For fans of slash fiction, it's been a pretty good couple of weeks. First, Rictor and Shatterstar kissed on the final page of X-Factor #45, and now Angel and Spike ...

What's that? I couldn't hear you over the collective "squeeeee!" of thousands of fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer slash. Yes, I said Angel and Spike.

Say what you will about Buffy creator Joss Whedon, but the man knows his audience. In the July edition of MySpace Dark Horse Presents, Whedon and Buffy cover artist Jo Chen -- no stranger to comic-book slash herself -- give a certain segment of fandom what it wants. Well, almost.

In the three-page short, titled "Always Darkest," Buffy's two great loves appear to give in to their deepest desires -- well, slashers' desires, at any rate.

All of the "Smooch-Smooch-Sproing" action has an oh-so-obvious explanation, of course. (There, there, slashers ...) But, hey, the story also features Nathan Fillion's Caleb character from the TV series. So, there's some consolation.