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fan_flashworks

A couple of weeks ago, Angel Investigations had discovered a hidden pool room in the Hyperion Hotel. After some negotiations with David Nabbit, the team's favorite billionaire had helped Angel restore the pool to its former glory, which meant that people could now swim in it. Yesterday, the contractors had completed the renovations, and everyone (especially Cordy) was excited to try out the new pool.

Angel had been looking forward to the new pool, but right now he was currently researching Cordelia's latest vision while everyone else on the team was splashing around. He had claimed that he was doing it for the mission, but that wasn't the full truth. The vision wasn't due to come true for another three days, and Angel could have joined his friends.

Well, he would have been able to before Cordelia had emerged from where she had changed upstairs into a black two-piece swimsuit that provided only a bit more coverage than the infamous seashell bikini she had worn when she was shooting that suntan commercial. Angel had definitely reacted to her in the seashell bikini, and he reacted when he saw Cordy sauntering downstairs several moments earlier. His most visible reaction had involved choking on his own tongue, but thankfully Angel had been able to stop doing that before Cordy could notice and tease him for being a dork. After a low whistle from Gunn, Fred had arrived downstairs and thankfully Gunn's (and Wesley's) attentions had turned towards the Texan. If some strange man had been checking Cordy out, Angel could have blamed any annoyance he showed on being "protective." There was no way he would have been able to explain flying into a jealous rage around Gunn, who was not a threat to Cordelia in any way, shape, or form.

He also wouldn't have been able to explain his body's reaction to Cordelia's skimpily clad state, which had thankfully been concealed by his large oak desk at the time she entered the room in her bikini. He hadn't been prepared for the sudden surge of arousal he felt, but he was thankfully still lucid enough to realize that it would be a spectacularly bad idea to change into a pair of swim trunks that would cling when they got wet and hide nothing. And the research he had been engaged in provided an excuse to avoid that embarrassing situation, as well as the questions Cordy would ask. Namely, inquiries of if Angelus was due for a re-emergence, or if someone had been slipping something into his blood.

Angel didn't believe either of those to be the case. If he had simply turned into a horny pervert, he would have certainly reacted to Fred in her swimsuit, but he hadn't. Fred wasn't unattractive, but he felt nothing but uncomplicated friendship for her.

The fact that his lust seemed to be focused entirely on Cordelia was troubling and something Angel didn't want to examine too closely. It was better for everyone involved if Angel concentrated on her latest vision.

Angel had been rifling through a demonology text, which returned his body to its previous calm state. Some of the demons in this book were truly disgusting, like the one on the current page, which was slimy, had three ugly heads, and lobster claws.

At the soft sound of footsteps padding into the lobby, Angel glanced up and immediately cursed his supernatural hearing abilities. Oh, fuck me.

If Angel had been unprepared for the sight of his seer half-naked, he definitely didn't know how to handle the sight of her half-naked and dripping wet. As she approached, Angel could see her nipples were hard through the thin fabric of her bikini top and briefly pictured himself removing her top and teasing those nipples with his fingers. Angel snapped his mouth closed to avoid letting a moan escape. If he had been human, he probably would have probably passed out at this point. As it was, he was thankful for the fact that he couldn't blush and that the desk would hide evidence of the fact that he might be dead but wasn't a eunuch, regardless of what Cordelia believed.

Angel forced his gaze back to the book in front of him and shifted surreptitiously. His trousers were unbearably tight, and his only hope was that Cordelia wouldn't notice him and would pass through the room.

No such luck. The harsh sound of a chair scraping against the tile floor sounded, and Angel glanced up and gulped at the sight of a wet, half-naked Cordy up close. A droplet of water fell down her stomach to the edge of her bikini bottom, and Angel imagined tracing its path with his tongue. God...

Cordy snapped her fingers in front of him, which startled Angel into sitting stiffly upright. "Angel! Hello, wakey-wakey!"

Angel swallowed heavily and stared up into her gorgeous, irritated face. He smiled in a way that he hoped was reassuring, but probably came out manic. "Yes, Cordy?"

She huffed. "Where the hell were you? It's like you were off in la-la land or something!"

Angel relaxed minutely when he realized that Cordy was only annoyed with him, not outraged. She hadn't noticed the way he had been staring at her, and she had no idea the direction his thoughts had taken. "I'm fine," he said. "What's up?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes and carelessly tossed the towel she had been using to dry her hair onto the back of the chair next to her. Angel scowled at the disrespect to his leather chair, but he couldn't muster the displeasure he had felt years ago when she had treated a leather chair in his apartment in a similar manner. His scowl faded when she sat down and crossed one long, tanned leg over the other. Her casually seductive movement made Angel hiss out an unneeded breath as his erection strained against the zipper of his pants.  Fuck, was she trying to kill him?

"I really don't know why you're researching my vision from this morning," she said. "It's not due to arrive for another three days."

Angel shrugged. "It seemed important, and I figured I would get an early start."

Cordy frowned and it made a thin line appear between her eyebrows. Angel struggled to contain a smile and to suppress the feeling of adoration flooding through his heart. That was just as dangerous as the carnal impulses he had been experiencing.

"I would understand if the pool were outdoors," she continued. "You plus sunlight equals dust, after all."

Angel smirked. "Wouldn't want that."

She sighed dramatically and leaned her head against the back of the chair she was seated in. "I'm sooo bored."

Angel chuckled. He couldn't really help himself. She was so cute when she whined like that, but hopefully Cordy would just think he was amused. "It's been less than fifteen minutes. How can you be bored already?"

She pouted, and her lower lip jutted out. Angel fought the urge to lean over the desk and kiss her, and it was much more difficult to stop himself than it should have been.

Cordy glanced away, uncharacteristically shy. "It's just not the same without you."

Angel bit his lip and reminded himself to not read too much into her innocuous statement. Cordy looked up at him with wide, pleading eyes, and that, combined with the pout she had been sporting and a head tilt, threatened to undo him completely.

Angel felt himself giving in. Joining her in the pool would still be a bad idea, but the reasons why seemed less and less important the longer he looked at her face. He'd never been able to say no to her.

His lips twitched upward. "All right, I guess the research can wait. I'll be there in a few minutes."

Cordy jumped up from her chair and gave him a quick hug around the shoulders. Unnoticed to her, he tensed because he was reminded of his arousal, which hadn't abated at all during their conversation. The entirely platonic contact wouldn't have normally caused a problem, but in his current state, the brief press of her body against his side nearly made Angel's eyes roll to the back of his head. How the hell would he manage to act normally around her and avoid showing how much he wanted her? Hopefully, the water in the pool would be really, really cold.

Cordy withdrew from the hug and started walking away. Angel was on the verge of drooling as he watched the hypnotic sway of her hips as she strolled. She stopped and beamed over her shoulder at him. "See ya, then. Love ya, broody boy."

Angel grinned at her until she was no longer in the room and couldn't hear him. He sighed, and his longing was tinged with hopelessness. "Love you, too." Angel didn't know whether to be relieved or saddened by the fact that Cordelia had no idea how much he loved her.

He wryly looked down at his abandoned research. That three-headed slime demon he had been reading about had nothing to do with Cordelia's vision, but he vowed to keep it in mind for the next hour or so. The image of it would be unappealing enough to bring his body under control, as long as he constantly kept it at the back of his mind. Angel left to go get changed into some swim trunks, reminding himself of every gross demon he had ever encountered in his fight against evil and pushing away recent memories and fantasies of Cordy. A few minutes later, he came downstairs and paused outside the door to the pool room, steeling himself to hide how he felt about the woman he found himself, against his will, falling in love with. Angel wanted to enjoy his time with his friends, even if one of them was starting to become more than a friend to him. He had denied himself what he wanted before, and he could do that again. His smile when he opened the door and entered the pool room fully concealed the turmoil bubbling just under the surface.