Angel walked into his office, scanning the report in his hands, and spoke without looking up.

"Get out of my chair," he said as he shut the door behind him.

"You're not using it," said Spike. He was leaning back with his feet on the desk and idly flipping through the papers spread across its broad surface.

"I will be as soon as you're out of it. Move. And stop messing up my piles."

"Fine." Spike slammed his feet to the ground and stalked across the office to stare out the windows. As soon as Angel was seated in his chair, Spike returned and leaned his hip on the edge of the desk. "What's got you all bad-tempered and commanding? Not that I mind, o'course."

"Why don't you ever just sit on the couch?" Angel asked, moving the papers off of his blotter and setting down the thick report. He unfolded his glasses and put them on.

"Don't like it."

"Didn't hear you complaining about it last night," Angel said, glancing at him from the corner of his eyes.

"Yeah, but now it's all sticky." Spike reached into the bowl by his elbow and pulled out a small gold ball. He unwrapped the foil and tossed it to the desk before popping the chocolate in his mouth.

"No, it's not."

Spike raised an eyebrow.

"You're showing signs of your age, mate, if you don't remember exactly how hard you -"

Angel glared at him.

"I haven't forgotten. The cleaning staff is very efficient."

"Guess so." Spike tore open another candy and added the wrapper to the dozens of others littering Angel's desk.

"I've had to raise their salaries since you joined the firm."

"Just another benefit of having me around. You get mind-blowing sex on office furniture, and the staff gets more money. I'm happy, you're happy, they're happy. Call it trickle-down economics." Spike smirked and ate another piece of chocolate.

"Are you here just to annoy me?" Angel asked, looking up at him.

"Well, yeah. Thought you would have figured that out by now."

"I'm going to have to take a rain-check. I have work to do. Wes has found something about a short ritual to call down some big demon on Hallowe'en. Or maybe it's a big ritual and a short demon. Whatever it is, we want to stop it. I have to read his analysis of the situation and figure out what to do about it."

"Better you than me. The man has a passion for footnotes. And really tiny type. Reckon I'm going to need your spectacles if I have to read another of his reports."

"Well, right now I need them and you don't have to read anything. Go find someone else to bug, would you?"

Spike half-shrugged and unwrapped another candy.

"I'll be quiet," he said. "Never know I'm here."

He picked up the dish and flopped down on the couch with the candy on his lap. True to his word, he didn't speak and barely fidgeted, but he did continue to open the chocolates and toss the wrappers to the floor. The tiny crinkling noises would have been nearly inaudible for a normal human, but they were loud in the ears of both vampires.

Rip, crinkle, slurp, crunch, repeat.

"Would you stop that?" Angel snapped after a few minutes of trying to read. He glowered at Spike over the top of his glasses. "What are you doing, anyway?"

"Just having a snack."

"Do you have to do it here?"

"Thought we were spending quality time together."

"We're vampires, Spike. We don't do quality time, and I've got work to do."

Spike scowled.

"Right, then. No need to get your knickers in a twist." Spike got to his feet and stomped toward the door.

"Don't sulk. And what are you eating, anyway?"

"Chocolate," Spike said. He held out the dish toward Angel. "It's not bad. Want some?"

"God, Spike, that's the Hallowe'en candy! My secretary brought it in this morning."

"Yeah? Special Wolfram and Hart mix, then? Don't miss the delicious evil center?" He poked through the gold balls left in the dish.

"No. It's regular chocolate." Angel frowned. "At least I think it is. It's for the Trick-or-Treaters tomorrow. For the kids."

"What - you're opening up the evil law firm as a fun house for local kiddies? Is that wise? Someone could take a wrong turn and end up eternally damned."

"Happens to the best of us. But, no, this is something that Fred thought up. She had this idea about having the employees bring their kids in to Trick-or-Treat around the office."

"Oh, that's a bloody great idea," said Spike, rolling his eyes. "Because no one around here is going to try to use their co-workers' children against them to try to climb up the corporate ladder."

"They'd better not. This is supposed to bring people together and foster compassion or togetherness or something. You'd have to ask Fred; I kind of stopped listening after a while." Angel shrugged. "She seemed really excited about it."

"At least the chocolate is good." Spike popped another piece in his mouth.

"Would you stop eating that?"

"Little late now, mate. Only a couple pieces left. You'll have to get more."

Angel sighed and put the report down on his desk.

"You know, you'd think that out of all of the offices in this building the one with three vampires in it would be the least likely to eat all of the chocolate in the space of ten minutes."

"Nah. I bet the health club attendants won't touch it."

"We have a health club? With attendants?" Angel asked. "Really?"

"Yeah. It's on the third floor, right next to the juice bar."

"Now I know you're joking. We don't have a juice bar."

"You're right. It's a smoothie bar. An evil smoothie bar."

"It'd have to be."

"Too bloody right. Doesn't even have proper ice cream, does it? It's all that non-fat rubbish. They do stock blood, though. Think they're hoping you'll pop by one of these days."

"I don't seem to get out of my office much," said Angel. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Don't recall you complaining last night," said Spike with a smirk.

"Not until I had to face the cleaners when they came in to take care of the couch. It's a good thing I don't blush."

"You do go all red in the face with the right incentive..."

"I'm not the only one."

"Never said you were," said Spike. He glanced down into the dish. "Look, there're only two left. D'you want one or should I finish 'em off?"

"You finish them," said Angel, leaning back in his chair and watching as Spike unwrapped the last pieces of chocolate and popped them in his mouth.

Spike set the bowl back on Angel's desk and dropped the wrappers in it. His cheeks hollowed as he sucked on the candy, and Angel felt a tingle low in his gut as his mind flashed on other times that Spike sucked ardently on things. He shifted slightly in his chair.

"I'll let you get on with your reading, then," Spike said, gesturing to the report in front of Angel. "It'd take you hours to finish, even if you didn't have to sound out the big words."

Angel didn't answer, and Spike shrugged and turned around, the disappointment in his eyes mostly hidden by his usual façade of not giving a damn. Before he could reach the door, though, Angel caught up to him.

"Just a second," said Angel. "I've changed my mind."

"'Bout what?"

"I want some of that chocolate after all."

Hands tight on Spike's shoulders, he pulled the smaller vampire to him and claimed his mouth in a kiss. Spike's lips parted beneath the assault, and Angel plunged his tongue into Spike's mouth, thrusting deep and licking along his teeth and gums. The taste of the chocolate didn't do much for him, but the taste of Spike was intoxicating.

"Could have just asked for more," Spike said when Angel began to drag his lips down his neck.

"I like my way better," Angel said, biting with blunt teeth over Spike's jugular.

Spike gasped and shuddered, one hand buried in Angel's hair and the other gripping his shoulder for balance.

"So do I."

"Wes is going to kill me for not reading his report," Angel said. He steered Spike toward the couch, shucking Spike's duster and his own sweater along the way.

Spike pushed Angel flat onto the cushions and climbed atop him, settling between his legs and pulling Angel's shirt out of his waistband.

"Tell you what. You make this good, and I'll read half." He slid his hands over Angel's chest.

"You make it good, and I won't make you call the cleaners," said Angel, arching up into the touch and tugging Spike's shirt over his head.

"I always make it good, love," said Spike, kissing up Angel's neck.

Angel groaned and pulled Spike closer.

"Can't argue with that."

~end~