Shacking Up, 13
By
EntreNous

Chapter Twenty-One: Night Out (part two)

Spike looked blankly away from the gaggle of girls blatantly checking him out, and turned suddenly to see--

"Oh, fuck," Spike swore.

"Yeah, well, nice to see you too," Buffy said dryly.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Spike spat. He turned on her and snarled.

"Will and I are here to see the Dingoes, and I would be ordering a fruity drink if you'd just get out of the way. And quit growling -- you know that act doesn't work on me."

"If I let you have one drink, will you leave after that?" Spike asked almost plaintively.

Buffy decided that ignoring Spike was the best policy. She leaned on the bar top, trying to catch the bartender's eye, waving when he looked in her direction. A small tug on her sleeve turned her around, and she smiled brightly when she saw Willow standing there with Nathan.

"Look who's here!" Willow said enthusiastically, pointing to Nathan so that Buffy could see him.

"Nathan!" Buffy exclaimed, and nodded at him in a business-like manner. "Oh, good -- now that you're here, I have someone to eat nachos with."

"Happy to oblige," Nathan replied agreeably. Willow squeezed his arm happily, and he smiled at her.

"Nathan saw the first show, and he stayed just to see the second one," Willow informed Buffy and Spike. "Isn't that so nice? I think that it's great that Nathan likes the Dingoes, even though this is the first time he's seen them, and he met Oz -- they were talking when I got here, and Nathan bought Oz water -- and did you see what Oz is wearing? He looks really cool. This is going to be so fun now that we're all here!"

Spike looked less than impressed by this update.

Nathan raised his eyebrows and looked at Spike curiously.

"Well, we're all here except Xander," Buffy pointed out. She peered into her drink to scoop out the cherries, missing the dark glare that Spike turned on her.

"No Xander," Willow agreed forlornly. Then she brightened all at once. "Say, there's Xander! He's standing right over there and looking -- wait, now he's all red -- wait, I think he's turning around -- everyone, wave, wave!!!"

Nathan and Buffy followed Willow's frantic wave with their own more subdued gestures until Xander hesitated and headed back in their direction.

"Well, well, the gang's all here," Xander said. He nodded at Willow and Buffy, clapped Nathan on the shoulder, and blushed when Spike looked at him skeptically.

What if Spike thought that he'd asked everyone here? Xander felt a little panic rise in his gut. He'd deliberately not mentioned anything to the girls, assuming that they wouldn't show up on an off-night. He couldn't let Spike go on assuming that he'd invited anyone else all night, not when they'd just started hanging out again.

The crisis at hand temporarily relieved Xander's worry over his recent sexy thoughts about Spike, and as Willow chattered at Nathan and Buffy distractedly watched herself in the mirror, he slid neatly in between the others and moved quietly to Spike's side.

Spike's skeptical look rapidly changed to one of open surprise, but Xander was so jumpy that he didn't register the shift.

"Look," he whispered to Spike, leaning in to be heard over the music and noise, "I really didn't know anyone else was showing. I wanted just us to hang out tonight -- if I'd have known . . . "

Spike heard the first part of what Xander said, but the words quickly turned into "Woh woh wah woh woh woh" as he leaned closer to feel Xander's breath on his ear.

Nathan paused when he saw Xander leaning in towards Spike, his lips centimeters away from Spike's left ear, and Spike standing there swaying with his eyes closed and his lips parted slightly.

"Hey," Nathan said in a low voice, interrupting Buffy's complaints about their composition class, "do you want to go sit down over there?" He moved slightly so that he blocked the view of Spike and Xander. Maybe if he steered Willow over to the free table he'd spotted, Buffy would follow, and then Spike and Xander could talk without everyone hanging around them.

Willow turned briefly to the table and shook her head. "Nope. Too small. We won't all fit."

"Xander always finds the table," Buffy said evenly, and then raised her voice to a shriek. "Xander!"

"What?" Xander said, turning towards them with large startled eyes. Spike narrowed his eyes at Buffy, and his lip curled back over his teeth.

"Xander, you need to find a place for us to sit," Buffy explained.

"See, Spike and I were going to play pool," Xander began, and Buffy waved at him to stop.

"You two can play pool, but first we find the table, ‘kay? Then we order nachos, and then--"

"Might as well do it, pet," Spike murmured to Xander. Maybe after they settled the others in, they could quietly return to their own conversation at another spot in the club.

"Uh, ‘kay," Xander replied uncertainly. Spike had leaned in towards him, and his hand still rested on his shoulder. //Not so far from the chest// Xander thought wildly, and BAM! back to the look on dream-Spike's face as he'd . . .

"There's a table," Buffy pointed out. She shooed everyone over hastily.

Spike waited until they all had seats, then grasped Xander's arm softly. Xander shifted around to face him, smiling uncertainly. Was Spike upset with him? Or did he want to hang out with everyone else? What should happen next? He licked his lips unconsciously as he waited for Spike to say something, anything.

Spike sucked in an unnecessary breath. "Why don't we -- " Spike started, but Willow cut him off.

"Hey," Willow cut in, "Isn't that your roommate Davy over there, Xander?"

Xander stiffened, a motion Spike took in with narrow eyes. Neither one of them shifted their gaze to the direction Willow was pointing in.

Nathan looked back and forth between Xander and Spike, and then turned to see the reactions of the others to this unspoken but marked tension.

Surprisingly, neither Buffy nor Willow seemed to register whatever was clearly going on between Xander and Spike. In fact, they were both waving cheerfully to Davy, who had begun to make his way over to the table. Nathan leaned back thoughtfully, waiting to see how the next newcomer would affect the dynamic.

"Hey, Xander," Davy said quietly as he approached the table, with only a nod for everyone else. "I didn't know that you were going out tonight."

"Yeah, well," Xander replied, looking slightly alarmed.

"Oh, it's just that I would've invited you to hang out with me if I knew you wanted to do something." Davy gestured to the table. "Do you mind if I --"

"Oh, sure," Spike spat disdainfully, drawing the "sure" out in his most contemptuous impression of an American accent. "The more the merrier, right mate?"

"Shut up, Spike," Buffy said cheerfully. She scooted over to make more room for Davy.

Davy looked reluctantly at the spot at the table next to Xander, but as no one else seemed inclined to move, he grabbed the seat next to Buffy.

"Jimmy Choos?" Davy asked pointing at Buffy's heels.

"Good call," Buffy said. She smiled at him, gesturing to the blank faces around the rest of the table. "I could get used to having a fellow fashionista around. This bunch can't tell Theory from Mizrahi."

"She is speaking English, right?" Nathan asked Spike in a low voice.

Spike blinked in surprise, but quickly snickered. "We've tried getting her to speak Russian, but she simply refuses."

Nathan grinned. "I'm guessing you don't speak Russian."

"Not a word after nyet," Spike confirmed, reaching out for his beer to take another swig.

Suddenly a guy lurching through the crowd tripped into a group near them. "Hey," "Ow!" and "Watchit!" suddenly filled the air from the table close by.

"And the crowd started shouting out interjections," Xander observed with a grin.

"Excuse me?" Davy asked politely.

"You know. Interjections! Show emotion! Or excitement!" Xander sang out the Schoolhouse Rock tune and looked at Davy expectantly.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know that one," Davy responded, with a grimace that was clearly meant to look like a smile.

Xander ducked his head a little. He wasn't trying to act like a total goof, but he felt like somehow he'd embarrassed Davy.

"They're usually followed by an exclamation point," Willow sang out softly, and Xander raised his head to give her a grateful smile.

"Or by a comma, when the feeling's not as strong," Nathan finished tunefully, nudging Willow's shoulder.

"Oh," Davy said, nodding like he got it. "You guys are so funny," he continued, trying to humor them.

The table sat in silence in response to Davy's remarks. Buffy pretended to brush something off of her shoulder, and surreptitiously checked her watch. Nathan glanced at Davy with some distaste.

Spike set his lips together in a thin line. So what if he'd meant to see just Xander tonight, and the others were an unwelcome intrusion? He'd sulked at first, but there was no point in making the boy unhappy. He especially wasn't going to let this git, Davy, finish off any possibility of them having a good time.

Finally, Spike rolled his eyes and growled the next line in the song:

"So when you're happy . . ."

"Hooray!" Xander responded after a surprised pause, bouncing up in his seat.

"Or sad," Spike sang-growled.

"Awwww," Willow reacted with heartfelt despondence, joining in with a grin.

"Or frightened," Spike straight out sang in his baritone voice.

"Eek!" contributed Buffy.

"Or mad,"

"Rats!" Nathan called out.

"Or excited,"

"Yes!" Xander and Willow cried simultaneously.

"Or glad,"

"Wow!" Buffy pronounced breathily.

"An interjection starts the sentence right!" Spike and Xander finished together.

"Hey," Oz said smoothly, joining the table with a raised eyebrow. "Can we do the pronoun one next?"

Willow squeaked and threw her arms around Oz. Nathan watched the two of them, smiling. Xander was begging Buffy to say "Eek!" again, all the while holding up his hands to ward off her playful punches. And Spike looked across the table at Davy with a menacing smirk, causing Davy to suddenly rouse himself and stand.

"You know, I've got a ton of reading to do before tomorrow," Davy said quietly to Nathan. "Can you just let Xander know that I had to take off?"

"Sure," Nathan replied. He watched Davy go, and then turned back to the table with the evident dislike still playing on his face. He caught Spike's eye, and shrugged. Spike raised his eyebrow, and gave a curt nod in return.

"Hey, anyone up for a late sweep?" Buffy said suddenly.

"In those shoes?" Willow asked incredulously.

"Oh, why not," Buffy airily replied as she tossed her hair. "The grass at the cemetery needs major aeration this time of year anyway."

"Wouldn't mind seeing a bit of action, myself," Spike said in a low voice.

Xander shivered.

"What's a sweep, and what kind of action are we looking for?" Nathan asked calmly, and everyone else froze.

Oz tilted his head to the side, and waited to see how the others would tackle the question.

"Uhhh," Xander began, and looked desperately around the table for backup.

"We're in a gang!" Willow said brightly.

"We're part of a volunteer landscaping squad for the city's parks and other green spaces," Buffy rushed out at the same time.

"Oh, fuck all, we're going to kill some vampires and demons. Want to come?" Spike asked in exasperation.

Nathan blinked at them all for a moment, and then smiled easily. "Count me in."

"Okay," Xander snorted. "I think that was the most blasé response we've gotten yet to a Scooby invite."

"No, Oz was way more blasé when he found out about vampires at Buffy's birthday party," Willow answered loyally.

"Are you all going to quit yapping and come along?" Spike shot out. "Xander's with me," he added, glaring at them all in challenge to potential protests.

No one seemed to mind. And with that, everyone got their coats and drained their drinks, heading for the exit.

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