How Green Becomes Wood

Dark fell into a rather loud silence as Tristan spoke. Finally, he said, "School did not let out early." Then he pushed back his hair, and said, "I will text you when I am on my way to get him." He paused for only a second, knowing he didn't have time to ask questions for formulate a plan. Where was Xander? No matter, he'd try to reach out to that twin after this. "It is about half an hour for me to get there, if the traffic is good. I will be there then. Thank you for calling." Then, after making sure nothing else needed to be said, he hung up and texted Xander.

This is a weird question, I apologize: Can you send me a photograph of the hallway? Eleven years I worked there, I cannot remember what the tile pattern is. Ms. McGann asked me to draw something for Mr. Major's birthday. It was a strange lie, but one, he thought, that would confirm where Xander was without him realizing he was probing for information. He couldn't very well just ask, "Are you at school?" because if Xander was not, he might just lie. If he was, that would be an ominous and concerning text message. It was unlikely Xander would just have that picture in his camera roll, so it was the best way he could think of to get an answer as to his other son's whereabouts without setting off alarm bells.

Then he hoisted Ivy, brought her upstairs, and knocked on Daizi's office door, "Alec is at Tristan's flower shop, I have to go and get him."

With the same shock and confusion, Daizi turned around in her chair, "He's... What? Why?"

"I do not know. He left school, clearly, he went to the flower shop. Something is wrong, not physically, Tristan does not know what. Tristan could not stay on the phone longer, because he did not want Alec to get suspicious and leave. I am going to get him," He bounced his baby up a bit higher, "I brought you this darling, because somebody needs to watch her."

"If he called Tristan and not us, he is probably going to be upset when you show up," Daizi commented, getting up to take Ivy from him.

Dark shrugged, "I do not know what else to do. It is not like we can leave him with Tristan all night, at some point, I need to get him, and if he is upset I came to get him, then he could have called me before this. He can be upset at home."

"Well, yeah--I'm not saying we should leave him there, but... You show up like the Grim Reaper... You are going to scare the hell out of him." Daizi pointed out, bouncing Ivy on her hip.

"He is scaring the hell out of us by skipping school," Dark pointed out.

"I know, but... You're just very intimidating. What if I got him? I could take a cab."

Dark thought about it for a few moments, but then said, "But then if he is upset, there is some stranger in the car."

"Okay... Well... I can... take a cab there, and then you can drive us... home." She frowned, resting her forehead against Ivy's head, "But then we have her. And she is a very dear distraction." She sighed heavily, "Okay, go get him. I just... I'm worried about how he will react when you just... Appear."

"I am worried about that, too," Dark admitted, "but... I think it is just what we have to deal with. I will be back soon, and the three of us can talk about it then." He stooped to kiss her and then turned, went downstairs, grabbed his keys, and after getting into the car, texted Tristan he was leaving the house now and provided his ETA.
 
Xander checked his phone between classes and frowned at Dark's text. First he scolds them for using their phones during class, and now he wants one of them to send a picture of the hall floor? Just when he thought he understood the man. Xander huffed and turned to tell Alec what Dark had texted him. Oh. Alec wasn't there. Still. His heart twisted painfully. Frowning, he snapped a quick picture of the hall and then of the floor itself and sent them to Dark with a quick note, You have weird requests. Then he looked for Alec again. He was still nowhere to be seen. No, he wouldn't worry about that. He was still angry at Alec. Fuming! He wasn't going to let him off so easy. He looked around again before hurrying to the next class, and this time he hung back to watch as the other kids entered. Still no Alec. That wasn't like him. Alec didn't hide like Milo or run like Xander. He followed the rules. Then... where was he?

Meanwhile, at the shop, Tristan showed Alec how to add on a simple bark background and then how to build up from there, letting the pieces dry as they went. The drying time was the longest part of the process, so he showed Alec how to balance working different parts so there was always something to do.

Alec tried to pick up a tiny wooden piece meant to be a shelf, but his fingers were too big. Too late, he realized he should have used tweezers, and the piece snapped. "Oh no. I broke it," he whispered, and tears sprung into his eyes. He nudged the pieces hopelessly and bit his lip. "It's... it's all broken now."

"That's alright," Tristan assured him. "Things break. That is a part of life that cannot be changed even when we are as careful as can be. What's important is what happens after they break." Using his own tweezers, he nudged the two pieces in alignment. "This piece will never be the same again, but we could glue it back together and use a bit of moss to hide the break. Then it will look just fine on the outside, and only you and I will know what happened. Or," he picked up one of the pieces and placed it in the corner of the terrarium, "we change our plans and adapt, allowing what was broken to become something new. The only way it's truly a waste is if we give up completely."

Alec closed his eyes and tried to force down the tears. "I don't think," he took a deep breath. "I don't think this can ever be fixed. I can't do it."

Tristan set down his tweezers and put a hand on Alec's shoulder. "Why do you think you have to do it alone?" he asked gently.

Alec shook his head, forcing himself back into control. "I just... do. It's okay. I can do this." His hands were shaking, but Tristan sat back and let him weild glue and tweezers, making a bit of a mess as he attempted to place pieces against the back drop.
 
As he drove, he received the notification that a picture had been sent, and he had the system read out the text which went along with it. Satisfied, Dark used speech-to-text to thank Xander and finished the rest of his drive relieved that at least once of his sons were where they belonged.

Still, although he was irritated, because they had talked about this so, so many times, he was more worried than anything. Although it seemed impossible to get these boys to stay in school when they were upset, they only left when they were, and Alec never left without Xander. To his memory, the last time he had was that time he left the house after dark and spoke with that stranger on the street, which still... made Dark nervous to think about. And this time... He supposed it was good he had called someone he trusted, rather than risk something happening to him, but as he drove, Dark's stomach still twisted in knots. Nobody liked when their children were upset, but this was different. They didn't, as a family, have a great track record when things got like this. And he had just been telling his therapist, things had been... okay. Not great, because the twins had been fighting, but... At least for him, as an individual, things were. Good. Yeah. And that, of course, made him immediately afraid of when they would not be good.

And now he was driving to pickup his son, who had left school again. He pulled up down the street from the flower shop and stepped out, going behind back and as he did so, he texted Tristan, I am here. Do you want me to just walk in?
 
Xander finally couldn't take it anymore and pretended he needed the bathroom, which the teacher was less than impressed with but allowed it. He checked to make sure no one else was in the bathroom and called Daizi.

~~

Yes. The door is pop open. Tristan had meant to say "propped" open, but he was trying to text surreptitiously. The only reason Alec hadn't noticed was his own preocupation. At least the terrariums were coming along... nicely? Alec's was a mess, but Tristan felt he could salvage something out of it, and even if he couldn't, it was worth the loss to keep Alec occupied.
 
Daizi answered her phone much more quickly than Dark had answered his, because now they knew there was a problem, so, as was always her job, she waited closely by the phone. "Habibi? Is everything okay?"

~~

Without bothering to reply to the text, Dark stepped inside. He moved more quietly than one would expect someone of his size would be able to, and he stepped through the backrooms to where he saw Alec and Tristan working on terrariums. Taking a deep breath to prepare himself for whatever was about to happen, he said, "Hello?"
 
"Hi, Mama, um, I don't want to worry you or anything, and I'm probably overreacting," Xander started, pacing in front of the stalls, "but I can't find Alec anywhere. We had kind of a... sort of fight, I guess, or he did, and now I don't know where he is. He won't answer his phone, but he might have lost it again or something." He paused, scowling. "You know what? It's probably fine. I mean, I don't know why I called. It's not like you're going to come look through the school with me."

~~

Alec jumped so hard he nearly knocked his terrarium over. Tristan caught it in time and righted it with no harm done, but when he caught sight of Dark, he flinched a little, his eyes darting to the floor instead of meeting Dark's. Then, as if reminding himself he was a fellow adult, he straightened and started idly cleaning up a little.

"Ba! What are you doing here?" Alec demanded guiltily.
 
"It's okay, take a breath baby," Daizi urged him gently, "Alec... Well, he's with Tristan, right now. I guess he left school. Baba is getting him now, so he's safe. You had a fight?"

~~

"I heard school let out early." Dark replied blandly, coming closer to the pair of them, irritation and worry both present in his face, but only Alec would be able to see either. "What is going on? Did something happen?"
 
"I... what? Why the hell is he with Tristan?" Xander blurted without thinking. He rubbed his face briefly. "Sorry. Um. Kind of. More like he got into a fight with someone else and I didn't do anything because... It's complicated."

~~

Alec dropped his gaze and shifted guiltily, his expression sulky but defiant. "School's not all it's cracked up to be. I'm quitting so I can start working for Uncle Tristan more."

"I'm... going to take that as my cue to leave you two with some privacy," Tristan said uncomfortably. He backed away from the table and went the long way to avoid getting too close to Dark. "I'll be in my office if you need anything, which is just over there. Give me a yell when you leave so I can lock up?" He started rolling toward a door at the back where his rather tiny office resided.
 
"Well, if I knew the answer to that I'd tell you. And it certainly sounds complicated." She paused for a few moments, turning so Ivy wouldn't take the phone from her, "Are you okay? I know you and Alec were fighting last week, too."

~~

"You are not quitting, and if you tried I would stop you." Dark replied a heavy frown creasing his features, "You can tell me what happened, Alec."
 
"Yeah, I'm... I don't know." Xander let out an explosive sigh and ran his hand through his hair. "Are you sure he's okay? Like, safe and not in danger or hurt?"

~~

Alec fiddled with the tweezers, his entire body visibly shaking, yet he still attempted to sound aloof and strong. "Yeah, I'm done with school. The whole point is to get an education, right? Well, I'm sixteen now, and I've got a good idea of what I'm doing, so I'll just teach myself and learn on the job. The school itself is just a distraction and slows me down. There's no point to it."
 
"Your father is irritated with him, and I am too, to be honest, considering how often we've told the pair of you not to skip class, but he's safe. Upset, about the fight, I imagine, but he's not physically wounded, or anything. Not as far as Tristan said, anyway." Daizi promised.

~~

"Right, yes, you will do that, I will move to Jamaica and begin my career harvesting coconuts. Except you cannot drop out at sixteen, not in Pennsylvania, and certainly not without parental permission, which you do not have, and you cannot fake my signature." Dark replied, knowing Alec did not actually want to quit, but arguing as if he did, "And if you did drop out, I would not drive you to work, and I am certain your uncle would not keep you employed."

He would've sat down, but considering there was only one employee at a time and Tristan didn't need his own seperate chair, there wasn't somewhere for him too, so he stayed standing, "But I know you do not actually want to leave, because if you did, you would not have put so much work into your poster. I cannot help you if I do not know what is going on."
 
"Okay." Xander paced once more. "Okay. I should get back to class then. I'll see you after school." He paused to wash his hands again, still fighting the urge to try to stuff his whole body in the sink.

~~

Alec pouted and sullenly said, "It's not funny." He still couldn't look at Dark, and his heart beat so fast it hurt from anxiety and fear. He shouldn't talk to his father this way! But his tongue seemed to have decided it wanted to flap all on it's own. His voice shook and cracked as he spoke no matter how defiant he tried to sound. "I'm supposed to be working. I'm supposed to be focusing on work. I didn't... I didn't want you to come. Why are you here? You're not supposed to be here. I don't want to talk to you. You can't help. I'm sup-posed to be working. I don't want to go to school anymore. I can home-school myself, and you'll be home to make sure I don't set anything on fire. I can teach myself and maybe learn how to do some kind of online work and stay home," his voice started to rise, edging on hysterical, "and never leave and never deal with people or anything and just be by myself and never be bothered and never bother anyone and then everyone will finally maybe be happy, and if they aren't I won't care because I won't know about it and all our problems will be SOLVED!" He gripped the tweezers hard, his face pale. Thankfully, they were sturdy and not about to break in his grip.
 
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"Let me know if you need anything, okay? I love you Xander." She brought the phone away from her ear, pressed the speakerphone button and said, "Ivy, tell your big brother that you love him," and Ivy happily babbled on the phone even after Daizi hung up. Then she exhaled, put her phone in her pocket, took a few moments to think through that call, and then stood up, carrying her baby on her hip, "Right, Miss Ivy-Qadira. Let's go make a good treat. Treats make everyone feel better. I don't know if this counts as a soup day, but we can make other treats. Yes we can, baby, and you'll help me, right?"

~~

"You are right, it is not funny. Nothing about this is funny. But you are the one making jokes, talking about quitting school," Dark replied seriously, "You do not work on Wednesdays, Alec, the shop is not even typically open. What you are meant to be doing is what you are not doing. I am here because I am always going to come and get you. It does not matter where you go. It never has before. If you do not want to talk to me, fine, you do not have to talk to me, but you do need to come home. Because you do not get to leave school and go wherever you want. That is not an option."

He passed one hand over his face and then crouched down. The tone in Alec's voice made Dark's heart break, "Shutting yourself away from the world is not going to solve anything. It is not going to give you the freedom you think it will. Something happened, and I know you are upset, and that is okay, but let us just go home. We can deal with it there."
 
Alec finally dropped the tweezers, making himself jump at the clatter. He stared at them for just a second as if assessing whether or not they were a threat, before turning away from Dark as best as he could. "I don't want to.go home," he whispered. "I don't want to talk. Everything is broken. It's too broken to even use as a corner piece. And why should I even try? Why do I have to be sorry? I'm tired of being sorry!"
 
"How is everything broken?" Dark asked gently, not bending to get the tweezers, although he would be sure to pick them up before they left. "and why do you need to be sorry? Alec," He gestured towards the room, "All of this... There is nothing I can do for you, if you do not talk to me. What have you done that is so terrible? What has somebody else done?"

After a few moments of staring at Alec, Dark exhaled with a bit of force and said, "You do not want to go home, but--I am sorry, that is not an option. You cannot stay here. You will go home. You have no other choices. If you do not want to talk to me, and lock yourself in your room, that is your choice, but you are going to go home, even if I have to carry you to the car. And I am serious about that. Because unless your life was in danger--I have told you and your brother more than enough times not to do this. And yet, we are sitting here, in your uncle's flower shop, in the middle of the day, and you will not even give me an explanation as to why. And I do not know if you just think it is some sort of a game, that I tell you and Xander, and your mother tells you and Xander, not to leave school, not to leave the house without telling anyone, but then you, plural you, not singular, do it, and then we get you, and then you explain why and promise not to do it again, but then do it again, as if we never had this conversation in the first place. I do not know if you think it does not matter, or if you just really do not care, I do not know what you think. But it... it is not acceptable, and I am sorry you are hurting, believe me, I am. But there is nothing I can do about it if you do not talk to me about it, I cannot sort out your breadcrumbs and guess while letting you do whatever you want because of it. So you are going to go home, Alec. You can take the time you need to cool off, you can talk to me, you can talk to Daizi, and maybe it is so bad you truly, truly had no other options but to leave school. That still does not excuse you from not calling, and it still does not excuse you from lying to your uncle. So we are going to home, and you can take the time you need to process there."
 
Alec hunched over, breathing hard. He was in trouble. He deserved to be in trouble. But it wasn't fair! Nothing was fair! Everything was unfair! Including him! He was unfair! He didn't want to face this. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to deal with any of this any longer! He didn't want to be in trouble. He knew he was, and he knew Dark was right, but he didn't want to face that and believe it. Nothing was right anymore. His brother would never forgive him. He'd likely irreparably damaged a person under the guise of help. Uncle Tristan would never trust him again. It was all twisted up and torn to shreds! All of it! And everything emotional felt like a shard of pain in his stomach.

Alec screamed. He didn't mean to. It came out, a primal, agonized, frustrated seeking of relief as he hunched over, gripping his hair in both hands. He screamed until he had no breath left, and when he finished, he felt completely empty. He sat there, staring at nothing, letting the cold darkness of reality wrap up around him.

Tristan came out of his office and watched anxiously. He'd been deliberately not listening, but it was kind of hard to ignore a kid screaming a door away.

"I'll go home," Alec finally whispered.
 
When Alec screamed, Dark's eyes widened, and before it was over, he was kneeling on the ground in front of the teenager, with one hand on his back, not knowing at all how to address that. He didn't even notice Tristan come out, he wasn't looking anywhere but at his son.

"Okay," He murmured, still with one hand on Alec's back, "We will go home."
 
It took Alec a minute to find his feet. He felt like he was wrapped in an uncomfortable cloud of prickly cotton, like he was one step away from some sort of out-of-body experience as he tried to remember how everything worked. He stood up, feeling exhausted and drained, and numbly walked toward the back door. Time to go home. Maybe home wouldn't be so bad. It couldn't be as bad as trying to avoid home was turning out to be.
 
Dark bent to pick up thy tweezers and Alec's backpack before walking Alec to the car, keeping one hand on his back as they went. Once they were inside, he made sure Alec was buckled and then drove home in silence, still both annoyed and concerned.

When they stepped inside, the house was full of the scent of a specific type of cake Daizi sometimes make. When the door opened, she left the kitchen and went to the front hall and only said, "Hey," because she didn't know if she should be angry or relieved.
 
The warmth of Dark's hand on his back help keep him grounded, but Alec still felt lost. He knew logically he could talk to his parents, but everything felt lost at sea. How was he supposed to even begin unraveling everything? He stared out the window as they drove, voices screaming and arguing in the back of his mind, but at the front, all was silent. For now.

When they arrived home, he slipped out of his shoes and automatically touched the salt. He drew his hand away with a few grains still sticking to his fingers and stared. For just a split second, he had the impulse to grab the bowl and fling it across the room. Stupid superstition! He pulled his hand away and moved his gaze, resisting the temptation and instantly ashamed of himself. He didn't react to Daizi's greeting, just started walking toward the stairs.
 
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