How Green Becomes Wood

"I will apologize to him, too, that she tried to eat it. I hope it is not important." He bounced Ivy on his hip, "Do you think your Aunt would expire if I sent her that picture of Ivy covered in paint?"
 
Alec considered the question and then laughed and nodded. "She probably would! But if you want to, I think you should do it!" He gestured to the floor. "I'm almost finished, so I should get back to it."
 
"I will leave you to it," Dark replied, walking out of the twins' bedroom, and once in the hall with the door shut, he took out his phone and sent the picture to Ciara, Sally, Cooger, the group chat with all of Daizi's friends, Saladin, and the group chat with Daizi's favourite relatives, letting them all know in advance Ivy had gotten into paint, so they did not freak out like he did, although admittedly, to eyes not trained like his had been, it was visibly paint. He didn't reach out to Ciara as often as Daizi tried to, but because he knew it mattered to Daizi, and his children referred to her as their aunt, he did make an effort to occasionally send her updates about the twins, and more sparingly of Ivy, since he didn't know how she viewed her. Cooger, of course, received dozens of pictures of Ivy each week, and responded appropriately to each one. Sally, Daizi's other friends, and Daizi's family all received them, because he knew that Daizi wanted to send pictures, but couldn't. Of course, her family received the most on average, for obvious reasons, but ten-months-in, and he knew when he had one which should also reach the friends.
 
It took a bit for Ciara to respond. She saw the picture almost immediately, but then she wrote, deleted, and rewrote several responses as she tried to gauge how to properly respond. She finally settled on a text and quickly sent it before she could second guess herself. That looks like quite a mess. I hope no damage was done to either Ivy or to your belongings. Perhaps this is her beginning as a modern artist. There. That was not too stuffy, right?

Sally responded almost instantly with laughing emojis. I hope the paint isn't toxic, but red sure does look good on her! How long did it take to clean up and how far did she spread it?
 
When Dark received Ciara's response, he chuckled lightly, appreciating her attempt to be light about it. She is more okay than the floor. If this is her debut piece, I would hope next time she has the decency to put down a tarp next time.

To Sally, he replied, She took less time to clean than the floor. She managed to get underneath Xander's bed, and broke into the tube there. We had to apprehend her.
 
Indeed. And perhaps wear a smock, came Ciara's response.

Oh no! That's quite a mess! I guess the boys will have to start keeping things up and their door always closed, but kids have the strangest ability to get into places we could swear they couldn't! Sally responded with a confused emoji.
 
If you can convince her of that, you are welcome to try. We hardly can keep her in a bib.

Dark sighed, going downstairs while Ivy pulled at his hair, happily babbling, It was my own fault. I set her down while talking to Alec. She immediately found all of the trouble she could manage. Typically, she is only set down upstairs in the nursery.

"What was going on upstairs?" Daizi asked as she cooked at the stove.

"Your daughter--"

"My daughter?"

Dark squinted, looking down at the baby in his arms. This certainly was not a trait she got from him, "Your daughter, or our sons' sister, decided it would be delightful to get into a tube of red paint. The underside of Xander's bed was completely painted. And so was she. And so was I."

Daizi broke into a laugh she really needed after her conversation with Xander, "How did she end up getting paint? And how did she end up getting under his bed?"

"I set her down when talking to Alec."

"Goose," She exhaled, amused but not knowing what to say.
 
It is a part of growing up and learning for both children and parents, I'm afraid! This won't be the last time this happens unless you keep her literally strapped to you at all times. I look forward to further pictures!

Alec came down with a bucket full of rags and water, his hands red halfway up his forearms. He'd managed to keep the paint from getting on his clothing, at least. "Hi, Mama! Ivy discovered paint."
 
"So your father told me," Daizi chuckled, "It sounds like quite the catastrophe.

"It was."

"Are you okay?" Daizi asked, not recognizing he had briefly lost Ivy or putting together the shock of the red paint after the fear of losing her, but knowing how much he hated mess.

"Yes," He replied, distantly.
 
"I got it all cleaned up! Now I need to go clean me up," Alec said cheerfully. "It was terrible, Mama. It looked like the setting for a mystery show." He took his bucket to empty it out, put the rags in the laundry room, and headed upstairs to his bathroom.
 
"A mystery show?" Daizi asked, "What does he mean a mystery show?"

"Just that... with the colour of the paint... at first glance it looked like something else." He replied softly, and Daizi's expression changed as she heard the shift in his tone.

Once more she asked him, "Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Babe, I know you."

"I am fine."

"I know everything about you."

"I am coping."

"I'm already dealing with one stubborn boy repressing his feelings," Daizi warned, "I do not need two."

Dark hesitsted, patting his daughter on the back, "I am okay. It just startled me. That is all."

"Ghalib Marzuq Dark."

"Daizi." When he used her first name to her, her eyes widened in surprise, "If I talk about it right now, it will ruin my evening. It is too much."

She sighed, set her spoon down and walked over to him, stretching up to kiss him on the cheek. "Okay. I'm sorry. Why don't you go sit down. You came home from work and immediately went to work again, go take a few minutes to yourself before dinner. I can take care of this trouble maker."

As much as he wanted to argue, there was no way he could with her, so he handed Ivy over, and then slipped upstairs to his bedroom and locked the door behind him.
 
Alec came down after a while, his hands still faintly pink-hued, and offered his help to Daizi to help get dinner ready and on the table.

Xander didn't come in until dinner was on the table. Then he sat down, ate fast, and then stood up to leave. Now he wasn't just upset with Alec. Now he was angry with Daizi for pushing him and, in his perception, seeming to take Alec's side in her attempts to get them to at least talk about things. At this point, he was expecting Dark to "gang up on him." Only Ivy seemed completely innocent. And Enkidu, but he hardly counted.
 
During dinner, Dark sat wan and unsettled, simply doing his best to make it through the evening, rattled as he was. Already shaken from Alec's drawings, the rest left him raw and tired. Xander had no reason to fear his father speaking against him, he hardly spoke at all.

Daizi, meanwhile, felt how the tension had only increased, and it made her want to scream, but she did her best to take it. This is what her son had decided he could live with, and it's not like she managed to make him realize how his decision to not talk to Alec affected other people.

Their silent, tense dinner was only interrupted by Ivy's noises and the rhythmic thump of Enkidu's tail as he waited for Ivy to drop a snack.

Nobody gets soup for this, Daizi thought as she silently stood to do the dishes, but she she recalled how shaken Dark was, and decided, he probably would earn it. But unfortunately for him, with how severe his mental health struggles were, this was mild and still not soup worthy. It'd be like making soup for the sniffles.
 
Alec retrieved his notebook from the living room table and retreated upstairs to deal with everything in his own space. Xander seemed to have abandoned the room. Might as well make the most of it for himself. At least tomorrow there weren't any jobs to go to, school, or other hobbies. He wasn't sure if that was better or not.

Xander, meanwhile stayed out in his shed until way past dark. He finally came inside when he figured Ivy was in bed and everyone else was winding down for the night. He didn't want to deal with any of this. Daizi was upset by the tension, and that was fair, but why should he have to take responsibility for it? It was not his fault everything ended up like this. He didn't care if they interacted with Alec. He just wanted nothing to do with him. It wasn't his fault that Daizi couldn't deal with only talking to one of them at a time. For once, none of this was his fault, and he refused to accept it as such! It was Alec's fault. Cut and dried. He headed into the house and went to get ready for bed. Another night on the couch. Or maybe he could make a bed in the music room. It wasn't like he needed much space, and he was tired of Dark waking him up so early. It was worth looking into.
 
After her conversation with Xander, Daizi had been waiting all night to be in bed with her husband so she could rant and express how worried and frustrated she was. She wanted to say he was being stubborn, and frankly immature, because all he was doing by refusing to engage was making the problem worse. Worse for himself, and worse for the people around him. But instead of engaging with that, he was pushing everything down like everything would be okay if he just didn't talk to his brother, but they knew what happened when Xander repressed his feelings. Not too long ago she had a pretty nasty bruise from when he was doing his best to repress his feelings. They knew what happened when Alec repressed his, she knew what happened when Dark repressed his. She knew what happened when she did. It never worked.

Standing as a ghost at the top of the stairs, Daizi rubbed her face, then dropped her arms down to her side, standing perfectly still as she tried to think through and process. Dark would tell her Xander just needed more time, that it was too soon to engage with him. He'd remind her he had told her it wasn't a good idea, yet, and that of course Xander is being immature, he's still a child, he was still learning.

But she went into the bedroom, and didn't say any of it, because there was her husband, lying silently on his side in bed. There was a different sort of tension in the air. Without bothering to change out of her day clothes, Daizi crawled in bed with him and placed one hand on his shoulder, "Goose? Are you okay?"

"I am working through it," he told her quietly, not rolling over onto his back. but he relaxed slightly at her touch.

"What happened?"

"I lost her," he replied, squeezing his eyes shut, "I set her down so I could hug Alec, because he needed it, and I wanted him to feel like I will choose him, and she crawled away. I could not find her. I lost her. She was only underneath the bed, but for what felt like months I had no idea where she was, or if she was safe."

Bending down over him, she kissed the side of his head gently, "It's okay, darling. You found her, and she's okay. We'll just make sure all the doors are shut, next time."

"I kept imagining that--" He began, but couldn't get the words out. The tone of his voice made Daizi drop over him, and do her best to hold him tightly from such an odd angle. "How could I have told you? If---"

"I know, Goose," She murmured, pressing against him to be his weighted blanket, "but there was nothing bad to tell me. She's safe, and had a very fun and messy adventure. And I promise, you're not the only one who will lose her. I know for a fact I'm going to lose track of her a hundred times a month as she gets bigger. And I'll probably panic every time, too. But she'll be okay. All parents events briefly lose their baby. We've baby proofed everything, it'll be okay."

"She looked like she was covering in blood," He shuddered, squeezing Daizi's hand. The memories were an electrode in his brain, electrocuting him as they forced their way unbidden into his mind. It was funny, he was able to laugh about it once he knew what it was. He knew it would be a funny story to tell, some day. But that first moment. Lifting the bed, pulling her out, covered in what looked like blood. A few different memories all overlapped at once.

"It was paint," Daizi promised, "It was just paint. But I'm really sorry she scared you so deeply."

Taking an unsteady breath, he said, "I have been really trying to let it go."

"I know, Goose. Let me get your weighted blanket, okay? I can make you tea."

"Daizi?" He asked weakly, "Can you just stay here? I--I am okay, I know I will be okay, and I am working through it. I do not want to be coddled, I just. Would you hold me and not say anything?"

Daizi smiled sadly and settled down into a more comfortably position, pulling their comforter over them, "Of course, darling."

"Thank you." While he brought her hand to his heart, she gently kissed his shoulder blade, and then the two of them settled in, presumably for the night.
 
Xander settled down on the couch for the night, not feeling like trying to sort out the possible music room bed. Tomorrow he would look into it. Tomorrow he'd see about possibly gaining more of his own space. Daizi would probably tell him he was being avoidant and ignoring the problem, but what was so bad about ignoring a problem that he knew couldn't be fixed? At least, not fixed anytime soon. There was nothing to be done or said to fix this despite Daizi's insistence that they needed to talk it out. Some things just couldn't be fixed and that was that. Eventually, he'd probably have to talk to Alec, but not now.

He wasn't certain how long after he made himself comfortable on the couch he realized that he was a little chilly and he'd forgotten his pillow. The couch pillows just weren't cutting it. He grudgingly pulled himself up out of bed and headed upstairs to fetch a pillow. What a stupid thing to forget. He walked quietly to not wake anyone and opened the door.

Alec was trying to move Xander's bed back into position, shifting it just a little at a time.

"What are you doing to my bed?" Xander blurted before he thought.

Alec glanced at him. "Oh, so now you're talking to me. Ivy got into a tube of paint and burst it open all over herself and under the bed. If you spent more than five minutes inside the house now, you'd know that."

"Paint? I wonder whose paint that was," Xander muttered to himself as he stalked over.

Alec stood back, glaring at him. "If you are trying to indicate that it was my fault, it was no one's fault. She crawled in here when the door was open, and we don't have a childproofed bedroom."

Xander snorted and quickly shoved the bed back into place before grabbing his pillow. Alec tossed the piece of scrap under his nose, and he picked it up. He'd wondered where that had gotten off to. He set it aside to deal with later and turned to leave. Alec stood in front of the door, arms crossed.

"Kind of hard to ignore something that's blocking your way, isn't it?" he challenged.

Xander tucked the pillow under his arm and reached out to grab Alec and move him aside. It wouldn't be hard.

Alec kicked him in the shin. Not hard, and he was barefoot, but it was a solid thump.

"Hey!" Xander yelped, jumping back in surprise as his pillow tumbled to the floor.

"Stop being a stubborn idiot and talk to me!" Alec demanded.

Xander glared at him. "You kicked me!"

"You grabbed me. I'm not moving until you talk to me," Alec insisted.

"It's like midnight!"

"I don't care! Talk to me right now and go to bed a lot sooner. What is wrong with you? Or me? Or what? Why are you refusing to have anything to do with me?"

"You know why!" Xander snapped.

"Well, duh, I know the original, but why are you still avoiding me? What did I do that was so bad you don't even want to try to clear it up?" Alec demanded.

Xander stepped forward again. "Get out of my way."

Alec stared at him. "Are you seriously just angry because I had one bad moment and yelled at your friend? Are you serious right now?"

"Move!"

"You hypocrit! How many times have you done this exact thing and worse?? How many times? And how many times have I stayed right next to you no matter what? You-you-you-you hypocritical idiot!"

"Move!"

"No!"

Neither of them were bothering to be quiet any longer Xander reached out to grab Alec. Alec tried to defend himself. Within seconds, both boys were on the floor with Xander holding Alec in a Judo hold. Alec flailed and yelled angrily, forcing Xander to change his grip often, and he was yelling right back. Several things fell from the shelves, thankfully nothing breakable, although a small, paperback book did smack Alec on the top of the head and Xander was momentarily blinded by a stuffed animal.
 
At the sound of the yelling, Enkidu leapt up off his place at the foot of the bed and scrambled to the bedroom door, only getting louder when the clatter from the shelf hit the ground. Daizi had nearly drifted to sleep, lying half on top of her husband, but both she and Dark jumped when the ruckus began, and since she was on him, she was accidentally tossed halfway across their, thankfully large, bed. Were they still students, she probably would have been thrown to the floor.

"Stay here," Dark said, getting out of bed too quickly for it to register how he had tossed his wife, who was sitting up groggily and trying to cut through the sound in the hall to make out the voices, but it was difficult because Ivy's frightened cries added to the cacophony. He whistled to Enkidu to quiet him and opened the door to his bedroom quietly, so it wouldn't creek, his already agitated mind inventing a home intruder. As he went down the hall, Daizi of course didn't listen, and instead ran to the nursery, realizing as she went she only heard Alec and Xander's voices.

Not bothering to knock, Dark ripped open the door, and stood only for a second at his sons wrestling and screaming down on the floor, and after whistling again to Enkidu so he lay down and not mistake this for a game or danger, he reached down and scruffed which ever teenager was on top, forcing them apart. "Y'hmar," He growled, feeling absolutely no tolerance for this, "This is unacceptable."
 
"He started it!" they both yelled.

Xander was on top, but he barely even noticed Dark's touch even though he was dragging him upward. He kept reached for Alec, trying to pin him properly. Alec wasn't willing to let go, either, and smacked at Xander while grabbing his arms.

"Idiot!"

"You're an idiot!"

"You're a bigger one!"

"Hypocritical dung eater!"

"Spoiled basher!"
 
"I do not care." Dark replied, turning his body and dragging Xander with him so his shoulder separated the two of them, using the same tactics he would when a fight broke out in the hallway at school. He still wasn't yelling, but he wasn't speaking calmly, either, his voice was full of disappointment and frustration, "This is unacceptable, and we are ending it now. Alec, go sit down."
 
The twins slowly separated, never taking their eyes off each other. They were both practically steaming. Alec walked backward and sat on the edge of his bed because it was the closest seating surface available. Xander hung from Dark's grip like an angry Tom cat.
 
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