Fic: 100moods Spander, Confused
Oh. My. Freakin' Lord. It's been AGES since I worked on this series! I am so sorry to those that had been following it. Yikes. But I've been working on this little slice of it for about 4 days, and if I fiddle around with it any more, it's gonna explode. So, here is the next installment of the 100moods of Spander.
also, To Vapor and Dusk will be updated this week too! Yay. Go me!
Title: Confused
Fandom: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Characters: Xander/Spike
Prompt: confused
Word Count: 1930
Rating: Adult
Warning/Spoilers: Umm, S4 roughly, but no real spoilers and definitely no warnings.
Summary: Couple months since "cold" and Xander is moving things along nicely. Unfortunately, he's not told Spike. Uh. Oh.
Unbeta'd, so heck yeah, concrit welcome!! Totally.
Xander flopped down hard in the chair next to Willow. Folding his arms on the table, he let out a long, tired sigh and laid his head down to look up at her.
She was bent over one of Giles’ ancient volumes with her arms curled over the top of it, fingers crushing a tissue. Her brow was lined in frustration and her lips moved silently as she read and translated the text. Xander couldn’t help but smile at her earnestness. She finished a paragraph and marked her place on the page with a finger, then turned to him.
“Hey, Xand. Long day?”
He cleared his throat and nodded, “Uh huh.”
She reached over and ran her hand through his sweaty hair. “I’m sorry,” she said with a sympathetic smile.
“Nah, not your fault, sweetie. I got some news, though, that I think you might be happy to hear.”
“You got a promotion!” Willow’s unwavering support and enthusiasm for Xander’s new career was evident in the excitement of her voice. “I knew they’d see how good you were!”
“Whoa, girl! Slow down, “ he laughed, sitting up. “I’ve only been at the company a couple of months. Trust me, they’re not going to promote me in that short a time, though, unofficially I have been given some more responsibilities, just not the title that comes with them. But! That is not my news.”
He stretched his arms out over the table, and drummed his fingers on the polished wood surface.
Willow waited a few minutes, but when Xander stayed quiet, she smacked him in the arm. “Well! What’s the news?”
“Mmm, impatient much?”
“Yes!”
He laughed. “I want to wait for everyone to get here, first.” He checked his watch. “When are they coming, anyway?”
“What time is it?”
“Bout 6:00.”
“They should be here any minute now. I came straight after school, but Buffy had to go home for a while, you know, mother-daughter bonding, and Tara has another class.” She pointed over her shoulder at the office, “Giles is in there. Doing his growly ‘I’m one with the numbers’ thing.”
Xander nodded and sucked in a deep breath. “Well, I guess it’ll be a little while ‘fore I get to share my news, huh?”
Just then the bell over the door chimed and Buffy and Tara walked in together, and Xander greeted them with wide arms. “Ladies!”
Tara gave her shy smile and whispered, “Hey Xander.” She suffered awkwardly through his hug, and he patted her on the back, trying to ease her nervousness, and said. “You know, Tara, you’re gonna have to put up with a lot of huggin’ in this group. I mean, with the evil-fighting, and nearly dying all the time, we need the affection when and where we can get it.” He planted a kiss on her hair.
She pulled back from him, nodding. “I - I’ll get there. Just g-give me...need some time.”
Xander smiled down at her, “Sure thing, Tara.” He pointed over at Willow still sitting at the table. “Willow’s over there, immersed in something I have absolutely no knowledge of. I’m sure she could use a distraction.” He gave her shoulder another pat, and watched her walk over to Willow and sit.
“I like them together,” Buffy said, out of nowhere.
“Together?”
“Yeah.”
“As in, together together?”
Buffy laughed and hugged him. “Yes, doofus. You’ve missed out on a lot, working the way you do. We hardly ever see you anymore. Miss you, ya know?”
“Ahhh,” Xander sighed, “Buffy hugs. I’ve missed my Buffy hugs. And yes, I totally understand the missage. But I gotta tell ya, Buff. I love my job. It’s really beginning to pay off.”
She pulled back. “Really? How so?”
The bell over the door rang again and Spike stalked in, smoking. “You lot had best come up with a better time for your blasted meetings! This strolling through town, dancin’ in and outta the sun is for the birds!”
“You’re more than welcome to stay home, Spike. Not like we need you all the time.” Buffy teased, without any real malice.
“But then, Slayer, I wouldn’t get to see whatever new disastrous ensemble you’ve put together to wear. Like that one. Whoever told you fuscia was your color must have been seeking revenge. What’d you do? Kill the bloke’s family? Stake his last minion?”
She scoffed at him. “This from the era-challenged vamp who still buys Miss Clairol Frosting kit number 23? Spike, honey. The 80s are looong over.”
“Oh so sorry, Slayer!” he drawled. “Did I take your last box?”
Buffy’s eyebrow arched high and she opened her mouth for another comeback, only to have Xander slap his hand over it and shake his head. “Now, now children. Let’s all get along, shall we?”
Spike stalked over to the steps and settled on one riser. “Yeah. Whatever. What’re you lot huntin’ these days?” Spike asked as he lit a cigarette.
Xander guided Buffy over to the table where Willow and Tara sat, and shot a hidden wink over to Spike, who winked back. “Not hunting, blondie. Just got some news,” he said, then called out for Giles to join them.
Giles came out frowning, glasses gripped in tense fingers. “I do hope, Xander, you’ve called this meeting for a purpose,” he said as he slid his glasses back on. “Although, to be honest, any escape from the hell that is inventory is welcome.”
“Knew you’d thank me, Giles. Anyway. The reason for meeting? I have some good news!” Xander swung his arms forward and clapped his hands. “Now, we all know that the Xand man has been living in the basement of debasement since returning from the trip that wasn’t.”
Willow grimaced. “Yeah, Xander. I wish there was something we could do about that.” Tara covered Willow’s hand in a light gesture of comfort, as Xander shook his head at her.
“Wills, you’ve had the college thing going on. You don’t have to apologize to me,” he said with a smile.
Spike raised his hand and spoke from the stairs. “What, exactly does this have to do with me?”
Xander frowned at him as Buffy turned and said, “Shut up, Spike.”
“Just wonderin’, ya know, ‘cause I did sprint here in the sunlight thinking this was some important meet up.” He leaned back on the stairs and wrapped the length of the duster around him. “Gettin’ called out in the early evening for this is just...well, it’s wrong, is all. Vamp’s gotta rep to keep up, ya know?” He blustered and sent Xander a look through his lashes, questioning.
“Oh god, Spike! Give it a rest! We all know, now, how grieved you are to come to the meetings! Why didn’t you just stay in your crypt, if being here is such a pain in your ass?” Buffy ended her tirade with a flip of her hair and a roll of her eyes, then turned back to Xander. “Go on, Xander. What’s up?”
“Well, I’ve been a the new job for a nearly two months, and have managed, despite my crazy greedy parents, to save up enough to move.” The girls congratulated him and Giles managed a gruff, “Good for you, my boy,” and Xander waved them off. “Thanks, thanks. But here’s the news.” He paused a moment, and let his gaze travel around the room at everyone. “I’ve found a place an signed a lease. I move in tomorrow.”
Buffy and Willow both gasped in surprised joy, and jumped up to hug him. Giles nodded, a paternal smile on his face, and Xander smiled back, knowing that Giles was proud of him. He let himself be engulfed in his girls’ arms, taking the new congratulations with a laugh and ‘thanks.’ He kept an eye on Spike, watching the vampire’s reaction, or rather, lack of one.
When Spike finally looked over at him, Xander was shocked at the anger in the gaze that met his.
“Congrats, pup. Thought you’d be in that dank hole the rest of your miserable life,” Spike said, lips barely moving.
“Really?” Xander asked, disengaging himself from both Willow and Buffy.
Spike shrugged. Huffing a breath of smoke from his cigarette, he turned away from Xander’s gaze.
“Hmm,” Xander murmured. Making a decision, he turned back to the group and said, “Another bit of news. Good for me...not sure how you guys are going to take it, though.”
At that Spike faced him again, an eyebrow lifted in confusion. Xander smiled and gave Spike a short nod, at which Spike’s eyes widened fractionally. He cleared his throat, looked each of his friends in the eye, took a deep breath and started to speak. “Spike’s moving in with me.”
“Oh dear Lord,” Xander heard Giles whisper just before removing his glasses. Xander waited for him to start wiping at the lenses furiously, but that didn’t happen, so he turned his gaze to Willow. Her eyes were wide with shock, and Xander almost laughed at the sheer size of them, but thought better of laughing when he saw Buffy’s level look.
“Spike. Moving in with you.” Her voice rolled over him, an avalanche of confused disappointment.
Xander swallowed. “I figured, Buff, since he’s been living with me for the last two months, that it’s only right that he move with me to the new place.”
And that was the last straw. At the announcement that they had been living together for two months, all of Xander’s friends started talking at once.
“Living with you?”
“What?! I thought he had his own place!”
“And you didn’t tell me!”
All shouting at him that he’d lost his mind, that he had to be crazy and did he know what the hell he was doing. Tara was the only one who remained calm, merely asking him with a glance, if he was sure. He nodded, and when her shy enigmatic smile stretched over her jaw, he could have sworn he saw her mouth the word “good” at him.
Shaking his head, trying to drown out the sound of his friends’ confusion and exasperation, Xander glanced to where Spike sat on the stairs. Lifting his eyebrow in question, he grinned when Spike scratched his head and shrugged at him.
“Whoa, ladies! Enough is enough!” Xander shouted above the din of Willow and Buffy’s disbelief. “I have stuff to pack, things to buy! An apartment to move into, so I’m gonna head on out.” He glanced back up at Spike and asked, “You coming?”
Spike looked around at the Scoobies, who all stared back at him with some mixture of curiosity and anger, then shrugged. “Yeah. No, don’t think so, Harris.” He rose and shoved his hands in the duster pockets then stomped down the stairs.
“What? Why not? Spike!” Xander shouted to get Spike’s attention before he left the shop. “What the hell! I just basically came out to everyone and you’re, what? Just gonna leave me hanging here?”
Spike took a deep drag of the cigarette still burning in his hand and blew a thin cold line of icy blue smoke in Xander’s face. “Exactly right, Harris. Just gonna leave you hangin’. You ‘spect me to move to some new hole, sight unseen, ‘cause you got the dosh? Nah, pet. I got a place. Right cozy, if I must say. ‘S you what needs to get out - move on.” He turned on his heel and strode out of the shop, leaving Xander dumbfounded and the rest of the gang in shocked silence.
also, To Vapor and Dusk will be updated this week too! Yay. Go me!
Title: Confused
Fandom: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Characters: Xander/Spike
Prompt: confused
Word Count: 1930
Rating: Adult
Warning/Spoilers: Umm, S4 roughly, but no real spoilers and definitely no warnings.
Summary: Couple months since "cold" and Xander is moving things along nicely. Unfortunately, he's not told Spike. Uh. Oh.
Unbeta'd, so heck yeah, concrit welcome!! Totally.
Xander flopped down hard in the chair next to Willow. Folding his arms on the table, he let out a long, tired sigh and laid his head down to look up at her.
She was bent over one of Giles’ ancient volumes with her arms curled over the top of it, fingers crushing a tissue. Her brow was lined in frustration and her lips moved silently as she read and translated the text. Xander couldn’t help but smile at her earnestness. She finished a paragraph and marked her place on the page with a finger, then turned to him.
“Hey, Xand. Long day?”
He cleared his throat and nodded, “Uh huh.”
She reached over and ran her hand through his sweaty hair. “I’m sorry,” she said with a sympathetic smile.
“Nah, not your fault, sweetie. I got some news, though, that I think you might be happy to hear.”
“You got a promotion!” Willow’s unwavering support and enthusiasm for Xander’s new career was evident in the excitement of her voice. “I knew they’d see how good you were!”
“Whoa, girl! Slow down, “ he laughed, sitting up. “I’ve only been at the company a couple of months. Trust me, they’re not going to promote me in that short a time, though, unofficially I have been given some more responsibilities, just not the title that comes with them. But! That is not my news.”
He stretched his arms out over the table, and drummed his fingers on the polished wood surface.
Willow waited a few minutes, but when Xander stayed quiet, she smacked him in the arm. “Well! What’s the news?”
“Mmm, impatient much?”
“Yes!”
He laughed. “I want to wait for everyone to get here, first.” He checked his watch. “When are they coming, anyway?”
“What time is it?”
“Bout 6:00.”
“They should be here any minute now. I came straight after school, but Buffy had to go home for a while, you know, mother-daughter bonding, and Tara has another class.” She pointed over her shoulder at the office, “Giles is in there. Doing his growly ‘I’m one with the numbers’ thing.”
Xander nodded and sucked in a deep breath. “Well, I guess it’ll be a little while ‘fore I get to share my news, huh?”
Just then the bell over the door chimed and Buffy and Tara walked in together, and Xander greeted them with wide arms. “Ladies!”
Tara gave her shy smile and whispered, “Hey Xander.” She suffered awkwardly through his hug, and he patted her on the back, trying to ease her nervousness, and said. “You know, Tara, you’re gonna have to put up with a lot of huggin’ in this group. I mean, with the evil-fighting, and nearly dying all the time, we need the affection when and where we can get it.” He planted a kiss on her hair.
She pulled back from him, nodding. “I - I’ll get there. Just g-give me...need some time.”
Xander smiled down at her, “Sure thing, Tara.” He pointed over at Willow still sitting at the table. “Willow’s over there, immersed in something I have absolutely no knowledge of. I’m sure she could use a distraction.” He gave her shoulder another pat, and watched her walk over to Willow and sit.
“I like them together,” Buffy said, out of nowhere.
“Together?”
“Yeah.”
“As in, together together?”
Buffy laughed and hugged him. “Yes, doofus. You’ve missed out on a lot, working the way you do. We hardly ever see you anymore. Miss you, ya know?”
“Ahhh,” Xander sighed, “Buffy hugs. I’ve missed my Buffy hugs. And yes, I totally understand the missage. But I gotta tell ya, Buff. I love my job. It’s really beginning to pay off.”
She pulled back. “Really? How so?”
The bell over the door rang again and Spike stalked in, smoking. “You lot had best come up with a better time for your blasted meetings! This strolling through town, dancin’ in and outta the sun is for the birds!”
“You’re more than welcome to stay home, Spike. Not like we need you all the time.” Buffy teased, without any real malice.
“But then, Slayer, I wouldn’t get to see whatever new disastrous ensemble you’ve put together to wear. Like that one. Whoever told you fuscia was your color must have been seeking revenge. What’d you do? Kill the bloke’s family? Stake his last minion?”
She scoffed at him. “This from the era-challenged vamp who still buys Miss Clairol Frosting kit number 23? Spike, honey. The 80s are looong over.”
“Oh so sorry, Slayer!” he drawled. “Did I take your last box?”
Buffy’s eyebrow arched high and she opened her mouth for another comeback, only to have Xander slap his hand over it and shake his head. “Now, now children. Let’s all get along, shall we?”
Spike stalked over to the steps and settled on one riser. “Yeah. Whatever. What’re you lot huntin’ these days?” Spike asked as he lit a cigarette.
Xander guided Buffy over to the table where Willow and Tara sat, and shot a hidden wink over to Spike, who winked back. “Not hunting, blondie. Just got some news,” he said, then called out for Giles to join them.
Giles came out frowning, glasses gripped in tense fingers. “I do hope, Xander, you’ve called this meeting for a purpose,” he said as he slid his glasses back on. “Although, to be honest, any escape from the hell that is inventory is welcome.”
“Knew you’d thank me, Giles. Anyway. The reason for meeting? I have some good news!” Xander swung his arms forward and clapped his hands. “Now, we all know that the Xand man has been living in the basement of debasement since returning from the trip that wasn’t.”
Willow grimaced. “Yeah, Xander. I wish there was something we could do about that.” Tara covered Willow’s hand in a light gesture of comfort, as Xander shook his head at her.
“Wills, you’ve had the college thing going on. You don’t have to apologize to me,” he said with a smile.
Spike raised his hand and spoke from the stairs. “What, exactly does this have to do with me?”
Xander frowned at him as Buffy turned and said, “Shut up, Spike.”
“Just wonderin’, ya know, ‘cause I did sprint here in the sunlight thinking this was some important meet up.” He leaned back on the stairs and wrapped the length of the duster around him. “Gettin’ called out in the early evening for this is just...well, it’s wrong, is all. Vamp’s gotta rep to keep up, ya know?” He blustered and sent Xander a look through his lashes, questioning.
“Oh god, Spike! Give it a rest! We all know, now, how grieved you are to come to the meetings! Why didn’t you just stay in your crypt, if being here is such a pain in your ass?” Buffy ended her tirade with a flip of her hair and a roll of her eyes, then turned back to Xander. “Go on, Xander. What’s up?”
“Well, I’ve been a the new job for a nearly two months, and have managed, despite my crazy greedy parents, to save up enough to move.” The girls congratulated him and Giles managed a gruff, “Good for you, my boy,” and Xander waved them off. “Thanks, thanks. But here’s the news.” He paused a moment, and let his gaze travel around the room at everyone. “I’ve found a place an signed a lease. I move in tomorrow.”
Buffy and Willow both gasped in surprised joy, and jumped up to hug him. Giles nodded, a paternal smile on his face, and Xander smiled back, knowing that Giles was proud of him. He let himself be engulfed in his girls’ arms, taking the new congratulations with a laugh and ‘thanks.’ He kept an eye on Spike, watching the vampire’s reaction, or rather, lack of one.
When Spike finally looked over at him, Xander was shocked at the anger in the gaze that met his.
“Congrats, pup. Thought you’d be in that dank hole the rest of your miserable life,” Spike said, lips barely moving.
“Really?” Xander asked, disengaging himself from both Willow and Buffy.
Spike shrugged. Huffing a breath of smoke from his cigarette, he turned away from Xander’s gaze.
“Hmm,” Xander murmured. Making a decision, he turned back to the group and said, “Another bit of news. Good for me...not sure how you guys are going to take it, though.”
At that Spike faced him again, an eyebrow lifted in confusion. Xander smiled and gave Spike a short nod, at which Spike’s eyes widened fractionally. He cleared his throat, looked each of his friends in the eye, took a deep breath and started to speak. “Spike’s moving in with me.”
“Oh dear Lord,” Xander heard Giles whisper just before removing his glasses. Xander waited for him to start wiping at the lenses furiously, but that didn’t happen, so he turned his gaze to Willow. Her eyes were wide with shock, and Xander almost laughed at the sheer size of them, but thought better of laughing when he saw Buffy’s level look.
“Spike. Moving in with you.” Her voice rolled over him, an avalanche of confused disappointment.
Xander swallowed. “I figured, Buff, since he’s been living with me for the last two months, that it’s only right that he move with me to the new place.”
And that was the last straw. At the announcement that they had been living together for two months, all of Xander’s friends started talking at once.
“Living with you?”
“What?! I thought he had his own place!”
“And you didn’t tell me!”
All shouting at him that he’d lost his mind, that he had to be crazy and did he know what the hell he was doing. Tara was the only one who remained calm, merely asking him with a glance, if he was sure. He nodded, and when her shy enigmatic smile stretched over her jaw, he could have sworn he saw her mouth the word “good” at him.
Shaking his head, trying to drown out the sound of his friends’ confusion and exasperation, Xander glanced to where Spike sat on the stairs. Lifting his eyebrow in question, he grinned when Spike scratched his head and shrugged at him.
“Whoa, ladies! Enough is enough!” Xander shouted above the din of Willow and Buffy’s disbelief. “I have stuff to pack, things to buy! An apartment to move into, so I’m gonna head on out.” He glanced back up at Spike and asked, “You coming?”
Spike looked around at the Scoobies, who all stared back at him with some mixture of curiosity and anger, then shrugged. “Yeah. No, don’t think so, Harris.” He rose and shoved his hands in the duster pockets then stomped down the stairs.
“What? Why not? Spike!” Xander shouted to get Spike’s attention before he left the shop. “What the hell! I just basically came out to everyone and you’re, what? Just gonna leave me hanging here?”
Spike took a deep drag of the cigarette still burning in his hand and blew a thin cold line of icy blue smoke in Xander’s face. “Exactly right, Harris. Just gonna leave you hangin’. You ‘spect me to move to some new hole, sight unseen, ‘cause you got the dosh? Nah, pet. I got a place. Right cozy, if I must say. ‘S you what needs to get out - move on.” He turned on his heel and strode out of the shop, leaving Xander dumbfounded and the rest of the gang in shocked silence.