Messing with His Head

Title: Oblivious Prey
Series: Messing with His Head (#4) Sequel to To Be or Not to Be a Dream, Spanking Clean, G’morning.
Author: Mera
Feedback: Do it… you know you want to! Please? lusciousspike@yahoo.com
Rating: 15+ for strong words.
Pairing: Spike/Xander
Summary/TimeLine: During Season 5 BtVS. Spike reflects on the day’s events, and what he has planned for Xander.
Disclaimer: The chars belong to Joss though I borrowed some… am going to keep them for sometime… give them tea and crumpets… maybe make them show me their sexy dance and if I ever get bored *snort* I'll return them.
Distribution: You want? Just ask, I swear I won't say no! I just want to know where they sleep.

Thanks to Farah for the quick read! Oodles of smoochies to Minniemax for the great beta!

Italics & *& capitals = emphasize
~ = thoughts

*~*~*~*~*~*


"Strong and mysterious . . . noticing my well-muscled build, eh?" Spike rubbed his hand on Xander’s lower back.

"No, no, no!" Xander wiggled out of Spike’s hold and jumped away from him. His finger shook with each syllable. "No man-on-man touching! See, this is wrong!" He began only to be side tracked. "Not that being gay is bad . . . just the gay with me is. Not that there’s anything is wrong with that!"

Xander growled in frustration when Spike merely grinned at him. Was that the kind of smile you smiled when your lover did or said something endearing? More determined, Xander started to count on his fingers. "There were no drinks, bathroom was not decontamination disaster 2001, no broken locks . . . the bed sheets are debatable since I don’t know how vampire anatomy works." Both hands by now were stuck through longish brown hair, straining the roots. He couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth, and yet, they didn’t seem in any hurry to stop.

"So you must’ve misinterpreted my ‘observation’ of the fact, I’m very observant, really ask anyone, I notice things and not think, I just blurt them out without thinking. Damn it, stop smiling at me like that!" Spike’s grin only widened. "And, hey, what the hell is it with the Viking tease? It has to be a freaking coincidence coz it was a dream. It had to be!" Xander whimpered, his eyes somewhat glazed. He wasn’t about to cry, he was a man, damn it. "Unless the dream is… this?" he whispered pitifully.

Spike said nothing throughout Xander’s verbal babble with – apparently - himself. The boy wasn’t even looking at the vampire anymore. Spike bit the inside of his lip to stop the inevitable wide smirk from showing itself. As much as Xander was a bumbling idiot, even he would put things together when he realized that Spike was playing with him. And then there would be a stake with William the Bloody’s name carved into it. And Spike wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it thanks to the stinking chip lodged in his noggin.

Although, the chip did make things easier, seeing as even when Spike had sided with Adam last year, they didn’t kill poor helpless his-bark-was-worse-than-his-bite-Master-vampire who took down two slayers in his time. Well, they sure would see that his bark was worse than his bite!

~ Although, nothing as drastic as getting one of them humans killed, the Slayer likes to keep her things. I’d be dust before their blood cools. ~

Spike knew that Xander had only himself to blame for reminding his ex-roommate how fun and easy it was to mess with the Slayer and her groupies, especially Xander. And if there were two people in this town that Spike knew well, they were Buffy and her boy. Unfortunately for Xander, he was the lesser of two evils. He would be the one who would keep Spike entertained, distracted from other matters, without much strain and if Spike played it right, without any risk to the vampire’s wellbeing.

It was pure genius to make the virgin Xander – at least to the joys of gay sex – think that he had his first sexual experience with a man. He had him believe that he had sex with Spik e -a vampire whom he hated- under the influence, and retained no memory of what had happened. From then on, it was easy to put thoughts in his head. Minds are a complexity that with little deliberation could fabricate whole scenarios of things that never happened.

Xander would be the perfect witness. Lawyers would have their way with him. And Spike had realized that fact the moment he met the impressionable boy and stored the information away for later use.

It was easy to lead Xander to assume that he and Spike had sex. Of course, as much as Spike would love to have the boy think that HE was the one who was buggered into oblivion, even Xander would wonder why he wasn’t a little sore in that region where - as any well informed person would know - the recipient of the screwing would be. . Therefore, for the sake of his devilish plan, Spike had to lower himself, and pretend that he was in the receiving end.

~ And the bloody kid just took it in stride! Like a Master vampire would let a pitiful human have a go at him – hammered or not – and let him live afterwards? Guess I should count my blessings that Rupert preserved his children’s innocence and locked away the ‘good’ reads. That way I can have my fun. ~

The hard part was when Xander had conked out in the bathroom. Spike had thought about laying him in bed then joining him and snuggle to the enticing warmth. And start acting like the bestowed lover when the human woke up. That would have sure gotten a rise out of the human. But Spike had realized that after the moment wore off, Xander would make it all seem like the evil vampire had taken advantage of him (even if he were the one who did the fucking) and stake the vampire. So, Spike’s mind had come up with something even better. What better way to make sure that Xander’s reaction floundered, to tire the boy’s mind so much that he wouldn’t think about staking Spike, than via the classic and make it all seem like a dream.

That way Xander would be too busy figuring out WHY he would dream about sleeping with a man - with Spike - to think about staking any defenseless vampire. Spike deducted that at first, Xander would be extremely relieved that the daunting event had never happened. Then his mind would ask the questions. And give him answers that would confuse the young man even more.

And, if the speech Xander was giving the empty basement before Spike moved out of the cover of darkness and into sight meant anything, it was that the predictable human mind was moving according to plan.

The hardest thing was giving Xander enough clues to reach the desired conclusion of it all being a hallucination of his sick mind. Spike had to move quickly, and with vampire speed it had been easy. He had made sure that Xander had no evidence of his hasty clean up on his body. Spike wouldn’t deny that he had enjoyed the view during the drying process. But, then again, so did unconscious Xander.

The second thing he did was check the bathroom door for indications of the forceful lock picking. He was almost convinced at the time from the look on the extremely wet human that he thought Spike had broken in with his vampire strength.

~ What would be the fun in that? I say have a talent, use it. ~

He then had the bathroom cleaned from the mess Xander had created in his haste to rid himself of Spike’s contact. The vampire should take offence of Xander’s fervent reaction, but he didn’t, it was all much amusing! Besides, Spike knew that he was good looking; the boy was only caught in the demands of denial.

Then there was the living room which was filled of the remains of their drunken night. Glasses were cleaned and put away and the room was tidied to how it had originally been the night before. The challenge was the dry bottles of liquor. Spike had no time to risk going out in daylight to buy more booze to replace them, so he merely shrugged, filled the bottles with clear tap water and placed them in the same cupboard Xander took them out from the previous night. Spike wasn’t worried that Xander would find out they weren’t as they seemed. If Spike knew the young man, he would bet that there had been a self-inflicted internal beating before about the drawbacks of drinking. And even if the frantic human would later come to the fact that it never happened outside of his overactive mind, the berating would still take affect. Later, Spike would have enough time to replace the containers with the real stuff.

Spike came out of his recollection to a silence filled, poorly lit room. He refocused on Xander who was looking back at him with lost eyes.

"It really happened, didn’t it?" he asked pitifully. There was an underlining to the question that begged the vampire to deny it.

Spike tilted his head in thought. Was this getting out of hand? Maybe it would bode well to get on the human’s good graces, give him an easy out and forgo his plan. The boy would always have doubts and would forever owe the vampire for the favor.

"Could show you your finger prints on my bum if you like?"

Xander gulped and shook his head, making some too long bangs fall over his forehead. His shoulders sagged in defeat. He resigned his fate.

Spike pouted and moved closer. "Ya really don’t remember, do you?" He sighed. "You told me I was your first. Guess that counts for nothing now, eh?"

Xander blinked raising his head. He opened his mouth, he wasn’t sure what he was about to say in reply to what Spike had said, because at that moment Giles’ voice hollered down on them.

"Xander! I sincerely hope that there are dire reasons for taking your time in bringing up the items the customer requires."

Xander winced. "Aw, shit!" He turned tracks and ran up the stairs.

Spike narrowed his eyes at the missed opportunity. He would see to it that the Watcher paid for this untimely interruption. It would take him some time to prefect another chance to corner his prey once more so perfectly.

With a more purposeful stride, Spike followed Xander’s trail, allowing his demon to relish the scent of confusion and worry that the human had left. Funny, the vampire thought, it seemed to emanate mostly due to Giles than the recent eye-opener.

No wonder Giles wanted Xander to hurry, they were closing up shop. It seemed a bit early, but it was somewhat slow these couple of weeks. The only excitement that befell the group was Anya’s abrupt departure. Spike had to thank her the next time he saw her, if she hadn’t broken up with the carpenter, Spike wouldn’t have run into him at the Bronze, seen the opening for a few free drinks and a game of stick or two and eventually the birth of the new entertainment. Passions was becoming a tad predictable and he needed something exciting for a change, his other rituals were proving to be pretty sad and unbecoming of his status.

The Slayer and the Witches were packing their books, still yapping away like they didn’t need to breathe. Giles was closing the register, giving the grateful customer his purchase and bidding him a goodnight. Spike watched the young man clutch his brown paper bag and rush out hastily. A good night indeed, he thought, especially since Darsen Leaves were to be boiled like tea and drank to keep up stamina. Thanks to vampire sense of smell, Spike knew exactly stamina for what.

Dawn was biting down on the end of her pencil, she was back to drawing since he helped her finish her history outline. He leaned to have a closer look, and snorted when he saw that she had sketched cartoon replicas of all of them. The teenager looked up at him grinning. She pointed at a rough copy of her sister.

"Buffy’s got a stick in her pants." She giggled.

Spike chuckled. "I always say, talent should never be wasted, Bit." He really liked the Slayer’s little sister. She had a wicked streak to match his own, and she knew how to have fun.

"What are you corrupting my sister with this time, Spike?" Buffy crossed over and looked at the paper. She blinked.

"Oh, hey, Dawnie, these are pretty good." She frowned narrowing on something. "Though that’s kinda big for a stake don’t you. . ." She didn’t finish her sentence because Spike and Dawn snickered in unison.

Buffy placed her hands on her hips and looked between them. "I don’t know what you two are up to, but you be careful or I’ll tell mom," she warned.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Yeah, very mature Buffy."

Buffy stuck her tongue out at Dawn before she ruffled her sister’s long hair causing her to giggle.

Spike’s eyes softened gazing at Buffy before he shook his head roughly.

~ Urgh! Must stop doing that. Even Harris said he noticed. And that’s the whole point of this little game, keeping my mind off the bloody slayer. Uh, have some buggering fun for a change! ~ He looked around for Xander and found the boy in the furthest corner away. He zeroed in but before he moved he heard Buffy talk.

"Giles, tonight is the Sappy Girly Summers Movie night, so I won’t be patrolling. It’s been quiet nights on the Hellmouth for a while now."

Giles chastened her, "And that’s why keeping our guard is prudent. It - for all we know – could be the quiet before the storm."

Before Spike knew what he was doing, his mouth came to life, "I’ll do it." His face darkened when they all looked at him. "Keep an eye out for the beasties, kill a couple of baddies, of course, for a price."

Dawn frowned. "But it’s been like forever since you got paid for that. . ." She stopped talking when Spike shot her the ‘shut up or I’ll shove your tongue in your pocket’. It was not like no one knew about Spike’s crush on Buffy, she thought annoyed. Then she looked at Buffy and Giles who were thinking over Spike’s offer unaware and she corrected that notion.

"Very well, you’ll get your pay tomorrow night when we are all still alive." Giles gave the vampire a firm look of warning to which Spike replied with the two finger salute.

"How do we know we can trust him?" Buffy piped up.

Spike rolled his eyes. ~ Sure, trust me with your sis and mum but don’t … ~ He internally growled. ~ Hell, bloody shouldn’t trust me, I’m evil! ~

He sighed put-on. "The pup can keep an eye on me." He pointed at the boy who now had the dear in the head lights look.

"No, not keeping any eye on Spike!"

Giles nodded. "Seeing as Xander doesn’t have anything pressing to do tomorrow, I see that’s a fine idea," the Englishman said, ignoring Xander’s protest as if it was never spoken.

Xander moved out of his corner and glared at Giles. He wanted to protest some more but Giles had that black look on his face.

Buffy smiled at her friend. "Xander, feel free to stake Spike if he makes any trouble."

Spike’s half hooded eyes racked over Xander’s form making him shudder. "Yeah, stake me if I’m being bad." He leered which went unnoticed by everyone except Xander, that or they were used to Spike’s ways by now.

"No, no, staking!" Xander glared back.

"Xander. You okay?"

~ Great, I’m making a scene. ~ Xander turned around with a cheery grin. "Sure, Wills, I think I snorted some mold down there. Got me a little oozy."

"Fresh night air will do you wonders, mate." Spike looked at him communicating something with his eyes.

Xander crossed his arms overpowered. "Fresh air with you blowing disgusting smoke at my face all night, oh goody!"

Buffy slung her backpack on her shoulder and looked up at Xander. "You sure you’ll be okay keeping an eye on Spike? He might not be able to hurt you but he can bore you to death with his never ending babble."

~ Look who’s talking, bint. ~

"I can do other things…" Spike wiggled his eyebrows as he let the sentence hang.

"Ugh, you’re a pig Spike!" Buffy scrunched her nose at the blond.

"I’m sure Vik---"

Xander stepped in between the glaring blonds. He could swear he felt a current go through him then. He gave Spike a look to shut him up then turned to Buffy, giving Spike his back. "Ah, don’t worry, Buffster. I know how to handle him."

"I’ll say…" Spike murmured for Xander’s ears only. Xander felt his face heat up.

"You sure you’re okay, Xan?" Willow came closer to look at his face.

He coughed, grateful that Spike moved away from his back. "Yeah, guys, I guess kinda need the fresh air and to keep my mind occupied."

Willow looked at him with thought. Xander hoped she couldn’t read it on him. If anyone knew him inside and out it was his Wills. She came closer and held his hand.

~ Oh, God, here it comes, "we would love you even if you were a gay blond vampire loving freak, Xander." ~ The only reason he hadn’t protested about the vampire watch that much was the look of warning in Spike’s eyes that said he would tell his friends – and oh, God, Dawn - if Xander didn’t play along. It was clear the vampire was still upset after they were interrupted in the basement and Xander was in too much a hurry to get to Giles to tell Spike that forgetting about their night together wasn’t personal. He figured that he owed him tonight’s patrol to smooth things out – didn’t mean he had to be happy about that - and blame it all on the drink. He still hadn’t figured out that part. Maybe there were Maintenance Fairies that fixed up the bathroom, the lock, the living room and restocked his liquor cabinet?

"You know I’m here for you, Xander?" she started. It always began like that, didn’t it?

~ To talk to about the joys of gay loving? ~

"This must be a confusing time for you."

~You think! ~

"Your mind must be thinking, why? Was it something you did? You’re searching your head trying to remember what happened, if you forgot something."

~ No, not really. Spike kinda filled me in. ~

"I understand. It happened to the best of us, Xan."

~ Screwing William the Bloody in the ass? Heh. Now that I think about it, I owe the Initiative that I’m alive. No way he’d let me live through that! Oh, GOD, I took advantage of HIM! Not the other way around. He could’ve said no, and for all I know, he did, he couldn’t do anything about it. I raped Spike! ~

"If you ever want to talk about it…"

~ How I’m a bastard that took advantage of someone who couldn’t fight back from being assaulted without getting zapped in the head? Sure! Why the fucking hell not! ~

"You are better off without Anya, you know. I always told you she wasn’t good for you…"

~ Yeah, and … ~

"Huh? Say what?"

Xander could swear he heard Spike snicker. But, when he turned to look, the vampire had a bored look on his face.

"You done chit chatting yet?"

Xander shook his head; well, maybe he didn’t rape Spike, and then tapped at Willow’s comforting hand.

"Thanks, Will. I’ll make sure I know that."

Willow grinned at him, happy to be of help. She walked back to her girlfriend feeling proud, and followed Buffy and Dawn out the jingling door, leaving the boys and Giles lock up.

"Come now then, don’t have much time to waste." Spike slung his arm over Xander shoulders and was delighted when they stiffened yet didn’t shrug him off. He was still hyped from the aroma of humiliation, dread, and surprisingly even self-disgust that wafted from the human from his amusing conversation with Red. He wished he could have been in Xander’s head. "You have to work to get your prey just where you want it, and make sure you are the one that walks away prosperous and . . . satisfied."

"Neat." Xander replied dryly and let Spike lead him out. "And what am I, the bait to your prey?"

Spike’s only response was to smirk mysteriously.


The End of Part Four (Okay, peeps, from now on, Spike will have to be VERY creative in messing with Xander’s head. Nothing serious just yet, just playful pranks on the boy’s expense, and Xander not knowing what’s going on. Poor boy. I’ll be taking requests and suggestions of any wickedness you think Spike should rope oblivious Xan into. There is a big chance that I will take them since from here on end, I’m walking blind. Of course, I have the ending and the lead to it all planned out, but the playful evilness that Spike would bring up it yet up for grabs! So any ideas pass them my way!)