Slip Slide Melting

* * * * * * * * *

Part 19

The Magus Prime sighed and pressed his seal to the final document in front of him before keying his desk hexicon and speaking. “Captain. Double the guard on the Pier starting in three hours.”

Angel’s voice was amused but intent. “He finally decided?”

“Yeah. The Arcade. Make sure we’ve got glamoured agents on hand inside, just in case. I’ll be on point.”

The former vampire groaned. “Are you sure we can’t just close it down for him? It would be about a thousand percent safer.”

Xander sighed again and shook his head. “It’s his birthday, Angel. He wants it to feel like a party and we haven’t exactly made it easy for him to have friends.”

“Not your fault,” Angel said slowly, unused to comforting anyone outside of his immediate family. “Things were dangerous for a long time after he came here, Magus. Hell, they still are. How could we know for sure whether someone was safe? I mean, okay, the kids? Fine. But what about the parents?”

“I know. I know, Angel. But he’s eighteen now and… I wonder if he would have been happier if he’d… had someone, you know?”

The Captain coughed a bit. “Xander… are you sure we’re still talking about Lex?”

The brunette groaned and banged his head against the desk lightly. “No. Not even a little bit. Just… take care of the Pier, okay?”

“Consider it done.”

* * * * *

Spike leaned against the wall, eyes scanning the crowded Arcade repeatedly, even while constantly returning to the boy. He never had gotten around to arranging for anything to happen to young Lex, but he figured the night close to a week earlier had opened the kid’s eyes a bit. He hadn’t been wanting to go to clubs since then, in any case.

Of course, that didn’t help Spike any.

Not that he didn’t like the bloody games and whatnot, though he’d never admit it, but… fuck, he had far too much time to think now; especially with the boy in that new lesson, whatever it was aside from sodding boring.

Only bright side was, all his thinking had let him figure out the perfect gift for Lex’s eighteenth birthday. Too bad that wasn’t all he’d figured out, and now that he’d come to a conclusion, he’d have to do something about it and… he wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted to, except he did, but after the way Xander had left that night…

Still, that was for later. For now…

He pushed off the wall, strolling over to the machine Lex was involved with talking to, then laughed as the boy’s character tore the head from a soldier and triumphant music blared. “Nice one, mate!”

Lex grinned, entering his name in the high score box. “Thanks. I love taking out those Initiative fucks.” He looked around, still smiling. “So what’s up, Spike? Some threat you want me to run or hide from?”

The blond smirked. “Hardly, mate. Thought you might like to stay at my place tonight, though. You’re eighteen now. Rite of passage and all that.”

The young man took a quick step back, holding one hand up in front of him. “Hold on, there, Mister Horny-Vamp! I know I hit on you that first day, but we can’t… I mean, Dad would… and yeah, you’re really fucking gorgeous, but that’s a really really bad idea, and…” And then he noticed how hard the vampire was trying not to laugh. “Oh, ha ha. Very funny, Spike! Is this some vamp tradition? Scare the shit out of the birthday boy?”

Spike finally did laugh, then pulled the boy to the wall next to the machine, leaning in to murmur quietly to him. “Look, pet. You’re a tasty treat, yourself, but I like my Harrises a bit older, yeah? Doesn’t mean there’s not a nice shifter bloke waiting for you at my place… and a few others, too.”

Lex blushed, shaking his head swiftly. “I… I don’t think I can… shit, Spike, I… it was just the other night that…”

A snort. “Didn’t say they were rented, did I? Just some likely blokes, share some of your interests. Figured you might like to meet other kids your age, aside from the ones sodding Angel thinks are good enough to take classes with you. Friends, you git, assuming you act like a bloody person, rather than a spoiled sodding brat, yeah?”

And that was a different thing entirely, Lex figured. “Um, but… I thought I couldn’t go anywhere without…”

“Got a sector guard moonlighting on my floor. Should be safe enough, but it’s up to you.” And there’d be a good two squads watching, too, but the boy didn’t need to know that. “Don’t have to go if you don’t want to, mate. Just a thought.”

Brown eyes traveled the length and breadth of the Arcade, picking out the few people who were actually there because of him, then they closed and he wondered what it would be like to meet someone new… more than one someone new-s. The idea alone was… wild.

“I… yeah. I’ll go, Spike,” Lex said with a smile. “Even if I don’t like the guys, it’ll be… cool… to meet them.”

And as the young shifter was just as bloody horny as the boy, Spike had a feeling they’d like each other plenty. It didn’t hurt that the other boy was as much of a bottom as he’d ever seen. No threat to his boy, there. Besides, the other kids would keep things from getting too intense, and that was a good thing, as well.

Let the boy see that it wasn’t necessary to endanger himself in order to have a good time, and that would be one less worry for Spike. And all the boys had been thoroughly screened, after all, so…

“Right, then. Let’s grab sodding Andrew. We’ll drop you off on the way back to the Citadel.”

Lex laughed. “You’re going to the Citadel? Tonight?”

The vampire nodded. “Yeah. Need to have a word or twelve with your Dad, don’t I?” he answered, timing the words for the moment he and Lex were walking past the glamoured Xander, congratulating himself for finding out which one he was. It hadn’t been easy, either, especially considering the fact that he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the Magus Prime since the bloke had left his place with Lex nights earlier. “Had enough of this bullshit, I have.”

“Thank Gods,” Lex muttered, “it’s about fucking time!”

Spike chuckled. “Still moping around like someone stole all his chocolate, then?”

“You have no idea. And more like someone stole his chocolate and his sheets. Gods, what’s the big deal about silk sheets anyway?” And he had no idea of why that question only made the vampire’s smile wider.

* * * * *

They took the long way around after dropping the boy off, ostensibly because Spike wanted to get a better idea of the layout around the Citadel as opposed to simply the streets between there and his place.

Finally, after a good forty-five minutes, the vampire ended the tour. That was enough time for Xander to hightail it back to the Hyperion, he figured.

Or not, because Xander wasn’t in his office and nobody admitted to having seen him since he’d left for the Pier.

Then again… Spike chuckled softly, taking the stairs to Xander’s floor and stepping into the corridor, inhaling deeply. “Oh, tricky pet,” he murmured, noting the distinct lack of Xander-scent. “A bit too tricky. Removed it completely, which tells me you’re here after all…”

He stalked slowly towards his bloke’s door, and yes, Xander was his. He’d known it from the moment he’d realized it was Harris and not some random rent-boy… he just hadn’t wanted to admit it. Still, here he was, and… yeah. His bloke. His bloke, who was apparently trying to hide from him for some undoubtedly foolish reason.

He tried the door first, then frowned and knocked when it proved to be locked.

“Xander,” he said after a moment, “Come on, Xan! Time we straightened all this shit out, pet.” He growled softly at the sound of breathing he could barely make out on the other side of the door. “Unless this means you don’t want to, yeah? Had enough; don’t want… don’t need? You said you needed me, luv… said you needed me!”

“And you…” Xander finally said, against his will, whispering against the wood-grained metal, “You said… Spike, you said you’re not mine. And you’re not. I know that. I can’t…”

“Xan… Xander… let me in, luv. Talk to me, yeah? I…” Spike groaned his frustration. “Need to figure this out, mate. Can’t just… pretend anymore. Smell you everywhere I go and it’s driving me bloody crazy. Can’t stay here and not see you; can’t leave and not see you, either. So tell me, pet. Tell me what to do, what you want…”

Gods… what he wanted? He wanted to open the door, drag the vampire inside and not let him leave again until he was so utterly, completely, unquestionably his that… “Please, Spike,” he whispered, “Just… just go. I’ll keep my scent hidden, you won’t have to smell me, see me. Just… go. I can’t…”

And that was beyond bloody enough! “You can either open this bloody door or step back, because I’m coming in! Don’t care if I have to break through the sodding wall to do it! Wouldn’t be the first wall, yeah?”

“Spike! Please, just… I can’t… I can’t control it! You heard Lex! It’s… Spike, th-the demon, it… wants you!”

Pale fists slammed hard against wood-veneered metal, shaking it in its frame. “Open this bloody fucking door, Xander! Not letting you go like this!”

His own hands were clenched as well, even as Xander stood back and took a few slow, deep breaths. “I… okay. Okay, Spike. I… just… calm down, okay? If I let… if you come in here all… I don’t know if I can…”

The blond forced his hands to drop from the door; uncurled tight fingers carefully. “Alright. Alright, Xander. Play it your way, I will. Calm and cool, yeah? Just… don’t tell me I can’t come in, pet. Just let me see you, talk to you… Figure this out together, we will, just you and me, luv. Won’t… won’t do anything you don’t want me to. Swear it, Xan. Truth.” Bloody hell, he almost thought his heart was beating, he felt so… dizzy. “Please, luv… I’m begging, here. Me! Begging, Xander! Begging you. Please… please, pet… please…”

Xander swallowed hard, reaching out one shaking hand to flip the toggle of the dead bolt. “I… okay, just… give me a minute…” He retreated quickly across the living room area, taking up a spot behind one wingback chair, fingers clutching the back tightly. “C-come in, Spike,” he almost whispered.

What the fuck was wrong with him? He’d been fine—cool, collected, ready to talk his bloke around—until he’d reached the door, and then all of that had flown right out of the proverbial sodding window, and now… now, there was Xander, right on the other side of that door, and he was… “Bloody hell, I’m… afraid.” Afraid of what, he didn’t know, and if either soul or demon did, they weren’t saying. In fact, they were being far more silent than they’d ever been since he’d woken in that alley.

“Stay calm, stay calm. Don’t lose it,” he muttered, even as he slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open. “Control, control… control, Spike…” And then the door was closing behind him and he couldn’t even begin to force his eyes away from the frozen form across the room. “Xander…” he whispered, something releasing inside him as true calm flowed from some hidden reservoir and suffused him. “Xander,” he said again, louder, and suddenly…

Suddenly he was out from behind the chair, Gods knew how, and the slightly smaller, much cooler body was in his arms, and he felt himself relax for the first time in weeks, and… “Gods, Spike… Gods…”

The lack of urgency was unexpected but welcome, Spike realized, his hands slowly sliding up and down the broad, cotton-covered spine as he pressed his face into the side of his bloke’s neck and just breathed him in, absorbing the sense of… bloody hell, he was turning into a chit. He felt whole.

Xander had no idea of how long they stood there. Not that he cared because it was definitely time well-spent. But finally he sighed softly and pulled away just a bit, meeting stubborn blue eyes. “I, uh… don’t suppose there’s any chance of…”

“Letting go of you so you can put me out? No, mate,” the vampire rumbled, fingers wrapping in the fabric of his bloke’s shirt. “Came here to talk, didn’t I? Think we… hell, luv. We need to do that. Figure out what the fuck is going on here.”

* * * * *

tbc...

(A/N: MANY thanks to those who have reviewed thus far. Namely: AddictedtoBuffy, aoe (TWICE!! You ROCK!!!), bookie, and Daeomae.

Your reviews are the reason I keep posting. :) *hugs all*)