Title: Prævadentia
Author: Strange Creature
Rating: NC-17 m/m smut, PWP
Pairing: Lindsey/Angel
Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. I grovel before Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy like a good little minion.
Author's Notes: Mucho gracias to Denita (Beta, the first) and Sydney (Beta, the second). However, I just couldn't stop picking at this one, even after editing, and any mistakes should not be blamed on these talented ladies.

The first time they kiss would be just outside this conference room. No wonder, really... Lindsey had always had a voice like sex and whiskey. They would fight, because that was old and safe, and Angel would suddenly find himself sick of the dance. He would shove Lindsey up against the wall. While Lindsey wonders what he had said that had cut a little too deep, Angel would lean in and kiss him breathless.

They would pull apart, both gasping for breath that only one of them needed, and Angel would glance down the hallway as if he expected the entire staff of Wolfram & Hart to be in audience. Lindsey couldn't take his eyes off the vampire. How come it had taken them nearly five years to figure this out? It would take the approach of the end of the world for the thin, blurry line between hatred and passion to become clear.

"You want to come to my apartment?"

"My office is closer."

"Sounds like a plan."

The door had just barely slammed closed behind them, and they were together, tearing at the clothes between them.

"I want you."

Not entirely sure who had said it, but the fragile whisper of truth hung in the air like smoke, and Angel's fingers were tangled in Lindsey hair like he didn't plan to let go anytime soon. There bodies came together, hot on cool, lips and tongues and teeth colliding as they kissed, hard enough to draw blood. It couldn't have been any other way.

Angel would steer clear of the red couch, but the soft, garish chair in front of the desk was certainly improved by a naked Lindsey bent over it, panting and murmuring nonsense as Angel took his time, wondering where to begin. Everything else between them had gone wrong, but their first time was going to be as good as he could make it.

Angel let his hands explore the planes of Lindsey's body, just slow enough to make the man groan and press himself back into Angel's body. The demon knows what he's doing, even if Angel refuses to admit it. Angelus is rolling his eyes and would've happily done the deed without further ado, three times by now. Angel, however, must awkwardly disentangle himself and grab the little tube of lubricant he'd hidden in the deepest corner of a desk drawer. Lindsey grins wickedly, and Angel is entirely thankful that vampires aren't known to blush.

"Lonely, Angel?"

"You're just lucky I'm feeling generous." It was enough to make Lindsey shut up and brace himself against the chair back, letting Angel prepare him without anymore comment than the shallow hitching breathes he took.

As Angel slid into him, the only sound Lindsey made was a slight gasp, and his fingers dug into the fabric of the chair until Angel twined his own through them. Angel slid their joined hands down Lindsey's sweat-glossed body, like something out of a late night foreign movie just this side of porn that he certainly wouldn't be caught watching.

"Touch yourself for me, Lindsey."

It's too hot, too tight, and they've taken so long to get to this point. They're both struggling for control, for one last grinding thrust, one last pleasure/pain explosion. Lindsey's head fell back against Angel's shoulder as his orgasm hits. Angel isn't sure if it was the sudden clench of muscle around his cock or simply the look on Lindsey's face that drove him over the edge. When the waves of pleasure subside, Angel finds himself with his arms full of shuddering, sweating mortal, and he thinks that perhaps Lindsey is the most beautiful man he's ever seen.

"God, Lindsey, you're so..." Lindsey turns to look at him, sated and flushed with sex, and Angel's mouth goes on strike. "...pretty." Lindsey laughs at him.

"Yeah, I bet you say that to all the lawyers."

"No. Just you, actually."

Lindsey would just look at him, blue eyes glazed with lust and a bit of fear and such desperate honesty, and everything had changed.

*

There was no question that Angel would fall defending Lindsey. A chance slip, a lucky stab connects, and Lindsey doesn't even have the opportunity to gasp. There are ashes at his feet and on his fingers when he falls to his knees, scrabbling hopelessly at it, like he could bring him back if only he could keep the dust from washing away in the rain.

"Oh god, no, no, no..." And then a wordless scream of loss at the boiling sky.

It draws the enemy's attention to him, and Lindsey doesn't raise a hand to save himself.

Gunn is dead already, and after Spike sees Angel dusted, it's only a matter of time. Which leaves one wounded, former God-King against everything that the Wolf, Ram and Hart have thrown at them.

One perfect moment of truth and bliss has somehow tipped the balance, and they never even had a chance.

*

Lindsey finishes his song, and clears his throat with a half-grin in Angel's direction. "Well? Am I gonna win the lottery?" Lorne's hand is shaking as he presses it over his eyes for a moment, deciding what to say. All of a sudden, he's more powerful than he thought he was.

"It's... it's blurry, but you're clean," Lorne manages. He looks up in time to see the wicked glance Lindsey shoots at Angel, who is still leaning against the wall with him arms crossed, trying to pretend that Lindsey hadn't been singing just for him.

"See, champ? No evil plots this week," Lindsey says, drawing the barest hint of a smile from Angel.

"Angel?" No nicknames today. Lorne feels like he's going to be sick, repeatedly and probably sometime soon. "Can I have a word?"

Lindsey can't entirely mask a slight look of disappointment when they edge past him to leave the conference room. Two steps away from the doorway, and Lorne imagines he can feel the fate he just averted whoosh past like a missed train.

"Lindsey's going to betray you. You can't trust him."

There are tears in Lorne's eyes, and he hopes that Angel will think it's because he's telling the truth.