Title: Love's Fool 5-8

Author: forsaken2003

Fandom: BTVS

Ratings: R

Pairings: S/X, W/A

Disclaimer: Characters belong to the one and only Joss

Warnings/Spoilers: Season 5ish

Summary: Xander wants Spike, but Spike wants Buffy. Can Xander win Spike over?

Beta'd by: Mulder200

Part 5

When Monday came Spike was doing better, back to his snarky self. Xander left for work leaving the vampire a note saying there was still blood in the fridge and that he would see him after work.

Once he returned home at 7:00P.M after a quick workout he came into an empty apartment. Sighing Xander grabbed a quick shower before heading to the Magic Box for patrol.

He walked into the shop smiling at Willow who waved at him. He saw Buffy filing her nails and Spike still mooning over her. "Good Xander you're finally here. I was thinking you were going to flake on me." Buffy said as she stood stretching her back.

"Work ran late," Xander replied. "If I wasn't going to show up I'd have called. When was the last time I didn't show up for patrol?"

She shrugged, "Yeah I guess."

Willow looked at Xander, "You okay?"

"Yeah fine why?" He asked.

"Well it's just you probably didn't get much sleep this weekend." She said worriedly, her eyes shifting to the vampire.

Xander's eyes wandered to the blonde as well, "I was able to get a few hours." Truth was he was beyond exhausted. He wanted to sleep for a week but he didn't think his body would let him. "Let me just grab a coke before we head out."

"Hurry up! I want to go to the Bronze since I didn't get to this weekend." Buffy said glaring at the vampire.

"No one stopped you from going to the Bronze," Xander replied swallowing the can of coke in one go.

Buffy pouted, "I wasn't gonna go alone!"

"Well I'm not up for the Bronze tonight," Xander said. "I've got to be at work for 5:00 A.M and I need a good night sleep."

"Come on," Buffy whined as they left the shop. "You can come for a few hours."

The brunette rubbed his tired eyes, "Not tonight."

"You never hang out with us anymore." The slayer whined, "Life isn't all about work you know."

"No it's about patrol and saving the world and paying bills." Xander said tiredly. "Not all of us have our parents' money to live off of."

Buffy turned to her friend, "Well you would if you went to college. It's not our fault your grades weren't good enough to get in."

"Buffy!" Willow exclaimed shocked by her friend.

"No, she's right." Xander agreed. "My grades weren't good enough to get into college. Hell, I almost didn't even graduate. But I've got a great job, something that I'm good at and it pays really well. I've even started a retirement fund. I had to go through a lot of shitty jobs to get here but I think it was worth it."

Spike stood in silence as the three friends argued, he didn't know why but he had a sudden urge to defend the boy. "Can we get a bloody move on?"

The four of them made their way through one of the larger parks in silence. The vampire stole looks between Buffy and Xander. The slayer looked cool and calm while Xander looked like he was about to pass out. Spike didn't understand why the boy didn't take a night off he obviously needed it.

Twenty vampires jumped out five going for each one. Spike and Buffy were having no problem with theirs while Willow was able to stake two of her own and was trying to fend of the other three. Xander used an upper block when one of the vampires that tried to punch him in the face, doing a round house kick knocking three of the vampires back, staking the one that was left in front of him.

Xander was tackled to the ground by his remaining vampires, he saw Willow stake another vampire while Buffy jumped in with the other two. He screamed in pain as a pair of fangs pierced his neck. "Spike!" He screamed for help. He heard his friends fighting and no Spike came to his rescue.

"God damn it! Spike go help Xander!" Buffy screamed before kicking the vampire she was dealing with.

Seconds later Xander was cover in dust with the blonde standing over him stake in hand. He leaned down holding out a hand to help Xander up and was surprised when his hand was knocked away. Xander struggled to his feet swaying slightly.

"Xander are you okay?" Willow asked as her and Buffy jogged over.

"Fine," the brunette answered before his eyes rolled back and blacked out.

Part 6

When Xander woke up he found himself in his bed. He staggered out of his room going to the kitchen drinking a large cup of water before moving back through the living room to the bathroom and takes a quick shower before work. Twenty minutes later Xander was washed, brushed his teeth and hair.

"What are you doing?" A British voice came from the couch startling Xander.

"Holy shit!" Xander jumped grabbing onto his towel. He turned the light on to find Spike sitting up his hair sticking up all over the place and a smoke in his mouth, Xander couldn't believe how cute he looked. "What are you doing here?"

Spike's eyes wandered over Xander's chest. He didn't remember it looking like that when they were in the basement. Back in the basement the brunette wasn't bad looking but still had baby fat now he had muscles. Spike couldn't deny he was looking good. "Buffy asked me to stay and make sure you were alright."

"Right Buffy," Xander said angrily. "Cause anything Buffy wants you give her."

"Just wait a bleeding minute whelp!" Spike stood up growling.

The brunette stepped closer, "Wait for what?" He asked. "Obviously my life is meaningless right… unless of course Buffy says other wise."

"What the fuck are you talking about boy?" The vampire was mixed with anger and confusion.

"How about last night when I needed help huh?" Xander touched his neck and found the puncture wounds, "And I yelled for you to help me but did you? No. But Buffy tells you to and then you are more then happy to help me."

Spike looked taken back, "I wasn't going to let you die. I still had my own vampire to take care of. Buffy telling me to help you had nothing to do with it, I was already making my way over to you," He answered. "You shouldn't have even been patrolling to begin with!"

Xander narrowed his eyes, "I'm perfectly fine at patrolling! If you haven't noticed I've gotten better at it!"

"That's not what I meant Harris." Spike lit his cigarette. "You're exhausted, Buffy should have forced you to go home and get some sleep."

"Buffy isn't the boss of me, I'll go patrol whenever I want."

The vampire pinched his nose making Xander think of Giles. "You are running yourself ragged. You're not going to be any good to us if you're half dead."

"I'm doing what needs to be done," the carpenter said.

"And what's that?" Spike asked curiously. "What has you so worn out? You were fine up till two months ago with work and saving the world daily. Now it looks like at any minute you're gonna topple over."

"You want to know what I've been doing. Fine! I've been taking karate classes three times a week the last two months and going to the gym four times a week the last month and a half. Add that to work and patrol yeah there doesn't seem to be much time for sleep."

Spike was baffled, "Why? Get Buffy to train you, bloody simple."

"Oh yeah so she can kick my ass and I still don't learn anything? Pass thanks." Xander said sarcastically.

"What made you decide to do this anyway? You never cared before."

The brunette looked Spike in the eye, "Don't ask because you won't like the answer."

"Tell me Harris," Spike all but snarled.

"Because of you, you big dumb jack ass!"

The vampires eyebrows knitted together, "Come again?"

"God you are so oblivious! Your head is so far up Buffy's ass you can't see anything else." Xander said shaking his head sadly. "I've been crushing on you for months! God knows why when you treat me like shit."

"Not understanding Xander," Spike said trying to wrap his head around the new information. The boy had been crushing on him and he didn't even notice. "What does that have to do with you learning self-defense and going to the bloody gym?"

Sighing Xander ran his hand through his hair, "You constantly told me how useless I was on patrol so I thought if I learned some moves you would start I don't know respecting me. Then you called me fat so I started working out hoping maybe you'd see me. I was trying to make myself good enough for you, but after last night? It's not going to happen."

"Xander, I'm in love with Buffy."

"Yeah and she treats you as well as you treat me," The brunette shot back.

The vampire winced at the comment. He treated Xander like shit he knew that. "She doesn't treat me so bad."

"Oh yeah. She gets so excited when you walk into the room." He walked around the blonde. "You can leave now. I have to get ready for work."

"Buffy told me not to let you go to work." Spike spoke quietly.

Xander tensed, "So now she is ordering me what to do with my life! Well you can go tell her to fuck off! Not all of us have mommy's money to live off of to buy over expensive clothes." He turned and looked at Spike. "You can also tell her I'm on vacation indefinitely from patrol."

"Xander," Spike was shocked to here the boy talk like that. "She's your friend and she needs you."

"She may be my friend and the slayer but that doesn't give her the right to tell me what to do. And as for needing me? No she doesn't, she wants me around but she doesn't need me. She may hate having you around but she needs you." He turned back around, "Now if you're done being her lap dog you can go. You have a good thirty minutes before the sun is up." Xander walked into his room not waiting for the vampire to leave.

Part 7

3 weeks later Xander found himself in the Magic Box much to his dislike. Giles had phoned him asking him to build a new book shelf for him because a demon stormed the shop destroying the last one. Now he was in the back room measuring the pieces of wood. He had talked to one of his not-so-human friends from work about a protective spell or something to shield the shelves from preventing this from happening again. Giles was having a British hissy fit about some of the books getting damaged. Luckily his friend came through for him and he was going to have Willow do the spell after the shelves were done.

Willow had come over a couple days after Spike played messenger boy. She asked him about his feelings for Spike but he told her he didn't want to talk about it. He couldn't deal with that. Xander told her he was just going to move on and that's all he would say about it.

"You haven't been returning my calls," Buffy said as she walked into the back room.

"No I haven't." Xander simply replied.

The slayer grabbed Xander's hammer making him look at her, "What is up with you?"

"I am tired of the way you treat me." He stood up wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"What are you talking about?" She huffed in annoyance.

"Are you serious?" He asked with complete shock. "You think you can boss me around and do everything you want. Doesn't work like that Buff. And telling Spike that I couldn't go to work? Too afraid to do it yourself send in Spike because we all hate him and he'll get the attack instead of you right?"

Buffy looked confused, "What are you talking about? I was doing that for your own good!"

"My life Buffy, I can do anything I want and you don't get a say in it. You don't like it you can cram it up your ass."

"Xander! I can't believe you are talking to me like this," Tears filling up her eyes.

"I love you Buffy and you're my friend but you need to start realizing you can't control everything." Taking the hammer back he turned back to his work ignoring.

She placed her hands on her hips, "So because you're mad at me you're not patrolling? That's mature."

"I'm still patrolling, just not with you." He answered. "Now if you don't mind I want to get this done. I have a date."

"You met a girl?" Buffy asked. "You didn't tell me."

Rolling his neck, "Didn't mention it in case it didn't work out. As soon as I think there might be something there I'll introduce you. I promise." Deciding not to mention it wasn't a girl.

An hour later Xander walked out from the back room wiping his face of with a towel. Willow, Buffy and Angel were sitting at the table. "Hey."

"Hey Xan!" Willow smiled, "How's the shelves?"

"Done. You can do the spell when ever you are ready." He grabbed a bottle of water before sitting down. "Where's Giles?"

The slayer looked at her friend hoping he had forgiven her, "He had to go out of town. Something about an order mix-up."

"Ahh fun times," Xander replied. "So how long are you in town deadboy?"

Angel made a face at the nickname, "4 days. Things have been slow so I figured it be the perfect time to come visit."

The bell on the door jingled Xander's eyes bulged out when he saw who it was. "Charlie! What are you doing here?" He stood up walking over to the new comer.

Charlie smiled pulling Xander into a kiss, "Saw your car out front thought I'd see if you were ready to go out."

"Xander?" Buffy spoke up her eyes flicking back and forth between both men.

Xander blushed pulling away slightly, "Uh… Charlie these are my friends. Willow, Angel and Buffy. Guys this is Charlie."

"Nice to meet you," Willow smiled but noticed her friends discomfort

"Nice to meet you as well, Xander's told me a lot about all of you." Charlie replied his hand around the carpenters' waist.

The slayer stared at the two of them, "I haven't heard anything about you." She said frowning.

"That would be because we haven't talked in a few weeks." Xander replied.

Angel saw Buffy about to reply and figured it was time to intervene, "What do you two have planned?"

"We're going to the new club on 3rd and Lexington," Charlie stated.

"That's a gay bar," Buffy replied stupidly.

Xander shifted uncomfortable, "Yeah Buff. That's where we met."

"You're not gay though."

Spike wandered in stopping when he saw the scene in front of him. He raised his eye brow at the sight. Some gawky man was wrapped around Xander. He frowned when he felt jealousy run through him.

"I'm bisexual." Xander corrected glancing at Spike.

"Since when?" She demanded to know.

Sighing he looked at Charlie, "How about I meet you at the club in an hour? I have to go home and get changed anyways."

"Sure babe," Charlie pulled him into another kiss before smiling at the rest of the group looking confused when he was glared at by Spike.

After Charlie left Xander answered, "I've always been bi. There just haven't been many guys I've been attracted too."

"Would have figured you for liking your men butch," Spike joined in the conversation not knowing why.

Xander glared over at the vampire, "No, I prefer my guys scrawny."

"Oi!" He said offended making everyone look at him funny.

"Look, I like guys." Xander said turning back to Buffy. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. Now I have to go and get ready. I'll see you all later."

After he left Buffy turned to Willow, "Did you know he liked guys?"

Part 8

Xander and Charlie walked out of the club laughing and hanging off each other. It had been a great night. Dancing, drinking and conversations that didn't involve demons or vampires and a little kissing and groping.

Charlie pushed Xander against the car kissing him, "So good date?"

Smiling Xander nodded, "Good date."

"Want to get together tomorrow?"

"Sure," the carpenter agreed. "Dinner?"

Stepping closer kissing him again, "Sounds like a plan." He grinned stepping back to let Xander unlock his door

Xander turned around to unlock his door pausing, looking to his left. "Did you hear something?"

Looking confused Charlie listened for a second, "I don't hear anything." He said before the noise of someone walking on gravel in their direction. "I heard that."

The brunette stepped beside his date looking in the direction of the noise, "We should go." He said fumbling with his keys. "Get on the other side."

"Why are you so freaked?" Charlie asked confused.

"Look Benny," A new voice came out from the dark. "We found dinner."

A large vampire came out standing under a street light wearing his demon mask while a smaller vampire came to stand beside him, "Which one do you want Pete?"

"What the fuck?" Charlie took three giant steps backwards standing behind Xander.

"I want the larger one," Pete answered eyeing Xander. "He smells like sunshine. I miss the sun." Benny nodded as they both advanced on the humans.

Xander went to turn to tell Charlie they needed to run, his stake in his locked car. Before he could fully turn he was pushed into the vampires. Xander was grabbed by the larger vampire as he watched Charlie take off. "Oh we are so over you bastard!" Xander yelled at the retreating figure.

The vampires chuckled, "Guess we are sharing tonight."

Xander pulled away punching the smaller vampire in the face surprising both vampires. "Sorry guys, but I don't plan on being your dinner tonight." He did a spin kick hitting the larger of the two in the side of the head before making a run for it while they were both dazed. Xander may have idiotic moments but trying to take on vampires with no pointy wooden objects he knew he couldn't win.

He ran three blocks before skidded to a stop to turn the corner running straight into Spike all but knocking the blonde to the ground. "Oi! Watch where you're going whelp."

Ignoring the insult, Xander dug into the vampires duster pulling out a stake before turning back just as the two vampires turned the corner. "If you want your dinner you're going to have to work for it boys," he stated before plunging the stake into the smaller vampire watching him turn to dust.

Pete growled, "Guess that means I don't have to share anymore." Lunging for Xander shocked when he was flipped onto his back grunting when his back made contact with the concrete.

"Sorry buddy, looks like you lose. But don't worry you don't get to go away empty handed." Xander quipped before driving the stake into his heart satisfied when the dust settled. He turned to see Spike with an amused look on his face.

"Well done Xander," Spike praised accepting his stake back.

Xander nodded, walking past the vampire. He hadn't seen him since he admitted his feelings to Spike except for early in the evening.

Spike caught up to him, "I thought you had a date?"

"I did."

"The guy ended up being dull huh? Looked pretty uninteresting," Spike commented.

The brunette sighed, "The date was fine. It was the after that wasn't."

"Meaning?" Spike asked with confusion.

"Meaning the end of the date was interrupted by vampires." Xander said. "He freaked and decided to save himself by using me as a scapegoat." At the confused look he added, "He pushed me into the vampires giving him a chance to get away." He kicked a stone.

Spike growled, "And why didn't you have a stake on you mate?"

"Oh yeah have a stake in my pocket while I'm dancing that doesn't scream injury." They stopped outside Xander's building. "Well thanks for the escort even though I didn't need one."

"It wasn't an escort. Just chatting is all."

Xander raised an eyebrow, "Spike we don't chat. You insult and I try and ignore."

The blonde shifted uncomfortable, "Yeah well… figured I'd try something new."

"What did Buffy ask you to play nice?" Xander asked while unlocking the door.

"Not everything is about Buffy you git." Spike snarled.

Xander sighed, "Are you really shocked that that's what first popped into my head? You've never been interested in chatting before."

"Things change," Spike answered.

Rubbing his head, "Look Spike you are just making things harder for me. I am trying to deal with my feelings for you and you acting like this aren't helping."

"Acting like what?"

"Nice!" Xander said frustrated. "Just go back to ignoring me. Please."

The vampire didn't expect this reaction from the brunette. He thought Xander would be happy that he was being nice. "Xander, I know I didn't react the way you wanted me to when you told me…"

"I was all but in love with you?" Xander finished.

"Uh… yeah."

"Forget about it Spike," Xander unlocked the door, "I shouldn't have told you, it only made things worse." He closed the door leaving Spike standing on the street alone.

"Tell me about it," Spike replied to no one.