How Green Becomes Wood

"I choose dinner most nights," Dark said, "or Tarot does. It is only fair to let you choose when we go out. But, if you are adamant..." He thought for a little bit, "There is this diner Cooger loves. It looks like it is in a soup can, all of the waitstaff dress like it is the 1950s, and the food is brought to you by little toy trains. We can go there."

He was, of course, intentionally suggesting the most American place he knew, and he did like the food there, but ever since he had that one conversation with Xander, he was making an effort to provide more classic American options. He even put a box of cheese-itz in the pantry and hotpockets in the freezer.
 
Dark shook his head slightly and drove to the diner. A few nights later, his commitment to bringing more American foods to the twins was... tested, when Declan brought them all out to none other but Texas Roadhouse. There was something about it he found vaguely intimidating. Daizi was more excited, or was at first at least. The promise of free bread was thrilling to her very pregnant mind. Upon walking in, she had a few regrets. The sounds of everything immediately threw her off balance, which she of course hated. But Dark held her arm a bit more securely and helped her to their table. And, because the restaurant had raised booths, he made sure to sit next to her, with her on the inside, so he would always be standing to make sure she didn't forget about the ledge and trip. It wasn't ideal, but it worked.

They didn't have a braille menu, so when Declan arrived, Dark was in the process of reading the print menu to her, which had the benefit of giving them both something to focus on instead of stressing about having to, once more, interact with a man they still didn't trust, or even particularly like.
 
"Hey! Great spot," Declan praised when he arrived. He slid into the booth and offered Alec and Xander both fist bumps. "How's it going?"

Alec and Xander sat on the inside of the rounded booth, Alec against Daizi and Xander on Declan's side. Xander cautiously reciprocated the fist bump, and Alec did so enthusiastically.

"Hey, Declan," Xander greeted.

"Hi! It's going well! How about for you?" Alec had been practicing with his eyeliner, so today he wore a thin line of utter perfection.

Declan leaned forward and peered closer. "Do you got something on your eye?"
 
"Hello Declan," Daizi said, turning slightly towards him.

After greeting him, Dark set down the menu and calmly said, "No, he is just wearing eyeliner. It looks really nice today, Alec."

"I hope they do mocktails here," Daizi said, "Dark didn't see any on the menu, so I'll have to ask. If not I'm left with naught but blue lemonade, which I can only presume is not the hue lemonade typically has."
 
"Eyeliner? Really?" Declan said a touch incredulously as Alec smiled. Then he shrugged it off and turned to Daizi. "They can leave out the alcohol in most of the drinks if you ask. Why?"

Xander snagged a piece of bread. "Because she's driving," he said dryly.

Declan chortled. "Good one! So, what's everyone eating? I'm thinking burger. Just a hundred of those to choose from."

"I want to try the mac and cheese," Alec said. "It looks good."
 
"Why not?" Dark asked, "I used to wear eyeliner. I still do sometimes. It highlights the eyes. The bread is at your ten, darling and the butter is in the basket, so be cautious."

"Thank you. And I don't drink anymore. That's all." She smiled, lightly taking a piece of bread and feeling for the handle of the knife to butter it with.

Dark watched her, trying not to glance down at her belly. He really wondered if Declan suspected at all, because he was unsure of how perceptive he was. It was true Daizi had committed to dressing to disguise it, but she still looked rounded, especially when sitting, "We have not decided yet. We were still going through the menu when you sat down."
 
Declan would have forgotten about the eyeliner had Dark not mentioned it again, but he didn't say anything. He just gave Dark a puzzled look and turned his attention back to the menu. "They have some excellent choices as long as you like meat."

"I want the ribs," Xander said, pointing them out. "They look nice."

"Excellent choice," Declan agreed.

Alec looked up at Dark. "Can I get the children's size?" he asked quietly. "The adult size has too much, and mac and cheese does not reheat well."
 
"Of course you can," Dark replied, "you can get anything you would like."

Daizi leaned down to him, and said softly, "Or we can split it; You can have as much as you want, and I'll have the rest. That way if the child size is not enough, you will not go hungry. Whatever you prefer."

She lightly touched the back of his neck and then leaned against Dark, who was still adjusting to her increased appetite, and couldn't help but look at her with mild amusement. She was still good at not way overeating, because since she was so concerned about her pregnancy surviving she was certainly strict with what she did, but it was still a change. Putting his arm around her, he finished reading the menu to her so she could decide what she wanted.

"I really hate when restaurants don't have accessible menus," She complained, "It feels so infantilizing to need to be read to. Dark has a lovely speaking voice--really darling you could narrate audio novels, and you should-- but it's really so frustrating."
 
Alec smiled at Daizi, grateful for her suggestion. Child size was still more than enough for him, but maybe to maintain appearances he should agree to the adult size. He wasn't really that hungry. He wasn't hungry much at all anymore, a rather stark contrast to Xander, who seemed happy to eat everything in sight.

"I bet it is, but I guess restaurants don't have many disabled people on their design team," Declan said. "It's like those bathrooms I hear complained about that should be designed by a pregnant woman carrying a large purse. Noby thinks to do those kinds of things, but it's actually a pretty smart idea."

"What about changing tables in men's rooms?" Xander asked curiously.

Declan shrugged. "I have no comment on that. The last time I interacted with a kid was to tell this little tyke not to run out in the road in the middle of busy traffic, he bawled, and I nearly had the cops called on me for child theft. There's a reason why guys don't step up to the parenting plate much, even when they want to; the chips are stacked against them."
 
Daizi turned her head to the side, looking strangely at Declan, "I think 'guys' step up plenty. I was raised by a single father, with the help of a nanny, admittedly. And Dark has really stepped up with the twins, just last year two of my friends, Taylor and Luke, adopted a son. They're both excellent and dedicated fathers--and if anyone has chips stacked against them, it's Luke and Taylor, right babe?" Dark nodded, and Daizi continued, "It's really, um, societal, you know? It's definitely harder for fathers to have the same role as mothers, which is something especially felt in custody cases, but it's really narrow to say guys 'just don't want to' or that they 'just don't care,' right? It's narrow to say, 'guys don't really step up,' when, like Xander said--you're really so smart habibi, I adore you--" She went on to say how the discourse around fatherhood is flawed when it is operating under the idea that just because the system is difficult, it makes it impossible, and therefore people don't try at all, "It's really defeatist, and it's also neglectful of how for, basically forever, people who do have chips stacked against them find ways to make it work."

She, the disabled, brown, woman smiled at Declan. It wasn't that she was trying to guilt him into anything or shame him, she was just an anthropologist who had research in gender and the patriarchy published, with her as the first author, and he had kind of activated her trap card. Although, she did believe he didn't really understand what it was like to be stacked against. Normally, Dark tried to stop her mini-lectures, but... He took a sip of water.

"Daizi is an anthropologist," He said, "she does research on gender roles. She is absolutely brilliant."
 
Xander played with his fork, turning it round and round in his fingers, his face a mask. Alec listened quietly to Daizi, his head tipped to one side curiously.

Declan had clearly stopped listening part-way through, but he tuned back in when Dark spoke again. "Yep, pretty brilliant," he agreed with a distracted smile. "Oh, look the waitress is here." His smile turned genuine as the woman approached. "Good evening, miss!"

The waitress wasn't young, but she wasn't old, either. She looked tired and more than a little world-weary, but she found a smile somewhere and put it on for the table. "Good evening, folks, how are ya'll doing tonight? Have you decided, or do you need a few minutes?"

Declan looked to Alec and Xander. "Got what you want?" At their nods, he said to the lady, "Three of us do, sweets!"

She smiled, clearly unimpressed, and didn't dignify that with an answer as she turned to Dark and Daizi. "And you?"
 
The moment Declan called her sweets, Daizi whipped her head around to face him, "Don't call her that. It's patronizing," She turned towards her, "I apologize for him. Yes, we know what we want."

Dark wasn't paying attention to Declan, Daizi, he was watching Xander. He wanted to ask if he was okay, but there was no way to privately do it. They were sitting too far away from each other, and the round booth meant he couldn't even lie, say he was going to the bathroom, and then as he left the table whisper to him. That was difficult. He chewed his lip slightly, just hoping he was doing okay.
 
Declan raised his brow at Daizi, his smile gone. He didn't say anything as the waitress took their orders. For the waitress' part, she didn't really seem to notice one way or another. Alec squeaked out his request so quietly that she had to ask him to repeat it three times before she was able to understand what he wanted. Xander spoke his request out boldly, and Declan asked for one of their burgers with a bright smile.

"Thanks, doll, I appreciate it. Oh, can we get extra napkins, please?" Declan asked. "We're really going to need it."

"Sure, that's not a problem," the waitress agreed, and her smile was almost genuine when she left.
 
"What are you doing?" Daizi asked, "You can't talk to people like that. She's working." There was a lot she was prepared to forgive on that day, because she knew it was important she be gentle, but too often had she, in her career and when going through school and just in her day to day life being called words which, in the right context were sweet and lovely to hear, but in these contexts were extremely condescending, especially because she knew he never called a man those things.


Very gently, Dark asked her a question in Arabic--"What did you expect from him?"--and she frowned, because she didn't want the twins to think it was acceptable. And yes she knew she was overreacting a little, but it was the principle of the thing. Dark was simply planning to tip her better than he usually would--and he was already a good tipper.
 
Declan frowned at her. "That's how I talk. It's not like I'm asking a high schooler for her phone number, which happens a disgusting amount from blokes a lot older than me. " He scooted out of the booth and stood. "I'm going out for a cigarette. Back in five."

Declan had taken three steps away when Xander pushed himself ungracefully from the booth and stood. "I'll come with."

Declan gave him a surprised look. "Really?"

Xander nodded. "Yeah. It's stuffy in here. I could use some fresh air."

Declan chuckled. "I don't know how fresh the air will be, but alright. Just stand upwind, right?"

At Xander's nod, he led the way out toward the smoking area at the front of the building but away from the front door.
 
"Oh yes and I am sure it is how you talk to men, too, and there's not at all a discrepancy between what you deem is acceptable between them." She replied, visibly annoyed. She really wished she could introduce him to one of her gay friends to see how he'd react at being called 'sweetie' and 'doll' himself. But she forgot about it when Xander said he wanted to go with him. Dark quickly turned to watch him, and Daizi sort of froze, wondering if maybe she had still gone too far, but that felt ridiculous because all she was doing was telling him not to patronize women, and maybe she was overreacting in presuming Xander was upset but also it was the first time he had spoken in a bit, besides when he had ordered, and it was to follow him outside to get some fresh air, and she knew that coded language.

"Be careful around the smoke," She said, in a much gentler voice than she had been using, "even being near it can get you really sick. I caught pneumonia a few times as a child because people smoked around me."
 
Xander gave a vague wave but didn't slow down as he walked after Declan.

"Xander waved," Alec said quietly. He carefully unrolled his utensils and took the napkin, setting it in his lap. Once it was under the table, he started slowly shredding it into smaller pieces. He didn't like this. Not one bit. He just wanted to go home where it was safe and quiet and nobody fought. Why did it seem like the adults were always throwing daggers when they got together? No, Declan was not great, not at all, but why did Dark and Daizi have to keep commenting about that? At least he was here. It was his idea to sit down to dinner, not do an activity, which meant talking was a must. Surely that was a good thing, right? Right?
 
"Daizi, darling, you need to relax." Dark said, in English, after Declan was out of earshot.

"Well he shouldn't be saying those things. Our server is just trying to do their job, they don't need strange--"

"I know that," He interrupted her, "and you are right, he should not be, but we are not the people he is going to learn to be a better man from. You know he is not going to apologize, and you know he is just going to think you are picking on him specifically."

Daizi turned to him, frustrated, but understood his tone, "Fine. I'll apologize. To him." She sighed, and reached out to Alec, "and to you. It's just really difficult for me when people speak to the waitresses that way. I've broken up with guys over that."
 
"That's okay," Alec said automatically. He was currently not paying attention to Dark or Daizi other than to recognize that Dark was gently speaking to Daizi, and Daizi seemed to be calming down. His twin was gone, this place was loud, the smells were delicious but strong, the music was hectic, the visual stimulating, and his twin was gone! Alec took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he twisted his napkin harder. Why had Xander left? Why was he leaving? Why didn't he come back? Why didn't he say anything? Did he need to speak to Declan? His side felt cold and empty and there was no hand to reach to for comfort.
 
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