How Green Becomes Wood

"I dunno. Maybe? But I don't know if it's really... My mom likes to crochet, you know? She's not as hardcore as you'd expect." Milo replied, not mentioning how a skate competition felt like it'd probably be overwhelmed for him, too. It sounded pretty loud, and pretty hectic, and all he could imagine was trying to walk but a dozen Tobys whizzing by.

"When is it?" Sloan asked.
 
Xander nodded in acceptance and sat back up.

"It's this Friday," Toby told her. "It's just a local event, but it's going to be a lot of fun and maybe some spotters out there.

"I think it sounds like fun, but a little loud and wild for me," Alec admitted.
 
"Oh cool," Sloan said with a little nod, "I mean, I'll see if I'm available, but I'd probably only go if some of my friends are going, you know? It's always really awkward to be somewhere like that alone."
 
"I can probably go," Peter volunteered. "My dad might want to come, too, but if you have other takers, he can pay for his own ticket. He's an adult and not a friend after all." He cracked a smile, joking.

"Oh, he can be a friend, too. Don't worry, you can use two tickets," Toby said, taking him seriously. He handed over the two tickets while Peter tried to explain he was joking.

"Thanks for the invite, but I think I'll sit this one out," Xander said.

"Here, Sloan, you can have these two. If you have a friend who wants to come, or these guys change their minds, you can use them." He glanced at Alec, Xander, and Milo. "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"Yeah, sorry. It's not really my scene," Alec apologized.

"Oh, it's cool, I get it," Toby grinned. "It's totally not for everyone."
 
"Cool, thanks," Sloan said, taking the tickets, "If I can't go, I'll give them back to you, okay? I don't want them to go to waste."

Milo shook his head, bouncing his leg anxiously, "Thank you," He mumbled, "I think I have plans, though."
 
"No probs! See you later." Toby turned and looked like he was going to kick off on a skateboard and then remembered. He sighed in resignation and plodded off, looking a little sad before he spotted someone else and brightened up again, waving in greeting.

"Right. So. That was a thing," Xander said slowly.

"I like him," Alec said happily.

"You like practically everyone, Xander," his brother pointed out.

"I extra like him, Alec," smirked Alec.

Peter picked up his phone and checked it.
 
"I think it's pretty easy to remember who is who. Because Xander begins with X which is an edgy letter, it's at the freaky letters at the bottom. And you're the spiky one. It just makes sense." Sloan teased, but she watched Peter check his phone again. The curiosity was killing her, but she didn't want to make him uncomfortable by asking. But he had been acting weird since coming back from break, and although she knew friends were allowed to decide not to share anything, she kind of hated how he was acting different but giving them nothing to go off of. She didn't even know if she needed to be concerned!
 
"Thanks. I think," Xander said uncertainly. He offered Milo a carrot stick almost absently. "What's your next class?"

"Peter, you keep staring at that phone. What's up?" Alec asked directly. "Are you waiting to hear if you won the lottery?"

Peter chuckled and glanced at Alec. "Sorry. I don't mean to. I'm just waiting for some updates on some things, nothing too big, but, you know, we all got our obsessions. Sloan was talking about Summer plans. What about yours?"

Alec brightened. "I'm going to try to find some classes for the Cyr wheel!" He went off talking excitedly about it, waving his hands animatedly.
 
"Biology," Milo mumbled, "What about you?"

Sloan turned towards the two of them, "My gym might have something. I know we've got silks, so they may do other stuff like it. I'm not really sure, though."
 
"Math," Xander grumbled. He made certain the others were distracted in their own conversations before addressing Milo. "I'm... sorry. About everything. Mostly 'cause I suck at saying or doing the right thing, but if you ever want me to do something, you just say, okay? I mean it." He looked down at his last carrot stick and snapped it in half, feeling uncomfortable but wanting Milo to know he wanted to be there for him.

"I should look into that! They might have something," Alec agreed.
 
Milo raised his eyes and looked strangely at Xander, "You haven't done anything wrong. What are you sorry for? Or are you just sorry about the situation?" He rubbed the back of his neck, "I know I'm not brave or anything, and I'm not really good at standing up for myself, but that doesn't mean I like to be pitied."

"If your practices could get scheduled on the same day as mine, I could even drive you," She mentioned. The Cyr wheel was still a strange thing, to her, but since she knew people who did other unique physical activities, it probably weirded her out the least out of everyone in Alec's life. "But it might ruin the illusion for you, you'd see how often I actually fall."
 
"It's not pity," Xander said a little more sharply than he meant. He flushed and cleared his throat. "I mean... it's not pity. It's friendship." He snapped his carrot into quarters. "I think you're brave enough." He tried for eighths, but that was a little more than the carrot would allow, so he started picking it apart. "Anyway. You'd do the same. If you could. If the situation was reversed. That's friends."

Alec grinned at Sloan. "You're still one of the most awesome people I know, no matter how many times you fall."

"True," Peter said tapping a couple of things on his phone. "You're that much cooler for falling and getting back up again."
 
"I know, but... I already don't like being perceived. I wish I could be invisible, or vapor, or something. I don't really like people looking at me. I'm still coming to terms with people knowing me, you know? So I don't really like people looking at me, and when they look at me and feel sorry for me..." He scratched at a spot on the table, "I guess it kinda makes me feel like I'm on display. It doesn't mean I don't appreciate it, it's just... If people have to see me, I'd rather they pretend like I was normal. I don't know if that makes sense."

"Well that's good," Sloan said with a little smile, "because half of gymnastics is falling on your ass. You're going to have to get really familiar with falling, too."
 
"Normal doesn't exist," Xander said bluntly. "And I'm not sorry for you like that. I'm... the word..." He scowled, trying to remember. "Apathetic? No, that has something to do with being lazy. Rhythms with 'pathetic,' but it's not. Means sharing pain or something, I think. Whatever. Anyway, I don't like normal people, so if I saw you as a normal person, I wouldn't like you. As it is, I just don't like seeing you hurtin', and I think that's what people are supposed to feel."

Alec winced. "I know," he sighed. "I'm not good at falling. I watched a video that talked about the benefits of learning how to fall, and I get it, but... falling's scary."
 
"Empathetic," Milo replied. "Apathetic is when you don't really care either way... Just." He looked at Xander again, "Don't walk on eggshells around me, okay? Because this sucks. And it's only gonna suck more if I'm constantly reminded of how shit it all is."

"Well you've got a baby sister," Sloan pointed out, half joking, "She's probably going to start standing and walking soon, right? I don't know when babies learn to do things. But you can learn with her, because, like, when a baby falls, you're supposed to just laugh it off. You gotta be like that."
 
Xander gave Milo a look of genuine confusion. "Is that how I'm coming across?" He muttered a curse and peeled off another carrot slice. "It's not how I mean it. I'm trying not to. Fine." He turned and pointed at Milo. "If you need," he pointed at himself, "I provide. There. Done." He turned back to clean up the mess he'd made. "Now we go to class and pretend it's just another Wednessday."

"I don't think it works like that," Alec giggled as the first bell rang, "but I'll keep it in mind."
 
"I know it's not how you mean to," Milo replied, rolling up the paper bag his lunch had been in so he could throw it away, "And it's not that I don't appreciate it. I just don't really want to have to think about all of it. I'd rather just think about biology."

"Sure it does! Unless babies actually get hurt when they fall, they only cry if you freak out. If you laugh, they laugh. So if you respond to it properly, they're really comfortable falling. You just have to get comfortable falling, too, and not freak yourself out." Sloan said, zipping up her lunchbag and following Alec out, "I think that's something Xander will be great at with your sister, actually. Not making a fuss when she falls over."
 
"Wonder if Peter's folks help him pass biology," Xander mused. He stood and stretched. "Yay. Math. Worst necessity ever." He started walking toward the door.

"Probably, yes," Alec admitted. He checked to make sure Xander was near. "I, on the other hand, will have a much harder time at it."
 
Milo didn't know anything about Peter's parents, so he wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that. Context clues suggested they probably worked in biology in some way, but there were so many fields that did. "Or they expect him to do better than the average parent would," he suggested, figuring it was a safe enough response.

"Again, that's why you have to learn how to fall!" Sloan repeated like it was obvious. "Come over some time, I'll let you have a go on a trampoline and push you over so you get used to it. Or maybe I can bring you to my gym and push you into the foam pit a bunch."
 
"Possible." Xander glanced back at Peter, who was walking while looking at his phone, which was something he never did. "If he ever gets his mind back from phone land, maybe I'll ask him."

"That sounds terrifying." Alec paused. "Let's do it!"

"Here's our stop," Xander said, catching Alec's shoulder as his brother almost walked right past him. "See you later, Stitch. Slo."
 
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