How Green Becomes Wood

"Yes," he told him immediately, "I will call the school on Monday and see what we can do about it. It may mean you have to take a study hall if they do not have an option in another elective, though. We will see what the rules are." He looked over at Alec, "Do you want to get icecream?"
 
Alec managed a small smile and looked out the window. "Thank you," he said again. Doing things like this was going to be a lot harder once Dark went back to work, and Alec appreciated his efforts. Still, a tiny worry nagged at him. What if he never got over his terror of driving?
 
"Have you brought up your fear with your therapist at all?" Dark asked as he drove to the ice cream palor, the same one Cooger had taken Xander too so many months ago, blissfully unaware his friend had extensively and excitedly shared details of his life with the owner. Nothing too personal, but he had shown off baby pictures and talked about how 'my brother and his wife have tried so hard to have a baby, and look!' "If not, it would not hurt to. They may have ideas I have not."
 
"I meant to, but we got off talking about something else and I forgot," Alec admitted. "I'll bring it up at the next meeting." He glanced around. This place looks nice, at least on the outside."
 
"I think it would be helpful for you. And, yes, it is nice. Cooger does work here often." Dark told her, parking and getting out of the car, "It is Daizi's favourite too. So you cannot tell her we came here, or she will be crushed. I, well, they do sell pints we could bring home to her and Xander, but then it would be less special for you."
 
Alec couldn't help a small chuckle. "Two tiny cones then? So we can eat them quick and leave no evidence?" He slipped out of the car carefully and closed the door. "Then, on another day, you can surprise them by bringing just them ice cream."
 
"I think that is a very good plan," Dark said, walking up to the counter. When he did, the person behind it squinted vaguely at him before widening their eyes and saying:

"Oh! You're J.C.'s friend, yeah? I've seen you here before! You just had a baby!"

Dark blinked, suddenly regretting his choices, "I am, yes. And... I did." His biggest nightmare was becoming a regular.
 
Alec stared at the person behind the counter for a moment. Then his face split into his first genuine grin since leaving the house. "He did! Or more precicely, his wife, my mother, did. Have you seen the pictures?"
 
"Oh, sure sure! That's one thing, you know, we kept asking but J.C. said he's unsure if it's the right thing to do, you know? To show off someone else's baby without asking? But he described her a lot. She's got a lot of hair doesn't she?" They asked, resting their hands on the counter. It's not like taking a moment to chat was a problem, the end of January wasn't a popular season for ice cream. "And you're one of the twins!"

"Yes," Dark said, very content to let Alec handle most of the socializing, "She does."
 
"Oh, loads of thick hair!" Alec assured them with a nod. "She's getting big, too!" He held up his hands to demonstrate. "And she's learning to push herself up, so crawling is right around the corner." He turned to Dark. "Might we show a picture?"
 
"Oh, sure. I suppose so," Dark replied, taking his phone from his pocket and opening up his gallery. He paused, scrolling through photos, and, if Alec had a vantage point to see it, he would have spotted how Dark's camera roll had become roughly 90% pictures of Ivy (many of them included Daizi, some had Alec, and a couple had Xander: this distribution was based entirely on who interacted with Ivy the most), with the remaining ten percent mostly being Enkidu. Only his hands were ever seen, his own face never appeared.

After a little bit of scrolling he said, "Here is my favourite one." and showed the picture to the worker.

"Aw, she's cute. And not in the way we say babies are when they're actually really ugly. But hispanic babies normally are really cute," They said, and Dark glanced at Alec but said not a word, "Alright, what can I get you both?"
 
"I agree, Hispanic babies are adorable, but I think Ivy is far more adorable if I dare compare Middle Eastern to Hispanic," Alec said brightly. He glanced over the options before saying, "I think I'll take a chance on something new. May I have a single scoop of raspberry sherbert in a cone? I think that would be perfect."
 
They looked at Alec confused for a few moments, visibly not understanding what he had tried to point out. But then they shook their head and smiled, "Oh, that's a great flavour! How about you?"

"Praline pecan in a small cone," Dark said, and the employee quickly made up both cones, handed them over, and Dark paid. Then, looking at Alec, he said, "We should probably eat here, I do not want to risk ice cream stains in the car."
 
Well, he tried. He didn't really blame them for not being able to tell the difference. Many cultures looked very similar to the unobservant eye. Hawaiians looked very similar to Hispanics, in his opinion, as did certain Mongolian features. Still, it was nice to at least try to tell the difference.

"I think you're right," Alec agreed, already licking up a small drip that dared to escape the cone. "Is that your favorite flavor?"
 
"I do not really think I have a favourite flavour," Dark replied, sitting down in the furthest back corner with his back against the wall so he could see the door, "I do enjoy it, though. But only if the pecans are soft enough to bite through, sometimes they feel like they will break my teeth."
 
Alec sat across from Dark, not thinking much of his choice in seats. Xander also often sat with his back to a wall or with a sightline to an escape route, and Alec had grown accustomed to working around that. It didn't occur to him to wonder why or even compare the two. If he had, he would have noticed the similarities born from very different sources.

"I don't really like pecans by themselves," he said, methodically licking his scoop into a point. "They are alright, but I wouldn't go out of my way to choose them."
 
"Sometimes Daizi makes a very nice pecan pie. She adds rosemary to it, and I have never had someone else make that choice, and it feels so completely like something she would do." He replied. Despite the fact it was a cone, he was still using a spoon, knowing perfectly well that if he tried to eat it normally, his beard would turn into a foul, sticky mess. "But if you do not go out of your way to roast the pecans first, they do not taste as good as they should."
 
"I will keep that in mind for when I next make a pecan pie," Alec said soberly and then grinned to show it was a joke. He bit off the tip of his ice cream and slurped a bit while somehow staying surprisingly clean. "What other photos do you have of Ivy?"
 
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