How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi lowered her head and grinned in a highly specific way, doing her best to bite her tongue as Dark said, "Good. Let me know how big you want it to be and what sort of style. I want you to like it and feel like it belongs in your room."

"You're so adorable Goose," Daizi broke, "I love you so much."

"What?" He asked, before softly adding, "I love you, too."

"Nothing, it's just the way you want to provide for them, it's very endearing."
 
"And we get a wardrobe out of it," Alec remarked.

"I get a wardrobe out of it," Xander corrected.

"I still get to look at it since it'll be in our room, so it's a we thing."

Xander had no come back for that, so he finished eating and started helping Alec to clean up the table, still grumbling about sequins.
 
"Just let me know what colour you want, because I will need to order wood fairly soon. I need to do so anyway," Dark said, "it does not matter if you want it to not look like wood, I can paint it, but I would need to know."

Daizi couldn't wipe the lovestruck grin from her face as her husband talked about what he'd do for their children, and she grabbed onto his arm, "Just don't wear yourself out, babe. You already don't take good care of yourself."

"It is a wardrobe and a chair," He replied, recognizing his concern but feeling it is unwarranted, "I am not promising to build them an entirely new bedroom from scratch. Only one thing. And Xander looks absurd wearing sequins so, really, I must do something, hm?"
 
"I think I heard cedar is a good wood for clothing storage?" Alec asked uncertainly. "I think they used to make wish chests out of them."

"Hope chests, you mean hope chests," Xander corrected him.

Alec shrugged. "Hope, wish, not a big difference there. Anyway, I don't care what kind of wood it is, really, I think all wood is pretty. Xander? Since it is your wardrobe?"

"I like natural wood looks," Xander said cautiously. "Cedar's fine, or whatever. Pine? Whatever's cheap, but not too cheap, I guess."
 
"You do not need to know the exact kind of wood," Dark said with a reserved smile, "but do you want a lighter colour, a redder colour, or a dark colour? It is a start, at least."
 
"Lighter's good. Maybe reddish, but not deep, dark red, but not like that really light color, either," Xander said after some thought. "The rest I leave up to you. You're the one that's good with wood."
 
"Maybe a cherry, then," Dark said with a slow nod, "and if you do not like it, we can always sand and stain it, but I try to avoid that. But I will do my best with the design to make it something you are glad to have in your room and see each day."
 
"Thank you!" Alec said enthusiastically, gripping Dark's arm briefly. "I get more clothes space! Or will soon, anyway."

Xander pointed at Dark with a spoon. "You've created a monster. I hope you'll take responsibility for it."

Alec stuck his tongue out at him and went to wash the dishes. Xander slipped away, wandering out into the back yard, hands fisted in his pockets.
 
"You say that as if our closet isn't mostly his clothes," Daizi teased, "It was bound to spread."

"That is an unfair statement because I am significantly larger than you so my clothes naturally take up more room," Dark pointed out, making her laugh.

"Ivy will not realize for decades how fortunate she is to not share a closet." Daizi said, getting up to put the leftovers away while Dark fed their dog, thinking about how to design the wardrobe.
 
"True, she'll be the only one here with a room all to herself," Alec mused. He glanced out at Xander and watched him quietly for a while. His instinct was to go to his brother and help him, but something about that felt wrong. Xander needed help, but not from him. After several minutes of thought, Alec caught Dark when he was alone and tugged lightly on his sleeve. "I think he needs to talk to you," he said quietly.
 
Dark looked down at Alec and then over towards where he last remembered Xander being, and then said, "Okay, I will try. Thank you," and then went out to find Xander. When he did spot him, he said, "I meant to ask at dinner, did the person like the camera case?"
 
Xander scuffed the grass lightly until he spotted a patch of weeds in one of Daizi's flowerbeds. They hadn't been as well taken care of as they had been in the past. He sat down on the edge and leaned over to pluck them up carefully. "I dunno," he admitted. "They didn't throw it away when I was watching, so I guess that's good. Didn't throw it back in my face, either. Did say I couldn't buy them back with gifts."
 
Xander winced. He hadn't fully meant for that to slip out. He picked a weed and shook the dirt off its roots. "I don't think the journal thing is working," he said bluntly. "It's just making things worse."
 
"How is it making things worse?" Dark asked, continuing to only look at the weeds, knowing by know Xander spoke more easily when he wasn't being looked at. He didn't say so aloud, but he did find it interesting to learn Xander was still using the journal after the conclusion of the 'punishment' period.
 
"I feel more angry more often, and I can't deal," Xander growled, yanking out a particularly tall weed. The weed got its revenge by showering him with dirt. He glared at it furiously and then let it out with a sigh and tossed the weed aside. "I'm tired of feeling this way."
 
"What about it is making you angry? Is it the task of writing it out? Or what you are writing?" Dark asked mildly, pulling the weeds more gently and from the roots. When one didn't want to be pulled, he rocked up slightly to use more leverage than strength to get it out.
 
"Does it matter?" Xander demanded. The weed broke off in his hand, leaving a stem and the roots. Glaring, he tried again. The stem snapped again. He smacked the ground with a growl. "Stupid weeds."
 
"I would say so," Dark said, calm and unflinching. "It helps if you grab the weed at the base, and if it is not lifting, raise yourself over it, rather than pulling harder." He demonstrated, getting the roots of the weed out of the soil. After briefly shaking loose dirt off of them, he lay it neatly in the pile he had built up, "If what you are writing is what is upsetting you, it may not be the journal is making you angrier, but instead the journal is making you aware of your anger."
 
Xander didn't say anything for a bit as he pulled up a few more weeds, using Dark's method. "Maybe, but then how come I feel worse? And act worse?" he finally asked. "I don't like hurting people, but I sure as hell am good at it."
 
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