How Green Becomes Wood

Cooger nodded and went down to join Dark and Daizi. It was easy enough to convince Dark to sit and they simply sat on either side of him. Seeing how clean the living room was helped relax Dark a bit, it was just one less thing he needed to worry about. Since he had talked too much that day, none of them spoke, they just stayed with him.
 
Xander let himself into Alec's room and picked the clothes up off the floor, laying them out on the empty bed that still hadn't been taken out of the room. He didn't want this to set back his brother's efforts to keep his room clean. It was such a small thing he almost felt guilty doing it, but it was something tangible he could fix. There wasn't much of that around.

"It hurts," Alec whispered from under the covers.

"What hurts?" Xander asked. He took off his belt and shed his pants and laid them on the bed. Belts were a nuisance. Why did he make so many?

"Everything. I mean, everything he said. All of it. It's too heavy."

Xander pulled off his shirt and tossed it to join the pile before lifting up the covers and sliding in with Alec. "I know," he mumbled, pulling his brother close. "I know. It hurts me, too."

"I don't want to think about him going through all of that. Why do I have to know?"

Xander sighed. "I don't know. I guess because it's not fair to only know the good parts of a person. You have to know both sides or it's not fair to them. You gotta embrace the whole person. I guess. I don't know."

Alec lay quietly leaning into Xander, staring at the wall. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know. Just... go on like always. There's not much we can do, is there?"

"No." Alec closed his eyes. "I guess not."
 
For the rest of the day, Dark really had to prioritize himself and his own mental health. He had been through a lot, recounting everything he had been through, and the distress he had caused to his children weighed heavily on him despite their confidence stating they wanted to be there. Although, that particular night, he was too tired to try to make it right, it just wormed his way into the back of his mind and stayed there, nesting more than festering for when he could approach it.

Ivy was too young to be contained, and although Daizi and Cooger stepped up for the primary care, seeing how free and delighted she was made Dark smile a bit. After all the darkness he had talked through, seeing this child who was not only unaware of what it was like to live through such horrors but did not even know such horrors existed was comforting. Here was this baby who had never been intentionally harmed by anyone and who was so happy to just get to play with her toys, surrounded by those who loved her, with a fully belly and a soft place to sleep. His exhaustion was much too severe to really play, but he had Cooger put in the Winnie the Pooh dvd Tristan had bought her and sat snuggling with her on the couch. Since screentime was so rare for her, she was delighted and watched with rapt attention. Dark, though, found himself just looking at her. Often he'd marvel at traits she developed from her mother, and sometimes ones she had from him, but that evening, he looked at her as she snuggled contentedly with him on the couch, he was struck with how miraculous it was he created her. It was something Daizi--rightly--got all of the credit for, since it was Daizi who carried her, nourished her, and birthed her. But his small role in her creation was still a role, and he sat holding this small person amazed at how she only exists because he lived. Had he not, Daizi would be rocking another little baby to sleep at night, or potentially none at all. His daughter was alive because he survived. That was a beautiful thing.

The next day, he had a zoom session with his therapist to further decompress everything he had talked about and spent those two days before he had to leave the house again being careful to seriously engage in self-care and take breaks when he needed them. He was depressed, and it was difficult, but he wasn't stupid and he had a family, so he had to be smart and model good decisions. Even if all he really wanted to do after the interview was rot in bed.

Then, on the 30th, they were finally able to all get dressed to go see a musical. Cooger came by to babysit and even after everything, Dark was genuinely, truthfully excited to go see it and he enjoyed dressing himself for the occasion. Of course, Daizi also loved dressing up, but her primary delight was just at the quiet spark her husband had rediscovered.
 
The twins kept themselves to themselves, not really sure what to do with themselves. Occasionally, they looked after Ivy when needed, but mostly kept distant. Xander kept busy working at whatever he could find. If he could, he would have spent all day in his shed, but he knew that would have worried his mother. Alec also needed him. So, he drifted from job to job, trying to keep busy. If he stayed busy, then he could only think about one or two small things at a time. That helped.

Alec wanted to stay in his room and not come out, but Xander made him come out and help him. There was cleaning to do, dishes, work with his multitude of projects, so many things to do. He did avoid Dark as much as he could. He tried not to make it obvious, but every time he saw Dark, he heard the echo of the stories Dark told, saw the images in his mind. He needed to sort things out in his own head. He didn't want his feelings to weigh on Dark, but they weighed on him.

When the time came to get ready for the play, Alec relished the opportunity to dress up and get ready. Xander less so, but it was a good distraction.
 
Dark noticed how Alec had been ignoring him but tried to not let it get to him. His therapist had warned him about this but assured him it would not last, doubting the events of Dark's past could destroy how Alec felt about him. There was no need to force a conversation or self-flagellate over it. He was allowed to share his story. He was not responsible for how others reacted to it.

The day of the musical, Dark decided to go all out in his goth fashions, because, frankly, why not? It was the theatre, and even though in the modern day plenty of people did not dress up fancy for it anymore, he and Daizi always did and it was a musical about Hades, so there was no sense in pulling punches. At his side, Daizi wore a black dress decorated in vines. From her lowest piercings she dangled gold pomegranate earrings and the rest of her piercings she filled in with various studs and other earrings to fit the theme or to accentuate the rest. The pomegranates, certainly, pulled focus. From her neck, she wore a necklace decorated with glass pomegranate arils layered with one of her skull necklaces.

Then after both twins were ready, they drove to the theatre.
 
Xander dressed in the same outfit he'd worn when the reporters had come, but this time he added earrings. His favorite dangling rods paired with two small purple studs in each ear that matched the color of Daizi's pomegranates. It wasn't much work, but he looked good, and he allowed Alec to give him just a touch of makeup for smoothing.

Alec paired black pants with a glittery, sequined long-sleeved shirt that moved from black to silver to purple in an obre effect that he kept untucked. Xander let him borrow a pair of silver studs for his ears, as well, and he paired it with a silver chain necklace. He wanted to add more but reminded himself to let the sparkles shine with this outfit.

They sat quietly in the car, not sure what was to come, but glad of the distraction.
 
"We have to decide what order we're sitting in," Daizi said, holding onto Dark's arm as she waited in the line to get to the theatre, "Your father needs the aisle because his legs are so long."
 
"We can sit that way," Daizi said, and truthfully she'd really like to, "it's just there's more than four seats in a row, so whoever is at the end will be sharing an arm rest with a stranger.
 
"Oh, great," Xander mumbled, recoiling.

"Hadn't thought of that," Alec admitted. "How about I sit on the end, then, and you can sit next to Mama?"

"That works," Xander agreed. "Willing to share an armrest with me, Mama?" He had no doubt she'd likely be crowding Dark through the play.
 
"I'd be glad to," Daizi replied, "and we'll have to pick where we eat after."

Dark went into his wallet, pulling out the tickets and distributing them as they approached the theatre entrance, "At least I can promise Xander you will enjoy this more than Cats."
 
Xander snorted. "I can think of a lot of things I'd enjoy more than Cats."

Alec looked at his ticket and carefully tucked it in his pocket. He was going to put it in his junk journal! "I liked Cats. It was so energetic but with such sweet moments, too."
 
"The dancing is impressive, but I would prefer the songs be more varied than cats introducing themselves," Dark mused, helping Daizi enter the theatre and making sure nobody got separated in the crowd. He took a quick glance at the merchandise stall but kept walking.
 
Alec wanted to look at the merchandise stall, but the crowd was too thick. He didn't dare leave his parents' sides. "I keep meaning to read the book it's based off of. I hear it's quite different!"

Xander edged closer than typical as they walked toward their seats. It was way too crowded in here!
 
"We can look after the show," Dark murmured to Alec, having noticed him looking, "We need to get to our seats and we do not want to carry bags with us during the show, the rows are narrow enough."

"I think the earliest one is from Ovid," Daizi said with her eyebrows furrowed, "But it existed in oral traditions before, so I'm not sure I'd say there's any one book it's based off of."
 
People told stories about dancing cats for centuries?" Alec asked, bewildered. "I thought it was just a book by T. S. Eliot."

Xander nudged Alec forward. "You need to go in first."

Alec led the way down the row and found his seat. Xander stood in front of his seat, not wanting to sit immediately.
 
"Oh," Daizi laughed, "I thought you meant the book Hadestown is based on. I think I zoned out."

Once in their seats, Dark and Daizi both sat down quickly. They preferred to stay standing so their legs didn't get stiff but they knew they were both very tall and didn't want anyone to see them coming in behind them to have their hearts drop thinking their view was about to be totally blocked. When they booked their tickets, they specifically called to explain they were both very tall and asked what were the best seats to not obscure anymore behind them while still being good seats for their shorter children. Ultimately the ones they landed on were pretty good and, after noticing the directly person behind him was himself fairly tall, he was able to relax a bit.
 
"These are good seats," Xander remarked, looking around.

"Very comfy. Why can't movie theater seats be this comfortable?" Alec remarked.

"Because theater is a higher art," Xander remarked.

Alec considered this and nodded. "This makes sense."
 
Since the curtain was open when they came in, allowing them to see the set, Dark looked curiously at it for a few moments--admiring how it was a practical set rather than LCD screens--and then said, "I did not expect it to look like New Orleans."
 
"I thought this was supposed to be Greek things," Alec said, watching the stage curiously. "I may be hazy on my geography, but I'm pretty sure New Orleans isn't in Greece."

Xander shrugged. "No, but it looks cool."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top