Musical Wars
Chapter 15
When Xander pushed open the warehouse door, he could still feel Baby churning uncomfortably. He only realized how uncomfortable they were when Spike's hand landed on his shoulder, sending Xander leaping forwards. Xander ended up in the middle of the garage before he turned to see Spike watching him with one eyebrow raised.
"Problem, pet?"
Xander considered the answer to that, struggling to figure out the flood of emotions coming from Baby. He got so distracted he didn't notice Spike until a fingers curled around his arm.
"Xander?"
"Yep, that's my name, don't wear it out," he joked awkwardly, but Spike's face remained serious. "And I'm not really sure on the whole problem front because the brain doesn't seem to be quite keeping up with the feelings, and as a man, I’m not supposed to be discussing feelings. It's in the man handbook."
"Oi, that's my Xander," Spike said with a shake of his head, and then he guided Xander through the door and into the main room. Everything looked the same, down to the dust on the table, but Xander could feel himself tense at every scritch of mouse feet across the concrete. He followed as Spike guided him to an old sofa that smelled like his Aunt Betty who wasn't really an aunt but the slightly strange neighbor who lived across from them at the first apartment in LA, the one with a dozen cats.
"Xander, I didn't ask about Baby, I asked if you have a problem."
"Do you think cats peed on this couch?" Xander asked as he stared down at the worn leather, following his own mental train to Aunt Bettysville.
"Maybe," Spike admitted slowly. Spike crouched down, his knees on the outside of Xander's knees, and Xander took a deep shuddering breath.
"Pet." When Xander didn't look up, long fingers flicked him in the nose.
"Ow, that hurt!" Xander complained, holding his face with his hands defensively as he finally looked up into Spike's blue eyes. Relief and shame and fear tugged at him.
"Pet, tell me what's bothering you," Spike said, strong hands resting on Xander's thighs. Xander shrugged.
"Oi," Spike exploded up, throwing himself across the room and toward the huge wooden table, and Xander shrank back. When Spike slapped his hands on the table top, leaning heavily with his head hanging between his arms, Xander felt the guilt and shame bits of him overshadow the rest. Pushing himself up, he slowly inched toward Spike.
He knew Spike could hear him, and yet the vampire remained leaning against the table with his back to Xander. With every step, Baby circled uncomfortably, but Xander ignored the feeling as he closed the distance and then sank to his knees on the cold concrete.
"Sire." Xander whispered the word that always brought Spike to his side, bending his head so that he could hide behind a curtain of curls. Fingers ran through his hair, and Xander reached up with trembling fingers to open his shirt. He tried to shrug the fabric off, but then Spike was there, kneeling in front of him, strong hands over his, holding him still.
"Xander, what are you doin'?"
Xander bit his lip and shrugged. Baby had stilled in a sort of silent panic.
"Right, up you go," Spike said, and hands under Xander's elbows lifted him. Xander followed without complaint as Spike led him into the bedroom. The stack of CD's had fallen over leaving a scattering of plastic across the floor and the someone had flipped up one side of the carpeting so that Xander almost tripped, Spike's hands keeping him steady.
"We're going to play twenty questions, and you're going to bloody answer every question, you understand?" Spike said and then Xander sat as strong hands pushed him toward the bed. He nodded silently.
"What did you do that you think you need punishin'?" Spike tugged the open shirt, and Xander slipped out of it, surrendering the clothes as he worked out the answer to that.
"I turned to Angel. You told me to stay away from him," Xander settled on. Spike sat on the bed.
"Ya like the broody one?"
"Not likely," Xander snorted.
"He does make it hard to like him what with the acting like a soddin' git," Spike agreed. "So, you didn't turn ta Angel, Baby did. Bloody awful judgment there seein' as how Angel only knows how to get bossed around by humans and ride roughshod over minions."
Xander nodded his agreement as he twisted his fingers aimlessly.
"Pet." Spike's hand landed on Xander's twisting fingers. "Baby's going to have to pay for that, but right now, I don't give a rat's arse about Baby. You're my first and favorite."
Xander could feel the Baby part of him draw back even farther. He took a deep breath and tried to sort the crush of emotion.
"Pet, tell me what you're thinking." Spike took his hand and turned Xander's head so that Xander had to make eye contact, gazing into blue eyes that he had convinced himself he would never see again. The shame washed through him again: he hadn't even tried to find Spike… he had just believed Willow and Jenny. Rage boiled up through the shame.
"They told me you were gone."
"S'not that easy to kill me."
"They told me." Xander could feel his anger press up against his throat and he pushed Spike's hands away as he dashed for the bathroom just seconds ahead of throwing up.
"Bloody inconvenient bodily functions." Spike's voice echoed over the tile walls, and Xander heaved again, the acid burning his mouth. Pressing the lever to flush away the mess, Xander leaned against the edge of the counter until a water glass appeared before him. He grabbed it.
"I would have looked for you," Xander said as he stared at the clear water. "They told me you were dead."
"I am, luv. Have been for a while now," Spike said softly as he came close and slipped an arm around Xander's stomach, stepping up so that he pressed to Xander's back, and as the words settled into Xander's brain, the heat rose to his face.
"Oh god. Oh god. I'm an idiot. Shit. How can you love a total idiot?" Xander gasped out. "I didn't tell them you were a vampire. You were dead. They told me you were dead, and I was too stupid to even put that one together. Oh shit." Xander let the glass down on the counter with a hard crack, and a trickle of water slipped out the bottom, making a small stream that meandered across the marble counter and into the side. "Oh fuck. Spike."
"Shhh, pet. Bloody hell, you'd been knocked on your ass, left to wander the Hell mouth alone, and in the middle of slayer central. Not surprising that you weren't thinking straight." Spike reached around and pried Xander's fingers off the slightly cracked glass and tipped the water into the sink. "Don't need ta take it out on the glassware."
"Dunder Harris at it again," Xander snorted as Spike took another glass and emptied out the liquor before rinsing the glass and filling it with water. Before Spike handed over the glass, he slapped Xander upside the back of the head hard enough to make Xander rock forward.
"Ow. Stop hitting me."
"Thought ya wanted me ta hit ya?" Spike handed over the glass and then he turned to lean back against the counter as Xander rinsed his mouth and drank the water.
Even after he'd finished, Xander had to stop and think about the answer to that one. "I just want it to be easy, like before," he finally answered.
"Easy?" Spike's face took on an amused expression, like when some gang member called him a fag right before becoming the evening dinner. "Easy like when I stripped the skin from your back, left ya in chains, and then went to find the wanker who let you go sailing into a fight with a gang of fledges?" Spike asked.
Xander thought back to that night when he'd been so sure Spike would kill Carlos because of a mistake Xander had made. He'd crouched on the floor cold and sore and feeling like the world's biggest loser. He shook his head.
"I want it simple like when you came back and everything was forgiven."
"Pet." Spike reached up and brushed curls back from Xander's face and Baby stirred to life again. "I'm not ready to forgive Baby yet." And there went Baby cringing back to a corner of Xander's mind.
"He thought you were dead," Xander said, desperate to have his inner demon okay with the world again, and until Spike said the big 'f' word—forgiven—he didn't think there was going to be much peace.
"Xander." Spike sounded almost tired as he led them back out to the bedrooom. Oh yeah, when Spike called him by his name, he knew he was in serious trouble. "Why did ya step back and let Baby make the decisions?"
"And I'm going back to 'I'm an idiot.'" This time Xander was ready for the hand that tried to bop him, and he ducked, covering the back of his head with one hand while he aimed an elbow at Spike.
"Brat," Spike complained as shoved Xander onto the bed. Xander bounced and sprawled, and before he had a chance to recover, Spike had landed on him. "So, why did you take back over?"
"Hello. In case you missed it, Baby was all ready to go with the great broody one." Xander rolled his eyes. For a second, he wondered what he would be doing if he'd stayed with Angel. He'd probably be chained in the basement again. Maybe Angel had chained Riley down there this time. Spike's finger pulling at a nipple brought him back to reality.
"So when you really wanted something, like me, you took control," Spike smirked and pulled harder at Xander's nipple. The heat made a line straight for Xander's recently neglected cock which began to swell with anticipation. Baby started stirring as well.
"Well, yeah."
"So, when Baby took over, it was because you were lettin' him." Spike turned his attention to the second nipple as he lowered himself and ran a tongue over his claim mark. Xander threw his head to the side and groaned in need.
"Yeah," he agreed. Of course, to keep Spike doing that, he would have agreed to almost anything.
"So, why give Baby the control?" Spike whispered in Xander's ear, tickling the little hairs all the way down. Xander shivered. When Spike stopped, Xander opened his eyes to find Spike staring straight down at him. "Why let Baby have control?" Spike repeated more slowly.
Xander squirmed with discomfort as Spike stared at him the way Mrs. Wilson in third grade had stared at him when she expected him to be able to do long division. "He seems to know what he's doing, and he never babbles, and he doesn't play with his shirt tails and look like a dork dressed up in his brother's clothes because the clothes you bought for me really aren't much like me."
"Bloody hell, you think the demon's… what? Cooler?" Spike pulled back, and oh yeah, Xander totally felt like he'd just announced to the class that 3 goes into 9 five times. He shrugged.
"I guess I hoped that the demon cool would rub off like osmosis or something only with a lack of dorkiness instead of water," he agreed. "Instead I'm just as dorky as ever only when Baby's up front, people aren't so much with the noticing me being a dork."
"Pet, why does the great broody one annoy the unlife out of me?" Spike asked.
"Okay, I'm obviously missing something because one-that's making sense of the not even variety and two-I thought we were talking about how fucked up I am."
"You are fucked up, pet, and so am I for that matter, but look at tonight. I would have staked the git if I could have."
"And that would be the whole stealing of me part, right?"
"Partly. Pet, why did you keep droppin' the stake when you tried to hunt with Gunn?" Spike tried, and Xander could feel the invisible dunce cap growing out of the top of his head.
"Because I'm a loser?" Since Spike had pinning him to the bed, Xander couldn't dodge the slap to the side of the head that time. "Ow!"
"Stop bein' so thick skulled," Spike snapped.
"Hey, I get hit when I call myself thick skulled," Xander pointed out the unfairness, but Spike ignored him.
"Baby wanted a master… why?"
"Demons are all about who's in charge and structure and clan," Xander answered, watching Spike suspiciously for any more sneak attacks.
"Exactly. And why does the great broody one leave me wanting to just rip him right off the family tree and drop him in a vat of holy water."
"Because he broods?"
"Bloody hell, the Master did that all the time. According to Darla, he'd spend months whining about how in the old days, a master could walk the alleys and pick off the best humans without having mobs on his tail. Angel can brood til his hair falls out for all I care, but he should act like a proper vampire. He's part of the Aurelius line, even if he is a git, but he won't act like it."
"Okay, and I should…" Xander waited for Spike to finish his sentence, but he just lay there, pinning Xander to the bed and silent. The pinning part was good, but the silent expectation was more than a little annoying. "You need to put the dots closer together for me, Spike."
"No, I bloody well don't. Figure it out, pet," Spike answered and then he leaned down and sucked on the claim mark so that Xander's entire brain switched off as all the blood headed south. Helplessly writhing, he clutched at fistfuls of Spike's coat and gasped. By the time Spike finally let go of his neck, he could feel his cock struggling against the fabric of his pants.
"Miss me?" Spike muttered against Xander's chest as he worked his way down with a series of small kisses.
"Fuck, yeah," Xander gathered enough brain cells to answer.
"Picked ya up a prezzie, pet. Somethin' ta make up for leavin' ya alone all that time." A mouth descended on Xander's nipple, sucking so hard that Xander arched his back up off the bed and threw his arms out for leverage. Sucking good. Sucking very good.
"Ya want to see?" Spike asked when he finally released the hardened, red flesh. Xander couldn't answer what with everything above the neck being so numb. Spike half sat up, pressing his ass into Xander's crotch, and the sharp edge of pleasurable pain drove Xander to thrust up into that pressure. When something silver floated into his vision, Xander had to struggle to focus on the silver ring, thick with grooves carved into a rough design on one side and a ball suspended between two points at the front.
"You like?" Spike asked.
"Um… yeah," Xander looked at the size and wondered if he could even fit it onto his pinky finger. He didn't have time to say anything else because Spike had gone back to working the same nipple, pulling and nibbling at it until Xander couldn't have formed the word fire even if the heat in his groin had spontaneously set the bed on fire.
The dull aching needy pain in his chest ended with a sharp pain that sidetracked Xander's penis, which was really surprising considering how into things his penis had gotten. And that would be the not-good side of pain.
"And again with the ow," Xander complained, but Spike just waggled his eyebrows.
"Not gonna say that in a minute," he promised. Xander gasped as Spike grabbed the abused nipple and stretched it. The red pain grew for a second, and then cold steel soothed the burn as Spike slipped the ring into the hole he'd made with his fang.
Lowering his head, Spike licked the abused skin, and Xander shivered as the ring sent exquisite shivers through his body. "Like that, pet?" Spike whispered as he moved down, trailing a fang over Xander's stomach, and the faint scent of blood brought Baby to the surface.
"Pet, your demon's showin'," Spike said as he sat up, his knees straddling Xander as he slipped off his coat and flung it to the floor.
"I… uh, what?" Xander finally managed. Spike unbuttoned his shirt before putting his hands on either side of Xander's head and bending over.
"Your demon's showin', and since your demon's been acting like a right git, you have two choices. If your demon's coming to the surface, we can get the punishment out of the way now, or you can put Baby back in his place until sire and sire's favorite finish playin'," Spike offered before licking the claim mark.
It took Xander a couple of seconds to realize Spike was threatening to stop with the sex, and another couple to catch his breath and force Baby back so far that the world blurred into the blues and greens of his normal human vision.
"Oh no, no stopping, stopping bad," Xander objected as Spike shimmied out of his red shirt. He reached up and touched one of Spike's nipples, rubbing his thumb over it until Spike hissed in pleasure.
"Fuck, yeah, Xan. Flip over," Spike ordered as he unbuttoned his jeans and pulled out his cock. Precum formed at the tip, and Xander could see the end already nudging the foreskin aside.
Xander ripped open his own jeans, arching his back as he struggled to get them down, but then Spike grabbed the belt loops and yanked them down with one pull that left Xander's hard cock to bob in the air.
"Miss me?" Spike asked salaciously, and Xander squirmed around, his face to the pillow, and suddenly Spike's use of 'pillow biter' actually did make sense.
"I thought I'd lost you." Xander pulled his knees up under his chest, spreading them to open himself up for Spike.
"Never goin' to happen, pet. You're mine, and I always come back for what's mine. I love seein' ya all spread out for me."
Xander shivered as a possessive hand ran over his ass and down a thigh. He pressed back and wiggled in invitation.
"Stay put," Spike ordered with a warm slap on the ass that just made Xander wiggle harder. His cock dangled in the air, and Xander reached down to stroke the neglected flesh. It'd been too long.
"Oi, someone's being naughty," Spike said as he slapped Xander's hand away and closed his own hand around the base of Xander's cock.
"Spike, please," Xander begged as he tried to thrust into the hand only to have Spike move with him, teasing and tormenting him to the point of near exploding.
"Seems like someone's forgotten who's in charge pet," Spike commented with an entirely too amused tone and then he disappeared from the bed. Xander could only kneel with his face to the pillow and his empty ass in the air as he waited for Spike to come back. Baby uncurled a bit of longing for sire, and Xander ruthlessly shoved it away, so not willing to have Spike stop now.
Just then something wrapped around his right ankle, and Xander partially raised himself to watch Spike tie a soft white rope around it with a double knot that would have made any sailor proud. When he finished, Spike put a hand on Xander's shoulder, pushing his face back down to the bed, and Xander obediently sank down, his ass still in the air. He'd tucked his arms around his head, but Spike took his right arm and pulled it to Xander's side. When Spike used the long end of the rope from Xander's right ankle to start tying Xander's right wrist, Xander could feel his breath catch as his cock thickened even more. Far beyond words, he could only moan.
Then Spike repeated the restraints on the other side, tying Xander's left ankle to his left wrist with about eight inches of rope between them. Xander was left with his cheek pressed to the pillow, his arms helpless at his side, and his knees bent at the perfect angle to leave his ass open and stuck up in the air.
"Such a pretty childe," Spike said, and now hands stroked his ass and traveled up over to his back.
"Spike, please," Xander found the words to beg.
"Goin' to enjoy my childe, aren't I. I'm sire, after all, and it's my bloody right," Spike answered without mercy, and Xander groaned as he pulled against the rope. He just succeeded in sliding his legs up the bed an inch, arching his back even more as Spike chuckled.
"Knowin' Angelus, the wanker probably bit the inside of his cheek off trying to keep himself from tying you to a bed and torturing you until you passed out from pleasure and pain," Spike said as he walked around the bed to the far side. Xander squirmed to raise his head and turn so that he could watch, but with his head sunk into a pillow, he couldn't even manage that. He had to just lay there as Spike rattled around the room with his jeans hanging open and his cock jutting out.
"Don't care. Sire, please let me…" Xander pleaded as he stared at the open bathroom door helplessly.
"Not goin' to let you do anything but lay there, so get used to it," Spike answered, and then something wet and warm touched his ass. Xander groaned as the feeling of warmth traveled up his spine and radiated into his body, damn near setting his cock on fire.
"Someone's tight," Spike commented and then a finger wiggled into Xander's ass. The feeling of sire again inside him… even if it wasn't quite the way he wanted sire inside him… made Xander grunt in pleasure and pain and need, but he couldn't do anything else. Spike pressed at his entrance and a second finger worked inside, now stretching him. His muscles loosened with a soft burn, and something bigger pressed inside. Xander awkwardly thrust backwards, impaling himself on something too small to be Spike, and a sharp slap on his ass sent him rocking forward again, his movement limited to the six inches of rocking back and forth.
"Impatient little bugger," Spike said, and then he slapped Xander's ass again, this time, the hand drove the object farther into Xander, triggering the prostate so that Xander could only grunt in pleasure and need so sharp it made his hanging cock ache. "Someone got told to just lay there." Spike slapped again, spreading the heat over Xander's ass.
Xander lost himself in the pattern of slaps, some feather soft, some hard enough to press his face into the pillow. Whatever toy Spike had put into him nudged into his prostate, and the growing heat in his ass radiated out to his whole body until he could only feel the fire and the pattern of blows and his hard cock hanging useless. Xander had almost lost himself when Spike pulled the toy out, leaving him cold and uncomfortable; however, the feeling didn't last long.
The bed tilted as Spike climbed up, and then Xander felt the pressure of Spike's thick cock pressing against his ass. Without even opening his eyes, he pressed back, groaning as the muscles stretched even more. Inch by inch, Spike slid in the first bit, and then strong hands grabbed Xander's hips. Xander exhaled and thought relaxing thoughts as Spike then drove in the rest of the way.
Gasping in both pleasure and pain, Xander fisted his hands and arched his back as Spike pulled out and then slammed in again. On the third thrust, Xander felt himself start, orgasm ripping through him as he fought the ropes, his muscles stiff and his whole body struggling to arch up. Spike paused for a second, and then as Xander's second and third wave hit, started thrusting again. Xander only half felt Spike finish as he sank down into a post-coital silence, like being wrapped in sheets too thick to fight out of.
Spike pulled out and dropped onto the bed next to Xander. Xander half opened one eye, still tied in position and his back starting to ache.
"Missed you, pet," Spike said.
"Missed you too, Spike," Xander answered before closing his eyes again. Fingers worked at his wrists and ankles until he could finally lay flat, so tired he couldn't even bother to open his eyes and watch Spike. Even when something warm and wide tightened around his wrist, Xander lay there one big limp sexed-out noodle. When both hands had been wrapped, the clink of chains finally inspired Xander to open his eyes and watch as Spike chained his wrists to a ring set into the wall. He had enough chain to get comfortable, but not enough to get off the bed, and Xander remembered when Spike had first captured him and kept him locked up while Xander fought a growing fondness for waking up chained.
"You aren't going to start on Baby tonight, are you?" Xander asked sleepily.
"No." Spike walked over and dropped the lock key on the dresser before padding back to bed and sliding in under the covers. "Just thought I'd remind you who you belong to, pet," Spike finished as he pressed to Xander's side, clever fingers playing with Xander's new nipple ring. Xander just smiled as he let himself drift to sleep.