Altered Perception

Surprises

Xander stopped struggling the minute he heard the quiet “yes” from Spike. He couldn’t understand why Spike would a) grieve over his death, b) be honest about it and c) was smiling like Christmas had come early. He saw that look in his eyes, that look that said he would die here and now but would damm well take whatever he was pissed at with him, he’d gotten the same look before charging up the tower to save Dawn.

That had been when Xander’s feelings towards Spike had changed, until then he’d been prepared to accept that Spike had changed. But when he’d seen that look in his eyes, his fear and anger at the thought of someone hurting Dawnie he’d realised that the demon was more than capable of love and loved Dawnie with all his heart. So much so that he was prepared to die for her. From there it had been absurdly fast and his long repressed appreciation of Spike’s body had turned into an appreciation of his personality, quirks and follies even before full blown love. He’d hardly noticed when Anya left, that was probably a factor in her leaving but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He’d tried to hide his desire under the usual layer of sarcasm and insults and started to wear strong cologne, all that research had been good for something and he’d remembered that vampires could smell arousal, hence the liberal dousing in the stuff, but sometimes he caught Spike looking at him and wondered if he hadn’t been as successful as he’d thought. .

He heard the demon who was gripping him by the neck tightly enough to cause discomfort but not make breathing a real issue say something to Spike but was at a loss as to the exact words. However he caught Spike’s maniacal glare as the blonde rushed them in a blur of speed. The next thing he felt he had been thrown to the ground and he could hear the clash of metal on metal. Rolling onto his side he saw Spike and the demon fighting furiously, Spike was a glorious sight, pale skin gleaming in the moonlight and black leather clinging snugly to a lithe frame that seemed to vibrate with repressed strength. Gasping for breath now that the mechanism was unimpaired he took a moment to reflect on the sheer eroticism of Spike fighting. He had seen Buffy fight a million times before she died, he’d seen Angel decimate seemingly overwhelming numbers but never had he seen the grace that Spike possessed. He seemed to live and breathe the fight, his motions fluid and they seemed to follow some sort of rhythm, unheard by anyone other than Spike.

He gasped as Spike gained the upper hand and with a brutal slash of the axe into the demons neck the red-skinned demon fell to the ground. Realising it was all over and having already checked to see that the rest of the Scoobies were OK, he’d seen Will and Tara helping Giles up from the ground he flopped back onto his back and pressed his hand to the increasingly painful wound on his side,. He felt Spike approach from the side and cracked one eye open to peer at the blonde “you OK there pet?” Spike enquired as he flicked his zippo open and lit a cigarette. “Never been better, um thanks. Not just for the whole life saving thing but for the, well you know. I don’t know why you said it but it was nice…” Xander trailed off looking cautiously at Spike, to his relief the blonde simply nodded and said “s’true, I don’t lie Xander. I will never lie to you” Xander caught the emphasis but wasn’t sure what to make of it. He didn’t have a chance to analyse it however before spotting the movement out of the corner of his eye.

Time seemed to slow, he saw the look of confusion on Spike’s face as the terror crossed his. He knew that there was no time to say anything. The demon was standing directly behind Spike, face twisted in pain and rage with a stake poised to kill Spike, like final death kill. Xander did the only thing he could think of and kicked out, swiping Spike’s feet from underneath him resulting in the blonde collapsing to land directly on top of Xander. They were face to face, shock replacing the look of confusion on Spike’s face. Xander had a millisecond to marvel at the sensation of that cool, firm body pressed close to his before he saw the demon adjust its stance and lean down. Spike was still in a vulnerable position, still about to be staked. Taking a deep breath Xander did the only thing he could think of…