Hellmouth Recidivism 5 - #415 Potpurri
Title: Hellmouth Recidivism 5
Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: 415 - Potpurri
Words: 1118
Warnings: None
Rating: Teen
Summary: An older and wiser Future!Canon!Xander has his soul placed in the body of an alternate universe version of himself who was vamped on Valentine's day.
Spike’s cries were full of heartbreak and soul deep emotion that the blonde hadn’t felt for over a century, dulled by a veil of demonic instincts. He was never a large man, but he had flexibility in spades. He curled himself into a tiny little ball and his bony elbows tucked tight over his head as he sobbed into his knees.
Xander was glad that years of working with Slayers in Africa had inured him to non-sexual nudity. He was still staring a bit, because nowhere in Africa had he ever seen an ass quite that pale. Angel somehow managed to be a halfway healthy color, despite his Irish roots. Spike looked every bit the bookish Englishman who lived by gaslight and hadn’t had a tan even when alive.
“Well, that answers that question.” Xander’s voice was flat as they watched Spike shiver in mental and emotional agony, unable to help him fight whatever manifested guilt haunted his newly returned soul. “Someone gifted us with a big heaping serving of souls all around.”
“Oh God, Will.” Angel’s brogue was thicker than Xander had ever heard from the souled version and his Catholic upbringing was showing. The big vampire hovered over the bed in uncertainty, torn between his fight or flight response. There was nothing to fight to make things better but he didn’t want to see the younger vampire in pain. Torture was Angelus's thing.
“Angel, can you handle this? He’s going to need you. Try to remember back to what it was like when you were first cursed. He’s going to be struggling and needs you to be his sire, needs you to be strong and confident. You’ve done this before, and although I doubt it gets better, you’ve had 100 years to learn to cope.”
Xander saw the barely concealed panic in Angel’s eyes and sighed. He slid back onto the bed, under the covers and pulled Spike into his lap. He tried his best to be soothing, running his fingers through the hair he could reach around where Spike’s fingers clutched tight over his ears. He was far enough removed from his former hatred of these vampires that nostalgia had gotten the best of him and he actually found himself invested in their well being. The original Spike would probably laugh at him for being such a bleeding hearted white hat. Of course, the original Spike would have already laughed himself back into the grave for the fact that Xander was vamped in the first place.
“Take a walk.” Xander ordered Angel, “Breathe deep, kill something evil, pick a fight you know you can’t win, hunt down Angelus’ minions. Whatever it is you need to do to center yourself. When you’ve got your head and soul on straight I need you to clear the mansion of any blood, bodies, gore, instruments of torture or whatever is laying around that might trigger Spike. He’s going to be fragile for a while.”
“How can you be so calm about this? You HATE vampires. You hate me. You should hate Spike too, but you aren’t trying to kill him while he’s weak and you actually seem to care.”
“I’m 47.” Xander stressed again, “I’ve grown up, Angel. I’ve lived in the murky grays of the underworld so long I don’t even remember what it was like to see the world in nothing but black and white. I’m calm because I don’t have the memories of this body. Angelus never got his hands on me, I’ve don’t know what it is like to live without a soul. There’s nothing left for me in my world, I was mortally wounded. This could actually be a good thing, or at least better than the alternative. It’s a chance to change things and keep the people I care about alive and healthy, which is all I’ve ever tried to do.”
“You have changed.” Angel studied him as if he could see the wear of years there, but like any vampire Xander’s youthful face was misleading.
“Of course I have. Self righteous, insecure teenagers are a plague.” Xander scoffed, “So, let’s try this again. Hi, I’m Xander a time and space displaced, demon fighting Watcher from an alternate future.”
“They let you be a Watcher?” Angel snorted at the thought, a fragile semblance of his humor coming back. Xander had always managed to draw out emotional reactions from him. He was unused to feeling anything but annoyance for the boy, now a man. He could get to like this new and much improved Xander Harris once he had a chance to process the implications of his presence.
“The Council didn’t have much choice in the matter; the old bastards got themselves blown up by a Boss Level Badguy that made Angelus look like a misbehaving puppy. We were able to sweep in and take over in the chaos of the resulting power vacuum. The Scoobies went global.”
“I have trouble imagining that.”
“That’s because you have the imagination of a stump, Deadboy. Man it actually feels good to say that again. I haven’t called you Deadboy in a couple of decades. Mostly because I haven’t called you at all. Brings back memories.”
“I’m ecstatic for you.” Angel deadpanned, “I thought you said you were more mature.”
“I never said that, all I said was older.”
Spike made a discontented noise and Xander realized that he’d gotten distracted by the banter and stopped his patting. Angel, calmer now and more in control of himself, leaned over and firmly gripped Spike by the back of his neck with one large hand, grounding him. He went nearly limp in Xander's grasp. The bleached blonde uncurled just enough to wrap his arms around Xander’s legs and bury his face in his hip. He could feel the snuffling breaths on his ribs as Spike scented him, taking at least some small amount of comfort in the smell of Aurelius and family. Xander was still working his head around being a part of either of those categories.
“Not bad. That’s calmer than I thought he could be this early after the curse. Sire powers for the win. You don’t even have any experience in dealing with him when he’s got a soul. He seems a bit better this time around.” Angel jolted at that and looked up from Spike to meet his eyes. “Yeah, he got souled in my dimension too. He was in bad shape and pretty much had to go it alone, but he got through it and didn’t even change that much. He’s Spike loud and Spike proud no matter if he has his soul or not.”
“William always did have too much humanity.”
“Not going to argue that. He was fighting on our side even before he got his soul back.”
“I… would like to hear that story some time, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Immortal now. Not to mention how far I just turned the clocks back. I’ve got nothing but time.” Angel stared at him with big sad eyes for a moment. Xander actually felt bad for reminding him that Angelus' mad princesss had killed at least one version of Xander.
“I think I do need to take that walk.”
“Take your time. We’ll be here. See if you can’t pick up some blood, and whatever necessities vampires need day-to-day. I don’t know if I have any clothes here, but I’m not wearing leather and I’m definitely not going back to my parent’s house. Will I need a toothbrush? What kind of toiletries do vampires even need? Does our hair grow? Do we need deodorant or shampoo? Do we even sweat or get oily hair or do we only need to worry about getting actually dirty? These are things a fledge needs to know.”
Angel looked a little shell shocked at the barrage of questions as Xander lost his cool. Not over the blood sucking, dimensional travel or the immortality, but over whether or not he’d need to change his bathing habits.
“We need to get this place livable if we’re going to un-live here. Get what you can, it’ll give you something to do while you brood. I just want you to know that I don’t trust a man who wears linen pants and likes self punishment to decorate this whole place by himself. You’d probably end up with potpourri and monogrammed his and his and his decorative towels.”
Bemused, Angel let Xander order him around and padded obediently out of the bedroom to find clothes and do some, all or possibly none of the things the boy suggested. It depended how many of them he remembered when the shock of the last hour wore off. He was just blown away that they’d even been able to have an amicable conversation and that the kid was being reasonable. It was a nice change of pace.
When Angel left, Xander looked down at Spike, who practically had his head stuffed into Xander’s groin and took a moment to regret all of his life choices that had led him to this. He may be accustomed to nudity, but it was a little different when it was people he knew. He thought for a moment how this all might play out and conceded that he was going to have to work with the vampires for now. He couldn’t go to school with the girls anymore so he’d be spending his days holed up here. This Spike didn’t know him, of course with the soul, this Spike didn’t know Angel either, and Angel wouldn’t know what to do with him. It was actually the perfect chance for a new start between all of them. Their dynamic was going to change no matter what so he may as well try and influence it to change for the better.
Spike was a caretaker and was fiercely independent. Once he’d recovered from this initial shock he was going to be a nightmare to take care of simply because he’d refuse to be the one needing help. Xander was going to have to put himself in the position of needy fledgling childe. As he’d shown again and again with Dru and Buffy and Dawn, Spike needed to be needed. He took better care of himself when he wanted to be in good shape to take care of what he considered his.
Angel on the other hand seemed to desperately need control of himself and the situation. He didn’t do well on the spot or with spontaneity, judging by the way he froze up. He was solid and steady, but not very quick to adapt, whereas Spike was constantly on the verge of reinventing himself to fit whatever role was needed of him. The two vampires couldn’t be more different. Xander saw a long future of himself playing mediator between the two if he didn’t smooth out their relationship.
Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: 415 - Potpurri
Words: 1118
Warnings: None
Rating: Teen
Summary: An older and wiser Future!Canon!Xander has his soul placed in the body of an alternate universe version of himself who was vamped on Valentine's day.
Spike’s cries were full of heartbreak and soul deep emotion that the blonde hadn’t felt for over a century, dulled by a veil of demonic instincts. He was never a large man, but he had flexibility in spades. He curled himself into a tiny little ball and his bony elbows tucked tight over his head as he sobbed into his knees.
Xander was glad that years of working with Slayers in Africa had inured him to non-sexual nudity. He was still staring a bit, because nowhere in Africa had he ever seen an ass quite that pale. Angel somehow managed to be a halfway healthy color, despite his Irish roots. Spike looked every bit the bookish Englishman who lived by gaslight and hadn’t had a tan even when alive.
“Well, that answers that question.” Xander’s voice was flat as they watched Spike shiver in mental and emotional agony, unable to help him fight whatever manifested guilt haunted his newly returned soul. “Someone gifted us with a big heaping serving of souls all around.”
“Oh God, Will.” Angel’s brogue was thicker than Xander had ever heard from the souled version and his Catholic upbringing was showing. The big vampire hovered over the bed in uncertainty, torn between his fight or flight response. There was nothing to fight to make things better but he didn’t want to see the younger vampire in pain. Torture was Angelus's thing.
“Angel, can you handle this? He’s going to need you. Try to remember back to what it was like when you were first cursed. He’s going to be struggling and needs you to be his sire, needs you to be strong and confident. You’ve done this before, and although I doubt it gets better, you’ve had 100 years to learn to cope.”
Xander saw the barely concealed panic in Angel’s eyes and sighed. He slid back onto the bed, under the covers and pulled Spike into his lap. He tried his best to be soothing, running his fingers through the hair he could reach around where Spike’s fingers clutched tight over his ears. He was far enough removed from his former hatred of these vampires that nostalgia had gotten the best of him and he actually found himself invested in their well being. The original Spike would probably laugh at him for being such a bleeding hearted white hat. Of course, the original Spike would have already laughed himself back into the grave for the fact that Xander was vamped in the first place.
“Take a walk.” Xander ordered Angel, “Breathe deep, kill something evil, pick a fight you know you can’t win, hunt down Angelus’ minions. Whatever it is you need to do to center yourself. When you’ve got your head and soul on straight I need you to clear the mansion of any blood, bodies, gore, instruments of torture or whatever is laying around that might trigger Spike. He’s going to be fragile for a while.”
“How can you be so calm about this? You HATE vampires. You hate me. You should hate Spike too, but you aren’t trying to kill him while he’s weak and you actually seem to care.”
“I’m 47.” Xander stressed again, “I’ve grown up, Angel. I’ve lived in the murky grays of the underworld so long I don’t even remember what it was like to see the world in nothing but black and white. I’m calm because I don’t have the memories of this body. Angelus never got his hands on me, I’ve don’t know what it is like to live without a soul. There’s nothing left for me in my world, I was mortally wounded. This could actually be a good thing, or at least better than the alternative. It’s a chance to change things and keep the people I care about alive and healthy, which is all I’ve ever tried to do.”
“You have changed.” Angel studied him as if he could see the wear of years there, but like any vampire Xander’s youthful face was misleading.
“Of course I have. Self righteous, insecure teenagers are a plague.” Xander scoffed, “So, let’s try this again. Hi, I’m Xander a time and space displaced, demon fighting Watcher from an alternate future.”
“They let you be a Watcher?” Angel snorted at the thought, a fragile semblance of his humor coming back. Xander had always managed to draw out emotional reactions from him. He was unused to feeling anything but annoyance for the boy, now a man. He could get to like this new and much improved Xander Harris once he had a chance to process the implications of his presence.
“The Council didn’t have much choice in the matter; the old bastards got themselves blown up by a Boss Level Badguy that made Angelus look like a misbehaving puppy. We were able to sweep in and take over in the chaos of the resulting power vacuum. The Scoobies went global.”
“I have trouble imagining that.”
“That’s because you have the imagination of a stump, Deadboy. Man it actually feels good to say that again. I haven’t called you Deadboy in a couple of decades. Mostly because I haven’t called you at all. Brings back memories.”
“I’m ecstatic for you.” Angel deadpanned, “I thought you said you were more mature.”
“I never said that, all I said was older.”
Spike made a discontented noise and Xander realized that he’d gotten distracted by the banter and stopped his patting. Angel, calmer now and more in control of himself, leaned over and firmly gripped Spike by the back of his neck with one large hand, grounding him. He went nearly limp in Xander's grasp. The bleached blonde uncurled just enough to wrap his arms around Xander’s legs and bury his face in his hip. He could feel the snuffling breaths on his ribs as Spike scented him, taking at least some small amount of comfort in the smell of Aurelius and family. Xander was still working his head around being a part of either of those categories.
“Not bad. That’s calmer than I thought he could be this early after the curse. Sire powers for the win. You don’t even have any experience in dealing with him when he’s got a soul. He seems a bit better this time around.” Angel jolted at that and looked up from Spike to meet his eyes. “Yeah, he got souled in my dimension too. He was in bad shape and pretty much had to go it alone, but he got through it and didn’t even change that much. He’s Spike loud and Spike proud no matter if he has his soul or not.”
“William always did have too much humanity.”
“Not going to argue that. He was fighting on our side even before he got his soul back.”
“I… would like to hear that story some time, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Immortal now. Not to mention how far I just turned the clocks back. I’ve got nothing but time.” Angel stared at him with big sad eyes for a moment. Xander actually felt bad for reminding him that Angelus' mad princesss had killed at least one version of Xander.
“I think I do need to take that walk.”
“Take your time. We’ll be here. See if you can’t pick up some blood, and whatever necessities vampires need day-to-day. I don’t know if I have any clothes here, but I’m not wearing leather and I’m definitely not going back to my parent’s house. Will I need a toothbrush? What kind of toiletries do vampires even need? Does our hair grow? Do we need deodorant or shampoo? Do we even sweat or get oily hair or do we only need to worry about getting actually dirty? These are things a fledge needs to know.”
Angel looked a little shell shocked at the barrage of questions as Xander lost his cool. Not over the blood sucking, dimensional travel or the immortality, but over whether or not he’d need to change his bathing habits.
“We need to get this place livable if we’re going to un-live here. Get what you can, it’ll give you something to do while you brood. I just want you to know that I don’t trust a man who wears linen pants and likes self punishment to decorate this whole place by himself. You’d probably end up with potpourri and monogrammed his and his and his decorative towels.”
Bemused, Angel let Xander order him around and padded obediently out of the bedroom to find clothes and do some, all or possibly none of the things the boy suggested. It depended how many of them he remembered when the shock of the last hour wore off. He was just blown away that they’d even been able to have an amicable conversation and that the kid was being reasonable. It was a nice change of pace.
When Angel left, Xander looked down at Spike, who practically had his head stuffed into Xander’s groin and took a moment to regret all of his life choices that had led him to this. He may be accustomed to nudity, but it was a little different when it was people he knew. He thought for a moment how this all might play out and conceded that he was going to have to work with the vampires for now. He couldn’t go to school with the girls anymore so he’d be spending his days holed up here. This Spike didn’t know him, of course with the soul, this Spike didn’t know Angel either, and Angel wouldn’t know what to do with him. It was actually the perfect chance for a new start between all of them. Their dynamic was going to change no matter what so he may as well try and influence it to change for the better.
Spike was a caretaker and was fiercely independent. Once he’d recovered from this initial shock he was going to be a nightmare to take care of simply because he’d refuse to be the one needing help. Xander was going to have to put himself in the position of needy fledgling childe. As he’d shown again and again with Dru and Buffy and Dawn, Spike needed to be needed. He took better care of himself when he wanted to be in good shape to take care of what he considered his.
Angel on the other hand seemed to desperately need control of himself and the situation. He didn’t do well on the spot or with spontaneity, judging by the way he froze up. He was solid and steady, but not very quick to adapt, whereas Spike was constantly on the verge of reinventing himself to fit whatever role was needed of him. The two vampires couldn’t be more different. Xander saw a long future of himself playing mediator between the two if he didn’t smooth out their relationship.