Redefinition (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Spike/Xander)

A cool breeze blew in from the open window, not really doing much to alleviate the awful summer heat, but it at least got the air moving in the basement enough that it didn’t seem as hot. A quiet calm radiated over the neighborhood. In the distance he could hear faded music from a scratchy stereo, the sound barely audible over the low hum of crickets in the yard surrounding his house. On a night like this Xander almost forgot that he was living on top of a giant demon magnet. Everything was peaceful, the kind of still quiet that came only in movies. Even the local baddies seemed to be affected by the heat. There didn’t seem to be anything happening in the ‘Dale tonight. No evil plots, no rampaging demons or insane wizards, nothing. There were still vampires and Buffy was still doing her rounds, but those things never went away. It was quiet enough that the rest of them could take the night off.

Problem was Xander didn’t really have much to do on his night off, or at least nothing that he wanted to do in the oppressive heat that had seemingly stolen the reign of terror from the resident evil baddies. There hadn’t been any big evils lurking around recently, just the heat. Even their own pet evil had up and disappeared. No one had seen or heard from Spike in over two weeks, not that anyone but Xander cared…. or that Xander would admit that he cared. But really he just missed the fact that he didn’t have anyone to go out drinking with or play pool with. Really, that was it.

So Xander lay on his bed, the only thing he could work up energy to do. He let his orange button-up shirt hang open while he pretended that he wasn’t moping over the lack of gorgeous bleached Brits in his general vicinity or feeling hurt that said not-thought-about vampire had skipped town without even a word to Xander. Not that he thought Spike was gorgeous. Of course not, no. That would mean admitting that his heterosexuality was slowly being eaten away by the presence of a very han… no, not handsome, a very… something-not-gay-sounding vampire. But it wasn’t the lack of eye candy that got to him. No, some small and obviously insane part of his brain had come up with the idea that Xander actually meant something to Spike.

Which he didn’t. Obviously.