The Mighty Belthazor

Anders stirred and rolled over, flailing around for a moment before throwing an arm over the two of them. "Someone say my name?" he asked fuzzily.

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"I was telling anyone I ran into that!" Bel said, scowling.

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"Excuse me?"

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"Telling anyone you ran into what?" asked Anders as he propped himself up on one elbow.

Oh, please, he totally knew.

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"Telling them how I felt!" Bel said, ready to commence flailing again in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1.

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"How you felt... about everyone?" Her face may have shown her shock at that. "Like... like who?"

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And then it connected for Anders, who'd walked in on the tail end of that phone call, after all.

"Oh, you didn't seriously . . . you didn't actually!"

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"I called Angel," Bel said, eyeing the pillow again and debating another smothering attempt. "And I talked to Isabel, who probably thinks I'm crazy."

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Phoebe felt her heart sink. "You... you told Angel... how you felt about him..."

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Anders glanced over at her, biting his lip. "Did we frak up?" he mouthed.

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Fortunately, Bel didn't see Anders do that. "I called him," he said unhappily. "I told him . . . I think? Okay, maybe not the exact words. But I thought he understood." Then again, this was Angel after all.

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Phoebe looked unhappy, too.

"So... you told him you loved him..."

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Anders tried to reach for Phoebe's hand. "You did, didn't you?" he asked Bel.

Maybe it had just been the spell? He was kind of hoping that was the case, even if it meant that what Bel had said to him . . . well.

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". . . maybe?" Bel said. "I didn't use those words. What the hell was wrong with me? I would've never done that. And I don't remember getting gremlin bit."

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Phoebe did let Anders take her hand, but now it was her that buried her face under the pillow with a moan.

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In stereo, too -- because Anders was doing the same thing.

Just in case it wasn't clear that maybe something was up.

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Bel eyed them both. ". . . what?"

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Phoebe whimpered again. "It wasn't supposed to cause... and we didn't think it would..." She choked slightly. "We wanted you to talk to us about your feelings... not everyone else..."

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"We frakked up," added Anders from beneath his pillow. "I swear, all I wanted to know was how you felt about me, not . . ."

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Bel stared.

"You two cast a spell on me?" he said quietly.

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"I did," Phoebe lied softly, not wanting to get Anders or Savannah in trouble. "I thought that if you... that you would be more at ease with us and expressing yourself... and..." Phoebe closed her eyes. "I'm sorry."

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Anders didn't want to get Savannah in trouble, but he wasn't about to let Phoebe take all the heat for it, either.

"It was my idea, though," he said miserably. "I'm the one who wanted to know so bad. I talked her into it, and . . . it's my fault, okay?"

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Bel pulled away and got up from the bed, stalking across the room and pulling on some clothes. "I can't believe this," he muttered.

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Phoebe had tears in her eyes.

"Cole... I'm sorry. I didn't know you were going to talk to everyone about how you felt. You've been so tense and..." She swallowed. "I thought it would help if you relaxed and talked to us more about... about stuff."

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