Fic: Smoky Rooms (S Curve, pt 77)
Fic: Smoky rooms (The S Curve, pt 77)
Author: Tesla
genre: Human boys AU
And then Angel started hanging out with Faith 24/7.
"House rules," Tara murmured. "House rules."
"She doesn't live here," Xander flailed. "I mean, the first minute he was un-grounded, he goes to the Espresso Cup with her!"
"Well, you said that he walked in all furious about Lindsey." Tara raised her eyebrows. "You said that he told you to drown in your own snot."
"No, I said, he meant 'Drown in your own snot,' " Xander said. "What he said was, 'Need anything, buddy?' So I just knew."
Tara's eyebrows didn't lower. "Darn him."
"Well, it was weird. He just stopped in mid-rant."
"When he heard Faith's voice."
"And then they ran off together, and now he's all with the ball practice!"
"Faith is the pitcher for the girls' team," Tara said. "So there's a reason that they're going to the batting cages."
Willow pulled a tray of cookies out of the oven. "I thought you liked Lindsey."
"I do," Xander said. "He's kinda..." Xander trailed off, thinking of those kisses that tasted of whiskey and smoke. Which should have been totally gross but wasn't.
"Well, relax," Willow said. She slid three cookies onto Xander's sandwich plate. "Have fun."
"But what is Faith doing with him? I thought she was gay!"
The girls exchanged amused looks. "Xander---" Willow began placatingly.
"Don't start with me, Will. I know people shouldn't be stereotyped."
"Sexual identity can be a fluid thing," she said, ignoring him. "And Faith---like many of us---are equally attracted to the same and the opposite sex."
"It's the soul, sometimes," Tara chirruped. "When spirits collide."
Xander eyed her sourly. "Yeah, but your spirit only collides with girls' spirits, Tare."
"Faith's doesn't, " Willow said, her face reddening. "She's gone out with older guys!"
"Yeah, and she's gone out with Buffy and Tara!"
Tara said, firmly, "We're not talking about all of us. What are we talking about, Xander?"
"Faith going out with my boyfriend!" Xander shouted.
There was a silence.
"Is she going out with your boyfriend?" his mother asked, dumping two fistfulls of bulging grocery bags. "Go out and get the rest, Xander, for your poor old mother."
"Does your knee still hurt?" Tara asked. "Why didn't you honk?" She got up and started emptying the bags.
"I thought I did," Jessica said. "Xander, if you still think of him as your boyfriend---"
But Xander went outside to lug up the cases of soft drinks and sweating gallons of milk. He couldn't answer the question, because it would lead to other questions. Like, if he still thought of Angel as his boyfriend, which he did, why was he getting into the big smoochies with Lindsey? Why was he letting Lindsey put his hands all over him? Why was he jerking off in the shower thinking about all of that?
Xander didn't know, except that he was lonely. It had gotten so bad the other night, lying so close to Angel, that he
had put his hands down his boxers, and his face in his pillow, and imagined that it was Angel's hands, and he had
come like that.
He almost thought that Angel knew, because he heard Angel sigh, but a surreptious glance showed Angel all hunched up around his own pillows. And Xander had grabbed the sheets and wadded them up and stuffed them in the washer as Jessica had been strongly suggesting it was their laundry time.
Jesus, if Angel just hadn't heard about Lindsey, before they'd made up! Or if Xander had only had pneumonia or something that would make Angel see----
"What are you doin'?" Faith asked him. She came up and closed the open car trunk. "You want me to take these?" She was wearing that belly-baring leather top that usually tastefully displayed her upper arm tat, but today was covered by a leather jacket.
Angel's black leather jacket.
"What are you doin'?" Xander asked bitterly.
Faith's eyes narrowed in amusement. "Not a damn thing, Xander," she said, and actually patted his arm. Then she frisked up the sidewalk.
::
That evening, at the Bronze, Lindsey and Xander had sat down with some of the usual suspects, when Faith and Angel came in, in a crowd of football/shop class guys. "Faith, queen of the mechanics," Xander muttered.
Lindsey looked up from his suspicious study of his plastic cup. "I think this is regular Coke and not Diet," he said. "What's botherin' you about Faith?" He turned his head to see. "Oh, shit."
"Yeah," Xander said.
"When she start hanging out with Angel?" Lindsey demanded, annoyed. "What, is he trying to make you jealous?"
"Obviously," Xander said. "That's exactly---" he blinked. Lindsey was glaring at them.
"They're trying to spy on us," Lindsey said.
"She was totally spying on us at Willy's," Xander said.
Oz said, "What are you guys saying?"
"I'm saying we should dance," Xander said loudly.
"Cool," Oz said, and pulled Xander to his feet. "You lead."
Well, that was different.
::
The way Faith danced, usually, was enough to have a crowd around her. Now, she was even making Angel, who only knew how to slow-dance, look hot.
Hotter.
He and Lindsey nursed Diet Cokes and watched them. "I can't believe the lengths she'd go for him," Lindsey said.
"Hey, Angel's not forcing her to wriggle like that," Xander said. He looked around for support, but only saw Oz, who was listening to
Harmony Kendall with his eyes half-closed, like a ginger tomcat. ("I think she's restful," he said, when Xander remembered to ask him.)
"Your boyfriend's an asshole," Lindsey muttered, his arms crossed. "Let's get out of here."
"I can't," Xander remembered. "I'm Willow and Tara's ride."
"Where've they been all night?" Lindsey asked. "I haven't seen them since you walked in."
Xander glanced around the club. Oz and Harm, on the couch; Buffy and Spike, just breaking apart from snogging under the stairs; his boss, Ethan, and another old hippie, smoking up on the mezzazine; Cordelia Chase, stalking through the crowd, dragging Andrew and Jonathan in her wake like a battleship and two tugs; Devon arguing with Larry; and located Tara at the bar, eating a muffin while Willow was writing something in a notebook.
Selling newspaper ads, he thought.
While searching for the girls, the music had stopped, and Faith and Angel weren't in sight.
Xander got up and went outside, not knowing what he'd find, but burning with---anger, he told himself.
Angel was standing just outside the entrance with Faith, smoking with Spike.
"When'd you start smoking?" Xander asked.
"Since I was eleven," Spike said.
Xander glared at Angel. I'm telling Mom, was in his stare.
Angel calmly threw the butt to the cement and ground it out. Tell her, his stare said. What he actually said was, "C'mon, Faith, I'll walk you home," and he took her hand.
Their clasped hands swinging, they went down the alley.
"Want my opinion?" Spike asked, puffing.
"Never," Xander said. "Yet I know I can't stop you."
Spike was unruffled. "Shouldn't let him see that anything he does bothers you. Drives him nuts." He dropped his cigarette, and unwrapped a stick of gum. Popping it in his mouth, he said, "Gonna be another week or so. Fathead moves slowly, his works to perform." He smiled enigmatically.
Author: Tesla
genre: Human boys AU
And then Angel started hanging out with Faith 24/7.
"House rules," Tara murmured. "House rules."
"She doesn't live here," Xander flailed. "I mean, the first minute he was un-grounded, he goes to the Espresso Cup with her!"
"Well, you said that he walked in all furious about Lindsey." Tara raised her eyebrows. "You said that he told you to drown in your own snot."
"No, I said, he meant 'Drown in your own snot,' " Xander said. "What he said was, 'Need anything, buddy?' So I just knew."
Tara's eyebrows didn't lower. "Darn him."
"Well, it was weird. He just stopped in mid-rant."
"When he heard Faith's voice."
"And then they ran off together, and now he's all with the ball practice!"
"Faith is the pitcher for the girls' team," Tara said. "So there's a reason that they're going to the batting cages."
Willow pulled a tray of cookies out of the oven. "I thought you liked Lindsey."
"I do," Xander said. "He's kinda..." Xander trailed off, thinking of those kisses that tasted of whiskey and smoke. Which should have been totally gross but wasn't.
"Well, relax," Willow said. She slid three cookies onto Xander's sandwich plate. "Have fun."
"But what is Faith doing with him? I thought she was gay!"
The girls exchanged amused looks. "Xander---" Willow began placatingly.
"Don't start with me, Will. I know people shouldn't be stereotyped."
"Sexual identity can be a fluid thing," she said, ignoring him. "And Faith---like many of us---are equally attracted to the same and the opposite sex."
"It's the soul, sometimes," Tara chirruped. "When spirits collide."
Xander eyed her sourly. "Yeah, but your spirit only collides with girls' spirits, Tare."
"Faith's doesn't, " Willow said, her face reddening. "She's gone out with older guys!"
"Yeah, and she's gone out with Buffy and Tara!"
Tara said, firmly, "We're not talking about all of us. What are we talking about, Xander?"
"Faith going out with my boyfriend!" Xander shouted.
There was a silence.
"Is she going out with your boyfriend?" his mother asked, dumping two fistfulls of bulging grocery bags. "Go out and get the rest, Xander, for your poor old mother."
"Does your knee still hurt?" Tara asked. "Why didn't you honk?" She got up and started emptying the bags.
"I thought I did," Jessica said. "Xander, if you still think of him as your boyfriend---"
But Xander went outside to lug up the cases of soft drinks and sweating gallons of milk. He couldn't answer the question, because it would lead to other questions. Like, if he still thought of Angel as his boyfriend, which he did, why was he getting into the big smoochies with Lindsey? Why was he letting Lindsey put his hands all over him? Why was he jerking off in the shower thinking about all of that?
Xander didn't know, except that he was lonely. It had gotten so bad the other night, lying so close to Angel, that he
had put his hands down his boxers, and his face in his pillow, and imagined that it was Angel's hands, and he had
come like that.
He almost thought that Angel knew, because he heard Angel sigh, but a surreptious glance showed Angel all hunched up around his own pillows. And Xander had grabbed the sheets and wadded them up and stuffed them in the washer as Jessica had been strongly suggesting it was their laundry time.
Jesus, if Angel just hadn't heard about Lindsey, before they'd made up! Or if Xander had only had pneumonia or something that would make Angel see----
"What are you doin'?" Faith asked him. She came up and closed the open car trunk. "You want me to take these?" She was wearing that belly-baring leather top that usually tastefully displayed her upper arm tat, but today was covered by a leather jacket.
Angel's black leather jacket.
"What are you doin'?" Xander asked bitterly.
Faith's eyes narrowed in amusement. "Not a damn thing, Xander," she said, and actually patted his arm. Then she frisked up the sidewalk.
::
That evening, at the Bronze, Lindsey and Xander had sat down with some of the usual suspects, when Faith and Angel came in, in a crowd of football/shop class guys. "Faith, queen of the mechanics," Xander muttered.
Lindsey looked up from his suspicious study of his plastic cup. "I think this is regular Coke and not Diet," he said. "What's botherin' you about Faith?" He turned his head to see. "Oh, shit."
"Yeah," Xander said.
"When she start hanging out with Angel?" Lindsey demanded, annoyed. "What, is he trying to make you jealous?"
"Obviously," Xander said. "That's exactly---" he blinked. Lindsey was glaring at them.
"They're trying to spy on us," Lindsey said.
"She was totally spying on us at Willy's," Xander said.
Oz said, "What are you guys saying?"
"I'm saying we should dance," Xander said loudly.
"Cool," Oz said, and pulled Xander to his feet. "You lead."
Well, that was different.
::
The way Faith danced, usually, was enough to have a crowd around her. Now, she was even making Angel, who only knew how to slow-dance, look hot.
Hotter.
He and Lindsey nursed Diet Cokes and watched them. "I can't believe the lengths she'd go for him," Lindsey said.
"Hey, Angel's not forcing her to wriggle like that," Xander said. He looked around for support, but only saw Oz, who was listening to
Harmony Kendall with his eyes half-closed, like a ginger tomcat. ("I think she's restful," he said, when Xander remembered to ask him.)
"Your boyfriend's an asshole," Lindsey muttered, his arms crossed. "Let's get out of here."
"I can't," Xander remembered. "I'm Willow and Tara's ride."
"Where've they been all night?" Lindsey asked. "I haven't seen them since you walked in."
Xander glanced around the club. Oz and Harm, on the couch; Buffy and Spike, just breaking apart from snogging under the stairs; his boss, Ethan, and another old hippie, smoking up on the mezzazine; Cordelia Chase, stalking through the crowd, dragging Andrew and Jonathan in her wake like a battleship and two tugs; Devon arguing with Larry; and located Tara at the bar, eating a muffin while Willow was writing something in a notebook.
Selling newspaper ads, he thought.
While searching for the girls, the music had stopped, and Faith and Angel weren't in sight.
Xander got up and went outside, not knowing what he'd find, but burning with---anger, he told himself.
Angel was standing just outside the entrance with Faith, smoking with Spike.
"When'd you start smoking?" Xander asked.
"Since I was eleven," Spike said.
Xander glared at Angel. I'm telling Mom, was in his stare.
Angel calmly threw the butt to the cement and ground it out. Tell her, his stare said. What he actually said was, "C'mon, Faith, I'll walk you home," and he took her hand.
Their clasped hands swinging, they went down the alley.
"Want my opinion?" Spike asked, puffing.
"Never," Xander said. "Yet I know I can't stop you."
Spike was unruffled. "Shouldn't let him see that anything he does bothers you. Drives him nuts." He dropped his cigarette, and unwrapped a stick of gum. Popping it in his mouth, he said, "Gonna be another week or so. Fathead moves slowly, his works to perform." He smiled enigmatically.