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Cicirossi
Joss Whedon is God and owns all. It's still his world, although we like to sneak in the side door and cover Xander with chocolate sauce and whipped cream when no one's looking.
Xander woke up slowly. Cautiously even. Waking up was a bad thing lately, and he was in no rush to go through it again. Something heavy and boneless rested against his right side, which was mostly asleep. His left side, which was not mostly asleep, was sore, and he felt weak as a kitten. But when he tried to stretch, his arms moved just like they were told to, and his hands didn't shake.
And he was hungry. Starving, in fact. Eggs. Bacon. A mountain of toast. Or maybe just leftover pizza. Or, depending on what time it was, fresh pizza. Commanding one of his hands to move, amazed when it did, Xander whacked the spiky blonde head that rested in the hollow between his neck and shoulder.
"Mrphgmuph?"
"Hey, bloodsucking evil one. Get up. I have to pee. And I'm hungry."
Oh, that was just too cute, the way Spike looked at him while waiting for his eyes to focus. Confused, then aware, then sort of amazed. "S'that it then? No more fighting it? Just like that?"
Xander sighed. "Do we have to make a big emotional thing about it now, Spike? You here. Is good. Me hungry. We'll iron out all the details later, okay? Now move before I make an even bigger wet spot."
Once again, Spike showed astounding celerity when confronted by those pesky human bathroom things, and rolled off to the other side of the bed. Momentarily diverted by the pull and flex of muscle as Spike stretched, but the need for relief and refreshment overcame that and Xander headed off to the bathroom out in the hall on shaky legs. Not as shaky as they had been, though. This was just a haven't eaten in days, been fed on by vampire shaky. Which was good. And when did he ever think he would be saying that, even in his head?
"Xander! Are you okay?"
Willow and Tara came down the hall towards him, and it occurred to Xander to look down and make sure he was wearing pants. He was. Sweats, to be exact, and while they were stained with all sorts of unmentionable things, at least he was decent. "Yeah. But I have to go. Is there food?"
Ducking into the bathroom then, and Xander realized just how long it had been since he went to the bathroom. Ew. While he was there he cleaned up a little, and drank about five huge cups of water. Much better. Voices still sounded out in the hall, and he knew he had to go back out there, but he didn't really want to. Hearing Willow's surprised, "Spike! You're naked!" finally pulled him out the door.
Spike was indeed naked, wandering down the hall toward the bathroom with supreme indifference to his nude state. Shaking his head and biting back a silly grin, Xander intercepted him and handed him the towel he'd grabbed. "Put this on, will you? I'm off in search of clean clothes for both of us. You need to bathe."
"You could wash me, luv." Spike leered, and Xander hit him.
"No, Spike. Food first. Sex later."
Squeaky noises issued from the Willow-Tara end of the hall, and Xander shoved Spike into the bathroom before going in search of cloth type coverings. Forestalling the questions he could see bubbling up in Willow's head with a raised hand, Xander asked, "Clothes?"
"We brought some from your apartment yesterday," Tara replied. "I'll go get them."
"Thanks. Will? Food? Then I promise we'll have a babbling question answer hug fest, okay?"
Relieved smile from Willow then, and she nodded before bounding off down the stairs in search of edibles. Tara came back with clothes, and before long both Xander and Spike were not so naked and much less grimy. They headed downstair and Xander zeroed in on the kitchen like a cat who hears an electric can opener. French toast. Willow was making him french toast. He wanted to kiss her toes.
"You look better." Dawn passed him a glass of orange juice and grinned at him. "Does this mean everything is good?"
"Everything is on its way to good. Still definitely of the odd, but then it's Spike we're talking about."
The vampire in question just shot him the finger without removing his head from the refrigerator, where he rummaged for his own breakfast. Triumphant at last, he backed out, butt wiggling, and Xander laughed out loud.
"That's a sound we weren't sure we'd hear again. And can I just say that I'd never thought I'd see the day when we kept blood in the Summers fridge?" Buffy sat down across from him at the table and looked him over carefully. "You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm okay. Weird, still working on getting it all straight in my head, but okay. Are you? Okay with it?"
"No. But it's not my deal. It's yours. My fault, yes. My deal, no. As long as you can put up with it, and he doesn't kill you, which you know, distinct possibility if he can bite you, then I'll let you handle it. The minute he hurts you, he's mine."
"You'd have to wait in line," Willow said, with a dark look at Spike. "I have a shovel with your name on it Mister."
"Good thing I want what's best for him, isn't it? And since the biting thing is a feature of the wish, then it wouldn't let me do it if it was going to make him unhappy, now would it?" They all stared at him, amazed at the simple logic of that statement. All except Xander, who munched happily on his french toast and studiously ignored the sight of Spike dipping a piece into his blood.
"Xan? Are you sure? I mean, can you really do this?" Because it was Willow, he didn't get upset. Neither did Spike, but he did stop chewing and looked at Xander as intently as everyone else.
"Well, it's better than dying." Ouch. Spike could do hurt really well. Who knew? Time to make his position clear. "I can't say that I understand it. Or that I even want it." And here he looked Spike right in the eye. "But it feels good. And right, funky as that sounds. So yeah. I'm doing this. And that's it, okay? Xander has spoken. No more second guessing."
The relieved look only lasted a few seconds before being taken over by a smug grin, but Xander saw it there on Spike's face, and it made him think he finally did something right. It was going to take a lot of adjusting on everyone's part, but he could do this. He would. No matter where it took him in the world of odd.
"So," Xander said, polishing off the last of his breakfast. "Anyone got any chocolate?"
THE END
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