How Green Becomes Wood

"He'll be fine," Daizi promised, "I don't think he really cared to go anyway, he just wanted to support you on your birthdays..." She laughed a little bit about the card, "I think he's the opposite of your father. That card would probably give him a heart attack. But I think it's fun... It's really nice he sent you something."

"What would give me a heart attack?" Dark asked, carrying Ivy into the kitchen.

"The card Lance sent the boys," Daizi said, and Dark looked over Xander's shoulder at the card and frowned.

"That is going to attract ants."
 
"I love it," Alec grinned. "Don't worry, I don't think it'll attract ants, but I'll put it in a baggie just in case."

"Cool." Xander handed the card to Alec. "We should totally stick it on the windowsill."

"Are you going to get changed?" Alec asked Xander.

Xander shook his head. "Nah. No point. I'm good with what I'm wearing."
 
"I think I'm going to go take a nap before the party," Daizi said, squeezing Alec's shoulder, "Unless you'd rather me hang out with you until it's time to go?"

"I will probably change before I go," Dark commented, looking down at himself and not recognizing the absurdity of his goth aesthetic juxtaposed against the little knit frog he was holding lovingly to his chest, "If I am going to see students outside of school as your father and not your teacher, it would be for the best if I do not arrive dressed as your teacher. I do not want them to feel they are not allowed to have fun due to my presence."
 
"Go nap so that you can have more fun later," Alec told her, turning to give a brief hug. "We'll wait for you."

"You should be good if you keep the frog at hand," Xander remarked, nodding to Ivy.
 
"I'll set a timer so I don't sleep too long. I'd hate to make you late to your own party." She kissed the top of Alec's head and then went upstairs.

"Yes, but ideally she will be able to sleep while we are out, and Daizi will need to take her to feed her, and if I am playing games I cannot also hold her," Dark replied, stroking Ivy's cheek. His eyes still lit up when she swiveled to look at him, as if it were the very first time, "and I smell of high school."
 
Alec watched Daizi go and then pounced on another cookie. Then he headed upstairs to put the birthday card away.

"That you do," Xander agreed. He held out a cookie. "Just try not to look like an undertaker. Try for rock band member or something instead."
 
"I never look like an Undertaker," Dark said indignantly. There was a brief pause where they both knew he did, but his was a more vampiric version than the classic look, "but if it would please the court, I will not put on a tie and unbotton the top few buttons of whatever shirt I wear, to look more 'cool.'"
 
"I only cover them because the school requires it," Dark's first replied, but then he hesitated, "Who exactly is coming? I know Alec has made a number of friends this semester, and I am not sure I want the entire theatre department to know everything about me. I have got to maintain some sense of mystery..." He adjusted his sleeve, frowning. This was the first time he really had to grapple with the fact having Alec and Xander meant his private life would naturally be exposed, and he was rapidly trying to figure out his boundaries regarding it.
 
"We've got Sloan and Peter coming, and then Alec invited two kids from the drama club, Becky and..." Xander paused and frowned, trying to remember. "Hank? I think? It was something simple but weird like that. And then there's Milo. He's a weird kid who scurries around a lot. I don't think he'd talk, but I'm not sure. Becky would probably talk without even realizing it. She's a massive chatterbox."
 
"I know Becky." Dark said flatly, pushing his hair back, "She is nice enough, I suppose." He held up one hand to look at the tattoos on the back of it and swore, "No, I may as well not bother covering them. If Becky stays a friend she will see them eventually, because I cannot commit to obscuring my skin to my own home. If she must find out eventually..." He frowned, "But I really do not desire my secrets to be passed around the school."
 
"Why would your secrets be passed around the school?" Alec asked as he rejoined them.

"Because Becky might blab to everyone about stuff when hanging out with us, like tattoos," Xander supplied.

Alec frowned at him. "Blab is kind of rude. Besides which, I am sure she'll be too busy to notice, and if she does, I'll just ask her not to mention it. It's not that big of a deal, is it?"
 
"It is not, really. I just... prefer a level of separation." He frowned, shifting back, "Do not think I have an issue with Becky, it is not her, I am the one with the problem. It is not even really a problem. It is a difficult thing to be known."
 
Alec smiled and patted Dark's arm lightly. "I'll just tell her to please not mention anything. I don't think she would anyway, but I'll just ask."

"Her and Hank," Xander pointed out.

"Tom," Alec corrected.

Xander frowned. "Tom? That doesn't sound anything at all like Hank."

"No, but when you first met him, he told you his name was Tom Hanale, but you misheard and asked, 'Like Tom Hank?' Then we got off on a discussion about whether it was Tom Hank singular or Tom Hanks plural."

"Ooooohhhh, now I remember," Xander said, nodding. "Tom. Not Hank."
 
"Thank you," Dark said softly, and then inhaled then said he would go upstairs and change.

A little while before it was time to leave, he came back downstairs and he looked... good. Not to the extent it would be distracting for the twins, but probably the best he had looked since Ivy was born. He looked nice at Christmas, but Xander had specifically said aim for rocker, not undertaker, and seeing as it was his birthday, he did his best to oblige. So, he came down in a black button down shirt that wasn't buttoned all the way up, so just a few of his chest tattoos could be seen (although it wasn't so unbuttoned that it looked like he was trying to look so nice, because he wasn't, and it wasn't so unbuttoned that it was weird to wear around his sons' teenage friends. It was simply his attempt at casual), and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. Instead of dress pants he put on his blackest jeans and wore the snake belt Alec liked. Then he had just brushed his hair back, freshed up his cologne, and was wearing his wedding ring on a chain again. And of course, in his arm, in her little frog onesie, was his daughter, who didn't quite complete the look.

"Daizi is putting on a shirt that does not have a spit up stain on the shoulder," He said, reapproaching the twins, unaware he looked any better than he had the day before, "She did not know it was there, but I spotted it while she was sleeping. She will only be a minute."
 
Alec glanced and did a double take. "Professor, you are looking quite good this evening," he praised with a slow grin.

Xander nodded. "Proper rock and roll, Professor. I am impressed."

Alec nodded. "Smashing!"
 
"Oh," he looked down at himself, a bit surprised by their reaction. In his defense, since he had a blind wife, he was rarely in a situation where he walked into a room and was complimented for what he wore--when Daizi appreciated his outfits, it was after she had felt what he was wearing, "Thank you. I have worn this before, without the belt, but maybe not with you."

Daizi hustled down the stairs with the diaper bag over her shoulder, "This one should be clean---Oh wow, Goose, you smell amazing."

"Thank you. Are you ready to go?"

"Uhhh... Yeah," Daizi set the diaper bag on the counter and quickly thumbed through it, "If the stroller is in the car, yeah."
 
"Mama, you should check out what he's wearing," Alec urged her. "By the way, you look quite nice."

Xander waited until Daizi was finished looking through the bag and then picked it up with the intent to carry it out to the car for her. "Getting crowded in that car, but it works, I guess."
 
"Me?" She asked, more amused than anything, "I think this is just one of my only clean shirts that I can fit into and nurse in. But don't get used to it, I've got a few more in the bag, just in case." At Alec's suggestion, she went up to Dark and ran her hands over his outfit, a slow grin passing over her face, "Oh, darling," she murmured, "I didn't realize we were dressing up."

"Well, I did not try to," He replied, not displeased by her reaction.

"I don't believe you. And you wonder why your students develop crushes on you," She stretched up to kiss his cheek. Then she told Xander as she reached for the diaper bag, fumbling when she realized it wasn't there, "You can put it in the trunk too, we won't need it until she's out of the car, it's not like we can change a diaper in a moving vehicle."
 
"Can't think of much worse," Xander muttered, carrying the bag out.

"Come on, you two - three - we're going to be late!" Alec urged, grinning, as he followed Xander out.
 
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