[ HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! I've been listening to love me not by emei on repeat and I can't stop thinking about spike and kitty ]

♡︎

DID NOT COME FOR THE FREE SHOW.

[ 6.11 ]

An entire cleansing of all magical things was commencing in the Summers' house. Kitty got up extra early and came over to help put all of Willow's stuff in boxes so that they could either throw it away or store it at the Magic Box. Willow was sitting on her bed as Kitty tossed all the candles on the nightstand into a box.

"Candles?" Dawn asked in disbelief. With an arm in a sling, she was putting books away. "We can't have candles?"

Buffy shot her a stern look. "Dawn, it's magic clearance. Everything must go."

"B-but they're just candles!" she whined.

"Well, yeah, you know, to you and me they're just candles," Buffy said, sighing. "But to witches, they're... like bongs." Willow nodded sadly in confirmation, and Dawn sighed in defeat. "So, no candles, no charms, no—"

"Bird," Willow interrupted Buffy as she was walking to the bathroom to check.

They all looked at her, confused. "No bird?" Buffy asked, frowning.

"That peacock on the table," Willow said, indicating to a little figure on the side table near Buffy. "It has two crystals in it." Buffy opened it and saw the two crystals. "Tara, she... she left them."

"We'll make sure she gets them," Kitty told her. Since admitting out loud that her magic was the reason Tara broke up with her, Willow had hardly uttered the girl's name.

"I think all is clear in here," Buffy said, doing one last visual sweep.

"To the living room," Kitty told Dawn, leading her out the door. Buffy followed with more boxes to fill. It seemed there was something on every shelf and surface that they passed, and each item was dropped in a box.

"Dawn, do me a favor, can you grab the fertility god statue on the desk over there?" Buffy asked while clearing off the bookshelf that had lots of herbs and crystals.

"Kokopelli?" Dawn asked, clearly upset. "No! I love him! And he was Mom's. Why do we have to get rid of so many things I like?"

"Dawn, I explained this to you. Willow has a problem. The next few weeks are gonna be crazy hard on her as it is," Buffy told her, turning back to the shelf. "Any reminder of what it is that she's trying to stay away from could cause her to give in to temptation, and that would be bad."

Kitty shot Dawn a sympathetic look as she went to get the statue. Then she started digging in the couch cushions to make sure nothing had fallen through. Her hand hit something hard and small, but it wasn't a stray crystal. With a smile, she looked at the cigarette lighter that was Spike's. He must have left it the last time they were over and watching Dawn. She pocketed it, fully planning on making him work for it to get it back.

♡︎

The house was probably ninety percent clear by the time Dawn was meant to be leaving for school soon. Kitty was scarfing down a bacon and egg biscuit while Buffy stuffed food in a bag for Dawn's lunch. A biscuit was on the counter for Dawn to grab on the go.

"Dawn, come on, you gotta eat breakfast!" Buffy shouted through the house. "Xander's gonna be here any second." When there wasn't a response, she sighed and glanced at Willow, who was doing the cooking. "She's gonna be late for school again."

"This is really good, Will," Kitty told her friend. She was just glad to see her cooking without magic. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," she said, speaking quietly. "Not 'ready to head back to classes, face the world' okay, but the shakiness is only semi-now. I thought I'd spend the day fishing the net, for more poop on the, uh, stolen diamond."

"Ah, Mr. Freeze is still at large," Kitty joked, earning small smiles from Buffy and Willow.

Then Dawn finally came in, dressed for the day. Buffy shot her a look. "I called you before."

"Didn't hear you," she mumbled while pouring herself a glass of orange juice. Clearly, the cleaning was making her sad.

"Hey Dawnie, uh, I'm making you a biscuit," Willow said hesitantly, still feeling guilty around the girl. "Cooked the bacon in the eggs like you like it."

"Not hungry," she mumbled, sticking with the juice.

"Dawn, you need to eat something," Buffy told her.

"Thanks for your concern," she said before slamming her glass down and leaving.

Willow frowned. "Okay, I deserve the wrath of Dawn, but why is she taking it out on you?" she asked.

"Because I let it happen," she said sadly.

"Buffy, I was the one who—"

"Who was drowning," Buffy cut her off. "My best friend. And I was too wrapped up in my own dumb life to even notice."

"You did come back from the dead, Buff," Kitty reminded her. If anything, it was on the rest of them. They saw it happening, but all they did was make snide comments and gossip instead of trying to talk to Willow.

Suddenly, the door leading to the back porch burst open. Kitty flinched as a blanket-covered shape entered, slamming the door behind him. As Spike threw off the smoking blanket, the three girls looked at him in surprise.

"Morning," he said casually while smoothing down his hair.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "What are you doing? And, here?"

"Just took a stroll. Found myself in this neck of the woods," he said, coming to stand behind Kitty.

"Couldn't find a less flammable time of day to take a stroll?" she asked.

"It's past your bedtime," Kitty told him teasingly.

"Yeah, well, the fact is my lighter's gone missing. Thought it might have dropped outta my pocket the last time I was here," he said. "Already checked the apartment."

"Haven't seen it," Buffy said, shaking her head as she left the kitchen.

Willow, finished with breakfast, moved the dirty pan into the sink. "I'm, uh, gonna head back to my room, get dressed."

After Willow left, Kitty took her breakfast plate and put it in the sink too, moving away from Spike. She glanced at him over her shoulder with a teasing smile. "Lame."

"What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You," she said, as if his lighter wasn't in the pocket of her jeans. "Making up excuses to come see me. You knew I'd be here this morning."

"Oh, don't flatter yourself, love," he said, walking toward her. "Bloody fond of that lighter, you know."

"Hmm, hard not to flatter myself when you call me that," she said, smiling up at him. "Fuels the ego — like you making excuses does."

"So, um, what else could I call you then?" he asked, leaning closer. "Pet? Sweetheart?" With one hand on the counter next to her, he used the other to twirl a piece of her dyed-blonde hair. "My, uh, little goldilocks?" Kitty playfully rolled her eyes. "You know I love this hair. The way it bounces around when you—"

"Not at Buffy's!" Kitty said, lifting her hand to swat his shoulder. He quickly grabbed her wrist and stopped her. "You know they don't like seeing us act like that."

"Like a couple? Like you're mine?" he questioned, tilting his head. "Like I can't have you a whimpering mess in seconds?"

Kitty scoffed at the arrogant grin on his face. "I wouldn't say secon—"

Spike's hand dropped down suddenly, and she wasn't expecting for him to forcefully press his fingers to her clothed clit and begin rubbing circles in the middle of the kitchen. Kitty cut herself off with a gasp that turned into a soft sigh of pleasure as she grabbed onto his shoulders.

"N-not here," she said, her eyes closing for a moment. There were a lot of things that Kitty let Spike do to her, but the embarrassment that would accompany someone like Buffy or Dawn coming across them like this outweighed how good it felt. "Someone could—"

She didn't even have to finish the sentence for the jinx to activate.

"Good Godfrey Cambridge, Spike!" Xander exclaimed as he stepped into the kitchen. Kitty quickly shoved Spike back, hoping Xander hadn't seen where his hand was. "Seriously, put enough room for Jesus between you two when we're around," he grumbled. He had seen the hand. "People eat in here."

"Sh - shouldn't you be getting Dawn off to school?" Kitty asked, her cheeks red. "Go fetch her, yeah?"

Xander rolled his eyes at the couple and moved further into the kitchen. He snatched Dawn's biscuit that she didn't want off the counter and began eating it. "All's I came for," he told them while chewing. He narrowed his eyes at Spike's hand. "Did not come for the free show."

As he left, Kitty swatted Spike's arm. "That's why you should've stopped."

Spike smirked and stepped back toward her, putting his hands on the counter to cage her in. "I think you liked it — liked knowing anyone could walk in and see. Show everyone exactly what I do to you."

"I didn't — just because — stop with the smug grin," Kitty said, getting more flustered the closer he pressed up against her. "Or I'll, uh, do something to get back at you."

"Like you ever could," he said with an amused smirk. "Couldn't surprise me with anything — I can see it in your eyes, every little naughty thing you think around me."

"You don't know everything," she said, pouting.

Spike reached up to pull her bottom lip down with his thumb. "Even if that weren't true, you wouldn't try it. You like being my good little Cupid too much." As Kitty looked up at him with doe-eyes, a sound resembling a whine left her mouth, all but proving his earlier claim about making her whimper. Spike leaned down and hovered his lips over hers. "Don't worry. I like it when you're good for me."

Then his hand moved down again, brushing her core for a moment. Then, as Kitty shut her eyes in anticipation, Spike didn't touch her — the way she wanted, at least. His hand dug in the front pocket of her jeans until his fingers wrapped around the silver lighter. With a smug grin, he pulled it out and took a step back, showing it off as Kitty continued to pout.

"Makes it all the more fun to toy with you."

♡︎

"Have you — and I'm just spitballing here — considered therapy instead of impulsively cutting your hair on the floor of your room?" Kitty asked Buffy.

After Xander arrived at the house, the morning quickly turned horrible. As if Dawn being late for school and having to deal with Willow wasn't enough, an employee from Social Services arrived to observe Buffy and Dawn's living environment. It was safe to say between the broken arm, finding a bag of Willow's herbs that looked like weed, and Spike in general just still being around, it hadn't gone well.

Now, Buffy was on probation and under threat of Dawn being taken away as soon as the worker got back to her office and filed it. And that, on top of everything else in Buffy's life led to a small breakdown that only Kitty was around and awake to witness. Buffy messily chopped off half the length of her hair as if that'd fix her problems — but what girl hadn't done that? At least she didn't try to give herself bangs.

"I think therapy's a little too late," Buffy said, staring at herself in the salon mirror. Kitty was behind the stylist, just wanting to watch the process. "It's not exactly gonna not grow back."

"Least you didn't shave it," Kitty said, shrugging. "You so don't have the face shape to pull that off."

The stylist nodded while continuing to stare at Buffy's butchered hair. "Well, I think I can work with this," she said. "What exactly would you like me to do?"

Buffy eyed her reflection, not wanting to be the same Buffy that died and came back. "Just make me... different."

It took about twenty minutes to even out Buffy's haircut, which was now about at her shoulders. Then she impulsively asked the stylist to add some light brown highlights, making her hair look much darker than normal. Kitty found she didn't hate it, but it'd certainly shock everyone when they saw it.

Kitty and Buffy walked hand in hand out of the salon, both smiling. "I think you look like a total babe," Kitty told her. "Makes you look more mature, too." She figured that was what Buffy was looking for — mature was what Social Services was looking for.

"Thanks," Buffy said, running her fingers through the short style. "Hair's really heavy. You wouldn't think it was this heavy."

"You'll never catch me cutting mine," Kitty said, tugging on one of her two French braids.

"You think everyone else will like it?" she asked. "Dawn, Willow... Theo?"

Kitty raised an eyebrow but held off from asking any prying questions. "Totally. It's super adorable."

They continued to chat about hair as they crossed the street, both girls completely oblivious to the three nearby nerds who were battling over a high-tech weapon.

A sudden force knocked Buffy and Kitty back. Kitty groaned and pulled herself back to her feet while looking around for Buffy.

"Hey, Buff? Where'd you go?" she asked, frowning.

"What do you mean? I'm right — where'd you go, Kitty?" Buffy asked.

Kitty spun around. It sounded like Buffy was right next to her, but she couldn't see the girl. "I can't — woah!"

"Ah!"

An invisible force ran into Kitty, and that force was Buffy. They grabbed onto each other, but when they didn't see their own hands outreached, they looked down in confusion, only to see their bodies were gone.

"Oh my god," Buffy said, her eyes wide. Though no one knew. "We're invisible."

♡︎

"What happened to Buffy? She's gone," Xander said, frowning.

"She's right here," Anya said, pointing to the diagram of the seating arrangement. They were the only ones at the Magic Box and were using the time to do more wedding planning. "Table four. I put her with your family."

"Great. Except, we don't hate Buffy," Xander muttered. The bell over the door rang, but no one was in the store, so they assumed the wind rattled the door. "Let's put her back at table one."

"Well, where do I put D'Hoffryn?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We're not inviting D'Hoffryn."

"We have to. He's my ex-boss! You're inviting your work buddies."

"She's got a point," Buffy chimed in.

"Hey, Buffy..." Xander trailed off as he turned and looked around for Buffy, only to not see her. "Where... where are you?"

"At table four, apparently," Buffy muttered, eying the diagram.

"Ha!" Kitty laughed, startling Xander and Anya even more. "Suck it, from a member of table one."

"Seriously? Table four?" she asked flatly.

Anya looked around with a frown. "Well, that remains to be seen. Like you two."

"Don't strain yourself looking, Xander. We're invisible girls," Buffy told them.

Xander continued to look around and raised his hands to try and feel for the girls. But he stopped when he felt something.

"Xander?" Kitty said slowly. "You've, uh, got some things of mine."

Xander quickly jumped back in alarm while wiping his hands on his pants. "Sorry! Gross," he muttered with a frown. "Their clothes are... invisible too." Then he looked at the empty air where he thought the girls were. "Buffy, how did this hap — wait a sec, have you been feeling... ignored lately?" he asked them.

"Yeah, ignored. I wish," Buffy muttered. Then she sighed. "No, this isn't a Marcie deal."

"We don't know what happened," Kitty spoke up. "We left Main Street after getting Buffy's hair cut, and—"

"You cut your hair?" Anya asked excitedly.

"Oh, yeah!"

"Really? How short?"

"Um, about up to here—" Buffy paused, realizing they couldn't see. "Well, if you could see my hand, it's kind of above my shoulders."

Anya smiled. "Ahh, that sounds so adorable!"

"It totally is," Kitty told her.

"I was thinking about getting my hair cut before the wed—"

"Can we get back to freaking out about no-show Buffy and Kitty?" Xander asked them. "This is serious."

"I know. It kind of fits the day I've had," Buffy said. Then she moved to a basket that had some decorative paperweights in it. She grabbed two orbs with eyes decorated on them and tossed them around, showing the others where she was standing. "Willow's still a wreck, Dawn's mad at both of us, and the social services lady put me through a wringer. Says she's gonna watch me. I'd like to see her try now." She held the balls up to her eyes, moving them side to side playfully. "You know, there may be an upside to no-see-me."

"Buff, did you say anyone, or... anything suspicious before you cleared out?" Xander asked.

Buffy moved over to Anya's side while playing with the 'eyes'. "Nope, didn't see nothin'." Then she laughed. "See what I did there, with the eyeballs?"

"Why would anyone make her invisible anyway?" Anya asked. Having an invisible person next to her made her nervous. "I mean, invisible Slayer's gotta be way more effective than the standard variety."

"And why hit me too?" Kitty questioned. To let them know where she was, she slid on the counter and held a little statue.

"Yeah, I'm less with the why and more with the how," Xander said. "We get the how, then we got how to make her unseen sight seen again, right?"

"You said 'seen' a lot," Kitty mumbled with a frown he couldn't see.

Buffy had abandoned the eyes and grabbed a skull on display while moving to Xander's side. "'Saright!" Buffy said while moving the skull's jaw.

"Buffy, could you focus please?" Xander asked, clearly annoyed.

"I am!" she insisted. "Just, this is kind of fun."

"Well, it would help if we had a little bit more to go on," Anya said. "Or anything to go on."

"Well, I could go check the spot where they disappeared. Snoop for clues," Xander offered.

"Yeah, right. Uh, hey, you know what?" Buffy asked, setting the skull down. Then she found Kitty at the counter and grabbed her arm. "I'm just gonna... go for a walk. Kitty, wanna come too?"

Realizing that Buffy wanted to slip off and have some invisible adventures, Kitty slid off the counter and followed her to the door. Xander could hear their footsteps. "A walk?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Um, clear our heads," she said. "You guys keep working on those whats and hows. Clear my head."

"Buffy! Kitty!" Xander shouted as the door opened. "Buffy!"

But his shouting was pointless as they made it outside. Buffy looked in the direction of Kitty with a smirk, who looked just as amused.

"Are you gonna go mess with that Social Services lady?"

"Yup," she said, nodding. "Are you gonna go mess with Spike?"

"Oh, absolutely."

♡︎

Spike was alone in his crypt, slouched in his chair while watching a character on TV scream about all the blood around her. And the very mention of it got his stomach growling. He put a hand on it and got up, walking over to the refrigerator. He didn't even plan to heat it up as he took out a jar of blood to drink. But it didn't even reach his lips before the sound of his door opening stopped him.

He paused and looked at the entrance that was swinging on its hinges, letting in sunlight. But there was no one standing there, making him frown. Spike set the jar down and moved across the crypt to investigate.

"Whatever beastie you are, I know you're here. And I hurt beasties," he threatened. It was silent for a moment before it felt as if something tapped his ass. "Hey, watch it!" he snapped, looking around. Then the noise on the TV stopped as it was switched off. Spike sighed in irritation. "A ghost, is it? Go and haunt the living, like a good spook. My girl doesn't fuck with ghosts, so clear out."

Whatever it was came closer, and Spike tensed up as what felt like a finger delicately ran across his back. Then, because he wasn't expecting the sudden push, he ended up shoved against the wall of the crypt. He gasped and tried to move forward, but it kept him pressed to the wall.

Suddenly, his shirt was ripped open, sending buttons flying. Spike frowned in confusion and looked at his bare chest. But then that frown morphed into a little gasp of pleasure and his head leaned into the wall.

He knew that touch, he just had no fucking clue why he couldn't see her.

"Kitten?" Spike questioned.

Her soft giggle sounded like music to his ears. Then soft, invisible kisses trailed down his neck and chest. Her hands began to wander too, earning a low groan as one traveled to his jeans, just as he'd done to her that morning.

"Told you I'd get back at you."

♡︎

Buffy was running on an excited high as she left the Social Services department. She managed to mess with the social worker so much that her boss thought she was insane — a new worker was assigned to Dawn's case and the home observation would be redone. And Buffy wouldn't screw up the second one.

She practically skipped to Willy's, not caring as she bumped into people in her invisible state. One of the first things that Buffy wanted to do was find Teddy and tell him the good news — she also couldn't wait to freak him out with the whole invisible thing. She'd probably make a few things float before actually letting him know she was there.

While walking into the bar which wasn't crowded as it was daytime, she bumped into a Kwaini demon, making it stumble. It just stared at the empty air before shaking its head, figuring it drank too much. It made Buffy giggle as she looked around for Teddy. But her grin instantly fell when she did find him.

Teddy was working behind the bar — Willy took him off bussing tables about a month ago and began teaching him how to make drinks. But he didn't have any drinks to make at the moment, as there were only about six customers around. He was leaning his elbows on the bar and chatting with some girl sitting at the end.

Buffy didn't know what kind of humanoid demon the girl was, but even with skin tinted a light blue color, she was incredibly pretty. And there was a flirty smile on her lips as she eyed Teddy while innocently twirling the straw in her drink around. And as Teddy laughed at whatever the girl was saying, an odd feeling bubbled up inside of Buffy. Her chest felt tight and all that giddiness from the earlier shenanigans disappeared.

The invisible Slayer didn't say a damn word as she stormed over. Then, all of a sudden, the barstool under the girl was yanked out from under her, causing her to hit the ground hard and knock her drink over on herself. Teddy instantly rushed around to help her up, but Buffy didn't stick around to watch.

♡︎

It was dark out by the time Xander let himself into Spike's crypt. He called out for the vampire but got no reply, so he fully entered and looked around. The place looked as if it'd been ransacked, which was odd, as Kitty usually helped keep it tidy. But there was lots of overturned furniture and even a broken lamp.

However, Xander didn't quite care enough if Spike got in a fight or not — not with the information he and Anya found out about the invisibleness while Willow was trying to find out who did this to Buffy and Kitty.

When Xander called for Spike again and got no reply, he moved down to the lower level. It was better lit with several candles, meaning he got an eye full of Spike on the bed, lower half covered with a sheet as he moved around on top of the mattress, completely naked. His ears, however, did not quite pick up on the heavy breathing and soft moans.

"Spike?" Xander questioned, completely confused by the situation. Spike quickly ceased his movements and turned his head in alarm to look at Xander. "What are you doing?"

Kitty bit her lip so hard it might bleed, trying to catch her breath as quietly as she could while looking up at Spike. Her fingers clawed at his arms, doing her best to not squirm with him still half-inside her, just on the brink of coming undone for the — well, she'd lost count of how many times.

While Kitty was doing her best to stay quiet, Spike was trying to improvise, knowing she wouldn't want to get caught doing something like this. "What am I... What does it look like I'm doing, you nit? I'm exercising, aren't I?" he asked.

Then Spike turned back to the bed and did a few of what might've looked like push-ups to those who didn't know better, going at a much faster pace than when Xander arrived. Kitty nearly choked on a quiet gasp as Spike managed to go deeper inside her, only to harshly pull out, leaving her pressing her legs together desperately to relieve the tension. To cover up her pathetic whimpers, she had to bite down on her hand.

"Exercising," Xander said, shaking his head. How was he so oblivious? "Naked. In bed."

Spike wrapped the top sheet around his waist as he moved to sit on the end of the bed, leaving behind no proof of the invisible body behind him. "A man shouldn't use immortality as an excuse to let himself go. Gotta keep fit for the killing."

"Yuh-huh." Then Xander decided he didn't want to deal with Spike's weirdness. "Looks like you had a little trouble upstairs. Mini-disaster area."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "So what, you just come here to criticize my housekeeping?"

"No, uh, no. I'm looking for Kitty or B—"

"Haven't seen her," he said quickly. At that, Kitty got an idea. With a hidden smirk, she crawled to the end of the bed, kneeling just behind Spike. A chill ran down his spine as he felt her breath on his neck.

"Well, uh, you wouldn't," Xander said. "The fact is, she and Buffy came down with a slight case of invisibility."

"Yeah?" Spike asked with fake surprise. "How did, uh..." He trailed off as he felt Kitty kiss the back of his neck, starting at the base where the silver chain he was wearing was resting. Then she expanded her territory.

"We don't know yet," Xander said. He didn't notice how Spike's ear seemed to move as Kitty nibbled on it. Meanwhile, her hands traveled south, making Spike jump a bit. "Anyway, she's not at the apartment, and I really, really need to find her and Buffy."

Spike continued to fidget, doing his best to not react as Kitty continued to tease him. "Uh, tell you what, I'll... take a peek around first chance I get—" He tried to subtlety swat at his ear, finally getting Kitty to detach herself. "—and if we bump into each other or Kitty comes by, I'll clue her that you're on the lookout." Now, Spike was trying not to laugh, finding this just as fun as Kitty was.

Xander eyed him uncertainly. "After your... exercises."

While trying to swat Kitty again, she grabbed his wrist and dared to slip his pointer and middle finger into her mouth, managing to stay silent as they hit the back of her throat. As she ran her tongue along them, Spike cursed under his breath, which missed Xander's ears.

"Yeah, right," Spike said, nodding.

Xander looked at him, confused once more but turned to go. Then just as Kitty began sucking on Spike's neck with the intent to leave a hickey, Xander turned back around.

"You know, kidding aside because I said I wouldn't be as mean," he began, frowning. "Spike... Kitty could so bag someone less weird than you."

Then Xander left, and Spike sighed, relaxing his shoulders. He looked behind himself, knowing Kitty was near. "That was bloody stupid," he told her in a reprimanding voice.

"Maybe," she said, wrapping her arms around him from behind. Her fingertips danced across his chest. "Maybe Xand needs hearing aids. I thought for sure he'd pick up on that."

"Right, what was all that this morning about not wanting to get caught?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You loved it," she said in his ear. Her hands moved down his chest. "He had no real idea I was here. Had no idea how well your girl was taking you while he was in the room."

"Fuck, Kitten," Spike muttered, shutting his eyes. Then he got off the bed, tossing the sheet to the side, which draped over Kitty's form as she laid back. "Maybe we should get him. They might know how to get you back to living color."

"But I like this," she admitted, eying his body as she did. "It's fun — you can't see every naughty thing I think."

"I can't see you at all," he said, looking at the bed, moving toward it once again. "'S not fair. I don't wanna go a single day without seeing you. Wanna be able to see how well you take me."

Kitty sat up, letting the sheet drop off her. His eyes scanned the area, searching for her. "They'll figure out what's caused this and reverse it. Eventually," Kitty told him, moving to stand in front of him. She leaned forward and began kissing his collarbone. "You can have all of me soon enough. But for now..." In between each word, her lips moved lower and lower, letting him know that she was kneeling before him as she went. "I wanna have my fun with all of you."

Spike let out a groan as her lips reached just where she wanted him. "That's a very unfair way to win a disagreement."

♡︎

Buffy was in a sour mood as she entered her seemingly empty house. Dawn was upset about her being invisible, Teddy was flirting with some other girl, and Kitty was having the time of her life being invisible while Buffy was miserable.

"Dawn, I'm going out to find Xander. If he calls me—"

Whatever Buffy was about to say was cut off as the house phone rang, which she picked up, hoping it was Xander, who'd done research and left a message. The longer they remained invisible, the closer they were to fading from existence.

"Xander?"

"Don't talk. Just listen, Slayer," a man said, his voice seeming very familiar to her. "You don't have a lot of time."

"Who is this?" Buffy asked, raising an invisible eyebrow. "You sound familiar."

In an instant, he changed his voice, trying to disguise it. "I'm... nobody. No one you know. We've got your friend Willow, and if you don't want anything nasty to happen to her, you better meet us. Alone."

"Where?"

♡︎

Kitty was less than thrilled to be walking into the arcade. Usually, she loved going with Xander, but Buffy had barged into Spike's crypt and punched him before dragging Kitty away. Of course, the Cupid took it a little more seriously when Buffy explained that they'd fade away if they didn't find a way to fix themselves.

So as to not lose Buffy, Kitty kept a tight grip on the back of her shirt as she pushed past people, heading toward Willow, who was seemingly alone in the middle of the arcade.

"You okay, Will?" Buffy asked once they were close enough.

"Buffy?" she asked hopefully.

"And Kitty!" Kitty added brightly while looking around. "Where's Mr. Freeze? I mean, bad guys?"

"All around you, Slayer, so don't try anything," a voice said, which was a little familiar to Kitty, who frowned.

"He's bluffing, Buffy, there, there's just three of them, I think," Willow informed them.

"More than enough to cause some serious carnage, right guys?" the first boy said only to not get a response. "Guys? Guys!"

A few feet away, the joysticks of a fighting game were moving on their own seemingly, meaning his sidekicks were too busy playing games instead of helping.

"Kick! Use the kick!"

"I tried that, he keeps blocking it with his drunken monkey fist!"

"Ooh, scary video carnage," Buffy mocked.

"Hey!" the first one shouted, getting their attention. "Slayer's here."

"Sorry, didn't see her," the third boy mumbled.

"Why don't we continue this in a less crowded area, like, over there," the leader suggested.

"Where?" all of them asked, confused as they couldn't see where he was pointing.

"Over — follow me."

Kitty followed the invisibility ray that was floating in the air as he also dragged Willow along. They moved over to a quieter corner next to an air hockey table. Then Willow flinched as someone grabbed her other arm.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you guys are the ones who did this to us?" Buffy asked.

"It was an accident!" a very familiar voice insisted.

"Who's that?" Buffy asked.

"That's fucking Johnathan!" Kitty exclaimed, her eyes going wide. "A - and Warren! And Tucker's brother."

"My name is Andrew," he whined.

"They're the ones from your mystery van," Willow added, though she hadn't known their identities.

"You better turn me back or Spike's gonna kick the shit out of you," Kitty threatened, even though it was a lie since they were human.

"Fine," Warren snapped. "Slayer, hold up that air hockey mallet on the table."

"What for?"

"It'll give me a target to aim at," he explained. Buffy huffed and then held up the white piece of plastic, telling them all where she was. "Okay, now hold still, and all your troubles will soon be gone."

But Willow had been looking closely at the invisibility ray. "You're on the wrong setting!"

"What?" Warren asked, playing dumb.

"The gun, it's not set for reversing the particle ionization. It'll accelerate her molecular dissolution, I saw the plans!"

Warren shoved her back. "Mind your own business."

"What's she talking about?" Johnathan asked.

"Will used a bunch of big words that mean he's trying to kill you, Buff!" Kitty exclaimed before shoving Warren hard toward Buffy, who grabbed onto him. Kitty then pulled Willow back into the corner where they'd be safe, the gun not too far from them.

As Buffy beat the shit out of the three boys — well, the two could only imagine that's what she was doing — Willow crawled toward the invisibility ray. It took her a moment to locate everyone, but she finally pinpointed Buffy's exact location and shot a beam at her just as Johnathan was whining, "Ow! Watch the chest hair!"

Buffy appeared, and Johnathan was in her grasp, making the Slayer frown.

"You have chest hair?" Kitty asked the small boy as Buffy dropped him on the floor.

Willow then fired at the ball pit, revealing Warren. After that, she fired at a smashed pinball machine, which Andrew was on top of.

"Who are you again?" Buffy asked as Willow shot at Kitty, making her visible once more.

"Andrew," he said, earning a clueless shrug from the Slayer. "I summoned the flying monkeys that attacked the high school? During the school play, you know?"

Warren sighed. "Like Kitty said. It's Tucker's brother."

"Yeah, it's Tucker's brother," Johnathan agreed.

"So you three have, what, banded together to be pains in my ass?" Buffy asked, crossing her arms.

Warren carefully walked to the side, trying to find a way out. But he was just backing himself into a corner. "We're your arch-nemesis... ses. You may have beaten us this time, Slayer, but next time, uh, um, next time—"

"Maybe not!" Jonathan shouted before throwing something down. A big puff of smoke blinded the girls, giving the trio a chance to flee. Except when the smoke cleared, they were struggling to open the back exit in the corner.

"What do you mean, it's locked? You were supposed to check it!" Warren snapped.

"I forgot!" Andrew told him.

Buffy was clearly unimpressed as Kitty just giggled, ready to tell Spike all about this. "I give you my arch nemesis... ses."

"What's going on in here?" a security guard asked, coming up behind them. All three girls turned to look at him. "I got a bunch of scared kids saying this place is haunted!"

Then they heard the sound of a door opening and by the time they turned around, the boys were gone.

"Damn," Kitty muttered, knowing that running after them wasn't worth it. They weren't going to do any serious damage.

"Oh my god, Buffy!" Willow suddenly said.

Buffy was pouting. "I know, they're gone. I guess we should chase them."

"No, your hair!" she said, grinning. "It is adorable."

She looked surprised, having completely forgotten about her haircut. "Last time I go to Kitty's stylist."

"Hey, they did a great job," Kitty insisted. "Not Sasha's fault you got hit by an invisible ray."

♡︎

They did have to answer a few questions for the security guard, but Kitty's charming Cupid personality got them out of any serious trouble. They were free to go. And Willow let Kitty happily toy with the invisibility ray so long as she agreed to not shoot anything.

"Pretty neat, you finding the van," Buffy complimented Willow. "So... how did you manage to do it exactly? I mean, to locate it?"

"The hard way," she grumbled. "The spell-free way. The oh-my-god-my-head's-gonna-fall-off, my-feet-are-killing-me way." Then Willow sighed and sat on the edge of the curb, the other two girls following her down. "I don't know how I got through this day."

"Well, the important thing is that you did. It's a good first step," Buffy told her.

"How are you both doing, post-invisibleness?" Willow asked, looking to Kitty first.

"There aren't any consequences to my actions this time," she said with a shrug. For her, it'd just been a fun little adventure.

Buddy on the other hand? "Okay. I still have to do some damage control from my giddy-fest. Dawn was pretty freaked out. The whole taking-a-vacation-from-me thing didn't work out so well."

"Tell me about it," Willow muttered.

"Except when I got Xander's message,  you know, that I was fading away, I actually got scared," she admitted.

"Well, yeah. Who wouldn't?"

"Me. I wouldn't. Not too long ago I probably would have welcomed it," Buffy admitted, and Kitty held her hand. "But I realized I'm not saying that I'm doing back-flips about my life, but I didn't — I don't wanna die. That's something, right?"

"That's more than something," Kitty said, squeezing her hand. "That's amazing."

"So," Willow said. "I guess we both made good first steps."

"I guess."

"Yay for us."

"Yay."

♡︎

Kitty felt apologetic as she made her way into Spike's crypt, her hands behind her back. She hadn't taken Spike's concerns about what happened to her seriously and she could've faded away if not for Xander and Willow. He was there, listening to the radio quietly as he read some book, but he looked up instantly when he spotted her.

"Oh, thank fucking god," Spike muttered upon being able to see her. He got off his armchair and made his way over to her. "I missed seeing you around."

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, leaning against his chest as he held her. "Should have taken it more seriously."

"Yeah, you should've. What would I have done if you faded away? If I lost you?" he asked, the hurt in his tone clear.

"You're not gonna lose me, Blondie Bear," she mumbled, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek. "I got you something."

He raised an eyebrow and pointed to his chest as if asking, 'Me?' which made her smile. Then she brought her hands from behind her back and held out a blue bear with a cloud on his belly. Spike snatched the Grumpy Bear up in a second.

"About fucking time," he grinned. "Love the wardrobe decision."

She'd tied a black cape around the bear's shoulders, making him look like a vampire in monster movies.

"Well, I was getting tired of you stealing Love-A-Lot," she joked.

"Oh, I'm still stealing that," he said flatly while carefully putting the Grumpy Bear on the seat of his armchair. "Gives you a reason to keep coming back."

She rolled her eyes playfully and wrapped her arms around his neck, swaying gently to the familiar song on the radio. "I think you'll find you're a perfectly good reason to keep coming back."

"I am a fucking piece," he agreed, grinning cockily. And his grin only grew as she began speeding up, properly dancing to the song on the radio. Knowing how much she loved it, he sang to her while spinning her around, making her giggle. "Oh tell me that you feel, tell me that you feel, tell me that you feel the same."

"Baby, I love you," she sang in between laughs, standing on her toes to kiss him.

His tongue brushed the seam of her lips, meeting no resistance. As he explored the facets of her mouth, she ran her hands down his sides until she found his belt loops, pulling him closer by them.

"You know," he muttered before nipping at her bottom lip. "I should be offended at you getting me a Grumpy Bear."

"Spike, you're the grumpiest person I know."