How Green Becomes Wood

The next morning, Cooger cooked Lex breakfast and let her know she was more than welcome to stay for as long as she liked. The sight of her in his bed, awash in the morning light, only strengthened his desire to live with her. It had been a long, long time since he last wanted to share his home with someone, but he wanted to share it with her. But, since she requested time to think about it, he didn't say a word.

The next day, he and Dark had a long phone call going over everything which had occurred after his birthday. There were some fun moments to go over, and finally they had the chance to express how fortunate they were to be in love with such attractive women (overhearing this from inside her office, Daizi smiled to herself and pretended like she hadn't), but these details fell away when Cooger mentioned he had asked Lex to move in with him. This absolutely stunned Dark, who had expected Cooger would've shared this idea with him at some point before asking Lex---not because he felt owed such information, but because they had always been open with each other about those things before---but Cooger explained the truth. He simply hadn't realized it was something he wanted until after his party, and he really just found himself asking before he had a chance to stop himself from doing so. Of all things, passion was what Dark understood best, and having nothing but support for Lex and Cooger's relationship, all he could do was wish his brother well.

Immediately after the phone call, Dark knocked lightly on Daizi's door to ask if she had a moment to talk, before immediately launching into a second debrief regarding the first debrief. Asking to move in together was a huge step, especially for someone like Cooger, and they needed to discuss this. "I think I need to consult my cards over this," Daizi commented, knowing her break was almost over but feeling as though some grand, cosmic shift had occurred. Dark, meanwhile, just felt surer than ever he had been right about the two of them, and looked forward to see how things would continue to evolve.

Everything was going well... Until Wednesday came. Wednesday was a black day. And at the end of the school day, Daizi sent her sons a text reading just, When you come home, I need you to be really, really nice to your father. You'll understand when you get home.
 
The twins read the text as they were walking to the van and exchanged confused glances.

"That's not ominous at all," Alec remarked.

"Nope. Completely normal," Xander agreed.

They got in the van and headed home with no small amount of trepidation. "We're home!" Alec called as they walked in and shed their shoes and touched salt. "Anyone else home?"
 
Inside the house, Ivy was making the same half-crying, half-laughing noises she had made when the snail was crawling on her. In the living room, she was sitting on some man's lap, touching his smooth face. Sitting beside him, Daizi was holding his hand.

This man was tall, with a strong build, with thick, black, wavy hair down to his shoulders. His clean-shaven face was a paler tone along his strong, square jawline than it was on his forehead and his heavy brow---Dark. It was Dark. Sitting right there. On the couch. Clean-shaven. When the front door opened, he cringed slightly, dreading this interaction with his twins.
 
The twins walked in and took in the sight. Their bodies reacted before their brains could kick in, and both recoiled physically, letting out an identical scream of shock. "BWAAHHH!!"

They froze like that, leaned back, one arm up defensively, staring at him.

"Ba?" Alec finally asked tentatively. "What happened to you?"

"Or are you a twin?" Xander asked suspiciously.
 
Dark swore in Arabic and rubbed his face with one hand. As soon as the twins screamed, it pushed Ivy into crying. Leaning over to take her from his father, Daizi rubbed her back and tried to soothe her while Dark sat like a cat after the vet.

"You know Ivy's toy car? The one where if you pull it back it drives forward?" Daizi asked, still rocking her baby.
 
"She didn't listen when Dark kept telling her not to put it against his face, and after cutting the car free..." She shrugged awkwardly, hoping she didn't have to explain the rest of her sentence.

"I have not shaved my face since I was twenty-two." Dark said, staring into the middle distance. To his credit, he looked as good without his beard as he looked with it. His beard hadn't been hiding a weak chin or jaw, although his chin had a slight cleft, as though his maker had left their thumb print into it, and many people would actually deem him more attractive without it. His full lips were no longer even slightly obscured, he looked a little bit younger, but yet his face---expressionless as ever---seemed sterner than it had before. This might've been due to his more visible frown lines, the fact it was now clear it hadn't been his beard responsible for muting his expressions, or the long scar along his cheek, which had until now been totally obscured.
 
The twins stared at Dark, many, many thoughts flashing through their minds. both of them started and stopped saying something multiple times as they tried to figure out what they could or could not say.

"I'm sure it will grow back very quickly," Alec offered weakly.

"You look fine without it," Xander offered.
 
"You are so handsome regardless," Daizi replied, and went to caress his face. Despite knowing he was clean shaven, when she touched his face and touched skin, she nonetheless recoiled slightly.

"Daizi." He said, looking at her.

"I'm sorry!" Daizi exclaimed, having immediately recognized her mistake, "It's just, it's an adjustment! I haven't touched your bare face since I was, like, 17!"

"Ya allah," Dark groaned, while Ivy continued to cry.
 
"Oh!" Alec said brightly. "I have an idea! For Ivy. You're going to hate this." He hurried upstairs to his room.

Xander took a step closer and leaned in, peering at Dark. He was so chisled. So perfect. So majestic. So severe. So mysterious with the scar. "You are ridiculous," Xander huffed in annoyance.

Alec came trotting down the stairs with something furry in hand. "Why is Kiki hiding under my bed?"

Xander eyed the furry thing. "Why do you have a fake beard?"

"Why don't you?" Alec retorted. He held it out to Dark. "Maybe if you hold this up, like peekaboo, Ivy will be able to adjust to bearded and non bearded you."
 
"I know I look ridiculous," Dark replied, not recognizing what Xander meant. He had been declawed. Then he looked at Alec's fake beard, no joy in his amber eyes, "she was coping until you both screamed at the mere sight of me."
 
"You would scream at the sight of you, too, if the rolls were reversed," Alec stated. "Imagine if Daizi suddenly grew a beard and you walked in on that?" He held out the beard. "Come on. Give it a try."

"It might make things worse," Xander said. Then he imagined what Dark would look like with it on and almost smiled. "You should try it."
 
"I think there would be bigger concerns if Daizi suddenly grew a beard," Dark said dryly, but nonetheless took the fake beard. Holding it in his hands, he looked at the fake hair and said, "This is terrible, where did you get this? Why did you get this?"

"Ivy-Qadira," Daizi gently chided, "You're hurting your Baba's feelings."
 
"That is my own business, thank you," Alec said primly. "Are you going to sit there and criticise my fake beard choices, or are you going to give it a try and get it over with?"

"You might find it suits you," Xander smirked.
 
"I can do two things," Dark replied, not feeling particularly thrilled about holding this fake beard to his face and called Ivy's name. When she looked at him, now she just looked very confused, and this confusion did not go away after he dropped the beard again.

"He shaved in front of her," Daizi said, "She was handling it well until she couldn't grab his face like she loves to."
 
"Come here, Tifla," Dark said, holding his arms out to his toddler who gradually crawled back into his lap. Cautiously, she reached back up to touch his cheek, and then looked sad all over again, "It is okay, Hummingbird. In a week you will be able to tug on my face at least a little bit again. And Baba forgives you, it was an accident."

"I'm dreading when it's all stubbly," Daizi sighed, "I have that to look forward to tomorrow."
 
Xander fought the urge to glare at Dark. A week?! A Week?! He was this fussed about a week. Two tops. And then it would all be fine and fuzzy like nothing ever happened.

"Can I have my beard back?" Alec asked, who saw beards as just one more thing to take care of. He was happy not to have to shave every day.
 
In Dark's defense, as Xander would soon witness, although in a week Dark would still have more of a beard than Xander had ever been able to grow, it would still be a far cry from what he had before. That would take at least a month, if not a month and a half, and he would need to go through the beard uglies, where it was longer than a stubble but shorter than a beard, and he dreaded it. And it took him so long to get his beard hairs soft and conditioned! They grew in so rough.

"Please, take it," Dark said, handing it over to Alec, but when he started to, Ivy tried to reach out and grab it.
 
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