How Green Becomes Wood

"I think..." Sloan mused, sitting back, "I mean, I think they definitely need to have more going on in their lives than just being a parent. Like, Mr. Dark and Daizi both have their own identities, so they aren't just like... a mom and dad. And I think you also get to be a cool parent if you respect the fact your kids aren't the same as you and they aren't someone you train like a dog to be who you want them to be. Also, if they're someone you can trust with your feelings."
 
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"Meaning they act more like those bumper rails on kiddie bowling lanes to try to keep us out of the gutter instead of walking us down the whole lane to tap us against the pins ourselves?" Becky asked. "Really colorful bumpers."

"That is a really strange metaphor," Alec commented.

Becky shrugged. "My dads like bowling."
 
"Well, if we're talking about his parents," She nodded to Alec, still slightly bumped up against him, "not necessarily colourful. But I guess, you know, everyone just knows when they meet a cool person. It's probably the same with a cool parent, it's just vibes."
 
"I can agree with that!" Becky grinned. She finished the last of her juice box and stood. "And now time for my daily scurry across the school in an attempt to get to my next class before the bell! I'll see you guys tomorrow! Twice tomorrow!" She grinned and hurried off.

"Bowling bumpers," Alec mused. "Are those those rubber things that cover the... the sides where the ball falls and misses all the pins?"
 
"Godspeed," Sloan replied with a small nod, "Yeah. They're for like... babies, I guess. But I hate bowling. I've had to go a few times in my life and I found it so boring. But I hope you like it, because I feel like it's inevitable your baby sister will end up going to a party at a bowling alley, and I feel that's the sort of event you're at risk chaperoning for."
 
"Oh, okay." Alec nodded. Then he stopped, his eyes going wide as realization hit. "Whoa. I... I hadn't fully processed before, but... I could be a chaperon for her school events. I'd be old enough to be her dad, basically. That's just... Wow." He slumped over the table in slight shock as the true differences in age caught up with him. It was one thing to know. It was another thing to know and realize.

Xander walked up to the table. "Hey, Slo. We gotta get going for class." He frowned at Alec. "What's up with him?"
 
Sloan couldn't help but laugh at his distress at realizing just how much older than his baby sister be was. It had been something that she had always been very aware of, as an outside observer. Patting him on his back, "I'm sorry to be the one to break the news to you. And I'm sorry for laughing. Oh, god." She turned at the sound of Xander's voice and doing her best to reign in her amusement, "He just realized he's old enough to chaperone Ivy to school events. Because by the time she's old enough to do stuff like bowling you'll be in your twenties. Or older." Although she fought valiantly to resist it, she couldn't help but say, "I mean, when you're thirty, she'll only be half your age... Less than half, actually, because she was born in October."
 
Xander paused to process this information. "Sh**, you're right," he said calmly. "Chaperoning. Ugh, we get to be the ones to tell the minis what to do. We'll be hated." He smirked at the thought.

"We're going to be thirty and she'll be our age!" Alec moaned into the table. "It's all happening too fast! We need to grow up slower so we can enjoy playing with her while she's young!"
 
"You're taking this better than your brother," Sloan replied with a grin, still with her hand on Alec's shoulder, "At least when she turns 21, you'll be 36, so you can keep an eye on her. I mean, you're already sixteen, and she's just about to turn one. You'll be an adult before she starts kindergarten."
 
"No!" Alec moaned.

Xander snorted. "I've been an adult for the last four years, whatever the calendar says. Now I'm just forewarned about what responsibilities to duck because I ain't watching a bunch of second graders anymore than I have to. They're terrifying!" He tapped Alec on the top of the head. "Come on. We gotta get to class."

"Go on without me. I am dying of premature maturity crushing me down," Alec moaned.

Xander rolled his eyes and took Alec's arm. "See ya tomorrow, Slo."
 
Sloan gave Xander a look for his comment, but chose not to address it, more than able to guess how that conversation would go. She did, however, ask, "What if your sister asks you to come? What if she begs you to go? What if she is invited to a fairy princess party and she looks at you with her big---I don't know what colour her eyes are---eyes, and says, 'Xander, will you come with me?'"
 
Xander gave Sloan a flat look. "I'll tell her I'll come when her magic wand creates sparkles."

Alec brightened. "I can help with that!" He leaned over and loudly whispered to Sloan, "He'd totally say yes."

"Come on, you," Xander growled, pulling Alec aways as he cackled.
 
"What else is new?" Xander mumbled.

"Not much in the making people cry department," Alec said lightly.

Xander glared at him. "Pot and kettle."

"Takes one to know one," Alec replied.

The pair fell silent as they entered the classroom and sat down. The big footballer cam in shortly after and hesitantly approached the seat near Alec. He actually looked to Alec, who happily nodded, before cautiously sitting down as if he'd never done that before.
 
Sloan shook her head. Admittedly, she did believe Xander would lose his principles the moment that little kid smiled up at him and said please, but she wondered when he'd realize it. Probably not until it happened. God. She wished she could see that moment. Oh well. Alec may send pictures, if she was lucky.

After lunch, Milo felt slightly more settled, but still raw, and still not recovered enough to really want to... talk, to anyone. He tugged down on his sleeves, hunching over, and tried to be as small and unnoticeable as possible as he drifted to his class.
 
Xander spotted Milo but didn't draw attention to him. Milo's seat was open for him, and there was nothing in his way.

Austin, the footballer, noticed Milo when he sat down. "Hey. Do you always sit in that seat?" he asked, his deep voice carrying easily across Xander and Alec's desks.

Alec and Xander glanced at each other, and Alec tried to quickly think of a way to answer him without making it obvious he answering for Milo.
 
Milo froze, his skin prickling up in a way that, if Xander could feel what it was like in that moment, he'd recognize as similar to how it felt when he was touched. His mouth still dry, he just gave a nod and slunk down in his seat before turning away. The question was answered, nobody could expect more from him, surely.
 
"Oh." Austin shifted, the chair creaking under him as he did so. "I didn't know this school had assigned seats."

"It doesn't," Xander said shortly.

Austin glanced at Milo in confusion. "But he?"

Alec stepped in quickly "It's an unofficial, unwritten rule, but during the first week of school, everyone finds their seat, and that's the seat they sit in all year. Didn't your last school have something like that?"

"We had assigned seats, and the teacher sometimes moved us around," Austin said. "The guys said that this school, they encouraged people to move around as much as possible? Something about getting to know people more?"

Alec and Xander both shook their heads, and the big guy hunched over his desk, his expression darkening. The teacher called for attention then, and class began.
 
Milo peered up from under his glasses at the Austin, noticing his expression, and turning his face away again. Oh god. Should he have been moving around? He couldn't handle moving around. But, nobody else did. No, nobody else did. But this kid seemed upset. So maybe he had done something wrong?

He forced himself to take a deep breath and pay attention to the lecture. Anything else he could cope with later.
 
It sounded as though Austin's friends had played a prank on Austin. An annoying but mostly harmless prank, and Austin probably would have realised it with some embarrassment and hopefully before someone tried to fight him for a seat. Still, it had to hurt more than normal seeing as those friends had apparently also ditched him. Not fun, but highschool was a cutthroat affair.

Xander ignored Austin for the rest of the class and tried to pay attention to the lecture. It wasn't particularly interesting, but it was better than staring at a wall. He slipped Milo a stress ball and kept one for himself to mess with.
 
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