How Green Becomes Wood

Alright, just let me know! But seriously, don't come by until after my mom leaves for work. Benny owes me, he won't say anything. After texting them the time her mom typically left for work, which was earlier than she guessed the twins would want to come by anyway, but she needed to be certain.

Not long after, Dark came upstairs and knocked lightly on their door to tell them dinner was ready. He had, in his opinion quite cleverly, pre-assembled a dish and then froze it, the way a person would when they were giving food to someone dealing with the death of a loved one, so they didn't need to worry about what to eat after returning from their trip.
 
The twins came down for dinner and started telling Dark and Daizi about their projected plans for the next two weeks. Alec had an interview for the job with Tristan Walsh, but it hadn't been scheduled officially yet. He was supposed to let Tristan know when they got back and when he could come in. Xander told them about potential plans with Sloan and Milo, and Alec was hoping to hang out with Beck and Tom before starting his new job.
 
When the twins came to visit, Sloan made sure to have some snacks around and really let them decide if they wanted to swim or jump on the trampoline or what, although upon learning they were by no means proficient swimmers she tried to subtly redirect them to something that didn't make her anxious they'd end up drowning. When she got tired of the heat, she brought them inside to play Jackbox games, most of which weren't great with only three people, but they were still enjoyable enough.

The whole time, though, she was hoping they'd ask about the routine she had filmed. Bringing it up and asking if they wanted to watch it felt like showing off a dance to your parents at a sleepover, but she was very proud of it.
 
Once they were inside and not joggling their brains on the trampoline - even though that had been way more fun than either had anticipated with zero risk of drowning - Xander brought up the routine first. Alec momentarily forgot thanks to the thrill of being over at Sloan's house, but the moment Xander mentioned it, he instantly started asking Sloan more questions and asking if they could see it.

Xander was engaged most of the time, but occasionally, he seemed to drift off distractedly. It wasn't hard to bring him back, and he did want to see what Sloan had done, but there was something plaguing his mind like an itch that refused to be scratched away.
 
Sloan tried to hide her excitement as she played the recording for them. Rather than being simply gymnastics, there was a lot of dancing in between the actual gymnastic moves. If anything, it felt almost like a cheer routine to a very up-beat, sort of 80s-inspired pop song. Some of the dance moves she had used were a bit... mature, but in her mind, she would be eighteen in less than a month, and it wasn't like she was posting online, so there wasn't anything wrong with recording a dance to a song with some sexual lyrics.

The song itself had been a lot of places lately, with a variety of people recording themselves spelling out the song title a-la YMCA, but it was a very well put together and performed set to it.
 
Alec assured her it was the best thing he'd ever seen, though his cheeks were distinctly pink thanks to a few of the moves, and he praised her precision work and the passion he could see in the dance.

Xander nodded his agreement and told her his favorite gymnastic moves she'd done and how he liked the combination of dance and gymnastics.

Both were highly impressed and wanted to see more. Alec even suggested a couple of other songs and asked if she thought they'd make good gymnastic dance songs. While he was asking her if she was going to do another and to what song, Xander drifted away and looked out the window. He could hear something just on the edge of audible. Something from a long time ago. He couldn't quite remember what it was, but it disturbed him on a soul level and he tried to push it away. He didn't want to touch it. Didn't want to deal with it.
 
"We spent, like, half a day trying to get the death drop right. I really thought it'd be cool for the line about waking up alone and staring at the ceiling," Sloan said proudly, having completely missed how certain parts of the video made Alec flush, "I'm actually obsessed with this singer, you should watch her music video for Pink Pony Club, I think it's my favourite song ever. I'd like to do that one, maybe, but it's a slower song so I don't know how many gymnastic moves I can actually do in it. If my mom saw any of it, she'd kill me."

As she talked, eventually she caught sight of Xander completely zoned out, "You good, dude?"
 
"Alright," Alec said, his voice squeaking just slightly. He forced his throat to relax. "I will definitely look into it!" Alone. In his room. By himself. Where he couldn't embarrass himself.

"Huh?" Xander asked, coming back to the room. "Yeah. Just got distracted. What about a pink pony?"

Alec frowned at him. Xander wasn't usually this distractable.
 
Sloan looked at Alec for a moment but then shook his head, and then at Xander, having absolutely no idea what was going on with either of them, but figuring they were probably both still tired from their trip, "It's a song I love. It's about a woman, or I guess it could be anyone, but it's sung by a woman, who moves to Santa Monica to pursue her dream of being a dancer at a club, and everything that entails, and her mom isn't proud of her, but she doesn't care because it's where she belongs. And like, you can interpret it as it being about her as a dancer, but there's a lot of subtext to suggest that it's actually about being queer, and moving out to like... get to be yourself in a community that actually accepts you. I think it's the absolute best."
 
"Oh. That sounds cool," Xander nodded. "I'll look it up later."

"We should probably head back home," Alec told Sloan. "Thanks for having us over and showing us how to play your game. It's so much fun! We should totally do that again sometime."
 
"Let me know what you think about it," Sloan said cheerfully, "but, yeah, I bet you both are still exhausted. When you're more readjusted we can hang out more. It was really fun getting to hang out with you both, though, we should definitely do it more often! If we get more friends over, those games are way more fun. Bracketeering goes so hard in a group."
 
"We should invite Peter! He likes games, and Becky!" Alec grinned. "Oh! Oh! How about that one friend of yours, uh, what was her name?"

"Remi?" Xander asked, trying to remember. "Roomy?"

"How about her?" Alec suggested.
 
"Rumy," Sloan corrected, putting one hand in her back pocket as she walked the to the door, "We could invite her friend Sherry, too, but I don't know if she's still got her huge crush on Peter, and I don't want to make any of my friends uncomfortable like that. But it could be fun! Maybe for my birthday."
 
"Does Peter know about her crush on him?" Alec wondered as they walked. "It might be interesting to see them together!"

"Or you can just tell both of them that the other will be there and let them say whether or not they'll be there," Xander suggested. "What do you want for your birthday, anyway? I'm guessing not another dolphin necklace."
 
"I don't know if he knows. I would of course let Sherri know, but if Peter doesn't know I think it'd be weird to tell him that she specifically is going. But I guess I could let him know who all I invited, which might make it easier." Sloan mused, trying to figure out what would be the least awkward for everybody involved, "I don't really care about presents, but I appreciate it. I know people always say that, and then they're disappointed, but I mean it. I feel weird telling people what to buy me."
 
"Do whatever you want because it's your party. If they have manners, people will figure out their own problems on their own time," Alec assured her with a smile.

Xander frowned slightly at Sloan, confused. "Why would it be weird to make requests? It makes it loads easier on the giver and the receiver. Especially if you tell different people you want different things. Then you don't have to worry about getting five of the same thing."

"I always worry I'm going to give the same thing someone else is giving," Alec agreed.
 
"I don't know," Sloan shrugged, "I guess it just always makes me feel materialistic. Like, I'm demanding something. I kind of just prefer people to get me things that they think I'd like, if they get me anything, rather than being the tsar of gifts, you know? I don't think it's that common for everyone to give the same gift, either. Not now that we're this old, maybe if we were buying toys for your baby sister."
 
"Fair enough!" Alec said brightly.

"That means if you don't like what we get you, you can't blame us," Xander smirked.

Alec gave his elbow a light smack. "Sure she can. She can blame us for not knowing her better."

"Just because we know her doesn't mean we know what she wants as a birthday gift," Xander argued back.

The pair argued their way across the street and back to their own house.
 
"You're both overthinking it!" She exclaimed as they left, standing on her porch to make sure they made it back across the street before shutting the door behind them.

Back at home, Dark and Daizi were both readjusting to their normal lives. With Ivy napping, Daizi was upstairs at work and Dark was downstairs with the baby monitor on the coffee table beside a bag of jinglebells, one stack of onesies on his left and another stack to his right, hard at work.
 
"What are you up to, Ba?" Alec asked curiously. He picked up four of the jingle bells and started juggling them. "Oh! Is this for Ivy so Mama knows where she is?"

Xander picked up another bell and inspected it. "Looks sturdy."
 
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