Just Begun

Chapter 9

Xander felt the cool brush of a hand on his cheek and he instinctively leant into it. Another hand touched his shoulder and Xander’s eyes shot open with a gasp as a bolt of pain blasted through the left side of his body.

“Sssh, relax. It’s me.”

“What…?”

“Keep still.”

Xander tried to do as he was told, but it was difficult when every touch to his body sent fiery bolts flaming through every pore. “Ow.”

“Is he okay?”

Xander turned his head at the new voice. He focused on the other figure that was squatted down in front of him and he frowned at the familiarity of the man. “I know you,” he croaked.

“Yeah, I thought I recognised you too. Angel, isn’t it?”

Xander closed his eyes and wished for spontaneous Xander-combustion. It was Rupert, the gorgeously hot, tall guy that didn’t have a clue. “Um…yeah.” Xander felt Angel turning his head back to face him.

“Do you think you can stand?”

“Try me.”

Angel nodded, wrapped an arm around Xander’s waist and lifted him until he was standing on unsteady feet. “Okay?”

“Yeah, I think so. Walking might be an issue. You’re gonna have to hold me up.”

“I can do that. I’ve called Spike. He’ll be here with the car in a minute. Just get your bearings.”

“Thanks, Angel.”

Ooops, slip-up.

“Angel? So you’re both named Angel? Wow! What a coincidence…or are you just brothers?”

Xander closed his eyes and Angel resisted the urge to grin. There was definitely some kind of story here. “Thank you, Rupert. I’m not sure what we would have done if you hadn’t come along.”

“Oh, it was nothing.”

“It wasn’t nothing. You saved our lives.”

“Naahh, you were just in a spot of trouble. You would have gotten the upper hand, eventually.”

“Still, thank you. If there is anything I can do…?”

Rupert held up his hands and shook his head. “Really, no. This is actually what I do.”

“What you do?” Angel asked.

“Yes, I’m a demon fighter. Actually, I have an office not too far from here.” Rupert extended his hand to shake Angel’s. “Rupert Devel. I run Devel Investigations. I help the feeble.” Rupert handed over a business card.

“You’re a demon.” Angel stated.

“Yes. Well, half human, half Cluluss to be exact. If you ever need anything, just call me.”

“Thank you,” Xander said.

“You’re welcome. You know, you really need to be more careful. I’m sensing something from you…you’re some kind of…demon magnet. That would explain my obvious attraction to you. I usually go for blondes, like that one.” Rupert pointed to Spike.

“Bloody hell! You two alright?” Spike asked, stepping out of the car and half tripping over himself to get to his friends.

“We’ll live,” the real Angel said.

“Hello, sugar,” Rupert said, winking at Spike.

Spike glared with an expression that could have frozen molten lava. Rupert backed up.

“Well, you all seem to have matters firmly under control. I’ll be on my way.”

“Thanks again,” Xander croaked.

“Welcome again. Oh, and just one more thing. Be careful around these parts. There are a lot of vampires roaming about. Nasty creatures; they’ll have your throat out in a second. I specialise in hunting them. I’m a bit of an expert, if I do say so myself. I can spot them a mile off. Just be aware.”

Angel bit the inside of his cheek and took the advice graciously. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out.”

“Good, good. Goodbye then, Angel and Angel. You too, blondie.”

Rupert gave one last wave and walked happily away. His work was done.

**

“Who was that git, then?” Spike asked, quickly glancing over his shoulder into the back of the car.

Angel bit back an uncharacteristic smirk and turned to Xander. “That is a very good question. Xander?”

“Um, would you believe me if I said I couldn’t remember, what with the trauma and everything?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“Xander?”

“Okay, okay, I met him on my first night here. We danced together, he propositioned me and I politely, and quickly, declined.”

“And why does he think that my name is your name?”

“Um, because he’s stupid?”

“While I don’t doubt that, what’s the real reason?”

“I told him my name was Angel.”

“Why?”

“Because…I like it. It’s a beautiful name.”

“…Really? You like my name?”

Xander shrugged. It was a very bad move. The car seemed to be spinning - Or is it me that’s spinning? - and Xander closed his eyes before the urge to throw-up all over Angel’s leather interior became too great.

Strong arms encircled his body and Xander fought back the dizziness and relaxed into Angel’s embrace. “You’re surprisingly comfortable,” he confessed with a sleepy slur. “Take me to your lair.”

Xander passed out.

Spike smirked.

Angel…did as he was asked.

**

Spike glanced past his grandsire and into Angel’s bedroom. Xander had been placed on the bed and he was unconscious. Demon venom was flowing through his veins and that, mixed with being nearly constricted to death *and* having a tongue cut through his skin, was making for a very sleepy Xander Harris.

“He’ll be fine, Spike. Don’t worry.”

“What about poison? Don’t those bleedin’ demons inject venom or whatever?”

“It isn’t harmful. It’s just like taking a sleeping tablet. It will wear off eventually.”

Spike nodded and felt himself relax. “You two have a nice evening, then? Before all this, I mean?”

“Yes.”

“I was right, wasn’t I? He does like you.”

“…I think so.”

“And?”

“And what?”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Bloody hell! And what happened? You kiss him? Bend him over your car? Get him in the bogs and rip down his…?”

“Spike!”

“Sorry, mate,” Spike laughed, pulling out his cigarettes and backing away. “Just winding you up. Go on, then. You got him back to your *lair*. Go shag his brains out. You know he wants it. Oh, and one more thing; I know it’s been a while, but you do remember that you have to wake him up before you stick him with your pork sword?”

Where Spike expected a growl, a slammed door in his face or a look of fond exasperation, he instead got a nasty grin. The sort of grin that meant you were going to end up on your backside any. Moment. Now.

“Spike? Were you aware that Cordelia wants you?”

~gulp~ “Wants me?”

“Yeah, wants you.” Angel stalked up close. “*Wants* you. Wants your body. She wants you to run your hands all over her silky soft skin. She wants to take your hardened cock into her velvet heat. She. Wants. To. Fuck you. And I’m not joking.”

Spike was pretty sure that his jaw had hit the floor. He watched the door slowly closing on Angel’s smugger than smug face and he made a desperate effort to save a tiny bit of grace. “You…you read too much bloody Mills and Boon, you do! pouf!”

**

Xander stirred on the bed and cracked open one ever-so-sleepy eye. “Was that Spike shouting?”

“Yes. He was trying to be clever. I decided to show him that I was cleverer.” Angel frowned.

“What? What is it?” Xander asked, his other eye opening in concern.

“Cleverer. Is that an actual word? It shouldn’t be.”

“Hm, I guess it does sound a bit dumb. A bit like ‘exercise.’ That is such a stupid word.”

“Exercise,” Angel mused.

“You have to say it over and over. Exercise, exercise, exercise, exercise, exercise, exercise, exercise, exercise.”

“Exercise, exercise, exercise, exercise, exercise, exercise, exercise, exercise. Oh yeah!”

“Now try it with ‘flap.’ Say it really quickly.”

Angel concentrated. Really hard. “Flapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflap.”

Xander laughed as much as he could without causing unnecessary pain. “I wish I had a video camera. That was too funny.”

“Thank you. I think.”

“Erm, so why was Spike shouting, again?”

“I told him that Cordelia wanted him.”

“Whoa! Way to spit it out. What did he say?”

“Not much.”

“I wonder what he’ll do? He won’t give Cordy a tough time, will he?”

Angel shrugged. “It’s hard to say, really. Spike is more sensitive to these things than you think. He won’t make fun of her.”

“So I guess we just see what happens?”

“Yeah. We’ll see if they’re any better at this stuff than we are.”

Xander turned a surprised gaze in Angel’s direction.

“Come on, Xander. You have to admit, we’ve been dancing around each other for a while now.”

Xander sucked in a long slow breath, his brain not quite knowing where to put itself. He willed himself so say something remotely sensible. “Um...”

“I like you, Xander. A great deal. I hope I’m right when I say that I think you like me too.”

“Yeah, you are right. *Very* right.”

“Would it be okay if I kissed you?”

“Please.”

Angel leaned in, supporting his weight with an arm each side of Xander’s body. He lightly brushed his lips against Xander’s and couldn’t suppress a moan at the warm hand that was creeping up his chest. The hand reached his neck and Angel started a loud, rumbling purr as Xander scraped his fingers through the back of Angel’s hair.

Xander tilted his head up and caressed Angel with feather-like kisses and wandering hands. He felt Angel’s tongue pushing at his lips and he opened his mouth and accepted it inside.

The minute their tongues met, Xander was way beyond hard. He pulled at Angel’s hips and encouraged him to settle over him.

Angel came down quickly, his knees coaxing Xander to spread his legs so that he could settle between them.

Both [mean] men groaned at the contact, hard cocks rubbing together through denim, silk and cotton.

Angel slowly unbuttoned Xander’s shirt, gently pulling the fabric away to reveal the injured shoulder. “Let me take care of that?” he asked in a whisper.

Xander nodded, his words lost somewhere about the groinal region.

“Trust me?”

Xander nodded again, closing his eyes as Angel pressed his lips around the bloody wound.

Angel lapped gently at the cut, holding Xander tighter when he felt him flinch at the pain. “I’ll make it better, sweetheart,” he murmured, swirling his tongue in and around the wound, cleaning up every trace of blood and sucking up any residual venom.

The pain in his shoulder started to lessen and hurt turned back to arousal as Angel started kissing up his neck and removing the rest of the open shirt. Eager hands touched every part of Xander’s bare flesh, kneading his sides, stroking his stomach and rubbing already hardened nipples.

“Gods, Angel. So good.” Xander wrapped his legs around Angel's hips and ground them both together, groaning into Angel’s mouth as the friction shot bolts of pleasure through his cock and straight into his belly. He reached for Angel’s shirt and unbuttoned it with hands that had begun to shake with need and desire.

Angel helped him with the last few buttons before sliding the shirt from his shoulders and tossing it to the side.

“Angel. So beautiful.”

Angel smiled and closed his eyes, enjoying warm human hands as they took their turn to explore and learn. The hands reached his belt and Angel watched, mesmerised, as they deftly unbuckled, un-popped and unzipped. Xander pulled out the straining cock from beneath and Angel cried out as those hands pushed, pulled and fondled him. He pulled himself up slightly, allowing Xander to keep up his stroking, and, with speed that even he didn’t know he possessed, Angel had Xander’s shaft in his hand.

They stroked and they felt and they explored each other. A thumb sliding over the head of a cock. A finger teasing at a slit. A hand learning and getting used to the first foreskin it had ever touched. Angel felt the first stirrings of fire building in his groin and whispered a hungered request into Xander’s ear. Xander kissed him deeply and nodded a much desired yes.

Angel relieved Xander of the rest of his clothes and then did the same for himself. He quickly lubed his aching erection and knelt between Xander’s thighs. He leant down once and caught Xander’s lips for a last sweet kiss and a tender caress. Xander groaned and arched beneath him, purposefully rubbing their shafts together.

Angel hissed at the contact. He was so hard and ready, it was nearly painful. He quickly prepared Xander with eager fingers before lifting his boy’s legs over his shoulders and positioning the blunt head at Xander’s opening. “I need you, Xander. Need this with you.”

Xander’s eyes glistened with the same want. Angel. Hard. Fast. Inside him. “Take me, Angel. Fuck me. Please. Need you. Fuck me hard, Angel. Make me feel you.”

Angel slid his cock in with one smooth, strong motion. He gripped Xander’s hips and pounded into him with long powerful strokes that hit Xander’s prostate every time. “Touch yourself,” he gasped, his thrusting becoming more furious. Xander gripped his own cock and pumped it hard.

Xander concentrated on Angel’s thrusts, speeding up his pumping fist as Angel’s thick cock drove into him harder and faster. He felt Angel slow for a moment, the cock sliding almost all the way out of his ass and waiting with just the head inside. He slowed his fisting and locked eyes with Angel.

“Just…Xander. I need to know. I need…”

Xander smiled through heaving breaths and stroked Angel’s arm. “We’ve just begun.”

Angel smiled back and gripped Xander’s hips tighter. He propelled himself long and hard into Xander’s heat, watching with fierce passion as Xander brought himself to the brink and then tipped them both over with a face contorting in pleasure and powerful muscles that clenched, tightened and milked.

Angel slumped over his lover and traced his hand over Xander’s face and neck. “Just begun.”

**

Several days, hard fucks and tender caresses later and Xander stood in the lobby of Hyperion with a bottle of foul smelling potion in one hand and his backpack in the other. He placed both on the floor and brought his hands back up to caress Angel’s miserable face. “I will be back. I promise. I’ll…I’ll come back next weekend. The site is only open half days on Fridays so I’ll get an early start and I’ll be here by sunset.”

Angel nodded reluctantly. “Not the same, though,” he mumbled.

Xander laughed and kissed his lover. “I’ll miss you too. A whole heap of missing you.”

“You will come back?”

“I told you, yes. Look, I don’t want to go either, but I shouldn’t stay. I have a job and an apartment. You so know I’m not the type to just walk away and let people down. I have to go home, but I will be back. Not even an apocalypse could stop me.”

“Harris! You bloody idiot!” Spike hissed from the doorway. “You fucking say stuff like that *quietly.* You’ll bring the end of the world crashing down…again.”

Xander grinned.

Angel grinned.

“What?!”

Grinning.

“What?!”

“Um, Spike, you seen to have a little Cordelia on your face,” Xander stated with amusement.

Spike wiped at his face and looked down at the lipstick smeared across his hand. “Oh yeah. Not like I could see it in the mirror, is it?”

Angel chuckled. “So that’s where you’ve been the last few days. We did wonder.”

“Did you now? I’m surprised you spared either of us a thought, what with all the rampant shagging. Drowned us out, you did. Bloody loudmouths, the pair of you.”

Angel was about to take the bait and argue back when he felt Xander’s arms sliding around his waist. A warm mouth was kissing him and he closed his eyes and let the feel and scent of Xander lull him into something that felt like a little corner of heaven.

Spike coughed.

The lovers kissed.

Spike coughed louder.

Angel caressed Xander's ass and pulled him closer.

“Right, then. You two do…that and I’ll take everything to the car.”

Spike kept his large, wide eyes on the smooching couple while he bent down to retrieve Xander’s backpack. “Err, not wanting to interrupt what is clearly a hot…I mean, what is clearly a tender moment, but…where’s the potion?”

Xander deepened the kiss and flapped one hand in the general direction of the backpack.

“What? In the backpack?” Spike asked.

The hand flapped again.

“Eh? Oh, for god's sake. Xander, could you just release Grumpy-boy’s face for a millisecond and tell me where…”

*Crack – splash – tinkle – crunch*

Xander and Angel pulled apart.

Spike looked down.

Spike looked back up.

“Erm, slight hiccup, folks. I don’t suppose there’s any more?”

Angel shook his head and tried not to smile.

“So we have to start again? From scratch?”

“I’m afraid so,” Angel stated as gravely as he could.

Spike bounced and bounded up the stairs. “Cordy! I’m staying another week! Break out the vibrating mice!”

Angel watched Spike disappear from view. He shook his head and turned back to Xander. “I have no desire to ever find out about that.”

“Me neither.” Xander grinned. “So, another week?”

“Is that going to be okay? I mean, your job…”

“I’ll call them. My boss, he’s pretty good. I have more vacation time due anyway. He’ll probably let me. I mean, it’s not like I’m staying for selfish reasons. This is official Scooby work.”

Angel took Xander’s hand and led him towards the stairs. “Come on, then. You make that call and then…”

“Then?”

“We pick up where we left off.”

“And where was that?” Xander asked.

“I believe we were just beginning.”


THE END