How Green Becomes Wood

"Wow, you're really sharing all of my shameful secrets?" Matt chuckled.

"It seemed only fair to our guest." Sean shrugged, "So, Xander, Alec, have you thought about what you want to do after high school?"
 
"Probably a trade school, maybe," Xander said. "Might go to work for my uncle with his handyman business at least part-time. I already do that sometimes when I have spare time and he has easier jobs like painting to take care of."

"I haven't decided yet," Alec admitted, flushing slightly. "Right now, I'm working with our other uncle in a floral shop on the weekends, and I'm really enjoying that. But I'm not sure if that's what I want to do forever, you know?"
 
"Your Uncle?" Matt asked.

"It's J.C. Cooger," Dark explained, "My friend, if you remember him?"

Matt squinted for a few moments and then nodded, "Oh, right, of course. I had forgotten all about him, he was the ginger, right? The one who would've made a great Bear? Who is the other uncle?"

"That is their biological uncle," Daizi explained.

"Working in a flower shop seems like a pretty nice gig," Sean said, "My parents owned a Blockbuster Franchise when I was growing up, obviously that wasn't something I was able to take over from them."
 
"It's called Peaceful Petals, and it has some really nice flowers and bouquets for good prices," Alec told them. "You should totally come by. You can meet the other ginger uncle. Who would not be a Bear at all." He hesitated and glanced at Dark. "Erm, did I say that right?"

Xander snorted and tried to hide his laughter at the thought of refined but colorful Tristan being a bear. Literally or figuratively.
 
"You are correct that your Uncle Tristan is not a bear," Dark confirmed.

"They're such fun and largely meaningless classifications," Sean said, patting Matt's knee and standing up, "I'm going to go check on dinner." After only a few moments he came back in and let them know it was ready and invited them into the living room to go and eat.
 
Xander's only thought that this world had a lot of lables for being highly driven by people who claimed to want nothing to do with lables. He honestly didn't care, but Tristan being a bear was still funny to him.

"Then... what are you?" Alec asked Dark.

A bear if the hair was anything to go by, Xander thought. Not to mention size.
 
"What am I?" Dark asked, hesitating slightly, holding Ivy on his hip.

"He's a Wolf," Matt said before Dark could, bending down to scoop up Avery. It didn't take him more than a moment to answer but for anyone who knew those archetypes, it was extremely evident.
 
Daizi dropped her head back and cackled. That was definitely something she should probably politely correct but it was so unexpected it broke every shred of parental responsibility. Dark stared in shock and horror at Xander having never expected to hear his son describe him as horny. Like his wife, but for different reasons, he said nothing.

"I can't really speak to that last one anymore," Matt replied while Daizi made a sound like a suffocating seagull.
 
Xander glanced at his incapacitated mother and past her to his father. "I wouldn't say either," he said in the driest of dry tones. "Certainly wouldn't be my place."

"So, um, dinner smells very good!" Alec said weakly. "Does Sean need any help, maybe?"
 
Daizi grabbed onto Dark's arm before completely flopping against him. Since her mother was laughing so hard, Ivy presumed something funny had happened and she laughed too and Dark stood there between them. "I should hope you would not comment on such a thing ya hmar." He said just as dryly.

"Daddy, what's so funny?" Charlie asked, going over to her father.

"It's just a joke about how Mr. Dark doesn't have antlers," Matt lied, "Go wash up, okay?"

"What can I get you all to drink?" Sean asked them as they entered the dining room where a nice, simple, delicious looking meal was set out on the table.
 
"Would either of you two like wine? And thank you, but I promise this meal is easier than it looks," Sean asked the adults who agreed they'd love a glass, and soon they all sat down for dinner. They didn't have two high chairs so Avery sat in his while Ivy stayed propped in her father's lap. Matt leaned over to help cut up Charlie's food while Sean helped to feed Avery. Watching it, Dark realized he was very glad only one of his children were so little because he couldn't imagine the amount of micromanaging needing to be done to take care of two. Having that thought reminded him yet again of how difficult it must have been for Tara, since her two children would've needed equal amounts of help and there wasn't another adult there to share the load with.

Meanwhile Charlie, now sitting directly across from Daizi just due to circumstance, was openly staring at her.
 
The twins sat together with Alec next to Daizi. Neither of them thought much about the two children problem, only considering what Ivy would be like in a couple of years. When Alec noticed Charlie staring, he leaned over and whispered that fact to Daizi. Xander had ended up taking off his jacket before sitting down, and he was distracted with reminding himself to not forget it.
 
Daizi's smile faltered slightly but then said sweetly, "Charlie, do you like preschool?"

"Are you a girl?"

Sean sighed, dropping his head, "Charlie, Sweetpea, what do Papa and Daddy tell you about those sorts of questions?"

"Yes, I am," Daizi answered.

"I'm always just around boys," Charlie said, "Even my teacher is a boy."
 
"Before we had Ivy, I was the only girl too," Daizi replied, making a face, "Boys don't know how stinky they can be."

"Did your friend make Ivy for you too?" Charlie asked, "Papa and Daddy's friend made Avery."

All adults at the table stopped. Dark and Daizi turned to the other parents, not knowing how they had explained those things to their daughter and not wanting to overcomplicate things. Matt and Sean turned to Dark and Daizi, not knowing definitively if Ivy was made 'the old fashioned' way and not wanting to force them to admit to anything personal.

"When... girls are... grown-ups... they can choose... to be the ones who make babies or... they can have friends make them... for them." Sean said hesitantly, watching the other expressions to make sure everyone was content with this explanation.

Following this up, Daizi said, "I made Ivy myself."

Matt took a long sip of wine.

"It was smart you decided to make her to have hair. I don't know why Papa's friend made Avery bald."

"Making hair is very difficult," Dark said solemnly, as if he knew a thing about it.
 
Xander closed his eyes during the exchange, wishing very heartily that there was a god and that it/he/she would kill him now. Or maybe a pit. A nice, good old-fashioned Pit. That'd be nice.

Alec focused on his plate, cheerfully moving his veggies about as he pretended not to be at all invested in what was going on. Preschool was going to be a very interesting place when Charlie arrived! Possibly because of Charlie. Unless all four-year-olds were like Charlie, in which case all preschoo people needed some serious raises.
 
Avery turned his bald head and looked at his sister, "E-E."

Charlie said nothing.

"E-E!"

Charlie said nothing.

"E-E!"

"What, Avery?" Charlie asked, frowning.

"Hi"

"Hi, Avery."

Matt chuckled, "He does that multiple times a day."

"Ivy likes to point out flowers." Dark replied. Then he looked up at Matt, "When did you end up moving here?"

"I moved to Philadelphia for work around 2015, which is where Sean and I met. Sean grew up here and his parents still live here, so about six years ago when we decided we wanted to become parents and were just beginning that process, we moved here to be closer to family." Matt explained. "I am surprised you ended up here, though."

"I received a job at the big museum downtown," Daizi told him, "We've been in the area since 2018 but we didn't move to Heather Hill itself until a bit after we got married. Our boys grew up here, though."

"Isn't that something?" Sean asked, looking over the twins, "You boys know, uh..." He named the very American diner Xander was a fan of.
 
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