Eternity's Bright Promise - 6

''K then. Let's get this on. Here? Bedroom? I'm easy.'

'NO! Look….' Giles tried to back away from the vampire who had stormed in a few minutes earlier, immediately beginning unbuttoning his shirt.

'Slow down, Spike. I can't… please…. Stop that! Ahh…. For God's sake… stop! Drink? Have a drink… please….'

Spike grinned, but allowed Giles to unclamp his hand where he had attached it firmly to the watcher's crotch. He accepted a generous glass of wine. Giles watched nervously from behind the kitchen counter as Spike held the glass to the light, casting a red glow over his pale skin. It was unnerving, and Giles coughed slightly. 'Spike….'

Spike shed his duster and flung himself into an armchair. 'What, luv? Chickening out again?'

'I did not chicken out - as you so maturely put it - the first time. I'm merely trying to bring a modicum of calm reflection into this scenario.'

'Giles….' Spike looked at him through lowered lashes as he sipped his drink. Giles risked coming closer and sat opposite the vampire on the couch. 'Did it ever occur to you, human, that there's a time for talkin' and a time for… not talkin': for just doing and enjoying?'

'My talking is designed to ensure that there is enjoyment.'

'But you're always alone, so your theory can't be all that good. You're too hesitant, mate; you think things through like this was a bloody research project and someone's gonna examine you on it.'

'I do not. I can be spontaneous.'

'Un huh.' He looked pointedly around the empty apartment. Giles began to look annoyed. 'This whole bloody exercise, if you remember vampire, was because you couldn't get it up. Nothing to do with me at all.' Giles missed Spike's small pleased grin and complacent lean back in the chair. 'That whole debacle with the museum was to prove to you that your very headlong, manic way of going about things was driving away any potential lovers. Because - let's be sure about this Spike - you aren't really a vampire anymore, are you? Vampire rules don't apply. More talking and less… shagging… has been good for you.'

Spike nodded. 'But I know what I need now, watcher; I need you up in that bed of yours.'

'Yes, well, that's what I was trying to say.' Giles got up and refreshed their glasses. 'Only… if you can't … you know… because of your chip, and I can't let you anyway because of memories of… him, then it had just occurred to me what the alternative was. And that - I'm not afraid to admit - rather threw me.'

Spike could hardly keep a straight face at the genuine panic etched on the human's face. 'You shaft me, ya mean?'

'Oh God.' Giles took a huge swallow of wine at the mere thought. 'I mean, I assume it wouldn't be the first time for you…? You've done this before?'

Spike put a hand to his mouth as if yawning and tried to keep the laughter out of his voice. 'Yeah, once or twice.'

Giles nodded wisely as if the research was going well. 'So, how did you and your… partner… decide who would be… underneath?'

Spike stood up and went back to the counter totally unable to hide his expression and poured himself some more wine with a shaking hand. 'It were spontaneous like, pet, as I said. Angelus always liked to pretend it were gonna be me….'

'Angelus?'

Spike turned. 'Yeah.'

'You and Angelus had a… sexual relationship?'

'Yeah.'

'Oh. That's not in the diaries: that's new.'

Giles' mind spun rapidly. Spike stood and watched him, unable to help, waiting for him to come to the realisation for himself. He did. He suddenly stood and came up to Spike. 'What he did to me in that ghastly place…. Oh God! You weren't wheeled in to watch, were you? I was raped because you were there…. It was all to do with you and him, wasn't it? Not me. He wasn't saying anything about me. Oh my God, all this time…. It wasn't me: not something he saw in me. He was trying to humiliate you… make you jealous?'

Spike nodded sadly. 'Yeah, sorry, mate. I kinda figured it that way meself, but there never seemed no point trying to explain it like.'

Giles sat on the arm of the couch deep in thought. Spike looked at him. He had the distinct impression that shagging was off the agenda again.

Giles surprised him. He looked up, beaming. 'Tell me again how you two decided these things then.'

Spike grinned. 'Told you, we fought for it usually: strongest got to be on top.'

'So you are rather practiced at being underneath then.'

Spike chuckled. 'Nah. You're forgetting he's a great poof. Angelus had a neat line in pretending to lose: he loved taking it.'

Spike came and sat on the couch; Giles moved off the arm and sat next to him. He looked hesitantly at his hands for a moment, and then said, 'So, this was limited to Angelus, was it?' He tried hard to maintain a disinterested researcher's tone but knew he wasn't being too successful. 'I mean, you and Angel don't still…. Do you?'

Spike looked frankly at him. 'One day, mate. I'm kinda giving him some space to get over the initial thrill of having that soul.'

'Err… he's been souled for over ninety years, Spike.'

''Xactly, it's early days. Give 'im another ninety, and I might go on a little visit to LA.' Spike looked down for a moment, and then added softly, ''Sides, he left me, ya know? Cus I was too much for 'im, I think… with that soul an' all. You don't get over being… left.'

Giles shook his head, bemused that he was sharing these things with Spike. 'This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I imagined evenings in with you, wine, and conversation.'

Spike looked at him wide-eyed. 'You'd thought about us… before all this?'

Giles didn't see any point lying. 'Yes. I did.' He laughed at his own foolishness. 'I wanted to take you to foreign films and talk about them with you over fine wine. And out loud that sounds even more pathetic than it did in my head. Feel free to make your usual sport of me.'

Spike sprung up and got his duster. 'Let's go.'

Giles stood up. 'What?'

'Come on…. Something obscure and foreign, and I'll complain how bad the sub-titles are all the way through. Ain't like I'm in the mood now for shagging anyway. And I want a large popcorn and… let's take the wine, yes?'

Giles grinned. 'I think popcorn in an arthouse is a rather vain hope, but the wine I concur with.'

Giles could hardly keep his face from betraying just how keenly he felt this gesture of Spike's. They strode through the warm evening together. The vampire kept up an almost constant stream of chatter about the people and things they passed, not stinting on his own Spike-esque view of life. He even had the nerve to stop Giles just before they crossed the road to their destination and say, 'Am I talking 'nough for you, mate? Seeing you said this was me best way to a shag…. I've got high hopes for you now in this film.'

Giles punched at his arm lightly, laughing, and was about to pull him closer to reply in a less inhibited way than he usually did when he froze.

'Hey! Giles! What ya doin'?'

Both Spike and Giles mumbled a simultaneous, 'Oh, bloody hell,' and then grinned shyly and conspiratorially at each other.

'Xander - how nice. And Anya - even nicer. But do excuse us, we're going to the film over there, and I do believe it starts in a few minutes.'

Xander looked between them. 'You and Spike. Spike? Spike and you.'

Spike looked at him calmly. 'I'm translating for 'im. He pays real well.'

'Okay, cool.'

'We'll come with you; beady eyes needs some culture.'

They all turned to Anya with horror on their faces. Giles was the first to recover. 'No!' He turned to Xander for rare support. 'Not your sort of film, Xander, believe me.'

Caught between Anya and Giles, Xander took the only course open to him. He punched Giles lightly. 'Sure it is. Come on, Baby.' He took her arm and marched them ahead towards the small cinema.

Spike began to laugh. Giles shook his head slowly. 'I seem to remember making a comment about inauspicious starts….'

Spike turned to him so his back was to the retreating couple, and ran a finger down Giles' shirt. 'That was just before you gave me a bloody good hand job, so I'm seeing this as a small set back, 's all.' Giles gave the couple a quick look and then swiftly kissed Spike. It was a mistake: desire flared between them. Spike tried to pull him back for more. Giles resisted, but his reluctance was obvious. 'Come on…. It would look too suspicious to pull out now.'

They followed Anya's blond hair into the small, dark auditorium. She and Giles both wanted to keep Xander and Spike apart, so sat next to each other in the middle, pushing the other two to the outside. Spike slid out of his duster and laid it casually on his lap so some of it fell across Giles' too, crossed his leg and rested the ankle on his other knee. Giles took off his glasses and polished them. Anya and Xander began their pre-snog ritual with hands and feet.

Giles ignored them for a while, and then turned to Spike with an amused chuckle, whispering, 'You're not going to storm out again because of them, are you?'

Spike slid his hand out of sight under his duster and transferred it to Giles' lap: it replied for him.

Pleased, Giles turned to the screen. The opening credits confused him slightly. Spike twitched up an eyebrow. ''K. That's a good start…. I don't speak bleedin' Swedish.'

Giles frowned and whispered back, 'No, neither do I. It's not supposed to be this one. We won't get much out of it, I'm afraid, unless there are sub… oh. Bloody hell!'

Spike began to grin and tightened his hold on Giles' thigh. ''Ave a feeling we won't need sub-titles on this one, pet.'

Giles tipped his head to one side, trying to work out who was doing what to whom on the screen. Anya and Xander stilled their petting and stared at the screen dumbfounded. Xander leant around and said conversationally to Giles, 'So, this is how you get your kicks, is it Watcher? My God, but you're a dark one.' He hissed louder to Spike. 'Hey! Dead boy. This'll embarrass even you!'

Spike was too riveted to bother replying and only gave him a slow, two-fingered salute. Anya stood it for about three minutes, until Xander's prurient interest and excessive drool made her stand up fuming and drag at his arm. 'We're going.' Reluctantly, Xander allowed himself to be escorted out.

Giles and Spike began to chuckle, and their suppressed laughter caused a few heads to turn. Giles turned to Spike and whispered, 'I'm feeling very odd, sitting here watching Swedish porn with another man.'

Without taking his eyes off the screen, Spike leant over and whispered back, 'Who's that then, pet?'

Giles slapped at the vampire's thigh, but Spike caught his hand, capturing it under his duster. Within a minute, the hand was once more down the front of his jeans, reacquainting itself with an interesting collection of skin, muscle and hair.

Giles shifted slightly so he was almost leaning on Spike's shoulder. 'Just as well you're so thin.' Spike didn't reply, only put his hand lightly on the human's moving wrist and slid down further in the seat to accommodate the exploration.

Giles put aside his natural aversion to porn, his discomfort at appearing seedy, and his disappointment at missing the opportunity to bring Spike to a good film, and just enjoyed what was on offer. He didn't watch the film: he watched Spike's profile, sensing and enjoying the vampire's increasing arousal. His hands roamed over now familiar ground, the soft balls welcoming his cupping palm, the steel shaft twitching in his eager fingers.

Suddenly, as if sensing some of Giles' thoughts, Spike said quietly, 'Means we'll have to do this 'gain, don't it? 'Til we get it perfect like.'

'Hmm?' Giles' reply was hardly more than a murmur.

Spike turned to face him, their mouths less than an inch apart. 'Dunno 'bout you, but I've no intention of this being a one-off. Gonna keep at it, 'til it's perfect.'

Giles laughed quietly. 'Filling some of those ninety years, Spike?'

Spike looked amused. ''Xactly. But let me know if you wanna join me in eternity, luv. Offer is always there, an' it'll only take me a minute.'

Giles' hand stilled momentarily, then resumed. 'Don't even joke about it, Vampire.'

''K. Only, offer's there like.'

The film became bizarre - the usual porn-attempting-to-be-art addition of themes of power and subjugation, victims and victimisation - and Giles decided he'd had enough.

He gave Spike a final soft caress and withdrew his hand. 'Let's go.'

Spike nodded and they reached the welcoming night air. Spike shrugged his duster back on. 'What now then? Drink? Walk? Something….'

He was pushed back into a dark alley, warm lips seeking his urgently. 'Home. Now. I'm done talking, Spike.'

Good as his word, Giles strode off and remained stubbornly silent all the way home. By the time they reached the front door, they were both tense and wound to a peak of suppressed desire. Giles didn't even bother with lights; he just pushed Spike through the doorway and rammed him against the counter. He ripped open the vampire's shirt and ran his hands over the smooth cool chest, groaning. Spike undid his own jeans and with a hiss of intense relief, released the straining erection. He caught hold of Giles behind his head and tried to push him onto his knees. Giles resisted at first but, with a sense of inevitability, sank until his face was presented with the swaying shaft. The heat of the moment drew Giles forward, and for the first time in his life, he tasted another man's precum. The last vestige of his rational mind left, and he moved only on instinct, desire, and long-repressed need. Cupping Spike's balls, he opened his mouth wide and took the tip of Spike's shaft into the side of his mouth, letting it rub against the warmth of his soft cheek walls. He felt the shaft of the penis twitching against his lips and closed onto it firmly, groaning at the vampire's soft moan of pleasure.

Spike's hands fastened tighter around the back of his head, pulling him uncomfortably closer. He felt as if he would gag, so let Spike know by using his teeth momentarily. Spike winced and bent slightly at the waist with the pain, but released his hold, letting Giles take things at his own pace. Freed, Giles felt bold and took the shaft deeper himself, experimenting with the feel of it against his throat. The soft curls brushed his lips; his nose was pressed into the musky scents; he felt himself rising uncomfortably in his constricting clothes.

Spike was lost to the sensation of the warm mouth on him. He rocked his hips into Giles' face and moaned as he felt a powerful orgasm beginning to build. Giles felt immensely powerful and this heady sense of his own skill emboldened him further: he began to work the erection, sliding tightly compressed lips up and down the now slick and warming shaft. Spike arched back, tried to mumble a frantic warning, but too late…. Giles' mouth was filled with cold, salty fluid, and his hair was almost pulled out at the roots as the vampire rode his ejaculation into the human mouth. No option but to swallow, Giles gulped, and his rational mind fought for dominance to remind him sneakily that he now had vampire fluid inside him. He smiled and pressed further into Spike, licking him, trying to sense what Spike needed. When the jerking and release of cool fluid stopped, he moaned for the loss. He knew it had not been the blowjob of the year, but that thought only made him want to practice more.

As if Spike once more sensed what he was thinking, Giles found himself raised to his feet and thrust back against the counter. Spike undid him and took him in his mouth in a seamless movement. Giles gasped at the pleasure, but the gasp became a groan of deep delight as his penis was lodged into vice-like throat muscles and worked until all his nerve endings screamed for release. Just when he thought it was all over and he would explode, Spike pulled off and took the soft balls in his mouth, tonguing them and separating them in their warm sac. Giles had to hold onto the counter behind him. This had never, ever happened to him before. Before Giles' brain had really registered the intense pleasure, Spike was once more stimulating the slit of his cock with his tonsils. Giles' knees felt weak, and he had the ludicrous thought that he might collapse. Spike began to pull the hard shaft with his lips, dragging Giles' foreskin up and over, then plunging back on again. Once more, Giles felt as if the world were imploding into his loins: his ears were humming; his eyes were watery; but still the vampire timed the easing-off to perfection. This time he licked the balls and pressed them into Giles' groin with his tongue as he gently flicked at the blood-red cockhead with a black nail. Giles groaned and closed his eyes. As much as he wanted to watch Spike's face as he sucked him, he needed the privacy of the dark to fully anticipate the orgasm that was simmering in his loins. Therefore, he missed Spike's subtle sucking of one finger, so when the vampire plunged his mouth back onto Giles' erection, the gentle insertion of one finger into his anus was not rejected. Nothing would have dragged the confession out of Giles, but he actually only noticed what Spike had done when the vampire began to swirl the finger around inside the tight ring of muscle. Spike timed this move with a particularly hard rubbing of the cockhead against his throat and a soft humming vibration in his vocal chords, so Giles did nothing but cry out in intense, almost uncontrollable enjoyment. He felt the finger moving further in. Spike was pressing hard with his face, pushing the human back onto his steel-hard finger. Giles felt a prickling of fear under his arms, and a trickle of sweat ran down his back, but when Spike gently tickled over his prostate gland, Giles screamed, and neither he, Spike, nor the chip were deceived about the meaning of that scream. Spike grinned around the thick penis and did it again: this time constricting his throat and licking up the vein under the shaft at the same time. The result didn't surprise him: a pool of warm sperm filled his mouth, and the human actually jerked himself free from the finger with his rapid, furious, humping orgasm. Giles too ripped at the hair in front of him, holding the vampire on, thrusting into him, bringing himself off in the most intense orgasm he'd ever had. It seemed to last for many minutes: even that was too short. Giles cursed when his hold on Spike's hair changed from rough passion, to just holding him up. No good: his knees buckled; he fell. Spike eased him onto the floor, and Giles lay on the cool tile as if he would never rise again.

Spike wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and got up to look for a drink. He poured them both one and carried them back to the watcher. He pulled Giles into a sitting position and propped him up against the counter. He was about to pass him a drink, when he grinned and straddled Giles' outstretched legs. He took a mouthful of whisky and leant into the watcher. Giles wasn't really conscious yet - in a sort of physical slump - but he responded to what he thought was a kiss by opening his mouth as Spike got closer. The alcohol dribbled in from Spike's mouth, and they could both taste the slightly salty tinge to it. Giles didn't pull away - which surprised him - and urged Spike to feed him some more. The drink perked him up considerably (as Spike had intended it to), and the vampire sat back with a pleased look on his face, finishing the rest of the drink himself.

Giles looked frankly at him. 'I don't think you should have done that.'

Spike put on a patient look. 'You didn't object, did you? And I know you liked it when I touched….'

'Not that.'

'Oh.' Spike frowned. 'What then, pet?'

'You really don't know humans all that well, do you Spike? You shouldn't have brought me off at all before…. I'm afraid that's rather done me in for the night.'

Spike's slowly dawning look of comprehension made Giles laugh.

'Once? You can only cum once a night? You are bloody joking, aren't you? Surely that's just a myth?'

Giles smiled at the odd choice of words. 'No, Spike, no myth. Human men… sorry. And I'm not a spring chicken; I'm afraid that once a night would actually be… err… something rather to be aimed for…. If you see what I mean.'

'Oh. Fuck.'

'Quite.'

Suddenly, Spike sprang up. 'Never no mind. Come on, I've a better idea anyway.' He dragged Giles up the stairs and pushed him onto the bed, then spun on his heel and began to collect an odd assortment of things, bringing them eagerly to the bed, and making a small collection. The alcohol Giles understood. The books and other assorted things puzzled him. Finally, Spike came back empty handed and stripped off his T-shirt and jeans, standing naked in front of Giles. 'Strip.'

'Me?'

'Yep. Get naked, Rupert.'

Reluctantly, Giles took off his shirt, shoes and socks. He began to undo his trousers, but stopped suddenly and -as if not really bothered - said, 'Oh, I might take a shower,' and began to walk towards the bathroom. Two strong arms slid around him from the back and finished the undressing for him. He was forced to step out of his trousers, and Spike eased his boxers down and pulled them free, too. Giles was completely naked and kept his back resolutely turned to Spike. 'I really do need that shower, Spike.'

'That's as may be, Giles, later. Get on the bed.'

With his back still turned, Giles slid under a sheet and immediately relaxed until Spike ripped it off and sat crossed legged next to him.

Giles made his own privacy by folding an arm over his eyes. Spike looked at him for a moment, then dipped his finger in the bottle of whisky, tipped it up, and dragged the alcohol-coated finger over the warm lips. The human caught at the finger eagerly, and sucked on it for a while. Spike sat patiently repeating the exercise until gradually, the arm relaxed and was eventually removed. Spike twitched up an eyebrow. 'Hello.'

Giles pouted a little. 'How can you bear this… with me? After… him. He's so bloody… beautiful.'

Spike kept his gaze fixed on the anxious human and said carefully, 'I can't appreciate beauty, so I dunno, do I?'

Giles winced and was about to launch into a long apology when he saw Spike's eyes sparkle with suppressed mirth. 'Bastard.'

Spike chuckled. 'I do what I want, human. At this moment, I want you. So that's what I'm doing, an' it ain't really 'bout bodies with you. As you say, I've had bodies… will 'ave 'em again. It's what you represent that does it for me…. Turns me on, if you like.'

'What I represent?'

'Yeah. You're stability. You're security. You're maturity. And I'm bringing them all down. I'm seeing the real you, and that makes me so horny, I'd fuck myself if I could contort that much.'

Giles frowned and sat up. He listened to Spike's words but heard something underneath them that intrigued him… and he didn't think the vampire was aware it was there.

Spike snapped him out of his reverie by scooping his collection of stuff into the middle of the bed and throwing a pack of cards at him.

'Lick poker!'

Giles coughed. 'I don't think I've had the pleasure of that game before… and the rules are?'

'Work 'em out for yourself as we go along, pet.'

It took Giles a few hands to get the hang of the rules, and as he kept losing, he had to do all the licking. Spike wasn't shy either in his suggestions of what the loser had to lick, and Giles had a swift introduction to the parts of Spike he hadn't yet seen or touched. Spike was impressed beyond measure when Giles began to cheat. He couldn't see how the human was doing it, but as he began to lose hand after hand, he knew he must be. He cursed the first time Giles made him do the licking, not from distaste of running his tongue over that small puckered entrance - he was even tempted to slip the tip in and give Giles more than he was owed - but from the annoying thought that the watcher was getting one over on him. The next hand, he watched the watcher hawk-like, knew he'd done it again, but still couldn't prove it. He pounced on Giles, making him sit up, checking all around the bed space, but as Giles said: naked cheating was all but impossible. Spike got tired of that game and rummaged again in his collection, producing two books. Giles eyed him with suspicion: he couldn't see how even Spike could make a sexual game out of reading.

He didn't intend to. He pulled Giles into the bed with him and carefully arranged the covers over them both. He snuggled down onto Giles' chest and pulled the free arm around him. 'You have to shut up a bit now, Watcher, and stop all that jabbering of yours, k'? I'm reading now.'

Giles didn't get it, but he obediently picked up the book Spike had selected for him and began to read. After a while, he realised that he was stroking Spike's hair with his free hand, unconsciously, naturally, as if they lay in bed together like this all the time and were so comfortable with each other, knew each other so well, that they could read instead of…. Giles glanced away from the page and looked over the bed. He felt his heart give a small, quick beat. Spike had gathered together a mock-detritus of a day in bed. Cards, newspapers, snacks, the telephone, and the remote control: all strewn on the bed as if the two of them had been there all day, and this was the quiet time after the storm.

Giles looked down at the vampire's lowered head, wondering what went on in that complex brain, and with a smile, bent down and kissed into the soft hair. Spike shifted slightly on his chest, but turned his page and continued to read.

Giles fell asleep. Spike felt the book drop from the human's hand and put his down, too. He'd read it before anyway. He sometimes thought he'd done everything before, but then this… this was all new. He'd never lain in bed with a human and been allowed to listen to his heartbeat for hours as he just had with Giles. He'd never met anyone who could cheat him at cards and get away with it. He'd never met anyone so…. Spike couldn't put it into words, even in his own head, but a small thought, like a tiny beacon, nagged at the back of his brain. It was as if he'd come home… but that was unlikely. It was as if Giles were his… that was too weird to pursue. He hadn't felt safe for a very long time, and that was what he'd felt for the last few hours, with Giles' fingers combing though his hair. He closed his eyes to this last thought and let himself fall into the calm, safe sea he went to in his dreams, and the beacon of light was strong and held him in those calm safe waters, never letting him be sucked into the morass that always lay just outside the light.