Something I got from A+X.
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffyverse.
In L.A., Charles Gunn and Faith Lehane were in a storage area at a table with some people and demons alike, with chips handed to them at a poker game.
"Are we gonna play or not?" Gunn asked.
"We're waiting for another player to deal in." One of the players said.
"This isn't just about keeping a straight face and knowing the math. It's about subtlety and wits. I wonder who's gonna join us." Faith said, when a blonde man in black leather jacket entered.
"Hello, fellas." The blonde man said with strong English accent.
"Spike?" Faith widened her eyes.
"Spike." Gunn said politely. While neither him or Faith talk together with the ensouled vampire much, they were more or less on good terms.
"It better not be kittens. These days I'm sticking to classics." Spike said before he smiled at Gunn and Faith. "Hello, there."
"Oh, this is gonna be fun. You're about to get trumped." Gunn smirked.
"I'm gonna kick your ass this time." Spike sneered.
"You know each other?" One of the guys asked.
Few years ago
"Help! That vampire robbed me!" A humanoid demon yelled as Spike started to run before he heard and engine and turned around before he started to run and Gunn in a car with wooden spikes (no pun intended) was chasing Spike, who was driving a motorbike down an alley but his car swerved as it got a flat tire.
Gunn groaned as he started to chase Spike on foot. Spike laughed upon glancing behind but the second he stopped paying attention, he hit a pile of garbage bags and fell down before he scrambled on his feet and started running from Gunn.
Present
"We've met." Spike said.
"You guys got into a fight or something?" Another guy asked.
"He was a vamp on my turf. If I couldn't kill him, I'd chase him out at least." Gunn said.
"Oh, I'm surprised you didn't kick his ass, Spike. Running isn't much your thing, unless things go to crap." Faith quipped.
"It was five in the morning, the sun was rising." Spike sneered before glaring at the former renegade Slayer and the vampire hunter. "But this is my game and you should prepare some tissues for yourselves." He glanced at Gunn, who reached for a deck of cards. "And don't try to cold-deck me. Neither one of you 's touching the deck." He gestured at his eyes and then at both Gunn and Faith. "I got my eyes on both of you. No scams."
"I guess no hustles, huh? Pity. Wanted to do this the easy way. But hard way it is." Faith smirked, shrugging.
"You may have grown up on the streets, Gunn but I also got a rough childhood." Faith smirked, taking the pile of chips from the pot and pulling them towards her.
"Card hustlers and thieves. You know, I got two hundred years of experience with this." Spike said as he showed a higher card.
"Oh, come on! You cheated!" Gunn snapped.
"Fair and square, bloke. Fair and square. You're both much bigger sore losers than Buffy." Spike said.
"Alright, that's how you wanna play this?" Faith said as she got up, rolling up her sleeves and glaring at Spike.
"Oh, no, if there's gonna be ass-kicking Spike, don't count me out." Gunn said as he got up.
"Guys, take it outside." One of the guests said.
Gunn and Faith exchanged glares with Spike before they went outside and they heard grunting and groaning and punching and smashing.
"I wonder who's winning." One of the guests wondered.
"I do wonder what went down between Gunn and Spike." Another guest said.
Few years ago
Gunn had Spike cornered, about to stake him.
"OK, OK, I admit it! I was dealing from the bottom but only because I knew he had marked the deck! I was cheating a cheater!" Spike wailed and Gunn widened his eyes and pulled his stake away.
"Hang on, this is all about a card game?" Gunn asked and Spike nodded before Gunn smirked, an idea hitting him. "Say, you ever ran card scams?"
Present
"It's a bit weird coincidence that Spike would show up with Faith and Gunn and that they know each other…" One of the men trailed off before they looked at the game table. "Hey, where are the chips? Are the winnings all gone?"
Gunn, Spike and Faith laughed, high-fiving as Spike drove off in his car, with the bag of the chips at Faith's lap.
"I told them, it's about subtlety and wits. Thank you for inviting me in on this." Faith said.
"Next time, we're gonna scam Angel and Buffy like this." Spike said.
"Yeah, they're gonna kill us for it but it's gonna be worth it." Gunn said as everyone laughed in Spike's car.
Considering Faith's wild lifestyle and Gunn growing up on the streets, I think it's not far off the stretch that they would sometimes play poker with some folks, even of the supernatural variety, but I'm pretty sure that kitten as a currency would disgust them. Ensouled Spike would probably refrain himself from kitten poker at this point, though maybe he would play at least the classic one, just as not as often as he would as soulless.
Plus, I wonder whether Spike did encounter Gunn's gang at least once.
Still, I wondered whether Spike and Faith could've been a good mischievous duo and Gunn probably would do something like this too, at least in his street days.
Please review and let me know if you have enjoyed this one-shot.
With regards
Bl4ckHunter
