It's Saturday.

That was the first coherent thought that passed through Xander's mind as he drifted upward into wakefulness. Opening one eyelid just a crack, he peered at the red numbers of the alarm clock. 11:53. Given the dim light filtering through the thick blue curtains, it was 11:53 in the morning, and, since it was a Saturday morning, he had no plans. He could just fall back asleep.

Or, since another part of his body was insistently awake, he could spend an enjoyable half hour swapping various bodily fluids with Spike and then fall back asleep. His erection perked up further at the thought.

Okay, maybe more like an hour.

Xander rolled over, ready to wrap himself around his sleeping bedmate and begin the fun of convincing him to wake up, but he was surprised to find that he was alone. It was doubly odd because Spike hadn't gone to bed with him the previous night, so by all rights he should sleep well into the afternoon.

"I bet he's fallen asleep watching TV again," Xander grumbled and heaved himself out of bed. He made a quick stop in the bathroom and then opened the bedroom door.

He was lucky that he had splashed that water on his face, because if he had stepped out into the living room in his usual graceless stumble he would have tripped on a pile of little plastic blocks and fallen directly into the chaos.

"What the...?"

There were Legos everywhere. Some were still in bins, but most were formed into structures of various sizes and shapes. In the middle of the room, midst towering structures and rows of figurines, Spike lay on his stomach, his shirt off, his hair sticking up in unruly tufts, and his tongue between his teeth as he fitted a little yellow man onto a brown horse. The man held a green banner in one plastic hand.

"'Morning, pet. Isn't it a bit early for you to be up?" Spike asked, not looking away from his task. He placed the horse and its rider carefully in the midst of a formation of similar figures. They seemed to be arrayed in units of twenty in front of a drawbridge. There was a rather large - and well-defended - castle attached to it, but it was too soon after waking for Xander to process that thought.

"It's nearly noon."

"Ah." Spike turned a winch and the drawbridge lifted. He rearranged some knights in the castle's courtyard.

"Have you been building this all night?" Xander asked.

"Hmm? Guess I have. Hope I didn't wake you."

"Spike!"

The vampire looked up and smiled.

"Do you like it?" he asked.

"Like it? I don't even know what it is."

"Over here we've got the castle, and this bit here's for jousting. These are the defending army, and this lot over here are going to attack. You got up at a good time; the battle's just about to start. I've got some brilliant ideas for how to make boiling oil in the microwave. Which reminds me, don't put any food in there just yet. I'll clean it up later."

Xander rubbed his face with his hands, but when he opened his eyes the sprawling mass of buildings and figures was still there.

"Is this what you got in those boxes yesterday?"

"Yeah. Gotta love the internet. It was supposed to be a surprise for you, but I couldn't wait."

Love wasn't quite the word Xander had in mind.

"This is probably a stupid question, but why is this in our living room?" Xander asked.

"Kitchen floor wasn't big enough, and I didn't want to disturb you in the bedroom."

"Makes perfect sense," Xander said with resignation. He looked down at the pile that he almost stepped on. It was mostly made up of pieces of people and horses. Some of them seemed to be painted red. "So what's this over here?"

"Oh. Well, there was a bit of an early skirmish. Both sides were hit hard."

"At least there isn't ketchup everywhere." He poked the pile with his toe. "But what's with all the dust? Have you been fishing for dust bunnies under the couch again? Even in Sunnydale, they're not actually bunnies, you know."

Spike looked away and fidgeted with one of the mounted knights.

"Gotitfromthevacuum," he mumbled.

"You what?"

"The attackers are vamps, right? So ketchup wouldn't work. I mean, it would for the humans, but I knew you'd get upset if I got ketchup everywhere. So I just used a red marker for the blood."

"And you took the dust out of the vacuum cleaner?"

"Figured it'd be easy to clean up."

Xander rubbed his eyes again and sighed.

"It's too early for this. I'm going back to bed."

"'Kay. 'Night, Xan," Spike said, already turning back to his toys.

"You sure you don't want to join me?" Xander asked.

"Not tired."

"I could find a way to tire you out."

Spike's eyes flickered over Xander's body and then back to the complex castle in front of him.

"It'll still be here later," Xander said. He ran one hand lazily over his stomach to scratch his lower abdomen.

Spike's eyes darkened, but he made no move to get up.

"Or maybe I'll take a shower." Xander turned and pulled his shirt over his head. He left the door open and made sure that he was still in Spike's line of sight as he bent over to remove his sweatpants.

A muffled groan was the only warning he had before he was tackled from behind and tossed onto the bed. Spike pressed him into the mattress and ran his hands greedily over Xander's back and buttocks.

"I guess I'm up for some swordplay," Spike said huskily in Xander's ear as he reached beneath his lover to grip his erection.

"No ketchup," Xander said, raising up on his hands and knees and bucking into Spike's touch. He moaned as gentle fingers began to trace over his pucker.

"Wouldn't dream of it, pet."

Xander heard the rasp of Spike's zipper and felt the silky slide of skin against his thighs.

"And no boiling oil!"

A knowing chuckle was his only response.

~end~

go back to Time and Tide Wait for No Vampire