"Wow, you’re beautiful."
    "Excuse me?"
    "What?"
    "Did you just say ‘wow, you’re beautiful’?"
    "Did I?  Uh, I wasn’t supposed to, I mean, I didn’t mean to…"
    "Xander, what is the matter with you?"
    "Nothing’s the matter with me!  You must have heard wrong, that’s all!"
    "So you don’t think I’m beautiful?"
    "What?  Buffy, I never said that!"
    "What did you say?"
    "Alright, I guess I did say ‘wow, you’re beautiful’, but I wasn’t intending to say it out loud, it was just supposed to be one of those random thoughts that you never share with anyone."
    "So, you were never going to tell me I’m beautiful?"
    "You know, I’m pretty sure I’ve already told you that about a million times…"
    "Actually, I don’t recall you having told me that since…never!"
    "Ha, that’s a lie!  I’m sure I told you that one time when we were at the place with those things, you know, that time!"
    "Yeah, whatever, Xander."
    "Buffy, where are you going?  What’s wrong?"
    "None of your business, and none of your business."
    "Geez, that’ll teach me to accidentally pay you a compliment!"
    "Yeah, I suppose it will!"
    "Seriously, what’s the matter all of the sudden?"
    "Oh, now you wanna be serious?"
    "Come on, I’m always serious!"
    "No, you’re not."
    "Alright, so I’m not always serious.  However, I am always me."
    "Xander, how long have I known you?"
    "Um, about five and a half years, why?"
    "In those five and a half years, have you ever complimented me by accident?"
    "No."
    "Then, was what you said earlier an accident, or not?"
    "What does it matter—"
    "It matters!"
    "Whoa, Buffy!  Calm down!  It…it wasn’t an accident.  It was an accident that you heard it, but it wasn’t by accident that I thought it."
    "Oh."
    "What’s this all about, anyway?"
    "I don’t know…"
    "No, I think you do.  What’s on your mind?"
    "It’s just, I mean, after my mom died last year, and after all that happened, I guess I’ve kind of gotten to the point where I…"
    "What?"
    "Xander, you and I have pretty much always been good friends, right?"
    "Yeah.  Yeah, we have."
    "Would you agree that over the last six months, we’ve gotten…closer?"
    "Yeah."
    "Well, lately I’ve been thinking that maybe…oh, never mind.  It’s so stupid, anyway."
    "No, tell me.  Whatever it is can’t be stupid."
    "You wanna know what it is?  Okay, then.  I’m an idiot.  I’m a complete and total nincompoop."
    "Okay, now you’ve officially lost me, Buffy."
    "Xander, don’t you get it?  You know all that looking I’ve done trying to find the right person?  All that time and energy and heartache I put myself through after Angel and Riley?  The whole endeavor was a waste!"
    "Um, why?"
    "Because the person I really needed was right under my nose, all along!"
    "Who, that guy who’s been working at the copy place for years?"
    "I don’t believe this!  Here I am, practically pouring my heart out to you, and all you can do is make jokes!"
    "Buffy, making jokes right now is the only thing I can do to keep myself from losing all control and screaming at the top of my lungs that I feel the same way.  If I did that, I might bust one or both of your ear drums, and what good is a deaf Slayer?"
    "Not much good, you’re right.  I have a suggestion, though."
    "What’s that?"
    "How about you shut up and kiss me?  That way, I am in no danger of going deaf."
    "Sounds like a plan to me."