Title: The Love of the Bullied 17/?

Author: Forsaken2003

Pairing: S/X

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I own none, all belong to Joss Whedon

Comments: Always welcomed!

Summary: Life sucks for Xander but when Spike moves to Sunnydale will things get better or worse?

Warnings/Spoilers: None

Beta'd by: Unbeta'd

Note: I feel like this story is possibly over dramatic. Not what I really write but it just kind of went that direction.

Part Seventeen

The afternoon seemed to fly by. After they finished their drinks Spike and Xander headed over to UCLA. Xander agreed that they'd walked instead of taking a cab as long as Spike had the GPS on the entire time. L.A was so much bigger than Sunnydale, it was intimidating. The campus of UCLA was huge, there were so many different buildings it took them awhile to find the administrations office to pick up an application for Spike. They spent some time just wandering around the campus getting a bit of a feel for it. There was a huge statue of a bear and they agreed that was where they'd meet on days Xander decided to pick Spike up.

They headed back to the hotel to freshen up before heading out for some of the night life. There were a few clubs like The Bronze nearby and they picked one that was named The Club. It had a steady amount of people without it being too busy. Xander paid the entry fee for them and the giant bouncer let them in.

The music was loud and the lights dimmed making Xander tighten his hold on Spike's hand. This was all so new to Xander, he never went out when he was in Sunnydale. His life consisted school, work and the apartment. He looked around, people were on the dance floor, playing pool and eating at tables.

Spike managed to find them a table close to the pool tables and dance floor. He sat down and watched as Xander followed his lead. "A lot like the Bronze. Now if they have the onion blossoms I'll be in heaven."

Xander shook his head. Spike was obsessed with them. "I guess I know one of the items that will be on the menu of The Desoto."

"Abso-bloody-lutely! I'm also going to add some popular British pub food as well. It'll add something new to L.A I think."

"You've traveled quite a bit, right?" Xander asked. When Spike nodded he continued. "What if you also added your favorites from other countries? I don't really know much about food from other countries but poutine seems really popular in Canada. I mean can you go wrong with fries, cheese and gravy? Pub food from around the world."

Spike placed his chin on his hand. He hadn't thought of that. "That's brilliant, Xan. We could expand people's taste in food. Poutine from Canada, proper fish and chips from Britain, onion blossom from America." He'd have to sit down and think of the foods he had tried while traveling with his parents.

Spike always said 'we' when they talked about The Desoto like Xander had anything to do with it. He wondered if Spike even noticed that he did it. "I can't wait to see what you come up with."

"What can I get you?" A pretty waitress with a name tag that said 'Julie' on it came over to their table.

"Hey, pet. We'll take a root beer, orange soda, a thing of mild barbecue wings, nachos no tomatoes or jalapenos and an order of potato skins to start us off."

Julie scribbled their order down. "All right, guys I will be right back with your drinks."

They both thanked her before she left. Xander looked around the room. He was hoping that he and Spike would be able to play some pool. He wasn't that good at it but you didn't have to be good at something to have fun.

Spike was looking at the dance floor. He was wondering if there would be anyway to convince Xander to dance with him after.

"As long as you don't mind dancing with someone who has no rhythm. The only dance I know is the Snoopy dance and that is not something I do in public."

"I didn't say anything," Spike said confused.

Xander pointed at Spike "I can see it on your face. After we eat we'll get jiggy with it and then maybe some pool?"

"Sounds like a plan to me, luv."

The food was delicious. Xander loved the nachos because they didn't cheap out on the cheese like so many places did. Xander told Spike to make a note of that. Spike gave the boy scout sign and promised.

"I'm going to go the bathroom and then we'll get our boogie like it's 1999." Xander finished his soda before disappearing into the crowd. Luckily the bathrooms were nearby.

Spike shook his head in amusement as he picked at the remaining potato skins. They had been really good.

"I thought he was never going to leave." A man who had to be in his mid twenties took over Xander's seat.

"He's going to be back in a minute."

The man ignored the hint. "Is this some sort of charity thing?"

Spike look at the man who was now sitting across from him crossing his arms. There was nothing special about the guy. If Spike walked passed him tomorrow he wouldn't recognize the guy. He remained silent.

"Why are you hanging out with that loser when you could do so much better?" He didn't wait for an answer. "How about you ditch the dork and you and me can go to another club? I promise you we'll have fun."

Spike's cheek ticked as he clenched his jaw. He badly wanted to punch this guy in the face but he couldn't. He couldn't use violence, not with Xander here. He'd seen and experienced enough of that in his life Spike couldn't add to it no matter how much he wanted to.

Spike was so focused on controlling his temper that he didn't noticed the man who still had not given his name went to reach across the table for Spike's hand when his arm was yanked away from Spike. Both Spike and the man looked up to see Xander standing there. "This dork is the only one who is allowed to put his hands on Spike."

Spike's eyes lit up when he saw Xander. Almost all his anger faded. "Hey, luv."

"We were having a private conversation."

"No, you were having a one sided conversation because Spike can see that you aren't worth a second of his time," Xander corrected. "Now why don't you go back to whoever you're here with, with your tail between your legs and leave us alone to have some fun of our own." He grabbed Spike's hand and pulled him out of the chair. "Come on, baby."

Spike stopped and looked at the guy and said, "You best be gone before we come back. I refrained myself from knocking out your teeth, that won't happen again." He let himself get dragged away from the table.

Once they were on the dance floor Spike pulled Xander flush against him. "That was bloody hot, Xan. You shut him up so fast. I wish you did that for yourself."

"That's different," Xander said as Spike placed his hands on his hips and started to make Xander sway a little bit. "Everyone is against me in Sunnydale."

"I'm not. I'm on your side and I'm ready to fight. Why aren't you?"

Xander placed a hand on Spike's neck. "Because I've been fighting my entire life. I'm tired of fighting. I just want to graduate. I don't care about prom or the ceremony I just want it to be done so we can start our lives here."

"You don't want to go to prom?" Spike asked. He was actually planning on being a big dork and doing a prom-posal for Xander. He was even going to ask his mom for help.

"Why spend even more time with people who hate me and people I don't care about? We can have our own prom at the apartment. Doesn't that sound better?" Xander kissed him on the lips.

Spike masked his disappointment. How could he tell Xander he wanted to go to prom when he clearly didn't? After everything Xander had put up with since meeting Spike he couldn't make Xander feel obligated to go. "Let's talk about this later."

Xander thought that meant they'd talk about their plans for their private prom. He starting bouncing when the song changed.