How Green Becomes Wood

"I do not understand why Sloan never enters." Dark commented as he drove them, "skateboarding is tricky to show off, since you need... ramps and rails and other skatepark accoutrements," That particular phrasing revealed that although Dark was very cool... he was never a skater, "but she could do a floor routine without any equipment."
 
"She's practically in charge of the thing, she wouldn't want the extra stress," Xander said.

"Besides, the guys give her enough trouble as it is without wearing a super awesome but super tight leotard to school," Alec pointed out sadly. "They have been bothering her a little less since Becky started the rumor that she and Xander are dating, but not eveyone believes that. Some think she's my beard."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Teenagers are so horny."
 
"Instead Xander is her beard," Dark commented with mild amusement, but then sighed at the concerns about what boys would say if she wore a leotard, "I ask if she could wear leggings and a tank top, but that would not change much. I know Ivy is not even six months old until Saturday, but I worry for how it will be for her, in the future."
 
"Maybe things will have changed for the better, or you'll get her in a school better than this one," Alec said brightly. "Peter says not all schools are as bad as this one in regard to fighting and things like, well, this."
 
"It is this or private school, and, academically, it is a very impressive school..." He drummed on the steering wheel as he pulled into the parking lot, "She is very small. And very pretty. I do not want anything to happen to her."
 
Alec reached forward and patted Dark's shoulder. "She won't be small for long, and she'll have a wonderful life at home. That's far more important than protecting her from everything bad, though that would be nice. As long as she's got a good foundation, knows Baba loves her, and feels safe with her family, she can face anything!"

Xander shrugged and started to get out of the car. "Pretty much, yep. Plus, she's got big brothers."

"That too," Alec agreed, scrambling out of the car.
 
Dark looked at Alec with mild confusion on his face. "She will always be small," he said, getting out of the car and taking his bag from the middle seat, "Even when she is grown. And nobody is grown in high school. But I suppose it is many years down the line, and not worth dwelling on yet."
 
"Parents," Xander sighed when Dark was out of earshot. "But I guess someone has to worry about the future. The real future, not a teen's idea of a future."

Alec smiled but shook his head. "It's not exactly an unreasonable worry, but she still has, what, six years before real school and before that is... kindergarten? And Pre-K, which is just babysitting for working parents masquerading as school. I'm glad we'll never have to worry about that!"

"Agreed," Xander said flatly and headed for the gym.
 
Dark knew he was being silly and premature. His thoughts about what she'd experience in her future rarely overwhelmed him, but the reminder of what Sloan had experienced, in conjunction with his general anxiety and sorrow over the knowledge she never had a chance to remain naive to the terrible things in the world meant those worries popped up. But, he maintained enough awareness of how long away it would be (unless something terrible happened, but he did his best not to dwell on that) to not be overwhelmed by it. It was just her little, sweet face that stuck with him.

In the gym, Milo, unintentionally, snuck up to Xander, "Did you get your car?"
 
Xander jumped with a yelp and swung around. "Milo!" he wheezed. "Don't do that!" He leaned over slightly as the adrenalin blurred everything else for just a second.

"Hi, Milo!" Alec chirped as his brother caught his breath. "You're going to have to teach me how you do that."

"Don't you dare," Xander said with a warning glare at Alec. He straightened and nodded to Milo. "Yep, I got it! I didn't drive it today or I'd show you. I need to clean it up. Runs good, but the interior's trashed."

"I think a family with small children had it last," Alec confided. "When he gave me a ride, I'm pretty sure I sat on an icecream stain."
 
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," Milo said quickly, looking down at his shoes, "I couldn't teach you, I don't know how I do it. Sometimes I walk up to my grandparents, realize they didn't hear me, then back up and walk up to them a second time, but more loudly." He rubbed the back of his neck but then looked up with a little smile again, "It's cool you got a car. I think a messed up interior is good, it means you don't have to worry about being the one to ruin it."
 
"You're like a cat," Alec grinned. "I think it's a cool superpower."

Xander ignored Alec's comment. "Good point. After I get it cleaned up, it'll be perfect."

"You'll never guess what kind of car he got! And it's big enough you can fit a bike in it, or a set of drums or a bookshelf. Possibly all at the same time," Alec told him.

Xander looped an arm around Alec's neck and pulled him into a gentle headlock. "Stop giving him all sorts of hints if you'll never guess!"

Alec protested and tried to pull away, but only halfheartedly, patting at Xander as if smacking him, but his "blows" were barely more than light pats.
 
"Ignore him," Xander stated, still holding Alec in a loose hold he could easily break free of. "Did you get the pictures done yesterday?"

Alec stood with his arms hanging limply, pretending to have given up trying to be free.
 
"Some of them," Milo replied, opening up his bag and handing Xander a small stack of pictures, "There's one really great one of Sloan, but I didn't get the contrast quite right last night, it's still a little... flat, so I want to work at it more. I took too many to work with at one night, and I'm still figuring out which ones I want to process and which ones I just want to scan and fix on my laptop."
 
Xander let go of Alec and took the pictures, carefully flipping through them. He accidentally put his thumb in the corner of the first picture, but upon seeing the print he'd accidentally left behind, he carefully tried to stick to holding the edges. "This one is fantastic," he said, indicating the one with Sloan. "And I like this one, too." He showed Milo one with a gymnast he didn't know.

"Wow, Milo, these are really cool!" Alec grinned. "You have a good eye."
 
"Oh yeah, once I get that one right, that's the one I'm going to make in a larger size." Milo said, only cringing slightly when Xander smudged the photograph, "I'm probably going to put together a thumbdrive with the best pictures of Sloan and her team. Well, probably all of them, and let her... do with them what she wants." He looked at Alec, "Well, I can take burst shots, so... A lot of them were really just luck."
 
Xander handed back all of the photos except the smudged ones. He wasn't used to handling "real" photos, and he guiltily tried to wipe off the smudge with the corner of his shirt. That seemed to help a little, and he handed it back before he could damage it further. "Sorry."

"I didn't know you could do that. You really did well to capture the emotions and energy," Alec praised. "When are you going to process the others? The ones you don't do on your computer."
 
"It's okay," Milo said, putting the photographs away, "I have these scanned to my computer too, as a backup. Scans of the photograph, I mean, not scans of the film. Well I also have scans of the film. But it's okay." He frowned, tapping his bag, thinking about something, but then he looked at Alec again, "I don't know. Soon, I hope, but I should probably also do homework at some point."
 
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