Title: Vamp for Rent 1/18

Author: Forsaken2003

Pairing: S/X

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I own none, all belong to Joss Whedon

Comments: Always welcomed

Summary: After Anya dumped Xander he has become the fifth wheel. The girls start to notice he isn't hanging out with the gang as much so Buffy and Willow decide to do something about it.

Warnings/Spoilers: Season 5 No Dawn. No Anya.

Beta'd by: My sister

Note: Posting one chapter a week.

Part One

While walking in the park Xander wondered why he was teamed up with Spike but then he remembered the reason. Buffy wanted to be teamed up with Riley while Willow wanted to be paired up with Tara. The lovers together leaving the losers together.

Anya had up and left Xander two months ago. The gang tried to cheer him up and would invite him out on their date nights so he wouldn't be alone but constantly hanging out with couples made him feel alone anyway. At the Bronze? They were always on the dance floor. Watching movies at Xander's place? Each couple were cuddled together either making out or whispering in each others ears, sometimes one of the girls giggled at what was said. It was nauseating to the outsider. It got to the point where Xander would start making excuses to get out of hanging with his friends.

"Could you stop moping around and pay attention?" Spike snarled. "I don't know why the slayer forces me to patrol with you."

Xander glared at Spike. "I'm not moping... I'm contemplating life."

"You're moping because demon girl left you and those friends of yours ignore you. With their love lives and college lives. All you have going for you is your job."

"Hey, I'm good at my job! I'm making more than minimum wage. I've even got enough saved for my own apartment. So what if I don't have a girlfriend? You don't need to be in a relationship to have a successful life. There are lots of single people out there and they're perfectly happy living that way."

Spike snorted. "You're going to be one of those cat people."

"I'm more of a dog person," Xander shot back. Yeah, take that bleach head!

Xander had to be the biggest idiot Spike had ever met. Did he really think that showed up Spike? Spike was about to call Xander an idiot out loud but he was interrupted by a big scaly demon. A W'gyng to be precise. Nasty buggers that loved to use their claws and rip open stomachs to eat the intestines.

This was going to be fun. "W'gyng's claws are so sharp with one swipe that it could cut off a limp." Spike didn't give Xander a chance to ask any follow up questions and jumped head first into the fight.

It was hard not to notice the talons on the demon. But Xander wasn't one to back down from a fight. He might get knocked down but he always got back up. He did wish that he had more than just a stake though. That's what he needed to do. Buy his own weapons because Buffy and Giles were always so worried he was going to hurt himself with anything else.

"Are you going to just stand there like a bloody tosser or are you going to actually do something? This isn't a spectator sport." Spike was honestly questioning why Buffy punished him like this. Wasn't his unlife miserable enough? The W'gyng took a swipe at Spike who just barely got out of the way.

"Sorry!" Xander rushed forward only to trip over his own stupid feet. "Oof!" He heard Spike mutter 'useless' as he punched the demon. With a sigh Xander got back up picking up his stake.

By the time Xander got into the fray the W'gyng dug it's talons into Spike's chest lifting him a good three feet off the ground. Spike grunted, somehow managing to stop the scream that wanted to erupt from his body.

"Hey!" Xander yelled. "Put him down!" He then stabbed the demon in the arm that held Spike with his stake.

The W'gyng howled in pain before tossing Spike away. Vampires tasted terrible anyways. This human though would taste delicious.

Realizing that while he just saved Spike, Xander lost his only weapon. The only thing he had left on him were his keys. This was going to suck so hard. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and placed a key between each finger feeling a little bit like Wolverine. Xander was such a nerd.

"You want a piece of me?" Xander asked bouncing from one foot to the other like a boxer. "Come and get me!"

"What the hell are you doing, you idiot," Spike asked frustrated that he was going to have to save Xander. 101 in demon killing only taunt them if you can actually beat them. He was back on his feet ignoring the fact he was gushing blood because if he didn't intervene Xander was going to get himself killed and Buffy was going to blame him.

"I'm good," Xander said with more confidence than he felt. Of course he didn't have this. How was he going to take down a demon with just keys? But he could distract better than anyone while someone else did the killing. With a quick dodge of the W'gyng Xander used his key to slice the demon in the side. It wasn't enough to do much damage but it did seem to be a nuisance. "Yeah, you don't like that, do you?" A few more swipes and jabs to keep the demon confused on what Xander was doing so Spike could finish him off.

With one quick strike of Spike's axe the W'gyng's head was sliced clean off. Xander had to scramble out of the way of the body falling over.

Spike stared down at the demon. The thought of some kid finding the beheaded demon brought him great pleasure. He looked down at his ruined shirt. "Well, that didn't go how I thought but at least no one important died."

"Thanks," Xander replied as he pulled his stake out of the W'gyng's arm.

Rolling his eyes Spike said, "I was talking about me, whelp." He thrusted the bloody axe into Xander's hands so he could check on his wound. It could have been a lot worse than what it was. "This was my favourite shirt," he complained. The bleeding had slowed down to an ooze. Some blood and he'd be all fixed up.

"You can probably get the same shirt at Walmart for five bucks," Xander said trying to be helpful.

Spike shot Xander a nasty look look. "One, I don't shop at Walmart. Two, I don't pay for clothes. And three, YOU owe me a new shirt."

"I'm not buying you anything. It's your fault it got ripped."

"M-my fault?" Spike couldn't believe the words coming out of Xander's mouth. "It wouldn't have been ripped if you had helped from the beginning. We're supposed to be a team, yeah?" He shoved Xander in the chest. "What the hell was that? It's hard to believe you're a twenty year old and not a sodding fawn trying to walk for the first time."

Xander stumbled back, not from the force but because it had taken him by surprised. "Hey, fangless in case you forgot I saved your ass! You were about to be turned into a shish kebab."

"And then you proceeded to use keys to aggravate the bloody thing. Four years of killing demons and you're still not prepared. You never use that pea brain of yours." Spike was so angry that all he wanted to do was hurt Xander the only way he could. "How the others haven't deemed you expendable and kicked you to the curb is beyond me."

Xander's jaw clenched so hard that it twitched. He could feel his eyes burning as he tried to stop them from filling with tears. "I give everything I have to help."

"And it's still not good enough." Spike knew he didn't need to keep going, he'd done more than enough damage.

"I hate you." The words came out in a strand voice. He dropped Spike's axe. "Carry it yourself. I'm not your lackey."

Spike needed to make it clear on what exactly Xander was. "You're right. You're the slayers lackey. Always doing her bidding." Even being over a hundred years old Spike never knew when to stop which always got him into trouble. This time was no different. So when Xander punched him square in the nose he shouldn't have been the least bit shocked. The force sent him flat on his ass, blood gushing down his face. Spike was sure Xander broke it.

Xander shook his hand trying to shake the pain away. He was going to have to ice it when he got home. Without another word Xander turned on his heels and walked off.

When Xander returned to the shop the others were already there. "Hey, we killed a demon on the north side of town. Spike said it was a W'gyng."

"A W'gyng in America? How unusual." Giles had only seen them in the United Kingdom.

With a shrug Xander said, "I don't know what you want me to say. I just help kill them I don't get their life stories."

"Are you okay?" Willow asked noticing not only his demeanour changed since they left but he was now cradling his hand.

"I'm great. I'm gonna head home," Xander told them as he grabbed his toolbelt that he had left there.

Buffy made an unhappy noise. "I thought we were bronzing it tonight?"

Stopping himself from snapping at his friends Xander merely responded with, "I'm not in the mood to table sit tonight. You guys will have to figure it out." He then left without a goodbye.

Riley looked at the others. "What was that about?"