How Green Becomes Wood

"You will find it difficult to find a job where you do not have either a boss or customers," Dark returned as he drove home, "So you have to figure out which you are most willing to cope with. I do not like people, but I had to make sacrifices. Now I still do not like people, but have been happy enough."
 
"I did find a job I like where I don't have a boss," Xander pointed out.

"You still have customers," Alec pointed out.

"That I don't have to deal with face to face. They can tank my reviews if they want, but I have photo evidence."

"Sounds like you are going to lead a very lonely, isolated life," Alec said soberly.

Xander snorted. "Nah. That's why I have you, the parents, and the mini."
 
Dark exhaled through his nose, "And friends, now. As long as you keep them, you will have a solid community to your name. You both have more friends than I did at your age. It was myself, Daizi, and Cooger. Well, and Beatrice and Howie but I am glad to be rid of those two."
 
"Who were-" Alec started to ask, but Xander cut him off.

"Friends are cool, and Sloan would be easy to keep seeing as she's literally across the street," Xander pointed out, "but family is good enough."
 
Dark was unable to keep from smiling at the road because of Xander's comments. It was wrong to claim he was newly impassioned, because obviously family had always been a core value of the teens. Xander may not have noticed it in himself, but his loyalty to Alec made it very clear, very quickly. But Dark smiled now to be included in it. And that Ivy, who Xander had known for less than a year, was included. "Sometimes friends become like family."
 
"Like you and Cooger," Alec smiled.

Xander grunted, not fully convinced, but not as against the idea as he might have once been. "So, while I'm at culinary school, where are you going to be? Theater school? Dance? Art?"

"I haven't decided yet," Alec said, pondering the question seriously. "I know I don't want to go into acting like for movies, but stage acting might be fun. I don't want to have art as my main career, I know that, too."
 
"I feel like acting as a career is something you have to be fully certain of before you go into it," Dark cautioned, especially considering Alec had, to his knowledge, never been in a play. "And acting as a career is just as unstable as art. Or more so, because you do not get to decide when you work. And you would need to move so far away... But your mother and I will always support you."
 
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"Hmm," Alec frowned. "I hadn't thought of how I might need to move away."

"Or the fact that you haven't even really done acting yet?" Xander pointed out.

"Or that," Alec admitted.
 
"It is okay to not know what you want," Dark told them both, "I did not know what I wanted when I was your age. Neither did Daizi. It is a massive decision, there is no need to rush into it."
 
"Syas the person who does not have to go talk to the school's career councilor in a couple of months," Alec sighed, letting his head thump against the back of the seat.

Xander snorted. "I told you. Just pick something you like and tell them about that. It doesn't have to be permanent, right? People change their minds even after being at a job a couple of decades. Right?" He glanced toward Dark.
 
Dark squinted at Alec through the rearview mirror, "When I was sixteen I did. Just because I do not have to speak to one now does not mean I never needed to. And I was a URM, so my career councilor meeting had unique stakes." He pulled into their driveway, "Xander is right. The career councilor is not God, this is not a dystopia where you tell them what you want to do for a career, they press a button, and then you are forever sworn into whatever you told them, never allowed to stray. Switching majors, careers, dropping out of college, reenrolling in college, all of that is normal and expected, because your desires change as you get older and you learn more about yourself."

He looked back at Xander for a second and then looked away. It was normal to change your mind even after being at a job for a decade. There was no way Xander knew what he had been questioning. He had been working as hard as possible to deny his uncertainty to himself.
 
"I guess," Alec sighed. "It's just... I kind of do wish I knew what I wanted to do at least to get started. There are so many options!"

Xander opened th car door and got out. "Then write down a bunch of options and stick them in a hat and draw one out. If you kow you can change your mind later, how's it going to hurt to start with something random?"

"I suppose so," Alec agreed, following him. "It jus hate never having my mind made up about anything!"
 
"You are allowed to tell the counselor you do not know," Dark told him, getting out of the car, "They have career aptitude tests you can take. They are imperfect but it is a start. It would help to narrow your focus, certainly. There is never harm in being honest and saying you do not know. That information lets those who are trying to help you what help you need."
 
"I guess so, but the last career aptitude test I heard about someone taking said they should go into engineering when they really wanted to go into the medical field but weren't sure which branch," Alec grumbled.

Xander grabbed his shoulder in a brotherly shake. "You're worrying too much about this! We'll figure it out. Maybe we'll open a bakery or something and you can help me decorate the cupcakes."

Alec smiled at him, relaxing a little. "You're right. That could work."
 
"Okay," Dark ran a hand through his hair, "But that confusion is not one an aptitude test would help with, that is an answer you find going through your studies. There is no algorithm for determining if you would find ophthalmology more fulfilling than podiatry, but it can be helpful to see a list of specific careers at least vaguely aligned with your interests, rather than the vague ether of 'something creative I guess.'"
 
Alec groaned and opened the door. "We're home!" he called, trying to get his voice to carry without yelling loud enough to wake anyone sleeping. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, a knot in his chest loosening. Home safe! Home was still here and nothing happened to it. He touched the salt and took off his shoes before stepping farther into the house.

Xander took off his shoes first and then touched the salt. He stretched with a groaned and looked for Enkidu to give the dog some good scratches.
 
"Hi, Habibi!" Daizi said cheerfully, lying on the living room floor with Ivy, who was happily playing on her tummy time mat, "We're just here in the living room. Welcome home! How was the sleepover?"

Enkidu bounded up to both boys, wagging his tail and rubbing against their legs.
 
Alec gave Enkidu a quick ear-rubbing before hurrying into the living room, dragging his backpack after him. "It was good! I think it was successful."

"Not much by way of sleeping," Xander grumbled as he gave Enkidu extra attention. "I'm thinking the mini has the right idea with nap time."
 
When Alec came inside, and Ivy saw him, she grinned as huge a grin as she could and squealed in delight.

"I'm glad! What did you do? Besides not sleep," Daizi asked, pushing herself up into a sitting position.

Dark hung up his jacket, "I have always appreciated the value of a nap, I just unfortunately inhabit a body which cannot take them."
 
Alec abandoned his backpack next to a chair where Daizi was not likely to trip over it and flopped down on the floor to join Daizi and Ivy. "Hi, Ivy! Did you miss me? We did a lot of stuff. Peter has like every video game in existence and a lot of physical games, too. There were some games I'd never even heard of! They're from all over the world!"

Xander ambled into the living room and snagged Alec's backpack. He took them both up to their room before wandering back downstairs to be social for just a bit longer.
 
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