This Year's Solstice
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Category:
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer › Slash - Male/Male › Spike(William)/Xander
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
1
Views:
2,003
Reviews:
0
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
This Year's Solstice
Author: Mandylynn
Title: This Year’s Solstice
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Spike/Xander, BTVS
Summary: Willow has a great idea for the holiday season and everyone must participate. Some people aren’t so enthused…
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns the BTVS world. I own nothing.
Feedback address: mandylynn4@yahoo.com
Advertisement: Part of the Slash Advent Calendar of 2003 at
http://www.kardasi.com/Advent/2003
Note: Season 4, pretend that Tara was around during X-mas and that the gang knows about Riley and the Initiative… CAUTION: Tiny het warning in effect. You’ve been warned.
Beta: Greydawn, who helped me with encouragement and all sorts of little grammar tweaks. Mick ‘n’ Star who were enormously helpful with the spell, names of liquor, and proper insight isexusexual relations. *blushes * Thanks you guys!
~*~
Xander frowned down at the tiny purple piece of paper in his hand that he’d just drawn from Giles’ empty teapot. He blinked a few times, turned the paper upside down and frowned harder. Glancing up, he noticed similar looks on the other Scoobies’ faces.
“It’ll be fun,” Willow explained, urging Giles to pull a slip from the teapot as well. “And it’s kinda like stuff people do who actually celebrate Christmas, only without the Christmas part. Plus, we only have to buy one gift each, which will save us all money.” The red-haired witch snuggled down on the sofa next to her girlfriend and plucked the last sliver of paper out of the pot. Her smile wavered slightly, but then beamed bright again. “Everybody understand?”
“So it’s like a secret Santa thing?” Buffy asked from her seat on Riley’s lap. Her boyfriend smiled at her as if she’d asked the smartest question in the world. Xander wanted to gag; instead, he put an arm around his girlfriend and listened in.
“Yep. Only this is a Secret Solstice Buddy. We buy a present to give our secret buddy on the night of solstice and then we can reveal who got whom. But until then,” Willow shot daggers at Anya, “no one says a word to anyone. Okay?”
Anya rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I don’t even know who this person is!” Riley and Tara both blushed. Xander silently squeezed Anya’s arm.
“Yeah…and why does the bleached menace get in on this?” he asked. Spike crossed his arms defiantly.
“We wouldn’t have an even number of exchanges if we didn’t include him,” Willow explained. “And just try to buy a white elephant gift if you’re not sure what that person would like.”
“White elephant? Who wants a white elephant for Christmas?” Anya piped in.
Willow sighed. Giles took off his eyeglasses. Xander squeezed his girlfriend’s arm again, this time in reassurance. “It means something generic, Ahn.”
“Oh.”
Giles replaced his glasses and pocketed his slip of paper. “We have how many days in which to shop?”
“We all have one week.”
Xander stared down at his paper one more time. 5 letters made up the name…4 letters made up the word he was about to say. How the hell was he supposed to buy a present on his limited income, with an expensive girlfriend, and no ideas at all? And more importantly, how was he supposed to buy a gift for Spike?
~*~
Buffy flopped down on Giles’ couch after everyone had left and considered her Solstice buddy. She wouldn’t be hard to buy for, they’d been best friends for a few years now. Still, she wondered what to get the budding Wicca… “Giles?”
“Yes?” The ex-Watcher was busy staring at his own paper, which bore the name of the redhead’s new love interest. He didn’t know much about her other than she was quiet, shy, and a witch.
“What should I get for the witch that has everything?”
His lips curled into a smile. “I suppose we can look around some of the magic shops in town tomorrow, if you’d like. It’s been a while since I’ve been in one of those.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
~*~
“Maybe this wasnuch uch a good idea,” Willow said, safely tucked inside her girlfriend’s dorm room.
“Why do you say that?” The blonde picked up a textbook from her desk, leafing through it thoughtfully.
“I…don’t think I can do this.” She flopped her head forward, her forehead catching the fluffy green pillow with a soft thud.
“Sure you can.” Tara moved over to Willow and, after setting aside her reading assignment, laid a gentle hand on the girl’s back. “I’ll help. Who’d you pick?”
“No!” Willow’s head shot upwards and she looked at her girlfriend with a horrified expression.
Tara sat back, startled. “I-I-I’m s-s-sorry.” She ducked her head behind her long blonde hair and peered out from under it.
“Oh! No, I’m sorry. I just…I want this to go exactly like I planned, where no one knows who got whose name until the day of the big revelation.” She brushed back a lock of the blonde’s hair. “Okay?”
“O-o-kay.” Tara smiled shyly and nodded. She thought about her own buddy and felt glad that she could find out about the person before buying the gift. “So, did Buffy go to class this morning?”
~*~
Anya rolled off Xander, panting and sweaty. They lay in the quiet peace of their breathing for a moment, basking in the sensation of just having made love. Xander smiled.
“So who’s your secret pal?” Anya asked out of the blue.
“Wha-?” Xander’s mind still hadn’t gotten blood back to it yet. He rolled his head towards his girlfriend, concern etched on his face.
“Whose name did you get?”
“Ahn, that’s not how you’re supposed to…”
“You got me, didn’t you?” Anya squealed and cuddled closer to her boyfriend. “That’s why you won’t tell me who you got!”
“No, Anya…listen…”
“I got Riley. What do I buy a soldier who captures demons and neuters them?”
“Anya…”
“Do you think he has a taser? That’s a manly gift. Useful, too. I mean, you can zap someone with one of those and nearly kill them…”
“Anya!”
“Or maybe I should get him a box of those black condoms you like so much. He and Buffy would probably use them, don’t you think?”
“ANYA!”
“What?” She turned to face him. He sighed, catching his thoughts and trying to swat away those of Buffy and Riley having sex.
“You weren’t supposed to tell me whose name you picked. It was supposed to be a secret.”
“Oh.” The blonde thought a bit. “Then forget I said anything.”
He smiled. They cuddled a bit more.
“So…the taser or the condoms?”
~*~
Spike strolled through the tiny shop, whistling. Giles had let him leave the house unaccompanied, the vision of dozens of humans attacking the helpless vampire in the ex-Watcher’s head, and figuring that it wasn’t half bad. Spike had scoffed at him and then whirled out of the apartment.
He knew the store well, had been there many times before…the accident. Nowhere else within 200 miles to get Aero bars and real Scotch. The cashier nodded at him when he put the stash on the counter and he counted the exact change out of the wallet he’d just stolen. Then, paper bag in hand, he sauntered back to the apartment, where he promptly put it under the hideous green sofa.
Giles didn’t even look up from the array of books scattered on his desk. Spike figured it was better this way as he helped himself to one of the chocolates.
~*~
The week had flown by so quickly that Xander hardly realized it. He’d been working double shifts, one at Joe’s Pizza and one at Bucky’s Fondue Hut. Needless to say, he wasn’t thinking about Christmas, Solstice, or a certain peroxide-haired vampire’s gift. But alas, the night of the Solstice Buddy revelations was upon him…and he had no gift.
Frantically, he showered and changed, intent on making it to the mall before it closed. He arrived just in time…thirty minutes before the stores started lowering their security gates. Now, what to get Spike? He strolled past shop after shop, frowning at everything he saw. The Sunnydale Mall had women’s clothing boutiques, jewelry stores, shoe shops, and other girly places that Xander was actually quite frightened of. He was about to give up when one store caught his eye.
The outside had a large black-lettered sign that said, “November Rayne” and the inside was painted a charcoal color. Odd gifts and nick-nacks lined the shelves. He could certainly find something weird enough to give Spike in here. He entered the store without much more thought.
“Hello!” a tall, dark-haired man greeted him. The man had a certain air of familiarity around him, but Xander couldn’t quite put a finger on why.
“Hi,” he said in return.
“Anything I can help you find?”
“Um…I’m looking for a gift. A Solstice present actually. For a vam-er…for a friend.”
“Solstice present? You are hunting for a gift for another Wicca? Then you’ve come to the right place.”
“Well, actually, no. My friend, who’s a witch, decided to do Solstice buddies this year. Kinda like Secret Santa gifts? And I’ve got to buy this other person a present, but I’m not sure what to buy.”
“I take it you do not know this person well?”
“Kinda hate the guy actually.”
The taller man laughed lightly. “I see. And you’re stuck buying a nice gift for him when what you’d really like to give him is a knife to the heart, eh?”
“Stake.”
“Excuse me?”
Xander blushed, realizing that he said that out loud. “Never mind. What should I get him?”
The other man thought a moment, eyes scanning the store carefully. “Anything he likes to do…I mean, other than make you hate him?”
Xander’s eyes rolled heavenward, reviewing in his mind what he knew t Spt Spike. He was a major pawn in Angelus’s demise two years ago…he’s a neutered Master vampire…he pestered Giles all the time about watching soap operas… Maybe passing by all those woman-geared stores wasn’t such a good idea after all…
“What about something like this?”
Xander snapped out of his reverie and looked at what the man was holding. It was a long, black stick, tapered at one end and covered with felt on the tip. ook ook it in his hands and rolled it gently, weighing it. “I guess I’ve seen him play pool at the Bronze once or twice,” he said aloud. This seemed like the perfect gift. It was a beautiful cue and it wasn’t overly personal or generally white elephant. He nod “Y “Yeah. This is good.”
“It gets better,” the man grinned. He pulled a long, dark red velvet case from behind the shelf. “Case to go along with it. And,” he slid a piece of paper onto the top, “we can monogram it for you if you’d like.”
“Really?” Xander nearly bounced. His shopping was done! And no one would ever suspect that he’d waited until the last minute to buy it. Plus, it could serve as a really large stake if it came tat… at… Then, his smile died. “How much?”
“For you?” The man looked him over. “Only fifteen ninety-five.”
Amazingly, when Xander counted out the change and bills in his pockets, that was the exact amount he had. His smile returned, the package was wrapped, and he was on his way to Giles’s for the shindig.
~*~
Ethan Rayne slid the metal gate down on his newest business establishment with a huge grin on his face. The boy who’d just left with the pool cue had no idea what was in store for him. He walked to the back room, lit two candles, and flipped to a page in a large red book.
“'Heart of Darkness, hear my plea! I beg the Goddess,
The Fiery-headed beginning and end of the year,
To infuse the black cue with lovelust unending.
Blood Red Mother of lust, make desire grow
Out of dour hate and burn and be reciprocal
Sparking sexlust in whom shall touch the cue.
Solstice of night, let lovers part and quarrels,
Let cue-bound victims want and touch and mate,
Let Mooncurse chain the will and move the bodies
Let urgent need ignore all time and space
So enemies mate and mate and are consumed…'
The wind outside the mall picked up, whipping shopper’s hair and bags in a fevered frenzy. Babies screamed and mothers clasped them closer to their breasts. Xander, safe in his car, noticed no real difference in the weather…and he paid no attention to the package resting on the passenger seat, which glowed a bright red.
He happily drove out into the main road and hummed along to the Christmas carols on the radio.
~*~
“Xander’s here!”
He was wrapped instantly in a circle of arms and the scent of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies invaded his nose. He hugged Willow back with his free arm. “Hey. Happy Solstice!”
“Your gift? Wow…I’m assuming that you didn’t wrap this,” the red-haired girl said, taking the package from under his arm. “Isn’t it pretty?” she asked Buffy.
“Ooo…is it for me?”
“I don’t know, Buff. No tag. Everybody’s got to wait you know.”
Xander took a seat next to Anya, who looked like she was fairly angry. “Hey, Ahn.” He gave her a tiny squeeze.
“Hi,” she murmured. Then, she slumped down in the couch.
“Everybody ready? Giles! Xander’s here! We can start opening gifts now!” Willow called. She bounced over to Tara. “Since is mys my idea, I think I’ll hand out the gifts.”
Soon all of them werssedssed out and everyone stared at everyone else’s wrapping. “Giles, I think you should open first.”
“Right.” The ex-Watcher frowned at the brown paper bag on his lap, but opened it nonetheless. “Who’s…this from?” he asked. He pulled out the large bottle of Laphroig and two Aero bars. At the bottom of the bag sat three empty wrappers.
“Tha’s mine, Rupes. Thought you might like something better to drink than the piss water they call scotch here.”
“Thank you, Spike.” He set the bottle down on his desk, admiring it with homesick eyes.
Xander frowned. “Giles got chocolate? Not fair!”
“Xander? You may go next.”
He unwrapped the gift, staring down at what lay nestled in soft tissue paper. “Walkie-talkies?” He picked them up and turned on the volume. They hissed and crackled to life.
“That’s from me. Didn’t know exactly what to get you,” Riley spoke up. “They’re not really hooked into the Initiative’s frequency, but if you get at just the right angle on the right channel…” The soldier stopped talking at Buffy’s stern look.
“Thanks, man.”
There was a flurry of gifts opened and Xander watched unenthusiastically. His gift seemed too personal and too eloquent. He began to sweat, as each gift was unwrapped. Buffy got a pair of suede boots she wanted, Tara, a new spell book, Willow, a goodie bag of witch supplies including two dozen eyes of newt, Anya, a tiny brown purse, and Riley shoved his back into it’s wrapping as soon as he knew what it was. From the blush on his face, Anya had decided to go with the condom idea. Finally, it was Spike’s turn to open.
The vampire’s delicate pale fingers sought out a seam in the wrapping and slid them inside. Slowly, he pressed and the tape popped free. The rest of the paper was pulled off and a red and black box sat on his lap. The deftgersgers tugged the top free. The carrying case was plucked from its confines and the room gasped.
“What is it?”
“How much did you spend on that?”
“You don’t spend that much on me and you LIKE me…”
Spike sent a glance at the whelp, whose face matched the red on the box. There was something about the present… “It’s not somethin’ that’s gonna jump out and bite my head off, is it?”
“No.”
The group got silent again as Spike flicked open the tiny lat and and lifted the lid. Xander wanted to hide. Maybe the gift wasn’t such a good idea after all…it had seemed that way in the store…
“Wow, whelp. Didn’t know you cared.” The vampire picked up the two pieces of the cue and set about twisting them together. His hand brushed against the monogrammed letter on the side and he peered at it confused. “This is a nice pressie.”
Xander swallowed. Anya glared at him. Willow’s mouth looked as if it were about to take in a whole pie at once. Spike held the cue out, level with his eyes, and peered down it.
“W,w,well..who wants cookies?” Tara interrupted, sensing the discomfort in the room.
Xander’s hand shot up uncontrollably. “I do. I’ll even help you bring ‘em out.” He hurried to his feet and followed Tara into the kitchen. The rest of the room finally started gabbing again, Buffy and Riley trying to weasel their way out early.
“There’s something…,” Tara began, placing cookies on a plate but watching Spike examine the cue stick. “Something’s different about that pool cue, Xander. Where’d you get it?”
“Ummm, November Rayne. A new store in the mall.”
“Whelp!”
Xander shivered. “Yeah?”
“Wanna go shoot some?” Spike had started putting the cue back in its carrier and stared at him expectedly. “Want to try it out ya know. Looks too fancy to be any good.”
Anya piped up. “Excuse me! Xander’s going home with me now…to give me lots and lots rgasrgasms.” Giles groaned. Xander sighed. It was just like her to bring up this stuff at his friend’s party. “Aren’t you, Xander?”
“Ahn…I’m kinda beat. I don’t really think that…”
“What? First, I don’t even get a present from you. Then, you buy a neutered vampire a really nice present. And now you don’t even want to give me orgasms? What kind of boyfriend are you?” Anya stood, hands on her hips and looked from Xander to Spike.
“Anya…it’s not like that…this party…”
“You’re giving Spike orgasms!”
“WHAT?” All the voices in the room, except Anya’s, were heard.
“That’s the only reason I can think of to explain why he gets great presents and I don’t get any orgasms.”
No one said a word. So Anya interpreted the silence as assent to her outrageous statement and she took off in a huff with her tiny purse and Xander’s walkie-talkies. Six pairs of eyes turned to Xander. He let out a nervous chuckle. “So…who wanted cookies?”
~*~
An hour later, Xander found himself leaning against a metal column at the Bronze, watching as his money slowly made a home in Spike’s pocket. The vampire was too good at billiards.
“Your shot, whelp.” Spike sauntered back to the table and drank down another swig of beer.
Xander sized up his shot, pulled back his cue stick, and jumped a foot in the air when he felt a hand on his back. “Spike! Don’t do that to a human! We have sensitive hearts.”
“Sorry. Just thought you might like a few tips.” Xander glared at him, but Spike continued. “You were about to sink the eight ball in the corner pocket with the way you were lined up. May I?”
Xander eyed the vampire, anger and hostility not as evident as usual. “Why not?” He slumped back over his sticstick, in position. Spike’s hands maneuvered him around by his hips and shoulders.
“Look down that stick now,” he whispered into the human’s ear. Xander decided that Spike definitely had to stop talking like liquid sex. His cock filled ever so slightly in his pants. ookeooked down the stick, thought about what he had just thought…and stood back up instantly, knocking Spike back and his beer onto the leather duster. Something was wrong…
“Sorry.”
“Oi, whelp! Mind the leather!” Spike plopped his beer down on the table again, pissed that Xander had moved so quickly. The boy had smelled so delicious…and his warmth was… “Wait a bloody minute,” he exclaimed. Xander looked at him with startled eyes. Spike would have blushed if he’d had blood to do so. “Gonna go clean this up.”
Once safely inside the bathroom, he breathed rapidly. There was something wrong here. Xander Harris, weakest of all the Scoobies, was tickling his fancy now? Spike shook his head. Couldn’t be. Something had to be doing this to him. A spell…
He splashed water on his face. Willow. She’d insisted on the party, she’d made everyone give pressies. Xander’d given him the cue stick… It had to be one of Red’s spells gone awry. “AHA!” he shouted. Xander and he never got along and it bothered the witch so much that she’d purposefully put a friend spell on them and it had got botched!
“Sounds like you fixed your duster.”
Spike nearly let out an unmanly scream as Xander walked into the restroom and stood beside him. “No. Just…uhm…”
Xander reached out and touched the duster, where a noticeable spill mark was still visible. “Want me to help you with that?” Xander felt…hot…tingly…fucking horny. And, for some reason, touching the duster made some of that feeling dissipate. He used his other hand to wipe at the stain. Spike shivered. His brilliant thought was forgotten.
“I had a thought…,” the vampire began, “about…something…”
His thoughts left his brain as Xander’s knuckles brushed his abdomen. He looked up into dark eyes. “Xander?”
Outside, in the bar, the cue stick glowed bright red and throbbed. No one paid any mind.
Xander wet his lips…and breathed out slowly. “Yeah?” He was no longer looking at the beer stain, but stared into Spike’s eyes with lust. Inside, his brain was screaming at him to run and hide…
“Bugger.”
Spike roughly pulled Xander to him and their lips met with a bruising force. Tongues dueled and both men moaned at the sensation. Vaguely, Spike remembered that they were inside the bathroom at the Bronze and pushed Xander into the nearest stall.
His hands were grabby and sought out something warm, golden…something that sought out his touch. Xander cried out as his shirt was pushed up violently and pants unbuttoned. “Spike…,” he moaned in between kisses. “Spike…what are you doing?”
“Feels…good….,” Spike panted. He licked down to Xander’s neck and nipped playfully at his ear. “Can’t stop…spell, I think.”
“If it’s a spell…”
“Best to let it ride itself out,” Spike said, pulling Xander’s boxers out of his way. His other hand had moved to the whelp’s and tugged it towards his own pants. “Then we can find Red and get this all straightened out.”
“Good idea.” Xander’s hand popped open buttons and he gasped when there was a thick, wet cock in his hand. He gasped again, louder, as Spike finally found his own dripping erection.
Spike moved forward until their dicks were touching and wrapped his fingers around both. “Won’t shag you proper…surely get staked for that,” he whispered.
“Yeah, Buffy wouldn’t understand,” Xander admitted.
“I was thinkin’ ‘bout when you come back to your senses.”
Xander didn’t have a comeback for that. In fact, if he did, it was wasted on the lovely tingling he was getting in his balls. His head lolled back onto the stall’s metal wall.
Spike’s hand was sticky now, thick precum dribbling out of both men’s cocks at a steady pace. It leant to a wet and wild ride, something Spike hadn’t had in a long time. He thrust his own cock harder against Xander’s and groaned against the boy’s neck.
“So warm, luv. Feeo goo good.”
“Yeah.”
The cue stick’s light began becoming noticeable to patrons, as it flashed out the ends and from the engraved ‘S.’ Some teenagers dropped their own cues and left the building. Others watched from a safe distance. A handful approached it with apprehension.
Xander whimpered in Spike’s ear. “Fuck…harder…” This earned a similar whimper from the blonde and a copious amount of slick fluid to add to the mix. His own callused hand joined in, just beneath Spike’s.
Spike grunted, feeling the wall start to shake and move under their thrusts. “Gods…”
A very interested teenager, who was dumb as a pile of rocks, picked up the cue stick to admire it. “Hey, guys!” he shouted to his friends. “Look at this!” He held it up for his buddies to see, accidentally struck the underside of the table, and sent the stick clattering to the floor. The stick split down the center and the mysterious red light floated above the crowd. People screamed and ducked for cover. The light moved faster and faster, under the door of the restroom, and settled above Spike and Xander. It blinked above them for a few seconds, and then whooshed down into both their bodies.
Spike felt the energy first, like an instant crasd bud burn for his orgasm, and howled as he came into his own hand. Xander bucked forward at Spike’s completion and followed him over the edge. Warm and cool seed covered their shirts and hands, melding them together like sticky glue.
Then, as quickly as it had come on, the happy lust was gone. Xander squeezed his eyes shut and took his hand from their cocks. Spike took his hand away as well, but didn’t stick around for the aftershock. Instead, he tucked himself into pants, buttoned up, and slammed out of the stall. He rinsed his hand. “Be seein’ ya, whelp.” Then, he was gone.
Xander waited a few minutes while the anger built up and died down, before putting his clothes back in order and going to wash up. That was quite definitely the worst thing that could have ever happened. Ever. Including…well, everything bad that had ever happened to him in his life. Even Jesse.
He walked out into the club, which had cleared out. Whatever spell that was, it sucked.
~*~
Two days later, he was back at Giles’s, answering a myriad of questions. “Yes. November Rayne. R-A-Y-N-E. How was I supposed to know that Ethan guy’s name was spelled that way?” He slumped down into the chair.
“It’s telly time!” A rattling of chains and angry yell from the British vampire came from the bathroom, which no one paid any attention to. “Passions is on you soddin’ git!”
“Do shut up, Spike!” Giles yelled back. “You are not a guest here! You’re a bloody nuisance!”
Giles held the broken pool stick in his hands and frowned. “It’s safe to say that the spell is gone, but do be more careful when buying gifts next .”
.”
“Thanks, G-man. Great advice.” Xander got up to leave. “Next time we have a solstice party, I’ll be sure to remember that.”
“Watcher!”
Giles sighed. “I think I’ve got a headache that needs taken care of. I’m going out. I’ll try to find where Ethan is hiding out now. You might want to stop by Willow’s just in case there are…after effects.” He gathered his coat and slipped out the door, muttering something about charity cases and government agencies.
Xander put his own coat on, but hesitated before leaving. Instead, he walked back to the bathroom and peered in. Spike was chained to the tub by hands and feet, looking pale and sickly, like when he’d shown up on the doorstep. He growled when he saw Xander.
“Did he send you in to turn on the telly?”
“No.” For a moment, Xander thought he should just leave the vampire. But seeing him chained up lthatthat struck a chord. “Don’t tell Giles I did this.” He stepped inside and flipped on the set. The “Passions” theme song came blaring over the tiny speaker. He turned to leave.
“Thanks, pet.”
Xander paused. “Sure thing…Spike.” Maybe he should get Giles to let him ‘watch’ Spike for a while… He grinned to himself. Yeah… There were worse things that could happen than spells that called for mutual sex…
~*~THE END~*~
Title: This Year’s Solstice
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Spike/Xander, BTVS
Summary: Willow has a great idea for the holiday season and everyone must participate. Some people aren’t so enthused…
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns the BTVS world. I own nothing.
Feedback address: mandylynn4@yahoo.com
Advertisement: Part of the Slash Advent Calendar of 2003 at
http://www.kardasi.com/Advent/2003
Note: Season 4, pretend that Tara was around during X-mas and that the gang knows about Riley and the Initiative… CAUTION: Tiny het warning in effect. You’ve been warned.
Beta: Greydawn, who helped me with encouragement and all sorts of little grammar tweaks. Mick ‘n’ Star who were enormously helpful with the spell, names of liquor, and proper insight isexusexual relations. *blushes * Thanks you guys!
~*~
Xander frowned down at the tiny purple piece of paper in his hand that he’d just drawn from Giles’ empty teapot. He blinked a few times, turned the paper upside down and frowned harder. Glancing up, he noticed similar looks on the other Scoobies’ faces.
“It’ll be fun,” Willow explained, urging Giles to pull a slip from the teapot as well. “And it’s kinda like stuff people do who actually celebrate Christmas, only without the Christmas part. Plus, we only have to buy one gift each, which will save us all money.” The red-haired witch snuggled down on the sofa next to her girlfriend and plucked the last sliver of paper out of the pot. Her smile wavered slightly, but then beamed bright again. “Everybody understand?”
“So it’s like a secret Santa thing?” Buffy asked from her seat on Riley’s lap. Her boyfriend smiled at her as if she’d asked the smartest question in the world. Xander wanted to gag; instead, he put an arm around his girlfriend and listened in.
“Yep. Only this is a Secret Solstice Buddy. We buy a present to give our secret buddy on the night of solstice and then we can reveal who got whom. But until then,” Willow shot daggers at Anya, “no one says a word to anyone. Okay?”
Anya rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I don’t even know who this person is!” Riley and Tara both blushed. Xander silently squeezed Anya’s arm.
“Yeah…and why does the bleached menace get in on this?” he asked. Spike crossed his arms defiantly.
“We wouldn’t have an even number of exchanges if we didn’t include him,” Willow explained. “And just try to buy a white elephant gift if you’re not sure what that person would like.”
“White elephant? Who wants a white elephant for Christmas?” Anya piped in.
Willow sighed. Giles took off his eyeglasses. Xander squeezed his girlfriend’s arm again, this time in reassurance. “It means something generic, Ahn.”
“Oh.”
Giles replaced his glasses and pocketed his slip of paper. “We have how many days in which to shop?”
“We all have one week.”
Xander stared down at his paper one more time. 5 letters made up the name…4 letters made up the word he was about to say. How the hell was he supposed to buy a present on his limited income, with an expensive girlfriend, and no ideas at all? And more importantly, how was he supposed to buy a gift for Spike?
~*~
Buffy flopped down on Giles’ couch after everyone had left and considered her Solstice buddy. She wouldn’t be hard to buy for, they’d been best friends for a few years now. Still, she wondered what to get the budding Wicca… “Giles?”
“Yes?” The ex-Watcher was busy staring at his own paper, which bore the name of the redhead’s new love interest. He didn’t know much about her other than she was quiet, shy, and a witch.
“What should I get for the witch that has everything?”
His lips curled into a smile. “I suppose we can look around some of the magic shops in town tomorrow, if you’d like. It’s been a while since I’ve been in one of those.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
~*~
“Maybe this wasnuch uch a good idea,” Willow said, safely tucked inside her girlfriend’s dorm room.
“Why do you say that?” The blonde picked up a textbook from her desk, leafing through it thoughtfully.
“I…don’t think I can do this.” She flopped her head forward, her forehead catching the fluffy green pillow with a soft thud.
“Sure you can.” Tara moved over to Willow and, after setting aside her reading assignment, laid a gentle hand on the girl’s back. “I’ll help. Who’d you pick?”
“No!” Willow’s head shot upwards and she looked at her girlfriend with a horrified expression.
Tara sat back, startled. “I-I-I’m s-s-sorry.” She ducked her head behind her long blonde hair and peered out from under it.
“Oh! No, I’m sorry. I just…I want this to go exactly like I planned, where no one knows who got whose name until the day of the big revelation.” She brushed back a lock of the blonde’s hair. “Okay?”
“O-o-kay.” Tara smiled shyly and nodded. She thought about her own buddy and felt glad that she could find out about the person before buying the gift. “So, did Buffy go to class this morning?”
~*~
Anya rolled off Xander, panting and sweaty. They lay in the quiet peace of their breathing for a moment, basking in the sensation of just having made love. Xander smiled.
“So who’s your secret pal?” Anya asked out of the blue.
“Wha-?” Xander’s mind still hadn’t gotten blood back to it yet. He rolled his head towards his girlfriend, concern etched on his face.
“Whose name did you get?”
“Ahn, that’s not how you’re supposed to…”
“You got me, didn’t you?” Anya squealed and cuddled closer to her boyfriend. “That’s why you won’t tell me who you got!”
“No, Anya…listen…”
“I got Riley. What do I buy a soldier who captures demons and neuters them?”
“Anya…”
“Do you think he has a taser? That’s a manly gift. Useful, too. I mean, you can zap someone with one of those and nearly kill them…”
“Anya!”
“Or maybe I should get him a box of those black condoms you like so much. He and Buffy would probably use them, don’t you think?”
“ANYA!”
“What?” She turned to face him. He sighed, catching his thoughts and trying to swat away those of Buffy and Riley having sex.
“You weren’t supposed to tell me whose name you picked. It was supposed to be a secret.”
“Oh.” The blonde thought a bit. “Then forget I said anything.”
He smiled. They cuddled a bit more.
“So…the taser or the condoms?”
~*~
Spike strolled through the tiny shop, whistling. Giles had let him leave the house unaccompanied, the vision of dozens of humans attacking the helpless vampire in the ex-Watcher’s head, and figuring that it wasn’t half bad. Spike had scoffed at him and then whirled out of the apartment.
He knew the store well, had been there many times before…the accident. Nowhere else within 200 miles to get Aero bars and real Scotch. The cashier nodded at him when he put the stash on the counter and he counted the exact change out of the wallet he’d just stolen. Then, paper bag in hand, he sauntered back to the apartment, where he promptly put it under the hideous green sofa.
Giles didn’t even look up from the array of books scattered on his desk. Spike figured it was better this way as he helped himself to one of the chocolates.
~*~
The week had flown by so quickly that Xander hardly realized it. He’d been working double shifts, one at Joe’s Pizza and one at Bucky’s Fondue Hut. Needless to say, he wasn’t thinking about Christmas, Solstice, or a certain peroxide-haired vampire’s gift. But alas, the night of the Solstice Buddy revelations was upon him…and he had no gift.
Frantically, he showered and changed, intent on making it to the mall before it closed. He arrived just in time…thirty minutes before the stores started lowering their security gates. Now, what to get Spike? He strolled past shop after shop, frowning at everything he saw. The Sunnydale Mall had women’s clothing boutiques, jewelry stores, shoe shops, and other girly places that Xander was actually quite frightened of. He was about to give up when one store caught his eye.
The outside had a large black-lettered sign that said, “November Rayne” and the inside was painted a charcoal color. Odd gifts and nick-nacks lined the shelves. He could certainly find something weird enough to give Spike in here. He entered the store without much more thought.
“Hello!” a tall, dark-haired man greeted him. The man had a certain air of familiarity around him, but Xander couldn’t quite put a finger on why.
“Hi,” he said in return.
“Anything I can help you find?”
“Um…I’m looking for a gift. A Solstice present actually. For a vam-er…for a friend.”
“Solstice present? You are hunting for a gift for another Wicca? Then you’ve come to the right place.”
“Well, actually, no. My friend, who’s a witch, decided to do Solstice buddies this year. Kinda like Secret Santa gifts? And I’ve got to buy this other person a present, but I’m not sure what to buy.”
“I take it you do not know this person well?”
“Kinda hate the guy actually.”
The taller man laughed lightly. “I see. And you’re stuck buying a nice gift for him when what you’d really like to give him is a knife to the heart, eh?”
“Stake.”
“Excuse me?”
Xander blushed, realizing that he said that out loud. “Never mind. What should I get him?”
The other man thought a moment, eyes scanning the store carefully. “Anything he likes to do…I mean, other than make you hate him?”
Xander’s eyes rolled heavenward, reviewing in his mind what he knew t Spt Spike. He was a major pawn in Angelus’s demise two years ago…he’s a neutered Master vampire…he pestered Giles all the time about watching soap operas… Maybe passing by all those woman-geared stores wasn’t such a good idea after all…
“What about something like this?”
Xander snapped out of his reverie and looked at what the man was holding. It was a long, black stick, tapered at one end and covered with felt on the tip. ook ook it in his hands and rolled it gently, weighing it. “I guess I’ve seen him play pool at the Bronze once or twice,” he said aloud. This seemed like the perfect gift. It was a beautiful cue and it wasn’t overly personal or generally white elephant. He nod “Y “Yeah. This is good.”
“It gets better,” the man grinned. He pulled a long, dark red velvet case from behind the shelf. “Case to go along with it. And,” he slid a piece of paper onto the top, “we can monogram it for you if you’d like.”
“Really?” Xander nearly bounced. His shopping was done! And no one would ever suspect that he’d waited until the last minute to buy it. Plus, it could serve as a really large stake if it came tat… at… Then, his smile died. “How much?”
“For you?” The man looked him over. “Only fifteen ninety-five.”
Amazingly, when Xander counted out the change and bills in his pockets, that was the exact amount he had. His smile returned, the package was wrapped, and he was on his way to Giles’s for the shindig.
~*~
Ethan Rayne slid the metal gate down on his newest business establishment with a huge grin on his face. The boy who’d just left with the pool cue had no idea what was in store for him. He walked to the back room, lit two candles, and flipped to a page in a large red book.
“'Heart of Darkness, hear my plea! I beg the Goddess,
The Fiery-headed beginning and end of the year,
To infuse the black cue with lovelust unending.
Blood Red Mother of lust, make desire grow
Out of dour hate and burn and be reciprocal
Sparking sexlust in whom shall touch the cue.
Solstice of night, let lovers part and quarrels,
Let cue-bound victims want and touch and mate,
Let Mooncurse chain the will and move the bodies
Let urgent need ignore all time and space
So enemies mate and mate and are consumed…'
The wind outside the mall picked up, whipping shopper’s hair and bags in a fevered frenzy. Babies screamed and mothers clasped them closer to their breasts. Xander, safe in his car, noticed no real difference in the weather…and he paid no attention to the package resting on the passenger seat, which glowed a bright red.
He happily drove out into the main road and hummed along to the Christmas carols on the radio.
~*~
“Xander’s here!”
He was wrapped instantly in a circle of arms and the scent of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies invaded his nose. He hugged Willow back with his free arm. “Hey. Happy Solstice!”
“Your gift? Wow…I’m assuming that you didn’t wrap this,” the red-haired girl said, taking the package from under his arm. “Isn’t it pretty?” she asked Buffy.
“Ooo…is it for me?”
“I don’t know, Buff. No tag. Everybody’s got to wait you know.”
Xander took a seat next to Anya, who looked like she was fairly angry. “Hey, Ahn.” He gave her a tiny squeeze.
“Hi,” she murmured. Then, she slumped down in the couch.
“Everybody ready? Giles! Xander’s here! We can start opening gifts now!” Willow called. She bounced over to Tara. “Since is mys my idea, I think I’ll hand out the gifts.”
Soon all of them werssedssed out and everyone stared at everyone else’s wrapping. “Giles, I think you should open first.”
“Right.” The ex-Watcher frowned at the brown paper bag on his lap, but opened it nonetheless. “Who’s…this from?” he asked. He pulled out the large bottle of Laphroig and two Aero bars. At the bottom of the bag sat three empty wrappers.
“Tha’s mine, Rupes. Thought you might like something better to drink than the piss water they call scotch here.”
“Thank you, Spike.” He set the bottle down on his desk, admiring it with homesick eyes.
Xander frowned. “Giles got chocolate? Not fair!”
“Xander? You may go next.”
He unwrapped the gift, staring down at what lay nestled in soft tissue paper. “Walkie-talkies?” He picked them up and turned on the volume. They hissed and crackled to life.
“That’s from me. Didn’t know exactly what to get you,” Riley spoke up. “They’re not really hooked into the Initiative’s frequency, but if you get at just the right angle on the right channel…” The soldier stopped talking at Buffy’s stern look.
“Thanks, man.”
There was a flurry of gifts opened and Xander watched unenthusiastically. His gift seemed too personal and too eloquent. He began to sweat, as each gift was unwrapped. Buffy got a pair of suede boots she wanted, Tara, a new spell book, Willow, a goodie bag of witch supplies including two dozen eyes of newt, Anya, a tiny brown purse, and Riley shoved his back into it’s wrapping as soon as he knew what it was. From the blush on his face, Anya had decided to go with the condom idea. Finally, it was Spike’s turn to open.
The vampire’s delicate pale fingers sought out a seam in the wrapping and slid them inside. Slowly, he pressed and the tape popped free. The rest of the paper was pulled off and a red and black box sat on his lap. The deftgersgers tugged the top free. The carrying case was plucked from its confines and the room gasped.
“What is it?”
“How much did you spend on that?”
“You don’t spend that much on me and you LIKE me…”
Spike sent a glance at the whelp, whose face matched the red on the box. There was something about the present… “It’s not somethin’ that’s gonna jump out and bite my head off, is it?”
“No.”
The group got silent again as Spike flicked open the tiny lat and and lifted the lid. Xander wanted to hide. Maybe the gift wasn’t such a good idea after all…it had seemed that way in the store…
“Wow, whelp. Didn’t know you cared.” The vampire picked up the two pieces of the cue and set about twisting them together. His hand brushed against the monogrammed letter on the side and he peered at it confused. “This is a nice pressie.”
Xander swallowed. Anya glared at him. Willow’s mouth looked as if it were about to take in a whole pie at once. Spike held the cue out, level with his eyes, and peered down it.
“W,w,well..who wants cookies?” Tara interrupted, sensing the discomfort in the room.
Xander’s hand shot up uncontrollably. “I do. I’ll even help you bring ‘em out.” He hurried to his feet and followed Tara into the kitchen. The rest of the room finally started gabbing again, Buffy and Riley trying to weasel their way out early.
“There’s something…,” Tara began, placing cookies on a plate but watching Spike examine the cue stick. “Something’s different about that pool cue, Xander. Where’d you get it?”
“Ummm, November Rayne. A new store in the mall.”
“Whelp!”
Xander shivered. “Yeah?”
“Wanna go shoot some?” Spike had started putting the cue back in its carrier and stared at him expectedly. “Want to try it out ya know. Looks too fancy to be any good.”
Anya piped up. “Excuse me! Xander’s going home with me now…to give me lots and lots rgasrgasms.” Giles groaned. Xander sighed. It was just like her to bring up this stuff at his friend’s party. “Aren’t you, Xander?”
“Ahn…I’m kinda beat. I don’t really think that…”
“What? First, I don’t even get a present from you. Then, you buy a neutered vampire a really nice present. And now you don’t even want to give me orgasms? What kind of boyfriend are you?” Anya stood, hands on her hips and looked from Xander to Spike.
“Anya…it’s not like that…this party…”
“You’re giving Spike orgasms!”
“WHAT?” All the voices in the room, except Anya’s, were heard.
“That’s the only reason I can think of to explain why he gets great presents and I don’t get any orgasms.”
No one said a word. So Anya interpreted the silence as assent to her outrageous statement and she took off in a huff with her tiny purse and Xander’s walkie-talkies. Six pairs of eyes turned to Xander. He let out a nervous chuckle. “So…who wanted cookies?”
~*~
An hour later, Xander found himself leaning against a metal column at the Bronze, watching as his money slowly made a home in Spike’s pocket. The vampire was too good at billiards.
“Your shot, whelp.” Spike sauntered back to the table and drank down another swig of beer.
Xander sized up his shot, pulled back his cue stick, and jumped a foot in the air when he felt a hand on his back. “Spike! Don’t do that to a human! We have sensitive hearts.”
“Sorry. Just thought you might like a few tips.” Xander glared at him, but Spike continued. “You were about to sink the eight ball in the corner pocket with the way you were lined up. May I?”
Xander eyed the vampire, anger and hostility not as evident as usual. “Why not?” He slumped back over his sticstick, in position. Spike’s hands maneuvered him around by his hips and shoulders.
“Look down that stick now,” he whispered into the human’s ear. Xander decided that Spike definitely had to stop talking like liquid sex. His cock filled ever so slightly in his pants. ookeooked down the stick, thought about what he had just thought…and stood back up instantly, knocking Spike back and his beer onto the leather duster. Something was wrong…
“Sorry.”
“Oi, whelp! Mind the leather!” Spike plopped his beer down on the table again, pissed that Xander had moved so quickly. The boy had smelled so delicious…and his warmth was… “Wait a bloody minute,” he exclaimed. Xander looked at him with startled eyes. Spike would have blushed if he’d had blood to do so. “Gonna go clean this up.”
Once safely inside the bathroom, he breathed rapidly. There was something wrong here. Xander Harris, weakest of all the Scoobies, was tickling his fancy now? Spike shook his head. Couldn’t be. Something had to be doing this to him. A spell…
He splashed water on his face. Willow. She’d insisted on the party, she’d made everyone give pressies. Xander’d given him the cue stick… It had to be one of Red’s spells gone awry. “AHA!” he shouted. Xander and he never got along and it bothered the witch so much that she’d purposefully put a friend spell on them and it had got botched!
“Sounds like you fixed your duster.”
Spike nearly let out an unmanly scream as Xander walked into the restroom and stood beside him. “No. Just…uhm…”
Xander reached out and touched the duster, where a noticeable spill mark was still visible. “Want me to help you with that?” Xander felt…hot…tingly…fucking horny. And, for some reason, touching the duster made some of that feeling dissipate. He used his other hand to wipe at the stain. Spike shivered. His brilliant thought was forgotten.
“I had a thought…,” the vampire began, “about…something…”
His thoughts left his brain as Xander’s knuckles brushed his abdomen. He looked up into dark eyes. “Xander?”
Outside, in the bar, the cue stick glowed bright red and throbbed. No one paid any mind.
Xander wet his lips…and breathed out slowly. “Yeah?” He was no longer looking at the beer stain, but stared into Spike’s eyes with lust. Inside, his brain was screaming at him to run and hide…
“Bugger.”
Spike roughly pulled Xander to him and their lips met with a bruising force. Tongues dueled and both men moaned at the sensation. Vaguely, Spike remembered that they were inside the bathroom at the Bronze and pushed Xander into the nearest stall.
His hands were grabby and sought out something warm, golden…something that sought out his touch. Xander cried out as his shirt was pushed up violently and pants unbuttoned. “Spike…,” he moaned in between kisses. “Spike…what are you doing?”
“Feels…good….,” Spike panted. He licked down to Xander’s neck and nipped playfully at his ear. “Can’t stop…spell, I think.”
“If it’s a spell…”
“Best to let it ride itself out,” Spike said, pulling Xander’s boxers out of his way. His other hand had moved to the whelp’s and tugged it towards his own pants. “Then we can find Red and get this all straightened out.”
“Good idea.” Xander’s hand popped open buttons and he gasped when there was a thick, wet cock in his hand. He gasped again, louder, as Spike finally found his own dripping erection.
Spike moved forward until their dicks were touching and wrapped his fingers around both. “Won’t shag you proper…surely get staked for that,” he whispered.
“Yeah, Buffy wouldn’t understand,” Xander admitted.
“I was thinkin’ ‘bout when you come back to your senses.”
Xander didn’t have a comeback for that. In fact, if he did, it was wasted on the lovely tingling he was getting in his balls. His head lolled back onto the stall’s metal wall.
Spike’s hand was sticky now, thick precum dribbling out of both men’s cocks at a steady pace. It leant to a wet and wild ride, something Spike hadn’t had in a long time. He thrust his own cock harder against Xander’s and groaned against the boy’s neck.
“So warm, luv. Feeo goo good.”
“Yeah.”
The cue stick’s light began becoming noticeable to patrons, as it flashed out the ends and from the engraved ‘S.’ Some teenagers dropped their own cues and left the building. Others watched from a safe distance. A handful approached it with apprehension.
Xander whimpered in Spike’s ear. “Fuck…harder…” This earned a similar whimper from the blonde and a copious amount of slick fluid to add to the mix. His own callused hand joined in, just beneath Spike’s.
Spike grunted, feeling the wall start to shake and move under their thrusts. “Gods…”
A very interested teenager, who was dumb as a pile of rocks, picked up the cue stick to admire it. “Hey, guys!” he shouted to his friends. “Look at this!” He held it up for his buddies to see, accidentally struck the underside of the table, and sent the stick clattering to the floor. The stick split down the center and the mysterious red light floated above the crowd. People screamed and ducked for cover. The light moved faster and faster, under the door of the restroom, and settled above Spike and Xander. It blinked above them for a few seconds, and then whooshed down into both their bodies.
Spike felt the energy first, like an instant crasd bud burn for his orgasm, and howled as he came into his own hand. Xander bucked forward at Spike’s completion and followed him over the edge. Warm and cool seed covered their shirts and hands, melding them together like sticky glue.
Then, as quickly as it had come on, the happy lust was gone. Xander squeezed his eyes shut and took his hand from their cocks. Spike took his hand away as well, but didn’t stick around for the aftershock. Instead, he tucked himself into pants, buttoned up, and slammed out of the stall. He rinsed his hand. “Be seein’ ya, whelp.” Then, he was gone.
Xander waited a few minutes while the anger built up and died down, before putting his clothes back in order and going to wash up. That was quite definitely the worst thing that could have ever happened. Ever. Including…well, everything bad that had ever happened to him in his life. Even Jesse.
He walked out into the club, which had cleared out. Whatever spell that was, it sucked.
~*~
Two days later, he was back at Giles’s, answering a myriad of questions. “Yes. November Rayne. R-A-Y-N-E. How was I supposed to know that Ethan guy’s name was spelled that way?” He slumped down into the chair.
“It’s telly time!” A rattling of chains and angry yell from the British vampire came from the bathroom, which no one paid any attention to. “Passions is on you soddin’ git!”
“Do shut up, Spike!” Giles yelled back. “You are not a guest here! You’re a bloody nuisance!”
Giles held the broken pool stick in his hands and frowned. “It’s safe to say that the spell is gone, but do be more careful when buying gifts next .”
.”
“Thanks, G-man. Great advice.” Xander got up to leave. “Next time we have a solstice party, I’ll be sure to remember that.”
“Watcher!”
Giles sighed. “I think I’ve got a headache that needs taken care of. I’m going out. I’ll try to find where Ethan is hiding out now. You might want to stop by Willow’s just in case there are…after effects.” He gathered his coat and slipped out the door, muttering something about charity cases and government agencies.
Xander put his own coat on, but hesitated before leaving. Instead, he walked back to the bathroom and peered in. Spike was chained to the tub by hands and feet, looking pale and sickly, like when he’d shown up on the doorstep. He growled when he saw Xander.
“Did he send you in to turn on the telly?”
“No.” For a moment, Xander thought he should just leave the vampire. But seeing him chained up lthatthat struck a chord. “Don’t tell Giles I did this.” He stepped inside and flipped on the set. The “Passions” theme song came blaring over the tiny speaker. He turned to leave.
“Thanks, pet.”
Xander paused. “Sure thing…Spike.” Maybe he should get Giles to let him ‘watch’ Spike for a while… He grinned to himself. Yeah… There were worse things that could happen than spells that called for mutual sex…
~*~THE END~*~