"My goodness! What beautiful diamonds!"

 

Spike looked up from trading out the beads on his piercings in preparation for going on stage, and fixed Xander with a smirk. "Mate, goodness had nothin' to do with it."

 

Xander laughed, throwing himself onto a chair to watch Spike carefully unscrewing each bead, replacing it laboriously with a jeweled bead. "How long do you spend looking at your dick these days?"

 

"Not long enough to make me regret it, the kind of money I'm earning since I had this done. Bugger." Spike dropped the latest steel bead into the small case he carried for the replacements and leaned back, flexing his hand. "Aren't you supposed to be dancing?" He nodded his head at the clock, and looked Xander over pointedly from faded jeans to white wife-beater to yellow hard hat. "And you do realize that that look went out in 1979, don't you?"

 

"Says the Billy Idol wannabe?"

 

"I'll have you know Billy's timeless."

 

"Dated."

 

"Village person."

 

"Wannabe punk."

 

They exchanged a grin and Spike returned to his project. "So what're you doin' back here?"

 

"Lorne changed the lineup for a bachelorette party. Graham's out there now, then Charles. They like 'em big and muscley."

 

Spike hovered, jeweled bead held delicately between his fingertips. "Should I bother?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"Why's that?" Spike asked, though he did return to trading out the plain steel for jeweled ends, slouched down on the bench.

 

"Because the bachelorette party isn't the only action going out there."

 

"No?"

 

"Nope. Seems there's a librarian who got promoted, so his friends brought him in to see a certain pierced blond dance. Word on the floor has it that there could be buying of a lap dance involved."

 

The jeweled bead shot from between Spike's fingers, pinged off a locker and disappeared into a corner as William stared at Xander with an expression of wide-eyed shock.

 

"Hey, I'm just the messenger." Xander withdrew an envelope full of bills from his back pocket and dropped it on the bench next to Spike. "That's from his buddy Holden who says 'make it good' and there'll be more cash involved."

 

William eyed the thickness of the envelope. "I can't- I can't accept even this!"

 

"Why not? It's not as if you haven't practiced his lap dance all ready."

 

"But I don't do private dances!"

 

"Not even when the librarian is Wes?"

 

"But this- It's so much."

 

"Oh, yeah, about that. Holden said Wes is an expensive date, and suggested the ballet." Xander patted William's shoulder. "They're in party room four. See ya."

 

William's tin of beads clattered from his lap and scattered all across the floor. "Sodding hell."