How Green Becomes Wood

"I'm pretty sure your brother was correct," Daizi answered, opening the drawer Alec had said and revealing the rubber bands, "I don't know why you wouldn't listen to him. What do you need them for?"
 
"Thanks," Xander said, picking out a handful of the biggest ones. "I have some straps of leather I need to put away neatly, and they don't like staying put."

Alec growled in frustration and scrambled off the couch, abandoning his sketchpad on the table as he went. "Find them? Oh good! Exactly where I said they were!" he stated, heading into the kitchen.

"I'll be out in the shed if you need me," Xander said, turning to head out.

Alec opened the drawer and grabbed out a handful of the rubber bands. "Still can't hear me? Maybe I'm dead. Or maybe I need to get your attention in other ways!"

Xander kept going, and Alec followed him, scolding like a chipmunk as he shot rubber bands at his brother's back. Somehow, Xander managed to pretend nothing was happening even with circles of rubber bouncing off his shoulders. Alec picked them up as he went, chasing Xander out into the yard.
 
When the Alec came and stormed out after Xander, who was still ignoring him, Daizi sighed heavily, rubbed her face, and told her husband, "I'm going to talk to them."

"I do not know if it is a good idea," Dark said slowly, "We should let them work it out themselves."

"I can't live like this," Daizi replied, going into the living room, "I want to be able to live in my house without wondering when it'll explode."
 
Alec followed Xander to his shed before giving up and heading back to the house. He made certain he found and returned every rubber band where it belonged so Ivy wouldn't find them. Then he headed upstairs to his room, leaving his sketchbook half open on the table.
 
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Daizi hesitated for a moment, but then took a breath and went outside and knocked on the door of Xander's shed, because she simply was not going to live in a house where people didn't talk to each other.

Bouncing Ivy on his knee, Dark looked down into Ivy's face and told her, "I fear how this will turn out. We may need to speak to your brother Alec, since Mama is talking to Xander." He heaved a sigh, and his eye settled on Alec's sketchbook. He knew he shouldn't pry, there was a level of privacy and vulnerability in sketchbooks. Certainly, there was in his. But curiosity got the better of him, and he opened it, careful to keep it from his daughter.
 
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It took Xander a second to open the door because he had his hands full of several lengths of leather that were intended to be belts. He held them in one hand and opened the door with the other. "Oh, hey, Mama. What's up?"

~~

The page Alec had left the book open to was filled with small four and five pannel comics. They were in similar styles, but with slight changes as Alec experimented with what he liked. Other pages had other styles from semi-realistic to pure cartoony to chibi art. They followed a family of five, two boys, a baby girl, and the parents. It was pretty obvious what, or who, it was about. The ones on the open pages followed a tall, dark vampire chasing down one of the boys. It was very dramatically drawn, and in the last one - lacking any words - had the boy cornered as the vampire towered over him. The boy was drawn small, vulnerable, and injured. In the previous four, some of the words had been written in, and while the vampire was portrayed in an almost villainous manner, there were small glimpses of worry and concern, especially in the words.
 
"Xander," She said warmly, but seriously, "I think we need to talk, habibi."

~~

Dark flipped through Alec's sketchbook, at first amused or endeared, but when he saw the ones with the tall vampire harassing and, from the looks of it, harming, the boy, even with the slight amounts of concern shown, his quiet delight was replaced with concern and anxiety. For the first time in many months, his mind flashed back to the look of terror on his son's face when he came to them after they had been assaulted. Quickly, he shut the book and set it back down, too uneasy to read anymore.
 
"Yeah? What about?" Xander asked warily, having a good guess exactly what about.

~~

There was more to the story, more that would have explained the injuries, but that would have to wait for another day.

Meanwhile, Alec was upstairs with a different sketchbook and a pencil, grumbling to himself as he furiously drew harsh black lines. He was upset and hurting and angry with himself and with Xander and with... he didn't know what, so he took it out on paper.
 
"I think you know," Daizi replied, "Can I sit?"

~~

"Okay," Dark sighed, after taking the moments he needed to sort through all of the anxieties his son's art aroused in him, "Let us go check on your brother, okay Ivy? Does that sound good? Yes, let us go, Hummingbird." With that, he bounced Ivy onto his hip and went upstairs, lightly knocking on Alec's door.
 
Xander heaved a sigh but backed up and left the door open. "Come on in. Let me clear off your chair." He had too stools, and one usually either worked as a temporary holding spot or tucked far under the workbench. He picked up the random scraps sitting on it and tossed them onto the bench. Once he was certain it was clean and wouldn't leave weird stains on the seat of anyone's clothes, he sat on his own stool and said, "All good."

~~

Alec rolled off his bed and went to open the door. "Hi. Do you need me to watch her?" he asked, genuinely confused.
 
Daizi waited patiently until he had cleared a space for her, and then she sat down, clasping her hands over her knee, and waited a few minutes before saying, "Xander... you don't have to forgive your brother, but the way you are handling your feelings isn't productive."

~~

"What?" Dark asked, as Ivy dug her fingers through his beard, "No. I just wanted to see how you were doing."
 
"I figure it's not unproductive, or like negatively productive," Xander said mildly. "My feelings are just fine and neutral."

~~

"Oh." Alec watched Ivy digging in Dark's beard and felt a niggle of envy. Not about the beard thing, just how much she was able to just cling and be without overstimulating or crossing Dark's boundaries. He shook himself and said, "I'm fine. Just... doing some drawing."
 
"You're feelings aren't the problem, habibi," Daizi replied, "but how are you addressing them if you will not even speak to him? They're not going to just go away if you ignore it."

~~

"You left your other sketchbook downstairs," Dark told him, not clocking the brief moment of envy, "I think it is good you tried to stand up for yourself downstairs."
 
"I think they will," Xander said bluntly. "I think everything will work out just fine."

~~

"Oh, oops. Sorry," Alec said, thinking Dark didn't like the clutter. He moved back uncertainly, not sure if Dark wanted to come inside to talk more or not. "Thanks. I tried. I'm just... tired of it. I thought space would be good, but how much longer does he need this much space?"
 
"So you are just going to ignore him for the rest of your life?" Daizi asked flatly, "Xander, I know you are stubborn, but do not be stupid also."

~~

"It is no problem, it is your house too." Dark assured him, waving one hand, "Daizi is talking with him now. I do not know what will come of it, but she is."
 
Xander set his jaw. "I think I can be stupid if I want to, but I don't think it's stupid."

~~

"I doubt even Mama can fix this with him," Alec said, making a face. "He's the most stubborn person I know."
 
"And you are content at affecting the rest of us?" Daizi asked.

~~

"Maybe not, but she is going to try. She can be pretty stubborn too," He leaned against the doorway, bouncing Ivy as he spoke. As always, she did know what was going on, and just felt happy to be there.
 
"How are we meant to do anything as a family if you can't stand to be in the same room as your brother?" Daizi asked, resisting the urge to cross her arms, "When we eat dinner in the evening, we can barely have conversations because if he answers, it frustrates you, and if he feels like he can't say anything so you are not frustrated, and the result is a tense, frustrating dinner where the only person who feels like they can say anything without stepping over a trip wire is a ten-month-old who has yet to learn rooms can be read." She allowed herself to be blunt with him, "I am not going to live in a house where there is a constant fear of saying the wrong thing and causing the cord to snap. And the longer you ignore or delay whatever fight or resolution this is coming to, the tighter that cord gets."

~~

"It may not," Dark admitted, "but Daizi is tough."
 
"You can talk about whatever you want. I've never stopped you. And you have said many times that we are capable and allowed to feel how we want to feel and to process however we feel we need to process," Xander accused her. "Now you are telling me that I can't do what I feel I need to? That's not fair. And what are you going to do if I refuse to do what you want?"

~~

Alec nodded awkwardly. "So. I should get my notebook. Anything else?"
 
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