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tamingthemuseFandom: BtVS (Spike/Tara)
Prompt: #9 - Crazy Glue
Warnings: Spoilers for season 6
Rating: PG, PG-13 for kissage
Summary: This sort of thing happens to people you never know.
Wordcount: 2446
Concrit is very much appreciated. This was written and glanced over by someone (me) who currently has a fever of over 101.6, so if there's any mistakes, please be gentle with them? They're welcomed very much, but no 'lelling please. Huge thanks to everyone who's helped with all my past works; you guys have done so much for me.
“You know, this sort of thing is supposed to only happen to people we've never heard of.”
“Well, we're someone else's 'people we've never heard of', aren't we?”
“I suppose so. Do you, uh, want to sit down? The arms are going to be a little awkward...”
“S'alright. We'll manage somehow.”
Tara nodded nervously, and with a sigh Spike plopped himself in the chair. He didn't yank his arm down with him, and Tara silently thanked him as she took a seat across from him. Their hands hung between them, firmly fixed together.
Crazy glue wasn't supposed to be this glue-y, but it was sticking tight, and their hands were now firmly joined. Not permanently; the glue would either wear off or...something. Tara wasn't exactly sure what could break crazy glue.
The encyclopedia in the corner might've held some information, but she felt more like sitting at the moment. It had been a long evening with a lot of standing and walking, and her legs were grateful for the rest. Besides, if she stood up, Spike would have to stand up and go with her, and he looked just as tired as she felt.
It had seemed like a much simpler day, when the entire thing had started. They'd found something from the trio of geeks who seemed to be causing trouble everywhere these days. It had been a little cardboard poster that had slid from the back door of their van as they'd retreated, and Dawn had quickly grabbed the find and brought it into the Magic Box.
Pictures and drawings had been scattered all over the thing, and it had been fairly easy to deduce their plans. Apparently, they'd decided to write everything they had in mind out on the board, and it had been a stroke of luck to have it fall into the right hands.
One of the photographs of a local bank had slipped off, and almost right into a small puddle of soda that had been spilled. Tara had made an anxious dive to not lose one of their best shots of figuring out what the geeks were doing next, and had managed to catch it before it had hit the ground. She'd sighed with relief and had transferred the photo quickly to her left hand when Spike had offered her a hand up.
When she'd tried to pull away, however, her hand had remained in his. One look at his face had told her he'd been just as puzzled as she'd been. That was, until Xander had inspected the other side of the photograph and had found the crazy glue.
At least she hadn't gotten it on her other hand. She'd clutched the tips of the photograph with her fingers, coming close to the middle which had been gloriously gooped. When she'd caught the photo, it had fallen on her right palm, which had been open and clear for the glue.
Spike had been really good about the entire situation. She'd stammered and apologized for getting him caught in the mess, and he'd simply brushed it off and smiled at her. When Anya had pointed out that he was going to have to stay with Tara until they figured out how to get it off, he'd simply shrugged and said, “Couldn't think of a nicer person to get stuck with.”
She'd blushed at that one; she wasn't used to compliments. The only compliments she'd ever really gotten regarding herself had been from Willow, and...well...
As of lately, that didn't happen anymore, obviously. Not since Willow had decided that Tara wasn't good enough by just being Tara. She wanted a Tara who was better through the wonder that was magic. It made Tara sick at the thought of what Willow had done.
It made her wonder too, though. Was she really that bad that Willow would want to change her?
“Would you like some tea?” Tara asked, in an attempt to break the silence. “I-I have all types. You'd have to move with me, but it's a tiny dorm; we wouldn't have to really move too far.”
Spike glanced up at her and smiled. “Tea would be lovely,” he said, slowly rising to his feet. “Let's take a peek and see what you've got.”
Her kitchen wasn't really a kitchen; it was just one corner out of four that happened to contain a small table, a fridge, and a thinner table she liked to use as her shelf space. Spike took a seat so she could easily reach the tea basket she had. Her arm ended up a little twisted, but so was his, and he appeared to be trying to twist it so hers wouldn't end up pained. He could be really sweet when he wanted to be.
She wondered why Buffy couldn't see that.
“Mango, Raspberry, Cinnamon Apple, Earl Grey...”
“Whatever sounds good to you, luv,” he assured her. “Any of those sounds fine.”
“Cinnamon Apple actually sounds good for this time of day,” Tara said, glancing over her shoulder to confirm. He nodded, and she grabbed the water jug out of the fridge. She poured two mugs full, then carefully placed the tea bags in the water, before setting them both in the small microwave mounted over her small shelf. “Sorry for the bags,” she apologized softly. “I know tea tastes a lot better when it's not bagged, but I don't h-have any right now.”
“You're just fine, pet,” he said, tugging her over. She stopped in front of him, and he gave a softer, sadder smile. “Not a lot of people would've gone to the trouble. If it had been anyone else besides you or Dawn that I'd gotten stuck to, I would've expected to have been dust. I'm not bein' treated like dust or garbage with you, though. I'm bein' treated like royal company, and that...that means a lot,” he finished quietly. “So please don't feel as if you have to apologize about anythin' to me.”
Something inside of her broke at his tiny voice. Spike wasn't supposed to have a tiny voice as if he was just waiting for the next hit. That sounded more like something she'd do. Not him.
“Why shouldn't you be treated like royal company?” she asked, reaching over to open the microwave. The two mugs were pulled out one at a time, his set before him. She took a seat beside him, bringing their hands up above the table. “You're not dust or garbage, and you never have been. Not to me,” she said, sounding very fierce and determined. Who would even say something like that to him?
She knew how it felt to get stepped on and cast aside because someone thought you weren't good enough. Oh yes; Tara was extremely intimate with that particular feeling. Spike shouldn't have had to feel like that, though, and the little bit inside of her that had broken at his words reached out to him, trying to tell him she wouldn't do that to him. She wanted him to know that she liked him just a little more than that.
He blinked, looking surprised at her small outburst, and Tara decided that now would be a good time to take a sip of tea. He wouldn't feel pressured to answer her this way, which was good. She didn't want him to feel pressured. She didn't like the feeling herself.
He took a sip of his own tea a moment later, and the comfortable silence continued. After setting his mug down, he leaned to the side to snag the encyclopedia she'd been glancing at herself earlier. It went up on the table, and he began thumbing through the pages.
Tara simply sipped her tea. The way their hands were on the table, they looked almost as if they were lovers, gently grasping the other's hand as they sat in an open café.
The more she thought about it, the more she found herself liking the idea. She'd never had a boyfriend before, but she decided that if she did, Spike would probably be what she would've picked.
Well, not right away. Because she did like girls, and she wasn't into the punk sort of scene, but...
“Cyanoacrylate is a tenacious adhesive, particularly when used to bond non-porous materials or those that contain minute traces of water. As such it is very good at bonding body tissue,” Spike said, reading from the text. He snorted and glanced at their joined hands with a raised eyebrow. “Didn't have to bloody well tell us that,” he muttered, but he gave her a grin as he did so.
Tara slowly returned the smile. “Does it say anything about removing it?” she asked a moment later. “I doubt you'd want to be stuck with me all day, or really, what's left of the day. I bet you can think of a better place you'd rather be,” she said in a light sort of tone. She didn't want him to think that she wanted him gone, but she knew he'd probably had plans, and he'd wound up stuck with her, all because he'd tried to be kind to her.
“Not really,” Spike answered, glancing up at her. His gaze locked with hers, and stayed that way for some time. His eyes reminded her of her mother's old blue crystals. She'd told Tara once that she could see into a person's thoughts and soul with them.
Tara was more convinced than ever that her mother had been right. She was gazing at two crystals now, blue and oceanic and beautiful, and they were letting her view the soul of a man who had been scorned one too many times. She could see his kindness, his passion, his wanting to be loved and to love in return, and all she had to do was look into his eyes. His soul was bared to her, and everything that was the man he'd been and the man he was now was laid before her.
She wondered if he could read her the way she could read him. Could he see her thoughts and wants?
He leaned forward then, his nose almost touching hers. “Willow's a fool,” he whispered softly, before gently brushing his lips against hers. They were cool and wet and wonderful. Apparently, he'd been able to read her just fine.
“So's Buffy,” she mumbled before his lips were capturing hers again. They were much different from Willow's: there was more physical strength behind them, but he wasn't shoving himself on her. He stayed gentle and soft, and he let her guide the way the kisses went. Willow had never let her do that.
She decided she liked being kissed by a guy. More to the point, she decided she liked being kissed by this guy. He was a gentle soul who had hidden himself behind bravado and anger at the world who had mocked him, but he was opening himself to her, her of all people, and he truly was a beautiful design.
Plus, he was a hell of a kisser. She could sit here all day and just kiss him. Never had she lost herself so completely in a kiss. Willow had never kissed her like this, had never made her feel as if she were floating on mystical waves of warmth and love.
She blinked, before slowly pulling away for air. “Buffy really is a fool,” she panted, enjoying the way his lips looked so bruised and lush and perfect for biting. He was bringing out the more primal side of her, and she found that she liked it.
Spike gave a small, but pleased, smile. He looked almost shy like that, not like a master vampire who had once owned a world. “I like to think so, some days,” he told her, and there was a flash of pain in his eyes as he said it. The crystals darkened, lost in a maelstrom of miserable thoughts.
She reached out with her empty hand and took his other hand, connecting them fully. “She is,” Tara said softly. “She got a chance to kiss you, to feel everything you are, two years ago, and she tossed it away. The only person that could toss away that much tenderness and passion that was centered solely on them is a fool.”
He gazed at her for a moment, the storm in his eyes passing into something brighter and hopeful. “That definition would work for Willow as well,” he said.
The tiny something that had broken and reached for him suddenly didn't feel all that broken anymore. It felt now as if it were a puzzle piece to something much greater, and she wanted to know what the big picture would look like when it was finished.
“The book said that acetone'll get it off,” Spike said suddenly.
Crystal gazes locked and held once more. “Really? I might have some.”
“I figured you might,” he said, his eyes searching hers. He was leaving the door open, and they could leave this now, let it go for good. All she had to do was look over at the medicine cabinet, where she knew her bottle of acetone was full and waiting.
Or, she could turn away from that door to the one in front of her, where the puzzle with the big and beautiful picture was waiting to be completed and enjoyed. “Of course, a lot of it got used this past summer with Dawn. All that nail-polish she tried out had to come off somehow. Someone will probably have to bring us another bottle.”
She'd turned the choice back to him, asking him the same question, and she wondered which door he would choose. He could walk away from the puzzle she'd already started imagining in her mind as something new and extraordinary, and all he had to do was glance or reach for the phone that was lying in plain sight.
“Bet everyone's gone home and tucked in for the night,” he said, giving her a smile. “Would be a shame to disturb them. I'm sure they could come around tomorrow with some.”
“Then we'll just wait until tomorrow,” she said, a smile broadening on her own features. The door that led out was firmly shut, and they were walking hand in hand through the new door they'd found.
The glue would come off tomorrow, but it didn't really matter when. She knew his hand would be staying firmly in hers, and hers firmly in his, and despite the glue not being permanent, she thought what was beginning between them just might be.
< --- >
AN: Source for the Cyanoacrylate due in part to Wikipedia. I'm a college student, which means I have to give a credit to the source. Sue me. ~_^
~Nebula
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Date: 2006-09-05 07:56 pm (UTC)Feel better soon.
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Date: 2006-09-05 07:58 pm (UTC)Here's hoping I feel better very soon. *sends non-germy hugs*
~Nebula
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Date: 2006-09-05 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 08:54 pm (UTC)~Nebula
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Date: 2006-09-05 08:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 09:02 pm (UTC)~_^
~Nebula
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Date: 2006-09-05 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 08:55 pm (UTC)~Nebula
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Date: 2006-09-05 09:50 pm (UTC)I love this pairing so much and I'm SO happy you wrote it! *dances* Yay! It was perfect, honey, absolutely perfect.
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Date: 2006-09-06 12:23 am (UTC)*dances with you*
Thanks hun. ^_^
~Nebula
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Date: 2006-09-06 12:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 01:33 am (UTC)I do like it when someone treats Spike like a human being, and besides Tara or Anya, everyone else has treated him like crap at one point. I wish they didn't, but Joss didn't listen to me. *gives him a look*
Thanks so much!
~Nebula
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Date: 2006-09-06 12:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 03:08 pm (UTC)~Nebula
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Date: 2006-09-08 12:07 pm (UTC)*happy sigh*
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Date: 2006-09-08 01:11 pm (UTC)~Nebula
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Date: 2006-09-09 06:55 pm (UTC)~Nebula
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Date: 2006-09-09 06:11 am (UTC)Hope you're feeling better.
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Date: 2006-09-09 06:56 pm (UTC)I'm feeling much better, thank you. I think I caught the flu that's been going around...*shudders* Make sure you don't catch it!
~Nebula
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Date: 2006-09-09 02:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 06:57 pm (UTC)Big thank you for the hugs and ice cream too; it must've done the job, because my fever has broken. ^_^
~Nebula