Archive of Our Own

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Twice Bitten, Chapter 1/11
Title: Twice Bitten
Chapter: 1/11
Pairing: Spike/Xander
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I'm not Joss
Warnings: m/m, language
Summary: Sequel to Hard-Bitten (a quick synopsis of which you can read here). Several years post-Chosen and post-NFA. Spike and Xander are with Angel in LA. They have a number of issues to deal with, though, including Xander's bite, Lindsey in the basement, and Wolfram & Hart.
Author's Note: The fic is complete and I'll post daily. Thank you very much tosentinefor the stunning banner and towhyskeyeyes, who gave me the prompt for Hard-Bitten!

CHAPTER ONE

“So. Gay now?”

Xander shrugged and grinned. “Looks that way.”

“That’s cool. But Spike? Didn’t see that coming.”

“Yeah. Wouldn’t really have predicted it myself. I mean, a demon, sure. But this particular demon…well, not so much.”

“But you two, you have a thing.”

Xander was aware that a sappy smile had settled on his face, but he couldn’t help it. “Yeah. We really do.”

“Pirate, too?”

Xander automatically felt at the patch over his missing eye. “Nope. This is a souvenir from Sunnydale, actually.”

The other man tilted his head a little and peered at him. “Suits you.”

“Thanks. But hey, what about you? It’s been a long time. Willow said she tracked you down in Vermont?”

The other man nodded and had a sip of his coffee. “Been there a couple years. Was in New York a while. Sound engineer. Got tired of the crowds. Now I run an organic grocery.”

“You like Vermont?”

“Lots of trees.”

“And on the homefront? No vampires, I take it.”

“Nah. You got all the good ones here. Girlfriend, though. Wolf.”

It was Xander’s turn to nod. “That’s great.” There was a short pause. “Well, thanks for coming all the way to LA.”

“It’s good to catch up, man.”

They drank silently for a few minutes as Xander considered how best to approach the real reason for this visit. The sounds of LAX eddied around them, mumbled gate announcements and clattering suitcases and squealing children. His old friend looked pretty much the same, he thought. Red hair gelled in short spikes, he wore a faded t-shirt from some band Xander had never heard of and jeans so well-worn they were nearly white. He had a hemp bracelet around his right wrist and a silver-colored paw pendant on a chain around his neck.

In the end, it was Oz who spoke first. “So. Wolf?”

Xander sighed, deeply and loudly. “Yeah. Will told you?”

“Yep.”

“It happened a few months ago, in Nebraska. It was…this whole fucked-up mess, really.”

“How’ve you been handling it?”

Xander grimaced. “I dunno. I mean, I haven’t eaten anyone yet. I built this big cage, and it’s not too bad.”

“Better than the book cage, huh?”

“Yeah. I even installed plumbing in there. It’s strong. Spike babysits me. Angel’s there, too, in case I ever get loose. But….” He stopped, not quite sure how to articulate the rest. Oz waited patiently, toying with the cardboard sleeve to his coffee. “It’s kind of a hassle,” he finally said, a little lamely.

Oz glanced up at him. “The wolf wants out, huh?”

Xander grunted his agreement. “Yeah.”

“Man, you can’t make it go away, you know?” Oz frowned at him, and Xander realized that that was exactly what Oz himself had once wanted—to get rid of the wolf. But Xander shook his head.

“I don’t want to. I…I kinda like it, actually.”

Surprise flickered across Oz’s face. Either his old friend was less stoic than he used to be, or he’d been genuinely shocked by what Xander just said.

“Spike and Angel, the old gang from Sunnydale, they’re always fighting evil. Me too, I guess. But they have all these superpowers. Well, except Giles, but he’s got that Watcher stuff going on. Me, I’ve always been just a guy. But now I can have superpowers, too. Spike doesn’t have to worry so much about me getting killed. Hell, I’m almost as strong and fast as he is. And my teeth are bigger.” He smiled a little and Oz’s lips twitched, too.

“So you want…?”

“I want to be able to control the beast. Get out of the fucking cage and…and use the wolf. And not worry about hurting anyone but the bad guys. I was hoping maybe you could help.”

Oz stared at him for a moment, considering. “So…you accept that the wolf is always gonna be part of you?”

“Yes.” Xander smiled again. “I embrace the beast within.”

“Then you have already mastered the first lesson, padawan.”

Oz admired the car as Xander tossed Oz’s duffle bag into the trunk. It was Spike’s car, actually. He’d made Angel buy it as a replacement for the one that had been impounded back in Chicago, which they’d never bothered to retrieve. This one was a ’65 GTO, black, of course, and Spike liked it so much that Xander pretended to be jealous. Xander still drove the van, but he’d wanted to greet Oz at the airport with something a little cooler. Besides, Spike was probably still sound asleep.

“It’s okay if I crash with you guys for a few days?” Oz asked.

Xander snorted. “Yeah, I think we can probably find some space for you.”

They spoke only a little as Xander wound his way through the dregs of rush-hour traffic. It was nearly an hour before they pulled to a halt in front of the Hyperion. “Home, sweet home,” Xander said.

The wards were still up, but they seemed to recognize Xander as a resident now, because once Xander invited his friend inside, Oz was able to enter. Oz whistled quietly as he looked around the lobby, and Xander dumped the duffle bag on the floor. “Honey, I’m home!” he called.

But it was Angel who appeared first, from his office behind the reception desk. He and Oz exchanged long looks with each other. “Hi,” Angel finally said.

“Hi.”

Apparently that was sufficient for both of them, because then Angel nodded and ducked back behind the door.

“You live here?” Oz asked.

“Uh-huh.”

“Just the three of you?”

“Yeah. Oh, and the evil resurrected lawyer guy in the basement. He’s locked up and everything, but I’d stay away from him.”

“’Kay.”

Bootsteps thundered down the stairs, and then there was Spike, mostly dressed but his hair still sleep-tousled, bounding toward them and wrapping a possessive arm around Xander. “Didn’t scratch the car, pet?” he rumbled.

“Nah. Just put a couple big old dents in it.”

Spike swatted Xander’s ass and then put his arm back around Xander’s waist.

“Uh, you guys know each other, right?”

Spike tipped his chin at Oz. “Dog-boy.”

Oz nodded back. “Spike.”

Spike’s arm around Xander tightened a little and Xander, who’d learned to read Spike’s moods very well, realized that Spike was jealous. Xander turned his head and pressed a kiss to Spike’s cheek, and heard Spike sigh quietly in response. Even without the csípés spell his vampire had a tendency to be a bit emotional.

“Spike, I’m gonna get Oz settled in his room. And then I thought maybe we’d go out to dinner, okay?”

“Thought the two of you would be rounding up sheep for supper,” Spike said slightly petulantly.

“Not my time of the month, dear.” Xander kissed him again. “C’mon. We can go to that place with the spicy ribs, if you want.”

Spike sighed again, this time in resignation. “All right.”

A third kiss, and then Xander grabbed Oz’s bag and led him up the stairs. They’d decided to give Oz a room on the second floor. Angel’s suite was on the third, and they were sleeping in a room on the fourth floor while Xander remodeled the adjacent rooms into a big suite. The work was going well, and he hoped to be finished in another week or so. Optimistically, Xander had decided to leave his cage in the old room. It was hard to fit it into the décor of the new one.

Oz’s room was a nice one with a view of the courtyard. Xander had cleaned it the previous day and put in fresh bedding. Now, Xander gave Oz a quick overview of the facilities while Oz nodded approvingly.

“So, if you want to crash for a while or whatever, I was thinking we could leave in an hour or so. I think I need to go deal with a grouchy vamp first.”

“That’s cool.”

Xander found Spike slouched on the loveseat in their room, remote control in his hand and scowl on his face. Spike pretended to ignore Xander as Xander collapsed beside him.

He tried reason first. “Spike. You know I need to figure out how to control myself.”

Spike’s scowl deepened. “Don’t know why you need that tosser.”

“Okay. First, Oz is not a tosser. He’s an old friend and a good guy, and he’s come all the way from Vermont to help me out. Second, it’s not like accommodating werewolves are a dime a dozen. He knows how to handle himself and he’s willing to teach me how. And third, he’s straight and he has a girlfriend, and you are my one and only squeeze. Got it?”

Spike made a discontented noise and didn’t look at him.

Fine. Xander knew how to handle the crabby undead.

He stood up again and then straddled Spike, plopping himself inelegantly onto his vampire’s lap. Spike growled, not very convincingly, and craned his neck to look around Xander toward the television screen. So Xander captured Spike’s head with his hands and leaned their foreheads together, wiggling his crotch a little closer to Spike’s.

“Spiiiike,” he sang. “We have an hour.”

There was no way Spike could ignore him like this, but Spike did his best, closing his eyes and keeping his body tense.

But Xander knew how to break down Spike’s defenses. He tilted his head and then latched his lips onto Spike’s cool, delicate neck, sucking and then softly biting. Spike groaned and immediately loosened his muscles. Chuckling to himself, Xander continued working on Spike’s skin while palming the hardening bulge in Spike’s jeans. Spike groaned again and let his head fall back against the cushions, further exposing himself to Xander’s busy mouth. The remote control dropped from his slack hand, bouncing off the seat and onto the floor. Neither of them paid it any attention.

Without detaching himself from Spike’s neck, Xander fumbled at the vampire’s fly, finally managing to release the trapped erection. He felt Spike’s hips straining slightly upward under his weight. With another silent chuckle, Xander moved his hands up so they were clutching Spike’s shoulders, and scooted a bit more forward so that Spike’s cock was held against the denim at Xander’s groin. Xander’s own cock twitched its approval, and for a moment Xander considered unzipping himself, too. But Spike was already writhing and panting underneath him, and Xander didn’t want to break any contact, even just for a moment.

Xander bit down again on Spike’s tender skin, just a little harder this time, and Spike gasped, “Xan!” Xander loved the sound of him like this, deep and hoarse and all because of what Xander was doing to him. Even though the full moon was a week away, it made the wolf stir inside him. He heard a low, purring growl and realized it wasn’t the vampire, it was himself, happy to be in possession of his mate, pleased to have the powerful creature beneath him thrumming with want and need.

Xander allowed his teeth to dig in a little more, and he ground his lower body into Spike’s.

Spike made a desperate bleating noise and his entire body went rigid, and then Xander could feel tepid fluid soaking through his jeans and the hem of his t-shirt. Spike collapsed backward bonelessly. “Bloody hell!” he rasped.

With a final lick of Spike’s salty-sweet skin, Xander removed his mouth and sat back a little, grinning. “Feel better?”

Spike blinked at him, then shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. “Pet,” he began.

“No, wait. Listen for a minute. I need Oz’s help. It’s really good of him to come here, and I need you to be nice to him. I’ll make it worth your while, okay? And you can stop with the jealousy because I love you, and only you, and that’s it.”

Spike looked slightly chastened. “Sorry. I only…he’s a wolf like you, yeah? Thought maybe you’d rather—“

“Rather screw him because we’re the same kind of monster?”

“Yeah.”

“I told you, he’s not interested. Believe it or not, not everyone finds me irresistible. I’m not interested either, no matter what he is. No matter what I am. Do I have to worry about you and Angel because you’re both vamps? You two go back a hell of a lot longer than me and Oz.”

Spike shuddered and shook his head forcefully. “No. I do not want to shag the pouf.”

“And I do not want to shag Oz. Got it?”

Spike nodded slowly. “All right. ‘M sorry. I….” He sighed. “Can’t bear the thought of losing you.”

It still sent a thrill through Xander to hear those words. Probably always would. “I don’t want any losing either,” he replied softly. “With Oz’s help I’ll be safer, stronger. Able to stick around a lot longer as a thorn in your side.”

Spike smirked. “Doesn’t feel like my side is where you want to be, love,” he said, pressing his palm to Xander’s still-hard cock.

Xander bent down to kiss his lover’s cheek. “I think where I want to be right now is in the bathroom, watching you shower so we can get going. I’m hungry.”

“Stomach outvoting your dick, love?”

“Hmm. Maybe we can please them both.” Xander dismounted Spike and then tugged him to his feet.

Their shower was too small to share. The new one, which was nearly complete, would be plenty big enough for two, but for now, Xander sat naked on the closed toilet, stroking himself and watching Spike leisurely, teasingly, scrub every bit of his beautiful body. By the time the shower was over, Spike had only to climb out, drop to his knees in front of Xander, and open his mouth, and then Xander was emptying himself between those full, water-warmed lips.

Dinner went better than he’d expected.

They’d been about to walk out the door of the hotel when Angel materialized again, and he looked so much like someone who was fishing for an invitation that Xander and Spike rolled their eyes at each other, and then Xander said, “Hey, Angel. Want to come with?”

“Uh, no thanks. I’ve got…that paperwork on the Hrilkot treaty from last week, and some bills, and—“

Xander poked Spike in the side. “C’mon, Peaches,” Spike said. “The work will wait. You can take Buck here in your Viper. Show him your nice big engine.”

Xander suppressed a snicker and he saw the corner of Oz’s lips quirk, too. Angel glowered. But then he shrugged on his coat and he joined them as they walked outside.

Spike and Angel raced each other to the restaurant. Angel won by half a block, and Spike blamed his loss on Xander’s roving hands.

Xander and Oz each ordered about half a cow’s worth of ribs. Xander was finding himself more carnivorous nowadays, even when the moon wasn’t full. Spike had a plate of onion rings and snagged some of Xander’s food, too. Angel didn’t eat at all, but he drank, and by his third beer he was actually looking almost relaxed, for him.

Willow had told Oz only the basics of what had happened, so now Xander filled him in on the details, with Spike adding his perspective now and then. Apparently he’d managed to master his emotions for now, and, although he still touched Xander more often than usual, he was actually pretty pleasant to Oz.

Oz was a good listener. By the time Xander was finishing the last mouthfuls of chocolate cake, the other three had told their guest about Angel’s battle with Wolfram and Hart, and Xander’s time in Africa, and Spike’s death and resurrection.

“Wow,” Oz finally said. “And it’s a big deal for me when I get a bad shipment of lettuce.”

“But your wolf?” Spike asked.

“Pretty mellow, mostly. Couple times a month, Cammie and I hunt deer.”

“So you tamed it,” said Spike.

“No. Just learned to use it wisely.”

“Like the demon,” Angel said thoughtfully. “It’s still there, underneath, but…but it doesn’t rule you. Especially if you let it out to play, now and then.”

Xander made a face. He’d seen how Angel’s demon liked to play. But Oz nodded and downed the last of his Heineken.

“And you can show my boy here how to do this?” Spike asked. His arm was resting on the back of Xander’s chair.

“Yeah.”

“All right, then.”

The waitress came by and dimpled hopefully at Angel. She was blonde and cute, and she’d been flirting with him all night while Angel had been pretending not to notice. Xander was fairly certain he’d be blushing, if vampires could. But maybe the flirting was a good thing, because Angel ended up fumbling for his wallet and paying for dinner, either to get rid of her quickly or to impress her, Xander wasn’t sure. Angel had plenty of money, of course, and Spike always seemed to manage to get his hands on cash somehow, but Xander was dead broke. Most of the time that didn’t bother him, but he didn’t really want to advertise the fact to Oz.

They went out for drinks afterward, at a club where the music wasn’t too bad, and Oz turned out to know the band. Spike and Xander danced together for a while as Oz and Angel sat. When the band took a break, the singer and one of the guitar players joined them, and Xander basked in the other customers’ envious looks. Here was Xander Harris, one-time Zeppo and doughnut boy, with his gorgeous boyfriend and supernatural friends, chatting with half of The Awful Mess. Tonight, Xander Harris was cool.

Angel had set up the hotel’s old ballroom as a training room. Every now and then he and Spike sparred there. Xander liked to watch—the deadly dance of those two powerful bodies was a thing of beauty. Lately, Spike had been bringing Xander there, too, teaching him some fancy fighting moves. Nobody had ever really bothered to do that with him, and it turned out he wasn’t as awful as he’d feared. Maybe the wolf helped, even when he was in human form. He still ended up bruised and battered, but he healed a lot faster, and Spike was always happy to kiss him better.

This afternoon, though, Spike and Angel were still asleep as Xander and Oz sat on the floor in the middle of the big, nearly empty room. Xander was yawning himself—he kept mainly vampire hours, these days—and wishing he’d had a third cup of coffee. He was wearing a pair of sweats and an orange Spongebob tee that he’d bought mostly to tease Spike, whom he’d once caught clandestinely glued to Nickelodeon, caught up in adventures in the pineapple under the sea. Spike had not been amused at the shirt at all, and had responded when he first saw it by wrestling Xander to the ground, tugging Xander’s jeans down over his hips, and giving him a good spanking.

So that had worked out pretty well.

“Stop thinking about Spike, man.”

Xander blinked back into focus. “How could you tell?”

“Goofy smile. You two have it bad.”

“Yeah, I…. Sorry. I’ll pay attention now.”

“Like you did in school.”

“Mmm, better. Much better.” Xander tried to empty his overfull mind, to focus on what Oz had to say. This wasn’t algebra—he was actually going to need this in real life. “Go ahead.”

Oz looked a little skeptical. “Okay, so you know the wolf is you and you’re the wolf, right?”

“Right.”

“That doesn’t bug you?”

Xander shrugged. “Like I said, I kinda like it. It saved my life once already. And, well, it feels good.” He was a little embarrassed to admit this, but Oz nodded sagely.

“Yeah. Okay. So if you want to control a wolf, you gotta think like one. You ever have a dog?”

Xander shook his head. “Parents wouldn’t let me. Probably just as well. On the Hellmouth it’d probably have turned out to be some kind of brain-eating demon in disguise or something. Or a weredog. Are there weredogs, too? Or maybe werecats? Because--”

“Focus.”

“Sorry.”

“So wolves, dogs, they like a pack. They respect pack structure.”

“Respect the pack. Got it.”

“Who’s your pack, Xan?”

“Uh…does it have to be wolves?”

“No.” Oz shrugged. “Dogs make humans their pack, right?”

“So…I guess mine is Spike and Angel. Huh. I’m probably the first werewolf with a vamp pack.” He couldn’t help laughing a little at the thought.

Oz looked thoughtful, and Xander remembered that his old friend was actually a pretty smart guy—Willow-smart, almost—even though his grades had never reflected it. After a few minutes, Oz said “I think it’ll help if you let one of them be alpha.”

“Alpha. Like, the boss of me?”

“Head of the pack. They’re strong enough for it. When you’re being wolfish, you’ll tend to follow your alpha’s lead. It’ll help with your control.”

Xander folded his arms stubbornly across his chest. “I am so not letting Angel be my alpha.”

“Spike, then.”

“Does than mean I have to obey him all the time?” Spike would probably like that, but only for a little while, Xander suspected. And obedience wasn’t really Xander’s strongpoint anyway.

But Oz shook his head. “Just when you’re furry. You can boss him the rest of the time.”

Xander thought this over. He rolled the idea around a little in his head, and then let the wolf taste it. The wolf silently bayed its approval. It wanted a pack and a strong pack leader.

“Okay,” Xander said at last. “I can do that. How much power can I have over this thing, Oz?”

“It took practice. A lot. But now I don’t have to change when the moon is full. And I can change the rest of the month, if I try.”

This was better than Xander had hoped for. It would mean that he could shift only when he wanted to, when it would be useful, or when Spike was close by to keep him from chowing down on the good citizens of Los Angeles.

“Okay,” Xander said. “Teach me how.”

By the time Oz had been there a week, he’d taught Xander all he knew. The rest, he said, would come with practice. Already, Xander felt more confident, more in command of himself. When the moon rose in its full glory, he still changed, but this time it was different. They’d told Spike how to take on the mantle of alpha, and he had, gladly. Xander-as-wolf looked to his leader, and his leader guided and calmed him, and this month Xander didn’t need to be caged. He didn’t feel ready yet to leave the Hyperion on all fours, but he was pretty sure he’d be able to do that in a month or two.

Angel gave Oz a quick goodbye, and Spike flung an arm around him and thanked him for helping his boy. And then Xander and Oz piled into the GTO—it was still too early for the vampires to be outside—and drove to LAX.

Standing a little awkwardly in the drop-off zone, Xander finally gave in and hugged Oz. “Thanks, man. I mean…you’ve saved me, you know?”

“It’s all good, Xan.”

“Take good care of those groceries. And your girlfriend.”

Oz’s face suddenly split into a huge grin. “Did I tell you? She’s pregnant.”

Xan whooped. “Puppies! You’ll make a great Dad, Oz.”

Oz looked solemn again. “Not like mine.”

“Or mine.”

They nodded in mutual understanding, and then Xander clapped Oz once more on the back. “You’re welcome here anytime, you know?”

Oz smiled and gave him a little salute, and then shouldered his bag. Xander watched as his old friend disappeared into the airport crowds. Then he hopped in the car and sped off, anxious to get home before the sun set.