Pairing: B/S
Keywords: Fluff, humour, silliness, sap and a real big portion of happiness
Rating: PG-13 for a few choice words and some hinting
Summary: Set somewhere in the near future.
A/N: Okay, of course I *am* being delusional here. So sue me. On second thought, don't :-) Just needed a fluffy break from the latest giant angst-feast aka "Dead Things".


My Sunbeam Snuff
by Eve

He sat alone in the dark room, squinting at the glowing thing in front of him. No sound could be heard as he waited tensely for what was going to happen next. The emanating light accentuated his sharp cheekbones, his blue eyes reflecting the changing colours, his gaze restlessly wandering across the smooth, quadrangular surface. There! A few clicking noises later he leaned back in his chair, a smile spreading over his face. This should be fun. Some more clicking and waiting followed and then it was done.

MAY SNUB ME SNUFF
AMBER SNUFF MY SUN
MASS BYE MUFF NUN
NAN BUY MESS MUFF
FAB NESS FUN RUMMY
AN BY MESS FUM FUN

He scrolled further down until one line caught his attention.

MY SUNBEAM SNUFF

A romantic at heart and never quite having been able to leave his former rather pathetic poetic self behind, he had to admit that this was a pretty good description of her. She was his sunbeam, his sunshine, warming his heart and his whole being with her love. She was his reason for living and he needed her for his existence like humans needed to breathe. 'Oh bloody hell, I'm still awful at poetry.' He turned his attention back to the screen.

ME BAM FUNNY FUSS
FAN NUMB MESSY FUR
NAB MESSY FUM FUN

Most of the combinations were of course garbage, but some of them were pretty funny.

ANY BUSS MEN MUFF
BAN ME MY FUN FUSS

He grinned at that. He definitely didn't lack anything in either department, neither a healthy dose of kissage or cuddling nor arguments. The last two years had been amazing and wonderful for him - not that they hadn't had hard times. Like when his chip suddenly stopped working. Trust was a very important issue at that time. But they got through it. Nor did they stopped arguing. Still he wouldn't want to have it any other way. This was just like they were. For him just being with her, being accepted by her as he was and finally being loved by her was more than he could've ever asked for. They got through the hard times together, knowing that their relationship was worth it, each time relishing in the fact that they came out of them a bit stronger.

"Argh!" He shouted and tried to shield his eyes when suddenly the lights on the ceiling came to life and illuminated the room that had become his study.

"Couldn't you at least warn me before switching the lights on?"

He turned around and gazed at the small figure standing at the entrance, hands stemmed into hips, scowling at him.

"I knew it was a mistake. I never should have agreed to this."

"Well, blame it on Red. She's the one who got me the computer anyway."

"Only because she couldn't stand the sound of you hammering on your antique typewriter in the middle of the night any longer."

She came over to his desk, frown already melting away when he stood up and she walked into his open arms. Her head on his shoulder and his face buried in her long blond hair both of them enjoyed the embrace and the calmness that came each time with the reassuring gesture.

He leaned slightly back to look into her brown eyes, a smile playing around the corners of his mouth.

"Hey, you didn't complain when I gave you the paycheque for the last novel, did you?"

She snuggled back into his embrace and he heard her muffled voice: "No, and I'm forever thankful for your talent. I love to read your books, you know that. Even though some of the stories are a bit too ... real for my taste. Hellmouthy real that is. Not that anyone outside of Sunnydale would ever believe them. And the you earning money with it part isn't bad either."

Fortunately for them he'd found out a few months ago that he wasn't half as bad at writing fiction than he was at writing poetry - something he wouldn't have found out without her. Sure, she'd always said that he was a man of ... many talents ... but his writing skills had truly surprised all of them. It had given him something to do and his readers seemed to like the gory details his mind, or to be honest most of the time his memory, came up with. He had finally found a way to cause havoc again - and was completely content with it even though he only did it on paper now.

Before he'd sometimes felt kind of inadequate. He didn't know if it was actually a kind of leftover from his human education or simply the need to take care of her, but he had always thought she shouldn't be supposed to do all the work alone. Him being a vampire and all made it pretty much impossible for him to get a 'normal' daytime job and they had some arguments about him wanting to work and earn some money before he made her realise that it wasn't about him telling her to stay at home but simply him wanting to contribute his share. Now she was able to go to college again and didn't have to bear the burden of working long hours at the Doublemeat Palace any longer just in order to provide a meagre income for their little family.

And a family they were. Not in the conventional meaning of the word, he was still working on that part, but for the three of them it was perfect. Of course there were Willow and Tara, too. Having the two witches again together under their roof was sometimes a bit stressful though, especially when they decided to practise their magical skills. Things tend to disappear at these times, change form or become alive because the witches had still to learn how to concentrate their combined magical energy in order to stop it from spreading around. He could still remember the shock he felt when he came home one night from patrolling with Buffy only to see Dawn floating two metres above the floor. And he could definitely still remember the cracking of his bones when he discovered, unfortunately only by trying to run towards her in order to catch her, that she wasn't floating but standing on the stairs which just happened to be invisible at that time. After that incident they had all agreed to limit the magical experimentation to Friday evenings. But besides that they had all adjusted pretty well to the new living arrangements and he had to admit that wouldn't want to miss the witches.

"So, what's the deal then?"

"You're so completely hooked to the internet. You haven't come out of your study all day and I miss having you around." She pouted and stroke his shirt-clad chest making him wish the offending layer of cloth would disappear. "And you promised me that we'd prepare dinner together this time. Xander and Anya are coming over tonight and we wanted to make something special."

'Right. The whelp and his ex-demon. Said they had some news they wanted to share. Pretty sure it has to do with the tiny thumping noise Anya's stomach is emanating lately.' This was another thing he was working on, this time together with the witches. They hadn't told Buffy anything yet so that she wouldn't get her hopes up too soon, but he was hopeful that they would find something that would make him and her able to decide whether they wanted to enlarge their family or not. He knew he couldn't give her everything that came with a so-called 'normal' relationship but this choice was something he really wanted her to be able to have with him. He'd already told Buffy about his suspicion what the news would be but she'd told him not to spoil Anya and Xander's surprise. So he'd play along and would shortly start preparing dinner for them, letting her help this time. 'I'm so whipped,' he thought, rolling his eyes and mentally stealing himself for the obligatory dose of Xander-nagging that was sure to come.

As if she'd read his mind she leaned back and caught his gaze. "I've told him to behave himself this time. Give him a bit more time and he may come to actually like you." He gave her a look which told her exactly what he thought about that. And just for good measure he added: "You're kidding." - "Yeah, guess I am," she sighed. "Well, I guess I should be glad he isn't going around the house hiding stakes in every corner any longer each time he comes over. For him that's a real progress. He really is one of my oldest friends, you know?" - "And I love you still. Amazing, isn't it?" She elbowed him lightly and he chuckled. Holding his gaze she reached up and caressed his cheek. "Love you too." His hold on her tightened and he leaned in for a long kiss.

When she had to come up for air again she smiled at him. "You coming?" - "Well, it was a close shot, but ..." - "Spike!" He grinned at her feigned indignation and put a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "What?" he asked innocently. "I just gave you an honest answer to your question." - "Believe me, if we had the time for it ..." She gave him an appreciating look and her hands ran once again over the front of his shirt, then up and down his arms. "... but unfortunately we don't," she concluded with more than a hint of disappointment in her voice. - "I suppose you won't call the dinner party off then?" - "Nope, can't do that." She straightened up a bit and gazed over his shoulder at the monitor.

"What where you doing up here at that thing anyway?" He turned around and pointed at the list of words. "I just came across this nifty little site. It's an anagram generator. I've typed in something and then it produced that list. All the combinations of words that are possible with some or all of the letters." - "What did you type in?" - "Guess." She took a look at the list and then looked back at him. "My name?" - "Yeah. You're always on my mind, don't you know that?" His arms came around her waist and she leaned back into his touch. "Wasn't that a song back in the eighties?" - "Busted."
She took the mouse and scrolled up. "My sunbeam snuff?" - "Pretty cool, isn't it?" Then she scrolled further down.

MEAN BY SNUFF SUM
...
SAM BE SNUFF MY URN
...
MAN BUSY ME SNUFF
...
MARS BUFF ME SUNNY
...
MAN BY ME FUN FUSS
...
SNUFF MY SANE BUM

She suddenly entangled herself from his embrace and turned around to face him.

"Snuff my sane bum???"

'Oops.'

"Buffy, I swear I didn't know this line was there! Buffy? Buffy!"

But she was already out of the room. Rushing down the stairs, on her way to the training room in the basement, probably soon punching the poor dummy far into the next millennium. 'Well, better the dummy than me.' Of course he knew he had to clean up the debris afterwards and repair what could be salvaged, but he had to admit that the last line had been ... really something. He sighed, a habit he'd picked up while living under a roof with four women and told the computer with a few clicks to shut the system down.

He was pretty sure he was in for some serious grovelling until he was going to be on her good side again. 'Oh well,' he sighed again dramatically while a smile began to spread over his face and his eyes began to twinkle mischievously. 'I could imagine a way or two to make it up to her.' He quickly switched the computer off and left the room in order to find her, a man on a mission.

He was so whipped.

And he loved every second of it.