Words in the Sky

Xander plants his bare feet firmly into the sand, letting the warmth seep through his skin.

 

"Hey, Xander, look up!" Dawn yells at him, and he looks up at the bright blue sky of Miami beach, Florida. There's a plane up there, writing words in the air, and all the girls have their eyes up and a smile on their lips. It's so inane, so ridiculously cheesy, he thinks when the words "I love you, Rhonda" can be read, and yet, there's something pretty incredible about seeing this when their daily lives are spent saving the world from impending doom. Kind of a "thank you for keeping us alive so that we can keep doing ridiculously cheesy stuff like this" feeling.

 

He smiles.

 

"Oh! there's another one!" Vi cries out. Xander realizes he's been staring without seeing and "Rhonda" has disappeared from the sky. The other plane is on the left.

 

Xander can make out "Will y--" when Giles puts his hand on Xander's lower back. He leans into the touch while the letters o, u, and m are spelt. By the time a, r, r, and y appear, Giles has both arms around him and is holding him close to his chest. "Me" is next, then comes a comma. Xander snickers. Whoever asked for this one was a stickler for good grammar.

 

Giles nuzzles Xander's neck and Xander closes his eye, sighing happily and forgetting all about the skywriting until Dawn exclaims: "Xander, look!"

 

And right there, in the sky next to the extraordinary comma is his name followed by an interrogation point. Xander goes still in Giles' arms. "Huh."

 

Giles tightens his hold and breathes against Xander's neck. "Will you?" he asks; Xander can detect the uncertainty without even trying. He can also feel everyone's eyes on them and he has to close his eye for a moment, try not to feel as bewildered as he does.

 

It's not like they've never talked about it, Xander just hadn't expected, well, anything quite as <i>grand</i> as this. And in front of all their friends too. Buffy gives him a few seconds of respite; "Well, well, well, Giles, I didn't know you had it in you. All with the grand gestures and everything."

 

Giles chuckles against Xander's neck, but Xander can feel the nervousness, even if Giles is pretty good at hiding it. "Well, I do like to make an impression," he says.

 

"We can see that," Buffy replies. "Come on, Xander, give your answer already."

 

Twelve expectant faces are staring at him, and none of them are Giles; Xander sighs. He pushes away, and grabs Giles by the arm. "I've got to talk to my boyfriend in private," he tells the others, steering Giles towards the shelter of rocks he's spotted earlier. He turns back just long enough to wink at Buffy and receive her thumbs-up.

 

The answer's going to be yes, that's a given, but Xander just has to make Giles suffer for a little while longer.