Christmas Party
Spike wasn't particularly happy. It was Christmas Eve, and Giles wanted a book. Unfortunately, the book was in Los Angeles; Angel had it. He couldn't possibly go and get it himself. No, instead he'd sent Spike. It seemed everyone else had plans, and of course they all assumed that Spike wouldn't. He didn't, but that wasn't the point. Why should he have to go, just because the others didn't want too. He hoped that at least, the bloody watcher had called and told them he'd be here. He really didn't want to have to try and explain it all to his sire.
At least the drive had gone by quickly, of course the fact that he had been driving nearly double the speed limit, might have had something to do with that. He wasn't prepared for the site that greeted him when he opened the doors to the Hyperion though. Every inch of the lobby was covered with something festive. There was a long table off to one side with a little food and some punch on it, and there were a few people milling about. Great he had managed to wander into a Christmas party. Seemed a little short of guests though. A young, tall, black man was standing near the table speaking with Cordelia. He remembered her from his first trip to Sunnyhell. Across the room, Angel was sitting on a couch. There was a green demon with him and they were chatting. It still felt odd to watch Angel interact with people in any normal sort of manner. Standing in a corner, looking very much as though he were trying to hide behind a potted plant, was the most beautiful man that Spike had ever seen.
He was a bit taller than Spike, slender, with brown hair and dark eyes. That was enough to make anyone in their right mind look twice, but he also had an incredibly fine and delicate bone structure and great expanses of the most perfect porcelain skin. Spike snickered to himself, thinking that the slayer would kill for skin that perfect.
Spike was so mesmerized by the sight of this other man, that he didn't even notice when Angel and the green demon walked up to him. "You really should stop staring and introduce yourself." The demon spoke, breaking the spell.
Spike started, "Angel, the watcher sent me..."
"I know, Spike. Giles called, said you'd be here tonight. Cordy has forbidden me from doing any business during her party. You'll just have to wait, until after. This is Lorne, by the way." Angel was just about as happy to have Spike here as Spike was to be here. His voice reflected that.
Even a couple of hundred years of playing the big bad vampire, hadn't managed to erase all of the etiquette, Spike had been taught as a human. He really didn't care to talk to either his sire or Lorne, but he nodded at Lorne and spoke. "I'm Spike. I take it your a friend of my sire's."
"Of all of them actually." Before Lorne could launch into a story about how he knew the Angel Investigations team, Cordelia rushed across the room.
"You better not be talking business. This party is supposed to be business free. Spike, just don't bother anyone. I don't want to have to deal with an annoyed Angel for the next week, Wesley and Lorne deserve their peace, and Gunn will probably just stake you on general principle. Wait a minute, I take it back. I think you should go annoy Gunn. He really hates it when people interrupt him."
Cordelia obviously was still the only rival Spike had ever had for sarcasm. Spike knew he should be irritated with her, but just couldn't find the emotion. Instead he smiled, sometimes, she reminded him of himself. "Hello, Cordelia. I wouldn't dream of bothering anyone. Well, accept for Angel here of course. I don't even have to do anything to annoy him." Spike inclined his head towards Wesley. "Who's he?"
"Cordelia turned to see where he was looking. "Wesley. Leave him alone. Just drink some punch and wait for the party to be over. Then get your book and go home. If you drive as fast as you did getting here, you should have a few hours of nighttime to spare." She seemed to think that she had done enough, because she left before Spike could give his own sarcastic reply.
Over the next half hour, people started to trickle into the Hyperion lobby. Despite Cordelia's decree that this was a business-free function, nearly all of the guests were clients.
Spike didn't even bother trying to meet or interact with these people. He avoided the tall black man, he assumed was Gunn at all costs. His casual assessment was enough to tell him that Cordelia hadn't been exaggerating when she had said the young man might stake him on principal. He'd stay well clear of that. For the most part he even left his sire alone. Mostly, he just thought about the little he knew about Wesley. He knew that Wesley had at one time been Buffy's watcher. He also knew that the council had apparently sent him packing and he'd ended up here, working with Angel. None of the Sunnydale group had spoken about him much, but when they did their lack of respect for the man was notable. And they had certainly never mentioned that he just happened to be the most gorgeous man on Earth. That pretty well summed up what he had been told about the other man. He had observed a few things tonight as well. Wesley was obviously uncomfortable in the crowd. He stayed on the fringe of things as much as possible. When people would speak to them, he always answered pleasantly, but he didn't do anything to prolong the conversation. Spike didn't know if the other man would be willing to talk to him or not. He had been a watcher after all.
Spike was still pondering what to do about Wesley, when Lorne walked up to him. "Spike, I've actually heard, seen, whatever a lot about you. You should just go and talk to him you know. You look kind of sill staring at him from across the room." He was his usual straight-forward self.
For some strange reason, Spike didn't feel the need to put on the show with Lorne that he had with the others. He wasn't compelled to be sarcastic or even just outright annoying. "You think. He doesn't seem to talk to anyone much, and I'm still a soulless vampire, and he's still a watcher."
"He's an ex-watcher. There's a difference. Besides, something tells me he'll like you." Lorne, spoke quickly and ended with a nod towards Wesley, before walking off to resume his conversation with Angel.
Spike decided to take the demon's advice. He walked across the room, stopping just a few feet short of Wesley. "I'm Spike. Wesley right? I've heard some about you." Spike groaned inwardly. He should have at least come up with something better to say.
Wesley was a little startled. He recognized Spike, of course. He'd read about the vampire. He hadn't expected him to speak to him though. He had heard about Spike's encounter with a military group in Sunnydale. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about what had been done to the vampire. On the one hand, it did effectively keep him from harming the population. On the other, if he had learned anything it was that even vampires have free-will. This device robbed them of that, and taking anything's free-will seemed an almost unforgivable act. He also had to somewhat admire the creature who could actually adjust to that kind of change in their life. So it was with a touch of fear and a touch of respect that he answered, "Yes, I'm Wesley. I recognize you Spike. All's well in Sunnydale, I hope."
The two of them chatted pleasantly for quite some time. Spike found that he didn't need to present his usual harsh image with Wesley. Though the man had read about his pas, he had no preconceived notions about who he was now. He was able to simply be himself. That wasn't something he had done since he was human, or shortly after being turned at any rate. He found that he shared a number of common interests with Wesley. Wesley found that Spike was much more human than he would have ever thought. He was surprised by the vampire's intelligence and broad range of knowledge. He noted that the harsh accent seemed to melt away as they continued their conversation. After twenty minutes, you could barely tell a difference in their accents. Wesley unexpectedly found himself enjoying this conversation immensely. Spike was a thoughtful and interesting companion. He truly listened to what Wesley said, and gave appropriate responses. Wesley also realized, that he found Spike very attractive. He had only seen a few poor drawings of Spike as a newly turned vampire. There were some photos of him more recently. He'd been somewhat put off by the harsh image the vampire had given, but in their conversation, all of the coarseness in him faded away. He was left looking positively angelic. If ever a man had deserved to be given Angel's name it was this one. Before bleach and black leather, it must have been insanely easy for Spike to feed. His face seemed innocent and was so very beautiful. People often confused beauty for godliness. In Spike's case, he imagined that had been a costly mistake for most. He also found it surprising and really rather unsettling, that he didn't really care about Spike's past. He knew the vampire had done horrible things for nearly two centuries. He'd killed two slayers. It didn't really matter though. That was in the past. In the here and now, Spike was a vampire who was living on a bagged blood diet and helping the good guys. Maybe the diet was a necessity of the chip, but his help was not. Wesley could imagine literally dozens of ways to work around the chip. Spike could have still caused havoc and chaos working through other vampires. On a lesser note, he could simply not help. Nothing was forcing him to help Buffy and the others. Wesley doubted very much that such a thought had ever occurred to the rest of them. Wasn't really even sure that it would have occurred to Spike. Wesley genuinely liked the other man.
The two of them were so absorbed in their conversation that they didn't notice the reactions of those around them. Lorne had watched them, a satisfied expression on his face as he chatted and flirted with everyone in the room. Angel had watched a little skeptical at first. But was now smiling as he realized that Spike had dropped a large part of his act with Wesley. Angel knew that he had played a large part in Spike's creating that persona, and regretted it. It was good to see that the sensitive and intelligent individual that William had been, still existed somewhere beneath the persona. Cordelia's first reaction had been shock. When she had first walked by and noticed Wesley and Spike in deep conversation she had simply stood and stared for a few moments. After a time though she just accepted it as another one of the freaky things that made up her life. She knew the vampire couldn't hurt Wesley, so she settled for just being glad, that Wesley seemed to be enjoying himself. Even, Gunn settled on being happy that Wesley had found someone to talk to rather than irritated that Spike was that person.
The party went better than Cordelia had expected or planned on. Nearly all of their clients of the past year showed up and many stayed and chatted with each other until very late. Wesley and Spike talked through all of that time. Sometimes arguing fine points of logic that went completely over Cordelia's head and sometimes simply discussing the people in Sunnydale. They actually seemed startled when Cordelia walked over to them. They glanced around the room, noticing for the first time that it was nearly empty. "Party's pretty much over. Angel asked me to get the name of the book Giles needs." Cordelia took an inordinate amount of pleasure in seeing them jump at her voice.
Spike pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her. "Here it is."
"I'll have him get the book and then I guess you can go. It's a little later than I was expecting, but you should still be able to make it back before sunrise." Cordelia took the slip of paper over to Angel.
"I guess, you'll be leaving soon then?" Cordelia's appearance had brought back a shyness in Wesley.
"I'd like to stay, but Giles needs that book..." Spike trailed off. He had found a friend tonight and that was a rare enough occurrence that he didn't want to end their meeting so quickly.
Lorne walked over then. He didn't say a word, always unusual for him, he simply pointed up and walked away. Spike and Wesley looked up to see what Lorne had pointed at. It seemed the two of them had managed to sit under one of Cordelia's many pieces of mistletoe. Wesley glanced quickly away and blushed. It was an endearing action to Spike. He had quit questioning things years ago. In many ways, he allowed fate to rule his life. Here he was, sitting under mistletoe with a man that he not only genuinely liked, but was very much attracted to. What else could he possibly do? Spike kissed him. It started out as just a light brushing of lips, but it only took a moment for Wesley to respond by pressing their lips together more firmly. Spike's arms went around Wesley's waist, even as he felt warm arms encircle him. The kiss deepened. Their tongues twining together. After a few long moments, they separated. It had been every thing a first kiss was supposed to be, tentative, teasing, sweet, and with an undercurrent of passion.
Angel found them a few minutes later, still wrapped in each others arms. He smiled, happy for his friend and the man that he had damaged so badly in the distant past. "Here's the book, Spike. I think it's a little late for you to get started tonight. Why don't you stay in town. I'm sure Wesley would let you stay at his place. I'll call Giles in the morning, let him know you'll be back tomorrow night."
Wesley and Spike both looked at Angel a little shocked. They expected some reaction to being found like this. After a moment, they decided to just take things that were offered. Wesley spoke. "Of course you may stay with me." The two of them got up and started moving for the door.
Spike turned just as they reached the door, "Thank you." He directed the simple words at Angel. And both the words and the brilliant smile on Spike's face touched Angel to his very soul. He didn't know if things would work out for the two of them, but at least they were both being given a shot at happiness, and that should be taken and savored, because it might not be offered again.