Xander watched as a strangely unclothed Spike disappeared into the bathroom. What the hell was going on? Slowly but surely, fragments of the evening’s activities trickled into his brain. Xander was taken by a sudden urge to run like hell.

He jumped off the bed, eyes searching wildly for his clothing. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find even a pair of socks…other than Spike’s robe. Grabbing that, he raced out of the room. Once he had put a doorway and perhaps ten feet between himself and the vampire, Xander pulled on the robe and cinched it tight. The hurricane lamp was still on a side table so Xander grabbed it up and ran down the hall.

“Oh, Xander…” Spike began as he sauntered into the bedroom. Glancing around, he saw that Xander had, in fact, run away. He was pretty sure that he’d heard the boy getting up and running off. Instead of the anger that Xander would have suspected, a wide, positively evil grin stretched across that handsome face. “Never a dull moment, eh, whelp?” The vampire picked up a pair of silk pajama bottoms and walked out of the room.

Xander nearly fell running down the stairs. When he reached bottom, he noticed for the first time how the hurricane lamp was guttering and flickering wildly. Maybe running helter-skelter with the second cousin of a Molotov cocktail was a bad idea. Xander took off toward the kitchen at a slightly less breakneck pace, hoping that the weather wasn’t so bad he couldn’t get to his apartment.

From the second-floor landing Spike listened to Xander rummage around the kitchen. Between his noisiness and the odor of lamp oil, Spike had no trouble determining exactly where the boy was. A spark of happiness started in the back of Spike’s mind; a bit of harmless fun was just what he needed and Xander was just the person to give it to him. Delighted with the evening’s impromptu entertainment, Spike glided down the stairs and went in search of his prey.

“Damn,” Xander whispered, awed at the scene just outside the kitchen door. Rain was falling so hard and dense that he couldn’t see the end of the stoop, and vicious winds pushed the drops almost sideways. Every so often, he swore he saw a branch or leaf fly by. There was no way he would be able to get back to his apartment in that stuff.

Closing the door, Xander decided to try his luck on the third floor. Luckily for him, there was a stairwell for servants that went directly up there from the kitchen. Xander snuck into the cupboard that hid the stairs and went up them as quietly as possible.

Spike was nearly to the kitchen via the dining room when he heard a telltale creaking. Xander had taken the back stairs to the third floor. Grinning madly, Spike took off toward the main stairs at a run. He flew up them to the third floor, knowing exactly where the other stairs came out.

Xander leaned back against the door with a sigh. Spike wouldn’t look for him up here. After all, hadn’t he headed downstairs? The vampire would be looking for him down there, or outside.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Spike said amusedly.

Xander shrieked. Spike was lounging against the fireplace, naked as a jaybird. “Aack!” He nearly dropped the hurricane lamp as he turned and fled the room. Taking a detour through the main hallway, Xander lit down the main stairs and into the catacomb-like halls of the second floor. He couldn’t hear anything behind him, but that meant little, since Spike could be completely silent if he wanted to.

Spike followed at a more leisurely pace. There wasn’t any real reason to rush; after all, the boy was fairly well trapped in the house as long as the storm raged outside. From what he could tell, Xander had holed himself up in one of the back bedrooms on the second floor.

Xander eased the door shut and locked it, pushing a chair underneath the knob for good measure. He repeated the procedure on every other door, until he’d backed himself into the bathroom. Taking a deep breath, he set the lamp down and went over to crack the window. He knew enough about air flow to know the room would quickly become deadly if he didn’t get more oxygen in.

Spike decided that he’d like a snack before continuing, so he went down to the kitchen and warmed up a small pot of blood over the gas range. Lighting a few candles, he enjoyed his dinner in the dancing shadows caused by the dim lighting. After a few minutes, he hungered for more…exciting entertainment, so he snuffed the candles and went back upstairs.

It was obvious to Spike that Xander had done all he could think of to keep the vampire out. Spike grinned at the locked and probably barricaded door. Unfortunately for Xander, the room he’d picked had a small flaw. The hinges were facing outward.

Spike reached up and pulled out the top hinge pin, followed by the lower two. Easing gently, Spike pulled the door out of the frame and set it aside. He moved the chair slightly as he walked into the room, noting how the other doors were similarly treated.

Xander twitched at what he thought was the noise of a door opening. Or, was that the storm outside? He huddled deeper into the linen closet he’d hidden in, hoping that maybe Spike would get bored or at least trip over something and stake himself on a floorboard. Stranger things have happened, after all. He really wanted to know why Spike was doing all this. After all, what was Xander to the vampire? Lawn boy, enemy, amusement? Xander didn’t understand. He wasn’t that much of a catch, and Spike had certainly not shown any interest in him before. He didn’t like any of the imagined explanations for what was going on, since most of them ended in his untimely death.

Spike prized open the door to the drawing room, leaving only one door between himself and the bathroom where he knew Xander was hidden. When he began to work on those hinges, he heard the boy shuffling around inside.

The sound of something scraping at the door woke Xander from his daze. He jumped out of the closet, seeing how the door was shaking a little. Damn! Spike was just outside. Cursing vampiric senses and strength, Xander began to look frantically for a way out. He shouldn’t have put himself in a room with only one…or two exits.

Xander reached over to test the window. It slid further open with ease, letting gusts of cold wind and rain inside. Lady Luck must have been shining down on Xander, because there was a huge live oak branch just outside the window. He quickly stepped out onto the window ledge, closing the window behind him. Once it was closed, he reached over and tore out the metal tracking on one side, bending it down so that the window wouldn’t open. It might buy him a second or two later on.

Spike pulled the door away slowly, not wanting to hurt Xander with it. Much to his surprise, the bathroom was empty. The boy couldn’t have tricked him; after all, he heard his heartbeat. After quickly rummaging through the linen closet, where he could still smell Xander, Spike noticed water on the window sill. So that’s where he went. Spike cursed the boy’s idiocy—trying to climb a tree in this weather! He struggled with the window before realizing that Xander had damaged it so that it wouldn’t open. Perhaps another route to the tree would work better anyway.

Xander eased himself onto the tree branch, holding on with both arms and legs. The wind tried to buffet him off, and the rain both blinded him and made everything slippery. Despite the conditions, Xander managed to safely shimmy down to the main trunk. He looked around as best as he could, noting that he’d have to step on at least one, and maybe two, other branches before he could make it to the ground. The first one didn’t seem to be a problem, but the second one would be a stretch.

Spike got outside just in time to see Xander hop from one branch to another, barely keeping his footing. Suppressing a shout, he ran to position himself directly under the boy. This was completely uncalled for, and Xander dying wasn’t in his plans for the evening.

Xander was doing fine until he tried to steady himself on the second branch. A sharp gust of wind knocked him sideways and he lost his footing, tumbling backward. He braced for the pain of hitting the ground on his back and was caught off-guard by the feeling of landing in someone’s arms.

“Cats and dogs I’ve heard of, but naughty little boys?” Spike said lightly as he held Xander tight.

“Eeek!” Xander squeaked, trying to get away. He twisted out of Spike’s hold, helped a great deal by the slick silk he was wearing. Xander ran for the front door, not bothering to wonder why it was standing wide open. Spike stared after him, shaking his head.

“No damned gratitude, that one,” He muttered before following Xander inside. The boy had locked the front door, but that wasn’t a problem for a vampire that had thought to bring the door key with him. The night was beginning to remind Spike of a Pepe Le Peu cartoon, complete with slapstick antics. Maybe if he painted white stripes down their backs, Xander would hold still for a little while. Spike just wanted to have a little fun.

Xander, meanwhile, was busy trying to find a place to hide. He was cold, wet and without a light source. Finally he made it up the stairs and stumbled around until he found an unlocked door. He ran through it, slamming it shut. In his exhausted, wet and hazy state, he noted only that there was a comfortable looking chair nearby. Pulling an afghan off of a nearby stand, he wrapped himself up and settled into the chair, falling asleep almost immediately.

Spike trudged up the stairs. Xander had left great wet footprints everywhere, so he wasn’t hard to track. The vampire decided to dry off and change before picking up the chase, but changed his priorities when he saw that the footprints led not down the hall but right back to his study.

Inside, he found Xander huddled in a chair next to the dying fire he’d lit hours earlier. Smiling softly at the sleeping human, he gathered Xander up and carried him into his bedroom. The vampire quickly stripped the boy and dried him off, then buried him under mountains of comforters and blankets. A few minutes later, Spike joined him, holding Xander tightly as he fell asleep.

•••

Outside the storm raged all night and well into the morning. It was still howling outside when Xander woke up, more than a bit disoriented. He dug himself out of the covers, noting that he was in a strange bed. Long, lean arms tightened around him, and Xander tried to turn over to see who was holding him.

“Stop moving.” Spike muttered in his sleep.

Xander blinked. Spike? Why was he in bed with Spike? Once again, the memories of the night before trickled into his brain. “Oh shit,” Xander whispered.

“Stop talking. Trying to sleep here,” Spike said harshly. Xander tried to get up but only succeeded in making Spike wrap his legs around Xander’s and hold him tighter. Every move Xander made resulted in his being more securely bound, so eventually he stopped shifting about. Spike relaxed slightly and went back into a deep sleep.

“Well, this is a fine mess,” Xander murmured to himself. What had he done to offend the gods that this was his punishment?

He lay there immobilized for several hours, until Spike woke up again. He knew Spike was awake because something was licking the side of his neck…something with a cool mouth.

“I know you’re awake, Xander,” Spike said softly.

“Why are you doing this to me?” Xander whined.

Spike chuckled. “What, you’re not having fun? It is supposed to be fun, you know,” he replied, nipping at Xander’s ear.

Xander tried not to be distracted. “Why me?”

Spike rolled on top of Xander. “Because you’re fun to play with,” he said, lapping at Xander’s mouth. “And cute, and you’re here.”

What Spike said sunk into Xander’s brain. “You’re molesting me because I’m convenient?”

The vampire couldn’t help but laugh at the indignation in Xander’s voice. “Well, I wouldn’t put it that way, Xan. You’ve proven yourself to be very inconvenient of late.”

“Then let me go…” Xander said, his words drifting off into a groan as Spike’s mouth and hands drifted lower. In just a minute, he was going to get up and get away.

“Maybe later,” Spike murmured. He wasn’t going to let Xander go, not for a long time. It would take a lot of training, but eventually the boy would have no thoughts of running. It would just take a bit of time…

“Gah,” Xander yelped as Spike pushed his body between Xander’s legs. He had little time to react before Spike took firm hold of his erection and began to massage the hard flesh, completely distracting Xander from what his other hand was doing.

Spike focused on working one lubricated finger into Xander’s tight anus, using his other hand to keep Xander occupied. The boy didn’t even notice what he was doing until that first finger was almost completely inside.

“Spike!” Xander cried, feeling the intrusion for the first time.

“Hmm?” Spike hummed, twisting his finger until he found Xander’s prostate. Xander arched back into Spike’s hand, howling softly.

Lights flashed behind Xander’s eyes as Spike hit a really sensitive spot. This was not good. He needed to get away, right now. Just as soon as Spike stopped doing that… Xander moaned as a second finger joined the first and Spike began to stretch him in earnest.

Spike replaced the hand on Xander’s cock with his mouth, using the newly freed hand to squeeze and pull on Xander’s balls. Between his mouth and hands, Xander was a writhing mess. The boy wouldn’t be thinking of running any time soon.

A third finger joined the other two and Xander hissed at the pleasure/pain of being filled. Spike was sucking relentlessly on his cock, hitting that spot with his fingers, and using one hand to keep him from coming. Xander began to whine, a high, mewling sound that was music to Spike’s ears.

When Spike looked up, he saw that Xander was nearly gone. Removing his hand, Spike moved to cover Xander, pressing his own slicked up erection to Xander’s stretched and sensitive hole. As he pushed inside, Xander let out a high-pitched cry.

Xander screamed as he felt something much bigger than a finger enter him. He opened his eyes to see Spike on top of him, pushing his cock inside him with relentless force. The pain began to supercede the pleasure he’d felt from Spike’s hands. Just when he was about to push the vampire away, Spike reached back down to jerk off his flagging erection.

Once he was fully seated, Spike began to thrust, first gently then with increasing strength. Xander began to rock up to meet him, trying to get more of Spike inside him. The vampire kept scraping over Xander’s prostate; eliciting more of the whines and groans he so loved.

The growls, purrs and cries that floated out from the bed echoed the storm still building outside. Xander ceased being able to think at some point, simply reacting to whatever Spike did to him. The vampire kept bringing him right to the edge, then letting him dangle there.

Spike, for his part, watched Xander carefully, always keeping him just short of climax. The effort took its toll on him, and he was very close to coming himself. The hot, tight grasp of Xander’s body was intoxicating and he never wanted to leave. It was a shocking contrast, that hot flesh surrounding his far colder form.

All too soon for Spike, Xander’s body contracted in orgasm, spilling warm, thick seed all over their bodies and making Xander’s hole contract rhythmically around his cock. He thrust twice more before climaxing as well, shoving himself deeper inside as he filled Xander with cold seed.

After Xander had relaxed around him, Spike pulled out carefully so as not to damage the boy. Afterwards, Spike used a soft cloth to wipe up their mess, making sure Xander was ok. The boy was mostly unconscious, a limp puddle of flesh on the bed. That stroked Spike’s ego to no end.

Xander didn’t rouse until Spike joined him under the covers again. “Still don’t like you,” Xander muttered, nearly asleep again.

Spike just smiled. “Doesn’t matter, pet.”

•••

When Xander woke next, it was due to the enticing aroma of coffee. Pulling his head out from under the covers, he spied a steaming mug right next to him on the night stand. One hand snaked out and grabbed the mug. He ignored the burn of hot liquid as he gulped the beverage down.

“Good afternoon.”

Xander closed his eyes against the voice he’d just heard. Up until Spike had opened his mouth, Xander was doing a pretty good job of denying the previous evening had ever taken place.

“Is the coffee to your satisfaction?” Spike asked lightly. Xander looked over to see the vampire lounging against the headboard, studying a sheaf of papers by candlelight. A carafe full of coffee rested on Spike’s nightstand, next to another mug like Xander’s.

“Um, fine,” Xander replied. “Spike?”

“Hmm?” Spike hummed, shuffling the papers until he found the page he was looking for. Xander thought he looked kind of cute in wire-rimmed glasses…wait, strike that. Spike was never cute.

“What the hell was that last night?” Best to get straight to the point.

Spike grinned but didn’t look over. “You’re a bright boy, Xander.”

Xander snorted. “Don’t give me that shit, Spike. You attacked me, chased me around the house, attacked me again, and now you’re serving me coffee?”

“I thought you liked the coffee,” Spike said, sounding hurt. “And if you want to call it attacking, fine by me. By the way, I fully intend to engage you in a bit of attacking after I finish with these papers.”

“Aargh,” Xander muttered under his breath. Spike would have to be difficult. “Did it ever occur to you that I might not want this?”

Spike glanced at Xander for the first time that afternoon. “Briefly, yes.”

“So…”

“It went away,” Spike finished.

“You thought that maybe I wouldn’t want to sleep with you, but it went away?” Xander screeched incredulously.

Spike smiled. “Ah, I see you’re coming to terms with it. And it wasn’t really an attack, now was it, Xander? You could have gotten away at any time. I didn’t have you tied down, you know.”

“That’s not the point, Spike. You didn’t ask me if I wanted it. You just took,” Xander replied.

Spike sighed. “Ok, Xander. How’s about you and me fuck around in a bit, provided I ever get done with this paperwork?”

“Um…” Xander said nervously, not expecting to just be confronted with a question like that. He didn’t want to sleep with the vampire, did he? Spike was evil, damn it! He…well, he didn’t really kill things anymore. The vampire ran businesses and socialized.

Nope, not gonna happen. Xander liked girls…and Spike, apparently. After all, he’d had no trouble responding last night. Of course, that could all be the vampire. Xander mentally shook himself. Nah, nobody’s that good, not even Spike. The damned menace wasn’t getting that kind of credit. Xander thought of himself as fairly open-minded. Maybe he was just unconsciously expanding his horizons.

“You’re thinking awfully hard about a fairly easy question, pet,” Spike said a few minutes later.

“What? Oh, that. Ask me again later,” Xander said distractedly.

Xander crawled out of bed, searching for clothes. Once again, he found nothing to wear. What did Spike do, burn everything as soon as it came off? Resigning himself to at least temporary nudity, Xander padded to the bathroom. A brief cold shower later, he was feeling much more himself.

“Wanna shag?” Spike asked over his papers.

Well, it was later, technically. “Before five? How uncouth, Spike,” Xander said jokingly. Actually, he was a bit nervous. This whole sleeping with the undead thing was more Buffy’s thing than his, and he still wasn’t sure why Spike was doing it, or him to be more precise. Spike had alluded to his convenience once, which didn’t do much for Xander’s ego.

Spike watched as a myriad of negative thoughts flew through Xander’s head. The whelp was smart, he’d give him that. He knew that Xander wondered why he’d done it. That wasn’t something Spike was prepared to talk about, not yet anyway. What he’d said had been partially true; Spike had been bored and Xander had been very convenient. There was a bit more to it than that, however. Oh, he wasn’t about to declare his undying love to the brat, but the vampire did care for him. Spike was lonely; being Master of this city didn’t bring with it lots of minions and followers like Sunnydale did; he was mostly involved with the occasionally stuffy old guard of Charleston who wanted him to keep the ‘bad element’ out of the nice neighborhoods. He also wasn’t really interested in what the streets had to offer; he’d spent decades fucking and feeding off that kind, and he was tired of it. If he could find a willing, warm body to share his bed, he would be sure to keep it there.

That was where Xander came in. Spike knew that with just a little guidance and training, Xander would be an enthusiastic, loyal companion, perhaps even a childe one day. The boy was more than halfway there, even though he didn’t realize it. After all, hadn’t Xander mentally talked himself into not running away screaming? The storm outside was petering out; by evening it would be down to a drizzle and Xander would be free to run away. Spike was quite sure, though, that Xander would be staying in the main house for a long time.

“You’re complaining about the time, pet?” Spike murmured. “What, have a headache?”

Xander laughed despite himself. It sounded pretty funny, even to him. “No, but I’m hungry.” He didn’t wait for Spike to reply before heading downstairs to scare up something to eat.

The kitchen was dim, so Xander found a flashlight in one storage closet before hitting the fridge. Most of the contents were still good, so he made himself another sandwich with what little was there. Most of the contents of the refrigerator were meant to feed Spike, not him, so there weren’t too many options.

The food settled his stomach and gave him time to think. Well, this wasn’t what he’d been expecting…ever, to be honest. Willow had always told him to try new things, but he had a feeling this wasn’t what she meant.

Spike certainly seemed to be enjoying himself, though. The vampire hadn’t gotten angry with Xander, even when he’d chased him all though the house. That boded well for Xander’s survival; if Spike was happy, Xander was alive.

Sighing softly, Xander finished his meal and discarded the leftovers. He didn’t see much way out of this situation short of leaving Charleston altogether. Spike could, and probably would, hunt him down if he stayed anywhere in the city, and not even Lavinia would hide him.

But the option to leave was still there, which made Xander feel better. He could feel out the situation, see what was going on, and run if necessary. Spike might not mind traipsing around his house, or even the city, but Xander doubted the vampire would leave the area to get Xander back if he headed for somewhere like, say, Toledo.

When Xander went back upstairs, he found Spike dozing in bed, surrounded by papers. The vampire looked awfully young that way, with his glasses slipping off the end of his nose. Shaking his head at himself, Xander stacked up the scattered papers and went back to bed, curling up as far from Spike as possible.

A few minutes later he felt the bed shift as Spike rolled over and collected Xander into his arms. The vampire’s cool skin felt odd to Xander, but he said nothing. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep, still wondering how he’d gotten into this situation.

•••

“Damn,” Xander swore. He was standing at the kitchen door, looking out at the garden. Well, what was left of the garden. Spike’s property hadn’t suffered much damage itself, but it seemed to have become the repository for all of his neighbors’ lost stuff—chairs, tables, tree branches, fencing. The place was an absolute wreck. It would take days, if not weeks, to get it back to normal.

“That’ll keep you busy,” Spike said dryly from deeper inside the kitchen. He was leaning against a counter, safely away from the encroaching sunlight.

“No shit,” Xander replied. “I don’t suppose I’m going to get any help with this, am I?”

Spike laughed. “Maybe, maybe not. Depends on how mean you are.”

“That’s extortion,” Xander said, hoping he was right.

That earned him a snort. “Right. So, if you’re nice to me,” Spike said, leering, “maybe I’ll find someone to help you clean it up. Maybe.”

Xander rolled his eyes. “I’ll just do it myself, thank you. I’m not giving up the right to piss you off.”

“Oh well. It was worth a shot,” Spike said ruefully. Xander had decided to continue his odd sort-of-relationship with Spike, but he made the vampire well aware of the fact that he didn’t really like him. Spike, for his part, put up with the boy’s antics with a sigh and a grin. Time would tell what Xander really felt. Pushing off the counter, Spike turned to go back to bed. It was still early for him. “Suit yourself. The place has to be perfect in three weeks. Lavinia’s making me host a garden party,” he shot over his shoulder.

Xander leaned against the door frame. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he swore. Leave it to that old biddy to torture him to death. Three weeks was how long it would take to get the crap out of the lawn and straighten all those branches. There was no way the place would be in show condition by then.

Xander spent the rest of the day clearing out detritus. Once he got going, the work didn’t take as long as he thought it would, although it was still quite strenuous. By the time nightfall came, he was ready to collapse. Eschewing the comforts of the main house, Xander traipsed up to his apartment, glad the electricity had been turned on.

Spike watched Xander from his study. He’d hoped that the boy would return here, to his rooms, but figured that Xander would want to make some token show of independence. Xander wasn’t a lapdog, and hated being seen as one. Still, he’d have liked the company.