Title:Bubba the cowboy prince: a fractured Texas tale
Author/pseudonym: MJ Gage
E-mail address: mjgage@interfold.com
Notes: I did this as a part of a round robin on Angel Slash. I'm posting it
here cause every chapter is a stand alone story, this is the Angel/Oz
one and There just aren't enough posts out there.

The basic set up is Angel is working under cover in a brothel, trying
to catch a serial killer.

I really need to thank Charles for this. With out his support you
would never have seen it. The title doesn't refer to anything. I
work in a library and am constantly fascinated by the titles of
children's books. This one came across my desk at the same time I
realized I didn't have a title for this story.

***

Angel stopped. Two hundred and fifty years old. He thought nothing in
this place could shock him. He was wrong. At the end of the corridor,
a small man was mopping the floor. Angel knew janitors' closets
usually came with a janitor and somebody had to be cleaning the
place, but he never expected it to be Oz.

Angel admitted the werewolf looked nice in the leather boy outfit. It
was his second shock in five minutes. He was going to have to rethink
this jaded two hundred and fifty-year-old thing. Oz in leather? He
looked alluring and edible. Angel decided gorging after five hundred
years of abstinence in hell was NOT a good idea. He stepped down the
hallway, "Oz?"

The young man stopped mopping and looked up, "Hey Angel, didn't think
I'd see you here."

The unusual length of Oz's sentence startled Angel. He resigned
himself to being shocked by everything Oz did. Symmetry restored, he
answered the implied question, "I'm working on a case."

Oz seemed oddly disappointed, "Oh, I was hoping it was a serial
killer. I was planning on eating him."

Angel heard the young man had the wolf under control. He thought that
meant the same thing as his soul, no more eating people. "Eating," he
asked perplexed.

"Yeah, werewolf," The red head gestured at his chest. Angel noticed
nipple rings under the black leather vest. "evil human. Dinner." Oz
rubbed his stomach and Angel wondered what other parts of his body
were pierced

The vampire shook his head. Working in this place was NOT a good
idea. He had to get the image of Oz in his bed out of his mind. The
mental picture of the boy spread across the bed, his pale skin and
red hair contrasting with the black sheets was enticing. What did Oz
say? Angel shook his head again and tried to think pure thoughts, he
wondered if he remembered to compliment Cordelia on her newest pair
of shoes and how much they were going to cost him in employee
benefits. He remembered the conversation with the alluringly dressed
boy. " OK that works. I won't get in your way."

Oz snorted, apparently Angel was just as immune to his brothel
uniform as all the other men. He was beginning to understand why the
owner insisted he wear it and work during the busiest hours of the
brothel. He coughed hoping to return the vampire's attention to the
matter at hand, "But you're here, Angel. So the killer's probably not
human,but a. . . . " he drifted off.

Angel finished the sentence for the grateful young man, "Demon." Oz
had such a nice smile; it was a pleasure to see it again. He was
trying to figure out a way to make the redhead smile again, when
something struck him. "Wait, don't werewolves eat demons?"

Oz shifted nervously and returned to mopping, "Yeah ones we can take
down," he said to the floor.

The vampire was shocked again. What was wrong with Oz? He remembered
the teenager as quiet, but never fearful. He looked at the young man
pretending to concentrate on cleaning a spotless floor. Oz looked
defeated. Angel wondered what happened to the young man. He didn't
think anything could disturb Oz, much less defeat him.

Angel remembered Rupert's description of the werewolf's return to
Sunnydale. He was captured and tormented by the Initiative. The
vampire understood why Oz would be eager to eat an evil human and
reluctant to attack a possible demon. He remembered what it was like
to be forcibly reminded you were not one of them, you were another.
Humans, humans that were experimenting on other demons, abused the
werewolf.

Oz was not sure where he belonged anymore and who were the real
villains. He was afraid he might see something of himself in the
demon. Angel tried to reassure him, "Don't underestimate yourself."

Oz glanced up at the vampire. "Yeah" He placed the mop back in the
bucket and started to move down the corridor to continue working.
Away from Angel.

He grabbed the redhead as he tried to pass the vampire. "Oz, what is
it? Why are you here?" Too late, he realized he was shaking the boy.
The size differences between the two making Angel appear even more
threatening.

Oz crumpled in Angel's grip. He cowered like a beaten puppy. "I can't
go home to Sunnydale," He looked up at Angel as if he was waiting for
the next blow, powerless to prevent it. He returned his gaze down the
empty hallway, "I have nowhere to go. My Aunt and Uncle live here."

Angel suddenly remembered how young Oz was. In this, day and era some
would still consider him a child. Angel silently laughed at the
thought. After all Oz had been through and seen, childhood was long
gone for the young werewolf. He remembered how he felt as a one
hundred and fifty-year vampire, newly cursed with a soul, and
banished by his Sire. He remembered the pain, the loneliness, and
being lost with no idea what came next. Angel swallowed and moved his
grip into an embrace, "I understand."

Oz tucked his head under Angel's and burrowed into the hug. The
vampire remembered reading werewolves were as tactile as their canine
cousins were. He pictured his favourite redheaded pair together. He
smiled remembering how they were always cuddled together. The vampire
wondered if anyone held and petted the werewolf now? Angel pulled the
small body a little closer to his own.

A muffled voice came from the region of his chest and Angel stepped
back enough to look at Oz's face.

The redhead smiled in gratitude, "Angel how do you do it? Does it get
any easier?"

Oz's cap was pushed back, his hair escaping in soft spikes. His green
eyes held a trace of tears and the lashes danced with moisture. His
cheeks were flushed with the barest trace of pink. Angel thought he
looked edible. That combined with the leather vest, paints, and his
clear unwillingness to leave Angel's embrace shot fire to the
vampire's groin. He swore he felt his heart start beating. Angel
closed his eyes and licked his lips, trying to get his libido under
control. Feast after famine was a bad, bad thing. He had to get away
from here before he ravished the werewolf in the hallway. "Um . . ."
he took a deep breath, "Oz, coffee?"

The object of Angel's current desires stepped back and looked up at
the vampire from under misty lashes, "Make it tea and I'm yours."
This time, Oz's smile reached his eyes.

***

Angel could not explain why he brought the young werewolf to his lair,
rather than stopping at one of the multitude of all night
coffeehouses LA seemed to be plagued with. He couldn't even offer the excuse of
Oz's request of tea over coffee. It might be LA, but this was still
California, tea in its many herbal incarnations was sometimes easier
to find then coffee, no mater what the sign over the door said. No,he
just felt the need to some how take Oz as far away from the brothel
as possible.

Sitting under the fluorescent glow of the kitchen lights Angel
examined Oz. The young man did not look good; he seemed to have
withdrawn the little bit of Oz he used to share with the world. Angel
reached across the table, slowly as if he was approaching a wild
animal. He stroked the pale skin on the back of the freckled hand.
"Oz? What is it? Why are you here?"

Oz turned to the vampire, his green eyes empty. "Angel, I'm lost."

"Lost?" Angel removed his hand and Oz whimpered. He looked at Oz and
he remembered what it was like living with a soul before the Powers
sent him to help the slayer. To be alone, not human and not a real
vampire, trying to avoid everyone and hide from the demon inside you.

He knew what the werewolf meant. Lost, no place in the world and no
one else like you. "You're not alone." He pulled the redhead into his
lap and embraced the small body. Angel rested his cheek against the
soft hair and whispered in Oz's ear, "You're not alone. I'll always
be there if you need me."

Oz looked up at Angel, tears beginning to gather at the corner of his
eyes, "Angel, I need you." He pulled the vampire's face to his and
dusted the lightest kiss across cool lips.

***

Oz woke up cocooned in Angel. That was one of the nice things about
being a small man. Sometimes you got to be held instead of being the
holder. OK so this had never happened before, with any of his other
lovers. Even if their sizes were reversed, Angel was the type that
protectively curled around his bed mates. Still, it was nice.

Oz shifted, yeah that was nicer. Angel was still inside him. Waking up
joined to the dark vampire was good. Oz wondered if he could wake up
Angel the same way Devon liked to be woken up. He squeezed. The
vampire moaned quietly and pulled Oz closer. It could work.

He began to slowly undulate pulling the growing hardness deeper in
his body. Angel's moans rose in volume and he thrust back against the
werewolf. Oz smiled, the vampire was proving to be a more
enthusiastic partner than even Devon. Whom Oz personally felt defined nymphomaniac.

Angel rubbed his face in Oz's hair and growled his name. The action
earned the vampire an increased tightness, as the redhead squeezed
and leaned back at the same time. Angel was scenting his partner,
something that appealed to the werewolf on a basic instinctual level.
He snarled. The vampire's answering growl sent shivers threw him and
caused Oz to step up his undulations.

He leaned his head back until it rested on Angel's shoulder. Angel
opened his eyes, realizing his dream was in fact reality. The small
hot body in his arms was panting, begging for more, and exposing his
throat right under the vampire mouth. The temptation was too great.
Angel allowed his demon to emerge and bit down into that beautiful
pale skin. Oz reached back and shouted his name.

The werewolf started to emerge to meet the vampire. Oz rolled from
his side to his stomach and pushed back until he was seated across
Angel's thighs with the vampire deeply imbedded inside of him. Oz
reached back and around the wolf's claws marking every piece of the
vampire's skin they touched.

Oz's growls were almost coming out as howls. His body covered in fur
and the weight pressing down on Angel increased. The wolf could smell
blood, his and the vampire's, he wanted more. Oz ripped his neck away
from Angel's fangs and tore into the vampire's exposed throat. The
taste of blood sent the wolf over the edge and he released howling
the vampire's name.

Oz's seed was hot on Angel's hand, hotter than humans were. His whole
body was so warm; it almost burned the vampire. He felt like he was
encased in a star on the verge of going super nova. When Oz orgasmed
his muscles squeezed Angel tight enough to be painful. His muscles
continued contracting in after shock. Oz turned his head and resumed
feeding off Angel.

It struck Angel; the wolf was feeding from him. Oz was drinking
vampire blood. Angel tried to pull back in panic, but Oz's claws were
imbedded in his flesh. He remained in wolf form while he feed. Angel
remembered, werewolves could feed from vampires without being turned,
they were immune to vampire blood, but craved the taste. He also
remembered how long it had been since he had a lover who could feed
from him and how intoxicating it felt.

He closed his eyes and began the low rumbling humans mistook for a
purr. His fangs returned to the wolf's neck and he took back some of
the blood Oz was removing. The vampire needed to mark the werewolf as
his possession, just as the werewolf was marking him.

"Danny" Angel whispered as he came, licking the blood off the wolf's
fur.

***

As he was leaving Oz turned back into the apartment and the vampire
lying pleasantly debauched among the black sheets. "Angel if you need
help with the demon, " he paused and looked directly at the vampire's
eyes, "I'm there." He blinked and turned to the door, "But?."

Angel felt the wolf jump when he rested his hand's on Oz's shoulders.
Even werewolves forgot how fast vampires could move. Angel leaned
down and kissed Oz's head, "I know, you'd rather not fight, if you
don't have to."

Oz stepped out of the safety of the vampire's lair and into the
ever-changing world of LA. With out looking back, he paused just past
the threshold. "Thanks."

***