How Green Becomes Wood

"Ah, well. Different strokes, I guess. I'm just glad he's finally making friends. The cookies are great, thank you!" He gave them a nod and went off to find his wife, while Milo shifted awkwardly, grateful he had a friend who could talk for the rest of them.

"I don't think you say unimportant things, " he murmured, after his grandfather had gone.
 
"Maybe, maybe not, but it does work well, doesn't it?" Alec asked with a shrug. "Anyway, I haven't had a chance to try the cookies!"

Xander handed him one and held out one to Milo before taking one for himself. "Cheers for sweets," he said, holding it up like a toast.

"Mmm, this is good!" Alec praised.
 
Milo held his up his cookie to join the toast, and after eating it, said, "They are good... Someone once told me I look like someone who would be allergic to peanut butter. I didn't know how to take it. I still don't."
 
"That is a strange thing to say," Alec agreed after a moment of thought. "May I trouble you for a glass of water or milk?"

"Guess you could always tell them they look like someone who's allergic to thought if they were being mean," Xander remarked.
 
"Sure," Milo said, pouring a glass and handing it over to Alec, "I don't even know if they were trying to be mean or not. It was just a very strange comment. I think about it every time I eat peanut butter."
 
Alec gulped down half his glass before saying, "Yeah, that sounds like a real weird one. Oh! We should start counting these out before we eat too many. How many have you had? Three?" he asked his brother.

Xander already had another cookie in his mouth. He pointed to it and held up three fingers.
 
"I've had two, and so did my granddad," Milo told them as opened up a drawer and pulled out two ziplock bags for each of the twins' cookie sets, "I'll put away my third after you leave because I have to figure out how I'll portion out which ones I'm going to freeze. But you both can figure that out at home."
 
Alec gave Milo a look as Xander snagged another cookie before starting to put them in the bag. "You think some of these are actually going to make it to the freezer?" He chuckled and quickly picked out the lesser cookies for his bag.
 
"Probably not," Milo commented, sitting back and trusting the twins to count them out, since really it didn't matter to him what he ended up with, "But I really just meant, you know... Who gets what. If you're even planning to give any to anyone else."
 
"It was mostly a joke," Alec told Milo gently. He lifted up his bag and smiled. "These are going to be so good in school lunches!"

"Should pack extras for Sloan and Peter," Xander commented around a mouthful of crumbs.

Alec made a face at him. "Chew and swallow! And of course we will."
 
"My dad taught me to go like this," He held his hand out in front of his face, "If I want to say something while eating." He picked at his skin some more, looking around, trying to figure out what he was supposed to say or do next. "Um. Do you... bake... anything else? Normally?" He wondered what time it was, but had been trying really hard not to look, because he was afraid if he looked, it would seem like he was kicking them out, and he didn't want that, but also, they had never established an end-time to their... play date?... and he didn't know how long his grandparents would be comfortable having them over. Were they expected to cook for the twins? Would his grandma be okay with that? Would their foster parents be okay with that?
 
"That is a good idea," Alec agreed, taking Xander's bag from him and sealing it shut. "Lemme put this by the door so we don't forget it. Be right back!" He trotted out to find the closest spot to the door he could manage that was not within doggy reach.

Xander leaned on the counter and forced himself to stop snacking on cookies. He needed some room for a healthy dinner. "Normally? Simpler stuff like cakes, brownies, the usual. I like trying out sweet stuff, but I usually stick with what I know and try out new meal recipes." He frowned and looked closer at Milo. "You okay? You look a little... I dunno, like you're planning a huge ceremony and waiting for your turn to go make a speech or something."
 
"Oh, no, I'm okay," Milo said, blacking back in. "I was just thinking about... stuff. My mom says I think too much. And I really don't know how to... you know..." He gestured slightly at the room, trying to indicate how little he knew about how to interact with people like this, "I don't really have people over ever."
 
Xander shrugged. "I probably don't think enough, so, you know, balances and all that." He folded his arms loosely. "I guess the first question to pose is, are we staying for dinner? We never covered that. And before you try to think about the most polite response, think about what the best response would be. Do you really want us to stay? Or do you need a break? I get that it's pretty overwhelming to have folk in your space, so if you need a break, that's cool. You can totally kick us out right now if you want or need to. We won't be offended. If you want us to stay, our folks won't mind. We'd just need to text them and let them know."

Alec popped back in, just missing what Xander was saying. "What are we talking about?"

"Deep breathing exercises," Xander replied.

"Oh, we can do a couple of those!" Alec agreed and took a deep breath. He figured Xander and Milo had not actually been talking about that, but he thought that might be code to take a moment of silence.
 
"I just... I don't want to bother my grandparents. You know? I don't want to put them out of their way, and I don't want to make Mr. Dark drive out here too late. You've got that baby at home, so I don't want to make things difficult for anyone."
 
Alec smiled and laid a hand on Milo's arm. "Sounds like you need to learn something I had to learn. The things we do for the people we love, it's not a burden or difficult. That doesn't always mean it's easy, but it is worth it." He dropped his hand. "Our Da, he'd have told us a definite time he'd want to have us home by if it was a bother, but! Since it wasn't discussed with your grandparents in advance, we'll toddle along our way before dinner time so they aren't caught unawares. What time do you have dinner? I'll text for a ride." He reached for his phone and frowned. "My phone is not in my pocket."
 
He shrugged, averting his eyes, "I guess." Then, rubbing the back of his neck, he added, "I didn't know how long you had planned to stay, and I didn't want to seem like I was... overplanning to ask... I wanted it to be... easy. But my grandma starts cooking not too long after now... Your phone is probably still in my grandma's scrapbooking room. You can go look."
 
"Thanks! I wouldn't want to intrude in your bedroom without permission." He hurried back toward the bedroom.

Xander pulled out his phone and sent a quick but polite text to Dark requesting a pick-up. "Not bad for your first time," he told Milo as he texted. He finished and slipped the phone back into his pocket. "You'll get better."
 
"Maybe. It's stressful... I didn't know it was stressful." He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked against the counter top, "Do you think he'll find his phone? There's not a lot in that room, so it's hard to lose things."
 
"Anything new is stressful the first time, even eating something new. You have to worry about if you'll like it or not, and if you're around people who do like it, then you have to figure out if you need to pretend you like it or not," Xander groused. "But, yeah, you did fine. And probably. He is," he sighed, "so very good at losing that damn thing. I'm about ready to attach it to his pants with a leash or something."
 
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