One Small Piece of Perfection in an Imperfect Life
It was raining outside. Not just a little shower, no, it was pouring and thunder storming. Wesley didn't mind, he actually liked this kind of weather. It fit his mood perfectly, and besides, he'd always been more of a winter person than a sun lover. That must be something that comes along with the package of watcher-to-be. Students from the Watcher's Academy don't play and run out in the sun. They wait till it's dark so they can learn to fight in the proper circumstances, and in winter, the dark just came a whole lot sooner than it did in summer.
Wesley didn't bother to wait with his occupations till it was dry outside, he just went out in the dreadful weather and ignored the people who stared at him from under their safe, covering umbrellas. He could hear them thinking: 'What's such a nice young gentleman doing here outside without an umbrella or some sort of prevention from getting soaked?'
Truth was, a nice young gentleman like him, didn't need protection. Not from the rain, and not from the world. Or so he thought. He'd been thinking that a lot lately, like when he took Angel's son, Connor, without really planning something in case it went wrong. His plan hadn't been perfect, there had been flaws and imperfections, but it had been honest, and he thought, then, it was the right thing to do.
It wasn't.
But that was all over now. Not really, but Wesley liked to think it was, though of course he couldn't deny the fact that his whole life now was his life because of that. Because of his own imperfections and mistakes. He'd lost a lot lately; his job, his friends, and a bit of his soul ( according to Lilah). But he had also gained a lot of things. He had freedom now. He had his own mission, and, he had Lilah. He didn't love Lilah, not nearly, but he certainly had her. Wesley had enough experience with love to know that it only made things much more complicated, and it never ended well, anyway. And when it did, it was coincidence. So with Lilah it was just fun. Release. Play. And possibly, something quite close to obsession, but as long as it wasn't love that didn't matter. So here he was, walking down the rainy streets to go see his fun-almost-obsession. He could've taken a cab, or gone by car, but that would be protecting himself from the rain, from the storm. That just wasn't his style anymore, and besides, the sound of the raindrops falling down on the street sounded comforting to him. It was like they promised him everything would turn out all right in the end. Maybe it would. But until it didn't, his current lifestyle wasn't so bad. Wesley tried to tell himself he could be happy like this. Perhaps he could, because after all, just how many people live in perfect happiness? Almost none. When they do, it's just coincidence. Like the people who win the lottery. It's not destiny. It's pure luck. And not everyone had luck, so those who hadn't just tried to make the best of it, as did Wesley.
He reached Lilah's apartment, knocked twice, and waited till she'd open the door. Wesley knew she was home, she had to be, he knew her working hours now. And her lunch hours, too, which were occasionally used for the necessary fun. Office hours too, but that was a different story.
Lilah opened the door seconds after he'd knocked. She could've opened it immediately, but she liked to keep people waiting. Especially people like Wesley. Not too long, of course, when you waited too long the opportunity would go by, but long enough to make herself just as wanted as she had in mind.
'Wesley.', she greeted him, slightly surprised. She hadn't expected him to show up in this weather. Or maybe she had. It didn't matter now, he was here. All dark and new and interesting. Just how she liked him the most.
Wesley walked in without greeting her back. Apparently his gentleman-character was shoved to the background while she was around. What else was new?
'You're soaked.', Lilah commented on his appearance, watching him ruining her carpet with his wet shoes and clothes.
'I am.' He was as talkative as he usually was, lately. But Lilah quite liked that in him, his actions were a lot more meaningful than his words, anyway. If she were lucky.
She looked at him up and down, and come to the conclusion the "wet look" looked good on him. He should walk out in the rain to come see her more often.
'I'll get you a towel.", she offered, out of simple politeness.
'I'll wait here.'
Lilah headed for the bathroom and took a towel. Surely, he could've taken his clothes off right away because they were going to end up having sex anyway, but this way it was more subtle. Building up some tension was always good, it was a part of their little game, so they handled this situation all mature. She handed him the towel and watched him dry off quickly. She put the wet towel on the heater, somewhat carelessly as Wesley took place on the couch.
'Glass of wine?', she asked, in a tone that sounded as if she were talking to a client.
'Yes, why not.' Wesley made himself comfortable on her uncomfortably-expensive leather couch and waited as Lilah poured two glasses of a 'Haut-Brion' from France. Not exactly the cheapest wine, one could say, but nothing was cheap around Lilah.
He took the glass she handed him and sipped the red wine. He wondered if she bought the most expensive things because she liked them better or simply because they were more expensive. Probably the latter.
'Have you heard anything from..' 'No.', Wesley interrupted her before she could even finish the question. He wasn't in the mood to talk about Angel, Cordelia, Lorne, Connor or Gunn. And especially not about Fred. He didn't want to be reminded of them whilst he was with her. It almost seemed like a different life.
Lilah nodded, she got the hint, and didn't care. Not really. At first she'd thought she did what she did with Wesley to win information, or just to use him in her advantage, but she learned that wasn't true. She just liked doing this. She didn't love him, and if she did she would never admit it. Especially not to herself. That would be betraying herself, it would be against everything she stood for. Love was a thing for people with a miserable life and with miserable thoughts who had nothing to do but be miserable with another miserable person until they had miserable children and all died a miserable death. Not her style.
They both sat in silence for a while, nothing was said, and they just drank their wine. It wasn't completely an awkward silence, they just didn't really have anything to say, because, what did you say when you were about to have sex with who was supposed to be your enemy? You didn't love the other, it wasn't really a relationship, not in public, anyway, and at least one of you was in love with someone else. A chitchat wasn't really necessary here.
Lilah put her glass down first. 'Are we done with this part?', she inquired, somewhat impatient.
Wesley chuckled, bemused. 'Done with which part, Lilah?', he asked, though he was perfectly aware of what she meant. He just liked to tease her. Or simply to bother her.
She rolled her eyes. 'Are we playing that game again today? '.
'I'm not playing a game. But yes, we're done with this part.' Wesley put his empty glass down and pulled her in his lap. Lilah grinned slightly, looked in his impossibly blue eyes and kissed him hard. Wesley soon deepened the kiss and wrapped his arms around her slender waist. Soon everything around them was forgotten, all that existed was pure passion. They'd been apart for 3 days, and that had been 3 days too many. Clothes were soon unnecessary and therefore removed. Lilah moaned softly as he touched her, and Wesley watched her reactions closely. At this moment, when he touched her like this, nothing else mattered. His work didn't matter, the upcoming Apocalypse didn't matter, and not even Fred mattered here. It was just him and her. The surprising thing was, usually obsessions weren't fun at all, and you had to try very hard to get rid of them. But not this time. This obsession, was fun as hell, and Wesley didn't want it to end. Not right now. He knew it would, someday, maybe sooner than later, but he didn't want to think of that. At this moment all that mattered was the fun. And that was the way it should always be. His life now may be a lot less fun and easy than it used to be, but his recent flaws and imperfections brought him one new thing, one small piece of perfection in his imperfect life: Lilah.