How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi grumbled, dissatisfied, "It'd literally take two seconds if he would just sit down."

"See, our children can compromise better than you can. They take after me." Dark replied, risking his entire life by patting her on the head.

"If you do that again I'll bite you," She replied, and meant it.

"I know."

"Good. Because I will." She huffed as she released him, "If you try to weasel out of this and that hair scratches my face again, I swear to god--"

"Which god? I thought you are polytheist."

"All of them."

"Every god?" His eyes glinted, but he turned back to his work.

"Goose Mongoose Dark, if that hair pokes me again, I'm shaving you in your sleep."
 
"I don't think she's serious?" Alec whispered to Xander.

"I wouldn't risk it," Xander muttered. "Would you?"

Alec didn't have to consider long before shaking his head. "No, I wouldn't. I'm not sure I dar take the tweezers, either."

"Then don't. Just remember to remind me when he's done or else she might shave me too."
 
"Good thing I have insomnia." Dark replied calmly, absolutely satisfied with how successfully he had managed to push his wife's buttons.

"I hate you."

"No you do not."

"I do."

"Fine, well, if you do: I will stay awake downstairs tonight rather than lying in bed with you."

Daizi's shoulders slumped and before she could remember she was meant to be mad said, "No, don't do that." Then, she realized what she had done, swore, and put the tweezers down on the counter. "I'm plucking that hair, I hate it, and it ruins my life."

"I know, Spider."
 
Alec crept over and picked up the tweezers before retreating to a safe distance. "So! Do anything fun today?"

"I'm going to go put our stuff in our room before mini hands get into it," Xander said, going to retrieve their backpacks.
 
"We took Ivy to the park today," Dark replied, "That is why she is napping now. She completely wore herself out figuring out what she can pull up on. We also pushed her on the swings and helped her to go down the slide."

Daizi went and sat down, only mildly defeated, "We also brought Enkidu, but juggling them both was difficult with just the two of us."
 
"Maybe you should start taking other people to the park with you, but make your selection random," Alec suggested with a grin. "You could check one of us out from school, get Milo one time, have Lex go with you and Sally, Cooger is a no-brainer, and maybe Aunt Ciara! And when they ask why them, just say that it seemed like a good idea to take them to the park because they needed outside time like they're your pet or something."

"Who's a pet?" Xander asked, walking back in.

"Random people going to the park to watch a dog and a baby," Alec replied.

"Oh," Xander said, accepting it and moving on.
 
"We are not pulling you out of school just to go to the park," Dark replied, spreading a mixture over the dough he had prepared.

"We do sometimes go with Cooger, but he was busy today. We haven't really thought about inviting anyone else, most of our friends work during the week, and that's the best time to go because the bigger kids are in school," Daizi explained, reaching down to pet her dog, "I suppose we could ask Lex, she also makes her own schedule."
 
Xander perked up at this information. "Wait, why can't we be pulled out of school just to go to the park? As long as it's not a test day or something, it's better than missing for a million other reasons, and it's, like, family time and getting in touch with nature and all that stuff. Your friends should totally take park days from their job, too, since they don't even get a lot of extra days off and stuff."

Alec nodded quickly. "I agree! It'd be so much fun! And way cool! And good for the mental health."
 
That was, admittedly, a decent argument, especially when taken in tandem with Daizi's comment about avoiding school children. "School is important," Dark said, uncertain if he was answering as a teacher or as a parent. But mental health days... they were important too.

"It just feels a bit... selfish, I suppose." Daizi commented, "Asking my friends to take off work so he have adults to talk to. Especially since not all jobs give off many PTO days. With you two, if nothing else we can pull you during your lunch, occasionally. It'd surprise Ivy more than you two, I think, she misses you terribly during the day."
 
"Which is more important? Perfect attendance, or one day every couple of months to spend with family outside of the normal routine?" Xander pointed out.

"And maybe your friends want to take time off from work desperately but don't have a good excuse, so this gives them the opportunity," Alec continued the argument. "Plus, as full-grown and reasoning adults, they can always just say no if they can't get off work. Or perhaps they might not even realize how much they want to spend time with your and vice versa, so this would make them realize how in a rut they've become, so while they might not take time off from work, they might decide to arrange a time outside of work just because they want to see you. They might also think you are super busy and don't want to take up your time, some of them."
 
Dark hesitated, rolling the dough up into a log. "I suppose... I mean, it is not the worst thing. At the same time... we have had problems with missing school due to suspensions, or skipping, as well as problems with grades..." He took out a knife and began slicing the log, "I would need to be certain it is not merely a way to spend more time out of school and that you are both doing well, and staying out of trouble, the rest of the time."

Personally, Daizi was more open to pulling them out every once in awhile for family time, but that was a discussion she'd save for when they were in private so they could come to an agreement as a couple, rather than expressing a different opinion now and making it look like she didn't care about his feelings, "I guess we could, but there's plenty of things we can do with them on the weekends when they're already free."
 
"Hey, in my defense, I haven't skipped this entire school year and most of last," Xander stated. "Just for the record. Also, the last suspension was not my fault. Mostly."

"And I have good grades and don't skip or get suspended," Alec said cheerfully. "But if you need time for us to prove ourselves this year, I suppose that's fair. Shall we say one month without incident and then we'll revisit the idea? And the counter gets restarted if something happens?"
 
Both Dark and Daizi paused, waiting for the other one to say something. Eventually, Daizi said, "We'll talk about it," to give them both time to discuss it with each other and get on the same page, rather than jumping straight to a definitive answer.

Then, as Dark brushed egg yolk onto his pastry, Ivy's little murmurs came over the monitor, and Daizi left to go and fetch her.
 
Xander gave Alec a little nudge. "Pretty close!"

Alec grinned. "All we have to do is be good and get our grades up!"

Xander turned to Dark. "Thoughts on us having a friend over?"
 
"Daizi has the bachelorette party this friday. I am here, so I suppose he could come over then, but I do not know when she intends to be home." He went to the sink to wash and dry his hands, "I do not mind if your friend spends the night, but I would not want you all to be woken up if Daizi comes home late. Saturday is an option, I suppose."
 
"Alright. I'll let him know that if he wants to stay over, Saturday's better, but any day's good if it's just for a day visit," Xander nodded. "He wants to hang with Ivy a little and see her stand. He thinks it's real cool." He started hunting for snacks.

"It's Milo, if you remember him," Alec offered to Dark.
 
"I remember him," Dark replied, more than a little surprised, "Your friend really wants to spend time with Ivy? Really? I wouldn't have expected that. Not that I would not expect it off him, particularly but... That any of your friends would want to do anything with her."
 
"Milo likes kids," Xander said bluntly.

"And not in a creepy way," Alec put in hastily. "He finds them cute and fascinating."

Xander nodded and started munching on some dried fruit. "And admires their growth rate."
 
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