Helping Me Helping You to Help Me Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing, as usual.

A/N: Things will get angsty-er from here on. If you don't like that, tough.

Chapter 3:

Things couldn't be more perfect for Xander Harris. He had finally nabbed the guy he was head-over-heels for, had a well-paying job and had just moved in with his lover. It had been two months since Spike had sent the muffin basket to Angel which had lead to their first date.

Angel had been nothing but perfect since they had gotten together. He was courteous, kind, passionate… The list went on and on. Angel had even waited two weeks before kissing Xander and another three weeks before they first had sex.

The late afternoon sun filtered in through the necro-tempered windows in Angel's office. Xander stood in front of the window watching the sun set behind the buildings while he waited for the meeting his lover was in to end. He glanced to the wall clock and saw it was quarter past seven. Their reservations for the restaurant were for half past seven. Xander sighed a heavy sigh and sank into the chair behind the desk. This would be the third dinner that they would probably cancel because Angel was 'too tired to do anything' after these long meetings besides rip open a bag of blood, watch whatever was on television and have sex. His thoughts drifted back to a few weeks ago when his lover would have cancelled a meeting just to spend time with Xander. Things had changed far too quickly for Xander's liking but there wasn't really anything he could do to change that. They hardly ever talked anymore; Angel was always too busy for that or anything that didn't involve sex. A light, girlish knock at the door pulled him from his thoughts.

"Yeah?" The door opened and Harmony entered with a slightly sad smile. The blonde girl had befriended Xander when he started dating Angel. Even though she wasn't all too bright and was particularly shallow, she was a good friend to Xander and listened to him when he really needed it.

"Angel buzzed and said the meeting was gonna run over and he was going for a drink with some of the guys after. Sorry, Xander. Wanna pop some popcorn and see watch a movie? That might cheer you up." She suggested.

"Rain-check?" Xander got up and sighed, taking one last look out the window. "I'm just gonna go upstairs, shower and order a pizza… This is the third time this week, Harm. I'm starting to think he's scheduling meeting late to avoid going out with me." Harmony embraced her friend and decided to tag along anyway.

It was past ten o'clock by the time a drunken Angel stumbled into the home he shared with Xander. He made his way over to where Xander and Harmony were sitting on the couch laughing and eating pizza with a dozen beer cans in front of them while they watched a movie. "Hey Xan." He laughed, placing a sloppy kiss on his lover's cheek. The response he got was a smile, a very disappointed smile. With a roll of his eyes and a mumbled 'be that way,' Angel turned to head towards the bathroom. Moments later, Angel emerged clad only in a pair of black and blue plaid boxers and hauled Xander, by the arm, into the bedroom. An annoyed Harmony took that as her cue to leave.

Xander arrived for work uncharacteristically early the next morning, sore and tired. He sat down at his desk slowly and turned on his computer. After going over several new reports from the Watcher's Council that ad come in the day before, Xander felt as though he were about to crash and decided on a major dose of caffeine. But before he was able to call Harmony to fetch him some coffee, Spike bounded into his open office carrying two mugs of coffee.

"So, how was dinner last night?" Spike asked even though he already knew the answer by the look on his friend's face.

"He cancelled and went drinking instead." Xander reached to pick up his cup and took a sip, though not before dribbling some down the front of his shirt because it was still too hot. "Shit." He cursed, wiping away as much as he could before retrieving another shirt from the cabinet behind his desk. "Harmony came over and we ordered in." He told Spike as he unbuttoned his shirt. Oblivious as usual, Xander hardly noticed the blonde vampire ogling his chest through the thin, white t-shirt he wore under his dress shirt.

"The great pouf is going out drinking a lot lately, isn't he?" Spike mused aloud. In his head, Spike counted the total number of times Angel had cancelled a date with Xander and frowned inwardly. He would never admit it but he hated seeing the boy looking so down. It was times like these when he wished he hadn't helped set the two up. He watched Xander sit back down and was caught off guard when the other man winced. After being in the company of Angelus for so long, Spike knew that pained expression quite well. "Everything alright there, mate?" Xander nodded and blew on the hot coffee before sipping it. Spike wasn't buying it one bit.

A soft knock at the door brought the two friends out of their early morning haze. If Spike had a beating heart, it would have been pounding in his chest at the bright smile that spread across Xander's face. The cause for Xander's beaming smile was standing in his doorway holding two dozen yellow and white roses. "I'll just leave the two of you alone." Spike excused himself and left, closing the door behind him.

"I'm sorry I cancelled dinner last night and that I was so rough. It won't happen again." Angel placed the flowers on top of a stack of papers and leaned over the desk to kiss his boyfriend.

And as usual, Xander believed him.