Work Text:
It was Dawn’s fault. She didn’t mean to, of course, but it was definitely Dawn’s fault. She was just perusing around the magic shop like she usually did when she was bored and stalling from homework when she happened upon a tiny glowing pink perfume bottle on one of the shelves. How the hell it got there, neither Anya nor Giles nor anyone else knew, but it was most certainly not supposed to be there. Its placement (when described to them later by Dawn) made it seem as if a customer must’ve set it down and forgotten it there. Either way, she thought it was super cute and smelled like girly flowers, so it seemed like the perfect prank to spray it on Angel when he and Spike entered the shop. A huge tough vampire smelling like Bath and Body Works. It was just so great!
All Dawn gave him was a single spritz.
Angel halted in surprise and sniffed the air, sensing for what the hell that spraying sound was. His nostrils were flooded with a light springy sent that made his eyes water. He shut them, rubbed them and then blinked away the tears as his pupils swelled.
Spike nudged his shoulder. “You alright, Pet?”
Angel turned to him, and the result was instantaneous. His dark brown irises flashed to the same hot pink color as the bottle, and he pulled Spike in for a rough kiss.
Dawn shrieked and covered her eyes. “Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit,” she hissed. What had she done?
Spike’s mouth was so fucking warm, for a vampire, at least. Angel had this gnawing hunger inside him. Once he’d placed his lips over Spike’s, he couldn’t resist. He just needed more, more, more, more.
He nipped at Spike’s lip, which caused the blond to yelp and allow Angel the opportunity to shoot his tongue inside. Angel groaned into the kiss, hands tangled tightly in Spike’s bleached hair.
Finally, Spike overcame his shock and barely managed to yank his well-muscled sire off him.
“’the bloody hell was that?!” Spike snapped, feeling his stinging lip. “You fucking bit me!”
Angel smirked, brushing Spike’s hand aside and licking the blood straight off.
Spike punched him in the face.
Giles stared at the mess before them. Well, it was just a very depressed and annoyed Spike sitting at the table with Angel twined around his arm, head on his shoulder.
“You’re so cute,” he purred, kissing Spike’s shoulder. “I love you .”
“Get off me,” Spike grit for the millionth time in these achingly long two minutes.
Willow and Tara were marveled. “Just wait til Buffy sees this,” Willow murmured.
“Dawn, you’re paying full price for that—whatever that thing was you used!” Anya called from the register. She was flipping hastily through the list of their stocked items. “Although, I swear we didn’t have any love potions…”
“We definitely didn’t,” Giles confirmed grimly.
Dawn groaned, plopping down across from Spike and Angel with her head in her hands. “I’m sorry, guys, I swear I thought it was Buffy’s or something! It looks just like normal perfume, doesn’t it?”
Tara picked up the bottle from the table and turned it around, the light filtering through the bright translucent glass. “Huh. It does.” She sniffed the nozzle. “Smells like it, too.”
“Thank you!” Dawn sighed with relief.
Meanwhile, Angel was peppering kisses along Spike’s cheek and jaw.
Spike growled, slamming a hand into Angel’s forehead and forcing him back. “Cut it out.”
Angel pouted. “Baby…”
Spike’s eyes went scary serious. “Don’t call me that.” Giles had to hide a smile, however, when he saw how red the tips of Spike’s pasty ears were becoming.
Angel maneuvered his way easily out of Spike’s grasp until he was back against his shoulder comfortably, this time his legs in Spike’s lap. “Spike, have I ever told you how handsome you are?”
“Fortunately, no.”
“Your eyes are so blue,” Angel murmured, gently grabbing Spike by the chin and turning his face to look at him. He smiled, and Giles would be damned if he’d ever seen him look so happy. He tried to lean in for a kiss, but Spike tossed him off his lap to the floor.
He stood up abruptly, chair squeaking painfully against the floor. “Would one of you wankers get off your asses and undo this already?!”
“Baby,” Angel cooed, popping right up from the floor to wrap his arms around Spike’s waist. “Everything’ll be alright, yeah?” He kissed Spike’s neck, and Spike felt a flush spread from the point of contact all the way to his cheeks.
“Angel, love. Sweet, darling, beautiful Angel, dear.”
“Yes?” Angel asked, voice brimming with delight at the sudden affection.
“If you don’t get off of me in the next two seconds, I’m going to rip off the leg of this chair here and stake you my goddamn self,” Spike growled. As said, he turned to attack, and Willow and Tara lurched forward to pry Angel off him.
Dawn shrieked, flinching away.
“Spike!” Giles barked. “You need to calm down. Angel, try minding his personal space, perhaps…” It was then that he got a good look at Angel’s irises for the first time, a deeply saturated hot pink. They seemed to be nearly pulsing with desire from the way he was staring at Spike.
“Why?” Angel sneered, yanking his arms roughly away from the witches. “You plan on sneaking in to steal him from me?” He wrapped Spike in a protective back hug, which made the blonde’s jaw clench.
Giles sighed heavily and cleaned his glasses on his shirt. This was going to be a long ass day.
Anya appeared beside him, humming at the vampires. “And you haven’t the slightest idea how to fix this?”
“Yeah, what did we do when this happened to Xander?” Willow piped up suddenly.
Giles shot her a look.
Anya’s face flashed with wrath. “What?”
“It’s nothing,” the British man said quickly, placing his glasses back on with a nervous chuckle.
“Someone gave Xander a love potion?”
“No,” Willow and Giles said simultaneously. The last thing they needed right now was an angry Anya.
Anya glared at Willow. “That’s right. You did kiss Xander, didn’t you? That’s why I granted Cordelia’s wish in the first place. You used a love potion on him, didn’t you?” she accused with a venomous finger.
“It was Xander!” Willow protested, unable to stand such accusations. “The kiss is totally unrelated.”
Tara made a face. “I’ve kissed the lips that kissed Xander?”
Willow shushed her. “The point is Xander had a girl cast a love spell so Cordelia would fall in love with him so he could break up with her.” She chuckled. “But it went totally awry and every girl in town fell for him except Cordelia.”
Anya’s expression went blank. “Uh…what?”
Willow shook her head. “Nevermind. It’s complicated.”
Anya turned to Giles. “Well, that’s love stuff, even if it makes no sense, so can’t we just do whatever you did to fix it then?”
“Please,” Spike begged, trying to wrangle out of Angel’s bear hug. “I’ll try anything.”
“Spike,” Angel hissed in his ear, hot break fanning over the shell and making him shiver. “Let’s get out of here.” He nipped Spike’s earlobe and Spike bit his lip.
“You know what?” he huffed. “Let’s just sit down again and get comfy, shall we, love? Because I really don’t like this whole being strangled to death thing you’ve got going.”
Angel seemed happy enough to comply, plopping himself down on the bench and winding himself around Spike’s arm again the moment he sat down.
Giles shook his head with a sigh. “Unfortunately, in that scenario what we faced was a love spell , not a potion. All we had to do was cast the reverse spell to undo its effects. We’re going to have to wait until this potion wears off by itself or find some sort of cure before this becomes permanent.”
“PERMANENT?” Spike howled, jumping in his seat. “You’ve got to be bloody kidding me! This is a good load of bollucks. Crack open some of those goddamn books for Christ’s sake. Find him a cure!”
Angel’s hand slipped beneath his shirt, rubbing small circles on his back. He loved the smoothness of Spike’s skin, was transfixed by it. “Relax, Spike. You’re awfully tense.”
Spike sighed with huffy defeat, melting against Angel with a big pout. This sucked. Stupid fucking Angel. Stupid fucking love potion. Stupid fucking Scoobies and their useless brains.
A little while later, after Buffy had arrived with her eyes bulging out of her head, the Scoobies had finally found what might be some helpful research.
Giles hummed and pointed to one of the images on the page. “It could be this,” he said quietly to Buffy. “But are we dealing with a love potion or a lust potion?”
Buffy glanced up at Angel, who had a sleeping Spike’s head in his lap, running his fingers through the blonde curls.
“Love potion,” she said decisively. “He’s not exactly trying to rip his clothes off.”
“You should’ve seen him before,” Dawn snorted, fiddling with the perfume bottle.
So, they tried an herbal remedy to the love potion, something that would hopefully diminish its effects on Angel. It was a muggy liquid that smelled earthy but not unbearable.
Buffy handed it to Angel with a nervous smile. “Bon appetit?”
He took the glass from her and raised an eyebrow. “This doesn’t look like blood.”
“It’s uh, pig’s blood,” Buffy said with a wide smile. “Yep. A new brand. A little muddy looking from all the uh, mud in their blood, but I heard it’s really good. An acquired taste.” She chuckled nervously. “Gourmet.”
Spike stirred in his sleep, cuddling closer to Angel’s stomach. Angel smiled softly and kissed Spike’s forehead, which made Buffy’s heart ache. This potion, although a nuisance, seemed to make Angel pretty happy. What were they taking away from him? Was Buffy just going to break his heart once again?
Angel shrugged and took a hesitant sip of the liquid. He scrunched his nose. “Blegh! This is disgusting,” he coughed, trying to place it on the table.
Buffy’s eyes widened and she caught his wrist, forcing a smile. “Pretty please, Angel? It, uh, Spike asked us to get it for you. As a gift for being so sweet to him lately.”
Angel’s eyes widened. He took a hesitant sip, and as if deciding it wasn’t all that bad, downed the rest. The Scoobies waited the suggested five minutes before gathering around the table, peering anxiously at Angel’s face.
He’d been humming to Spike gently, and now he looked up at them warily. “What? Why is everyone acting so weird?”
“Feel any different?” Dawn asked nervously.
Anya grinned. “About Spike?”
Angel glared and both hands clutched Spike closer. “No,” he growled, “he’s mine. So, you can all back off.”
“Peaches,” Spike grumbled groggily, eyes still closed. “Could you tone it down? I’m tryna catch some beauty sleep here.”
Angel smiled at him fondly, pecking his nose. “Perfect boy. You don’t need beauty sleep.”
Spike groaned and snuggled closer to him, hiding his face.
“Okay,” Angel murmured, stroking his hair again. “I’ll be quiet.”
“Okay,” Tara said as they regrouped in the back. “That definitely didn’t work.”
“You have to admit, they make a cute couple,” Willow giggled.
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Giles, what are the other suggestions?”
Giles scratched the back of his neck nervously, flipping through the book. “You see, that really was the only suggestion. There are minor ones, but this is the remedy that’s supposed to cover all of it. The only possibility is that it really is a lust potion, or that there’s something else inside that perfume bottle that triggered the same effects as a love potion.”
The gang returned to their research. Shortly after, Xander arrived from the end of his shift to help out. It was a full hands-on-deck situation, with Spike trying to keep Angel’s protectiveness at bay.
“They keep looking over here,” Angel growled, pinning Spike to the floor.
Spike rolled his eyes. “Probably ‘cause you’re acting like a lunatic, genius.”
Angel kissed him roughly, groaning against his mouth and grinding his hips.
Spike gasped, pleasure coursing through his gut. “Stop,” he panted, turning his head away.
Angel ground again.
“ That ,” Spike growled, grabbing his hips. “Stop that .”
“Why?” Angel purred slyly, leaning over him to kiss his neck. “Are you getting hard for me? Right here in front of everyone?”
“Angel,” Spike warned, “the getting staked in the chest is still on the table.”
Angel nuzzled his neck, voice whiny. “I need you.” He placed a kiss there. “Lemme fuck you, baby.”
Spike’s face went hot. “When you get back to your usual self, I’m never gonna let you forget this.”
“Good,” Angel whispered, nipping at his flesh. “I want to remember every second.”
“Giles,” Dawn hissed suddenly. She was sitting next to him on the stairs. She’d been flipping idly through the pages, barely reading when she came across a picture of a perfume bottle. “Do you think it could be this?” she said quietly.
Giles took the book from her, eyes widening as he read the description. He opened and closed his mouth, stunned. “It’s definitely possible.” Regardless, they had to try.
Giles handed Angel the glass of clear liquid. Spike had managed to pry them both off the floor and back into the chairs.
“What the hell is everyone giving me drinks for?” Angel grumbled.
“Drink up,” Spike said, forcing his voice to be as sweet as possible. He even squeezed the bastard’s hand. “Gotta stay hydrated.”
Angel rolled his eyes but complied. It took about a minute before his face wrinkled up and he sneezed, expelling a puff of glittery pink powder.
Spike sighed with relief. Angel opened his eyes, staring at him with normal brown irises.
“…Why are you holding my hand?”
“You don’t remember?” Spike guffawed, yanking his hand away. “You should’ve seen the look on your face, gazing at me all lovey-dovey like.”
“I’m sorry, ‘lovey dove—’” Realization took the place of Angel’s words. He stood up quickly. “Oh my god. It was that smell, the flowery stuff—”
“—Yeah, sorry about that,” Dawn chuckled nervously. “Harmless prank gone wrong. But you’re all better now!”
Angel ran a hand over his bright red face.
Spike snickered. “Man, you really had the hots for me. Could barely keep your hands to yourself, even tried to fuck me right on the floor.”
Angel’s face turned impossibly redder. “Sorry, I just…wow.”
Spike hopped up from his chair, pecking Angel’s burning hot cheek. “Well, if you find yourself lonely tonight without my company, you know where to find me, love .” He cackled at his own joke as he strode out the door into the night.
Angel wiped his cheek. “I…I kissed Spike, didn’t I?”
Willow snorted. “ Oh yeah .”
“You did a lot more than kiss,” Xander chuckled.
Anya nodded excitedly “You were head over heels for him. It was hot.”
Xander’s jaw dropped. “Anya!”
“What? It’s the truth!”
Angel’s touch was a ghost against his lips. His heart was racing, even skipped a beat at the next murmured thought. “I kissed Spike…”
“Should we tell him?” Dawn asked Giles as they watched Angel listening distantly to the Scoobies’ conversation about dinner.
Giles closed their solution book. “No, I don’t believe so. My guess is that he was already aware of these feelings and if he wasn’t, it seems safest to leave him be and let him figure that out on his own.”
Dawn nodded. The potion she’d accidentally spritzed Angel with had, in fact, not been a love potion. The “True Feelings Prevail Potion” enhanced the wearer’s most prominent emotion to the extreme. Essentially, if the first person you saw after using the potion made you angry, then the potion made you extremely angry. If the first person you saw made you laugh, you’d be bouncing off the walls happy. And, if you were in love with that person, it made you ravenously in love with them. It tore down the walls of self-restraint, putting nothing but true feelings in your mind. It was a dangerous, eye opening thing.