Title: Under A Harvest Moon
Author: PokerKitten
Rating: PG
Summary: AtS Many years after "Not Fade Away"
Response to the 15 Minute Ficlet challenge, prompt word "Harvest"
Disclaimer: Joss, ME, Fox yadayada own the characters. I just mess with them.
Under A Harvest Moon
Enjoying the feel of the rough wooden boards against his bare soles, he ambled across the porch towards the figure huddled on the steps. Over the years, he reflected, he had learned to slow down some. Emphasis on the some. And only at certain times, with certain people. Well, with one certain....
Oh man, that was some moon! Large, pale, striking. He paused, poet's eyes admiring its luminosity, poet's mind making notes, connections, associations. Shifting his gaze to the lake, to the gently rippling reflection, he was hard-pressed to decide which was more beautiful. The actual or the illusion.
He understood.
He'd sworn never to lose his heart again. Never to give it up freely, either. Yet that pact had been broken before it was ever made! A quiet, ironic laugh escaped him, barely audible. And yet the figure on the steps half-turned, self-absorbed reverie broken.
"I missed you."
"You left me, remember?" he scolded, softly. "Coming back to bed?"
A shake of the head. "Not yet...."
He sighed. Patient, yet impatient at the same time. Wanting to feel skin against skin, teeth against carotid, craving that most intimate of connections. "Okay." He hesitated, but dared himself to continue. "But much more of this and it could be called brooding, y'know."
Turning to leave, he was prevented by strong fingers suddenly at his wrist. "I don't brood! When have I ever brooded?" Mock indignation, followed by a softly spoken "Lately."
Alright then. "No, not lately." Moving to sit on the steps, naked hip against hip, thigh pressed against thigh, the other's hand still clutching him. "It's the moon." The full moon, implied but not stated. Why state the bleeding obvious, afterall?
A nodded response.
"You're allowed to miss her. I miss..... people, too."
"Thing is...." Angel relaxed his grip, gazed into his eyes. Beseeching, almost guilty. "Maybe I don't miss her enough." Because I have you. Implied but not stated. No need to state the obvious, right?
The soft autumn breeze ruffled Spike's light brown hair. Something else that had changed over the decades.
He understood.
"You great poof!" Spike laughed, bringing his mouth down hard on Angel's slightly parted lips. "And I love you, too!"
Okay okay, sometimes you had to state the obvious with Angel....