How Green Becomes Wood

"That I want you to have a work life balance?" He replied, "you are sixteen, nearly, you should do more than chores and school. As long as your homework is finished, watch a movie or something."
 
Xander considered this as he finally located the chicken and pulled it out. "Alright, I get what you're saying, but I actually like cooking. And I'm hungry, so I get to snack along the way."
 
"Welcome." Xander waved a piece of raw chicken at Dark. "Don't you have a mini to suffocate with love and affection after having been away from her for a whole ten hours? Not to mention your wife might like a little attention? Go away and take some of your own advice about relaxing."
 
Backing up in accordance with Xander's command, Dark backed up, "I cannot smother her too much, she has to wind down for the night." When Xander mentioned Daizi, a distinctively guilty look passed over Dark's face, "I have just been waiting for Ivy to sleep, so I can be fully devoted to Daizi."
 
"Okay, thank you." Dark said, turning and walked away, planning to sit and rock Ivy in a dimly lit room to prepare her for sleep as much as possible. But on the way he stopped by the laundry room to ask if Daizi would like to join him.

She paused, hesitating because she wanted to go to with him, but didn't want to leave Alec alone with the work, "Alec and I were doing laundry..."
 
"Are you sure?" She asked, waited a moment, and then walked upstairs with Dark, visibly thrilled her husband came to get her. The two of them were able to squeeze into the rocking chair together, and it wasn't until she had her head on his shoulder that Daizi realized just how stressed she had been all day. Neither of them even spoke much, choosing instead to enjoy their reunification.
 
By dinner time, Daizi had fallen asleep on Dark's shoulder, exhausted after a day of being solely in charge of their newborn for the first time and he gently nudged her awake to eat.

The next day was more of the same, although both during Dark's lunchtime phonecall and when he came home at the end of the day he made a pointed effort to focus on Daizi just as much as Ivy, refusing to be the man who neglected his wife.

But never once during the whole first week did he feel glad to be back at work. He knew it was good to be out of the house, and if he only worked for perhaps a class period a day, he would have no issues with the arrangement. But a full day only made him feel like the life was being slowly drained out of him.

Milo wasn't spotted at all on Tuesday, and on Wednesday he briefly hurried past Alec and Sloan on another plan to hide somewhere. But on Wednesday, he was back in the hall, getting the shit kicked out of him, but all he was trying to do was pull away.
 
Alec glanced at Xander and raised his brows.

"Why me?" Xander grumbled. "I'm not the hall nanny. It's stupid. I'm going to get expelled at this rate."

Alec didn't say anything, just held out his hand.

Xander huffed and handed him his backpack. "Fine." He walked up to the boys and growled, "You know, if you put half this much passion into this as you do football, maybe the coach would let you stop warming the bench."
 
"It doesn't matter what we do, we're not playing this Friday because of this fucker!" The one player, Trenton, yelled, hurling his fist into Milo's stomach, who coughed and tried to turn away. "He told Madame we cheated on the French exam!"

"I warned you," Milo groaned, "if you bothered me again, I'd tell. Should've just left me alone!"
 
"You had to cheat in a French exam? Lamewads," Xander snorted. He glanced at Milo. "Normally, I'd say snitches get stitches, but..." Moving suddenly, he shoulder-charged Trenton, slamming him into the wall. "So do bullies who don't listen," he snarled, eyes flashing like a feral animal.
 
As soon as Trenton was pulled back, Milo scrambled to grab his ripped backpack and dashed out, just as one of the other bullies went to swing at Xander. This time, for once, Milo interfered, but his way of interfering was to grab Xander by the forearm and say, "Nevermind, just run." because as far as he could tell, there was no way out of this now that wasn't either running or getting beaten into goo and fractured bones.
 
Xander took just a second to give Milo a look that burned. "I don't run." He swung around with Milo still attached to his arm and lashed out with a foot, landing a blow in the stomach. of the one that had tried to hit him. It could have landed a lot harder. It could have even caused a lot of damage to someone not prepared, but Xander, even in his fury, remembered himself and his training enough to pull his kick. It would hit no harder than a solid punch instead of feeling like a mule's kick. "Win or lose, I don't run."

Alec watched quietly, chewing on his knuckle nervously, eyes darting from Xander to Milo. He made no move to interfere, knowing he couldn't help, but he was impressed that Milo tried to help.
 
Milo scampered, not having the strength or readiness to have prevented himself from being pulled, "I'm sorry, is this a fantasy novel?" He half ducked and did his best to block a blow, but like he said he wasn't much of a fighter, "Or a high-school brawl over a French test? Ne sois pas stupide!" He did his best to block another blow, but now he and Xander both were being wailed on, and the football players weren't pulling any hits.

Milo stumbled, doing his absolute best but not throwing any punches of his own, and then tugged on Xander again, "Me personally, I like having teeth."
 
"Stop distracting me!" Xander snapped, annoyed. This area was just too cramped! And he wasn't used to having someone near him, like Milo, constantly trying to grab him or talk to him. Alec just found the smallest corner to hide, he didn't try to join the fight.

Seeing his opening, Xanderpushed forward, moving more into the hall and away from the wall. He got right up next to Trenton, hooked one arm up on his shoulder, grabbing his shirt next to his neck. The other hand grabbed Trenton's opposite arm right above the elbow. He shifted his weight sideways, pulling the heavier boy off balance as his leg inside leg swept out, and hooked around Trenton's leg. He threw his weight into the motion, using his leverage and Trenton's larger size against him to swing him down and slam him into the floor. Stepping back without turning, he pressed his back into the second footballer's front, whipping his right arm up and catching him in what seemed like a backward and really awkward headlock. His left arm grabbed the footballer's right arm, raising it up. Then, leaning forward, he pivoted, twisting his hips to bring the bigger boy up and over his side in a curling, slamming him down on top of Trenton. He let go just in time to keep from rolling over on top of them both like how he would have done had this been done on the mat.

He could have taken the opportunity to kick them while they were done as they were fond of doing to others. Instead, he backed up, catching his breath and watching the two boys warily. Were they done now?
 
Both boys lay breathless on the ground, completely shocked to have been beaten so badly by one kid all on his own, especially one smaller than them, and they were just trying to catch their breath.

Milo stood wide eyed near them, staring directly at Xander. He himself was looking pretty beat up, but with the adrenaline he hadn't yet realized he was bleeding a little. It wasn't until he spotted a teacher--not Mr. Dark--rushing towards them that the spell was broken and he said, "We should've ran."

"Hey!" It was the P.E. teacher, and not the chill one, "What the hell is going on down here?!"
 
Xander, who had managed to escape with only a couple of bruises, instantly pointed to Milo. In situations like this, distraction was usually the best course of action. "Teacher, this guy's bleeding all over the place! These guys weren't paying attention to what they were doing, and they could have crushed him. Can I take him to see the nurse?"
 
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