd get them. The exercise would do him good... maybe push the images of the King sweating over Alex as they watched the bloody horse-show out of his mind.

"You meant the horses," Alex said, grinning happily as he understood. But by then Spike was already running off. "Why do I always have to run after him," Alex complained to nobody in particular and walked off in the same direction Spike had taken. He was heading for the woods, Alex noticed, probably to beat some poor bear half to death. Spike in a temper was a dangerous animal indeed.

Alex kept quiet until he reached the clearing where Spike was currently well in the process of cutting a poor tree trunk down to tiny little pieces.

"Want some company?"

"No. I told you to go. Go to your pretty king..." he spit, wiped his forehead with his arm, and started to chop again.

"He’s not that pretty," Alex replied, leaning back against a tree and admiring the picture Spike made, "and his lips are all wrong."

"I don't want to hear about his ... his manliness or his lips... fuck off Alexandros," he dropped the axe and strode toward him. "Is there something amiss with your hearing? Go!" He shoved him. In his mind, he saw him kissing his king. Again he shoved him, "get away." Another image... Alex without his clothes... the king's hands all over him. "Go fuck him again... just leave me alone."

"Again with the fucking," Alex finally got mad enough to push Spike back. "I keep telling you but you don’t believe me. I didn’t fuck him you absolute idiot! I was trying to get away when you showed up. For all the good that did. You’re still mad at me and now I'll probably get sent home in disgrace for denying him what he wanted."

It happened in an instant, the way many of their wrestling matches had over the years... started over nothing, over a bet, over an argument... and they'd find themselves locking each others' limbs, trying to get the other to give up. Spike's temples pounded. "Look the King is passing. Look, he's inviting me to dinner. What should I wear," he grunted, as they rolled on the ground and jockeyed for the winning position. "Don't tell me you didn't invite it... or you didn't like it! "

"I didn’t! The man is a tactical genius and our king," Alex huffed, slipping from Spike’s grasp and launching his own attack, "Of course I wanted to make a good impression! I didn’t like it, damn it, not after I realised I wanted something else."

"Horses weren't good enough. What did you ask him for? Gold... land, damn it... damn you to Hades," he rolled on top of Alex and slammed Alex’s hand down on the ground, pinning it and staring into his lying brown eyes.

"I didn’t ask him for anything," Alex snapped, angry at himself for caring and at Spike for not believing him. "I didn’t want him you fucking idiot."

"Fucking idiot?! You're the one who was doing the fucking , not me," Spike shouted right back... bringing his face into Alex's. His anger threatened to boil over... he'd already struck Alex with his fist earlier, and he didn't want to again... if only he would leave so Spike could cool off. Instead he pushed and pushed.

"Oh for..." Alex couldn’t take the sheer denseness any more, he lifted his head and planted a hard kiss on Spike’s mouth.

One minute they were yelling at each other, the next, Alex's lying mouth was glued to his. Since his hands were busy pinning Alex down, the only way Spike could punish him was by pressing his mouth down harder, beating back Alex's tongue, ramming his own inside. So this was what they'd done together... him and his precious king. This, and this, he moved his mouth over him harder, and this....

And then there was no king... only an explosion of heat and uncontrollable passion. Spike kept his grip on Alex's arms and started to question...."Alex?" But his body had other ideas, and so did that part of his mind reminding him of how Alex looked at him as he fucked the whore they’d shared, and just that thought had him hard and pressing against Alex's groin.

"I told you," Alex panted, "he was all wrong. You..." He reached up again to kiss Spike. "It’s all about you." Spike was still holding his hands down so Alex did the only thing he could to make sure Spike knew. He lifted his hips, rubbing his erection hard against Spike’s hip and kissing him as passionately as he knew how.

A strangled cry escaped Spike. Sensations... new and old... rushed over him, seemed to take over his body and his senses. He must have lost his senses, because he found himself kissing Alex again, this time drawing him close and demanding pleasure rather then putting him in his place. All about you. The words made him grow warm all over... there was no reason, there ought not be... and there was no excuse... no woman between them. Confusion warred with lust and desire, and Alex made it all the more difficult for him to think.

Taking advantage of Spike’s distraction, Alex freed his hands and rolled over so that he was the one lying on Spike. "All about you," he murmured again before leaning down for another kiss. He let his hands roam down Spike’s body, touching all the places he’d been aching to touch. He hadn’t known it, hadn’t realised how much he’d wanted his friend until today and he called himself all kinds of idiot for not seeing it sooner. Still, he was here now, pressing against Spike’s body and feeling everything he’d so wanted to feel.

Spike felt Alex's hands creep under his shirt, warm and calloused, rough and gentle all at once. He remembered all the times his shirt crept up during their wrestling matched, and how quickly after that happened, he'd beat Xander and have him asking for mercy. Now it made sense... Dias, he was ready to give up himself!

They rolled around, half fighting... half fighting to get closer. When he felt Alex's mouth on his bare chest, he realized they'd shed their clothing. He sucked his breath in and froze. Time froze as Alex's hand slipped between them and slid down his abdomen, only to settle over the bulge between his legs. Spike started to buck against Alex's hand... time sped up again. Need. Fire. Desire. They rode each other, trying to find relief for the mad, crazy lust that took hold of them.

It wasn't by design, but somehow Spike found his cock nestled between Alex's ass cheeks, and he knew what he wanted... he just knew. Rubbing himself harder, feeling the wetness from his tip cover Alex's hole, he wrapped an arm around Alex's waist and dragged him up on his knees. "Dias... we're acting like the Persians and their pretty boys..." Again, doubts plagued his mind, but his body was rearing to go.

"Don't stop Spike, please don't stop," Alex moaned and pressed hard against Spike. He heard the hesitation in Spike's tone and he was terrified that this would stop. He turned and wrapped a hand around Spike's nape, dragging him close for a kiss. "You can't stop," he murmured against his lips. "I won't let you."

One hard kiss followed another, until he could think no more and just did what his body cried out to do... what Alex was offering freely. As with the whore, he entered Alex with single hard thrust. Only Alex was tight... so tight... squeezing him, pushing against him, making him want things he'd never thought of. Another kiss, and he was lost... he fucked his friend, fucked him with his tongue and his cock, and liked it. He liked it.

As he got closer to coming, he desperately pushed Alex down on all fours, pressing his back down as Alex instinctively raised his ass higher. "Oh fuck... Alexandros... ahhhh..."

At first it had been painful, so painful he couldn't breathe but then Spike moved just right and oh gods, he couldn't breathe for a very different reason.

"Don't stop, please don't stop," he kept chanting, begging Spike to keep going. Alex couldn't breathe in to say anything else, could hardly think anything other than moremoremore.


In the grips of a single minded mission to ride this torturous pleasure for as long as he could and to find release, Spike thrust harder and harder, roughly pulling Alex closer as he rode him. "Alex?...." He was so close, so desperately close, he pushed him again, this time Alex's arms gave out and he lay on the ground. Spike fucked him, and ground him into the hard earth, shouting his explosive release when it came.

"Just don't stop," Alex moaned. He could feel Spike stiffen behind him then relax as he came. "No, no, no," he moaned, still hard and needing. He shifted to his back, his hand immediately going down to grab his cock and pull. He saw Spike watching him and his breath caught at the heat in his friend's eyes. "Please," he whimpered, looking beseechingly at him

Breathing hard, and still inside Alex, Spike was speechless when he realized what he was being asked to do. He'd never touched another man, but with Alex still writhing... and looking at him just so... He slid his hand along Alex's hip, and put it over Alex's hand as they stroked together. He learned how Alex liked to be touched, and slowly took over, his eyes never leaving his friend’s... the hunger, the pure love that shone back at him was humbling.

"Oh gods, yes!" Alex moaned, arching into Spike's hand, nearly screaming as he came. His eyes slid closed and he tried to bring his breathing under control. "So good," he mumbles with a small smile.

"Hmm." Spike kissed him then rolled onto his back and looked up at the sky. "We just fucked. Nothing will be the same." He didn't know whether to be happy or in distress. All he knew was he was satisfied and that the anger that had tortured him was gone.

"I don't mind." Alex stretched, feeling his muscles stretch and a new interesting ache. "Do you?" he asked, a little worried. "

He let out a loud breath and looked over at Alex. "On the one hand, I think I should mind. On the other, I'm thinking of all the money I'll save on whores." He smiled, and ran his hand up Alex's chest.

Alex frowned and shoved Spike's hand off. "I am not a whore stand in," he growled.

"It was a joke," Spike sat up. "If I don't laugh... I might cry."

"Oh...okay then. Come back down here."

Alex grinned happily and tugged at Spike's hand to bring him down on his chest.

"I like having you down here," he added, petting Spike's hair.

Spike gave a laconic "hmmm." He had a lot to think of, but he found thinking a difficult task when laying on Alex's bare chest and being stroked. Taking a deep breath, he dropped a kiss right above his lover's chest. "Alex... what is this?" he asked, hating to for once be the one who didn't have all of the answers. "Is it one time... is it more... is it convenience... is it... what is it?"

"I don't know," Alex said, "I want it to be more than just convenience or the one time though. If you want...do you want?" He shifted, settling Spike more comfortably against him.

*

[Present]

"If they'd been inseparable before then, after that day, they were like Siamese twins, yeah?" A wistful look entered Spike's eyes. "It only took until that night for Spike to put a word to his feelings. They'd been together so long ... it was just a different or deeper phase of the relationship they already had." He skimmed his mouth over Xander's temple and continued to hold him.

"You said..." Xander almost didn't want to know. He liked thinking of them like that, happy and together, but still Spike had told him before and now he needed to know what had happened. "You said he got hurt," he finally said, looking up at Spike.

"The change in Alex was noticeable. He was less enthusiastic about the king's invitations, though he couldn't refuse. Then came the big battle. Alexander the Great sent Spike out on the front lines... it was a suicide mission really. It was a wonder he survived. And Alex, naive as always didn't understand the king had been trying to get rid of Spike. Bloody well almost succeeded, too. Spike was hurt so bad, he was in a coma for days. Just when he started to come out of it, the army moved on and left him behind... to be sent home."

Feeling Xander's rapt attention, the vampire continued. "Spike went home, a broken man. A cripple. He couldn't take it and was filled with self-hatred. He rejected his family, and wouldn't allow anyone to see him... his scars... his weakness. He stayed in his big villa in the country with no one but one servant. Guests weren't allowed, not even his own mother. All day, he sat in a dark room, unmoving, and wasting away. His mother wrote to Alex, told him what was the what. I think it took Alex a year to get Alexander to free him from the army. And then several months to get home to Macedonia."

* * *

[Flashback]

Alex walked up the path to the house, as fast as his legs could carry him. The journey home had been hard and tiring but he refused to rest until he found his stupid idiot friend. He’d been to Spike’s house first, hoping that the letter he’d gotten had been old news. The messenger told Alex that head been looking for him for months, so maybe Spike had come to his senses in the meantime. But no, Spike’s mother had made it perfectly clear that his friend was still being an idiot and hiding away in the family’s country home.

He stomped up to the front door and banged continuously until a servant answered. When he tried to barge in, the servant stopped him, telling him that the master did not wish to be disturbed. Alex made his feelings for that fact perfectly clear by punching the guy on the nose and walking past him and into the house.

"Spike, get your ass down here right now!" he bellowed.

Doros, who'd been born a slave into this household and stayed long after he'd bought his freedom, followed his master's best friend. He held his bleeding nose with one hand, but spoke with no rancor.

"Master Spadakos can't walk. He... he hasn't since he got back. He's ... he's staying in the room at the end of the hall, near the inner pools." Hauling the spring water to his master, when he was the only servant left in the villa had been too much, so Spakados had been moved closer to the baths.

He bit his lip. "I'm quite sure he won't see you, but I wish you luck."

"He can’t...but his mother said he...I thought he had a limp but..." Alex took a moment to compose himself. So things where worse than he’d thought, he would still do what he had to do.

"Thank you," he told the servant and walked purposefully towards Spike’s room.

He entered the room and froze. Spike didn’t seem to notice him, he was staring at the shuttered window, sitting perfectly still. But Spike was never still, he was full of nervous energy and power. Alex couldn’t react, unable to comprehend what he saw.

Spike sat on a chair next to his bed. He often slept day and night on the chair, and avoided the struggle to move to the bed, or refused to call Doros for aid. His plate of food lay untouched on his lap. He wasn't interested in it or anything else. He'd grown very gaunt over the past year. Gaunt and pale, for he hadn't seen the sun... would not allow it into the room. He detested the sight of himself, of his scarred and useless legs. Why had the Gods not simply taken him that day?

"Spike," Alex managed to whisper around the lump in his throat.
The voice broke through his empty thoughts, and when he turned and saw his Alex, for an instant his mind forgot that his body was wasted and had him running toward his friend. But it was only in his mind. His body was still dead. And Alex. Alex looked so young, so vibrant. "I don't need your pity. Get out."
He lifted his head when Alex didn't move. "Get out!" he shouted, "Doros... take this man out!"
Alex´s worry at seeing his friend like this immediately transformed into anger.
"Fuck that," he spat, "He couldn’t even keep me out of the house, do you honestly think he can drag me out of it? If you want me out of here, you have to do it yourself."
"This is my house, you have no say here," Spike shouted back. "Don't look at me... just get out. Go ... just go!" he threw the plate at Alex, as hard as he could. "I won't have you here."

Alex ducked just in time for the plate to go whistling past him and slam into the wall.

"Woah...good throw, Spike," he grinned, uncomfortably aware of how fake it must look but still he persevered and went to sit on the bed. "So, what have you been up to these past couple of years?"

"I am not accepting visitors, are you daft? Leave me... please leave me," he lowered his voice and closed his eyes. All his old dreams were rushing back and he wanted nothing to do with them. They were impossible.

"I’m not just any visitor though," Alex replied, earnest once more. "I’m not leaving you Spadakos, you might as well get used to that."

"Don't be a stubborn ass. What do you want from me? What will it take for me to get you out of this house."

"Convince me that you don’t need me."

The challenge was clear in Alex’s eyes. He was going to make Spike better if it killed him in the process.

"What would I need you for?" His jaw started to pulse. "I don't need anyone or anything. I want to be left alone, Alex... I want you to go and never come back. I don't want you to see me like this..." his voice broke, and he cursed himself for his weakness. "I want you to remember me as I was... not this. Now respect our friendship and leave me the fuck alone."

Alex did get up but instead of moving to leave he went towards the door that opened to the inner court yard and pushed it open. The weather was dry and warm, perfect for swimming in the pools.

"I’d rather have you than remember you," he said. "So...what are we having for lunch, I’m starving!"

Spike turned his pain-filled gaze toward him. "There is nothing left to have. Consider me dead. And close that door... the light hurts my eyes. For Zeus' sake Alex, please..."

"No." Still, the look of pain in Spike’s face very nearly made him whirl around and close the door. "You’re not dead, Spike and I won’t let you entomb yourself like the bloody Egyptians. Now...what are we having for lunch?" he asked again, angry this time.

"You have no right!" he countered.

Doros appeared at the door and shrank back when Spike yelled at him to take Alex out. "I tried... he's strong, and there are no other servants..." When his master fell silent, Doros answered Alex's question about lunch. "I will bring something but he..." nodding at Spike, he continued, "does not eat much."

A half hour later, Spike still refused to speak with Alex, hoping the silent treatment would be enough to get rid of him. Doros brought two plates of simple food in, only to find Spike's plate sailing toward the door, and clattering to the ground. Giving Alex an 'I told you' look, he went to clean up the mess and disappeared from the room.

Alex looked at his plate longingly. There was bread and goat cheese and some delicious looking figs and he was starving. Still, he had to make his point, didn’t he? He looked regretfully at the food as he picked up the plate and threw it against the wall.

Spike met his gaze, but didn't say anything.

It was the same at the evening meal. Still Spike had refused to talk, and he'd refused his dinner. Doros passed Alex his plate and waited for the inevitable. This man's tactics were drastic and novel, but perhaps it was what the master needed.

Smiling an apology to Doros who would have to clean the mess up, Alex threw his plate at the wall again. His stomach grumbled loudly and he followed Doros movements as he cleaned up the food, wishing he could have something. How could Spike stand to just look at it and not eat!

Glaring at him, Spike said nothing...

It was more reaction than Doros had seen in months. As he went back and forth, fixing Spike's bed, he sneaked a piece of cheese to Alex, then cleaned up and left the room.

And still, Spike neither spoke, nor asked for help getting to his bed. In silence, he fell asleep and hours later awoke to the same scene. Breakfast. Two plates of food. And this time the blasted sunshine entering the room. "Close the shutters," he snapped at Doros who looked at Alex for guidance. "He doesn't pay you... I do, now close them!"


"I don’t pay him but I already broke his nose once," Alex said firmly, "Sorry about that by the way," he added, smiling cheerfully at Doros, "but if you close those shutters I’ll break it again."

With a bow, Doros left the room.

"You're very irritating."

"Yeah, you always thought so."

"Your stomach is making noise. Eat."

"Not until you do."

The battle of wills continued for an hour, before Spike silently began to eat. It had become quite clear to him that Alex had only grown more stubborn over the past year and a half or so.

He didn't know how it happened, but after Doros cleared up the food and drink, he started to answer Alex's questions. It had to be the drink... Doros had been too liberal with it. That's what it was... that's what had him talking. He tried desperately to be gruff, to put Alex off, suggest he should go back to the army or to his own place. Finally, it was late and he rubbed his eyes. "You have to go now. It's time for Doros to..." he couldn't force the words out of his mouth.

The servant arrived on cue and pushed a barrel into the room. He'd filled it with the spring water from the pool. When he approached Spike, he saw panic in his master's eyes and stopped. "Alexandros... it may be better if you come back later," he said, not wanting his master to be this agitated.

Alex looked steadily at Spike, waiting until their eyes met before he spoke.

"You know I would never do anything to hurt you, right?" He looked at Spike until he received a nod in reply. He nodded himself as if to affirm that and then put on his cheerful face. "I’ll go outside but only on one condition!"

"And what's that?" Spike managed, once he calmed down and knew Alex wasn't going to watch the pitiful display.

"You sing so I can hear you while I’m out there," Alex said with a flourish.

"What?! I don't sing. Do not make me into a spectacle," he huffed, the request taking him by surprise.

"Oh come on. You can’t be a spectacle when there’s no one here to see or hear you." Alex grinned and stepped closer, "You can sing that song about the never ending orgy if you want," he cajoled. Spike used to drive him insane with that song, it would go on and on and on until Alex stuffed Spike’s mouth with something to keep him silent. Unfortunately by the time they’d discovered each other he’d stopped singing it so Alex never got to stuff his mouth with anything interesting.

"Go on... get out." He didn't commit to anything.

Even with Doros' help, undressing was difficult and took a lot of time. The servant knew better than to allow his gaze anywhere near Spike's scars. Spike untied his own underclothes, then gripped the edge of the barrel. His arms shook with the exertion of pulling himself up, while Doros helped him, and pushed his useless legs over the side.

There was a big splash, and he knocked his leg and hip hard against the side of the barrel. It only added bruise upon bruise, but he didn't cry out. Sullenly, he allowed the servant to wash him.

Then he heard a humming from behind the door. A very off-key humming.

He made a face. He tried to ignore it. But then he found himself singing. It took him to a place in the past, when he'd been a man, not a child. By the time he all but fell out of the barrel, he was crying.

Unable to dress him, Doros wrapped him up with sheets and tried to prevent himself from crying. He hadn't seen Spike like this... not since the early days when he'd come home a broken man.

"Spike?" Alex poked his head through the doorway. The moment he saw Spike he ran inside and kneeled next to the bed, reaching out to touch Spike’s hair, brushing it back from his face. "I’m sorry, I’m so sorry...." Spike never cried. He yelled at him and he pouted and sulked but he never cried, not like this, not as if Alex had broken him completely. "I won’t do it again, no more singing I promise, please don’t cry..."

"Sometimes you have to feel... before you can live again," Doros gave Alex a brief smile and left the room.

Spike shook his head. "Go away Alexandros, please go away. Please go away," he begged, and yet he gripped Alex's shoulder, and buried his face against it. "Do not do this to me... do not, Alex... for Zeus's sake... do not."

"I’d do anything, you know that. I can’t leave you, though," Alex wrapped his arms around Spike and held him close. "I could not if I tried."

"Why? Why do you stay with a useless dried up stick of man? Why? Go back to your army... Go to your king. I have nothing to give you... nothing to offer." The sobs broke out again, though he tried desperately to control them. It was as if Alex's presence had opened a dam, and nothing could shut it off.

"Oh God, not the king again," Alex complained, trying desperately to bring some normalcy into the situation. "You always complain about him. I barely kissed him, you know and the horses were really very smelly. You’re just jealous ´cause he gets to wear a crown." No reaction from Spike other than renewed sobbing. "Spike? Please...you’ll make yourself sick."

"I am sick Alex... I am... get that through your thick head or did the Barbarians addle it for you..." The rest of what Spike said was muffled, but a word here and there made it clear he considered himself a lost cause.

Morning came and the light streamed into the room. Spike blinked awake, only to find himself still being held by Alex who had crawled into the bed. He hadn't had a good night's rest like this since... since he could remember. "You're still here. Don't you ever listen?" he asked, softly.

"Hmm?" Alex blinked sleepily. "No," he yawned, "Stubborn to a fault is what I am."

He stretched and moaned happily as he slumped back on the bed. "Haven't slept in anything this soft in years."

Spike turned his head. "You came straight here? You didn't go see your mother... your house?"

"I went by, sat with them for a couple of hours," Alex shrugged, "I wanted to see you. Your mother said...I was worried."


"Now you've seen me. And you've seen me fed. It's time to go. I am glad you came," he allowed himself to snuggle against Alex's warmth for the span of a heart beat, then moved away as best as he could.

Alex looked down at Spike, smiling his amusement.

"You don't really think I'll meekly go away, do you?"

(Pleae comment if you are still reading this series. Thank you)