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[first_summers]

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[idolpire]

[It was a few days after they'd run into each other at the carnivale. A few days of trying to ignore the words he'd heard from her, ignore the snippets of memory he'd had about feelings that were both familiar and foreign. He'd done what he'd always done when he was out of sorts; holed himself up in his crypt with too much alcohol and a bit of telly to watch. It wasn't Passions, but it was something to take his mind off of everything.

He'd only recently started trying to expand the crypt downward, a little pit started to be dug, so Spike was left with a rather sparse home at the moment. And his bed? The top of a closed tomb, as per usual.

It was a few days after their meeting that he'd had a dream. He'd gone to sleep with the thought of what he could do to her with her saying he could hurt her. That had him drifting off with a smile on his face. But his thoughts had tangled up with some of the things he'd done, both here and home. A blood-drenched evening with Dru bleeding into a chaotic mess with John. Bodies on the streets and blood smearing over his face. And her coming to lay holy vengeance on him in the light of day when he couldn't flee.

The dream played out much as it had in the first place; the threat, the demand, the kiss--

The bloody kiss. And he'd heard himself utter those damned words, and he'd woken up gasping, then flailing as he'd fallen off the tomb he'd been balanced on. Oh, no. No, no, no. Please tell him it wasn't true...

It was a day after that before he did anything about it, staring at his device and seeing her name there for him to click on. It took him three hours to stop playing his thumb over her name and to hit enter and type in a brief message.]

I don't like you.

[Short and to the point -- and possibly a giant bloody lie.]

[first_summers]

[ It's the middle of the night (because when else would it be) and Buffy's been trying and failing miserably to sleep. It's something that hasn't come easily for her in this place, and when sleep does finally descend on her, it's always with memory-filled dreams that haunt her throughout the following day. So when she hears the quiet buzz of her phone alerting her to a new message, she rolls over and stares at the screen in... Shock? Hope? Whatever she's feeling, it doesn't keep her from immediately responding. ]

You've made that pretty clear.

[idolpire]

[She responded quickly, quickly enough that he wondered why she wasn't sleeping soundly. Why he hadn't gotten another half day of reprieve from having to reply.]

I mean it. You're perky. You're bossy. You've got stupid hair.

[first_summers]

[ Her next reply takes longer to arrive, because it's hard for her to stop staring at those innocent little words on the screen. He'd told her that before, when he'd-- But she hadn't known then. She wouldn't have wanted to know. But she does now. ]

So I've been told. By you, actually.

[idolpire]

[Shit. Why did he feel like he'd given something away? Nah, not over something like that. She was just doing that thing where she messed with his head.]

All the more reason for it to be true.

[first_summers]

[ Messing with his head is the absolute last thing she wants to do. But it's not like she can just come out and ask him, so did you finally realize you're in love with me? Nope, that would be... bad. Very bad. Probably. ]

Okay. And why the need to tell me that at 2:35 in the morning?

[idolpire]

[That was, unfortunately, a very good question. His answer?]

That's prime dissing time for a vampire. If you expect me to wait until you're all bright eyed and bushy tailed to tell you you've got terrible taste in clothes, I don't know what to tell you.

[first_summers]

[ And that answer does absolutely nothing to help her figure out what's going on. ]

Anything else about me you want to talk about? Since you've got my attention and all.

[idolpire]

[Yes. Lots of things. But he was still trying to decide exactly how he wanted to handle that.]

Where'd they bunk you?

[first_summers]

[ That's... not what she'd been expecting. Okay then. ]

Fourth floor. I've got a private room. It's not bad.

[ Not that he cares of course. Right? ]

[idolpire]

[Good to know. Now he'd be able to at least know what floor to look to find her scent. He could pick that out of a crowd. And there was some strange part of him that felt like going through her things. Did she have anything here?]

Do anything fun in that private room?

[first_summers]

[ Seriously, Spike. She should have expected it, though. She knows him. ]

I try and fail to sleep. That's as fun as it gets, sorry to disappoint.

[idolpire]

I said fun. Insomnia isn't fun unless you've got a partner.


You alone in your private room?

[Not that it mattered to him. Not in the slightest. Not even a little.]

Action

[idolpire]

[She wouldn't hear anything for a few days, but when she did come back to her room after the third, she'd find a rose on her bed, along with a letter.]

Dinner tonight?

[first_summers]

[ Once upon a time, she'd have found someone breaking into her room and leaving her things to be... well, creepy, uncalled for, and far too reminiscent of Angelus' style, but in this case it's the exact opposite. It's Spike and he's being sweet, and the last few days have been torture waiting for the call that she worried might never come.

This? So much better than a phone call.

She scrawls a Yes! under his invitation and snaps a photo of it with her phone that she sends to him, followed by immediately turning to her closet to frantically fumble through its contents.

What is she going to wear?! ]

[idolpire]

[He'd been waiting in a nearby hotel, his crypt too far to get back and forth from during the day, so he'd camped out a little closer. He'd been trying not to chew his newly painted nails, fingers strumming against the chair he'd been sitting on while he waited, almost jumping out of it when his phone went off.

He grinned like an idiot when he saw the reply, typing one back himself as he told himself to calm down and hope she didn't notice she was missing both a sweater and a pair of knickers.]

Cozy place by the river sound good?

[first_summers]

[ It takes her a minute to reply: she'd set her phone down in favor of diving headfirst into the closet and emerging with a few promising options. One of the things she'd done with her first paycheck was replenish her wardrobe, since it was Very Important and her clothes might last more than a week thanks to her career change.

Dumping the tangle of fabric on the bed, she grabs the phone and grins so wide it almost hurts. ]

Sounds perfect.

[idolpire]

Sun's down just after 8:30. See you after then.

[It wouldn't do to pick her up and burst into flame, after all. He had standards and she may be setting her bar low by accepting him, but he wanted to do more than just the bare minimum.]

[first_summers]

[ After sundown is just fine with her since she generally prefers her dates not be of the crispy variety, and his usual blanket trick would have just led to a full-scale freakout that would have very much ruined the evening. (The sun could kill him, for good this time, and that's something she is not okay with.)

Before proceeding to try on half of everything she owns, she fills a glass with water for the rose and sets it on her desk, next to the 'housewarming gift' she hasn't finished yet, and tucks the note into a drawer. Because yes of course she's keeping it.

Between his last message and 8:30, she showers (her body wash smells like peaches, which makes her laugh considering certain nicknames Spike has bestowed on certain individuals), does her hair in loose waves, and finally decides on her outfit. He'd said cozy, not ritzy, so she goes for casual but stylish. Which isn't to say she didn't change her mind a dozen times, but the evidence is all stashed away before anyone comes around to notice. ]

[idolpire]

[He is less inclined to dress up, but that's also due to him not having much options at the moment. Black jeans, black boots, a black t-shirt, and a black button down dress shirt that he left open over it as he had to settle for assuming he looked good, since mirrors weren't helpful in the slightest. He'd bathed at the hotel, primped up his nails, and slicked back his hair, another rose to match the one he'd left in his hand as he slunk through the back streets to her building, then slipped in just before the sun dropped behind the horizon.

He picked up the faint whiff of something peachy as he waited outside the main door to the private rooms, knocking and sniffing again, rose hidden behind his back. His fingers twitched with the nervous need to light a cigarette, but he was trying to keep himself nicotine free for the evening, if only because he knew she'd wrinkle her nose at the smell of it.]

[first_summers]

[ It doesn't surprise her to open the door and see Spike there in his usual black; if anything, it's comforting in how familiar it is. And what a pair they make, her in white and him in black. Light and dark, day and night. Some would say that was indicative of why they shouldn't be together, why they wouldn't work, but she'd tell them to go to hell. This is her life and his, and they can be with whoever they want. ]

Hey.

[ She greets him with a smile, happy with a good dose of nervous, and suddenly she's regretting her entire outfit and how she's done her hair and not taking that shot of alcohol to help with said nerves. Wow, she's forgotten what first dates are like. ]

[idolpire]

[He wasn't expecting the white either, surprised by it, but that slow, almost shy smile taking place as he pulled out the new rose to hold out to her, scuffing his boots as he looked down at them instead of at her.]

'Lo. Got you this.

[As if that wasn't evident by him thrusting it out towards her, eyes finally lifting to her face.]

You... look really nice.

[first_summers]

[ If she wasn't already crazy in love with him, this might have pushed her right over that edge. Between that smile and his boot scuffing and just... all of it, the way he looked at her and the way he said everything, all of it just makes her want to kiss him. But she doesn't. Because self-control is a thing and she will have it.

Hopefully. ]

Thank you.

[ She takes the rose from him and lifts it to her nose, breathing in the light scent and taking in those beautiful pink tips. It's perfect, even more so since he chose it. ]

Let me put this with the other one and we can go, okay?

[idolpire]

[She's not the only one battling their baser urges. Spike's a predator. He may have human feelings way down there, but predators mostly survive off the three F's. Feeding, Fighting, and Fucking. He'd made sure to have blood before coming on their little date, and he wasn't feeling like getting in a fight at the moment, but that last one was starting to thrum through him quietly -- for now. He cleared his throat, watching her sniff the flower he gave her and feeling an urge to lean down and do the same to the sweep of her neck. He could pick up the peach scent from here, figuring it for something she'd used and wondering if it was a soap or shampoo. His fingers twitched again with the need to grab something, and he crammed them in his pockets again.]

Right. Right. It's a little walk, but I didn't think you'd mind so much. It's a nice night out and it's not like you'll have to stumble over gravestones along the way.

[first_summers]

Well, then I definitely don't mind walking.

[ She flashes him an amused smile before turning and heading into her room, taking just a second to slip the rose into the glass with the other before returning to him. If her steps are a little quicker than they might normally be, she's not about to admit it. He knows she's in love with him, he doesn't need to know she's nervous and excited and a little flustered by this whole first date thing. ]

Okay, walking time, let's go.