Taunting Angelus

A Hair Raising Situation

Spike practically bounced into the hotel, early in the morning.

Since he had woken up, about an hour or so ago, he had thought of the perfect trick to mess with Peaches today.

He rubbed his hands together with glee at just the thought.

He was tempted to call Gunn and tell him all about it…but knew that Gunn would be there waiting for him to do it…and all…and that just wouldn't do.

He was gonna have to remember all his old sneaky ways for this one.

Besides…Gunn might tell Fred…and although she loved watching him play tricks on Angel…she'd tell Wesley…and he'd have to suffer through a 'Why-it's-bad-to-play-tricks-on-the-mighty-Angelus' lecture.  Thanks, but no thanks.  One of those was enough to last a lifetime and he'd already had to suffer through two of them so far.

Also, Fred might let it slip to Angelus…and ruin his fun for the day.

Now we couldn't have that.

So, here it was…barley eight o'clock and he was creeping into the hotel.

He knew that Angel would be sleep…the sun was up and shining bright.

Gunn would be sleep…he was just as much as a night owl as he was.  Wesley and Fred though…he hoped that they wouldn't be downstairs yet, even if they were awake.

What he was going to do would take him no longer than ten, maybe twenty minutes tops.  He just had to get there and back out without being seen.

He crept silently across the lobby & down the stairs.  Twelve minutes later, he came up the steps again, with a huge smile on his face.

He was halfway across the lobby when he heard Wesley & Fred talking as they came down the hallway towards the stairs.

He stifled a laugh & sprinted the rest of the way across the lobby.

He had just reached the door, gone through it, and silently closed it behind him, when Wesley & Fred reached the balcony & began to descend the stairs.

Spike chuckled to himself.

Perfect timing.

He hopped up and did a Fred Flintstone clicking heels move before heading back home.

The scene was set and tonight…. the fun would begin.

***

Hours later; Spike bounded into the hotel lobby.

Fred looked up from her researching & gave him a wide smile.

"Hi Spike," she stopped & looked at the clock.

"You're here early…its not even sunset yet."

"I know…. what can I say?  I felt the NEED to get here as early as I could."

Fred raised her eyebrow at him, but didn't get a chance to ask him anything as Wesley responded,

"Have a slayer dream, Spike?"
"What…oh…no."
"Than what…"

Gunn came running through the door.

He looked around the lobby and then spotting Spike, came over to him, saying,

"Man…what was with the message?  Why do I have to be here so early?"
"Trust me…you'll love it."

Gunn tilted his head & then nodded.

Fred turned to Wesley.

"Wes…Spike's up to something…. again."

"Well…that seems to be the usual Fred," Wesley muttered without turning around.  He was in to reading some ancient text & wasn't really paying them any attention at all.

"Wesley!"

His head came up and he turned to look at Fred at her shout.

"What?"

Fred pointed at Spike.

"He. Is. Up. To. Something…. Again."

Wesley looked at Spike pointedly.

Spike just smiled, but said nothing.

"Well…aren't you going to tell me that she's wrong…and you're not?"
"Why bother…you won't believe me anyway."

Wesley sighed before agreeing, "True."

"Spike…what are you doing, standing around like that?"
"Waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

Just then they heard a loud roar.

Angel came tearing up the stairs a few seconds later, his hair sticking up and out all over the place.

Fred, Wesley and Gunn took one look at Angel and burst out laughing.

Spike laughed as well.

"Goodness Peaches…what's up with your hair?  Fighting a hair demon, we're we?"

"You," was the only word Angel growled before advancing upon Spike.

But Spike had been waiting for just this moment and when Angel was a few feet away, he ducked out of the way and sticking out his foot, tripped the ticked off vampire.

"Tsk, tsk…gotta watch where your going, mate…can't just trip all over yourself like that… things a vampire should never get to close too, could be on the floor…and then…poof…you're nothing but dust in the wind."

Angel bounced back to his feet and took a swing at Spike, who caught it and used Angel's forward motion to spin him around and fly towards the wall across the room, smacking into it and knocking himself unconscious as he hit it.

Spike was laughing with glee…as he ran into Wesley's office and pulled out the camera he had hidden there, for a different prank earlier that he hadn't done yet, out.  He ran back into the other room and waited.

He didn't have to wait long.

Angel soon regained consciousness and got up fairly quickly.

Angel ran toward him, almost full speed, Spike ducked him and turned quickly, moving backwards in order to get a good shot.

He found his chance and snapped a good one when Angel quickly turned and began to advance on him again.

Angel didn't even react to the sounds of pictures being taken; he had only one thought on his mind…get to Spike.

After shooting a couple of shots, Spike tossed the camera to Gunn who caught it and went to put it back in Wesley's office, in Spike's hiding place.  He knew about it, because he had been in on Spike's other prank.

Gunn then ran back into the lobby, he didn't want to miss much of the action at all.

He reached it just in time to see Spike leap up and jump over Angel, kicking him in the back of the head on his way down.

Spike looked back at Angle grinning.

Angel growled and lunged after him and Spike gave a shout of laughter before taking off, up the stairs.  Angel was on his heels, trying to catch up to him.

They could hear Spike running through the hotel; obviously they were fighting in between running, because at times the building shook, or they could hear crashes and things breaking.

Gunn was undecided about run up and catch up to them to watch, but just as he was about to, Spike came running down the hallway, still laughing.

This time, however, he didn't get a chance to execute any move. 

Angel had caught up with him and delivered a vicious punch to the face, which knocked him out.

When he came too, he was being dangled upside down, over the balustrade.  Angel, sensing he was now conscious, shook him.

"What did you do to it Spike?"
"What did I do to what?  Hey now…doesn't this threatening a human life bother your soul a bit, cause if not…I say we get Willow to come and give your soul a touch up…it's gotta few kinks in it."

Gunn, Wesley and Fred couldn't move at first…it was way too funny to see a whacked out haired Angel shake Spike upside down.  And they still didn't know what was going on.  What had Spike done now?

"You know what I'm talking about Spike.  Where is it?"
"I don't think I understand…."

"Damn it Spike…tell me or I swear I'll drop you head first."

Angel growled at him, shaking him to emphasize his point, but Spike just laughed.

"You want me to drop you, don't you?"

Spike looked down at some point that Angel couldn't see and then looked towards the floor.

He then glanced up to look at Angel.

"If you want to…go ahead."

"Tell me where you hid it Spike."
"I can't remember…all the blood's rushing to my head."

Gunn, Wesley, and Fred laughed harder.

"Spike…I think he might be serious," Fred called out…as Angel vamped out for no reason other than rage.

"Oh I'm sure of it Sweetheart…but don't worry…slayers are extremely resourceful."

Angel growled more deeply and shook him more.

"What on earth did you do man?" Gunn called up to him, he wasn't worried. Spike would just flip himself, maybe grab onto something if Angel let him go, he was sure of it…and if not, he'd get there to catch his bud before he got hurt.

Spike's grin got wider and he gave another bark of laughter.

Angel shook him again, this time slamming him against the wall.

"Where is my gel, Spike?"

"Oh my God…he hid your hair gel."

"That's why your hair looks like that."

Gunn, Wesley, and Fred fell to the floor laughing.

Angel was done.

He was thinking about swinging Spike and throwing him across the room when Spike decided that he had tortured him enough for the day.

"All right, all right…I'll tell you."

Angel just gave him a glance, but didn't say anything.

"It's in your cabinet…I just switched the labels with another bottle that looked the same.  You know…the weird looking mouthwash one.  Which by the way, I'm glad you took my hint from one of our other encounters.  I've been meaning to tell you that your breath was a lot better lately, but I hadn't gotten around to saying it before."

Before Angel could give into temptation and drop him, he pulled Spike up and shoved him backwards into the hallway.

Spike bounced and grinned at him.

Angel leaned forward and growled at him before saying,

"I. Hate. You."

"Angel…you wound me with your words.  I only do the things I do because I love you so much."

"If this is the price of your love, keep it to yourself."

"Now Angelus, you don't mean that…if I wasn't here…and didn't bother you, you'd be all broody and quiet.  But…see…here I am…and you're in no way, either of them."

Angel glared at him before walking off, and going downstairs, leaving a laughing Spike, Wesley, Fred, & Gunn behind him.

Gunn patted Spike on the shoulder,

"Man…you…. whew…" Gunn couldn't get the words out, he was laughing so hard.

Fred smiled and shook her head, " I don't know what we're gonna do with you."

"How about some hot chocolate…and my tummy's making all kinds of gurgle-y noises…let's go to IHOP…my treat."

"Well…all right," Gunn said, " I'm in."

"Me too," Fred said, following them.

"I might as well come as well," Wesley told them, "let me go tell Angel we'll be back later and to call our cell phones if he needs us."

They all headed out to Spike's car and Wesley joined them a few seconds later.

As Wesley climbed in and they headed out Spike asked,

"Isn't Angelus coming?"

"He said he believed that he had quite enough of your company to last a few days."

Spike, Fred, & Gunn all chuckled.

Then Spike said,

"Oh well…now…whose ready to eat?"

A chorus of mes rang out and Spike smiled as he floored it, heading toward the closest International house of pancakes.

TBC