How Green Becomes Wood

"You know, I thought as much!" Sloan replied, "but you should have a fun party like this with your friends! I don't know why adults don't choose to just do the fun things teens say they'll do when they're adults. But, actually..." She shifted, "We had... a little question."
 
"Because then we forget to carve out the time amongst all the responsibilities we have," Sally replied, amused but understanding Sloan's statement. "What is your question?"
 
"Well, Xander and I were talking, and... this is so silly, but... we kind of want to do a little contest. Just the two of us. But we don't want to be disruptive or stress you, so we wanted to get permission." Sloan explained carefully, trying to gauge Sally's reaction as she spoke.
 
Sally arched a perfect brow. "A contest between the two of you, hmm?" she asked. "And what sort of contest are we talking about, exactly?" She wasn't going to immediately deny them, but something about Sloan's careful explanation raised her suspicions.
 
Sally stared, her expression unchanging for a solid ten seconds while Xander looked somewhat aggressively hopeful. "Well, as curious as I would be to see who would win such a competition, I'm afraid there is nothing in this room that I would trust to hold your weight," she finally said. "If there was, I would see no reason why not, but I would rather not have to pay for any damages. There are a few parks with pull up bars, though."
 
Sloan sighed, the response was not unexpected but still a bit disappointing, "See, Alec, we asked, and now we have our answer." She looked at Xander, "But we will be finding a park... Maybe not at this time of night, but we will get to it. Because now the challenge has been made." After a pause, she pointed at him, "But you can't let Mr. Dark train you in the meantime."
 
"Oh, thank goodness," Alec sighed in relief.

Xander grinned at Sloan. "As if I need extra training. You're on! As soon as possible."

"You will have to let me know what happens," Sally said in amusement, "but shouldn't you be heading home by now? It's getting late."

"Yes, we probably should. Has anyone seen Becky?" Alec asked, smiling.

Xander waved a hand toward the couches. "She's over there hanging out with Peter, Tom, and a couple of others."
 
Sloan nudged Alec, "I wasn't gonna break anything, don't worry. You're right, Mrs. Hollis, I'm sure we're heading out. Thank you again for your help!" She turned with her friends and began to walk towards Becky, "You're going to be driving us halfway around the world tonight, huh? Since you need to take Becky and me back home before going home yourself."
 
"You are very welcome," Sally smiled. "Have a good weekend!"

"Are you sure you're alright cleaning up by yourself?" Alec asked.

Sally shooed him away. "Go on with you! Clean up is part of the service provided here. I just need to supervise. You go on home."

Alec smiled and fell in behind Sloan and Xander. "Thank you!"

"Yep, and Stitch if he needs a ride," Xander said, looking for him. "He said he might. Depends on if his grands were willing to come get him. It's alright. Hey, Becky! Ready to go?"

Becky groaned but got up. "No, but yes. This was awesome! See you, Peter."

Peter waved. "You're going? Alright. Night! See you all Monday!"
 
"It would probably be easier if I had a ride," Milo mumbled quietly, standing behind Xander.

"I don't really want to go either," Sloan commiserated with Becky, "but there's nothing for it. See you Monday, Peter, this was great. Thank you!"
 
"There you are," Xander said, turning to see him. "Yeah, you got a ride. Later, Peter. This was great."

Peter grinned and waved. "It was a lot of fun."

"So, was it worth the bit of wardrobe panic?" Becky teased Sloan lightly as they headed for the door.
 
"It was, but I still would've liked a little bit of notice!" Sloan laughed, walking with the crowd to the door and taking just a couple seconds to look back at the room before going to the van, "If we ever do something like this again, I need to be included! Notified! So, Xander, are you excited for your first big trip as the designated driver? There's, what... Five of us?" She did a count: Alec, Xander, herself, Becky, Milo. "I guess Alec probably gets shotgun, huh."
 
"I'd say excited is an overstatement, but, yeah, it's pretty cool," Xander admitted, nodding. "Yeah, Alec gets shotgun since he'll be the last one out."

"Cool," Alec grinned.

"Okay, Becky,Sloan, I'll drop you two off second. Milo, I'll drop you off first since you're the farthest away," Xander told him, calculating in his head.
 
"I can sit all in the back," Milo mumbled softly.

"Don't be silly," Sloan said, moving to the last row of seats, "If you're being dropped off first, you should get the middle, because that way it's easier for you to get out. What's more uncomfortable? Sitting in the middle or having to awkwardly climb over the person in the middle row?" Milo had to agree he couldn't argue with that, so he sat in the middle row, texting his grandparents that he was on his way back, and sat hunched looking out the window, trying to matter as little as possible, whereas Sloan chatted happily with everyone the rest of the trip.

When Milo got out, he mumbled thank you to Xander, goodbyes to everyone, and quickly said, "It was a fun party, goodbye now, be safe." before hurrying back inside. After he was gone, Sloan nearly made a (well-meaning) comment about Milo's behaviours, but decided against it. Although she knew she wouldn't mean anything negative by it, she didn't want to accidentally come across the wrong way.

Once back at Becky's house, she got out, and much more profusely thanked Xander and Alec again, and when they walked up Becky's steps, asked, "Did your parents know about this the whole time?"
 
"Well... yeah," Becky admitted sheepishly as she dug out her house key. "I wanted you to have the thrill, you know? I mean, my mom's not nearly as strict as it seems your mom is, but I've still snuck out a couple of times for some harmless fun. Don't tell her that. But I asked her to please, please, please let me go to this party and let you sneak out with me."

~~

Xander drove safely all the way home and pulled into the driveway without incident. He still heard Alec give a tiny, nearly silent sigh of relief before they both climbed out of the car.
 
"I figured," Sloan said, going back inside with her, "It was pretty fun to sneak out. I mean I've done it before, more than I think even Alec and Xander realize, but... I don't know. It was still stressful to not have time to prepare to sneak out, normally that's something that takes at least a week of planning for me. One day I'll have the freedom to be spontaneous."

~~

When Xander's car pulled into the driveway, Enkidu ran to the door, and at the same time, Daizi swore under her breath and dashed upstairs before the door opened. Dark, however, stayed downstairs and got up from the couch to greet them. His hair was held back with one of Daizi's headbands, he was shirtless, and he was wearing a white face mask, carefully applied to avoid his beard. "Welcome home," he said, "How was the party?"
 
"Until then, you can always come crash at my place as a jumping off spot. Just... don't do it too often." Becky winked at her and led the way up to her room.

~~

Xander stared at Dark while Alec fussed over Enkidu. "Why do you look like you're trying out for a super cheap traveling play of Phantom of the Opera?"
 
"I wouldn't, don't worry," Sloan assured her with a little smile, "I don't think I could get away with it." She stretched and went to rub her face before remembering she had put on makeup, "I'm way more tired than I thought I would be."

~~

"It is good to see you, too, ya hmar," Dark replied flatly, "I helped Daizi with a ritual and then we did face masks, we do face masks together at least once a month."
 
"Me too," Becky yawned. "Let's get cleaned up and hit the sack."

~~

"Donkey, eh? I'm not the one with a white face," Xander smirked. He patted Enkidu and sauntered toward the stairs.

"Does it feel good?" Alec asked politely.
 
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