This Is What You Get: Chapter 3
Title: This Is What You Get
Chapter 3: A Lone Carpenter
Author: AngelsRebellion
Pairing: Xander, Spike
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: I'm only allowed to play with them. Mommy says I have to give them back when I'm done.
Written for: spring_with_xan
Summary: The boys go through some growing pains.
Xander shifted as his leg vibrated for the fifth time in the last hour. He didn’t need to check the ID to know who was calling him. He looked over at Spike, who was staring pointedly at Xander’s jeans pocket. Okay so just because he could ignore the vibrations didn’t mean an overly sensitive vampire could.
“So did you know the Doublemeat Palace burgers are made out of vegetables?” he said to focus attention elsewhere. “No meat whatsoever. I’m definitely not eating there anymore.” There was a break in the vibration and a moment’s pause before one long vibration indicated a new voicemail.
“Y’know,” Spike drawled from his seat, “she’s just gonna keep calling you until you answer the phone.”
Xander shook his head. “And then we both get fifteen minutes of verbal abuse. We’ve already established that you can hear her loud and clear even when the volume’s turned down to its lowest.”
As if on cue, his cell started to vibrate and Xander let out a groan.
Spike’s hands clenched the arms of his chair. It was the only thing keeping him from reaching over and giving the boy a good pop. “Xander, if you don’t answer the bloody thing, m’kicking your arse out of my crypt.”
Xander paused and blinked. “You’re bluffin’ blondie. You kick me out; I take my beer with me.”
“Can always get more beer. Now answer it.”
With a groan, Xander flipped the phone open as it hit its last vibration. “Hey Anya. No, yeah I’m here. Yeah of course Spike’s here, it’s his crypt. Yes Anya. Yes, I’ll be home soon. Okay. Bye.” Xander flipped the phone closed and let his hands fall between his legs, his head bent in thought.
It’d been almost a month since the argument about Los Angeles. When Xander had gotten home after hanging out at Spike’s crypt, Anya had been waiting and pissed. The night had ended with Xander sleeping on the couch. Ever since then there’d been an almost daily fight. Sometimes about Los Angeles but mostly just little things that got blown way out of proportion by one or both of them. And somehow, Xander always ended up at Spike’s place with a pack of beer and the skinny on a good game playing. Spike never asked questions, just opened the door, put the beer in the cooler and switched the TV to Sports Center.
“Xander,” Spike said, pulling him out of his thoughts.
“Hmm?”
“How long have we been hanging out?”
Xander looked down at his hands. “Off and on for about a month now, I guess. Why?”
Instead of answering, Spike asked another question. “An’ about how many of those ‘Ons’ were because you and the missus were arguing?”
“I’d, uh, say more often than not.”
Spike nodded. “Tha’s what I figured.”
“Look, Spike, I know it seems kind of…bad but I really never intended-”
Spike waved him off. “S’alright Xander. Believe me when I say m’used to it.”
“Used to it?”
Spike shrugged but he didn’t take his eyes off of the television screen as he spoke. “Used to bein’ a means to an end, tha’s all. I was Buffy’s scapegoat from reality an’ I’m yours too.” He smiled and tilted his head towards Xander. “Though not in the same way of course.”
Xander swallowed the lump in his throat. It’d been about two weeks after the initial fight and Xander and Spike had both been sloshed out of their minds. It’d been an accident of course that Spike had told Xander that the girl he’d been having ‘woman troubles’ with had actually been Buffy. And then it’d all come tumbling out. “Spike, what Buffy did…It’s not the same. I’m not trying to-”
“Course you’re not Xander!” Spike snapped. Taking a breath, Spike closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose and didn’t say anything for five minutes. Xander didn’t say anything, didn’t even move. When Spike finally spoke his voice was calm. “Look, you need to go home and deal with your domestics.”
“Spike.”
“Bloody hell Xander,” Spike growled, “Do I have to pick your arse up and put you out the door myself?”
Xander look the vampire in the eyes. “Your chip would go off.”
“Not if I do it without violent intent,” Spike said quietly, holding the boy’s stare.
Xander held his ground, searching Spike’s eyes for any sign of a bluff. He didn’t find any. “Alright,” he said, finally breaking eye contact as he made for the door. He turned around in the open doorway and tried for a light smile. “I guess…I guess I’ll see you later.”
Spike just nodded. “Later, Harris.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Xander opened the front door to the apartment he shared with Anya and walked into the sitting room. Anya was already on the couch waiting for him, and everything Xander had rehearsed on the way home flew out of his head. Great, blank slate and an angry girlfriend. Yeah, he was so with the good here. Anya turned towards the door as he walked in and just like that, Xander knew how this conversation was going to end. And it scared the shit out of him.
“An’.”
Anya patted the cushion next to hers. “Come sit with me Xander.”
Xander walked over and sat next to her, his weight on the couch making her shift closer to him. “I’m sorry I walked out earlier. A-again…”
“Xander Harris.”
“Yeah, An’?”
She shrugged. “Nothing. I just always liked the sound of your name.” Suddenly she was hugging him around the waist, her head burrowed against his chest. And she was squeezing the hell out of him.
“Anya?”
“Oh Xander,” she sighed sadly. “Why couldn’t you have loved money as much as I do?”
Xander laughed. He couldn’t help it. Only Anya could say something so ridiculous yet so heart wrenching at the same time. He kissed the top of her head. “I guess you’re just special that way An’.”
She looked up at him then, “I found a nice location in Los Angeles. I think the Magic Box would do very well in that area.”
Xander swallowed. “That’s…That’s great Anya.”
“I’m going to lease the building,” she said in a hushed tone. “An-and as soon as I find an apartment, I’m leaving Sunnydale.”
“I’m happy for you Anya.”
Anya unwrapped her arms and got off the couch. Hugging herself as she looked down at him. “Xander Harris,” she said in the sweetest voice he’d ever heard her use. “If you change your mind before I leave…Well, you know.”
Xander nodded. She’d be waiting for him. “I know An’.”
Rocking slowly on her feet, Anya suddenly smiled. “So, I don’t have friends in Sunnydale. And you do.”
Xander chuckled. Leave it to Anya. “Give me half an hour to pack and make arrangements.”
She nodded and made for the door.
As Anya opened the door, Xander said the only thing that was in his mind. “Love you An’.”
Anya smiled. “Love you.”
As soon as the door closed behind her, Xander fell back against the couch. “Jesus.”
They were really over. Neither of them had even put up a fight to stay together. He felt like he should have at least tried. He should have said something. Done something. He should have... He could still run after her. He could beg her to stay. He could go with her. He could leave everything and every…everyone behind. He could.
Xander sighed heavily. The truth was, if he’d wanted to do any of those things, he would have done them three weeks ago when he’d first realized where he and Anya were headed. Man, Hindsight really was the bitch everyone said she was.
Feeling nauseous, Xander got to his feet and started packing his clothes into a suit case. He had no idea how long it would take Anya to find an apartment in L.A. and he really didn’t want to have to come back while she was still here so he threw everything that would fit into the bag. As he drug the bulging suitcase into the sitting room, he took out his cell and dialed Buffy’s number. There was no way he could ask Spike for a place to stay. Not with how they’d left things.
Dawn answered the phone and handed it off to her sister. Xander gave her a brief summary of what had happened and asked if there was any room in the Summers’ house for a lone carpenter. Ten minutes later, Xander had his suitcase in the backseat of his car and was on his way to Buffy’s house. He told himself that once he was settled in, he’d give Spike a call.
-Ta-