[Reviews - 212]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 3892 times

- Text Size +




Author's Chapter Notes:
I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Hope you enjoy!
When Buffy finally started school, the apartment fell into an easy routine. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday the three roommates would gather at 7:30 for breakfast. Sometimes Will or Spike would feel industrious and make breakfast, but most of the time it was a cereal-and-bagel affair. Then they would all leave; Spike and Will would drop Buffy off at campus, even though it was out of their way. Tuesdays and Fridays Buffy usually slept in before heading to Slayer to take care of paperwork and teach a few classes. Spike and Will both agreed the days we much tougher when Buffy didn’t give it a jump start.

Occasionally, Will and Spike would come home to surprise take out or a Buffy made dinner, carefully supervised by Willow and Tara, who had agreed (tentatively) to give Buffy cooking lessons. She wasn’t ready to fly solo by any stretch of the imagination, but at least she’d stopped burning the water and the Twins no longer had to lie about liking her food. Much.

Riley studiously avoided the apartment as much as he could, which suited Spike and Will just fine. At least when Buffy was gone they could pretend she was just spending the night with Will. But when Riley stayed over, it was a little difficult to live in Denial. Both the bottle blondes tended to make themselves scares when Captain Cardboard was around. Strangely, Buffy never commented on that, to either side. She never asked them to get along, never lectured them about being childish and immature. She just…let it go.

Riley moments aside, the little apartment was flourishing. It was THE place to be. Buffy’s friends had meshed seamlessly with Spike’s. The apartment became the Staging Area, as named by Will, where everyone met to go out, get drunk, make plans, or search for anyone who wasn’t picking up their cell phone. No one but Xander seemed to mind this course of action. Gunn, who’d become close with Faith and Robin, kept mentioning all of the parties and get-togethers various members of the group were having that Xander had no knowledge of. Xander felt cut out and forgotten. It never occurred to him to pick up the phone and ask someone what was up.

But all in all, life was going great.

************ ************ **** ************ ************

Buffy stretched her aching, cramped muscles. She was so sick of studying; she needed to get out, needed to DO something. This midterm was kicking her ass and she needed a time out. Maybe the Twins would be up for some coffee or a walk or anything that got her moving and outdoors. OH! A good sparring session would be perfect!

She knocked on Spike’s door, but got no response. Huh. Maybe he didn’t want to disturb her and had his headphones on? Buffy slowly pushed the door open, giving him time to say something if her were…ah, indisposed. She poked her head in and found…nothing. The sound of the shower running invaded her senses. Right. Shower. OK, maybe Will then.

She walked down the hall to Will’s room and knocked on the door. And got no response. OK, maybe HE had the headphones on. She opened his door and stuck her head in. No Will. Buffy shook her head, trying to get past the confusion. There was no way either of them had left the apartment. She’d been camped out on the couch all night studying for her exam. So they had to be here…but where? The only answer she could come up with was the shower. Both of them. Together.

Ok, Will and Spike may be twins, but she was pretty sure that twins stopped doing *everything* together at a certain age. Maybe one of them was just…in…the bathroom. Hanging out? Buffy moved around the room, lost in thought, her brain running a mile a minute. OK, tie to try thinking logically. She sat down on the well made bed and smoothed away an invisible wrinkle. So what did this mean, if they were showering together? Well, obviously, that they took showers together.

Which means they’re naked together, a voice pointed out.

OK, so? What did that matter.

How many brothers do you know that still shower together?

Alright, not many. Or any at all. But that wa—

Buffy froze. Hold on. Be kind, rewind. She looked down at the bed. The nicely made bed with the covers tucked neatly in. Since with did the Twinlets actually MAKE their beds? She’s seen Spike’s version of changing sheets. It consisted of gleefully yanking off the old ones and throwing ‘sufficiently rumpled’ ones back on. He usually left the duvet on the floor until he needed it. And come to think of it, she’d never heard Will mention changing his sheets, though he’d changed Spike’s a time or two, with about as much care as his twin. Buffy took a good look at the room she was in.

The first word she thought of was…sterile. Not in the hospital sense of the word, but definitely in the Will/Spike sense of the word. There were posters on the wall, and a few personal items arranged on the drawer top but…the room didn’t feel lived in. Buffy opened a drawer. There, neatly folded, were winter clothes. Well, as winter as California got, but definitely seasonal. She opened the closet; there were nice suits and a couple of tuxes in cleaner’s bags—nothing you would use everyday. This…this was a guest room and storage! Buffy sat heavily on the plush bed to sort through all the information running through her head.

Spike and Will lived together. Like, LIVED together lived together. Which was a little odd. There was some wiggle room with the whole twin thing. They had grown up together, probably doing and sharing everything…why stop just because they got older? It was probably…habit. A habit they had never bothered breaking. And why start now? It made sense.

Yeah, in the “I’m trying to make this work” kind of way, a sarcastic voice pointed out.

Really, what was so wrong with it? So they showered together, slept in the same bed. What was wrong with that? Buffy tried to think up a valid reason.

Dependency issues, the voice said dryly. Buffy almost missed the Purely Sensual part of her. At least that one told her exactly what it wanted instead of being sarcastic. Where did her own voices get off mocking her anyway?

And no, they didn’t have dependency issues. Each of them had distinct lives. They did a lot together, asked each other’s opinions about a lot of things, but they could function alone. She’d seen it. They even argued. A lot. About little, stupid things. But they were still disagreements. And they didn’t cling.

They SHARE the same BED and take SHOWERS…all together!

Well, they HAD another one, they could use it if they needed too. Like…if one of them brought a girlfriend over or wanted some…um…private time.

Bed time *is* private time. Unless…

Buffy cut that thought right off. Not only was Purely Sensual Buffy having was too much fun distracting her with images of the Twinlet’s having no-so-alone time, but…she couldn’t bring herself to feel truly disgusted with their possible behavior. Because it was kind of hot. In a I-don’t-want-my-roommates kind or way, naturally.

“Buffy?” a startled voice broke through her thoughts. Buffy jumped and slid right off the edge of the bed.

“I-I’m OK!” she called, standing up…to a gorgeous view of Spike’s sculpted chest. Droplets of water were trickling down towards the white towel that cruelly hid the rest of him from her gaze. She continued her perusal where the towel ended at his knees, down his nice claves and to his sexy feet. Huh. She’d never thought feet were sexy.

“Buffy? Why were you in here?” Spike asked, a small smile on his face.

“Does anyone live in here?” she blurted. Oh no. That was not what she wanted to say. She didn’t want to bring this up. Not now. Oh, bad mouth! Spike looked startled.

“I….ah…th-this is Will’s room.”

“Oh. What are you doing in it?”

“I. Heh. I, um, needed a—“

“Hey, Spike, did you find the…” Will trailed off, his eyes wide.

Buffy didn’t know what to say. Will was standing there…naked. OK, there may have been a little towel covering things, but pretty much naked. Her eyes dropped to his OH MY FUCKING GOD.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up, Purely Sensual Buffy said wistfully. Buffy sternly commanded her inner slut to shut up. But Will was…he was…a little aroused and…wow. Will suddenly sprinted into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. Spike collapsed on the bed with a groan, resting his head in his hands. This was not good.

“Ah…I’m just going to…yeah,” Buffy mumbled, her brain still short-circuiting. Naked Will flashed behind her eyes. Gah.

“Buffy, I’m sorry, we…we tried. We didn’t want you to…” Spike trailed off miserably. This was no supposed to happen. Now they were going to lose her, before they’d even had her, one or both of them. Spike wanted to cry and kill something all at once. This was so unfair.

“We’ll let you out of the lease, no questions asked. It’s not a problem, we can—“

“You’ll WHAT?” Buffy cried. They were going to kick her out? She was briefly distracted by the bathroom door opening.

“Buffy,” Will began.

“You’re kicking me out?!”

“What? No. Who…SPIKE!” Will yelled.

“Oi! No! I just said we’d let her out of the lease without—“

“Why the bloody hell would you say that? Not that it’s not true, pet, if you ever wanted to leave, I mean, we’re not—“

“I’m not leaving,” Buffy yelled. “I just…asked a question.” Spike looked miserably at Will, who finally realized what question Buffy must have asked.

“Oh,” Will said, slumping down on the bed beside his brother. Buffy randomly noted they both looked liked she’d just killed their dog.

“Look, it’s fine. I don’t care. I just…why didn’t you tell me?” Buffy cringed at the petulant note her question took.

“Well…we’ve had, um, problems in the past, and we really like you, kitten,” Will murmured, rubbing soothing circles on Spike’s back. “And we didn’t want to do anything to make you want to leave.”

“I’m not leaving,” Buffy stated definitively. “I like living her way too much. Like I said, whatever makes you happy, I’m all for it.” Her breath caught when Spike smiled at her; really smiled. It was beautiful.

“But don’t think you’re not going to buy me heaps of Ben and Jerry’s for lying!”





You must login (register) to review.