CLOSED ♔ YOUR PRINCESS IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE

[slay]

WHO || Buffy Summers & Spike
WHAT || Buffy and Spike play more Mario Kart
WHERE || Knights HQ, Game Room
WHEN || July 30
HOW || Prose

A girl like Buffy shouldn't have been spending the sunnier part of a summer day inside. And she hadn't been -- for most of it. She'd had plenty of hang around outside and enjoy the sun time. It was just that, well, it was muggy and gross and the sun wasn't even that sunny, more of a partly cloudy, and who ever thought England was that great anyway? Even when it wasn't foggy, it was icky in one way or another.

Anyway. She'd wound up inside, pacing the halls, restless, and found her way to Spike's door. We're not discussing how she knew which bedroom was his. Theirs is a forbidden love. She hung around outside of it for what felt like a great long while, tongue pressed against the inside of her cheek, warring with herself.

He was probably sleeping was the primary excuse she used to try and convince herself not to knock. It was better than addressing the million other actual reasons she might not have wanted to, like the fact that even when they were friends it felt baggage-y. And it did nothing for the twitchy feeling in her spine and she was starting to think it was just ... Spike-sense. Which was a whole 'nother ballpark of don't wanna acknowledge.

She reached out decisively and rapped her knuckles on his door with a few hurried knocks.

Comments

[bigbad]

He was sleeping, but not soundly. He woke up when he heard her knock and rolled out of bed with a thump. It was dark in his room, but that didn't slow him down. He was a vampire. The dark held no mysteries for him. It only took him another moment of scrabbling to locate his trousers and pull them up. By then he knew it was Buffy. Her scent was as familiar as his own by now. It was rich and sweet, with a certain... something underlying it that he didn't know how to describe. Maybe if humans had better noses, there'd be more smell description words.

He stumbled over to the door and opened it, blinking a little at the light. His hair was mussed from sleep, and he hadn't bothered with a shirt. It was pretty obvious what he'd been doing. But he still smiled at her. He was always happy to see Buffy.

"Morning, love."

[slay]

As the door swung open, Buffy opened her mouth to speak. She didn't get any words out, however, before she saw him, and her jaw remained slack, eyes widening just a little as they slowly dropped from his face, down the planes of his chest, and they'd reached his waistband (oh thank god) before she managed to forcibly drag them back up, mouth widening further with a determined effort to get something out.

Her gaze trained on his for just a beat before she shut her eyes, and then her mouth, and furrowed her brow, trying to remember what she was going to say.

Yeah, that wasn't happening.

Her mouth and eyes both opened back up and she decided to launch into the first thing that came to mind to fill the stupid silence that was spanning. "Afternoon, actually." She glanced past him into the dark room. "You were asleep," she observed plainly, then swallowed thickly, schooling her expression and composing herself better. "Bad time?"

[bigbad]

Well, that was flattering. By the time she managed to speak after her very obvious ogling, his lips had curled into a smirk, and he looked a lot more awake. Nothing like being admired by a girl you fancied to help greet the... afternoon.

"It's fine, I'd have woken up soon enough anyway." He didn't need much sleep, though he'd often snore the day away just to kill time. There was only so much you could do when you couldn't go outside. But spending time with Buffy was far better than sleeping. "Something you wanted?" He shifted casually in a way that just happened to make his muscles ripple in interesting ways. Not on purpose at all, of course.

[slay]

"I--" Yes. She wanted something. Her eyes briefly flickered down at the twitch of muscle, but she caught herself immediately and held her gaze firm on his face. There was a close-mouthed 'umm' noise and she shut her eyes, shaking her head, trying to get it together.

"Yeah." Her eyes opened again, expression more focused on his face and her words, though she still babbled her way through them. "Yeah, I was just … I mean, nothing in particular, but we never did get around to those video games, a-and I just thought …"

[bigbad]

"You woke me up cause you wanted to play video games with me?" Somehow, that was even more flattering than her inability to look away from his chest. "...yeah, all right." He smirked at her, unable to resist teasing a little. "Should I put on a shirt? Cause you seem to like the view..."

[slay]

Indignation welled up in her and her cheeks puffed out a little as she huffed, flustered, reaching up to shove him lightly back into the room.

"Go. Shirt." She ground out, then continued to babble defectively along the lines of and who even decides to just answer the door without a shirt, anyway? Hello? Polite society much? Her hands folded over her chest and she scowled, waiting outside for him to finish getting dressed.

[bigbad]

He laughed at her and ducked back into the room. He located a shirt pretty quickly. The nice thing about always wearing pretty much the same outfit was that it really cut down on time spent deciding what to wear. He belted his pants and even put on shoes, though he left his jacket on the chair where he'd left it. He was just going to the video game room with Buffy. He didn't need it.

He was still smirking when he emerged from his room again. "All right. Let's go."

[slay]

Catching sight of the smirk left her jaw clenched and she found herself rolling her eyes liberally as she turned to head towards the game room, keeping pace alongside him.

"I didn't like the view," she defended, as though she had been preparing it while he dressed. "I was blinded. Temporarily. Like looking into the sun, except looking into the hasn't seen the sun in just this side of forever. I wasn't ogling, I was … I was blinded."

Not the most convincing, but it'd do in a pinch.

[bigbad]

"You were blinded by me?" He raises an eyebrow at her, still looking way too smug about the whole situation. "I don't think I've ever gotten that from a girl before."

[slay]

"Blinded by the paleness of you," Buffy replied with a bit more resolve. It sounded less and less convincing as the conversation continued. Maybe she should have deflected. "And I'm not a girl, I'm -- I mean, I am a girl, obviously, but not like that. I'm your teammate. And … friend. And girl is so completely the least relevant and yet observe how it's the first you go to."

[bigbad]

"Never had a teammate and friend blinded by my abs either." He nudged her with his arm, the smug smirk melting into more amusement as the conversation goes on. She really wasn't convincing, but he didn't care. Her babbling was more fun than any convincing excuse. "It's all right, love. Next time you'll know to bring sunglasses. Just in case."

[slay]

"I saw no abs. Just blinding white." The response was prim and stubborn and she raised her eyebrows, giving him a 'so there' sort of look, then pushing open the game room door to let them in.

[bigbad]

He let it pass, even though she sure had stared a lot for someone being blinded. But she doesn't need to admit it to make it true. "Just don't try and claim the whiteness of my abs is what makes you lose when it happens."

He followed her into the room, heading to set up the game. "Still want to do Mario Kart? Or should we try something else?"

[slay]

"You're just hoping I'll say you can take your shirt off at any time to secure an excuse." Buffy dropped onto the couch, letting him take care of the game because, let's face it, she wouldn't know where to start. She folded her legs in front of her. "Mario Kart's good. Assuming you haven't been practicing."

[bigbad]

He put Mario Kart into the wii and grabbed the two steering wheels, tossing one at Buffy. "Yeah, I figure you wouldn't hesitate to blame my blinding abs if you had the chance." He toyed with the hem of his shirt, moving it upwards as if he were going to reveal his dangerously white chest again, but he dropped it before more than a flash of skin could be revealed. Buffy's eyes were safe.

Though honestly, he was pretty sure that was the one excuse she wouldn't use. Considering how hard she worked to convince him she hadn't been looking to begin with, it didn't seem to be something she'd admit to, even to try and make a loss not count.

[slay]

"You're such an ass," she scowled as he teased the hem of his shirt, setting her controller aside. "Just sit down." She grabbed a throw pillow to toss it at him, then picked up the controller and shifting to get situated.

[bigbad]

He grinned at her as he batted the pillow away, then obediently went over to the couch and flopped down next to her. So maybe he was a bit of an ass. He flipped through the settings, choosing Dry Bowser because he seems like the fiercest. "What course do you want this time? Ready to try Rainbow Bridge?"

[slay]

When he dropped down, Buffy gave one final shift to sit closer to him, legs bumping with just minor contact, then set about picking the girliest character she could find (Princess Peach), through no small effort. The controller was a readjustment, after several months since she'd played the one time.

"What, I don't even get minor warm-up time first? You have been practicing," she accused, shooting him a wary, sidelong look.

[bigbad]

"Nope. I'm this amazing at it naturally." Which was to say he was okay at it and enjoyed bragging about minor victories. "Luigi Circuit it is." He selected the easiest one and smirked over at Buffy as the animation started. "Are you ready?"

[slay]

"Aren't you supposed to ask that before you make it go?" Her arched eyebrow conveyed good humor, despite the grouchiness of the words, and she turned her attention on the TV in time to get the jump as the checkered flag animation signaled the start of the race.

She moved her steering wheel with jerky, erratic movements, mashing her thumb on the 'A' button as if more force would somehow make it register more, the way an actual accelerator did. She does better than she did the last time around, though, navigating the curves a little better (though she has to lean into it to do so). On the whole, she makes a pretty good run of it, keeping well ahead of the pack and contending with the top few CPU cars.

(Computer use check 17.)

[bigbad]

Spike was distracted by Buffy's interesting technique, or how when she moved her leg bumped against him and he was a little worried she'd smack him in the face during one of her more exciting steering moments.

Either that or he was more rusty than he thought. He didn't come in dead last since it was the easiest course and how high can the dc be anyway? But he certainly didn't do well. He started by driving into the pole of the start sign and it only got worse from there. He frequently drove off the road or ran into things or got hit by flying turtles and it was just bad.

(computer use check 6)

[slay]

"Wow. Yeah. Natural talent. I am definitely amazed." This and other quips were strewn throughout the match, and when she finished (in first) she leapt of the couch with a whoop and held her steering wheel in the air like a trophy in one hand, turning her head around quickly to look at Spike for encouragement and some shared enthusiasm.

[bigbad]

Spike quipped back with grumbled comments about how she was cheating and he'd catch up and generally being grumpy about losing, but he couldn't keep it up in the face of her excitement. His scowl melted into a grin, and he inclined his head towards her.

"All right, not bad." Pretty excellent, actually. She was lucky he was a better loser than she was. "But I'm winning next round."

[slay]

The look on his face made her grin widen and she released a short breath, dropping her hands to her sides and then moving to find her seat on the couch again beside him with her shoulder bumping against his. She nudged him lightly with her elbow, amusement evident.

"You're just playing the odds, I think," she straightened up. "But, if that's the way you wanna play it … Fine. Let's try your Rainbow Bridge."

[bigbad]

"I'm just getting warmed up." He leaned his head towards her, not far enough to actually touch her, but enough that he could smell her hair for a moment before she was sitting up.

"We don't have to," he said, turning to face her more fully. "I was mostly kidding. It's the hardest level, love. There are others we could do. Like this one where you bounce on mushrooms. That one's fun."