Kinda a long one but gets spicy at the end lolz
You'd think someone confessing their love for you would make the aftermath awkward if you said no, right? Strangely enough, it's not.
Spike told me he liked me a while ago and I turned him down. I was fresh out of a borderline toxic relationship, and I'd never really considered Spike in that way before. I think things are chill because we use humour to gloss over it - that's always been our way of communicating: witty remarks and quick jabs. I wouldn't have it any other way.
"Bloody hell, you look positively awful." Spike comments without even glancing my way.
"Thanks, you're looking as grim and sickly as ever, sweetheart," I snap back without hesitation. Spike looks up and grins at me.
"Shall we?" he asks, outstretching an arm, which I take. "Everyone's ready."
We traipse downstairs to find Giles, Xander and Buffy huddled by the door impatiently.
"Finally," Xander says, already opening the door.
"Yeah, sorry. We were making out." I deadpan and Xander groans, knowing me well enough to realise I'm kidding.
Giles and Buffy exhale similar sighs, "Let's go," Giles says, pulling the sleeves of his dapper suit down slightly. Everyone's dressed up smartly to blend in at the vampire party we're going to stake out (ha, get it? Stake).
I look down at my own outfit after seeing Buffy's beautiful crimson slip dress. I'm not exactly self-conscious but she just looks so pretty.
"You look fine." Spike says from beside me. When I meet his eyes, there's something genuine there, so I smile politely and we exit, still with linked arms.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
We all look up at the towering mansion glimmering before us in the twilight (ha again) and Xander exclaims, "This place is huge!"
"Not as huge as my -" I smack Spike sharply in the arm before he can finish his sentence.
"Come on," Buffy says quietly, "And don't do anything stupid," she adds passive aggressively in my direction. I would be offended but I suppose it's fair, given my track record of speaking Latin in front of the books and making out with vampires on more occasions than I'd like to admit.
Once inside, I'm consumed with the sheer vastness of the place. High ceilings, ornate chandeliers which look like they cost almost as much as the gleaming piano placed deliberately in the middle of the foyer.
"William!" a high, cheerful voice rings, "It's so good to see you!"
"And you, Mary," Spike says with a smile full of memories, "What's it been? 70 years? 80?"
"I make it 100," she smiles, "Glad you could make it... and it's nice you've brought some friends."
She glides away to mingle with the other vampires and assortment of hell creatures. I fix Spike with an incredulous stare but he only smirks. "How did you think we got on the guest list?"
"Ex girlfriend?" I ask, painfully aware of how that sounds.
"Nah, just a friend," he winks and I physically cringe.
"Don't you ever wink at me again, you creep."
We've not here for her though. We're looking for a guy I've only heard descriptions of. A vampire called Lazlo. 5 foot 9. Wears exclusively purple and black - apparently - and is responsible for the rising number of Sulvote demons in the area (he's been harbouring the eggs but not taking very good care of them, letting them rampage over Sunnydale). We need him deader than he already is.
It doesn't take long for Spike to tell me he saw a flash of purple on the wooden balcony above us. He elbows me lightly in the ribs and jerks his head, so I follow his lead.
"Which way?" I ask, fingers absent-mindedly stroking the stake I have strapped to my thigh.
"This way, I think. This place is like a bloody maze."
He's not wrong. Every door is identical and the corridors seem endless - I doubt Spike even knows where he's going. Lazlo could be anywhere and he has the upper hand if he knows the layout of this labyrinth...
"Oi! Stay focused."
"I am." I lie.
"Look, I know how handsome I look in this tux, but come on, have some dignity."
"I hate you."
I don't have to look at him to know he's smirking.
"Wait," he says, tone suddenly serious, "Footsteps."
I have to trust his vampiric hearing on this one. "What do we do?"
"They're getting closer." Before I have time to protest, Spike pushes me through a random door and steps in after me, closing it quietly. It's a tiny broom closet, full to the brim with haphazardly placed buckets, mops and a giant hoover.
In the dark, enclosed space, all I can hear are my heavy breaths and the patter of footsteps creeping closer and closer. I look up, and can just make out Spike's eyes, which are glowing eerily.
"Do you think -" I whisper as I try to step back, but slip on something, and lose my balance. Spike gracefully pulls me towards him by the hands so that I bump into his chest. I'm grateful for the lack of light because I know I'm blushing so hard right now.
"Fuck." I breathe as neither of us moves.
"Do I make you horny, baby?" he whispers directly into my ear.
I roll my eyes. "Oh yes, Spike. I want you right here, on top of all the buckets and Tide Pods." I say sarcastically, despite my burning cheeks and sweaty palms.
"Huh, funny... I thought I'd be on top."
Before I can say something I'll regret, the door flies open and who I can only presume is Lazlo stands before us. He wears a painfully fake smile, eyes drifting from me to Spike.
"If you guys could keep it in your pants and not have sex in my cupboard, that would be lovely."
My mouth actually drops open and Spike breaks away from me. "Our apologies," he says, turning to me with wide eyes. What am I supposed to do? I'm too mortified to move, let alone kill this guy.
Luckily, I don't have to think because Lazlo crumbles to a pile of dust in the blink of an eye. Buffy is standing at the end of the hallway; crossbow in hand, smile on face. Xander's next to her with a mix of fear and admiration in his eyes. "Awesome..." I hear him mutter.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
When Spike invites me back to his crypt, against my better judgement, I accept. I keep replaying what happened in the closet over again in my head like a stuck record.
Once inside, with the door closed and fire on, Spike says quietly. "I didn't even know he was up there, you know."
"Huh?"
"Lazlo."
"What? Did you just want to get me alone?" I ask in my best silly sexy voice, accompanied by a wiggle of my eyebrows.
"I know you're kidding but the rasp in your voice is kinda doing it for me."
I clamp my lips shut, begging myself not to blush again. I muster an eyeroll.
"But, urm, yeah. Maybe."
"Maybe what?"
"Maybe I just wanted to get you alone."
There's a pause. The kind of pause that makes your blood stop pumping and your brain stop working.
"And - I'm scared to ask this - why did you do that?"
Spike doesn't answer, he only steps silently towards me. I feel the same flutter in my stomach I felt in that closet.
"Ayyyyyy," I say awkwardly, "What you doing there?"
"Nothing," he says innocently, although he's still stalking towards my frozen body, "Nothing if you don't want me to."
"I don't know what I want," I say, the words flowing carelessly off my tongue, "Come on, drop a sex joke or something. Where's the Spike I know and hate?"
"I'm not in the mood for jokes, Y/N." he states plainly.
There couldn't be less space between us. Well, okay, there could be but...
"Spike."
"Y/N."
"Spike."
...
"Can I kiss you?"
"Yes."
He tastes salty and smells like smoke.
My hands find his short hair, pulling gently which makes his mouth open a little more.
He pulls me closer by the waist and... there definitely couldn't be more room between us now. His hands slip under my shirt and his fingertips skim the seams of my bra. I inhale sharply and he quickly pulls away.
"No," I say quietly, "It's okay."
I take his hand and guide it back to where it was. His other hand weaves around me and I hear the soft click of the clasp coming undone. My eyes flutter shut in anticipation.
Spike places a gentle kiss to my lips and whispers for me to look at him. Our eyes lock and we stand there, dishevelled and panting for a good, long moment. I take in his pink lips, the lipstick stains that decorate the corners of his mouth, the glint in his eyes.
I feel my bra drop to the floor.