Be afraid...be very afraid
Remember that bad mood I was in where I was pouting and basically saying I'd never write again? Well, here is the result of that. I had this idea for a whore!Spike fic and my bad mood evolved it into this. It is truly scary.
Major thanks go to Bear and greenstone_j for the great beta. I'm in your debt. I miss you,daylight_shadow . Come home soon.
Crossposted with sickchicks and my first posting on hadesinwaiting
This is an all human AU with the main pairing of Liam/Spike with references to Spike/Xander and Liam/Xander and various other odd pairings.
Warnings: This contains lots of nastiness. Includes daddy!kink, prostitution, mentions of incest, child abuse and underage sex. Let's just say that my depression must have been good for something. lol Don't say I didn't warn you.
I had a little fun with this one. Bonus points for anyone who can find the quote from an episode of "Firefly", the passing mention of snowpuppies tasty fic "On the Other Side" and a popular phrase used by the sickchicks. Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The weekly ritual of poker night started out innocently enough. The five men met at the same place, the same night like clockwork. Every Thursday night, with the exception of Thanksgiving, they congregated in the basement of the home of Rupert Giles to talk shit, smoke some high priced cigars and drink themselves silly. Oh, and play some poker. It was a great way for the friends to stay in touch and a great stress reliever.
The men were all tied together by a central figure and mutual friend who had moved away and the gathering of five had dwindled to four. But Joss had to get out of LA. He loved the entertainment industry, but he had been burned one too many times by the powers that be in this land of silicon and sunshine. So he left for the east coast, hoping that theater and foreign markets would be more accepting of his eclectic mix of clever dialogue and smart pop culture references that the reality show watching morons that populated American markets would never understand.
Each man left at the table agreed to continue the game, enjoying each others company even though they all came from distinctly different backgrounds.
Rupert Giles hosted the game and was Joss’ oldest friend. The two men had gone to university together at Oxford and Joss had even introduced Rupert to his first wife. When Rupert’s wife died, he left England and his grief filled memories and went to stay with his college buddy in Southern California. He had stayed after meeting Joyce, immediately falling in love with the divorced art gallery owner. They were married soon after, Rupert smiling happily at his new wife and his step daughter, Buffy, with Joss as his best man.
The next to join the group was Charles Gunn. The former professional basketball player turned sportscaster had met the film maker one day in the parking lot of the studio where Gunn’s new sports show was being shot. The two men both had the same vehicle, a Volvo XC90 with the full sports package. They laughed about it and talked shop for a while. Then Joss discovered that Gunn’s wife Anne ran the homeless shelter that he had used as a location shoot once. The families met and Joss was immediately taken by the former ball player’s extensive brood. It seemed that Gunn was out to start his own basketball team with his four little boys and the one on the way. Joss asked him to join the game and soon it was apparent that Gunn was as good a card player as had been a ball player.
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce was next. The two men had met when the film maker was working on a period piece and needed an expert opinion on the best type of sword for his villain. Since Wesley was an expert on weapons and antiquities, he was the one to ask. His wife, Willow, was a professor at the same university where Rupert had taken a senior position. Their families soon began socializing and Wesley joined the men on Thursday night.
The last to join the game was Liam Connelly. Joss had found himself in need of a consultant for a police show he was wrangled into writing for and he found his way to Liam. The tall man was retired from the force and had started his own private detective agency. Liam and Joss got along great, but for some reason, the film maker wasn’t too fond of his friend’s wife. Darla had a reputation for being a controlling, overbearing bitch and it was well deserved. Even Liam, whose physical prowess was evident in his every movement, was afraid of her. She was the main reason he normally pulled out of the game earlier than his buddies. If he lost too much money, he’d have to explain that to his wife, and no one wanted that.
And so the four friends gathered together every week and left an empty space for the man who brought them all together, hoping someday he might return.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Six months after their friend’s departure, the four remaining men were enjoying a box of fine cigars that Rupert had procured for them. It was one of their favorite things which drove their wives crazy. It was the main reason Joyce always left, leaving her daughter hidden in her room upstairs listening to whatever bleached Britany clone was popular that week and fled to her gallery to escape the crude jokes and wretched smoke.
The game that night had barely started when Wesley cleared his throat. The other men were surprised by the serious expression on their friend’s face.
“I have a dilemma,” he said quietly. When all eyes were on him, he looked up and sighed before continuing. “I would like you gents to cover for me.”
“What?” Gunn asked, unsure what the younger Englishman was asking.
“I want you to cover for me, as in an alibi.” When no one responded, he finished his thought. “I’ve started seeing my assistant, Fred, and poker night is the perfect excuse to spend some time with her away from the office. Willow knows I come here every week. All I’d have to do would be to show up here first so that Joyce would know that I came by, smoke a bit so that Willow would smell the smoke when I arrive home, and you gentlemen could verify that I was here until eleven, just like always. Besides, she’s been spending so much time with her new teaching assistant, Tara, I hardly believe she would miss me at all.”
The room fell silent as the three friends took in the information the young Englishman had just set before them. Wesley continued before he could chicken out. “I will not go ahead if any of you object. The last thing I want is to damage our friendship and what we have going here. But this thing with Fred looks quite promising and I can’t wait to take it to the next level. I mean, you’ve all seen her, right?”
Suddenly, Gunn started snickering. That started Liam chuckling until finally all four men were laughing heartily.
“This is fucked up, but I don’t have a problem with it,” the former ball player said, as he clapped the smiling Englishman on the back. “As a matter of fact, I know a pretty piece of tail that I could be chasing on Thursdays myself.”
“No shit!” Liam cried, looking at his friend in shock. “I thought things were good between you and Anne.”
“They are, but Dawnie’s been hitting on me lately and I’ve just got to get me a piece of that.”
“Dawn?” Rupert asked. “As in your babysitter, Dawn?”
The sportscaster had the decency to at least look slightly embarrassed. “Yeah, she’s hot and apparently into the whole pro sports thing. She tried to kiss me the other night when I took her home after she’d been watching the boys. She could be good for a run or two.”
“I suppose I could find some way to occupy my time,” Rupert practically purred as his mind drifted toward the occupant of a pink and yellow decorated room upstairs.
Liam shook his head. He couldn’t believe this was happening. His friends were all good, hard working family men and now they were figuring out a way to use their game night as a way to get a leg over with some hot young girls without their wives knowing. He had no prospects, nor did he care to. Darla would easily cut off his balls if he ever had an affair. Finally he sighed. “I don’t care. I suppose I could find something to do.”
The men laughed and agreed on a plan. The game was slow that night and Liam left having won nearly fifty dollars for once, but he knew from now on, poker night would never be the same.
To be continued...