Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“There he is! Fucking get him!!” someone in the violent throng shouted.

The adrenaline coursed through him as he moved – well – ran for his fucking life, in truth. He could hear that they were gaining but he didn’t dare look back as he ran as fast as his legs and vampire speed would carry him. He wasn’t really paying attention to where he was going, just desperately trying to lose the angry horde threatening his existence with death.

Christ, just how the fuck did he manage to get himself into this predicament? He was being careful just like he promised he would be. Clearly, he wasn’t careful enough. He’d been found out and discovered. He skidded around another corner and almost ran smack bang into another flock of people hunting him. Hunting him like some deranged wild animal.

They had him surrounded. He quickly surveyed his environment, no escape route was apparent and no one was coming to his aide. He’d somehow managed to make sure of that, too. Rising panic flooded his brain, he couldn’t think, couldn’t move. Fear for his un-life had him pinned to the spot as they closed in. He could smell their intertwined rage; it was a rancorous melange of their anger, fear and violent intent – all poised for the severe finality they were about to deal him. This was it. He was done for. There were no heroes lurking in the shadows ready to save him at the eleventh hour.

He heard the stake before he saw it as it came hurtling through the air towards his chest at an alarming speed. He knew there was no stopping that. The impossibly sharp tip of the stake ruptured his marbled flesh, smashed through his ribcage and—

*

“NOOOOOOOOOO!”

Spike’s terrified scream shattered the silence of the room.

Within moments, Angel exploded through the door. Spike was bolt upright in the bed, slick with cold sweat, sheets twisted inside his fist clenched over his heart, his eyes surveying the room in petrified disbelief.

“Spike?”

Angel was already at his side, holding him close, trying to comfort him against whatever terror had transpired in his dreams.

“You’re okay, I’m here, I’m here. Shhhh.” He held Spike’s head close to his chest, tenderly stroking the bare skin of his back.

It was the fourth time this week Spike had woken up screaming. And the fourth time Angel had come running. Angel knew it all too well. The torture of a new soul and the havoc it wrought. It would be a while until Spike was through the worst of it and Angel would make sure he was there to help him, as much as he was capable of anyway.

“Oh god, it was so…” Spike uttered in a small voice, fear tightening his larynx. “It was so fucking real.”

“I know, it’s okay, you’re safe,” Angel reassured him, holding him tight.

Angel felt some of the tension in Spike’s body dissipate as he leant into him, closing his eyes against the terror that plagued his sleep. Spike nuzzled his head against his Sire’s shoulder, ever grateful for his closeness. Angel quietly took in his scent as they sat in silence.

Spike finally lifted his head and looked up at Angel, the last vestiges of fear draining from him being slowly relegated to memory. Angel took it as his cue and went to move from the bed. Spike gripped his forearm like a steel trap holding him in place.

“Don’t go. Not just yet,” he pleaded softly, blue eyes downcast.

The elder vampire froze, willing his brain not to fixate on the juxtaposition of pale skin against the dark sheets, nor the rippling musculature making its presence known just beneath it. No, he certainly wouldn’t notice the way the sheets crumpled haphazardly in his lap or the sharp line of his jaw—

“Spike!” irritation flared in Angel’s tone, which was purely self-directed. “I’ve got work to do and you’re fine now, right?”

God, how many fucking times?

Spike had been steadfastly resisting Angel’s insistence on getting a psychic in to help with the dreams but Spike was having none of it. Didn’t trust them. Reckons they’d worm their way into his brain and start poking around in things that weren’t their damned business, no matter how much Angel guaranteed they wouldn’t.

“Yeah, but –” Spike began to protest.

“But, nothing!” Angel cut him off and glared intently at him as he wrested his arm free of his steely grip.

Almost silently, he glided from the bed and stormed towards the door. Angel wasn’t about to give Spike the satisfaction of knowing that being in such close proximity to him, being as vulnerable as he was quickened him. Spike sat back among the tangled sheets, Angel’s icy reception crept cold in his veins as he attempted to shake off the last of the nightmares’ residual fog.

“Go shower and I’ll bring some warm blood,” Angel called from outside the bedroom, doing his level best to sound calm although he was clearly anything but.

He was hoping to buy some time by retreating from Spike’s heady scent to regain some degree of composure. This was going to be harder than he had initially anticipated. When Spike turned up two weeks ago – pale, drawn and ragged with a soul no less – he certainly wasn’t prepared for feelings that he had figured were long gone to come flooding back almost instantaneously.

A largely unforeseen and right now, very unwelcome, turn of events. Angel had to try to keep it under control and he couldn’t quite figure why he was having such a hard time with it. Repression and emotional subjugation were his forte, dammit and he was the billowy coat wearing, all brooding King of Pain!

So fucking much for that…

“Right then, so you’re suddenly the boss of me, too?” Spike countered.

“Spike!” Angel spat without a second thought.

He closed his eyes against his ambivalence, irritation and lust warring for dominance and neither ready to acquiesce. He exhaled a long sigh massaging the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger.

“Please just go clean up and I’ll bring the blood when it’s ready,” he pleaded almost despairingly.

“Wanker,” Spike spat under his breath, knowing full well Angel could hear as he gave the one finger salute in his general direction. Even so, he still did what his sire asked of him, out of loyalty or love, although he’d never admit to either. Not in a blue fucking fit. No, it was his compulsion all along to go shower right now. Pure coincidence is all.

Spike begrudgingly made his way into the bathroom wrapped in a bed sheet. He dropped it to the floor unceremoniously as he stepped into the shower. He turned the taps and stood under the hot spray letting it warm his skin. As the heat washed over him, the horror of his dream and Angel’s cold rejection, all but forgotten, were slowly draining away.

For that alone, he was more than thankful. He realised that Angel could have turned him away the second he darkened his doorstep and he idly wondered why it is that he didn’t.

Chapter Text

“Cordy?” Angel called from his office.

“Yeahhhh?” she responded, obviously preoccupied with the research she was thoroughly engaged in.

“Do we, umm...,” he began, unsure of how to finish the sentence. Do we have enough blood? Simple enough, but he still struggled to get it out. It seemed shameful to ask his non-vampire friends and colleagues about such things. It never failed to make him pale a little.

Cordelia looked up from her computer screen, exasperated: “Oh for Pete’s sake, spit it out, Angel!”

Angel cleared his throat and started again. “Okay, how’s our uh,” he looked around sheepishly, “supply situation?”

Cordelia rolled her eyes: “Oh, c’mon now Angel. When are you gonna get over this? God, you’re so eighteenth century! You’re a vampire – you need blood. We all know the drill by now. Besides which, given that there’s two of you now, we’re gonna need a whole lot more than what we’ve got. How long is he staying with us by the way?”

The last was a casual question but Angel felt the weightier probe behind it. His brow furrowed, he couldn’t meet her eyes and he shuffled some papers on his desk. In truth, he hadn’t really thought about it. He wasn’t sure how long Spike would need him for. Or how long it would be until they were ready to kill each other – mostly him wanting to kill Spike he figured was the more likely scenario.

Well, unless things take a far darker turn and... oh fuck, why was even thinking about THAT?

A cold sliver of shame lodged in his gut: “Dunno yet. Depends on how long... it all takes.”

Cordelia shrugged seemingly unfazed by Angel’s non-committal answer. Newly souled vampires were tricky at best, she was clear on that and that there were no set rules or timeframes for these things.

“Sure, whatever. Secret vampire business. Got it.” She slid past his desk to review the contents of the blood fridge. “Hmmm, down to three bags each of A, B and O. If you want the really good stuff, you’re gonna have to go out on a supply run after dark. Number’s on the fridge here,” she stated matter-of-factly, tapping the card that was stuck to the door with a small magnet before slamming the door closed again.

“Uhhh... why would I need to?” Angel asked, perplexed.

Cordelia smiled coldly at him, a sign that she was fast losing her patience. He was acting like such a clueless dolt – more than usual.

“Because I’m going to The Bahamas for a week, dummy. Look around, Angel. No one else is here. Evil, as well as the rest of our crew, is taking a long overdue holiday, as am I. You’ll be fine looking after your charge or whatever the vampire version of all of that is,” she said, waving her hands in a vague I-don’t-even-wanna-know gesture.

“Oh,” is all Angel managed to respond.

Angel looked confused and crestfallen. He was going to be alone with Spike. For an entire week. With no one else here to distract him, to keep him busy, to stop him doing a number of things he knew he’d very well regret. He’d all but forgotten that Cordelia and the gang wouldn’t be here to help him through this. Even though he was a champion, he still needed a little saving from time to time and she was his brutally honest touchstone. While the others were a great help, Cordelia had a particular way of smacking sense into him with the truth. And he was in desperate need of some at this juncture.

“Sooo... are we done here or what?” Cordelia broke Angel from his panicked musings as she slung her courier bag over her shoulder.

“Umm, yeah. Yeah, of course. Have an amazing time, you deserve it,” Angel tried to smile but he knew it didn’t meet his eyes. “Cordy?”

“Yeah?”

“I uh, I um, I just need you to...” Angel fumbled, chewing his bottom lip. Save me from myself? Whack me in the head with a cinder block until I come to my senses? Slap me really hard and demand that I snap out of it?

He looked at the floor and sighed, the words remaining unsaid. None of them were going to help.

Cordelia gripped his shoulders, his evident caginess gave her all the context clues she needed. He was clearly freaking out and needed a very brief pep talk.

“Look, Angel, you’re gonna be okay. I promise you, big guy. You got this. Just don’t break anything and definitely don’t kill soul boy – the other one – while I’m gone, okay? You’re gonna work this out. I believe in you.”

She patted him supportively and stepped away, giving him her biggest smile of assurance. Angel knew that she was already nine-tenths out the door and he felt a pang of guilt that he was holding her up for purely selfish reasons.

“I won’t,” he promised. “Or y’know, I’ll try not to,” he shrugged, trying to smile back at her.

“There’s a good vampire. See you in a week! And don’t even think about calling me,” she said pertly as she made her way to the door.

“Have fun,” he said as he followed her out and locked it behind her.

He stood in the foyer not sure of what to do next. He made his way back to his office and slumped in his chair. Angel rested his head in his hands. What the fuck was he going to do without the others for a week? He let out a small groan in spite of himself as he leant back in his chair.

Next question: How do you solve a problem like Spike?

Spike – who was in his shower right now (and no, Angel would definitely and very purposefully NOT think about him being naked and wet). Spike, whose heady scent of sex and leather and blood had driven him to the point of distraction for the past two weeks. Spike – his wayward and ignoble childe – whom Angel was going to make solely responsible for the lingering ache in his loins.

Fucksticks.

Angel stood from behind his desk, strode purposefully to the blood fridge and took out a bag of A-positive. He made a small nick in the bag and squeezed the deep red contents into two large mugs and placed them in the microwave. Angel pressed a few buttons and waited - and chewed over his options - until the beeps told him they were ready.

Chapter Text

Angel exhaled to steel himself as he took the two warm mugs into the bedroom.

He kicked the door shut behind him and heard the shower running. He had intended to leave Spike to it – well, his rational mind had planned to anyway, but his primal one clearly had far less admirable intentions. Angel set one of the mugs down on the bedside table and made his way into the bathroom with the other mug. Angel resisted the temptation to stop and straighten up the bed that had become a crumpled, tangled mass of sheets and pillows.

Dammit, Spike.

Before he could shift his attention back to such mundane matters, he caught a familiar scent. It was wild, dissolute and highly intoxicating, snarled and interwoven amongst the bed linen. Angel stopped in his tracks as the maddening scent forced its way into his rational mind making it take a very firm back seat. It was pure Spike, cranked up to eleven and unrepentant in its mission to drive him insane. Angel closed his eyes and let it wash through him, allowed it to drag him down a little into its wild seduction before he continued on into the bathroom with the warmed mug. His former reticence had all but evaporated as he entered the room.

Hot water hissed out of the large showerhead and filled the room with so much steam that Angel could barely see. If his childe’s scent amongst the sheets had stoked the embers, now it had become a wild conflagration that Angel knew there’d be no coming back from. And with no one here to talk – or slap – sense into him, well...

“Spike?”

“You rang?” Spike responded his tone laced with frosty calm.

“Blood’s getting cold,” Angel offered.

“Whose? Yours?” he offered sharply.

Evidently, Angel’s earlier rejection had stung and Angel couldn’t blame him, he knew he deserved it. The blond vampire turned off the water reluctantly and eased opened the shower door releasing more steam into the room. He stepped out onto the discarded bed sheet instantly soaking it. Spike knew it was going to get under Angel’s skin.

Angel grabbed a towel off the rack and walked towards him, taking his sweet time, lustily admiring the blond vampires’ hardened body as the steam slowly dissipated. He cleared his throat as his engorged cock twitched against its textile prison, the crumpled and saturated bed sheet at the foot of the shower going entirely unnoticed.

“Well, are you just gonna stand there gawkin’ all day or are ya gonna hand me a soddin’ towel?” Spike asked pointedly.

The steam lingered on Spike’s heat-reddened skin, heightening his scent even further. Angel furtively took in as much of Spike’s scent as he could as he moved in closer to him. It was fucking galling and doing extremely little to reduce his very obvious erection which the folded towel was concealing for now. He offered Spike the towel and the blood with a cocked eyebrow. Spike ignored the towel and went straight for the proffered mug. He guzzled down the blood greedily like he’d gone without for months and as far as Angel knew, he may well have.

Small red rivulets ran down the sides of his mouth and throat and Angel watched him keenly as he drained the contents of the mug. His dark eyes tracing the small red droplets mixing with the water and snaking their way down Spike’s long white throat and onto his pale hardened torso; Angel’s head slightly tilted, lustily tracing this inside of his bottom lip with his tongue. Spike was about to fire off a barbed witticism when he became aware of Angel’s attentions and changed tack.

“Well, well. Isn’t this a turnout,” Spike smirked knowingly and flicked his tongue under his bottom lip as he eyed Angel’s rigid cock appreciatively.

The drained mug dangled from his fingers playfully. Angel swooped in; moving quicker than Spike was expecting and held him fast against his hips with one arm snaked around the small of his back, Angel’s hardness pressed firmly between them. The shock of Angel’s sudden movement caused the mug to slip from Spike’s fingers sending it crashing dramatically onto the tiles with a small spray of blood and shattered porcelain skittering across the floor.

Angel lifted Spike’s chin gingerly with his thumb to meet his steely gaze and neither said a word. Angel quickly crooked Spike’s head to one side lapping up the small trickle of blood from where it pooled at the small dip just above the clavicle and up to his lips. Spike purred at the welcome sensation of his sire’s tongue against his hot, wet skin.

Before Spike could even think about getting another word out, Angel kissed him languid and deep. The swell of Spike’s lower lip curved up to meet his as he delicately slid his tongue across it lapping at the small traces of blood there. Angel elongated his fangs, just enough, to rake them across the lush fullness. Angel broke off from the kiss and focussed his attention along Spike’s exposed throat. He lapped at the other small trail of blood and traced along the line of his jugular.

Spike caressed the hardened outline of Angel’s cock, drawing a small gasp from him. He smiled as Angel thrust his hips forward eagerly against Spike’s teasing strokes. Angel frantically tore off his now soaked shirt, shedding it like an old skin. Spike’s hands worked on releasing Angel’s cock from his pants and before long they both stood naked, locked together in a fervent embrace.

With a small growl, Spike forced Angel back towards the large basin, kissing his sire hard and with ferocious intent. Angel responded in kind but let Spike take the lead. Once Spike had Angel up against the basin, he slowly made his way down his body. Fingers, lips, tongue and teeth all working at cool flesh, wringing small keening whimpers and moans out of him. Spike kneeled before Angel, hands tightly gripping his hips keeping him in place against the basin. Angel leant back against the cold hard mirror, hands gripping the edge of the basin as it dug into his lower back. Spike pressed him up hard against it making damn sure he wasn’t going anywhere.

Spike slowly flicked and swirled his tongue down along the grooves of his inguinal triangle, nipping at the sensitive flesh as he went. He trailed his fingers down and around the base of his cock teasing him with playful strokes causing Angel to inhale sharply. Angel leant his head back emitting small guttural noises as he spread his legs further apart giving him unrestricted access.

Spike lashed his tongue along the right side, slowly, leisurely working Angel up to a fevered pitch, his cock twitching wildly against his cheek. He moved his attentions there, slowly gliding his tongue across the head glistening with pre-cum. Spike delicately wrapped his lips around the exposed glans and suckled, tongue deliciously flicking around the crown, threatening to unravel Angel completely. He looked up at Angel, tip of his cock still deliciously suctioned between tongue and lip. Angel could barely stand but Spike wasn’t about to give him what he wanted. Not just yet.

Make the ponce suffer for his earlier transgression, yeah?

He slowly released Angel from his vice like suction leaving him whimpering, aching for more, as he moved his attentions across to the inguinal groove. He concentrated on the spot where the arterial blood was closest to the surface, teasing at with this tongue before he sank his fangs into the soft delicate flesh there; Angel gritted his teeth against the sensation and bit back a groan. Spike quickly suctioned his lips around the small wounds as the blood surged hot and thick down his throat.

Spike took his time, relishing his sires’ blood as it quickened him once more, reaffirming their primal connection as his own cock rose to an attentive ache. Angel gently stroked the blond’s hair as he drank deeply from him, his own rasping sighs intensifying. Spike lifted his head and looked up at Angel, his mouth and chin shining darkly with thick streams of his arterial blood. He leant back on his haunches; eyes closed as he savoured the remainder of his sire’s blood on his lips and tongue.

Spike suddenly lunged forward taking the tip of Angel’s throbbing cock into his blood-slicked mouth. Angel gasped sharply at the sensation of the cool, silky wetness engulfing his throbbing member. His breath hitched in his throat when Spike intensified the suction, swirling his tongue along the underside. Spike smirked quietly to himself; he had Angel right where he wanted him – wild with aching need, hungry and desperate.

Spike slowly increased his pace along Angel’s shaft, working it expertly. He pushed Angel back hard against the basin again with one hand. With the other he worked his own cock, moaning as he did around Angel’s. The deep drone of Spike’s moans reverberated along his length, making Angel delirious, shattering the last tenuous slivers of his self-control.

Spike’s increasing pace, his moans and the way he was furiously working on himself were all pushing Angel to the limit. He grabbed Spike’s head as he began bucking his hips into his slick suctioning mouth. Spike went along with Angel’s thrusts increasing the pressure with each forceful buck. Their jointly fevered moans increasing with Angel’s becoming a keening howl. Spike felt Angel tense up as his own orgasm tore through him like a white-hot torrent. Spike swallowed down his sire’s spent load and gently relinquished the pressure on his own still rigid cock.

Angel leant back against the glass again, eyes closed, chest heaving. Spike pulled away and stood to place his hands in behind Angel’s back against the basin leaning into him, hips flush against each other. Spike watched Angel’s face, smiling as his chest still heaved, eyes closed, deeply inhaling air he didn’t need. It fascinated Spike that he’d been able to bring him here – to a place of long-forgotten human utility. Seemed that he hadn’t forgotten any of his old tricks to break Angel down – even though it had been an age, maybe two, since they’d been anywhere near this intimate.

Spike’s ruminations were interrupted when he felt a warm trickle run down the side of his leg. He looked down at the wound he’d inflicted in Angel’s groin and slid his thumb up along the small blood slick trailing from the wound to catch the last of it before it healed completely. He smeared the dark blood from his thumb along the silky inside of Angel’s bottom lip. Angel drew the bloodied thumb into his mouth and sucked at it savagely, dark eyes fixed on Spike.

Spike felt his cock jump against his thigh as Angel continued to swirl his tongue around his thumb, sucking harder, dark eyes regarding him hungrily. The blond slowly pulled his thumb away, almost reluctantly, drawing Angel into him, replacing his thumb with his lips. He closed his eyes as they kissed tenderly, devouring the last small remnants of blood. Spike pulled back and nestled against the older vampire, Angel’s arms enfolding him. Spike was sure the only time in un-living memory that Angel had held him like this was when he was Sired, recent souled nightmares notwithstanding.

“Spike, I—” Angel began quietly before Spike cut him off by simply placing an index finger against his lips and made a small clucking sound with his tongue.

“Later,” he murmured quietly against his skin. He didn’t want simple words to break the spell and he didn’t need to hear them, whatever they were, not just yet.

Angel did as Spike asked and pushed his half-formed apology to the back of his mind. He lifted Spike’s face to his to kiss him languorously again, his previous intensity somewhat tempered and, for now at least, Spike followed where he led.

Chapter Text

Spike eventually pulled away from Angel and smirked. The older vampire laid his head back against the mirror, which saw neither of them and closed his eyes.

“Hmmm, not bad for a bloke of your vintage,” Spike said licking his lower lip playfully, knowing full well that would get a rise out of him.

Angel didn’t lift his head but raised an eyebrow and stared down at the smaller vampire incredulously, too spent to put any real effort into it. He managed a small chuckle through still-laboured breathing.

“My vintage? That’s rich,” he retorted with a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Seems I got you breathin’ and everything. What next? A heartbeat? Maybe a brain? You’ll be a real boy again before you know it!” Spike teased.

Angel managed a jovial “Shut the fuck up” which he wasn’t intending to enforce. Well, unless Spike forced his hand, which seemed more than likely.

“Make me… lover,” Spike challenged, nuzzling against his neck.

Game on.

Angel forcibly wrenched Spike’s head back, exposing his throat still slick with his cooling blood. He traced a line with his tongue from the small dip of flesh by the collarbone all the way up to his ear, taking back what was rightfully his.

“Later,” he growled low against him, the seven darkest shades of Angelus filtered through that one word, a promise Spike knew with unrivalled certainty would be delivered upon in spades. Spike felt it quicken him again and a bright bolt of anticipation sparked and flared in the pit of his stomach at the thought. Angel relinquished his grip on Spike’s hair, pulled him in tight and kissed him hard.

Angel gently moved Spike back away from the basin, lips still engaged; his lower back burning where he’d been forced back against it. He knew that was going to leave a welt – if only a temporary one. His knees still felt weak but he wasn’t about to give Spike the satisfaction of knowing that either.

Angel slowly inched Spike towards to the shower stopping only when the saturated bed sheet snagged his foot. He stopped and looked down at it then lifted an accusatory brow at Spike.

Spike smirked, Eureka.

No apologies were forthcoming, not that Angel was truly expecting one.

“Oh yeah… what are you plannin’ to do about that?” Spike dared.

Without a word, Angel gripped him by the shoulder, threw open the shower door and pushed him inside. He forced Spike back against the taps and Spike winced sharply at the sudden jolt of cold metal against his skin. Angel eyed him coolly as he slid in close, his fingers snaking across Spike’s hips and in behind him. He gripped the taps and quickly turned them on sending a jet of hot water spraying over them.

Angel’s hand gingerly trailed across the firm rise of Spike’s ass and he made an appreciative hum. Spike leant his shoulders back into the wall, hips thrust forward against Angel as he continued his deliberate ministrations. Fingers raked across his flesh in slow maddening tracks; tracing soft sparks under his skin as one hand finally slipped down into the dark thicket at the base of his cock making him rise to attention again. Angel slid his knee in between Spike’s and forced his legs further apart as his hand moved down to cup his balls, the sensation making Spike groan.

Angel’s eyes didn’t leave Spike as he worked. He watched keenly as each stroke and slide of his fingers made the blond’s eyes slide closed. Under the coursing stream of water, Angel moved his other hand to hold Spike’s chin between thumb and forefinger and kissed him hard and fierce making his intentions clear. He gripped Spike’s head in one hand and slowly traced the other down his body taking in its angles and contours. He’d always taken pleasure in the lines of Spike’s body and Spike knew just what to do to push him over the edge. The younger vampire arched his back, keeping his shoulders against the tiles and forcing his hips forward as he watched his Sire’s eyes blazing trails down his body.

Angel watched the water slicking the younger vampires’ hard form, tracing the lines with his eyes as Spike thrust his hips forward, his cock bobbing slightly with the movement. The visuals made Angel harder than he had been for a long time. He nudged Spike’s legs further apart and Spike knew what was coming. It had been over a century, but he knew. He smirked at his Sire and bit his bottom lip in anticipation. Angel pushed in closer and pulled Spike’s legs up around his hips, kissing him again as he did. Spike’s legs were like an iron vice around his midsection, gripping him tight.

Angel pulled away and bit into the flesh of his wrist. He let it drop and waited for the blood to pool into his cupped hand before he healed. He moved his fingers down between them, under Spike’s balls, along the perineum until he found his target. Spike gasped as Angel's fingers circled, the nerves jumping to attention as he continued stroking and caressing, his thumb still working the perineum.

White tendrils of flame flooded Spike’s body as Angel teased his fingers over the sensitive bundle of nerves. He tensed momentarily as he began to gingerly slide a slicked finger inside breaching the tight ring of muscle. He let it sit for a moment before slowly moving, Spike closed his eyes and small noises rasped out of him. Before long, Angel had slicked up another finger and it joined the first, slowly pulsing in and out of Spike’s tightness. Soon a third had entered and Spike was losing any semblance of control. Angel increased the pace until Spike was writhing against his hand and begging for more.

Angel slowly withdrew his fingers and Spike let out a small whimper. Angel bit his wrist again, pooling the blood in his palm. He quickly wrapped his blood-slicked hand around his cock while Spike groaned and writhed against him. Gripping Spike’s hips, Angel pulled him down onto his aching cock and slowly entered him. Spike keened as his Sire slowly filled him, sending a slow, pulsing burn from the base of his spine and up to somewhere between his shoulder blades. Both vampires heaved and sighed, different but equally incredible sensations flooding through them.

Angel began thrusting in earnest; no longer able to maintain any modicum of control he thought he might have had. Filthy curses fell like vile accusations from Angel’s lips as he bucked harder and faster into him. Spike was unable to move against his rapacious thrusting and was almost stunned by the lightning speed at which Angel was now operating. It was almost as though Angel was attempting to fuck him through the wall but Spike was nowhere near complaining.

Coming, most fucking definitely. But complaining, no.

Spike felt a white-hot bolt of lightning unfurling and tearing through him as he came hard in long white strands streaking Angel’s chest in short bursts, the streaming water quickly washing it away. The world behind his eyes whited out followed by a dizzying cascade of black stars as his body rigidly pulsed and thrummed with the force of his ecstatic peak. Angel seemed to speed up like a demon possessed until he suddenly stopped, eyes glittering green-gold, fangs extending to their fullest and he thrust once, twice before finally sinking his fangs into the soft flesh of Spike’s throat, both vampires screaming in excruciating, brutal ecstasy.

Angel drank deeply from him as his hips thrust spasmodically through the last pulse of his orgasm, closing the circle. Angel felt his knees faltering as they slowly disengaged, bodies still shuddering attempting to recover. He pulled Spike down into his lap and sat on the cold tiles holding him as the hot water ran over them as they trembled through the last vestiges of their violent climaxes, all evidence of their passion washed away. Both vampires slumped into each other, the raging torrent of suppressed hunger sated, if only for a time.

Spike eventually moved first and pulled Angel to his feet, turning the water off. They slipped out of the cubicle, dripping onto the already sodden bed sheet – a token of the transgression that had led to Spike being fucked into the shower wall. Spike smiled up at Angel and wondered out loud what the punishment was for getting crumbs in the bed. Angel didn’t recommend he tempt fate by finding out.

Angel pulled Spike to him kissing him hard and leading him back into the bedroom and on to the dishevelled bed, neither willing to relinquish the other’s lips for an instant, even though they left a soggy trail from the bathroom to the bed. Spike smirked into the kiss realising that Angel likely hadn’t noticed. That thought (and any others that may have followed) quickly evaporated into the ether as Angel kissed down his body, slowly taking him fully into his mouth and working slicked fingers into his body and it wasn’t long before they were eagerly engaged in the darkest throes of passion again. Spike arched his body into each measured thrust. Angel watched him writhe, taking in the way the blond’s eyes fluttered and his lips parted with silent pleas for more with each stroke.

This time, there was no hard and fast fucking. It was slow, languorous and deliberate. All of Angel’s prior ferocity had subsided as Spike slipped his fingers around his neck and pulled him close while the elder rolled his hips forward. Spike’s eyes closed, a slow sibilant hiss escaping him, lost to pure erotic sensation as the head of Angel’s cock flicked past the swollen little gland deep inside him sending sweet electric pulses coursing through him until he was being torn asunder once more.

*

The vampires vacillated between bouts of sensual and slow and urgent and needy until they’d worked through every last ounce of their latent desire and their bodies reached a point where they simply refused. They lay slumped together tangled in the sheets and each other. Neither quite knew whether it was still today, tomorrow or somewhere in between.

“Night Peaches,” Spike mumbled as sleep crept into his voice and pressed heavily at his eyelids.

Angel nuzzled up close to his ear, “Get some rest, dear William. You’re going to need it if you call me that again.”

A promise and a threat, if he weren’t so blessedly fucked right now, he would have acted on it. Spike smirked to himself, relishing how much of an easy get Angel still was after all this time. Angel gently kissed his nape and curled his body in behind Spike’s as slumber edged in and settled over them both.

Chapter Text

The days that followed were punctuated by Spike’s screams. The daylight hours plagued by myriad intimate horrors, the younger vampire’s newly restored soul twisting and churning while delivering its burden as it settled into place. Angel didn’t leave his side, holding his childe close – skin-to-skin –talking him down from the latest trauma and whispering away the last traces of each vision and memory that eviscerated and tore at him from the inside. Some days were much, much longer and more traumatic than others.

Most nights were a different matter entirely, almost as though the preceding day existed in another timeline, another place far from here and far from them. There was a keen sense of dissonance and distance between their days and nights that Angel figured was down to his low-level exhaustion. Their days were filled with Spike’s soul induced terrors. Their nights, well, they were mostly taken up with working through their many, many long-standing issues through extremely physical means.

As he stood in the foyer sometime after sundown in long grey sleep pants, shirtless and barefoot, he momentarily wondered how in all fifty-seven hell dimensions he was going to get the small traces of blood off the chandelier above him. He couldn’t recall whose it had been and how they even managed to get it all the way up there? Distracted, he made his way to the blood fridge to arrange breakfast and he hadn’t heard Spike behind him.

“Oooohhhh,” Spike cooed darkly against Angel’s ear, slipping an arm in around his waist from behind, “Let’s fuck on the bosses desk!”

Angel rolled his eyes and laughed. No, they wouldn’t be fucking on his desk, it was a place of business and he didn’t fancy the gang or anyone else having to deal with the aftermath of their liaisons. Besides, they had an entire hotel so why confine themselves to his office? Spike assured him they would clean it up afterwards as he positioned himself in front of Angel and pinned him against the doorframe. Spike gently licked into his mouth almost making Angel drop the bag of B negative he’d decided on for breakfast. Angel held his own, reciprocating the kiss gently shoving Spike back and breaking contact.

“Tempting offer but maybe after breakfast?” he countered, using the cold blood bag to stifle a yawn.

Pantheons of gods and demons alike knew they needed to keep up their sustenance after the last few days. Having the Hyperion to themselves for a week was a delicious trauma all of its own. Angel knew it, whether Spike knew or even cared was another matter entirely. He seemed emboldened by the thought of having the hotel – and Angel – to himself for a week, nightmares notwithstanding.

“Deal,” Spike said as a different and wholly familiar hunger made itself known.

*

Angel recognised that re-souling was challenging and completely different for everyone (and really, how many others had actually gone through this?) but he couldn’t quite reconcile how Spike shifted between being torn apart as he slept to a raging sex demon seemingly in the blink of an eye. It had taken Angel almost a century to work through his torment and in truth, he always would be to some extent, but Spike could seemingly tamp it down during his waking hours.

It was clear that something wasn’t right, not only in relation to Spike but that fact that it was still way too quiet. But he wasn’t really keen on looking a gift horse too closely in the mouth, even if it turned out to be Trojan. He couldn’t voice it but this should be setting off all sorts of major alarm bells, he was certain it was signalling the calm before the storm, that the ever-looming apocalypse was gathering force and was merely lulling everyone into a false sense of security.

He knew something, somewhere had to be biding its time and waiting for its moment to strike. There were dots that weren’t quite connecting; he couldn’t find the hidden pattern behind it and the more he tried, the less clear it became. He let the thought drop figuring that no amount of ruminating was going to make the picture any more obvious. Not for the time being at least. Angel considered that he’d need to wait for the crew to turn up next week before he’d be able to make any kind of sense of it.

For now, Spike was his only true concern.

The irony of that alone was not at all lost on him. It was time to get out of the hotel.

*

It was past midnight when Angel suggested they go out into the night for a while; if only to get some fresh air. Spike readily agreed noting that a change of scenery would do them the world of good. They drove to the beach and sat on the bonnet of the car in silence listening to the crash of the waves against the shore for a time. The night was warm and a summer storm gathered on the horizon as faint flashes of distant lightning punctuated the dark clouds.

Spike suddenly slid off the bonnet removing his shirt. He pulled off his boots and then his jeans. Angel asked what the hell he was doing stripping naked in public. Spike laughed and mocked him for being such an uptight ponce and countered that he wasn’t getting completely naked – just enough to not get arrested is all. He stood in his trunks and dumped his clothes in the back seat. To Angel, he looked never more like a pale porcelain god beneath the glow of the streetlamps than in that moment.

“C’mon then, let’s ’ave ya,” Spike said, suggesting that Angel should do the same and follow his lead.

“I’m not getting undressed out here, Spike!”

“Okay, beefcake. Have it your way,” Spike said with a hint of sarcasm, “But I’m going for a swim and you can decide to join me, where it’ll be a whole lot more fun, or you can sit here wallowing in self-pity about all the fun you’re gonna be missin’.”

He quickly planted a firm kiss on Angel’s forehead and strolled down to the water. Angel stared after him, watching the serpentine movement of his body as he went. He wondered how it was possible someone could make something as simple as walking away an act of seduction? He reconsidered Spike's offer before moving to join him moments later.

Spike was already out past the small breakers when Angel reached the water’s edge. The constant hum of the city was a faint buzz behind him and the gentle lapping of the water at his feet a calm lullaby, a siren song of sorts, beckoning him into its aqueous embrace. Any qualms he'd had about almost-but-not-quite skinny-dipping drifted away as he moved in deeper and made his way out to Spike.

“Didn’t think you were comin’ in?” Spike smiled as Angel moved closer.

“Yeah, well didn’t think I’d be doing a whole lotta stuff this past week but here we are,” Angel said offhandedly.

Spike moved in closer wrapping his legs around his middle: “Hmm, dunno if I should be flattered or offended by that remark,” he said before licking a soft line along Angel’s throat making the brunet hum and pull him closer, the small black waves gently lapping at their skin.

“Bit o’ both, I suppose,” Angel smirked down at him.

Spike unhooked his feet from behind Angel’s back and stood chest to chest with him: “Well if it’s offence you’re lookin’ for mister, then challenge most definitely fuckin’ accepted... Peaches.”

He snaked a hand between them, cupping Angel’s cock and giving it a gentle squeeze. The elder vampire gasped at both the touch and the spark of irritation flaring in his chest at being called ‘Peaches’ again.

Spike quirked an eyebrow up at him, tongue slid behind his bottom lip waiting for Angel’s ire to rise: “Huh, would you look at that?” he said at is handiwork feeling Angels’ length thickening with each slow stroke as the motion of the waves rocked them together. “There’s life in the old bugger yet!” he announced sardonically making Angel bristle.

Angel huffed but did not push him away as he increased the friction. Instead, he yielded to a darker need and his hand slipped around Spike’s throat squeezing making the younger vampire grin broadly.

“Hmmmm, now there he is,” Spike declared in a low rumble that made Angel’s cock twitch against his continued ministrations.

Angel squeezed harder and so did Spike making a low, drawn-out “fuck” escape him. Angel rutted faster against Spike’s hand needed more friction, needing skin against skin, needing far more of Spike than a quickie handjob in the warm Pacific could possibly offer. Angel relinquished his grip on Spike’s throat but didn’t let him go. Instead, he pulled him closer and kissed him hard, tongue snaking into the blond’s mouth. Spike clung to him, legs and arms entwining around him, returning Angel’s intensity and rolling his hips against him driving their shared need into the stratosphere.

“Let’s get the fuck outta here,” Angel growled against him, breaking the kiss. The distant storm had quickly moved overhead and large raindrops splatted onto the inky water around them.

“Don’t gotta ask me twice,” Spike purred pulling away.

“Wasn’t asking,” Angel said, eyes glittering gold in the dark. He reached for his childe and wrenched his head back raking elongated fangs against the soft flesh of his throat. Spike stifled a lusty groan and smirked. Once Angel relinquished his steely grip on him, they made a beeline for the shore as the first rumbles of thunder roared ever closer behind them.

By the time they reached the car, the storm had moved in and intensified significantly. The rain had become a fierce deluge while thunder rumbled menacingly and lightning lit up the sky like a strobe. Neither dressed as they reached the car, both too lit up like the sky above them to even consider it. Angel forced Spike into the back seat shoving their clothes onto the floor as their lips and fingers found purchase on flesh as the last small pieces of wet fabric were removed and discarded. Spike straddled Angel and reached over into the glove box, producing a small tube of lube making Angel laugh.

Of course he did.

He watched enraptured while Spike took them both in hand slicking them in the contents of the tube. Angel threw his head back and gasped at the sensation of Spike sliding his lubed fingers over them both. Spike could have sworn that Angel’s eyes rolled back in his head before his own slipped closed, relishing the feel of them together like this. The rain continued to lash the car as the storm raged around them, unabated, mirroring their intensity.

Angel was losing his mind as Spike increased the pace. He couldn’t take anymore and almost as though Spike could read his mind, he slowed and released them.

“Spike, please,” Angel pleaded in a hoarse, needy whisper.

“Shhh,” Spike admonished, biting his lip and manoeuvring himself above him, lengthening his torso in the small space as much as he could letting Angel take him in. Angel reached up with both hands to touch him and to ground himself, a tether to this place and this moment. He’d commit the sights and sounds and feel of him to memory as Spike slid forwards and down to him. “Let me take care of you,” Spike whispered against his lips before teasing them apart with his tongue as he slowly shifted back onto Angel.

Angel grabbed Spike’s hips and stilled himself as Spike lowered himself down onto his cock. Both vampires hissed at the contact, fire blazing at the point of connection for both of them in different ways. Angel wondered if he’d ever get used to it, the way Spike felt riding him and that thought was quickly burnt out with the reality of his pallid divinity fucking him senseless.

The storm raged around them as they rode out their desires, fully formed and realised. Once spent, they lay slumped together, their skin peppered with soft reverent kisses, stroking fingers laying trails of thanks and myriad unspoken sorrows. Angel languidly tangled his fingers in Spike’s hair, slipping his hand down to stroke the side of his face.

“Mmm,” he rumbled, “We should go before we really are done for public indecency,” Angel murmured against the top of his head.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Spike leaned up on an elbow, “Couldn’t have that on the record could we?” He smirked before continuing, “Nor would we want the old man cramping up in this confined ol’ jalopy,” he teased, earning a hard slap on the thigh. “C’mon then,” Spike said as he pulled them up into sitting positions.

Angel groused at being called old. Again. Spike laughed and ruffled his hair and told him to get over himself and to stop being such a pompous git. Angel was certain that Spike was trying to stoke his ire for very transparent reasons and said as much. Spike didn't disagree which Angel noted had to be some kind of historic first. He also wondered how it never occurred to him prior that his ample endowments could ever hold such incredible power. Spike groused, Angel laughed noting the night was still incredibly young and there’d be plenty of opportunity to put his newly discovered powers to the test.

The storm had subsided a little with the odd flash of sheet lightning and the rain fell at a steady pace. The Hyperion was as quiet as a crypt when they returned but it didn’t stay that way for long. True to Angel’s word almost every stick of furniture, every staircase and bannister; every wall, door and surface bore the ceaseless brunt of their unbridled passion. Neither vampire was seemingly able or willing to break libidinous contact until the approaching dawn and exhaustion forced them to yield.

The rain continued to fall solidly as the night faded into the morning. The vampires eventually succumbed and slipped beneath the inky black waves of slumber. They lay, inert as stone while tangled in one another, crumpled and expended like the sheets beneath them on Angel's bed.

Chapter Text

Cordelia used her key to gain access to the Hyperion.

She wasn't quite sure what to expect but she certainly wasn't expecting the sights - and scents - that greeted her. The place was immaculate, even cleaner than when she left. The coffee was completely restocked, there were new floral arrangements in the vases around the foyer, the weapons cabinets were reordered and gleaming, and the books were stacked neatly in the bookshelves, ordered by subject and author. Everything seemed to be in its rightful place and then some.

There was a faint lingering scent of pine, maybe a little too much piney freshness by her reckoning. Too ordered, too clean. She was immediately suspicious. Something was definitely awry but she couldn't quite place it. Sure, they were used to numerous foyer skirmishes and the resultant cleaning required (sooo much cleaning!) but this was a little too spotless.

"Angel?" she called tentatively.

Nothing.

"Wes? Fred? Gunn?"

She was once again met with cold, stony, pine-scented silence.

"Anybody?"

"Cordy!" Angel called from the stop of the staircase behind her, which startled her and made her gasp.

Damn his vampire stealth!

He bounded down the stairs to greet her, smiling broadly. He reached her quickly and wrapped her in an excitable embrace lifting her from her feet and spinning her. 

"Angel! Wow, okay!" she laughed as they spun.

Angel put Cordelia down gingerly, still smiling: "Oh, hey, sorry. I'm just really happy to see you."

"Yeah, I gathered that," she smiled up at him and whacked him playfully on the arm. "Ya big goofball!"

She placed her hands on her hips and surveyed the room before returning a questioning gaze up at the smiling vampire. He was acting weirder than he was when she left - where was the awkward broody vampire she left a week ago? Not only that, nor was she complaining, but the place was way too clean - not an easy feat given that the Hyperion was a decrepit and (mostly) decaying hotel. She knew enough to know something was well and truly up and rounded on Angel. 

"So, mister, why's this place so clean then?" she asked running a finger along the reception desk and rubbing her forefinger and thumb together. Nothing! "Been putting Spike to work have we?" Cordelia quirked a questioning eyebrow at the vampire. 

Angel fidgeted and squirmed and fumbled his words, scratched his eyebrow with his thumb and muttered something about it being complicated. Cordelia had an answer of sorts then, which was not at all what she was expecting. Not in a million years. 

"Oh," she said brightly, quickly followed by a more considered one as the reality of what Angel wasn't saying sunk in a little deeper. As Angel continued to fidget and worry the hem of his shirt, he chewed his lower lip seeming to expect a brash torrent of disapproval. But, Cordelia simply stood clenching and flexing her fingers in silence as she let the shock of brand new information wash over her. 

Didn't they loathe each other at best? And here I was worried about coming back to at least one dusted vampire, if not two! 

She could have sworn there was nothing but long standing animosity and antagonism between them. Figuring that she didn't at all understand anything of how childe-sire relationships truly worked and resigned herself to the fact that maybe she didn't need to. Not until she could speak with Wes at least. Maybe having souls shifted things? Cordelia laughed as the initial surprise faded into the background. A distracted amusement took its place as she made her way into Angel's office using his desk to open her small suitcase. 

"Hey, got you this," she said excitedly presenting him with a small plastic snow globe. 

"Aren't The Bahamas... tropical?" he asked, quickly taking the proffered globe from her and inspecting it closely. "Why do they even have these if it doesn't snow there?" Angel pondered, brow furrowed, as he turned the globe upside down and back again watching the glittering plastic snowflakes fall onto the tropical scene beneath. 

"Geez! Way to suck the fun outta the room, guy!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Angel held up his hands in a show of apologetic surrender. "Thank you, Cordy. It's great, honestly," he said with a contrite smile, turning the souvenir over in his hands.

"Yeah, yeah, nice save big guy," she said dismissively closing the suitcase again. "When will the others--?"

Her question hung in the air, unfinished and all but forgotten as their collective attention was quickly drawn to the figure on the staircase. Spike slunk down the steps in painted on black jeans and nothing else. Both Angel and Cordelia watched him silently as he descended, a decadently pale vampire rock star in their midst. Both gazes were captured and held by the obscenely lithe movement of his body, mouths slightly agape and utterly awestruck at the sight of him.

Spike strode towards them, nonchalantly taking in their attentions, and smirking knowingly. He welcomed Cordelia back before planting a licentious kiss on Angel's lips with a low, dirty moan for good measure. Cordy swallowed hard, unsure of where to look as she processed what she was bearing witness to. Yeah, definitely not hating each other at this juncture! She chewed on her bottom lip and tapped her fingers against the edge of the desk. Angel roughly forced Spike back asking not to do that in front of other people.

"Oi!" Spike said, somewhat affronted. He ran his tongue along his bottom lip as though he was relishing the taste of Angel lingering there before continuing: "Cordy's not 'other people', ya gormless tit. She's family. Not only that, she's a highly enlightened twenty-first century woman and it'd do you well not to forget it, mate." Spike winked at her and complimented her on her glorious tan. 

Cordelia smiled and thanked him for noticing (all three things), unlike some people. Spike leaned over and reached into the blood fridge to pull out an unfamiliar red bottle. She figured they must have found a new supplier whilst she was away. She made a mental note to ask Angel about it later. 

Angel began to bite back at Spike's slight: "Did you just call me a...tit? Hey! I noticed!" Angel balked. He turned to Cordelia, saying more quietly with a pleading smile, "I noticed, I promise."

"Sure ya did," Spike said, hoping to push Angel further. 

"I just hadn't gotten around to mentioning it yet is all," Angel argued. "I got distracted by... snow globes," he said grinning as he happily shook the plastic globe again and presented it in its tropical snowy glory in the palm of his hand. 

"Speak for y'self, Peaches," Spike smirked as he glided past Angel quickly landing a slap against his thigh as he did. The elder vampire grimaced and bristled, gripping the globe in his fist. Cordelia stifled a chuckle behind her hand in spite of herself. "Hey, I'll see ya later, yeah? Can't wait to hear about all your adventures in The Bahamas," Spike said cheerily saluting her with the bottle before heading back up the stairs. 

"Yeah, be seeing ya," she said smiling, still biting back the bubble of laughter threatening to break from her. 

Again, both sets of eyes silently followed his pale departing back as he ascended. Cordelia made an unbidden squeak in the back of her throat as he reached the top of the stairs and Angel immediately clocked her reaction, rounding on her. 

"What the hell was that?" he asked her pointedly. 

He folded his arms across his chest as he leant in closer towards her. She hated the small self-satisfied grin spreading on his face. She felt more than a little flustered under his sharp vampiric scrutiny. 

Jerk!

"Hah, what? Me!? What about you?! You can't 'what the hell was that?' me when you two are just... you and Spike were... you've been...!" She stopped slightly bewildered before gathering herself and regaining some composure. She pointed a stern finger up at the still-smirking vampire: "Listen, buster. You don't get to judge me. I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but the guy's as hot as all of the hells combined. And that little display? I mean... wow," she sighed dreamily before she caught herself, cleared her throat and continued berating Angel, "So, you absolutely do not get to be all upper-hand guy with me, okay?"

Angel made a suspicious rumble, smiling broadly as he leant in close to Cordelia as she suddenly busied herself opening and idly rearranging her pristinely packed suitcase. 

"Soooo, that got you a little hot and bothered, huh? Why Miss Chase, I had no idea," Angel teased quietly, an amused grin licking at the corners of his mouth. He was rather pleased that he'd been able to turn it back on her. 

Cordelia slammed her suitcase shut and dragged it off the desk to square off jovially with him.

"Like you have anything on me, bucko. This place smells like a goddamn pine forest. Even so, it's evidently vampire pheromone central in here and knowing that two hot vampires have been going at it all over the place - hell's bells, Angel - what's a girl supposed to do with that?"

If only she knew the half of it... 

"Wait... you think I'm hot?" Angel pressed, grinning widely as he watched a faint pink blush bloom beneath the tan. 

"Guh! Shut up you conceited jerk! I'm going home to leave you two to your..." she covered her eyes with her hand as if to prevent the unbidden mental images from forming in her mind's eye, "goddamned secret vampire business!" she huffed, laughing. Angel laughed with her as he carried her suitcase to the door.

As he pulled the door open he turned and said softly, "I'm really glad you're home, Cordy." He pulled her in for another tight hug and she reciprocated it. 

"Me too, and I'm really glad you're okay, and that Spike is too. Told ya you'd make it, Angel. See ya in a few days," she said as she strode out into the forecourt. She came bursting back through the door a beat later. 

"Wait! Angel! This doesn't mean you're gonna go all... 'grrr...arrrgh!'... does it?" She made claws out of her hands and grimaced to emphasise her point. "What with all the...y'know," she gestured with her thumb toward the floors above, signalling Spike. 

Angel laughed and reassured her that no, he wasn't going to turn. Hadn't yet, in fact. He'd explain it over coffee in a few days if she really wanted to know. She wasn't sure she did but she'd be the first to let him know if she changed her mind. 

He sighed as he closed the door behind her, once she was satisfied that Angel was fine. Angel felt like he really was going to have to straighten everyone out on the gaping chasm of difference between true bliss and current events with Spike. Did he need to do a goddamned PowerPoint presentation? What was it gonna take? While he was keenly aware that he and Spike had a long-standing accord, it was never going to be anything akin to true happiness. It was something intangible and almost impossible for either of them to put into words. 

Besides, there were always hot pokers if it ever got really weird.

Angel smiled to himself as he locked the door behind him and headed back upstairs to where Spike was waiting for him. He'd have to pay for his very recent transgressions and Angel would make sure he took his time meting out his punishment...

Chapter Text

A few days later, the entire crew was back in attendance at the Hyperion and ready for whatever was coming - if it was ever coming. It remained unsettlingly quiet. Wes had been in touch with the Watcher's Council who confirmed all was calm at their end, barely a murmur. Cordelia heard from Willow that Sunnydale was also eerily silent and suspiciously so, even for the Hellmouth.

Meanwhile, the munitions cabinet had never been so clean. The weapons gleamed and nary a speck of dust or a spot of rust could be found. There was still the faintest scent of piny freshness in the air that Cordelia understood more than she ever needed to about. She'd collected the mail from the PO Box on the way in and was sorting through it on the couch as the others quietly pondered the new information about the two vampires.

"Oh! So...ermmm... things have... evolved... fascinating!" Wes muttered to himself. He made a show of removing and cleaning his glasses as he pondered. "I have to admit, this is not something I had on my bingo card but I suspect that there are plenty of things we don't yet know about childe-sire relationships... in whatever form they may take..."

"Not the weirdest thing I've ever heard but damn! Was NOT expecting that one," Gunn offered. "Hang on, English, did you say... child-sire? So, does that mean...?"

"I did. And yes it does."

"Hold up. I thought Drusilla was his-"

"Ah, yes. Dru. That's what certain quarters want us to believe. But the truth is-"

"Wait, so Angel is Spike's...father?"

Wes smiled at Gunn's miscalculations and how uncomfortable it was making him. Wes couldn't quite explain why Gunn's discomfort tickled him so at times. There was just something about watching the wheels turning as Gunn chewed over new information while it settled into place.

"No, not quite. Vampire familial relationships are entirely different to humans. A sire does not a parental figure make and in some cases, quite frankly the opposite is true. But I'm happy to take you through some archival information I have on the topic if you're interested," Wes said brightly.

Wes knew well enough by now that not every question needed a sermon in response. He also understood that it often came across as grandstanding, which wasn't his intention, not for now at least. Wes couldn't help that his head was full of useful information due to spending years in the archival library of the Watcher's Council and he also couldn't help wanting to share what he knew. It might be useful and could very well keep them out of harm's way.

"Nah, man. I think I got it, thanks anyway," Gunn said, the discomfort melting from his features. "Or at least, I think I do... kinda." He was still a little lost in thought, his eyes drifting to the floor again.

Fred chewed the inside of her cheek, eyes far away and dreamy. "I mean, I guess it makes some kind of sense? Doesn't... it? Wait! Maybe it has something to do with them both having souls now." The last was a statement, like she'd made a new discovery but just needed somewhere to write it down and file it away for further review including deep scientific investigation and categorising later.

Cordelia was keenly aware that she'd had most of these same exact thoughts when she found out a few days prior. It was somewhat comforting knowing the team was pretty much on the same page and were nothing if not curious.

"Look, I know this is new for all of us, but I guess I've had a few extra days to sit with it." Cordelia started. "Still, doesn't quite remove the weird from it all because as far as any of us were concerned they very not secretly hate - or, past tense, I guess - hated, each other.”

She couldn't shake the image of Spike slinking down the stairs a few nights ago and how incredibly hot he looked-she caught herself smiling in the moment and cleared her throat in a vain effort to dismiss that delicious train of thought.

"Exactly and I don't think any of us had considered that this was even a remote possibility. Right?" Gunn asked no one in particular. Everyone in the room was seemingly lost in their own thoughts. Wes considered the question, shrugged, and put his glasses back on.

"I guess not." Wes offered quietly. "But, I suppose it does make some kind of sense that they’d go through periods of despising each other. Obviously, there's a reason for that. We also have to consider the fact that none of us really know the true depth and breadth of their shared history-"

"Very astute observation, Wes," Angel said evenly, making Cordelia start.

"Angel! I really wish you wouldn't do that!" she admonished.

Everyone else froze and stared at him. Fred's mouth worked silently for a moment until she finally settled on a small wave and a quiet "hi" with a coy smile. She wasn't quite sure where to look and didn't know what to do with her hands anymore. Angel smiled back and she almost melted into the couch.

Cordelia just rolled her eyes and handed Angel a stack of letters.

"Sooo, anyway, here's the mail. Bills would be my first guess. Aaaand we've all got somewhere to be right now," she said pointedly at the others.

Her words seemed to break the silent tension in the room and everyone was up and moving towards the door, muttering quiet 'hellos' and 'heys' at Angel as they passed. Angel looked askance at everyone leaving.

"Guys, c'mon. You only just got here!" he protested, and not with any true authority behind it. It was more complaint than demand. No one responded as they scurried towards the door.

Cordelia turned back and shot him a stern glance.

"Yep, we did and there are things we all need to do outside. In the bright, beaming daylight." She stepped closer to him and spoke in a more hushed tone once she was sure the others were well out of ear shot, "Angel, you just need to give them some grace and let them process okay? It will be fine, they just need to work through it in their own way. Also, Giles and Willow have reported that it's quiet on all fronts so you just hang here and sort that out," she said, pointing to the mail she'd handed him moments ago. "We'll be back later, okay? And if one of the apocalypses shows up, call me!" Cordy closed the doors behind her and rushed to join the others.

Angel huffed a sigh, feeling a little deflated at the sudden departure of his team but he knew Cordelia was right. He cast a cursory glance down at the stack of envelopes she had thrust into his hands before leaving. They all looked roughly bill shaped apart from one. The postmark was from the state of Louisiana and it was a little thicker than the others. He pulled it out from the stack and inspected it briefly before setting it on the reception desk. He knew better than to open random packages without further inspection first.

He'd decided if the team was out for the day, then he'd turn in and rest. The previous day's escapades were certainly starting to make their presence known and he wanted nothing more than to slide back in to bed with a certain blond who was already taking up most of it, of that he was certain.

Angel hoped that his team would be back by sundown so they could talk. But, like just about everything else at the moment, these things were currently consigned to being a later problem.

Spike was gently dozing as Angel reached his suite. As he undressed again, he'd considered his crew's reactions to the news of their changed dynamic. There was an air of curiosity rather than judgement from the team as they tried to make sense of what was happening between them. He didn't blame their hasty exits and he certainly didn't take offence, they needed some time to adjust, he got that. Angel had missed them and wanted to spend a little time with them in order to get something akin to normality back in his days where he could.

Wes was on the right track about one aspect. The way their relationship would always ebb and flow, the way it had since they began and they way it would for as long as they walked this earth. It was a necessity. Eternity would always be far longer than humans could ever truly comprehend. For them to endure across whatever span of time they would have, they need to move in and out of each other's lives, sometimes for decades at a time. They knew the way it had to be and acted accordingly. Then, there was the bitter decaying cherry hovering above it all like the Sword of Damocles destined to keep him on a short leash.

For the short time Angel's team had known him, he'd already lived a multitude of human lifetimes. Angel knew that they understood the mathematics of it all, even though the reality of it - how long and wide the promise of eternity stretched on for - was not something easily grasped or explained in terms that wouldn't bring about more questions.

He let it all fade away the second he was curled up with Spike, the sensation of his skin against his own blissfully taking precedence over any other thoughts. Spike shuffled in his sleep, gently pulling one of Angel's arms across him. Angel smiled against his neck drawing the covers over them both and before long, he also settled into a deep restful sleep curled around Spike's lithe form.

*

Spike's nightmares seem to have lessened in the past few nights and for that, Angel was thankful.

He would still toss and tum and talk in his sleep but the waking up screaming had eased somewhat. When Angel would ask about it, sometimes Spike wouldn't say much, couldn't at that point. A lot of it was still graphic and real in ways he didn't want to discuss. Some left him emotionally drained, others were simply too dark for him to voice and he wanted distance from them. In those moments, Angel simply held him close quietly promising that he wasn't going anywhere.

At dusk, Angel was softly roused by the sound of bright chatter in the foyer. He smiled as he curled in closer and nuzzled against Spike's throat pulling him in tight. The familiar sound of it brought a quiet peace and made his heart buoyant. Spike shuffled and moved against him into slow wakefulness arching himself back into Angel and he groaned at the contact. Spike knew exactly what he was doing and they were both keenly aware of it.

Spike turned to look at him, feigning innocence: "You been awake for long?"

"No, not at all. How are you feeling?"

"Mmm, a little famished actually." Spike said with his hand sliding across his stomach. Angel's eyes followed the movement and Spike smirked up at him. "Ohhh," he cooed at him and moved to lick at the comer of Angels mouth. "You probably don't want to start that with the gang downstairs an' all."

Angel considered it for a moment and lay back on his pillow: "Mmmf, you're probably right. First time for everything, I guess." Spike moved to face him.

"You know I'm right, love. Besides, breakfast first, talk to your Scoobs and then we can consider what else the night might have to offer."

Angel groused, harrumphed and moved to get up but Spike gripped him in place.

"Didn't say ya had to leave just yet hot stuff," Spike husked with a knowing smirk and a wicked glint in his eye.

If Angel's heart had a beat, it would have faltered.

Angel moved in closer, eyes locked on Spike's, a delicious frisson quickly mounting between them.

Spike grinned and leaned in close to Angel, his mouth millimetres from his ear: "I suggest you lie back and think of Ireland, pet. And, uh, do your utmost to keep reeeal quiet like unless you want the young'uns downstairs to hear how I make you beg...and whimper." He traced his tongue along Angel's jaw line until he reached his mouth, straddling the older vampire.

Spike teased his mouth open with his tongue and Angel groaned at the contact before kissing him back. Spike took his time slowly writhing against him as he deepened the kiss. Angel hummed low and dirty and it made Spike harder than granite hearing and feeling how much it turned him on. He slowly moved his attentions down his body, taking his sweet time working Angel up. And when he finally situated himself between his thighs, he slowly licked long strokes along the soft skin there just to make him buck and whimper under him.

"Shhhh-shh-shh," Spike warned looking up at him from between his legs. "Now, Liam, you need to stay as quiet as a church mouse," he said slowly, trailing his fingers along Angel's thighs and so tantalisingly close to his now aching cock, "or the fun stops right here." Spike made another teasing stroke of his fingers along his shaft, smiling as it pulsed to meet his touch. Angel moaned and bit his lip in an effort to rein himself in. "Think you can manage that?"

Angel nodded with a curt, "yeah, I think so," knowing he'd be burying his face into his arm and the pillows in no time at all. And quite possibly making more noise than was absolutely necessary but there was absolutely no way of knowing.

"Atta boy," was the last thing Spike said before he swallowed him down whole and by all that was un-fucking-holy he wanted to scream in ecstasy at how good Spike was at this, how fucking incredible his mouth and tongue felt around his cock but he didn't. Angel choked back the whimpers and whines he so desperately wanted to make as Spike worked him with his mouth and his hand - at first it was languorous and slow until Spike's own impatience began to factor in. Then he was sucking a little harder, moving his mouth up and down a little faster, making the most deliciously filthy sounds that sent Angel's arousal peaking into the stratosphere.

Spike continued to work Angel into a state of erotic delirium, fists gripped in the sheets as the older vampire continued to bite back the building cacophony trapped in his chest, his hips bucking up and forward in time with Spike's movements to build more delicious friction. The only sounds filling the room were Angel's pleading whimpers and the soft wet sounds of Spike's mouth surrounding him.

Angel knew it wouldn't be long before he was seeing stars and the world drifted away. Spike slowed down a little, just enough to keep him on that keen razor's edge with teasing swipes and swirls of his tongue and just the right amount of suction.

Spike caught his eye then and Angel knew he wasn't going to be able to hold back. He held eye contact - it was pure licentious filth and daring - Angel fucking loved seeing Spike with his mouth full of his cock as he watched him. The sights, sounds and sensations of Spike taking him like this was nothing short of salaciously pornographic. Spike delivered pure obscenity and Angel wanted to drown in it, be wholly consumed by it, and to be utterly unravelled by him. Angel could feel the tension rapidly unspooling in his groin as an unbidden and breathless plea of 'fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck' escaped him in heightening octaves.

Spike recognised how close Angel was and didn't change a single solitary thing. He kept pace until Angel arched off the bed as he came and bit into his own forearm in a vain attempt to muffle the ecstatic guttural howl that had been building since the moment Spike pressed himself into him.

It took several moments for the quaking and pulsing to regulate and Angel was set adrift, entirely dislodged and utterly untethered. Spike was still firmly latched and milking every last drop out of him as Angel floated beyond the bounds of his physical body. When he finally relinquished his hold and slid up between his legs, Angel drew him into a soft embrace against his chest. Spike leant up to watch Angel regain his senses and noticed the blood drawn from his forearm. He reverently brought it to his lips and gently lapped at the wounds there. It was a delicate movement, not needy or hurried.

"Should sort that before heading down," he said softly.

Angel looked at it and made a small hum in agreement, smiling. "Would ya look at that, healing already."

He was still trying to modulate and return in full to his body. There was a large part of him resisting the need to, wanting to selfishly revel in the sanctity of their shared intimacy and the sacred bonds they kept renewing in blood, sweat, saliva and cum. Angel wanted to languish in it or a moment longer before reality came crashing in again.

"Yeah alright, hero. We should get cleaned up. C'mon, nothing else for it," Spike said as he moved to get out of bed but Angel held him close.

"Hmm, what's the rush?"

"No rush here, love. But, I reckon if you don't make an appearance sharpish your crew will be wonderin' if something untoward has befallen you and a search party comes busting in," Spike said.

Angel made a noise of protest once more. Yet again, he had to concur that Spike was mostly right.And that meant leaving the cocoon of this bed, and of being passionately entangled together and he wasn't entirely ready for either of those things. It also meant socialising and likely answering a slew of questions that he certainly didn't feel clear-headed enough for just yet.

"Yeah, I guess so. And we should definitely get cleaned up before anything like that happens," Angel groused as he shuffled from underneath Spike and out of bed holding out his hand for him to follow.

"Besides, there's somebody who needs a little more of my attention right now,”Angel cast his eyes down Spike's body at his own bobbing erection and had plans of his own for how to pay him back in kind - loudly or otherwise. Pulling Spike in close, he kissed him deeply relishing the taste of himself lingering on his tongue.

"Shall we?"

Spike absolutely did not need to be asked twice.

Chapter Text

As they slowly cleaned up, mostly blissed out and boneless, Angel explained that his team was aware of how they were operating now and Spike couldn't help but remark with a sardonic 'oh, is that what we're callin' it?’ and other comments akin to romance being about as sodding well dead as they were.

Angel tried not to let it get under his skin because Spike wasn't entirely wrong. He understood that what he'd said probably came across as being cold and clinical, which wasn't his intention. Spike wasn't taking it well and Angel was beginning to feel that at some point he must have slipped into an alternate dimension.

He also considered that maybe all of the incredible sex they were having was a rampant (and not an entirely unwelcomed) distraction. From what, he wasn't entirely clear on. With Spike being right more often than not recently, the two of them fucking like manic bunnies and hell seemingly frozen over, absolutely everything had to be amiss. Maybe he could ask Wes about that in private? But, then again, maybe he wouldn't. He shook that particular thought off.

Once Spike had seemingly gotten all of his venom out, Angel suggested they head down because wasn't the whole point being the potential for a search party? Spike just rolled his eyes and headed towards the door until Angel caught up to him, pushing the door closed again to stop him from leaving.

"Hey, I didn't mean..." Angel began softly.

Spike turned to face him, "I know you didn't. It just stings is all, kinda like being shot. Won't kill me but it'll always knock the wind outta me for a bit."

Angel dropped his eyes, didn't quite know what to say or do to take the edge off, to make it sting less.

He hated knowing Spike felt that way and it was entirely because of him. Hated the way it burrowed inside of his own chest and nestled its poisoned barbs there.

Spike knew it wouldn't be long before Angel started ruminating and he'd lose him to his brooding.

"Besides, beefcake, it's not like we haven't been here before and won't be again," Spike said, softening. "Should be reeeal used this by now but I don't suppose it gets any easier, does it?"

"No, it really doesn't," Angel replied, eyes downcast unable to look at him.

"Right! No use sittin' 'round here gettin' all tele-novella about it. We'll make the most of the time we have before the inevitable steps in, yeah?" Spike said a little more brightly trying to lift the mood.

Angel was in his space in an instant, intently holding his gaze and pulling him close. No more words were spoken as Angel kissed him. Spike returned the kiss, relinquishing all control as he moulded himself into Angel. Their lips moved together softly, unhurried, the kiss a languid confession of all things long and yet to remain unspoken. Spike eventually broke it reminding Angel that they had somewhere to be.

Angel recognised that Spike was right again, only this time he let it wash over him and followed him out of the room in silence, fingers laced together with Spike's.

*

"Evenin' all," Spike said evenly, descending the stairs into the foyer with Angel.

Both were still somewhat unsteady on their feet given the evenings waking adventures only moments prior. The stairs were a harsh reminder to Angel that his knees no longer existed in this dimension and Spike was certain that Angel had done his level best to suck his newly minted soul right out of him and had almost succeeded.

As the vampires approached, fingers still twined together, they were greeted with a chorus of "Hey's" and "evening's" in return. The team seemed in good spirits after a day out together. Spike gently extricated himself from Angel's hold and headed for the blood fridge to organise two mugs to start heating in the microwave. He'd made a mental note that they definitely needed to make a supply run tonight.

It was hard not to notice the buzzing tension in the room. It was like an electrical current flowing between them all and it was so intense, it could have fed into the local grid for a week. There were questions flying around and between them in silent glances and shared body language. To Angel and Spike, it was like walking into a screaming match, even though no one said a word. They didn't have to.

"Okay, you've got questions, maybe even some opinions," Spike said, handing a warmed mug to Angel. "We're all consenting adults in the room, so let's hear it," he said before hoisting himself up on the reception desk and taking a long draught from his mug. Angel gave him a look of admonishment that said he would have preferred to discuss how they were going to approach it before he blurted it out. Spike simply shrugged in response, knowing full well that Angel would have made it awkward and long-winded. He was decidedly cutting to the chase.

"Sorry, Peaches. Didn't want things draggin' out longer than necessary is all."

Angel grimaced and looked like he was going to crush the mug to dust in his hand. He hated being called Peaches at the best of times and he absolutely loathed it very especially now it had been very intentionally whipped out in front of his crew. He'd never live that down and certainly not with the questioning look Wes and Gunn shared. The smirk on Gunn's face said it all. Angel absolutely hated this and was going to commit a long-awaited form of filicide before the night was through, that much was certain. How quickly the worm turns!

Fred spoke first, breaking Angel's murderous reverie: "Is it the soul thing? I mean, now that you both have them, is that how this came about? Oh, but that doesn't mean this might not have been a thing when you didn't have souls, I just, I mean, it made sense in my head but now... I'm saying it... out loud... in front of everyone... maybe it doesn't? Not so much, I guess. But maybe it does? So, that was my question. Souled vampires. Both of you. Two champions. And Angel being Spike's sire and all...Anyway, I'm going to stop babbling, sorry..." She cast her eyes down at the floor and played with the toggles of her hoodie not able to make further eye contact with either of them.

"It's a fair question, Fred," Spike said. "And I appreciate your candour in asking, pet." He gave her a wink and she smiled, blushed and looked at the floor again. Angel groused a little at that. He's the one that made Fred blush! His ire was getting a work out he wasn't expecting and he hated that he was being irked by such a small thing.

"Took the words right outta my mouth, Fred," Gunn said, crossing his arms in front of him. "Would absolutely love to know what... Peaches, here, has to say too. Curiosity 'n all," Gunn smirked. Cordy, Wes and Fred couldn't help but snigger behind their hands.

Angel stepped in, "Okay, haha, before we answer anything I'm gonna put the kybosh on the 'Peaches' thing right now. Thank you, Spike."

He rubbed his hands together like he was trying to crush the word out of existence while casting Spike a withering glance. This simply made Spike smile in that mischievous and victorious way that Angel sometimes loved and other times much less so. This was mischievous and victorious way that Angel sometimes loved and other times much less so. This was precisely one of those times where he thoroughly despised him for it. The haze of post-coital bliss had well and truly evaporated at this juncture.

"Oh come on, it's cute and it kinda suits you, big guy!" Cordy said, beaming wide.

Angel felt a headache coming on. The blood wasn't helping. He pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger and squeezed his eyes shut. It was times like these that made Angel truly miss when he could brood in silence for weeks on end. Alone. And now he was here in the midst of an oncoming inquisition of sorts. It wasn't even the full-of-carnage-and-agonised-screaming kind that Angelus had favoured; at least he could have bitten and clawed and fought his way out of something like that, if he truly wanted to. Most of the time he stuck around for the torture... and the blood... and most definitely the screaming.

But he wasn't, so he couldn't and besides, that was an entire lifetime or two ago. He muttered under his breath: 'god, I miss the old days' and of course it was only Spike that caught it.

"C'mon, old man," Spike said sliding down from the reception desk, "this'll be fun!"

And there was that damn self-satisfied grin again, this time with a raised brow that said game on. Moments ago that wolfish grin would have lead to an entirely different scenario but all it was doing now was stoking the embers of Angel's increasing ire.

For that reason alone, this impromptu Q and A was so much fucking worse than all of the carnage and screaming. Why an apocalypse couldn't just turn up right this instant was even more fucking irksome. He knew he'd get through it - they were his people - people that he loved and cared for and he felt they deserved some kind of insight into how he and Spike worked, even if he wasn't entirely ready for it. Spike was the last thing in his eternal existence that he expected he'd ever have to explain, and yet...

Fuck my eternal life.

*

Angel and Spike fielded the team's questions as best they could. They talked for over an hour and a half until everyone had their curiosity sated. Gunn asked a million questions about their child-sire relationship, Fred was all about soul-ties; Wes kept reciting things from the Watcher's archives and wanted to cross-reference what he'd read against the new information they were receiving directly.

Cordy was solely concerned with the curse and how everything worked around that.

At Angel's insistence, they stayed and answered as much as they could or felt comfortable with. This wasn't their first time being lovers nor would it be their last. Angel described how in the early days, Darla would separate them through her own jealousy. Drusilla didn't mind so much and was always keen to watch on. Everyone was clear on the wherefore and whys as to why they couldn't remain so for extended periods of time. Spike had never felt entirely comfortable breaching that topic for his own reasons and Angel more than hated that it had to be that way. Their earlier conversation still lingered and flared under his ribs, a freshly scored wound.

Cordelia had read it all over Spike the moment it came up. After someone had asked about how Buffy factored in to it all, she immediately called time on the questions. She knew that had struck a deeply painful chord with both vampires. The question was asked in good faith but Cordelia knew it wasn't something that needed to be discussed in a public forum. She was also keenly aware that they would have stayed there all night answering anything and everything in between if she hadn't intervened. She was aware that supplies were running low so it gave them the perfect out.

Wes shook their hands and thanked them both for taking the time as Cordelia shuffled everyone to their homes or towards their suites. She hugged Angel for a long time when the three of them were alone.

"Thank you, Angel, both of you," she said as she pulled back.

"Of course," Angel said quietly.

"Thanks for stepping in when you did," Spike said. "Means a lot." He gave a wan smile and she could almost feel his pain radiating from him in cloying waves.

"Yeah," she said smiling softly at him as he stepped closer to Angel. "I know they all meant well but not everyone is up to speed with the lore of you two, and especially not with B, nor do they need to be right now. Anyway, you two need to head out. I've already texted the supplier to let them know you're coming. Heading home, see you tomorrow," she said gathering her things and stifling a yawn.

"You will, thanks Cordy," Angel said.

"Thanks again, pet. Get home safe, yeah?" Spike offered.

Cordelia merely smiled softly in response as she left, locking the door behind her.

*

The drive to the suppliers was mostly in silence both in part to being talked out, and the mention of Buffy creating another sense of dissonance and distance between them. There was also the fact that Spike had referred to Angel by his pet name. They were both deeply lost in thought - Spike was caught up in the questions about them being lovers and the reasons they can't, won't and don't become a more permanent fixture.

...time and tide... eternity is a bloody long time, y'know... then there's that old cu—

For Angel, it was a sickening melange of anger and sorrow. Sorrow for Buffy and for Spike. Spike can't tell him how he feels but Angel knows, knows in his bones how fucking strong Spike is each time he has to walk away. He knows how difficult it is to throw the first punch - figuratively and literally. Knows what it is to be the one to call time on it each and every time because Angel won't, doesn't want to and is never ready to do what he knows they must.

...slow turning of the thumbscrews... death by a thousand cuts... would somehow be kinder than carrying the weight of—

It always sets him brooding in silence for months until he gets to get his hands dirty and kills something. If he can fight, he doesn't have to think about it. If he can destroy something evil - the more violently, the better - then he doesn't have to feel anything. Spike was always the stronger of the two, this he knows in all he is and all he ever was, and one day he will tell him as much. Angel wasn’t entirely sure how the soul factored into the equation now but he's sure it doesn’t matter. Then there’s the sharp flare of irritation underneath it all.

…it stings and burns because it has to... you know how this always ends... there's no other w—

Angel's jaw was firmly set and Spike suspected the sixteen favours of hell he was in for, he'd practically walked up to the big lug to set and spring the trap himself. Truth be told, he'd handled worse and then some and he wasn't exactly not looking forward to however Angel was going to take him to task over it. He hoped that whatever it was going to be would dull the persistent ache that thrummed and buzzed inside him like a freshly kicked hornets nest.

…please, touch me... if you touch me, I will exist... and if you kiss me again... maybe we can—

They arrived at the appointed time and place and the supplier handed over what they needed in exchange for cash. They'd also thrown in a couple of bottles of some new Japanese synthetic that was blowing up in the Southern states and parts of South East Asia. Spike treated it with suspicion and Angel would get the brains trust on it tomorrow.

It reminded Angel of the letter with the Louisiana postmark. He'd have to do a little digging to get to the bottom of that and if there was any connection between the two. His curiosity about this confluence of events was wearing down his already mild irritation at Spike. And underneath all of that, there was Buffy. He pushed the thought of Buffy further down, not willing to acknowledge anything to do with her - or them - right now.

...I will remember for both of us... just close your eyes...

And lastly, there was the blazing annoyance about being called Peaches in the presence of his team. Sure, he didn't want anyone knowing Spike's pet name for him largely because he hated it mostly because it would diminish his reputation for being a total badass, Vampire with a Soul and the swoon worthy King of Pain™. And partly because it was something incredibly intimate that was used when it was just the two of them - alone. Spike had started using the name to piss him off, which mostly worked, but he had to admit it - to himself only and not a soul outside of that - perhaps it was sort of kind of growing on him. Maybe. Just a little, and only ever so slightly.

...dammit—

He'd have to make sure he gave Spike no quarter for him to use it publicly ever again. Angel was aware he was being super petty but at this juncture he did not care a whit.

As he pulled away from the curb, he floored it through the back streets to the Hyperion with a half-formed plan in mind.