How Green Becomes Wood

"I've got cousins who've had kids. And you don't have to want a baby to know about them." He shrugged, taking Alec's hands and yanking him half to the ground as he stood up, "I probably forgot to set that timer again. I do it all the time."

He walked to the oven and gave a mild cheer, "Nah, look, I remembered. It's only about thirty seconds till they're done." At the beep, he threw on some ovenmits and took out the tray, "Go get your brother, will you? Is he doing okay? He looked pale as a ghost earlier. I know he's got issues with pregnancy, your folks've mentioned that a time or two."
 
Alec stumbled at Cooger's yank but stabilized himself and managed not to land on his face. In truth, he had no idea what he was thinking trying to pull Cooger up. Oh well, at least Cooger was up now and lunch wasn't burned. And he felt better about everything happening.

"He'll be alright as long as we don't have long, involved discussions about it," Alec assured Cooger. "He hates that it affects him so much, but he can't help it. It really, really gets to him." He headed for the door and looked around. "Oh, there he is. I'll be right back." He trotted out to go fetch his brother who had wandered off with Enkidu.
 
"I hope seeing the baby for the first time won't bother him too badly. Tarot'll cry." He didn't mention anything else about how Xander's reactions to pregnancy affected her, since it wasn't really relevant anymore, or soon wouldn't be (unbeknownst to him, elsewhere, Daizi had just had her first truly painful contraction), and he just set about taking out plates. He kept the pizza rolls on the baking sheet, not bothering to plate them like Dark would've done.

He looked around, then, and swore, realizing he should've also made some frozen french fries. Oh well, they could always have 'em as a snack later.
 
"Why do you have a pinecone in your hair?" Alec was asking Xander as they walked into the house.

"Why don't you?" Xander retorted. He reached up and pulled the small pinecone out of his hair before tossing it out the open door. "I'm starving! And thirsty. Got anything to drink, Cooger?" He went to the sink to wash his dirt-covered hands.

"Charming manners, dear brother. Absolutely charming," Alec told him.
 
"I mean I've got coke and water," Cooger said, "and some other stuff you ain't welcome to." He bent down to pet Enkidu, who had followed the twins inside, "ya mutt. You're lucky we rescued you, ya know that?" It was unclear if the dog did or not, "I guess you'll be sleepin' on the couch. You two can get the extra bedroom, unless you'd rather take the couch with the dog."
 
"That sounds crowded," Alec said, eying the couch.

Xander smirked and snagged a pizza roll from the tray before going to get himself something to drink. "We could sleep on the couch, and the dog could sleep in the bedroom."

Alec snorted and rubbed his arm, momentarily unsettled. He hadn't really thought about the fact that they'd be staying here, away from home, all night. He shook off the feeling and got himself some water. "Don't forget to eat the salad you made! And I want a bed if I have the choice, not the couch."

Xander made a face, but moved to help himself to the salad.
 
"If we're all lucky, it'll be over before we ever actually have to decide anything," Cooger commented, popping a few pizza rolls into his mouth, "If the kid is born at, like, 6pm, I doubt they'll make you wait 'till tomorrow to meet her. You're both really only here so you don't gotta be there during the gross part."
 
"That's appreciated," Xander said bluntly. He leaned against the counter and bolted down his salad so he could get to the good stuff.

Alec nibbled on his salad slowly but continuously. "If you didn't have all these cats, what would you do?" he asked curiously. "Would you get dogs? Or ponies? Or go completely petless?"
 
"Honestly?" Cooger asked, "I dunno. Goats maybe. Or maybe I'd get more geese, but Millie's only here t'guard the chickens. But I've always liked cats. People used to make fun of me for it, 'cause people think cats are 'for girls' which is dumb, they're literally just an animal. But no one makes fun of Hank."
 
"An idiot might make fun of Hank," Xander remarked, snagging a handful of pizza rolls.

"Hmm, no, I think only someone with no sense of self-preservation would do that," Alec said thoughtfully.
 
"Yep, Hank'll outlive us all." Cooger agreed pleasantly. "He's a good cat, everyone needs a good dumpster cat in their lives. I'm pretty sure if anyone tried to break in, Hank'd take 'em down."

He looked over at the counter and finally got some of the salad, figuring he probably should. Set a good example, and all. Then the thought of Daizi and Dark passed through his mind again and he paused for a few moments to sort through his feelings about it before saying, "What do y'all want to do after lunch?"
 
"I dunno. We're kind of crashing your party, after all," Xander pointed out. "What do you normally do? Feed and pet cats? Fish? Knit?"

"Knitting used to be exclusively a male hobby and was more or less invented for the knights," Alec piped up. "They thought knitting too complicated for females, but the knights needed some soft padding under that armor, and they couldn't all afford quilted doublets."

Xander stared at him. "Seriously, do you sleep with a trivia book under your pillow and I never noticed?"
 
"I do feed the cats, and the chickens. But I spend a lot of time just watching TV or sitting out on the dock drinking a beer. Or taking care of the land," he gestured, "I also sometimes go cycling. Not too much, but the trails are good for it. Or bird watching. I'm not really all that interesting at the core of it, I'm not artsy like Dark is. I've got a basketball hoop on the side of the cabin Dark and I use sometimes."
 
Xander stared at Cooger like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Three pizza rolls later, he asked, "Wanna shoot some hoops? I've never actually done it with another person before. Except that one time with Alec."

"One throw," Alec said mournfully, "and I missed the basket entirely. And threw out my shoulder."

"He's refused to do pretty much anything that involves throwing since then," Xander concluded.
 
"Sure, I'll play you. It's about time I had some real challenge, Dark is shit at it," Cooger lied. Trying to score a point over someone that much taller than him was nearly impossible, and would be if he was playing someone with absolutely no coordination. Dark knew how to move his body. And Cooger's chances of winning only decreased further after he stopped working out all that regularly, but Dark had continued, "Do you want to feed the chickens while we play a game, Alec? Or do you want to watch? I mean, you can always play, you're more than welcome to."
 
Xander gave Cooger a speculative look, doubting his words, but with no evidence to back up his suspicions, he had to accept Cooger's words. "Right, well, I can make a basket, no problem, but I'm not good with the rest of the playing part, so this oughta be fun." He headed out the door, rubbing his hands together.

"I will happily stay out of the way and feed the chickens," Alec said happily, following Xander. Then he paused. "Or maybe I'll stay here and clean up?"
 
Cooger was about to leave but then paused, looking around them, "Oh yeah." He said, "I guess it should probably be cleaned up. I was just going to do it later, I guess. No wonder Dark likes y'all. Well, clean if you'd like. The chicken feed is in the pantry, you can't miss it." Then he followed after Xander, "Now, I was trained in wrestling, so. Just so you know, basket ball isn't my skill set."
 
"Wrestling? Really? Wouldn't have guessed," Xander admitted. "That's fine, I ain't trained in anything but Judo, and I'm still a noob with that." He shot Cooger a grin. "Maybe I have a chance to beat you, then."

Alec happily tidied up the kitchen, glad for the helpful chore. Once satisfied with the kitchen, he found the chicken feed and headed outside.
 
"Eh, I was in high school. I looked different then. Actually earned a scholarship for college, but then I decided I wasn't going to college. Didn't even really like the sport anyway, I just liked to fight. That's why Dark and I made such a good team."

He got the basketball and tossed it to Xander. The hoop was attached to the back of the cabin and was at somewhat of an awkward height, because it needed to be tall enough for Dark to not be able to just place it in, but not so tall that Cooger, being an average height, wouldn't have even a slight chance of getting it in, "Do you know how irritating it was to be in high school and be shorter than the girl of your friend group? When it was just the two of us it was no big deal but when it became a trio? I'm not even short. But I look short with them."
 
Xander frowned as he studied the height of the basket. "Everyone looks short next to them, but it's gotta be a pain," he agreed. "Hey, can I have a few free-throws so I can get used to the basket? It's a bit different than I'm used to."
 
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