Sweet Memories: part 29
by Kayla
"Argh!"
Every eye in the room stared in bemusement at the still-quivering pencil that was now stuck at least an inch into the wall. The eyes all turned to regard the redheaded witch who was glaring at the pencil as if it were the perpetrator of all the world's troubles.
"Woah, Wills, tetchy much?" Buffy cocked her head as she looked at the pencil again. "I'm gonna have to watch out, you could start giving this Slayer a run for her money." She offered Willow a tentative grin.
Willow snorted, but she did flush a bit. She stared around at the others sheepishly. "Sorry, guys. I'm just...this is just really frustrating, you know?" She sighed and leaned against Tara, who started to stroke her hair soothingly.
"Yeah, tell me about it!" Cordelia crossed her arms in annoyance. "You would not believe the kinds of looks I was getting today! And not the good 'Wow, she's really hot!' kind of looks, either. More like 'Ew, who let that filthy animal in here?' looks. What is up with that?"
"They know you're not one of them," Angel said softly.
"It probably doesn't help that they know who you are," Wesley gestured at Buffy, "and that most of the rest of us are associated with you. I can't imagine they'd be very forthcoming with the Slayer. You know...considering..." he trailed off meaningfully.
"It's not just that," Buffy said. "Every time I mentioned the name 'Sophie' I either got a strange look and something along the lines of 'I know nothing', or a really evil glare and a message to mind my own business." She gave a little pout as she sat on the edge of the table. "I didn't even meet any nice fudge-bearing types of demony people, either."
"So they're covering?" Gunn rolled his eyes. "Figures. Kinda like no one ever wants to finger the big drug dealers and such. Too afraid of getting offed."
"They didn't seem afraid, though." Giles took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. With a sigh, he continued, "It was more like...like they were protecting someone."
"So what, you think this Sophie chick is respected or something? Some sort of head demon?" He shook his head and whistled softly. "Could make her tough to find. And even tougher to get to."
"Yes, thank you, I believe we managed to establish that today," Giles snapped. He had the grace to look embarrassed when Wesley gave him a rather lengthy stare. "Ah, forgive me," he apologized quietly. "It's just...I have this awful headache building, and..." he trailed of with a shrug.
"Boy, do I ever know how that feels!" Cordelia reached under the table for her purse. She rummaged through it for a moment, then pulled out bottle of pills. Smiling fondly at the bottle, she held it out toward Giles. "Want one?"
"Er, no. But thank you. I'll just go fix myself a hot cup of tea." He ignored the muted retching sounds from Buffy that followed that statement.
As Giles left the room, the phone began to ring. Since he was closest to it, Wesley reached over and picked it up. "Hello? Er, this is the Magic Box. May I help you?" There was a pause. "No, this is Wesley Wyndam-Price speaking. Shall I get him for you?" Another pause. "Certainly. Just a moment." He lowered the phone. "Does anyone here know a gentleman by the name of Oz?"
"This is so cool." Alex was practically skipping down the sidewalk he was so excited. "Can you believe he gave us the rest of the night off? It's not even midnight yet!"
Wil grinned as he watched his elated boyfriend bounce along. "Don't forget about the mini-vacation either, luv," he reminded him.
"I know!" Alex grabbed Wil and spun him around, kissing his face repeatedly. "Three whole days, all to ourselves!" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Whatever shall we do with the time?"
Blinking innocently, Wil answered, "We could learn how to knit, I s'pose." He snickered at Alex's expression.
Alex whacked him lightly on the arm.
"Ouch! Bully." Wil pouted and sniffled softly, but the effect was ruined by the glint of humor in his eyes.
Alex just leered at him. "Do you have any idea how adorable you look when you do that?" he asked in a voice thick with arousal.
"Yeah?" Wil pouted more.
"Hell yeah." Alex grabbed him and pressed him up against the door to the shop they were passing, kissing him fiercely.
Loud cheering and whistles broke them from their embrace, and Alex blushed. "Damn it," he muttered. "Is everyone watching us tonight?"
Wil laughed as he pulled away, bowing to the small group of people that had gathered to watch them. "You gotta admit, pet," he murmured, "we probably look bloody delicious. Can't exactly blame 'em, y'know."
Alex just sighed and rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He gave the people who were slowly starting to disperse a sickly grin and a wave. Through clenched teeth, he muttered to Wil, "Let's lose the audience and get back home so I can screw you through the mattress."
Wil groaned and licked his lips. "Right," he rasped out. "Only if I get to return the favor, though."
"Deal." Alex grabbed his hand and started to walk more quickly down the sidewalk, so when Wil stopped abruptly, he almost managed to jerk them both to the pavement. He gave his boyfriend a frustrated glare. "What? Home, remember?"
"Yeah, um, I just gotta stop in here for a sec, ok?" He cocked his head towards the shop they had almost passed. "I'm supposed to pick something up. Wait here?"
Alex wondered why Wil was acting so evasive, but tried to hide his curiosity. "Sure," he replied as he released the vampire's hand. "Don't be long, though."
Wil smiled brightly at him, then darted inside the shop. He was gone for just a couple of minutes before reappearing with a nondescript package wrapped in brown paper.
"What's that?" Alex asked as he stared at the package.
Wil refused to meet his gaze. "Just...something. I'll show you later, all right?"
"Oh. Sure, I mean, that's fine. It's your stuff and everything. Not my business." Alex felt inexplicably wounded by Wil's refusal to tell him what was going on, but didn't want to make a fuss about it. Especially not in public. "So, home?"
Wil tucked the package under one arm and looped the other one around Alex's waist. "Home," he agreed.
Buffy gave a happy screech and ran over, yanking the phone away from Wesley. "Oz? Oz, is it really you? Oh my god, I can't believe it's you!" She looked over at the others. "Guys, its Oz!"
Willow was sitting on the edge of her chair, wanting to leap up and run to the phone. But she restrained herself, and glanced at Tara.
Tara smiled softly. "Go on," she said. "He's your friend, too."
Willow smiled, kissed her girlfriend, then got up and hurried over to Buffy.
"So, where are you? Are you coming back soon? Really?" Buffy evaded Willow's grabbing hands, jumping up to stand on the counter.
Giles chose that moment to return, and he almost dropped his cup of tea. "Buffy!" He glared at his Slayer. "I'll thank you not to stand on my counters!"
Buffy just rolled her eyes. "Giles, it's Oz!"
Across the room, Cordelia snorted indelicately. "Gee, wonder who's on the phone?" she muttered sarcastically.
Gunn just looked confused. "Who's Oz?"
"Buffy! Let me talk to him!" Willow jumped up onto the counter next to Buffy, still trying to snatch the phone away.
"Will the both of you settle down!" Giles sighed heavily and went over to the phone receiver, studying it intently before decisively pressing a button.
"...figured it was time to stop by and visit some old friends. Hang out some." Oz's voice sounded loudly from the speaker.
Willow stuck her tongue out at Buffy, then carefully jumped off the counter. "Oz?" She bent over the speaker. "Can you hear me? It's Willow."
There was a pause, then, "Hey Wills. How's the girlfriend?"
Willow smiled over at Tara. "She's doing good. We're doing good. What about you? You need a place to stay or anything?"
Buffy tossed the phone aside and sat on the counter, hovering over Willow. "How long are you gonna be around this time, Oz?" she asked.
Even Giles felt compelled to join in. "Are you in town already? Do feel free to stop by when you get a chance. We've...the girls have missed you."
"Yeah, I just got back today. Staying with some people I know, so don't worry about me. Hey Giles, how's the store thing going?"
"Rather well, actually. You see, I--"
Buffy cut him off. "Oh, hey, we got a sort of situation goin' on here, Oz. Think you could maybe help?"
"Guess so. What's up?"
"It's Xander!" Willow shouted. Buffy clapped her hands over her ears and glared at her. "Oh, sorry. I mean, it's Xander," she repeated in an exaggerated whisper.
"Yeah, I wanted to ask you guys about that. What's up with him and Spike? They kind of had the whole oblivious thing going on earlier. Pretty...distracted. Something I should know?"
There was absolute silence in the Magic Box for about five seconds. Giles broke it by clearing his throat. "Oz? Do you mean to say you have seen both Spike and Xander?"
"Well...yeah. Is that bad?"
Willow clutched at the phone, her mouth hovering over the speaker. "Where? When? Where? How'd he look? Is he ok? Where is he? Oz, talk to me!"
Giles firmly removed the speaker from her grasp, setting it down on the counter again. "Oz," he explained calmly, "Xander has been missing for quite some time. We've been searching everywhere for him, Angel even brought his people from LA to help. Are you quite sure it was him you saw?"
The roomful of people was now all clustered around the phone, waiting intently for an answer. They clearly heard Oz taking a deep breath.
"You...don't know? About him and...Spike?"
Buffy growled in frustration. "No! That's why we're asking you! Did Spike do something to him? I swear, I'm gonna stake that bleached freak! Where did you see them, Oz?"
There was yet another long, silent pauses on Oz's part. Finally, he said, "I...think I made a mistake."
"A mistake? You mean it wasn't Xander?"
"Um, I...I gotta go now. I'll...stop by sometime, ok?"
"Oz, don't you dare hang up that--!" There was a click, and a few moments later, a dial tone sounded.
"He saw them," Willow whispered. "He's ok. Xander's ok!"
"Don't get too excited yet, Wills," Buffy cautioned. "He also said Spike was with him, and who knows what that could mean?"
Oz set the phone down and stared around the mostly bare apartment. "Well...damn." He sighed and reached for the phone again.
"Sophia? Yeah, it's Oz. No, I didn't change my mind about working tomorrow night. Look, about those guys earlier...which apartment did you say they were in?"
Wil stepped inside the apartment and flicked on the light switch. "Want something to eat?" He moved towards the kitchen.
"Sure," he replied, a little confused. Alex couldn't figure out why Wil had gone all nervous again. He knew it wasn't about the sex that they were planning on having; those issues had been dealt with quite thoroughly, thank you. The only thing he could figure is that it had something to do with the package that Wil had now set down on the table as he began to rummage trough the cupboards. He sighed quietly, hoping nothing bad was going on. "I'm just...gonna go clean up a little," he said as he headed for the bathroom.
Wil nodded distractedly as he pulled a box of cereal from one of the shelves. He poured out two bowls of cereal and set them on the counter, getting out a couple of spoons as well. From the refrigerator, he removed a packet of blood and emptied it over one of the bowls. Then he searched for the milk, sighing when he realized it had gotten shoved to the back again. He bent to try and extract it without making a mess of the other groceries.
Alex came out of the bathroom, wiping his hands on his pants. His eyes lit on the bowls. "Ooh, Fruity Pebbles!" He picked up one of the bowls and grabbed a spoon, digging in to the sweet, crunchy cereal.
Wil stood quickly and whirled around, milk jug held firmly in hand. He watched with a mixture of horror and amusement as Alex realized what he'd done.
Alex stopped chewing, rolling the cereal around in his mouth. His eyes widened dramatically, and he swallowed the mouthful down, almost choking on it. He looked at the bowl of cereal in betrayal, scooping the colorful bits aside so he could see the thick red liquid they were soaking in. "Wil?" He slowly set the bowl back down on the counter. "Please tell me that's not what I think it is."
"Um..." Wil hesitantly placed the jug of milk next to the other bowl. "That was...my bowl, Alex."
"Right." Alex took a deep breath. "That is a very bad thing to do to cereal, Wil. It's just...wrong!"
Wil glared. "Well, I didn't tell you to eat it, y'know!" he retorted.
"Yeah, I know. Just...gimme a minute to repress here, ok?" Alex closed his eyes, slowly counted to twenty, and then opened them. "Ok. I can handle this." He eyed the bloody cereal, using a finger to push the bowl towards Wil. Then, he drenched the other bowl of cereal in milk. Nice, safe, white, non-bloody milk.
Wil watched for a moment to make sure Alex wasn't going to decide to get sick all over their mostly clean kitchen. When the other man flashed him a somewhat weak grin and kept eating, he shrugged and started in on his own cereal.
Alex managed to finish his meal and keep it down. Actually, the 'vampire cereal' hadn't really been that bad. A surprise, yes. But it was more of an 'ick, that was unexpected' surprise than an 'oh my god, I'm gonna puke that was so disgusting' surprise. The taste of the blood, although very strong, still had that edge of familiarity that Alex noticed from the first morning when Wil had gotten him to eat the blood-dipped eggs. And it still wasn't something he wanted to dwell on for very long.
When Wil finished his own cereal, he took the empty bowls to the sink and rinsed them out. Then, before he could lose his nerve, he went over to the sofa and reached under it, pulling out a notebook. He took the notebook over to the table, where the brown package still waited. He picked up that as well and returned to Alex's side.
Alex had watched all this, his curiosity growing rapidly. He was nearly vibrating in place when Wil held the items out to him.
Wil took a steadying breath, then handed Alex the package he'd picked up at the shop earlier, along with the medium-sized notebook. "Open that first," he instructed, pointing at the package.
"A present?" Alex stared at the package, mentally castigating himself for being upset over Wil's earlier secrecy. He gave Wil a wobbly grin, suddenly catching the vampire's nervousness. "You got me a present?" With shaky fingers, he fumbled at the edges of the paper, tearing them away from the thin metal box. He blinked, running his fingers over the smooth surface. "Wil?"
"I saw you lookin' at 'em a couple times when we walked by, an' you're always doodling pictures on scrap paper an' in margins, so I figured..." He shrugged. "You, um, you like 'em?"
Alex reverently lifted the lid of the drawing kit, staring in awe at the wide assortment of pencils, chalks, charcoals, graphites and erasers. "Wil," he choked out, "it's...they're beautiful." He stroked a finger along the smooth pencils.
Wil smiled, relieved that Alex seemed to like the present. "I figured if you could draw an' all, you should have the proper stuff." He nodded at the notebook. "Got you some paper, too." He stuffed his hands inside the pockets of his jeans, nervously waiting for Alex to open it.
Alex gently set aside the container and flipped through the notebook, already imagining filling the pristine pages with various sketches of Wil. A loose piece of paper fluttered out, and he caught it reflexively. Unfolding it, he began to read.
I watch you in your sleep, you know.
In the dark, I listen to your heartbeat,
And I see your chest rise and fall with each breath.
Your skin calls to me, begging for my caress,
So I touch you gently, careful not to wake you.
My fingers drift along of their own accord.
Over your chest, and your nipples crinkle up at their passing.
Up your neck, where I can feel my mark, our binding.
Higher up, running through the tangled mess of your hair,
Then tracing over your thick eyebrows.
Did you know you sometimes drool in your sleep?
When I reach out to touch it, your mouth opens.
I can't help myself; my fingers slip inside.
You're so hot and wet, and you start to suck.
I think of you doing that to other parts of me,
And I curl up against you as your tongue bathes my fingers.
I have to touch you, be close to you.
If I could, I'd crawl inside you and never come out.
To surround you, or be surrounded by you;
It's all I ever seem to want anymore.
You're mine now, as much as I'm yours.
I can't imagine what it would be like without you.
All I can remember is being with you.
We're always together, it seems, whatever life we recall.
I don't know about fate, or destiny, or higher powers.
All I know is we were meant to be together.
We must have been.
We're incomplete without each other.
Vampire, human, animal; whatever we are, we are one.
We are bound together, through love and blood.
All the books and movies say that vampires are evil.
If I am evil, then you are my sin; you've stolen away my heart.
I love you.
Wil
Eyes wide, Alex looked up at Wil. "Wil? I...it's..."
Wil looked at the floor, scuffing his feet. "I know it's not real good," he said with false bravado. "Not real poetry or anything. Doesn't even rhyme, and the meter's shot. An' it--" He stopped abruptly as Alex grabbed his shoulders.
"I love you, Wil," Alex growled softly, then kissed him.
Wil groaned and wound his arms around Alex. "Love you," he gasped when his lips were finally freed.
Alex smiled as he held Wil, nuzzling his hair. "You really watch me sleep?" he asked curiously.
Shrugging, Wil muttered, "Well, yeah. Sometimes. Just, y'know, when I wake up early or somethin'."
"You like watching me, huh?" Alex's eyes took on an aroused light. "You think you wanna watch me do...other things?"
Wil stepped back and considered Alex carefully. "Other things, huh?" he mused. Then, grinning wickedly, he pounced on Alex, tumbling him onto the floor. He had just grabbed the collar of Alex's shirt, intent on ripping the material off, when a loud knocking on their door distracted him.
AN: I apologize for the wait since the last bit. I had wanted to finish this up by the beginning of this month, but stuff has been happening at work that's kept me pretty busy. Hopefully, though, it will start to calm a bit. Then again, if I get the promotion they have me lined up for, it might just get even more hectic. ::sigh:: But at least I'd be getting more money! ::giggle::
Also, I do know that Wesley had some interaction with Oz during his time as a Watcher in Sunnydale. However, he can be excused for not remembering him right away, can't he? :)
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