How Green Becomes Wood

"You also have to remember Dark has a lot of the textbook 'scary' traits. All of his tattoos, his beard, he's so strong... It's really difficult for him to walk alone at night, he has terrified many a lone woman." She stretched an arm out across to the driver's side to rub Dark's shoulder.

"I always pretend to be talking on the phone to a baby. It makes me seem less threatening, although soon," He looked at Daizi and couldn't quite help the stupid-happy look that briefly passed over his face, "I will not need to pretend. Those sorts of tricks are helpful to know--even if you are a 'preachy little rainbow saint.'"

Daizi chuckled, but still it was clear she had experienced moments where someone was walking behind her at night and frightened her, albeit unintentionally, "What is it that Cooger says? 'Beep beep, coming through'? Nobody feels threatened by that. The world is a scary place--especially if you can't see who is behind you."
 
Alec lifted his head and looked at Xander curiously. "How tall do you think we'll get? We're nearly done growing."

"Taller than the professor," Xander snickered. "Undoubtedly."

Alec sighed and let his head fall back again. "You're not helpful." After a pause, he said, "It's hard to imagine anyone being frightened of me, though I'm sure it's possible, especially if you can't see or hear. I don't like the idea of anyone being scared of me."

Xander reached over and patted his shoulder. "It'll never happen. You're just a little butterfly."

"Some people are scared of butterflies."

Xander rolled his eyes and gave up. "Beep beep."
 
"I cannot begin to guess how tall you will grow," Dark said, "I do not know how tall your mother or your biological father grew. I was already much taller than you both by the time I was 15, so unless you are headed for a very painful, bone ripping growth spurt, I do not suspect you will surpass me." The question hadn't been directed to him, but he nonetheless chose to answer it. If he did have to guess, he would suspect they'd end up roughly at around average height.

"You don't want to be taller than him anyway, that would be miserable. He already barely fits on public transportation and hotel showers are nearly impossible. Finding clothes and shoes is a quest, and when we met he was about 6'3, and still growing, obviously, and he was in just so much pain sometimes. It just tore up the skin on his back," Again, she reached over to him sympathetically. Sometimes she worried about when he got old. His heart worried her, and she would occasionally get so stressed about the possibility of him developing blood clots that she would fuss about him for sitting too long at a time.

He glanced over at her, and saw the little wrinkle between her eyebrows, so he could guess at her thoughts, "I was certainly very glad when I reached my final height, and I balk to think of how tall I may have grown if I had not been food insecure as a child. But, Alec, you do not have to be worried of people being scared of you--if you are walking at night, it is not you as a person they are scared of."
 
Xander looked down at himself and frowned. Taller would be better, never mind the pain. Tall meant power! Meant muscles! Right? Dark was big and strong, so if he got bigger, he'd get stronger, and then people would leave him alone. That's how it worked, right?

Alec brightened. "Thank you, Professor. I appreciate that." He leaned forward and touched Daizi's arm. "At least it's better now! And you're tall, too, so that can't be easy, either."
 
"I'm tall for a woman, but still within the standard deviation of height for men, so I don't feel as tall as I otherwise might, unless I'm in heels, but really," She turned back towards him, "considering everything else I'm working with, being tall is the least of my issues. I can promise you that the first thing people say when trying to get other people to recognize me is never, 'she's the, you know, tall one.'"

If nothing else could be said about Daizi, she was always the first one to joke about the hand she had been dealt, which Dark found extremely endearing. And he thought she was the perfect height, while they were broken up, he had dated women of an average size, and his back nearly broke with how often he had to bend down with them. She was perfect, in every way, and he reflected on it often.

At last, he pulled into their driveway, and he exited his car. It was good to be home, everyone else seemed tired, "I think I will just order in food tonight, and since it is your day," he turned to the twins, "you should pick where from."
 
"Really?!" Alec asked, sitting up straight. "Tacos!"

"Burgers!" Xander cheered.

Alec frowned. "Tacos are far superior to burgers."

"That's because you only ever get the cheese ones," Xander pointed out. "Burgers with actual stuff on them are way better!"

"You only ever get the simple tacos with even less on them then a cheeseburger!" Alec protested.

"Because if you get a fat taco, you can't fit it in your mouth." Xander pushed the car door open, and Alec followed him out and into the house.

"Take smaller bites."

"And have filling falling everywhere? No thank you!"
 
Dark glanced at Daizi and shook his head as they went inside the house, happily greeting their dog, who was now absolutely thrilled to see all four of them. After touching the salt and taking off his shoes, Dark said to the still-bickering twins, "Let me know when you decide, if you manage to come to a decision."

"Burritos are a good in-between, I think, or a quesadilla. I've never known a Mexican place to only sell tacos," Daizi offered and stretched, "I'm going to go and change. I love this dress, I don't want to stretch it out and leave it unwearable in the future."
 
"Okay, fine, tacos and burritos," Xander groaned, pretending to be very put upon. He leaned over and gave the dog a good ear scratch before heading for his room. "I need to change, too."

Alec smiled and dropped to his knees, offering a full hug to the fluffy beast. "Yay! Tacos! We can get lots of tacos! Do you want a taco?"
 
Enkidu absolutely adored the attention and panted heartily. He did not know exactly what he was being offered, but he was being talked to in an excited tone so he wiggled with joy.

"He does not get a taco," Dark said, doing his best not to look at his dog's face because he wished not to be coerced. Then he told Alec the name of the Mexican place they typically ordered from and texted both him and Xander the link to the menu, so he could place the order. Since he didn't need to worry about cooking, he, too, went upstairs, following his wife.
 
Alec hugged Enkidu and gave him a lot of neck scratches, fussing over him and telling him all about the talent show that he'd missed. He didn't need to look at the menu long. He always ordered nearly the same thing every time, or as close as he could get.

Xander took his time looking over the menu and finally texted Dark his choice, prompting Alec to do the same. It had been a good day, and neither of them thought it could possibly get any better. Xander had his cactus in the window, and Alec put his flowers in a vase on the dresser. Perfection! Xander didn't think he ever wanted to do that again, but he had to admit if only to himself, it wasn't as horrible as he'd feared.
 
As promised, Dark reached out to Mrs. Hollis to plan a time for her and her husband to come over for dinner, and a good date was found relatively quickly, which meant the hard part was out of the way, and it wasn't too far in the future, either, which pleased Daizi, since it meant Dark didn't have enough time to stress out about it. Or, at least, he didn't have as much time to stress out about it. He still went a little crazy cleaning the house, but that was to be expected. They also debated back and forth about what they were going to make, which was a topic Daizi was newly passionate about.

All told, the week went by easily. The incident with the twins sneaking out had been fully lain to rest--not forgotten, but at peace, Dark had finally told his coworkers and boss about the baby (although the conversation about paternity leave was only scheduled), and Daizi had been in an exceptionally good mood. And because it was Spring Break, he didn't have to hear the inevitable gossip about his wife, which he figured would probably die out by the time the school started back up.

Sunday dinner came quickly. Dark and Daizi were dressed well, and he specifically chose his tie to match her dress, and his cufflinks to match her jewelry. It wasn't over the top or anything, but he liked the cohesivity. Since Daizi was on a quest to wear all of the dresses she would shortly outgrow before it was too late, once more she was not obscuring the sneaky additional guest--who, because she was right on the cusp between fifteen and sixteen weeks, was now closer to the size of an avocado than a pear. The couple waited casually in their dining room for their guests to arrive, only feeling the tiniest bit nervous.
 
"Stop fidgeting!" Alec whispered to Xander as Xander pulled at the sleeves on his shirt again.

"These sleeves are too tight!" Xander complained, fiddling with the cuff.

"No they aren't. You're just not used to wearing sleeves with button cuffs," Alec told him, swatting at his hand.

Xander grumbled but left it alone. He was wearing all black in jeans and an actual button-up shirt, but with white socks that emphasized his unshod feet. Alec hadn't been able to resist color, as usual, and had grey slacks, his grey jacket with the green lining, a dark grey vest with red edging, a light blue shirt with gold edging, and a bright red tie to match his hair that had refused to behave no matter how much he brushed it. His socks were blue with multicolored polka dots.

Outside, a car door slammed. Xander and Alec froze. A pause, and then a knock on the door. Mr. Jack Hollis, Mrs. Sally Hollis, and young Peter Hollis, all dressed very nicely in outfits most might reserve for church stood waiting patiently at the door.
 
Dark very casually stood and went and opened the door, with Daizi following shortly behind him, "Hello, welcome. Please, come in, I hope our home was not too difficult to find. If you would not mind, please remove your shoes."

"And please, there's a bowl of salt by the door, I'd appreciate if you just touched that for me," Daizi added, smiling widely, seeming very much like the proper hostess, "It's wonderful to meet you again! Could I get you anything to drink? We have just about anything you could want, I'm sure."
 
"Your house is absolutely beautiful! It was quite easy to find, thank you," Mrs. Hollis said, handing Dark a box of Koko Black assorted chocolates. "I forgot to ask if you liked chocolate. These are some we brought from Australia." She leaned down and carefully slipped her sensible heels off and set them aside, touching the salt without protest before stepping farther into the house.

"And I forgot to ask if you drank or not, but I thought it was a safe bet that if you didn't, you'd know someone that did," Mr. Hollis said cheerfully, handing over a bottle of Brown Brother's Patricia Cabernet Sauvignon. "It's from 2010, not their best year, sadly, but still one of their best!" He struggled a bit with his shoes but got them off and set them aside, almost forgetting to touch the salt as he started to move in. His wife nudged him, and he quickly picked up a pinch, rubbing it between his fingertips before stepping in.

"Do you feel the salt cleanses the spirits?" Mrs. Hollis asked politely as Peter happily kicked off his shoes and touched salt.

"Hey!" Peter greeted Alec and Xander quietly from behind his parents, giving them a cheeky grin.
 
"Thank you," Dark said, taking the chocolates and the wine, "We designed it ourselves, along with a very understanding architect, and I am sure these will be delicious. We could have them with the dessert Tarot baked. And," he turned towards Mr. Hollis, "Thank you for this. I do drink, although I have not done so recently."

"He's so respectful, I didn't even ask him, and I wouldn't, but since I can't drink, he hasn't been either." Daizi turned and walked more into their house, to encourage their guests to come more inside as well, "and I do, I think it cleanses the spirits, bad energies, it all really makes the house more livable, I think."

Dark looked down at Peter, and as his teacher, could not fully resist the urge to ask, "How do you feel about school starting back up after your break? I finished grading your exam the other day."
 
"You can always set it aside for a celebration at a later time," Mrs. Hollis said with a wink. "I presume there will be a time to celebrate in the future."

Peter smiled up at Dark. "I can't say that I'm looking forward to it, sir, unlike my parents. They cannot wait to be rid of me!"

"Here, now, that's not entirely true," Mr. Hollis chuckled. "We enjoy having you around. We just worry about you being home alone while we're working."
 
Daizi blushed slightly, her hand finding its way to her middle, "That's a good idea. Maybe this November..."

"That is one nice thing about being a teacher," Dark said, setting the wine and chocolate down on the island counter in the kitchen, "I am off at the same time they are, so there is not an issue there. Although I am sure Alec and Xander would prefer to have the house to themselves more often than they do."
 
"That must be really nice to have the same schedule," Mrs. Hollis sighed wistfully as she followed them into the kitchen. "Sometimes it can be quite a challenge with both of us working the same schedule, which is nowhere close to a school schedule."

"American education systems seem to still be stuck in the factory days," Mr. Hollis complained, walking into the kitchen with her. "Not that it's any fault of you teachers, of course," he added with a nod toward Dark.

"Wait!" Mrs. Hollis put a hand on his arm. "We promised no talk about work."

"Right, sorry," Mr. Hollis said with a sheepish grin.

The twins joined them, moving instinctively toward their places. Peter followed them, finding a spot next to Xander.
 
"Oh trust me, we like it about as much as anyone else does, but anytime someone suggests change, the response is always, 'it worked fine in my day, you are just too soft,' and if you believe in making improvements for the next generation, then you are destroying the country," He pulled out Daizi's typical chair for her, and she sat down appreciatively, "Could I get any of you something to drink?"

Daizi would have commented that at least having the same schedule meant they could spend more time together, but she wanted to respect their decision to not talk about work. That, she presumed, must be a downfall of working together: too many shared experiences. So, instead, she said, "I hope settling into life here has been easier on you than it was on us."
 
"Water would be perfect for me, thank you," Mrs. Hollis said with a smile. "Well, I am not certain what you circumstances were, but if I may be so bold as to make assumptions based on cultural heritage, I would have to say yes, sadly, it likely has been. In truth, we came over and went right to work the day after we moved into the condo. It was a bit of an emergency situation."

"Blown out of proportion," Mr. Hollis snorted. "But we've gotten that ironed out, leaving us with a little more time to actually consider things like buying a house and attend our son's talent shows."

"There is only one a year," Peter remarked quietly with a smile, his eyes dancing.

"Then I'll randomly find a class to come sit in on," Mr. Hollis said without missing a beat.
 
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