How Green Becomes Wood

"It is a big decision," Dark agreed readily, maintaining eye contact, "and it will not change our feelings towards you if you do not want it. We will not hold it against you. There is a lot to it, so you both can take your time. You know how we feel."
 
Alec smiled shyly and squeezed Dark's arm gently before stepping back. "I still can't believe we've been here a whole year! It feels like, I don't know, maybe nine months at the most."

"Time flies when you are having fun and when you are going through drama," Xander drawled.
 
He smiled his small smile at them, and then sighed and pushed his hair back, "I think Daizi will tell you with complete certainty it's felt like longer than nine months. But I agree, time has gone by rapidly. And time only speeds up the older you become... I practically blinked and here we are. But it has been a good year, though. Despite the drama. I hope you do not mind me saying so."
 
"Not at all," Alec assured him. He glanced toward Xander again.

"I'm going to make something," Xander announced suddenly. He looked at Dark. "Cookies or cupcakes? I don't feel like doing a cake."

Alec brightened. "That sounds like fun! Can I help?"

"Alright," Xander said cautiously. "I suppose so."
 
Dark looked up at Xander, feeling mild whiplash from the sudden change in conversation, but he adjusted swiftly, "I would prefer cookies. I have never really been a huge fan of frosting, Daizi and I both turn cupcakes into little sandwiches, but it is still too easy to get frosting in my beard." He didn't want to reiterate it, because he had made this comment many times before, but he wondered what Xander from a year ago would say if he could see Xander from today offering to bake for his teacher, who wasn't really his teacher anymore. At least, not in that way. And watching the two of them... A smile pulled at his mouth and he quickly blinked sudden tears away. They had both grown so much, it was hard to believe they were the same two boys... although, at the same time, of course they were. They were different in that they were so much more, so much more confident, and secure. And he had helped them get there.
 
"Cool, cookies it is," Xander nodded in agreement, moving toward the pantry. "Might as well get started now."

Alec grinned up at Dark. "He's saying he's happy we're here and wants to celebrate," he confided. "Not that he'd ever actually say-say it, of course, but he feels it."
 
"I understand that completely," Dark replied, "It took me a long time before I could express how I felt in words. When Daizi and I were young, I used to sneak food into her bag instead of saying how I felt... I did not tell her I loved her until after we had already run away with each other."
 
"You two had such a strange love affair," Alec commented.

"You're one to talk with your vast stores of experience," Xander pointed out. "I thought you were going to help."

Alec hurried over and washed his hands so he could help his brother make cookies for the family.
 
"Of course. All good love stories are strange," Dark said, standing up with intention to help them despite suspecting his help would not be accepted in just this instance, "but the snacks were just because I grew up food insecure, so for me, making sure she had enough to eat was very much like expressing my love."
 
"And a lot more useful than buying a bouquet of dying flowers that aren't even seasonal or local," Xander quipped. He scowled at Dark warningly as the other moved to help.

"But flowers are so pretty and smell nice," Alec sighed, carrying over the flour and setting it down with care. "Where are the chocolate chips? I looked but didn't see them."

Xander set two mixing bowls on the counter. "Two items over from the flour. Here, I'll get it." He moved passed Dark to retrieve the chips.
 
At the scowl, Dark raised up his hands in surrender and sat back down, "There is nothing wrong with flowers. But I had so little money at the time, it seemed better to buy food and pick her flowers. Dandelions were so abundant... They are her favourite, anyway. We have a whole garden, she planted it, and her favourites are still the ones that grow regardless of what you have to say about it."
 
Alec smiled at that and snuck a couple of chocolate chips. "Natural nature is the best."

"Stop eating the chocolate or we'll have none for the cookies," Xander scolded. He handed Alec the smaller mixing bowl already filled with dry ingredients. "Here. Stir this with a whisk or something. Carefully. We don't need flour everywhere."

"Right." Alec sat across from Dark and used his whisk to stir things together carefully at first, but then he started trying to make designs in the flour.
 
"That looks lovely," Dark said, leaning over to look into the bowl, "But if they are mixed to be homogeneous, the cookies will come out strange, and not the good kind of strange."

While they baked, Daizi breezed back into the kitchen, bringing Ivy with her, "She's been fed, she's dry, and she's awake. We should do tummy time before she gets cranky or tired."
 
"Really? I thought tummy time was supposed to be when she could hold her head up by herself," Alec said, pausing in his mixing to frown. "Or... no, tummy time is supposed to help her strengthen her neck, right? Or wrong? I read about it, but there was so much information."

Xander stepped over and deftly swept the bowl away from Alec. "Why don't you go help and find out?" he suggested mildly, checking the mixture.

Alec brightened. "Can I?"
 
"It's to help her strengthen all her muscles. For a long time she really hated it, but now that she's a little stronger, she's able to handle it better." Daizi replied cheerfully, "You're welcome to come, it's not secretive."

"It is fun," Dark said, standing. Often, for him, tummy time with Ivy consisted of him laying flat on his back with Ivy on his chest. She liked it better than lying on a mat, although she was more accepting of the mat, these days.
 
"I'll come wqtch!" Alec said, eagerly following them.

Xander paused and looked around. "And I'll stay here and make cookies," he said to the suddenly empty kitchen. He didn't mind, but it was startling to have the place suddenly emptied.
 
Daizi went upstairs to the nursery and very gently lay Ivy down on the playmat before lying down across from her in a similar position before gesturing for Alec to join her.

Of course Ivy initially fussed, since it wasn't particularly comfortable, but since now she was able to, very briefly, lift her head, it wasn't as bad as it used to be, and when Daizi jingled a toy while sweetly calling for her, it was enough of a distraction from the incoming flood.

Normally, Dark lay down with them, but there was only so much space, so he leaned up against the wall and looked on.
 
Alec lay down with Daizi and grinned at Ivy. "Look! We're all doing tummy time!" He frowned and craned his neck. "That is a work out for the neck muscles, isn't it? And the core. And the arms and legs. No wonder tummy time is recommended."
 
"No wonder she fusses," Dark added, carefully watching Ivy's face. She couldn't reach and grab yet, and she couldn't track the movement of the toy with her eyes, but occasionally she did briefly lift her head and move it, which was more than she could do before, and when it was in front of her she looked at it.

"I'm just glad I can lay like this again," Daizi remarked, and then beamed at her baby, "It's not as hard as it used to be, right baby? You're doing so good!"
 
"In no time at all, she'll be rolling like a... a rolling pin!" Alec grinned. He pretended to roll over, but there wasn't enough room to do that easily, so he stuck with flopping back and forth like a fish on dry land.
 
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