He feels the shifting in the air as soon as the front door opens.
Always be aware of new people entering the room, recognize them immediately and try to realize if they bring indifference or pain.
It was a lesson he'd learned pretty early.
He still doesn't know how Spike fits into his scheme, though.
"That's my chair."
Xander looks up from his hands and directly at Spike, who's standing in the doorway, calmly looking at him with a raised eyebrow, waiting.
After a second's hesitation in which he can hear his own heart beating Xander gets up, steps around the kitchen table and sits down in the chair opposite the one he'd been sitting in a second ago.
A small smile twitches around Spike's lips as he turns around and leaves the kitchen and Xander knows – knew – that Spike hadn't planned on actually sitting down.
All Spike wanted to prove is, that he could - and that he would.
Make him, that is.
For a second Xander looks at the empty doorway, trying to muster up a glare, until he realises his fingers are stroking over the leather cuff around his wrist and he drops his head in defeat.