How Green Becomes Wood

"Oh, I'm sorry, I hope it didn't bother you, I didn't want to ruin your work," Daizi replied, "I just don't like getting frosting on my face, and I since I can't see, there's no good way for me to tell how close I am to that, so I make it into a sandwich instead. And then you get more equal frosting-cake ratios."
 
"Huh. Never seen that done before, but it makes sense." Xander picked up his own cupcake and studied it thoughtfully. "Cupcake sandwiches. Now how come that's not a thing? Should be a thing. Then you don't have to worry about thick frosting on top, just maybe a touch for decorating purposes, or you could make weird colored cake so you don't even need the frosting on top."
 
"In full sized cakes they put frosting between layers," Daizi said, "our wedding cake was this big monstrous tiered thing with frosting between everything. I don't know why they don't do it with cupcakes."

"Stability, I think," Dark suggested, "they would be difficult to store and more time consuming to make. They make cookies as sandwiches, though."
 
"I'll have to think about this," Xander muttered. He pulled his cupcake in half, sandwiched it like Daizi had, and ate it in two bites. "Not bad. Really not bad." He glanced at Dark. "Need any help to finish cleaning up? I think I got everything from my earlier mess, but I can stay if you need me to. Or do you two want some alone time?"
 
Dark turned sharply around to face Xander, evidently surprised by the boldness of his comment. Yes of course they wanted alone time, that was a given, they were madly in love and very very happy and treasured every second they shared together. But to hear his teenager ask about it, especially the one who cringed the most at their relationship? Dark was simply shocked straight into prudishness. It would only be later that he'd recall telling Xander sometimes he missed being alone with his wife, so it would only be then that he'd wonder if that was why the teen made his offer.

Recognizing Dark's silence was of the stunned variety, Daizi laughed lightly and said, "Look what you've done, you've broken him. Go, you're free, I release you."
 
Xander smirked as he headed out of the kitchen. Turned out, the big, tough, terrifying history teacher wasn't that hard to break once you learned the right buttons to push and didn't abuse them. He went upstairs to his room and stepped inside, hoping to find Alec in a more talkative mood. He knew Alec's "good mood" downstairs had been faked, but maybe, just maybe, he'd be willing to listen.

Alec had his nose firmly buried in a book, his earbuds nestled into his ears. He didn't even look up from where he sat on his bed. Xander hesitated, watching him. Then he gave up, grabbed a change of clothes, and went to take a shower. Let him sit in self-solitude if he wanted. Normally he was the one desperate to avoid it, so he must really not be in the mood to talk. Maybe tomorrow. That might work. Tomorrow.
 
"Are they okay?" Daizi asked, once Xander was out of earshot (even though it didn't really matter, since she wasn't speaking English), and Dark took a breath and sat beside her before explaining to her all the convoluted details he had learned. Because it wasn't their direct buisness, Daizi would sometimes interrupt to comment on it or to ask a clarifying question, which Dark did his best to answer. At the end, she sat back, and sighed, and said, succinctly, "Our boys do not understand girl drama."

"It is more complicated than that."

"No, I know, I know... I'm really worried about Alec. I know, obviously, that it's not about her complimenting him--although I understand why Sloan thinks that, if we don't even know exactly what is bothering him, then what chance does she have?--but... I just, he's so closed off. And I don't know what to do about it. Xander was closed off, but he's a porcupine. This is new for Alec, and it's like something happened, I just don't know what, or how to help."

Dark pulled her close against him, "I know, I am worried about him too. But Alec is smart, I am sure that..."

"What if it wasn't sudden? What if he's had this slow descent and we missed it because we're stupid and distracted, and he's just been suffering and we missed it?" Her voice became increasingly small as she spoke, feeling suddenly very strongly that everything with Crystal was just a symptom but not knowing how to treat the root cause. Dark did his best to calm her, but this new line of thought was hard for her to shake off. Still, eventually, after feeding and walking their dog (who was once again confused by the way his people were acting), he brought her to bed, so she could hopefully get some sleep.

"I just wish we could see what they're saying to each other," Daizi commented, as she curled up next to Dark, adjusting her body pillow, "I want to know what she's saying to him." Symptoms needed to be addressed too.

"Hush, do not dwell on it any more," Dark whispered, laying his arm over her, as if he were keeping her safe, "You need sleep."
 
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The next morning, Xander tried to talk to Alec. He wasn't very good at it, though, and Alec easily distracted him with random things as they got ready for school. By the time they were ready for breakfast, Xander had forgotten what it was he'd wanted to say. He gave up and went to the table to rage-eat breakfast until it was time to go.

Alec put on his polite, happy face, hiding what he was truly feeling deep down. Dark and Daizi didn't need to know. It wasn't their business, Daizi didn't need the extra worry, and they couldn't help anyway. So why did it need to be brought up? He forced himself to eat a normal amount of breakfast even though it made him feel a little ill and made certain his bag was ready by the door. It was just another normal day.
 
Daizi absolutely could tell Alec wasn't himself. Every quiet remark was too perfect, too... She couldn't remember the names of those old sitcoms showing the "ideal" family, but it created this sense of a gilded unease. She ate, because she needed to eat, because her baby needed her too, but worried deeply.

And Dark, worried, because of course he did, but with the twins in their state, and knowing his wife had to be very careful about her stress levels, it was his job to just hold the fort, and keep things running as best he could. So there was a little bit less stress for everyone. Hopefully. He brought Daizi to the train station, and the kids to school, "Have a good day," he said, "Or try to. And if you need to come to my classroom when I'm at lunch or in my planning period you can, okay? If you are not in class."
 
"It'll be great!" Alec promised him brightly as he headed for the doors.

Xander grunted. For the first time, he seriously considered taking Dark up on the offer. It would beat hanging out in the cafeteria with Sloan. He hated the thought, but it was true. He couldn't help, just watch, so what was the point?

Alec spent the day avoiding Sloan. He didn't want to face her. As it happened, he was avoiding Crytal, too, at least in the hallways. A lifetime of being the underdog had given him a lot of sneaking skills, and he managed to avoid them both until lunchtime. Crystal caught up, cooing about how excited she was for Saturday. Alec smiled, complimented her new top, and spent the lunch hour listening to them chatter about their favorite places to go shopping.

Peter had gotten caught up talking music with some of the other band club members, and he sat with their group debating on who was the best drummer in recorded history. It was quite the hot debate, but stayed friendly.

Xander sat alone at the table for exactly two minutes before getting up and heading for Dark's classroom. This was ridiculous. He figured Sloan had other friends to eat lunch with and wouldn't mind his absence.
 
When Sloan went to lunch, she found none of her friends there. It was true Alec, Xander, and Peter weren't her only friends... Although they had become the ones she probably spoke to the most, besides Emily... But they were the only ones who had lunch at the same time as her. She stared dumbly at the empty table for a little while, bouncing her leg and thinking. She saw this coming, she knew this was coming. Whatever. She'd eat alone. And she didn't care who saw it, or about who had what to say about it. So she sat down, and she took out her lunch box, and even though she was sad, and hurt, and angry, she ate her lunch, just like it was any other day, all alone.

Dark looked up when he saw Xander come in, but didn't look all that surprised. He was, but he didn't look it. But he didn't ask about Alec's whereabouts, he could guess, "Hello Xander," he said, moving the perfectly placed papers on his desk to make room on it, "long day?"
 
"Yep, and it's only half over," Xander grumbled. He pulled a chair around and slouched down next to Dark's desk. He looked at his lunch bag briefly, ut for once, he wasn't very hungry. He pulled out a baggie of sliced apples and started crunching on them, careful not to get any drips anywhere. "Need any help grading?"
 
"I do not think I am allowed to let you do that," Dark said, "but do not think of it as being only half over, think of it as, 'by the end of lunch, I have made it through the majority of the day.' And tomorrow is Saturday, so that is good." As he said it, he recalled what Saturday meant practically for the family, but really what that meeting came down to was Alec hanging out with a girl and Xander was also at the park. They could bring Enkidu, Xander could run off and do whatever he wanted to, he didn't need to watch.
 
"Yay, Saturday," Xander muttered with weak enthusiasm. "Ice cream in the park while watching my little brother go on his first-ever date. It's going to be so thrilling." He heaved a sigh. "Maybe I'll bring my English homework and hope I drip ice cream on it." He crunched on the apple slice extra hard. "How come I'm not allowed to help you grade? I'm not even in your class, so I can't cheat."
 
"Well you do not have to watch," Dark said, voicing the thought he had earlier, "we can bring Enkidu, you can take him on a run and decompress. Or you can bring your English homework, but don't drip on it. It's Ms. Piper's first year at the school, I like her, and I do not need her thinking my kids are bad." He flipped through the papers that needed grading, "and I worry about... the ethics of you grading. It feels like a conflict of interest," he set them down and then looked up at Xander, "it is nice having you in here, though."
 
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"Fair enough," Xander agreed to everything Dark said. He did pause and take note at Darks final comment. "Really? I mean, I guess I kind of barged in here, but I'd think you'd want this time to be kidless for a bit. Decompress yourself. "
 
He shrugged, "I do like having time to myself, and I do like having a break from teenagers. But you are not just any teenager. You have been having a hard time, and you came to me. Of course I like that," it wasn't clear yet if Xander had gone there for advice or just to talk, but either way it was significant. And if Xander hadn't come to the classroom for either of those reasons, if he came to get away from it all, it felt even more significant that when Xander wanted to get away, he came to visit Dark. Or if Xander just... wanted to see him? Yeah. He liked that Xander stopped by, "but do you want to know a secret? Even before you moved in I liked you. Do not misunderstand me, you were irritating and every day I came into this classroom hoping you would, just once, not cause me grief, but I still liked you."
 
Xander snorted and looked down, trying to hide the faint blush that crept onto his cheeks. He blushed so easily these days! It was ridiculous. "I think you might maybe have been around too many teens, and aren't you not supposed to pick favorites?" He was just yanking Dark's chain to try to hide his own embarrassment. He had liked Dark's class. Well, more he'd liked Dark. Dark had been one of the most patient while not taking any crap.
 
"I never said you were my favourite," Dark replied quickly with a mild smirk, yanking the chain right back. But he didn't look away from Xander, there was something about it all... Both he and Daizi, recently, had been more comfortable openly calling Alec and Xander their kids, or their boys, or even their sons. But somehow, even though it didn't feel wrong, it felt... Complicated. He wondered if overhearing that may have been part of what had affected Alec so strongly. Sitting there with Xander, though, he didn't know what else to possibly call him. "Foster" just wasn't enough.
 
Xander smirked but let it go as he finished off the apple and propped his feet up on a chair from one of a nearby desk. "So. What are you torturing them with now?" He continued talking about random little things, just passing the time until lunch was over. A couple of minutes before the bell, he packed up qnd wandered in the direction of the cafeteria slowly to see if Alec wanted to walk to class together.
 
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