How Green Becomes Wood

Dark led him to where his favourite pink flowers were, "We can do bouquets with lots of pink. I am certain she will be delighted when her father arrives to watch her dance, even more so when she sees you have brought her flowers. Too many people only receive flowers when," He paused, not wanting to be grim. Instead, he asked, "What size of bouquet where you planning to get for her?" and explained the sizes they offered, doing his best to demonstrate in a visual way, rather than expecting him to magically visualize it.
 
The man hesitated, shifting uncertainly as he considered the sizes. "The... the... the second smallest," he said at last, looking at the price tags attached to the sizes. "Flowers are damn expensive. You sell a lot of these?"
 
"The larger sizes are typically bought more for weddings and quinceañeras," Dark answered, even though he had absolutely no experience preparing a bouquet for a quinceañera, "but I offer them, so I do not risk offense. The size you chose is common, and more than sufficient. Would you like only pink flowers?"
 
"Maybe... maybe white?" the man suggested uncertainly. "Pink and white go together pretty good, right? That's the kind of thing little girls like. And she likes frilly things, so maybe something like... one of these?" he indicated a white carnation but looked at Dark for confirmation like a man swimming in shark-infested waters.
 
"Carnations are lovely," Dark agreed, "and if you choose white ones, if she grows tired of the bouquet as is, you can split the stem, place it in a glass of water mixed with food dye, the carnation will drink the water and dye itself gradually."

He deftly picked the loveliest, pinkest flowers he could find, and added the frilly carnations, baby's breath, and other gentle, white flowers, including white cinquefoils. "These," he said, "mean 'beloved daughter.' When my own is older, I am going to give them to her."
 
"Yeah? It does?" the man asked, confused how flowers could mean something but willing to accept it as fact. "This looks f**king awesome. She's gunna love it." He paid for the flowers and took them with great care, protecting them as if they were the most delicate things in the world.

Tristan came in as the man left, his lap overflowing with flowers. "Sounded like that was an easy one," he remarked, carefully putting the premade bouquets into their pots.
 
"I am sure she will," Dark replied, watching as he left. God, he couldn't wait until Ivy was older. He absolutely could, because he didn't want her to grow up too quickly, but at the same time... One day she'd have a favourite colour.

The thought of it distracted him enough that he didn't notice Tristan wheel in, but when he did, he turned to him, unstartled, "He wanted pink flowers for his daughter's dance recital. Do you need help with those?"
 
"Thank you, but I can manage," Tristan said with a quick smile, grateful for Dark'd offer. "A dance recital? How special! I am sure she'll love them. And he'll be the envy of all the fathers." He finished putting in the flowers. "By the way, I have been meaning to ask you a question, if I may."
 
Knowing there was a question someone had been wanting to ask him always made him anxious, so he tipped his head back slightly as he prepared himself, and then replied simply with, "Really? And what is that?"
 
"I am curious how the boys ended up with you," Tristan admitted bluntly. "I understand if that is not something you can talk about or perhaps want to talk about, but I am interested in what happened."
 
Dark nodded, taking a very controlled breath. It wasn't a traumatic memory, for him, but it was still a complicated and difficult one, "I found them. December 15th, 2027." He scratched his eyebrow and leaned against the wall, "It was after the last day of school before winter break if their freshman year. I had gone to a store to buy a present for Daizi, and as I went to my car, I found them sitting outside, entirely prepared to stubbornly freeze."
 
Tristan turned to stare at Dark in shock. "That was not a good winter. They were outside? In the cold? With nothing and no one? How did that happen?"

He was interrupted by a trio of middle-aged women. They spent a bit of time gawking at Dark but each bought one or two bundles of daisies. They left after a few minutes, giggling as they went.

"Was there no guardian or anyone looking after them?" Tristan asked quietly once the women were gone.
 
Pushing his hair back with one hand, Dark had nearly begun to answer Tristan's question when the women entered. Instead, since the older woman came in, they caught sight of the tall, serious man running a hand through his thick hair. He barely looked at them.

When they left, and Tristan repeated his question, Dark endeavored to explain, "They had been left in the care of their mother's then-boyfriend, whom she was trying to leave, and who was not a good man. So they left, and believed with complete certainty they could survive on their own. When I met them, I told them I legally could not leave them out there. Xander tried to argue they would be okay, but Alec slipped and twisted his ankle. So they agreed to spend the night at my home, so we could make a plan for the morning. And we were snowed in, so they stayed for the winter."
 
"Poor kids," Tristan said softly. "What a terrible way to find them." He took a deep breath and said, "At least it turned out well. They seem to truly love living with you, to love you, and you love them. I could not imagine a better place for them to be." He considered asking further questions, like if Dark had contacted any of the legal authorities, but then he shrugged it aside. What did it matter? What had happened had happened however it had happened. What mattered was now, and now the boys had a family. "It must not have been long after that little Ivy came along," he remarked. "Alec talks about her now and then, and he seems to quite enjoy being an older brother."
 
"At the time, I did not think particularly hard about it. They needed a place to go, and I knew if I called someone then, they would run. At first, our plan was to help set them up to apply for emancipation, but... Daizi and I loved them more quickly than we thought we would. They took it more slowly: they were our children long before we were their parents." And that was how he knew he loved them as much as he loved Ivy. He remembered, vividly remembered, the first time he had looked over at the two of them and felt a startling fondness. "We brought them home in December. Ivy was conceived in late February. We knew in March. I think it was April when we told them, although we wanted to wait longer." He sighed, folding his arms across his chest, sticking out his legs as he leaned against the wall, "I am glad he is so good with her, now. It did not always seem like it would work out. For a long time it did not."
 
"That she would replace them, that we would kick them out, that we would stop caring." He shrugged, "They were afraid of other things, too." He looked down at the floor, nearly mentioning how the pregnancy was high risk and was more than likely Ivy would not have been born at all, and the loss of her may have also taken Daizi. But he couldn't, it would always be raw, "It was not only her. It was a wonderful year, but it was a horrible year. This one has been better, for the most part." He didn't factor in his own deep depression, that period of the year was hazy.
 
"Alec, at least, seems to have overcome those fears, at least, even if he still seems to harbor other fears," Tristan said with a little nod.

Two separate groups of women came in, so they were busy for the next few minutes. One was looking for a medium bouquet to take to a hospital patient, and the others just seemed to be there to browse. They did buy a few small things including a little potted flower, and then they were gone, leaving Dark and Tristan in the quiet once again with only the soft, inoffensive music playing over the speaker.
 
"For the most part, yes," Dark agreed, truly relieved the relationship between his sons and daughter seemed okay, even if the relationship between his sons seemed rocky.
After the women left, Dark stood in solemn silence, a man born from tragedy still learning to cope with peace of any sort. He allowed the silence to continue for awhile before saying, "I am glad Alec seems to trust you enough to turn to you."
 
"I was rather surprised and, admittedly, very worried why he would choose me over you," Tristan admitted. "I am glad he chose to go somewhere safe, though. I would not have at his age." He glanced at Dark. "Has... whatever happened... been sorted out?" He didn't want to pry as the event did seem to be rather personal, whatever had happened, but he did want to make sure things were okay.
 
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