Shades of Giles/Xander: From Friends to Lovers
by Angel Jade
Since the very first episode of Buffy, Giles and Xander have had a relationship resembling father and son. Giles has watched over and guided the teenagers through out the seasons, being a friend and guardian to them all. If this is the relationship you wish to write about, it’s right there in every episode (except maybe The Wish, S3). However, if you would like to take the relationship a bit further, you need to get past or completely avoid the father/son like aspect of Giles/Xander and create something new that can’t be seen on the show.A purely sexual relationship between Giles and Xander, while possible, is not always as easy as ‘attraction followed by sex’. While is it popular fanon for Giles to have had male partners in his colourful past, Xander is blatantly straight. Or thinks he is. This is the first hurdle you need to overcome. How to make both characters gay/bi-sexual or how to turn them gay/bi-sexual. Once the male/male attraction is there, it’s simply a matter of the right place, right time and of course, the right atmosphere. While it is incredibly sexy for the characters to end up having a shower together, the chances Xander and Giles would be in the bathroom at the same time as each other without previous experiences together is pretty slim. You need to have a reason for them to be where you want them. Indicating there is already an attraction between them makes it easier for you to get the characters into these situations, but to avoid losing your believability, you must remember to include all the fears both characters would have crossing the line from friend to sexual partner. Xander especially, as on screen he has proven to be a little jumpy when he is accused of being gay (season two). Once you have reasons, the right situation and the attraction, you can safely enter the sex scene. There is very little information about any character’s sexual habits and therefore what comes next is from your imagination. Whether Giles becomes nervous and stutters awkwardly, whether he guides Xander the way he does in all other aspects of life or whether he gets a little more like Ripper when he gets horny, it’s your decision to make. But as free as you are to decide how these characters act during sex, staying true to the characters is a must. For this, a characterization beta is recommended. If you want to try something outrageous, like Xander turning into Master Xan - prince of pain, whenever he gets a hard on, you can do it, but you run the risk of losing sight of the character. No matter how far you take the characters, if you can read what you’ve written without the names mentioned and still see the characters you were writing, you’re on track. And again, a second opinion is always a plus.
Love, or close relationships based on things other than sex, involve a whole new level of writing. You need to have the characters talk as if they’re in love or they care a great deal about what the other is saying. Sometimes it’s so easy to keep the well known ‘Giles knows best and Xander respects him for it’ dialogue that works well on the show, but if they were in love, Giles wouldn’t continue talking to Xander like a teacher. The many times Giles ‘tells Xander off’ wouldn’t cut it in a relationship (or not *this* kind of relationship anyway). As mentioned earlier, you need to break away from the father/son relationship by having them talk as equals. Find some common ground between them (as hard as that may seem with such conflicting personalities). If your relationship isn’t based so much on mental attraction then have a reason they would want to stay with each other. Remember to keep the relationship in context with any plot you might have. If, for example, Giles and Xander were the last ones left after a great battle, the relationship wouldn’t be based on how well they can hold a conversation, but more on comfort and clinging onto what they have left.
Another possible relationship type is the non-consensual kind. This is very rare for Giles/Xander because of the personalities of the two characters. Neither are capable of rape. But that hasn’t stopped writers from doing it with other, equally innocent characters before. The first method is by having one of the characters turned evil. Vampire, possessed by a hyena, possessed by a rather young bad boy image calling himself Ripper… Not all evil, but all much more capable of such a thing. Though a word of warning with Ripper, you must remember as bad as he was back in his day, he’s still Giles. He’s just a little wild and to a lot of people he isn’t capable of such a thing. It’s all a matter of opinion. A few canon events are available to work with. Xander’s possession in ‘The Pack’ (Season one). Vamp Xander in ‘The Wish’ (Season three). It’s just a matter of twisting the facts, changing details or simply adding in scenes that could have been canon, if not for their graphic or harsh themes.
The best advice is to get a beta that has written good Giles/Xander; similar to the kind you want to write. They can point out the mistakes you missed and maybe help you improve your fic to reach it’s full potential. No matter which relationship you wish to explore in your fiction, these points remain true for all, characterization, believable lead-up and having the relationship fit the plot.