How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi rubbed his back, swaying from side to side, "There's nothing you can do that will make us stop loving you, baby. You're never going to lose us. I promise." She kissed the top of his head and squeezed him tight, "I promise."

After a little while of watching this, Dark got up and sat on the other side of Alec, placing one hand on his back.
 
Alec let himself cry, melting into his parents and sobbing out the pain and the shame he'd been holding inside. Finally, he quieted down and took some time to breathe, leaning into mostly Daizi but with one hand resting on Dark. "I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice hoarse. "I promise I'll try to never do anything like this again. Ever."
 
"Thank you for apologizing," Dark replied, smoothing the back of Alec's hair with one hand, "I forgive you. And I completely believe you will do better in the future."

"Just don't become a hermit, habibi, because we don't want to lose you either." Daizi smiled warmly at him, drying his face with her thumb.
 
Alec stayed with them for a long time, soaking in the feeling of home and love. He missed Xander even now, missed him terribly, but the love of his parents helped to ease the pain. Maybe he did need to learn to communicate and to listen, and maybe things never would be the same, but now he had hope that at least they could be better.

Finally, he sat up and rubbed his face. "Can I go take a shower? I think I need it. Then I should probably get started on my homework."
 
"No, habibi," Daizi laughed, letting Alec go, "You've no choice but to sit here and stink. Of course you can go and take a shower. When you're done with your homework, if you're hungry, I baked cake yesterday."
 
Alec half laughed, half hiccuped. "I will see you later, I guess."

He headed upstairs, feeling not good, but less awful than he had before. This week was going to be a long one, but it was earned, for certain. He went up to shower and scrubbed his face clean before heading into his room. Finally, he noticed the message light blinking on his phone and picked it up. Oh. It was Milo. He'd texted some time ago. He hoped Milo didn't think he was ignoring him or something.

Thank you for explaining about the birds. I am sorry I misunderstood and overreacted. I am sorry about pretty much everything that happened yesterday. Do you think we could talk tomorrow so I could apologize in person?

There. Not the most eloquent text he'd ever sent, but he thought it was better than nothing.

~~

Meanwhile, Xander was attempting to eat his lunch in peace, but it seemed like a quarter of the school wanted to know where Alec was at. Maybe it was not literally a full quarter, but it was more people than he was used to speaking with! His answer was the same with everyone. "He didn't feel well. He'll be here tomorrow." At least, he guessed that was the case. He didn't care.
 
Milo stared down at his phone, reading and rereading Alec's text. He saw it almost immediately, but it took him some time to respond. Eventually, anxiously, he texted, Okay. Where? He didn't know what else to say, but about five minutes after his first message he added, Thanks

~~

Sloan had been watching Xander for awhile. When Alec didn't come to school, of course she wanted to ask about him, but she saw the look on his face and heard the tone of his voice when he answered other people, so she restrained, figuring she could text Alec later. Instead, she slid down the bench to him and said, "You're popular today."
 
Is tomorrow at school too stressful? Before or after school? Alec offered. After a moment, he sent a second text, Today could work if you would rather.

~~~

"Anyone who likes being popular or wishes they were popular needs to get their head checked," Xander growled in annoyance.

Peter joined their table. "Hey! Where's Alec?"

"Home sick," Xander said tightly.

Peter studied him. "Ooookay. Oh, look! There's Alleesha. I need to go ask her a question about... History. I'll see you later!" He quickly slid away, not wanting to get caught in one of Xander's foul moods in the middle of the lunch room.
 
I'm home sick today, I don't know if I'll be sick tomorrow Milo replied nervously, having really planned to stay home for the rest of the week. But this seemed important, and he thought he'd probably die if he had to stew with anxiety until Monday, I guess before school on Friday is ok

~~

"I don't think anyone who wants to be popular actually is," Sloan commented idly, "and people who are actually popular don't recognize they are, so they don't know to enjoy it. You okay, though? I can spread a rumor, it's no problem."
 
Tomorrow, then. I'll see you tomorrow. I hope you feel better. Alec had a good idea why Milo was "home sick," probably the same reason he was, and figured they both could use a break. He laid down and closed eyes for a bit as a new wave of sadness washed over him. Things would get better. They just had to hurt first.

~~

Xander snorted. "I'm just wonderful. Awesome. Peachy keen. Whatever you wanna say. I'm just trying to get through the school day."
 
Thanks. Milo replied, I'll see you then.

After Ivy woke up and was settled, Daizi went back to her office and decided to call Tristan to let him know what was going on. When he answered, she greeted him casually, "Hello, Tristan. I wanted to thank you for picking Alec up yesterday, I hope it didn't throw off your day too badly."
~~

"Cool, dude." Sloan replied, sitting back in her seat. But she didn't get up and walked away, instead choosing just to take out her lunch and eat with him, "Do you want to choose something else to be mad about? Like, since you're already peachy, use it to argue with me about something totally stupid and meaningless? Or I can start ranting about something that doesn't matter."
 
"Hello, Daizi," Tristan greeted her politely. "I am glad you called. I was just debating the right time to inquire about Alec to see how he was doing. It was my... well, not pleasure, but I was more than willing to fetch him. I was able to recover rather productively from that event, so for me, it was no trouble. How is he doing?"

~~

Xander eyed her skeptically. "Sure you're up for that?"
 
"He's okay," Daizi replied, but then shook her head, "He's struggling a bit. I think we reached a good place with it, and he has some idea of where to go from here, but the emotions are all still fresh."

~~

Sloan shrugged, "Why wouldn't I be? If you can't argue something meaningless without slinging mud, you're not arguing properly."
 
"That is good to hear. I was quite worried about him. I do not wish to overstep any boundaries, but if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know," Tristan offered.

~~

"Alright. Whatcha got?" Xander asked, afraid to make any suggestions of his own.
 
"Well..." Daizi dragged out, tipping her head back slightly, "He is grounded for the week, for leaving school, and for not communicating with us. Would it be a trouble for you to lose him for this weekend? If it would be, he is yours, but otherwise we would like to keep him here. I know it might be extreme to keep him from going to work as part of his punishment, and Dark and I discussed it heavily, but we worried... Well, anyway, we'll send him if you need him. We don't want his choice to cause harm to your buisness."

~~

Sloan hummed for a few moments, and then took out her phone and showed Xander a picture of two giraffes. One with a necktie worn down by the giraffe's shoulders, the other wearing the tie closer to the chin, "If a giraffe were to wear a tie, where would he wear it?"
 
Tristan considered in silence for a moment, not rushing his answer. "It would be an inconvenience," he finally said, "but I can work around it. I do have some contingencies in place for in case I need to run the shop alone, such as my employee being sick, so it is possible. If you believe it is for his betterment, I can do without him for now. I would rather close the shop for one weekend and have a young lad such as he learn some valuable lessons than to keep it open if it would compromise those lessons."

~~

Xander barely glanced at the picture. "At the shoulder. That's where neckties are supposed to be worn. Otherwise, it should be in the middle. Not the top. The top is just stupid."
 
"I wouldn't want you to have to close down your shop to accommodate us," Daizi assured him. Of all things, that was the last thing she'd ever request of him, she couldn't imagine what that may do to his work. After a moment's pause, a smile was heard in her voice, and she admitted, "I've been teasing Dark that he should fill in for Alec, although in a way it may be punishing him, too. No offense."

~~

Sloan was fully ready to argue whatever position Xander didn't take, so after he staked his claim, she responded, "I think you should be species-ally relativist. Why should the way humans wear a tie affect how a giraffe wears theirs? You could argue the point of a tie is to accentuate the chest, which is generally considered a desirable feature on men. Shouldn't a giraffe's tie accentuate their most prominent feature?"
 
"None taken," Tristan chuckled. "Don't worry. I should be able to keep it open this weekend without Alec's help, so as much as it would bring me joy to see Master Dark working here, there's no need. Although he does have a good eye for color and shape, so he would not be a bad fit.

~~

"Wearing it at the head makes the neck look dorky and shorter; it doesn't accentuate it," Xander argued. "Wearing it at the bottom makes the neck look better, if that's what you're going for. And a giraffe should totally wear a bow tie, not a necktie."
 
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