Disclaimer: I own nothing, nobody, nada.
Spike stalked down the hallway, watching students scatter in his wake. The proliferation of bruises on his face only served to accentuate the very scary look on his face. Those in his path suddenly decided to be out of his path.
Buffy joined him, walking beside him. "Here it is." She said. "I think that Adam has a drug deal going down behind the Bronze, tonight."
"Behind the Bronze, tonight." He repeated skeptically.
"Meet me at my house after school, and I'll tell you the plan.
And she moved off, leaving only the fragrance of flowers behind her.
Wow, she turned him on.
**
As he approached her house, he wondered if the little sister would be there. The little sister and the mother. What had been their names?
Well, okay, maybe he wasn't the best in the world at this whole thing
He stopped at the tree in front, leaning against it. He glanced back the way he'd come, a smile playing around his face.
Yeah, he was going to enjoy beating her face in. He was sure of it.
She appeared behind him with no warning. "Hey." She said warily.
He glanced at her, grinning. "Well, hey yourself." He said.
"You're awfully cheerful." She observed.
He took in her face, her hair, and then glanced down at her body, meeting her gaze again after a beat. "I'm always cheerful." He told her.
"Inside." She said, turning and walking to the front door.
He followed her, watching her butt. It was a nice butt. Very well toned. He barely managed to catch the tail end of whatever she was saying. "...Trick."
"What was that?" He said. "Can't hear you so good when you're facing away." Although it wasn't actually the facing away that made the problem, per se, but let her think what she wanted.
She gave him a funny look, as if she could read his mind. "I said, getting Adam tonight might be easy, but then we'll have to watch out for Trick."
"Because he'll be on his guard?"
"Yeah." She shivered. "And Warren--I'm sorry, the "Master," master of the geeks, he's cagy."
"Cagy? What does that mean?" Asked Spike. She led him into the kitchen, pointing to a stool. He leaned against the counter, watching her.
"What does cagy mean? It means he's smart. He's not violent like the others, just too smart for his own good. He gets me into all kinds of trouble at school."
"Sounds like he needs a good beating." Offered Spike.
"Yeah." Sighed Buffy. "That's why he keeps bodyguards."
Spike thought about that. "This is one twisted school." He said it with a smile, relishing the fact.
When she looked at him, her eyes for a second lost their pretense of sophisticated cynicism. For a second she looked utterly bone-weary, and a little lost. Her eyes seemed like pools of hurt.
For a second he remembered the last time he'd seen that look, in the mirror. He remembered his old school.
He looked at her and saw through her tough façade. He saw through to the girl who felt responsible for a whole school, the girl who refused to give up. For a second he felt his heart ache with sympathy.
He carefully tamped the feeling down. 'Pain is my friend.' He reminded himself silently. "Just the way I love it." He added out loud. "Bit of violence, bit of drugs, great stuff."
Her eyes changed, the mask slipping back up. "Right. Good. Because my plan involved you getting a whole bunch of Adam's gang in a fight, while I grab Adam, with the stuff on him, and deposit him with the Sunnydale police."
"How many?" Asked Spike.
"I don't know." She replied. "Then we wait for Trick's next shipment, and do the same to him."
"That's your plan? I hit, you grab?" Spike's mouth curled into a grin. "I like it!" He observed.
"I thought you might." She said. "It seemed about your level."
His eyebrows went up. "Oh, snappish, are we?" His eyes wandered down to her lips, and seemed stuck. For some reason he couldn't look away.
He double-blinked. She was saying something, but the way her lips were moving had caused him to entirely miss it. He didn't want to admit it, so he covered up by simply leaning back and plastering his all-knowing smirk on his face. She waited a beat.
"Well?" She said.
He shrugged. "Try again, with shorter words." He suggested.
She rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'm sorry about the 'your level' crack." She apologized. He smirked. Well, that had worked out better than he thought. "But, seriously, what do you think?"
He glowered at her. "I wasn't listening." He admitted.
She sighed. "I asked if you thought you could take ten of them."
He grinned. "For five minutes, maybe." He said. "Maybe more, maybe not We'll see, won't we?"
"Does nothing scare you?" She asked, angry now.
He thought back. Back to the humiliation of Cecily tearing his heart out. Yeah, he thought to himself. One things scares me. And that's getting too close. Opening up too far. Letting someone like you get to me.
"Only cheese." He said with a grin. "Other than that, what's there to be afraid of?"
"Get out." She said.
"What?"
"Meet me in the Bronze at six. Now just get out of my house. I'm tired of dealing with you."
"Problem is, you're doing it all wrong." Said Spike. "The hands-on approach takes a lot less energy."
She glared at him. "How about nunchuks-on? That approach good for you?"
He left, taking a little extra time to make sure he went extra slow. He didn't want her to think she'd won.
He went straight from her house to the Bronze. The walk there gave him a little extra time to think, as well as time to warm up. He was still covered with bruises from his last fight, and this would be just the thing.
Get the blood pumping and flowing, get himself going--
Oh, wait, no. How about a chance to rethink the whole thing?
As he entered the Bronze he spotted Adam, and walked straight to him. Adam seemed to hesitate, but Spike grinned at him.
"Hear you've got some business tonight." Said Spike, sitting down beside Adam.
"Where'd you hear that?" Asked Adam cautiously.
"From my new best pal, Buffy." Said Spike. "Now, I don't like you a whole lot, but you have an opportunity, here. If you wanna play nice with me, I can give her right to you. Would you like that?"
"You'd do that?" Asked Adam.
"Hey." Spike got into Adam's face. "What do I look like, some do-gooder? Sure, I beat on you. But that's because I like to fight. I beat on Trick, because he's as ugly as you. I love to fight. Even if we do this, no guarantees I won't kick your scrawny butt again soon as I feel like it. You get me, pal?"
Adam swallowed. "You're more nuts than anybody in this crazy town!" He said.
"I told you guys when I showed up." Said Spike, sitting back. "You think you're Bad? I'm the Big Bad."
**
Trick glared at Spike. "I'll have to ask the Master."
Spike fought down a laugh. "The Master? You do that, buddy, you just do that."
Trick glared at him. "This had better not be a trick!"
"Or what, you'll bruise my defenseless fists with your bloody hard face?" Mocked Spike. "Get over yourself already, mate."
**
Giles heard the knocking at his door, and sighed. "You better not have forgotten your key again." He muttered.
He opened it up to reveal Buffy Summers, wearing a pair of jeans and a black tank top. She smiled. "Hi." She said.
"Oh, hello. Here to pick up my nephew for some covert operations?" Giles asked, recovering quickly.
"Um, no, to talk to you." She said. "About him, that is. Where'd he learn to fight?"
"In England." Said Giles. "As I said, I've never really been a part of his life, let alone his training." He hesitated. "Please, come in."
Buffy entered, smiling. "Thank you. Your apartment is...uh, not spacious."
"No." Said Giles, smiling. "I must admit, you are--well, a surprise." She frowned.
"A surprise? How so?"
"Well, especially after meeting my own nephew, I was beginning to despair of your generation."
"Oh, really?" She asked.
"Yes. He is, ah, quite a bad example of your generation, I hope."
"So, yeah, you know karate, then?" She asked.
He smiled. "I wondered if you'd come to the point. If I'm not mistaken, you don't currently have a trainer."
"No, I don't. I looked around, but there's nobody in this town I can even spar with." She said.
"Hm." He shook his head. "I do, ah, know quite a bit, but I'm afraid it's all street-level."
"Perfect." She said. "That's exactly what I need."
He smiled. "Your form, well, you seemed to be—I doubt I have anything to show you."
"Let's test that, shall we?" She asked.
He hesitated, then nodded. "Very well." She said.
She whirled, sending a kick at him. His arms moved in a familiar pattern, blocking her blows and swinging at her.
She ducked back, easily blocking each blow, then threw another kick at him. He blocked it too, nodding approvingly.
"You're concentrating on your kicks, that's good." He approved. "As you will--oomph!"
She whirled faster and faster, her movements so fast he could barely register them. He used every move, every flowing pattern that he knew, but she was always there, always attacking.
He lifted both hands in a signal to stop, gasping for breath.
"Pretty good." She said approvingly.
**
Xander sat in the Bronze, shaking his head from side to side in time with the music. Or rather, in what he thought was time to the music.
His dark hair shook from side to side, and he hummed under his breath.
"If it isn't the sidekick." Said a low drawl. Xander turned, surprised to see Spike. Spike sat down beside him. "Isn't this place a bit dangerous for you?"
"Not if I stick to the well-lit areas, and call for Buffy if I get in trouble." Said Xander.
"Oh, good." Said Spike sarcastically. He grinned. "You ever get sick of being the dumb side-kick, give me a call. I know this great shop where you can buy a pair."
Xander snorted. "At least I don't get regularly beaten up by a girl."
Spike smirked. "No, no, you don't." Spike reached over and grabbed Xander by the collar. "Because you're too busy hiding behind her skirts." He looked both ways slowly, drawing the moment out. "It's funny, but I don't see any skirts right now, do you?"
Xander shook his head slowly. "N-now, don't be--"
Spike slammed a fist into Xander's face, knocking him back. "Oh, shut up." He said.
Spike stalked down the hallway, watching students scatter in his wake. The proliferation of bruises on his face only served to accentuate the very scary look on his face. Those in his path suddenly decided to be out of his path.
Buffy joined him, walking beside him. "Here it is." She said. "I think that Adam has a drug deal going down behind the Bronze, tonight."
"Behind the Bronze, tonight." He repeated skeptically.
"Meet me at my house after school, and I'll tell you the plan.
And she moved off, leaving only the fragrance of flowers behind her.
Wow, she turned him on.
**
As he approached her house, he wondered if the little sister would be there. The little sister and the mother. What had been their names?
Well, okay, maybe he wasn't the best in the world at this whole thing
He stopped at the tree in front, leaning against it. He glanced back the way he'd come, a smile playing around his face.
Yeah, he was going to enjoy beating her face in. He was sure of it.
She appeared behind him with no warning. "Hey." She said warily.
He glanced at her, grinning. "Well, hey yourself." He said.
"You're awfully cheerful." She observed.
He took in her face, her hair, and then glanced down at her body, meeting her gaze again after a beat. "I'm always cheerful." He told her.
"Inside." She said, turning and walking to the front door.
He followed her, watching her butt. It was a nice butt. Very well toned. He barely managed to catch the tail end of whatever she was saying. "...Trick."
"What was that?" He said. "Can't hear you so good when you're facing away." Although it wasn't actually the facing away that made the problem, per se, but let her think what she wanted.
She gave him a funny look, as if she could read his mind. "I said, getting Adam tonight might be easy, but then we'll have to watch out for Trick."
"Because he'll be on his guard?"
"Yeah." She shivered. "And Warren--I'm sorry, the "Master," master of the geeks, he's cagy."
"Cagy? What does that mean?" Asked Spike. She led him into the kitchen, pointing to a stool. He leaned against the counter, watching her.
"What does cagy mean? It means he's smart. He's not violent like the others, just too smart for his own good. He gets me into all kinds of trouble at school."
"Sounds like he needs a good beating." Offered Spike.
"Yeah." Sighed Buffy. "That's why he keeps bodyguards."
Spike thought about that. "This is one twisted school." He said it with a smile, relishing the fact.
When she looked at him, her eyes for a second lost their pretense of sophisticated cynicism. For a second she looked utterly bone-weary, and a little lost. Her eyes seemed like pools of hurt.
For a second he remembered the last time he'd seen that look, in the mirror. He remembered his old school.
He looked at her and saw through her tough façade. He saw through to the girl who felt responsible for a whole school, the girl who refused to give up. For a second he felt his heart ache with sympathy.
He carefully tamped the feeling down. 'Pain is my friend.' He reminded himself silently. "Just the way I love it." He added out loud. "Bit of violence, bit of drugs, great stuff."
Her eyes changed, the mask slipping back up. "Right. Good. Because my plan involved you getting a whole bunch of Adam's gang in a fight, while I grab Adam, with the stuff on him, and deposit him with the Sunnydale police."
"How many?" Asked Spike.
"I don't know." She replied. "Then we wait for Trick's next shipment, and do the same to him."
"That's your plan? I hit, you grab?" Spike's mouth curled into a grin. "I like it!" He observed.
"I thought you might." She said. "It seemed about your level."
His eyebrows went up. "Oh, snappish, are we?" His eyes wandered down to her lips, and seemed stuck. For some reason he couldn't look away.
He double-blinked. She was saying something, but the way her lips were moving had caused him to entirely miss it. He didn't want to admit it, so he covered up by simply leaning back and plastering his all-knowing smirk on his face. She waited a beat.
"Well?" She said.
He shrugged. "Try again, with shorter words." He suggested.
She rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'm sorry about the 'your level' crack." She apologized. He smirked. Well, that had worked out better than he thought. "But, seriously, what do you think?"
He glowered at her. "I wasn't listening." He admitted.
She sighed. "I asked if you thought you could take ten of them."
He grinned. "For five minutes, maybe." He said. "Maybe more, maybe not We'll see, won't we?"
"Does nothing scare you?" She asked, angry now.
He thought back. Back to the humiliation of Cecily tearing his heart out. Yeah, he thought to himself. One things scares me. And that's getting too close. Opening up too far. Letting someone like you get to me.
"Only cheese." He said with a grin. "Other than that, what's there to be afraid of?"
"Get out." She said.
"What?"
"Meet me in the Bronze at six. Now just get out of my house. I'm tired of dealing with you."
"Problem is, you're doing it all wrong." Said Spike. "The hands-on approach takes a lot less energy."
She glared at him. "How about nunchuks-on? That approach good for you?"
He left, taking a little extra time to make sure he went extra slow. He didn't want her to think she'd won.
He went straight from her house to the Bronze. The walk there gave him a little extra time to think, as well as time to warm up. He was still covered with bruises from his last fight, and this would be just the thing.
Get the blood pumping and flowing, get himself going--
Oh, wait, no. How about a chance to rethink the whole thing?
As he entered the Bronze he spotted Adam, and walked straight to him. Adam seemed to hesitate, but Spike grinned at him.
"Hear you've got some business tonight." Said Spike, sitting down beside Adam.
"Where'd you hear that?" Asked Adam cautiously.
"From my new best pal, Buffy." Said Spike. "Now, I don't like you a whole lot, but you have an opportunity, here. If you wanna play nice with me, I can give her right to you. Would you like that?"
"You'd do that?" Asked Adam.
"Hey." Spike got into Adam's face. "What do I look like, some do-gooder? Sure, I beat on you. But that's because I like to fight. I beat on Trick, because he's as ugly as you. I love to fight. Even if we do this, no guarantees I won't kick your scrawny butt again soon as I feel like it. You get me, pal?"
Adam swallowed. "You're more nuts than anybody in this crazy town!" He said.
"I told you guys when I showed up." Said Spike, sitting back. "You think you're Bad? I'm the Big Bad."
**
Trick glared at Spike. "I'll have to ask the Master."
Spike fought down a laugh. "The Master? You do that, buddy, you just do that."
Trick glared at him. "This had better not be a trick!"
"Or what, you'll bruise my defenseless fists with your bloody hard face?" Mocked Spike. "Get over yourself already, mate."
**
Giles heard the knocking at his door, and sighed. "You better not have forgotten your key again." He muttered.
He opened it up to reveal Buffy Summers, wearing a pair of jeans and a black tank top. She smiled. "Hi." She said.
"Oh, hello. Here to pick up my nephew for some covert operations?" Giles asked, recovering quickly.
"Um, no, to talk to you." She said. "About him, that is. Where'd he learn to fight?"
"In England." Said Giles. "As I said, I've never really been a part of his life, let alone his training." He hesitated. "Please, come in."
Buffy entered, smiling. "Thank you. Your apartment is...uh, not spacious."
"No." Said Giles, smiling. "I must admit, you are--well, a surprise." She frowned.
"A surprise? How so?"
"Well, especially after meeting my own nephew, I was beginning to despair of your generation."
"Oh, really?" She asked.
"Yes. He is, ah, quite a bad example of your generation, I hope."
"So, yeah, you know karate, then?" She asked.
He smiled. "I wondered if you'd come to the point. If I'm not mistaken, you don't currently have a trainer."
"No, I don't. I looked around, but there's nobody in this town I can even spar with." She said.
"Hm." He shook his head. "I do, ah, know quite a bit, but I'm afraid it's all street-level."
"Perfect." She said. "That's exactly what I need."
He smiled. "Your form, well, you seemed to be—I doubt I have anything to show you."
"Let's test that, shall we?" She asked.
He hesitated, then nodded. "Very well." She said.
She whirled, sending a kick at him. His arms moved in a familiar pattern, blocking her blows and swinging at her.
She ducked back, easily blocking each blow, then threw another kick at him. He blocked it too, nodding approvingly.
"You're concentrating on your kicks, that's good." He approved. "As you will--oomph!"
She whirled faster and faster, her movements so fast he could barely register them. He used every move, every flowing pattern that he knew, but she was always there, always attacking.
He lifted both hands in a signal to stop, gasping for breath.
"Pretty good." She said approvingly.
**
Xander sat in the Bronze, shaking his head from side to side in time with the music. Or rather, in what he thought was time to the music.
His dark hair shook from side to side, and he hummed under his breath.
"If it isn't the sidekick." Said a low drawl. Xander turned, surprised to see Spike. Spike sat down beside him. "Isn't this place a bit dangerous for you?"
"Not if I stick to the well-lit areas, and call for Buffy if I get in trouble." Said Xander.
"Oh, good." Said Spike sarcastically. He grinned. "You ever get sick of being the dumb side-kick, give me a call. I know this great shop where you can buy a pair."
Xander snorted. "At least I don't get regularly beaten up by a girl."
Spike smirked. "No, no, you don't." Spike reached over and grabbed Xander by the collar. "Because you're too busy hiding behind her skirts." He looked both ways slowly, drawing the moment out. "It's funny, but I don't see any skirts right now, do you?"
Xander shook his head slowly. "N-now, don't be--"
Spike slammed a fist into Xander's face, knocking him back. "Oh, shut up." He said.