Annoyance and Surprise 
by  Mihreia 

Xander woke up to the sound of silverware clanging. He lifted his 
head to look at one of his glowing clocks. Ugh, 2 am was not a time 
to be awake. Especially not when he had to be up in four hours. 

"Spike." He grumbled, but he could hardly hear himself speak, let 
alone expect Spike to hear it, so he repeated it in a louder voice. 

"Spike! Quiet is a good thing! Some of us aren't creatures of the 
night." 

{Oh yeah, let's shout myself awake, in case Spike failed to do it 
right. Ha! Fat chance!}

"Hey! It's bloody afternoon for me!"

"And I needed to know that. Not." He commented half to himself, half 
to the annoying vampire in his kitchen. "I don't give a damn, 
Bleachboy, I want some peace and quiet. Sleep is a good thing." He 
half sat up to glower the vampire in the eyes, which was a bit 
difficult to do when you were lying flat on your back..

Spike smirked at him in an infuriating I'm-bored-as-hell-and-you're-
gonna-know-it way. At the moment, with the chip and all, Xander 
dreaded that look more than his I'm-gonna-kill-you-in-so-many-painful-
ways one. He blinked suddenly. 

{Actually, they look remarkably alike. Wonder why that is?} Xander 
shivered, feeling strangely uneasy when he looked at the vampire. 

{Then don't look at him, stupid.}

"Just came home from a bash with the Slayer, and now I want some 
crispies to round up a good evenin'. You can join in, if you want."

Xander almost growled, but held back at the last moment. 

{Won't stake Spike, won't stake Spike. But if he keeps crunching his 
way through those damn weetabix I'll, I'll....} 

Do nothing, really. Xander actually found Spike's tendency to scrunch 
human food pretty adorable. Here you have a member of the evil 
undead, and what does he do? Eat weetabix in his bowl of blood. And 
he had noticed various other little things that he was sure were not 
part of a vampire's usual habits.

Spike's tendency to watch Passions. The way he hung posters all over 
Xander's basement to make it less dank and depressing. Or so he said. 
The vampire had quite the sweet tooth when it came to human food and 
Xander had long ago learnt that his stashes of goodies were never 
safe. 

Spike was just too damn good at stalking the ever elusive chocolate 
bars.

Xander usually loved their banter, though not at 4 am in the morning. 
And if he was honest with himself, Spike was really his best friend, 
since Willow was too busy with college.

{Okay, time for Spike Approach #4: Ignore him and maybe he goes 
away.} Xander was just about to turn over on and stuff his head under 
a pillow, when a loud crash sounded, and a clear voice rang out in 
obvious surprise.

"Bloody Hell!"

**********************

Xander watched through the window with increasing amazement. The 
blonde vampire had pulled first pulled a bag of blood from the 
fridge, and heated it in the microwave. 

{Domesticated puppydog. Willow would have great fun with this one.} 
He thought derisively. Although, to be honest, this one certainly 
didn't seem the white hat type like Willow's Puppy had been. The 
complete opposite in fact. Which didn't make his actions any easier 
to understand.

Then the stranger rattled around with silverware, and he pulled out 
cornflakes of some kind to throw with his blood. Xander scrunched up 
his nose.

{I wonder how that tastes. Can't say that I've tried any human food 
since I was turned. I kind of miss the HoHo's, but eating snacks is 
just not something vampires do.} 
This guy didn't seem to care though. He clanged again with a plate.

Then another voice sounded, and Xander had to twist around a bit to 
see there was a figure lying in the bed.

{And why the hell is there a bed in my basement, anyway?}

The new voice sounded familiar somehow, and Xander strained to see 
the occupant of the bed.

And got the shock of his unlife. 

{That's me! Why is that me? I mean, I'm here, so who's that?} He 
blinked. {Nope, still there.} He studied his double. The other Xander 
was apparently pissed at having his sleep interrupted. But he didn't 
turn to game face.

In fact, now that he noticed it, this guy looked way too mortal. The 
differences were small, but significant. The other Xander was built 
broader than he was, a shocking amount of muscletone covering the 
naked upper half. He was sun-coloured, tanned to a light brown, and a 
blue bruise covered one side of his chest. 

{Definitely mortal. What I would be like if I hadn't been turned.} 

That struck a cord somewhere. He remembered one night after Willow 
and him had gotten drunk that she had told him about her little visit 
to a different world. A world where she met a fuzzy looking human 
Willow. And different versions of Xander and Puppy and the Slayer. 

Xander had pretty much thought she had made it up. Willow was a
bit... 
twisted the wrong way. For the millionth time he was glad he had not 
been sired directly by the Master. At least Jesse had cared for him, 
and not bent him totally out of shape during his training. 

Xander watched as Spike and the other Xander bantered back and forth. 
And how on earth did a mortal version of him end up sharing a 
basement with a vampire?

{Well, curiosity kills the cat, as they say.} He grinned. Good thing 
he wasn't superstitious then.

He pushed open the door to the basement and hoped he really was 
automatically invited. He should be. After all, it was his house in 
the first place, even if he was in a different dimension. 

He smiled evilly when he crossed the barrier with no trouble at all.

The older vampire looked up as he registered movement, and his eyes 
widened almost comically, and he bumped his bowl of cornflakes and 
blood off the table with a loud crash.

"Bloody Hell!"