How Green Becomes Wood

"I think I got one of her when she fell on the bar." Milo replied, carefully clipping it up, "It's not one I'd show to her, figure it might be sensitive, but I still kind of hope I got it and will get to see it." He crossed his arms and leaned in, looking at the different negatives, "I figure I'll scan the ones I don't want to work with. If the competition had a facebook page or something, I'll post them there, but I don't need to keep photographs of random gymnasts in my shoebox, you know? But the ones of Sloan and her team, she'll probably want. Or the others on her team would want them."
 
"That's a good idea," Xander said. He stepped back and rubbed his eyes. "There's a lot of squint work involved in this." He glanced around the room again. "This is pretty cool. You ever think about entering some of your photos in competitions and stuff?"
 
"Not really." Milo replied, pushing his glasses up, "Most competitions like that want a mailing address. Mine is always changing. Never seemed much good in entering a contest only to move before the winner is decided."
 
"Dude, this was awesome," Xander said bluntly. "Seriously, you'd have known if I was bored. By the way... would your grandparents mind giving me a ride? If you think it would to much trouble, I can get a different ride."
 
"Um, they probably could. I'd have to ask. I can call them." Milo replied, scratching his arm. This was much more stressful than anything else that evening had been, because now his grandparents might be inconvenienced, and it would've been so much easier had he known this was an issue earlier, "Do you live far from here?"
 
Xander noticed the scratching. "Eh, if you think they'd mind, never mind," he shrugged. "I can call my uncle, or Sloan might be willing to give me a ride. She does owe me a ride." He played it off, checking his phone and trying to decide who to contact. If Milo thought it was a big enough deal to start shredding his arm - and while Xander didn't know his grandparents well, he didn't think they'd care that much - then it wasn't worth it.
 
"I mean, they might not mind, I just... It's kind of late, you know? And I don't want to, you know, make them drive all over, because, you know, it's already a lot when I ask them to drive me here," Milo replied, now scratching the back of his neck instead of his arm, "I don't want it to be tough for you to get home, but I don't want my grandparents to think I'm, you know, inconsiderate of their time."
 
Xander sighed and reached out. Very gently and cautiously, he caught both sleeves at Milo's hand, holding the edges of the fabric without touching Milo's skin. He pulled Milo's hands away from their worried scratching and held them between them almost as if he was trying to conduct a puppet but with sleeves instead of strings. "Hey, Stitch, it's alright," he said quietly. "If you think it's too much, you can say so. I don't want to be rude or inconsiderate anymore than you do, alright? Which means it's okay if you tell me no. I'm okay with asking for things, but I'm also okay with being told no."
 
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Milo stared at Xander with wide eyes, having not particularly expected to be a marionette that evening. "I just, I don't want... anyone to have to worry." He shrugged, lightly freeing himself, "I don't want you to have to worry about how you'll get home, but I also don't want my grandparents to feel... I don't know. Bothered."
 
"I get ya," Xander assured him. "That was the hardest thing Alec and I had to learn when we first started living with our foster folks. It turns out, when people care about you, it's not such a bother after all. If you're anything like us, you'd do whatever you could for your grands, right? Just like how we'd do anything for our parents. Turns out, they'd do anything for us, too, and if they can't or don't want to do something, they can say no." He stuck his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "Don't know why that was so hard to grasp for us, but it's true. Anyway, I'll text my uncle first. If he's got a job in the area, he can pick me up in no time flat. Your grands should be here soon to pick you up, right?" He moved toward the door as he pulled out his phone to text. "I'll hang out with you until they get here."
 
Milo followed after him after gathering up his belongings, but didn't say a word about learning he wasn't a bother. "They should be here soon, I think, yeah. They knew exactly how long we had the room for, so. Is your uncle on the way?"

Cooger had, in fact, replied to Xander saying he was just on his way to pick up dinner, and therefore had no issue grabbing him on the way.
 
Xander checked his phone. "Yep. He was in the area, so it's not going to be a problem." He pocketed his phone and leaned against the wall where he could watch out the window. "So, tomorrow, same time, same place?" he asked. Then he paused and winced. "Damn. I forgot. I have some things I gotta do tomorrow, and there's no way I'm going to be done in time."
 
"That's okay," Milo said softly, looking out the window, "There's too, too many photos to print in one day. What are you doing tomorrow?" He looked back, seemingly unbothered by Xander being busy, and, as may have been a bit of a surprise, didn't seem all that bothered by Xander not being able to come back immediately.
 
"Well," Xander hesitated, tapping his leg lightly. "I don't want to jinx it, but I've saved up enough money from my leather business to buy a used car. My uncle and I are going to be taking a look at a couple of them tomorrow. I'm not picky, but I'd rather not have it fall apart the minute I leave the lot. My uncle would be fine if I rescheduled with him, but I already talked to the car owners about stopping by. If one of them looks like a good buy, I could be the one giving out rides." He gave Milo a quick, faint smirk.
 
"That's really cool," Milo replied, "I wish I could afford a car, or like... one of those VW Vans from the 70s. Then I'd never have to pack anything. But I don't really have money for that... Did you ever drive before you were supposed to learn?"
 
"Yeah? Those are cool vans," Xander agreed. "You could turn it into something you could live out of. I did a little bit of driving, but it wasn't like a consistent thing. You?"
 
"And if I had a home that could move, then I never have to try to make a new home," Milo agreed with a little sigh, "I drove for the first time at... 14, I think? Maybe 13. And that isn't really that young, comparatively, it was only two or three years ago, but it was young enough that if we had ever been stopped, my mom would've gotten into a lot of trouble."
 
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