Chapter Text
This is all very fucking weird. Spike doesn't have a Scooby Doo what's happening.
"Make it last forever," Buffy sings, tuneful if a little shaky, "friendship never ends!"
He's dancing again, but the style is completely different. He's pulled along in Buffy's wake. It's as if somehow she and the lion have completely hijacked the compulsion.
At the edges of his vision, Spike can see other patrons, and they're starting to dance in time with Buffy, too. The multicoloured lights are brightening to white, the disco-ball is spinning faster, and the demon's getting smaller by the moment.
"If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give." Buffy's voice is getting stronger, like she's gaining in confidence. Spike's gotta give it to her, whatever she's playing at, it's definitely working.
The lion pads in front of her and snarls, and the demon makes a gibbering noise, backing away, its confidence dissipating now it's lost control. The record scratches and stops at last.
That fucking song! Good fucking riddance,
"Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is!" Buffy belts, and it's like a rubber band snapped. Suddenly, Spike's body is his own again; the release is so unexpected and complete, he almost stumbles.
The demon whimpers. Without the music and the lights, it's just a fuzzy, pathetic mess attempting to sidle out of reach of the lion.
"He's all yours," Buffy tells the lion, which leaps right over the DJ booth.
The demon reaches out with grey, hairy hands, but it's so small now, and the lion holds it down with one huge paw and bats it around the head. The demon squeals; the lion purrs loudly. She doesn't seem in any rush to finish it off.
"Kill it!" Spike says, then sags with relief as he realises he just said something that wasn't a fucking lyric. "Oh thank God for that." He shakes his head. "Kill that bloody thing before it puts another Boney M song in my brain."
Buffy looks over her shoulder at him. "She's having fun," she scolds. "Leave her be."
He pouts. "And yet you get so mad when I play with my food," he snarks.
Buffy rolls her eyes, though there's another little smile plucking at the corner of her mouth.
The lion lets the demon go for a moment, lets it run a few feet, then pounces again, and the demon screeches in what sounds like abject fear. If it hadn't just made him talk in Boney M lines, Spike might almost feel bad for it. It seems like their new friend has things well in hand.
"Spike?" Buffy says.
He turns to her warily. "Yeah?"
She screws her face up. "I just wanted to day... thank you." Her voice is small.
He blinks. "Um."
"I don't know if I'd've realised the lion could help if you hadn't figured it out," she admits. "I'm grateful."
"Oh."
They look at each other. (There's a nasty squelching noise from somewhere out of sight.)
"You're... welcome?" he tries.
"Thanks." (The lion reappears, licking her chops and padding up to Buffy's side.)
"Okay. Good."
Buffy nods, then turns her attention to the lion. "Good kitty." Buffy kisses her nose; she purrs delightedly. "I think I'll keep you."
"Slayer, love, I don't know if you can keep a mountain lion as a pet."
"I kept you, didn't I?"
Spike blinks again.
"And who said anything about her being a pet?" Buffy runs her hand down the lion's back, and it nuzzles into her side. "She's not a pet, she's... a friend."
Spike blinks some more. Did the Slayer just suggest he's a pet? Or is she saying they're friends? He's not even sure which of those he'd prefer. (He's worryingly okay with both possibilities.) "Oh."
"I think I'll call her Mel," Buffy says. She takes a deep breath. "God, I need to get out of this shithole before something else happens." She heads for the door, one hand resting lightly on the lion's - sorry, Mel's - head, and Spike stares after them.
Then, after a few steps, Buffy turns back. "You coming?" she says, forehead creased, looking mildly annoyed.
Okay, that's familiar ground. (Well. Familiar-ish. Buffy being irritated with him? Business as usual. Buffy wanting him around? A new and intriguing development.) "Sure," he says with a shrug. "Got nothing better to do."
Buffy rolls her eyes again, but then, miraculously, grins. "So come on then," she says.
Spike does as he's told.
~ fin ~