How Green Becomes Wood

Dark pulled a strand of his hair down to look at it, and it snapped back in a pleasing boing! motion as he let go. Then he needed to correct Alec, "She may love how it looks, when she figures out her routine. I think she will begrudge the amount of work it takes to maintain. I am fortunate my hair is mostly wavy, until certain situations arise to make it curl more, but it is much more work to keep looking nice than straight hair."

"We are all dressed, the diaper bag is packed, and Ivy's stroller is all set up," Daizi said, "We can go as soon as you're ready. Dark found a place last night."
 
Xander got his drink and announced, "I'm ready."

"Me too!" Alec grinned. "Just need shoes."

"Same. Are we walking or driving?" Xander asked.

"Oh, if we're walking, we'll need sunscreen," Alec realized.
 
"I thought we would walk," Dark said, handing sunscreen over to them, "It is a walkable area, there seems little point in driving anywhere. We have all already put on sunscreen."

"I brought a parasol, too," Daizi mentioned, putting Ivy into her stroller and buckling her in securely, "Goose, will you get her a hat? I know she has the little sun shield, but she should probably also be in her hat. You know, as miserable as it was for me last year, I'm glad she was born so late in the year so she could be at such a fun age in the summer."
 
"How come you guys are already all set and ready to go?" Alec half complained as he hurriedly slathered on the sunscreen.

"Because they had an earlier alarm clock," Xander replied dryly as he did the same.

It didn't take them long to get covered, especially when they both helped each other, and they led the parade outside. Then the realized they had no idea where they were going and let Dark take the lead. Xander walked behind Dark, watching the bouncing, glistening hair in intense fascination, careful to look away before being caught.
 
"Ivy has not learned vacations are meant to be restful," Daizi told them solemnly. Waking up early wasn't too difficult to her, but she and Ivy had different definitions of early. With the diaper bag stowed underneath the stroller, she walked along the beachfront with a black parasol open on one shoulder and her cane in the other, although with so many people around she didn't need to use it as much. They were quite a sight, but when Dark glanced back at them, nearly catching Xander staring at his head, he thought it nearly made sense.

Already, the morning was bright and warm, scant white clouds being the real differentiations between sea and sky, and gulls scattered around. Amused, Daizi couldn't help but hum By the Sea from Sweeney Todd, a tune Dark immediately picked up on. They hadn't dressed as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Mrs. Lovett for Halloween, yet. They were saving it until they had made it to true middle age. That was for when Dark was in his fifties. Which definitely weren't only about a decade away. Maybe they'd be able to convince Alec to dress as Tobias Ragg. It seemed inappropriate to make Ivy Johanna, although more than ever before, now that he had a wife and daughter both, Dark understood the musical.

The restaurant wasn't too far away from their rental, so they arrived in less time than it took Dark to feel he had sufficiently thought about his favourite Sondheim musical, and since it was relatively early in the day, there wasn't too much of a wait, and they were soon seated according to if the twins wanted to eat indoors or outdoors.
 
Of course the twins chose outdoors. What was the point of going on a beach vacation if you couldn't be outside for every second of the day? They picked what they wanted to eat fairly quickly and then people watched for a bit. Xander's eyes strayed briefly to Dark's hair again.

Alec caught his look and grinned. "Touch it," he dared.

Xander scowled at him. "I'm not going to touch it."

"I dare you to touch it."

"What are we, eight? I'm not touching it!"

"You know you want to. Doooo it!"

"Stop being weird."

"You stop being weird."

"I'm not being weird!"

"Yeah, you totally are!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"
 
"Don't touch people without permission," Daizi said, attempting not to laugh at the way the twins bickered.

Dark really just tried to ignore it, not coming anywhere near to understanding why his hair had affected Xander so desperately. The teen was enchanted, and it was confounding. Had it been Alec, he maybe would have understood, but Xander? Who could barely handle a doctor touching him? Ultimately, he would say yes, but he needed to be asked, he wasn't going to offer.
 
"There, see? She thinks you're being weird, too!" Xander said, gesturing to Daizi.

Alec snorted. "That's not what she said. She said you have to ask first before you touch."

"I'm not asking," Xander stated.

"Then are you going to touch without asking?" Alec asked innocently.

"Yes. What? No! I am not!"

"You're not going to ask?"

"I'm not going to ask or touch."

"Mama agrees you should touch, but you should ask first."

"That is not what she said!"

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too!"

"I'm not asking or touching!"

"Chicken."

"Child."

"Chicken!"

"Child!"
 
Coyly, Daizi reached over and ran her fingers through her husband's curls. She touched his hair all the time, there was certainly no ulterior motive to the gesture. And she definitely did not intentionally wrap one of his ringlets loosely around her finger, "I am doing nothing but providing general advice to help you throughout all situations you face. Always ask permission. Both for yourself, and the other person, because nobody likes being touched against their wishes, but the worst a person can do is say no."
 
"Does that not apply when you're married?" Xander asked, noticing that Daizi hadn't asked and rarely did.

"I think that's part of the marriage vows, that their hair belongs to each other for all the touching they desire," Alec smirked.

"I'mma stick an ice cube down your trunks," Xander warned.

"Before or after you ask to touch the hair," Alec asked.

"Why are you so obsessed with me touching hair?" Xander demanded.

"I'm not obsessed with you touching hair. I'm obsessed with your obsession," Alec smirked.

Xander reached over and ruffled both hands through Alec's hair, causing him to squeal with laughter.
 
"We know what each other's boundaries are," Dark spoke up to answer for Daizi.

"We ask when we know it's important," Daizi told them, trailing her fingers from the top of his head down his neck before leaning against him. "There are some things you always ask for, and some things we've asked each other a million times so we know it's alright." She bent up to kiss his cheek, grinning in her love-struck way, and then settled back down in her chair, "You really do have soft hair, babe."

"So I have heard." Dark replied before taking a sip of his mimosa, because they were on vacation, and then he set the glass down, looked at his boys for a few moments, and said, "You, Xander, do still need to ask."
 
"I'm not asking," Xander told him while Alec cried uncle under his grasp. "I'm not touching. It's just hair."

"So is what you're gripping, and I'd like it back, please!" Alec begged.

Xander let him go, Alec stuck his tongue out at him, and the pair finally settled down to behave like proper sixteen-year-olds.
 
When Xander released Alec, the gaze of a few neighboring tables, and some of the staff averted their gaze, the show apparently having reached its conclusion.

Dark watched the eyes turn away and then looked back at Xander, tipping his chair back slightly, "In that case, might I request you stop staring at me? I feel as though I am being stalked."
 
Dark held up both of his hands in mock surrender, "I am only saying."

"Ivy's hair is a very similar texture if that is less weird," Daizi suggested as their food was brought to their table. "But I think that is enough for this conversation for one morning, I don't want to discuss hair all through breakfast."
 
They dug in, and breakfast was excellent. Alec occasionally turned his attention to Ivy, making faces at her and talking to her about the things around her. Xander was sitting farther away, so he didn't even try. He watched people as they passed and enjoyed his breakfast in relative peace. He most definitely did not look at anyone's hair. Except for one person who had the most confusing combination of shaved patches, braids, and loose hair. That was fascinatingly weird.

After they finished, Alec suggested, "Why don't we walk around a bit and do light exploration?"
 
"I think that would be great," Daizi said while Dark paid the bill, "It's good to get an idea of what is around. I don't want to overplan the trip and take the freedom and spontaneity out of it, but it's always frustrating when you drive out of a place and you notice somewhere you would have loved to visit."

To Daizi's point, Dark stopped by the metal shelf of attraction brochures all tourist areas picked up, casually selecting ones he knew anyone in their family would like. "They have dolphin tours," he mentioned off-handedly.
 
Both twins instantly swung around. "Dolphins?" they asked simultaneously.

"Yes, please!" Alec grinned.

"That sounds awesome!" Xander agreed.

Then they both hesitated and glanced toward Daizi.
 
Their hesitation was louder than anything they could have said, so Daizi came over and told them, "It's okay to do activities I can't enjoy like the rest of you can. If it's on a boat, I'd still enjoy that part, and if it's not on something like that, I can just stay back and find something special to do with Ivy. I'm not going to make you miss out on experiences just because I can't have them myself."
 
Alec gave her a quick hug, Ivy and all. "Okay, Mama. We just want you to have the best time possible. After all, it is your birthday week."

Xander gave him a little nudge. "There's plenty of stuff she won't want to do that we will, and stuff she'll want to do that we won't. It'll even out, right?"

Alec nodded. "And we can look after Ivy for you!"
 
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