Angel walked into Wesley's office to find him turning a small object over in his hands.

"What's that, Wes?"

Wesley smiled up at him. "I was sent a gift from a client; a fruit basket."

Angel glanced over to a table creaking under the weight of a lavish arrangement of fruit, beribboned and expensive.

"You had it -"

"Checked over for poison, charms; yes. It's clean. Not really hungry but this..." He held up the pomegranate. "These were treats when I was a child; hard to get in England, special, different. Mother would cut them in half and give us each a pin to eat them with. It was an exercise in frustration; fiddly and painstaking, then you got just a morsel at a time to eat."

Angel walked over to the basket and pulled out a small, flat case. Inside were a silver fruit knife and a long silver pin.

"Show me," he said, tossing the case in Wes' lap.

Wesley took out the knife, sliced the fruit, and laid the halves on the table.

"This one," said Angel, pointing.

Wesley smiled, a little puzzled by Angel’s evident interest, and obediently picked it up and dug the pin into the smooth surface. He twisted it and held up a globule of red, translucent flesh, a seed embedded at the centre.

"It looks like a drop of blood," he said, studying it.

"Not really," Angel said.

Wesley pursed his lips and met brown eyes with a challenge in his own. Holding Angel's gaze, he drove the pin into his finger and pulled it out. Blood welled up from the tiny hole and he held his hand up to Angel. "You're right," he murmured. "The colour's quite different. I wonder how the tastes compare."

Angel's hand flashed out and caught Wesley's wrist before he brought it to his mouth. "Wesley..."

"Yes?"

"You're being..."

"Cruel?"

Angel dipped his head and licked the bead of blood from Wesley's finger, his tongue flickering against the wound, his teeth biting around it and forcing more blood to flow. Wesley heard himself moan and Angel looked at him, releasing the finger.

"No. Obvious."

Wesley closed his eyes, humiliation swamping arousal, only to open them as Angel forced up his chin and kissed him hard.

"Didn't say I minded," Angel whispered.


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