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tamingthemuseTitle: The Games We Play
Author: Sunnyd_lite
Set: BtVS Sn 6 Post Doublemeat Place
Rating: PG some swearing
Prompt: 77 Rocking the Boat
Word Count: 2,417
Disclaimer: Don't own them, just playing
A/N: Thanks to and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
garnigal for handholding and spiralleds for betaing.
"We need to have a games night."
That pronouncement hit him out of the blue as Xander shuffled through the towers of bridal magazines on the coffee table in hopes of finding the remote.
"Games Night?"
"Yes where we hang out somewhere other than the Magic Box for fun. I don't think Buffy's dating anyone, do you?"
What did that have to do with Games Night?
"Oh well, she can bring Dawn. That way we know she's not running off with the vampires."
The Engagement Party. He'd been so certain then. However there were more immediate worries.
"Games Night?" Okay so he felt like a parrot.
"Yes, and a pot luck supper. I'm guessing that Buffy will bring those burgers you like. If we have Willow, I guess we can't invite Tara. It's too bad, I like her cooking."
Wait, there had to be some Anya logical reason. He just had to figure out what it was.
"Yes, the magazines suggest that the wedding party should socialize before the wedding and I don't want to spend any extra money on it."
And there it was: Anya Logic.
"But don't we spend time together anyways? Although now he thought about it, there been a distinct drop in hang time. Not that there was hanging time last year as much as fleeing for their lives, but quality-time none the less. So maybe Anya was right.
"Good idea, honey."
"You don't have to make fun of me, just because I want a social life and a sex life oh, you were agreeing with me?"
"Yes, honey." That was a phrase he was getting used to.
Which is how next Friday he found himself cutting marble cheese into cubes and swirling crackers around the brie – he'd put his foot down about the stinky Gorgonzola. His winning argument being why waste it on them when brie was cheaper. He knew his girl, even if she seemed possessed by the spirit of Betty Crocker. He had to talk her down from a tapas menu that included crab puffs and Angels on Horseback. "Maybe we shouldn't bring Angel in the mix."
"It's just the gang; they would have been happy ordering pizza."
"But I'm not fine with pizza." She was fussing with the last cheese twist and placed it on a cookie sheet. "We're grown ups now, well not Dawn, and we should act like it."
Grown-up. He swallowed then straightened his spine. He'd faced down hell gods. He laughed at fear. Why was that word so scary?
"After we're married, we'll be doing this with other couples. So tonight's like a dress rehearsal." She slipped the cookie sheet into the oven. "I'm off to get dressed. Watch the door?"
Dressed? No one had told him this was a "dressed" event. He hadn't told the others. Did they know? Did he have to change out of his jeans and Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters t-shirt?
When did he have to worry about how he looked to the gang?
He carried the cheese tray, with appropriate knives from a Pampered Kitchen party Anya had gone to, into the living room. Where there were a number of wineglasses.
"Honey, isn't beer better for games?"
Beer in its own self-contained bottles meaning no careful washing up after. Beer, that he knew he liked. Anya kept buying wine to test it for the wedding. He just grimaced through it.
Change,it wasn't all good.
Then there was a knock on the door.
"I brought cookies." This pronouncement was matched with a plate being thrust into his chest.
"And hello to you too, Willow. Isn't Dawn with you?" He'd imagined that they'd all arrive at the same time, but that didn't seem to be the case.
"She said she'd swing by the Doublemeat with a change of clothes for Buffy. I'm sure they'll be here soon. Cookies?" Willow was wearing black pants and something similar to his pirate costume. Maybe Anya had told the others to dress up.
"Not sure if they go well with wine," he said ushering her into the living room. "But you know I love Willow baking." Especially since these weren't as an apology, at least not to him.
"Oh cheese tray! Buffy will like that."
"But where are the grapes? I purposely bought grapes to go on the cheese tray! Xander didn't you see the grapes?" Anya bustled out of the bedroom looking like a Stepford wife clone without the pearl necklace. She'd meant getting dressed, as he was sure that wasn't in the closet this morning.
"Grapes?" Ignorance was the best plead. They'd been tasty too. All of them.
"They were in the crisper. I'll just-"
Luckily that thought was cut off by another knock at the door.
"See I told you they'd be here soon!" Willow had the slightly smug tone in her voice that had been absent for too long. He hadn't realized he'd missed it. It sure beat out the sharper 'I know better than you' tone she'd had all summer.
"Another point for Willow the All Seeing," he teased back. "So have you ever thought about lottery tickets?" As soon it was out of his mouth he knew is was a bad call.
Willow visible shrunk into the couch. "I...um, so cheese?"
Luckily the social silence of doom was interrupted by Dawn gushing over Anya's outfit while Buffy held a Doublemeat bag in front of her like a shield.
"Hey gals! Welcome to Games Night! Can I get you a drink?"
Anya whisked the bag into the kitchen, then returned with the wine; giving him a glare. She must have found the grape stems. "Wait, I've opened wine and sparkling grape juice for you, Dawn, although I don't understand your drinking laws. I started drinking ale when I was weaned."
"Funny how it's our country when you like it and my country when you don't." He tried to smile through the comment, but boy was he getting tired of her railing about bunches of issues that he didn't even think about. Wasn't the day to day enough to think about?
"Oh, wine and cheese! The faculty has them every now and then! It's kinda fun to see the profs getting toasted," Willow grinned. "We'd get dressed up, Tara had this..." Her voice trailed off.
"She's still not talking to you? Well you did do that mind-wipe thingy. I can see how she'd be peeved. In fact, there was one vengeance."
As he saw Willow blanch, he stepped in. "Speaking of vengeance, isn't your friend coming?" Not that he particularly wanted a Vengeance demon in his house, but distraction was a handy tool. Worked like a charm, too.
"Halley? No, I invited her but it's a busy time of year what with the holiday season spill-over."
"You mean there's overtime for demons?" Dawn tried reaching for the wine bottle. "That just sucks."
"Well, as I was saying, you do an honest day's work but what with high family tension, and the commercialization of the holidays with the unrealistic expectations." Anya pulled the bottle away from Dawn. "Sometimes I miss it. Cheese twists, anyone?"
A chorus of yeses ended that discussion. Maybe he should have volunteered to go over center-piece planning? It might have been easier than mediating this crowd.
"So Buffy, speaking of work, how's the life of the hair net variety?"
She just gave him a blank zombie stare. The type that had taken him weeks to perfect at various fastfood jobs. H'uh guess she was a fast learner.
"And Dawnie, what are the kids doing for fun these days? When we were in school-" they'd been facing a monster a week. Not the best thing considering how Buffy was trying to keep Dawn as fray adjacent as he'd refused to be.
"Oh, spending time with Janice's family. They have sit-down meals and everything. The whole family signed my cast, but the hospital wouldn't let me keep it." She sat as far away from Willow as she could.
Okay, so this was as fun as a barrel of monkeys. Dead monkeys with fleas.
"So, we have games! Honey, what type of games do we have?" He wasn't sure himself.
"The classic party games. We have Trivial Pursuit, Entertainment version and I thought we could make teams and play Charades. I've prepared the papers and pencils all ready."
Dawn stopped mid-reach for a cheese twist. "Wait, aren't we playing video games? I thought it was video games. Everyone at school is talking about Halo." A look of confusion crossed Dawn's face.
"Halo, that looks sweet. FPS and the graphics and blood splatter are supposed to be unbelievably realistic," he sighed. Wedding or Xbox, guess which won?
"Blood splatter!" Buffy looked almost alert. "Hey, I'm trying hard to keep you away from violence. And don't talk blood splatter until you have to do the laundry."
"Well no Halo. So, Charades? Or should we eat first?" He looked around. Maybe an activity was better than chit chat. Weren't these the people he could spend hours with, discussing everything and nothing? What had happened? When had it happened?
"This will be fun!" Anya started to hand out the paper and pencils to the group. "So, Xander and I will be a team and the three of you should be one. That way we can see which team wins! Everyone fill out three forms. Movies, Songs, T.V. Shows, people or demons, phrases or places. Well, start writing!"
He stared at his blank paper, but could hear the others scribbling. Movies, had he seen any lately? Well places. Maybe Los Vegas? People – Superman? Nah. Kryptonite? Maybe, if Oz was still here. Wizard of Oz? or would that upset Willow again? Apocalypse, Now? That's a good one. But what for the third?
"Xander, you and I give our clues to them, and we'll be playing with their clues. I'll go first!"
She pushed him into a chair and then pulled one of the papers. "Ohh this is good."
Anya made the symbol for movie and folded her hands like a book.
"Okay movie and book title."
She bounced up and down, then held up four fingers.
"Four Words."
Nodding she raised up four fingers again.
"Fourth word."
She made a circle with her thumb and forefinger. Then carefully pulled it over her ring finger. He thought he saw the others tense, and wondered why. Oh, fuck. No she used peter pointer for that signal. So this was oh shit. "Ring?"
Big smile this time. Okay rings. The only thing that came to mind was wedding rings but that wasn't a movie, more like a death sentence. Wait, he didn't mean that he loved her. Oh she was moving again.
"Thirty seconds," Willow said. She always was a bit competitive.
"First word." Anya was raising a hat. "Hat?" That earned him a grimace. She tried bowing. "Butler?" That earned him the circular hand motion, which he normally interpreted as hurry up. Wait a second.
"Lord of the Ring."
"I knew we'd do well. It's your turn! More wine?" Anya fussed around as the three girls played Rock Paper Scissors. Unsurprisingly, both Buffy and Dawn used rocks. Blunt force is always useful. And it beat Willow's scissors.
"Okay." She made a show of swirling the papers around, but took a deep breath when she read the paper.
He tried to pay attention something about singing, no wonder she was nervous. She hated to sing in public. Another four words. But she seemed to hesitate about which word. She finally raised one finger.
"First word."
She hugged herself. Then started to draw a shape in the air.
"Hey, no writing!" Anya interjected.
"Love." Dawn was getting into the spirit of the game.
Willow nodded, and moved onto the next word.
He drifted as he tried to think of the games they used to play. He really wanted to be anywhere but here.
"Love Potion Number 9!"
Wait, that was cruel. Wills was going cold turkey. So he understood why she looked upset, but why did Buffy look shocked?
"Our turn again! Choose something Xander!"
He read what was scribbled in Dawn's careful script: Rocking the boat.
Making the air quotes sign, he followed it by raising three fingers.
"Phrase, three words," Anya exclaimed, bouncing on the sofa. She looked so excited, so pleased to be playing grown ups. He wouldn't say he was excited. Terrified maybe, but not excited.
He cradled his arms, swinging them.
"Baby?"
Yup, terrified. He frantically waved his hands to ix-nay that idea.
"Rocking?"
He nodded and then made the "t" sign for 'the'. He now had to figure out how to make a boat.
"30 seconds."
He tried cupping his hands, like a hull.
"Cup? Bowl?"
He kept shaking his head. Maybe he should try putting sails?
"Windows? Xander what are you doing? We're going to lose."
"10 seconds."
He tugged at his ear.
"Sounds like."
He put his hands up like horns and then pulled an imaginary beard.
"D'Hoffryn?"
"Time!"
"Xander! What was that?" He could kiss those pouty lips forever. Kissing wasn't the problem.
"Rocking the boat. I was trying to do sounds like goat." He shrugged his 'what can you do' shrug, hoping the company would forestall an argument.
"Well that's a stupid phrase, why would you want to rock a boat? I guess it's your turn."
As Dawn reached into the bowl, there was a knock on the door. He leapt up; anywhere but here.
The last person he'd expected was there.
"Spike? How do you even know where we live?"
That earned him an eye roll. "You were legless a few times this summer. Helped drag you home now dinnit I? Is Buffy here?" He was leaning against the doorjamb, like a black shadow.
"And if she is? We're not scheduled for an apocalypse."
"Apocalypse, Now." Willow's shout was heard in the background. He smiled. Guess she wasn't his best friend for nothing.
"There's a big bad, nothing too serious but thought the Slayer should have a look-see." He garnished that comment with a smirk.
Spike could roll in and roll out of their lives. No wedding, no bills, no stress. Someone whose job description seemed to be rocking the boat. Xander wanted to smack his head against the door. He was envious of Spike.
"You can't go, we're losing!" Anya had joined him at the door.
It looked like some of tonight's games were finished.
Author: Sunnyd_lite
Set: BtVS Sn 6 Post Doublemeat Place
Rating: PG some swearing
Prompt: 77 Rocking the Boat
Word Count: 2,417
Disclaimer: Don't own them, just playing
A/N: Thanks to and
garnigal for handholding and spiralleds for betaing."We need to have a games night."
That pronouncement hit him out of the blue as Xander shuffled through the towers of bridal magazines on the coffee table in hopes of finding the remote.
"Games Night?"
"Yes where we hang out somewhere other than the Magic Box for fun. I don't think Buffy's dating anyone, do you?"
What did that have to do with Games Night?
"Oh well, she can bring Dawn. That way we know she's not running off with the vampires."
The Engagement Party. He'd been so certain then. However there were more immediate worries.
"Games Night?" Okay so he felt like a parrot.
"Yes, and a pot luck supper. I'm guessing that Buffy will bring those burgers you like. If we have Willow, I guess we can't invite Tara. It's too bad, I like her cooking."
Wait, there had to be some Anya logical reason. He just had to figure out what it was.
"Yes, the magazines suggest that the wedding party should socialize before the wedding and I don't want to spend any extra money on it."
And there it was: Anya Logic.
"But don't we spend time together anyways? Although now he thought about it, there been a distinct drop in hang time. Not that there was hanging time last year as much as fleeing for their lives, but quality-time none the less. So maybe Anya was right.
"Good idea, honey."
"You don't have to make fun of me, just because I want a social life and a sex life oh, you were agreeing with me?"
"Yes, honey." That was a phrase he was getting used to.
Which is how next Friday he found himself cutting marble cheese into cubes and swirling crackers around the brie – he'd put his foot down about the stinky Gorgonzola. His winning argument being why waste it on them when brie was cheaper. He knew his girl, even if she seemed possessed by the spirit of Betty Crocker. He had to talk her down from a tapas menu that included crab puffs and Angels on Horseback. "Maybe we shouldn't bring Angel in the mix."
"It's just the gang; they would have been happy ordering pizza."
"But I'm not fine with pizza." She was fussing with the last cheese twist and placed it on a cookie sheet. "We're grown ups now, well not Dawn, and we should act like it."
Grown-up. He swallowed then straightened his spine. He'd faced down hell gods. He laughed at fear. Why was that word so scary?
"After we're married, we'll be doing this with other couples. So tonight's like a dress rehearsal." She slipped the cookie sheet into the oven. "I'm off to get dressed. Watch the door?"
Dressed? No one had told him this was a "dressed" event. He hadn't told the others. Did they know? Did he have to change out of his jeans and Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters t-shirt?
When did he have to worry about how he looked to the gang?
He carried the cheese tray, with appropriate knives from a Pampered Kitchen party Anya had gone to, into the living room. Where there were a number of wineglasses.
"Honey, isn't beer better for games?"
Beer in its own self-contained bottles meaning no careful washing up after. Beer, that he knew he liked. Anya kept buying wine to test it for the wedding. He just grimaced through it.
Change,it wasn't all good.
Then there was a knock on the door.
"I brought cookies." This pronouncement was matched with a plate being thrust into his chest.
"And hello to you too, Willow. Isn't Dawn with you?" He'd imagined that they'd all arrive at the same time, but that didn't seem to be the case.
"She said she'd swing by the Doublemeat with a change of clothes for Buffy. I'm sure they'll be here soon. Cookies?" Willow was wearing black pants and something similar to his pirate costume. Maybe Anya had told the others to dress up.
"Not sure if they go well with wine," he said ushering her into the living room. "But you know I love Willow baking." Especially since these weren't as an apology, at least not to him.
"Oh cheese tray! Buffy will like that."
"But where are the grapes? I purposely bought grapes to go on the cheese tray! Xander didn't you see the grapes?" Anya bustled out of the bedroom looking like a Stepford wife clone without the pearl necklace. She'd meant getting dressed, as he was sure that wasn't in the closet this morning.
"Grapes?" Ignorance was the best plead. They'd been tasty too. All of them.
"They were in the crisper. I'll just-"
Luckily that thought was cut off by another knock at the door.
"See I told you they'd be here soon!" Willow had the slightly smug tone in her voice that had been absent for too long. He hadn't realized he'd missed it. It sure beat out the sharper 'I know better than you' tone she'd had all summer.
"Another point for Willow the All Seeing," he teased back. "So have you ever thought about lottery tickets?" As soon it was out of his mouth he knew is was a bad call.
Willow visible shrunk into the couch. "I...um, so cheese?"
Luckily the social silence of doom was interrupted by Dawn gushing over Anya's outfit while Buffy held a Doublemeat bag in front of her like a shield.
"Hey gals! Welcome to Games Night! Can I get you a drink?"
Anya whisked the bag into the kitchen, then returned with the wine; giving him a glare. She must have found the grape stems. "Wait, I've opened wine and sparkling grape juice for you, Dawn, although I don't understand your drinking laws. I started drinking ale when I was weaned."
"Funny how it's our country when you like it and my country when you don't." He tried to smile through the comment, but boy was he getting tired of her railing about bunches of issues that he didn't even think about. Wasn't the day to day enough to think about?
"Oh, wine and cheese! The faculty has them every now and then! It's kinda fun to see the profs getting toasted," Willow grinned. "We'd get dressed up, Tara had this..." Her voice trailed off.
"She's still not talking to you? Well you did do that mind-wipe thingy. I can see how she'd be peeved. In fact, there was one vengeance."
As he saw Willow blanch, he stepped in. "Speaking of vengeance, isn't your friend coming?" Not that he particularly wanted a Vengeance demon in his house, but distraction was a handy tool. Worked like a charm, too.
"Halley? No, I invited her but it's a busy time of year what with the holiday season spill-over."
"You mean there's overtime for demons?" Dawn tried reaching for the wine bottle. "That just sucks."
"Well, as I was saying, you do an honest day's work but what with high family tension, and the commercialization of the holidays with the unrealistic expectations." Anya pulled the bottle away from Dawn. "Sometimes I miss it. Cheese twists, anyone?"
A chorus of yeses ended that discussion. Maybe he should have volunteered to go over center-piece planning? It might have been easier than mediating this crowd.
"So Buffy, speaking of work, how's the life of the hair net variety?"
She just gave him a blank zombie stare. The type that had taken him weeks to perfect at various fastfood jobs. H'uh guess she was a fast learner.
"And Dawnie, what are the kids doing for fun these days? When we were in school-" they'd been facing a monster a week. Not the best thing considering how Buffy was trying to keep Dawn as fray adjacent as he'd refused to be.
"Oh, spending time with Janice's family. They have sit-down meals and everything. The whole family signed my cast, but the hospital wouldn't let me keep it." She sat as far away from Willow as she could.
Okay, so this was as fun as a barrel of monkeys. Dead monkeys with fleas.
"So, we have games! Honey, what type of games do we have?" He wasn't sure himself.
"The classic party games. We have Trivial Pursuit, Entertainment version and I thought we could make teams and play Charades. I've prepared the papers and pencils all ready."
Dawn stopped mid-reach for a cheese twist. "Wait, aren't we playing video games? I thought it was video games. Everyone at school is talking about Halo." A look of confusion crossed Dawn's face.
"Halo, that looks sweet. FPS and the graphics and blood splatter are supposed to be unbelievably realistic," he sighed. Wedding or Xbox, guess which won?
"Blood splatter!" Buffy looked almost alert. "Hey, I'm trying hard to keep you away from violence. And don't talk blood splatter until you have to do the laundry."
"Well no Halo. So, Charades? Or should we eat first?" He looked around. Maybe an activity was better than chit chat. Weren't these the people he could spend hours with, discussing everything and nothing? What had happened? When had it happened?
"This will be fun!" Anya started to hand out the paper and pencils to the group. "So, Xander and I will be a team and the three of you should be one. That way we can see which team wins! Everyone fill out three forms. Movies, Songs, T.V. Shows, people or demons, phrases or places. Well, start writing!"
He stared at his blank paper, but could hear the others scribbling. Movies, had he seen any lately? Well places. Maybe Los Vegas? People – Superman? Nah. Kryptonite? Maybe, if Oz was still here. Wizard of Oz? or would that upset Willow again? Apocalypse, Now? That's a good one. But what for the third?
"Xander, you and I give our clues to them, and we'll be playing with their clues. I'll go first!"
She pushed him into a chair and then pulled one of the papers. "Ohh this is good."
Anya made the symbol for movie and folded her hands like a book.
"Okay movie and book title."
She bounced up and down, then held up four fingers.
"Four Words."
Nodding she raised up four fingers again.
"Fourth word."
She made a circle with her thumb and forefinger. Then carefully pulled it over her ring finger. He thought he saw the others tense, and wondered why. Oh, fuck. No she used peter pointer for that signal. So this was oh shit. "Ring?"
Big smile this time. Okay rings. The only thing that came to mind was wedding rings but that wasn't a movie, more like a death sentence. Wait, he didn't mean that he loved her. Oh she was moving again.
"Thirty seconds," Willow said. She always was a bit competitive.
"First word." Anya was raising a hat. "Hat?" That earned him a grimace. She tried bowing. "Butler?" That earned him the circular hand motion, which he normally interpreted as hurry up. Wait a second.
"Lord of the Ring."
"I knew we'd do well. It's your turn! More wine?" Anya fussed around as the three girls played Rock Paper Scissors. Unsurprisingly, both Buffy and Dawn used rocks. Blunt force is always useful. And it beat Willow's scissors.
"Okay." She made a show of swirling the papers around, but took a deep breath when she read the paper.
He tried to pay attention something about singing, no wonder she was nervous. She hated to sing in public. Another four words. But she seemed to hesitate about which word. She finally raised one finger.
"First word."
She hugged herself. Then started to draw a shape in the air.
"Hey, no writing!" Anya interjected.
"Love." Dawn was getting into the spirit of the game.
Willow nodded, and moved onto the next word.
He drifted as he tried to think of the games they used to play. He really wanted to be anywhere but here.
"Love Potion Number 9!"
Wait, that was cruel. Wills was going cold turkey. So he understood why she looked upset, but why did Buffy look shocked?
"Our turn again! Choose something Xander!"
He read what was scribbled in Dawn's careful script: Rocking the boat.
Making the air quotes sign, he followed it by raising three fingers.
"Phrase, three words," Anya exclaimed, bouncing on the sofa. She looked so excited, so pleased to be playing grown ups. He wouldn't say he was excited. Terrified maybe, but not excited.
He cradled his arms, swinging them.
"Baby?"
Yup, terrified. He frantically waved his hands to ix-nay that idea.
"Rocking?"
He nodded and then made the "t" sign for 'the'. He now had to figure out how to make a boat.
"30 seconds."
He tried cupping his hands, like a hull.
"Cup? Bowl?"
He kept shaking his head. Maybe he should try putting sails?
"Windows? Xander what are you doing? We're going to lose."
"10 seconds."
He tugged at his ear.
"Sounds like."
He put his hands up like horns and then pulled an imaginary beard.
"D'Hoffryn?"
"Time!"
"Xander! What was that?" He could kiss those pouty lips forever. Kissing wasn't the problem.
"Rocking the boat. I was trying to do sounds like goat." He shrugged his 'what can you do' shrug, hoping the company would forestall an argument.
"Well that's a stupid phrase, why would you want to rock a boat? I guess it's your turn."
As Dawn reached into the bowl, there was a knock on the door. He leapt up; anywhere but here.
The last person he'd expected was there.
"Spike? How do you even know where we live?"
That earned him an eye roll. "You were legless a few times this summer. Helped drag you home now dinnit I? Is Buffy here?" He was leaning against the doorjamb, like a black shadow.
"And if she is? We're not scheduled for an apocalypse."
"Apocalypse, Now." Willow's shout was heard in the background. He smiled. Guess she wasn't his best friend for nothing.
"There's a big bad, nothing too serious but thought the Slayer should have a look-see." He garnished that comment with a smirk.
Spike could roll in and roll out of their lives. No wedding, no bills, no stress. Someone whose job description seemed to be rocking the boat. Xander wanted to smack his head against the door. He was envious of Spike.
"You can't go, we're losing!" Anya had joined him at the door.
It looked like some of tonight's games were finished.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 05:43 am (UTC)The Games We Play
Date: 2008-01-18 03:38 am (UTC)