How Green Becomes Wood

"If you don't want to see him tomorrow, you don't have to. You don't need to be doing something. Your time is your own and you don't owe it to anyone," Daizi said gently, turning towards them, "and if it's in the afternoon, then I could probably work a half day and then meet you there."

"Spider, you cannot keep missing work."

She waved her hand, "It's only once more. After that, I'm sure we can make it only on weekends, and then it won't be an issue."
 
"No, it's okay," Alec hurried to assure her. "You should go to work. They need you. No one else can do what you do. We'll be alright. The professor won't let anything happen."

Xander nodded in agreement. "We'll be fine. It's just an hour or two, and then we'll be back home again. You should go to work and let things be normal."
 
Daizi hesitated, uncertain, but Dark reached out to her and said, "We will be okay. You have already taken so many days off, and the rest of your life is important too."

"If you're sure..." She said slowly, and Dark assured her that he was, "Okay... but if anything happens, you have to call me. I don't want to find out when I get home. Regardless of what happens call me as soon as you get into the car."

"We will, I promise."
 
Alec came over and gave her a gentle, brief hug. "We'll tell you all about it! And maybe get you a treat while we're out. It'll be fine."

Xander wasn't sure he wanted to go that far, but if Daizi needed that kind of reassurance, he was willing to give it if asked.
 
"Okay. Alright." She hugged him back, "You don't need to bring me anything, but the three of you should get yourselves a treat, okay? Okay... I'm going to feed the dog. Thank you so much for dinner, Xander." She sighed and then stood, calling for Enkidu as she fetched his bowl.

Privately, Dark thought he was going to miss having her there more than the twins would, but he firmly believed it was better for her to have some time away from the epicenter of stress, and it was good for her to focus on what she loved.
 
"We should learn how to take proper care of all the pet, even the spider," Alec told Xander.

Xander frowned. "Why?"

"Well, when the time comes, Daizi and the professor are going to have other, much bigger problems than looking after the pets," Alec reminded him. "Enkidu is easy."

"Aren't the rats just... chuck some food at them and maybe treats sometimes? And spiders look after themselves?" Xander asked uncertainly.

Alec shrugged, and the pair turned to stare expectantly at Dark.
 
"I appreciate your willingness to help with our animals," Dark said. He wasn't really surprised, because generally speaking the twins were fairly helpful kids, but he never expected them to take on new responsibilities, "Neith is easy. We feed her twice a week, and she does eat live insects, but you just pick them up with the bug tongs and drop them in her terrarium and keep an eye on her temperature, for the most part. And the rats you feed and it is good to play with them, and cuddle them. They are very affectionate ladies. And with both Neith and the rats, you need to clean out their habitats."
 
"Play with the rats?" Xander repeated though he knew Daizi, at least, did play with them. He'd just never seen it personally or really thought about it.

"Clean Neith's cage?" Alec said a little uncertainly. He still didn't like the spider much at all, and he wasn't sure how to handle cleaning her cage.

"How about some demonstrations tomorrow?" Xander suggested. "But I am not holding the spider. I'll even hold the rats as long as they don't bite, but no spiders."
 
"I will walk you through it tomorrow," Dark agreed, and the rest of the night went smoothly. As he lay in bed beside Daizi that night, he at last told her everything he had felt and struggled with that day. Ultimately, they didn't fall asleep until way too late, only because they were talking for so long. Come morning, they both felt better even though neither Dark nor Daizi could remember exactly when they fell asleep.

The next day, Dark called Declan to let him know the twins wanted to see him again, and they made a plan about when. Begrudgingly, he apologized for the way he and Daizi had been acting, although he still emphasized it was entirely out of concern for Alec and Xander, and although he didn't say so, it was entirely for their sake, not Declan's, that he apologized.

Then, Monday came, and Dark drove Daizi to the train station. Saying goodbye was difficult, but it was for the best, and a few hours later, he was driving the twins to an arcade.
 
Alec leaned forward, peering between the front two seats as he watched where Dark was going. "I've never been to an arcade before," he said. "I've been outside that one, but never in it."

"Nope," Xander said, slouching in his chair. "Don't know what you do there."

"Play games, don't you?" Alec asked.

Xander frowned. "Well, yeah, but other than that."
 
"That is about it. You get tokens to redeem for cheap prizes. Years ago, before even my time, if you can believe that, they were extremely important because they were the only place you could really go to play video games, but now everyone has a gaming console or a computer, so it is less important," He glanced at them through the rearview mirror, "I am an expert at skee-ball, though. I am very good at those sorts of games. I can win most Carnival games, and those are rigged."
 
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"What's skee-ball?" Alec asked.

"I think it's the one where you through the ball up and try to get it into one of the circles at the top of a ramp," Xander said.

"Oh, then I'll be terrible at that." He leaned forward even more, straining his seatbelt. "Look! He's here already."

Declan stood leaned up against his motorcycle in the parking lot smoking, but he put out the cigarette when he spotted Dark's car.
 
"You do not throw it, you roll it." Dark replied, and tried not to sigh when he Alec pointed out Declan waiting for them. He pulled in beside the motorcycle, parked the car, and after taking a second to breathe, turned it off and exited it.

"Good afternoon, Declan," he fought the urge to say 'Mr. Walsh,' because he wanted to be petty and call him what he knew Declan didn't like, but he knew that considering what he expected everyone in his life to call him, he could not set the precedent of ignoring those preferences. Names are important, unfortunately.
 
"Hey, Darkness, how's it going?" Declan grinned, walking up and offering a fast handshake. "You gotta tell me where you get your ink sometime." He turned to the twins. "Hey, boys. Ready for some arcade games? Let's go see if we can get a most tickets possible!"

"We've never played in an arcade before," Alec said, staying close to Xander while they walked to the nondescript storefront with only a bold logo announcing what it was.

"Yeah? Well, it's a good day to start!" Declan grinned. "I thought it might be a better way to spend some time together than awkwardly staring at each other across a table and trying not to fart."

Alec smiled uncertainly while Xander snorted. Declan opened the doors for them and led the way into the bright, flashy building. It was a far bit different than the plain white exterior with black carpets that ran up the walls with multicolored splotches that seemed to glow under the touch of blacklight. Games bleeped, growled, and warbled out various catch phrases, but there were only a few people at this time of day. Declan paid for a mound of tokens which he distributed between all four of them, even Dark, then asked the twins to pick. Xander went straight to a racing game while Alec looked around uncertainly.
 
"It is... just 'Dark', and... it is all over, so, there is not one specific parlor, some of the artists have died in the intervening years." Dark replied, shaking Declan's hand, really wishing his wife was there. Or even Cooger, this whole thing with Declan was really reminding him how much he missed his friend, but it was absolutely stupid to have invited him here, considering the purpose of the meeting. Then he followed them all inside. He didn't expect to be handed tokens, and mostly just planned to play a few rounds of skeeball, as a show of good faith, and then distribute the rest of the tokens between Alec and Xander.

Seeing Alec stand and look around, Dark lightly put his hand on his shoulder and said, "You can go play that game with your brother, it looks like it has two players, and you can always just take time to look around at what they have before playing anything. Or, we can go and look in the prize room and see if there is something you like, so we know what to aim for?"
 
"Um, I think I'll play with Xander, but then maybe it would be fun to look at the prizes, yes," Alec said with a careful nod. The lights, colors, and activity of the place were intimidating. He thought he could get to like them, but it was a lot after his normally peaceful life of school and home. He followed Xander to the racing game, and the pair got into the seats.

Declan stood back, watching curiously. "Looks like Xander's the leader and Alec is the follower, eh?" he commented to Dark, almost seeming to be making casual conversation. "Damn, look at that kid go! He's a feisty one!" He grinned, watching Xander focus intently on the game. "I bet he has all the chicks at school drooling over him and the daddy's worried."
 
"Okay, have fun." Dark gave him a gentle squeeze and then let go, watching him run off to join his brother. Then he ran his hand down his beard, and crossing his arms--mostly because it was a comfortable position for him, he told Declan, "I would not say that. Alec is just more cautious, there are plenty of times where he takes charge. And... I am not really comfortable commenting on what the girls at their school think, or seem to think, about either of them, because I am also their teacher, or if not directly I teach at their school, so it feels inappropriate."
 
"I knew you were a teacher. I forgot you taught at their school," Declan said, frowning q little. Then he shrugged. "Okay, so I gotta ask you something, and I'd like if you tried to not get all knotted up about it. I ain't got a clue how this works, and I figure it's better to just ask than to try to dance around the bush." He took a breath and seemed to steel himself, watching Dark out of the corner of his eye as he asked, "Are they... are they both, you know, into girls? I'm just tryin' to figure them out."
 
Dark looked at him, squinting slightly, but eventually said, "I do not know, to be honest with you. It is not something I guess about, because it feels like it necessitates too much of a reliance on stereotypes, and there are many people who are not heterosexual who may not... present as such," he briefly looked away from Declan, "but neither have shown much of an interest in dating so far. Xander has expressed a desire to remain a permanent bachelor, and it could be because he is not interested in girls, or because he is not interested in any gender, or it could be entirely related to what he has known relationships to be so far. His second day in my home he told my wife he believes all relationships eventually turn toxic. I think they both mostly want to feel secure in their own lives for the moment, they have had so much upheaval within the past twelve months." He did not mention the time Alec argued with Daizi over if she was beautiful or not, because he was absolutely not going to expose the kid like that.
 
Declan snorted softly in amusement, a flash of relief crossing his face. "Cheeky little devil. Thanks for telling me. It's not that I mind, but it's not something I can really connect with, either. I'd rather just skip that altogether no matterwho they'reinterested in. It's hard enough just to figure out if they'd both like pizza and games at this point."
 
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