Closets

A cold hand covered Willow's mouth before she could scream and pulled her into a strong embrace. Her captor walked slowly backwards until they both stood inside one of the janitor closets; her captor toed the door shut, never releasing his grip on Willow's mouth.

"Don't scream," he whispered, slowly removing his hand. Willow's eyes widened as anger flooded through her.

"Angel!" she hissed, turning around in the almost total darkness, trying to locate the vampire.

"Behind you," he commented, and she could almost hear the grin in his voice.

"What do you think you're doing?" she growled, finally locating a piece of darkness that was darker than the rest.

"Playing," he stated.

"I told you--"

"You don't want to play," he sighed. "But I thought maybe I could convince you."

"It won't work," Willow denied. "Oz--"

"Isn't dating you," Angel finished.

"But Buffy--"

"Isn't dating me." Willow heard the air move as she assumed Angel walked towards her; she unconsciously started backing away from him until her back pressed against the door. "You see," he explained rationally. "We're two single people," He pressed his body against hers and lowered his voice, "Who could be more than single together." He ducked his head, lightly brushing his lips across hers. Willow rode her aner, pushing Angel violently away from her; she heard the crash as he impacted with one of the shelves. With a growl, she reached up to turn on the light.

"Burned out," Angel commented from the direction of the floor, laughter coating his words.

"I cannot believe you!" she stated. "We are in Sunnydale High, the place your girlfriend frequents, and you want to play." She sighed heavily, closing her eyes, and tried to think.

"This is going to sound very cliched," Angel commented, breaking the silence, "But you're beautiful when you're angry." Willow's eyes snapped open as she heard the rustle of fabric signifying that Angel had risen to his feet.

"It's pitch black in here," she rationalized. "You can't possibly see me."

"Oh, I can see you," he replied. "Your face is flushed and you're breathing harder." She heard the smirk on his voice. "Pity you can't see what you do to me."

"Angel, please, just leave me alone," she ordered weakly, suddenly very tired of dealing with him. Silence once again filled the room as he thought over her order.

"No," he replied, and Willow could tell he was grinning.

"Why can't you just go back to Buffy?" she asked, leaning back against the door.

"Don't wanna," he replied, taking a step towards her. "I like you." He was within arms reach of her, and he reached out and stroked her arm softly. She entertained the brief possibility of surrendering to the sensation, but then Angel pulled away from her. She narrowed her eyes as she heard him moving to the back of the closet.

"Later, Red," he stated. Willow opened her mouth to reply, but then the closet door was pulled open and she spilled out onto the floor caught off guard.

"Willow?!" Xander asked in shock; Willow just smiled weakly. The boy shut the closet door, plunging the small room into darkness again.

Angel, sitting in the furthest corner of the closet, grinned.

"About time to step up the game," he smirked.
 

next