Angel's left shoulder rubbed against the wall as he walked slowly down
the steps to his apartment, the little granules of cement creating friction
with his black v-neck pullover. He wasn't sure he was going to make it
to his bed. His legs were heavy and every step he took jolted the pain
in his head.
The headache had formed out of nowhere behind his right eye and had
spread to encompass the entire right half of his face. The heel of his
hand was pressed hard against his right eye and he wished the pressure
would counteract the needle-sharp pain. His shoulders were up around his
ears because of the tenseness of his muscles and the joints in his neck
felt soldered into place.
There were only two things he wanted right then: darkness and a bed.
In a few more steps, he'd have both.
Angel pulled his shirt off and let it fall to the floor on his way to
the bedroom, his mind teasing him with images of cool pillowcases. The
illuminated numbers on his night-stand clock told him it was only noon,
which meant that he had six wonderful hours to try and sleep his headache
away.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled his shoes off, wincing
at the noise they made when they hit the hardwood floor. He unbuttoned
his pants, but it would take too much effort to take them off. He turned,
laid back and threw an arm over his eyes. He never wanted to move again.
Too bad his bed companion wanted him to move.
Spike rolled over and snuggled up to the dark-haired vampire who'd rejoined
him in the bed. It was Angel's and his second anniversary of being a sickeningly
cutesy couple and he'd been given a week's holiday by Giles to visit with
his lover. Spike could really care less about the fact that they even had
an anniversary, but his Sire was a romantic poof and the blond had the
idiotic urge to want to make it special.
Angel had recently gotten a permanent tattooed collar around his neck
to declare his love and belonging to Spike. The least Spike could do was
show Angel, in his own way, that he loved and belonged to the dark-haired
ponce, aside from always wearing the fork-etched cigar band on his right
middle finger.
Spike ran his hand lightly over the bare skin of Angel's torso, stopping
to swirl his finger around his Sire's navel before sliding the digit down
the almost invisible line of hair to the unbuttoned waistband of Angel's
pants.
"Angel," Spike said in a low whisper, dragging his blunt fingernail
back up the center of the older man's body, lightly scratching him. "Wanna
fuck me?"
"No," Angel grunted.
Spike raised himself up on his forearm, bent his head and ran his tongue
over Angel's pectoral. "Can I fuck you, then?" he asked.
"Spike, get off," Angel said, not moving. "I have a headache. I want
to sleep."
"Sex cures headaches and sleep is overrated," Spike said. He bit Angel's
nipple gently.
Angel jerked and the pain in his head increased tenfold. With a growl,
he shoved Spike away from him. "Will you quit it."
Spike grinned. "Ooh, Sire wants to play rough."
"No, I don't," Angel said firmly.
Spike pounced on top of Angel and raked all his fingernails down the
front of the other man's chest as he sang, "I don't believe you."
Angel grabbed Spike roughly and threw the blond off of him. "I said
no!"
The dark-haired vampire turned on the light and stood. Spike stared
up at him in shock from where the blond had landed on hard floor. "Damn
it, Spike, don't you ever listen to me when I speak?" Angel snapped angrily.
"I have a headache and I don't want to literally fuck with you!"
Angel stalked out of the bedroom to the kitchen. He violently yanked
open the refrigerator door, grabbed the ice tray from the freezer compartment
and slammed the door shut. Several ice cubes fell to the floor when he
cracked the tray then dumped the cubes onto a kitchen towel.
The tray clattered in the sink, the noise sending spires of pain through
his head. He quickly pulled out a chair, sat down, put the homemade ice
pack on the surface of the kitchen table and laid his forehead down on
the blessedly cold towel. He closed his eyes and prayed for the world to
end so he would feel no more pain.
Spike pursed his lips and padded silently across the room when he saw
his Sire. He felt like an ass. He had really thought Angel was just tired.
Normally, Angel's tiredness would lead to hard, fast sex that would send
them both off into a deep, refreshing sleep.
He rounded the kitchen table and put his hands on Angel's bare shoulders,
planning to try and massage some of the tension that he could see out of
them. Angel shrugged him off. Undaunted, he replaced his hands.
"Go away, Spike," Angel grumbled, moving away from Spike's touch. "Leave
me alone."
Spike tried for a third time to rub Angel's shoulders only to suddenly
find himself pinned up against the sink, his back bending awkwardly as
a furious Angel yanked his hair.
Angel's eyes flashed yellow as his face lost its handsome human planes.
"You stupid little fuck," he hissed. "You just don't know when to quit,
do you?"
"I-"
"Shut up." Angel yanked Spike's head back further. "Just shut up and
leave me the hell alone for awhile."
The dark-haired vampire released Spike, forced his human mask back into
place, grabbed the ice pack and started back towards the bedroom. Spike's
quiet voice stopped him.
"I didn't mean... bloody hell, Angel, I'm sorry."
"You're sorry," Angel said in disgust without turning around. "Well,
if you would have listened to me to begin with, you wouldn't have to be
sorry."
Angel took another two steps forward, stopped again and turned around.
Spike was still standing at the sink, his strong fingers tightly gripping
the edges of it, with his face set in an expressionless mask. That lack
of emotion spoke in higher volumes than if Spike was throwing things around
the kitchen and yelling or if he broke down into tears.
Not saying a word, Angel held out is hand, palm up, towards Spike. The
blond vampire glanced down at the hand then looked at Angel for a long
moment before crossing to him and taking his hand.
Angel curled his fingers around Spike's smaller hand and led him back
to the dark bedroom. He set the ice pack on the night-stand, unfastened
his pants completely and let them fall to the floor. He stepped out of
them, kicked them away, turned and pulled Spike to him.
He dropped his head down to rest on the younger vampire's shoulder and
said in a babyish whimper, "My head hurts."
Spike knew immediately what Angel was doing. His Sire was giving him
a chance to erase what had occurred and start again.
Damn, how he loved the pillock. The great hairball always knew what
to do to make things all right between them. One of these days, Spike thought,
he was going to get to be the bigger man and do something to make
Angel feel all disgustingly mushy inside.
"Come on, luv, let's get you into bed," Spike said, lightly pushing
Angel. The dark-haired vampire sighed wearily, laid down and Spike carefully
tucked the sheet around him. "Do you want an aspirin or something?"
"No," Angel replied. "I just want to sleep."
"Okay. Well, I'm going to go in the other room and fart around," Spike
said. "Call me if you need me."
"Standard cliché response," Angel said as he let his eyes fall
shut.
"Yeah, I know, you silly sod," Spike said, his lips curling up at the
joke. He made sure the ends of the homemade ice pack were secure, but before
he put it on Angel's forehead, he bent and brushed his lips over his Sire's
brow, whispering against the smooth flesh, "Love you. Feel better."
"'K," Angel murmured as Spike put the ice pack on his head. "Fuck you
later."
Spike chuckled softly and left the bedroom.
End