A romantic dinner for two, Spike and Wesley style...

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Continued from here.

"Everything all right?" Spike asked, noticing Wesley's wandering attention.

Comments

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Wesley looked at Spike. "Yes, fine. I'd tried picturing it before, but apparently my imagination fell down on the job. I thought it would be brighter, somehow."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"If it's not what you want, we can go somewhere else," Spike said, glancing up from his menu.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"No, this is good." It was more that Wesley was picturing Lilah entertaining clients in this rather intimate setting, a thought that bothered him more than it should have. He looked at his menu again.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Spike went back to studying his choices, trying to decide what he'd most likely be able to appreciate, given that the nuances of the flavors would be lost on him. While he was thinking, Paul reappeared with the wine.

"Would you like to taste it?" he asked Wesley, ready to pour some into his glass.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure it's fine," Wesley said, watching as Paul poured half an inch of the ruby red wine into his glass anyway. He picked it up and took a small sip, surprised at the depth of the flavors. "You were right," he said. "It's very good."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"I'm pleased to hear that you think so," Paul said, smiling at Wesley a bit more warmly than Spike thought was absolutely necessary. He filled Wesley's glass halfway before doing the same to Spike's. "Are you ready to order, or shall I give you a few more minutes?"

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Wesley glanced at Spike with both eyebrows raised, and Spike nodded. "I think we're ready." He looked at the menu again. "I'll start with the spinach salad... the potato dumplings with black truffles, and then the veal, please."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"I'll have the octopus salad, onion soup, and the pepper-encrusted steak." Spike closed his menu and handed it to Paul. "As rare as possible."

"Yes, sir. Thank you very much," said Paul, taking Wesley's menu as well before retreating.

"I could get used to being called 'sir,'" Spike commented, smiling at Wesley.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Wesley smiled back and took another sip of his wine. "You like that, do you?"

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"Can't have too much respect." Spike picked up his wine and took a small sip. It tasted good enough to him, though he was sure that he was missing whatever made it so special.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Making note of that comment, Wesley nodded at the glass. "Is it all right?"

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"Yes, fine, though I'll have to take your word on the hints of almond and mint." Spike swirled the next sip on his tongue before swallowing but was no closer to gleaning its subtleties than he had been before. "Now if you want me to talk about the flavors in a nice O-neg..."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Wesley laughed, feeling some of the day's off and on tension draining away again. "Then I'll have to take your word for it, considering my personal experience is limited to the one time, and I very nearly spat it back out again."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Seeing Wesley laugh, Spike couldn't help but smile warmly at him. "It's an acquired taste, and there's no reason for you to acquire it."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"Lucky me," Wesley said softly, allowing himself a long, lingering look at Spike.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Spike fiddled with the stem of his wine glass, trying not to fidget under Wesley's gaze. "If you ever end up impersonating another vampire, you might pick me, since no one would blink if I was rude enough to turn down a meal."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Wesley nodded and dropped his gaze. "I'll try to remember that," he said.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"I doubt it'll come up," Spike said, taking another sip of wine. Another waiter appeared, filling up their water glasses and leaving them with a basket of fresh rolls and a small dish of butter pressed into the shapes of snail shells. "It's been a long time since I've eaten at a restaurant like this."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"Me too," Wesley said, picking up his napkin and smoothing it over his lap. "Not since I've been in America, actually." He reached for one of the steaming hot rolls and set it on the fine china bread plate, noting the delicate understated pattern on the edge of the dish. Elegant, just like the rest of this place. "When was the last time for you?" he asked, trying to distract himself.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Spike put his napkin on his lap as well, though he didn't take any bread. "Oh, must've been in Vienna, just before we went to Prague and Dru got sick. Nice little place, right around the corner from St. Stephan's. They had the spiciest goulash I've ever eaten." He paused for a moment, remembering how good it had been. "What about you?"

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"A birthday lunch with my parents. In London." Wesley's mother had initiated it, hoping, he thought, that on the cusp of Wesley's assignment to Sunnydale he and his father might find some common ground. She'd meant well.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"I'm guessing Dru and I had more fun," Spike said dryly, making a mental note to find out when Wesley's birthday was.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure you're right." Wesley cut his roll open and left the two halves face up so that it could cool a bit. "It was an excellent meal though." Not that he'd eaten a great deal of it.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"At least I don't have to worry too much about being better company," Spike said with a slight grin.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"The competition's not even close," Wesley assured him, managing the vaguest hint of a smile himself.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"I sure as hell hope not," Spike said. "And there's no contest at all between you and Dru."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Wesley asked.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Spike laughed, surprised that Wesley could even question that statement. "She's mad as a hatter, pet. Completely off her nut. Conversations that didn't end up being about her dolls or the stars singing to her were few and far between. No, there's no contest at all."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"But you wouldn't have stayed with her if she'd been that impossible to deal with," Wesley said, taking a pat of butter -- the real thing, no doubt -- and spreading it onto the cut surfaces of his roll.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Spike leaned back more comfortably in his chair. "I would and I did, but I cared about different things back then. Dru and I weren't about talking, so it didn't matter. Never knowing what she was talking about was part of the fun."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Wesley had a mouthful of warm bread and butter, but he nodded and finished chewing. "You liked her spontaneity."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"You could call it that, yeah." After a moment's thought, Spike added, "And I liked that she wanted me around, depended on me for help, even if it was just help organizing her dolls."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"Is that why you like me?" Wesley asked, setting his bread back down on his plate without taking another bite. "Because I'm... because I've needed you?"

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"I could just as easily ask if you like me because I'm the only person you've got left to hold onto," Spike said, though he was sure that Wesley was lying to himself about the answer to that question. "Yeah, I like to be needed, but you won't need me for much longer, and I'll still be here. I like you because you're you. I can go through the list of reasons again, if you'd like."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Wesley gave Spike a look that he knew was both grateful and apologetic. "No. Thank you. I -- I suspect I'll take you up on that offer at some point, but..."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"The offer's always open." Spike took another sip of wine, more to give himself something to do than because he was thirsty. "I don't want another Drusilla. That's not me anymore."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"Good," Wesley said, because he wasn't certain what else to say, but anything else he might have come up with was delayed as Paul came back to the table with their first course, setting the plates in front of them with a small flourish.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"Spinach salad and octopus salad," Paul announced as he served them. "Please let me know if there's anything else I can get you." His gaze lingered over Wesley for a moment before he left them again.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"Octopus?" Wesley asked, looking at Spike's plate.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"I like how chewy it is, and it comes with red peppers," Spike said.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"I never thought it seemed like something that ought to be eaten," Wesley admitted. He was, if he was being completely honest with himself, grateful to have the food to talk about instead of how much he did or didn't remind Spike of Drusilla.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"Then I won't offer to share any with you," Spike said, picking up his salad fork. "I like interesting textures and strong flavors, but eating's entertainment for me."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Wesley ate a bite of his own salad, then took a sip of wine. "I like you because you're you too," he said quietly. "The fact that I want to be with you -- it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that my life has changed so drastically."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"If your life hadn't fallen apart, you'd have wanted to be here with Fred," Spike said, giving Wesley a smile as though that truth didn't bother him. "But I'm not going to complain about why you want me, as long as you do."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

It was an argument that he couldn't win, Wesley realized as he took another long drink of wine. One that nothing but time could prove.

That was all right. Frustrating, but... he could wait.

"I do want you," he said. "You're exactly who I want."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

For whatever reason that was true, Spike was grateful for it. "See? No complaints," he said before taking a bite of spicy octopus.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Continues here (http://www.livejournal.com/community/reality_bends/41358.html).