How Green Becomes Wood

In the time before the party, Dark briefly fixed his hair, applied a small amount of eyeliner, fixed Daizi's makeup, and did one final look over of the house to make sure it was completely spotless before setting up the wheelchair ramp for Tristan.

Meanwhile, Daizi preheated the oven so they could begin to warm the foods they had cooked in advance.

~~

"Hey Lex! Good to hear from you!" He replied cheerfully, but as Lex continued he shook his head, "Ah, you know I'd love to, but I can't tonight. My nephews just got formally adopted today, I'm actually on the way to their party right now."
 
Surprisingly, Alec came down first once he had fixed his own makeup and hair. He got a big drink of water and then started helping Daizi with the food. Xander came down when he heard people stirring downstairs and lent a hand. There wasn't a lot to do, but enough that it kept them busy.

~~

"No way, really? Good for them! That's great news!" Lex congratulated him. "You definitely gotta be there, no question about it. You wanna hit the bowling alley some other time and tell me all about it?"
 
"Should we put on music?" Daizi asked, once things were all steadily underway, "Nothing distracting, just a little bit of background noise."

~~

"I can't tell you how thrilled we all are. Those boys took Dark and Tarot's last names, it surprised us all," Cooger grinned, "I'd love to go bowling with you another day though! I'm free all of this weekend, I gotta check my midweek availability. I know I'm helping bring some of Daizi's family to their hotel some days, but after that those who can't drive are stuck with taxis."
 
"Background music is a good idea. Something instrumental," Alec agreed. "What do you think would make good background music?"

"Classical?" Xander suggested.

"Too boring, usually, unless it's too hyper."

~~

"Did they really?" Lex asked, the grin obvious in her voice. "That is awesome. Really. I'm very happy for them! And you. Congrats! How about you text me later when you're free, and we'll set something up for this weekend before the craziness of more family members?"
 
"If it's just in the background does it matter if it is boring?" Daizi asked, petting Enkidu. They'd probably put him upstairs when the guests came over so as to not overwhem them or him, so she wanted to love him up before keeping him away from the party. Luckily now they had gates, he was able to sit on the stairs rather than be totally kept away.

Dark, meanwhile, sniffed indignantly, "Classical music is not boring."

~~

"I'll be sure to do that-- Oh, wait," Cooger frowned, "Sorry, no, I'll text you. There's just, I'm driving right now, up ahead there's a woman on the side of the road by her car, I'm gonna go see if she's alright." He swore, "I'm gonna be out twenty bucks." He swore again, "No, but I gotta check up, though, got all my tools with me."
 
"The popular stuff is," the twins said simultaneously.

"Until you start digging and find things like In the Hall of the Mountain King and Rage for a Lost Penny," Alec agreed. "Those are awesome!"

~~

Lex laughed. "Alright, you go play White Knight, and I'll hear from you later. See you later!"
 
"If you find it boring, you have not attended to it," Dark argued, seeming very stiff and very certain, "How can you listen to Moonlight Sonata and call it boring? There is a complexity to it and it envelops if you pay attention to it at all."

~~

"No chance you can pop over to Dark's and knock him unconscious so he doesn't realize I'm losing our bet over this?" He asked dryly, pulling over as if it wasn't entirely his choice, and as if he hadn't already lost by then, "I'll see you later."
 
"If by envelope you mean 'lull you to sleep,' absolutely," Alec said dryly.

Xander shrugged. "It is really complex and really relaxing, but complexity doesn't always equate interesting. It's like trying to explain something you're really passionate about to a layperson who doesn't care. Sometimes, complexity can make it even more boring."

~~

"I doubt I could do that in any way that wouldn't badly hurt him, but I'll consider it," Lex sniggered. "Later."
 
"God forbid you have to listen to a song which does not rely on a catchy chorus," Dark huffed, tipping his head back. "There is a depth of emotion in classical music, you just need to be open enough to feel it instead of relying on a singer telling you how you should react to it. If you cannot hear it, you are not paying attention."

"I enjoy classical music," Daizi smiled, "But I initially went to college for it."

"If you really want to learn, you need to lie on the ground with either sun or moonlight on your face as someone plays it for you."
 
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"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Xander drawled, "so how about I go find us something else? Something we can all agree is nice for background music and does not bring to mind high tea, cocktail parties, and black ties."

"True, we aren't old enough for one of those," Alec agreed, following him.

Tristan pulled up in front of the house. He was early. A little earlier than he'd meant to be, but traffic had been more favorable than expected. He took his time making sure he had everything before pulling himself up out of his car and using the luggage rack on top to pull himself around to where he could open the back door and pull out his chair. That move by itself was not difficult. It was like awkward monkey bars. The hard part came in not rubbing his blue suit up against the road-dirtied car. Once he had his chair out, he went around to the other side where a piping hot dish sat wrapped in towels and his bag. The bag he tucked down next to his leg and the dish sat on his lap. One last check to make sure he had everything before he locked the car and slowly rolled up to the house to knock, taking the time to really appreciate the landscaping and the architecture of the house.
 
Dark frowned, turning slowly to his wife. "They do not know."

"No," Daizi agreed with a patient smile, reaching out to squeeze his hand, "They do not."

"Will you play for me again?"

"Whenever you like."

Rubbing his thumb against the back of her hand, Dark treated himself to a few quiet moments just gazing at the woman he loved more deeply and earnestly than anyone else in the world and was just about to say something when the doorbell rang.

"It seems our guests are arriving." Daizi murmured, holding his hand for just a moment longer as he fought against his every impulse in order to stand.

"It does indeed." He murmured, bringing her knuckles to his lips before letting go and opening the front door. Adorning the guise of a proper host and not a would-be vampiric hermit, he nodded politely to Tristan as he opened the door, magnanimous and poised, "It is good to see you, Tristan. Please, come in, I hope you did not find the drive difficult?"
 
"Good afternoon, Mr. Dark, it is good to see you, especially for such an auspicious occasion!" Tristan greeted him. "The drive was far easier than I anticipated, thus my early arrival. I hope I am not inconveniencing you?"

In the living room, the twins had settled on some background music that was not strictly classical but did have classical elements.
 
"Oh, no, it is quite alright. Somebody needed to be first." Dark replied, stepping aside so Tristan could more easily enter, "Is there anything I could take? The twins are back in the living room."

After slipping on her sunglasses, Daizi drifted into the front hall, "Hello, Tristan! It's lovely to have you."
 
"If you don't mind taking this?" Tristan asked, lifting up the hot dish. "I wouldn't want to have gotten this far and then dropped it at the finish line." He looked up as Daizi entered and smiled. "Hello, Daizi. Those are some lovely sunglasses you have." He paused and opened the small waist bag he'd tucked by his leg and started carefully pulling out something small and plastic. "Alec warned me that you do not like shoes in your house, and am I correct in assuming it has to do with tracking in outside dirt? And perhaps floor wear and tear?"
 
"Thank you," Daizi smiled, "I can safely say I did not wear these to court."

As Dark took the hot dish, he said, "I do generally prefer avoiding tracking in dirt, but I understand it can be unavoidable. Would you be willing to touch inside of our salt bowl by the door?"
 
"I suppose you would not want the judge to think you were just winging everything you said," Tristan said cheerfully to Daizi. To Dark, he said, "Certainly! Just one moment." He shook out the plastic so that it unfolded, revealing itself to be two circles the same size as his wheels. It took him a moment to line things up properly as he dangled the plastic in front of one wheel, but once he was able to line it up and start slowly rolling forward, the plastic went right over his wheel in a matter of seconds, fitting snuggly like the world's best shoe cover. He repeated the process with the other wheel, cleaned his hands with an alcohol wipe from his bag, and then reached up to touch the salt.

"Is that Uncle Tristan?" Alec yelled from the living room.
 
"Thank you," Dark replied, truly relieved he wouldn't need to be cleaning up wheel tracks later. It had been weighing on him, "Does this have reheating instructions? Or is it fine as it?"

"Yes, Tristan is here," Daizi said, walking closer to the living room, "Please don't yell, though, Ivy is sleeping upstairs."
 
"It should be fine as is," Tristan said, cautiously wheeling farther in. "Thank you for the ramp. I'm sorry it rather detracts from your house's aesthetics, but it was a welcome relief!"

Alec trotted in. "Hi, Uncle! You're the first! What did you bring?"

"Shepherd's pie," Tristan told him. "It is from a restaurant, but it reminds me of what my mother would make using my grandmother's recipe."
 
"We would rather have an imperfect aesthetic than not be able to host you," Daizi assured him, trying to figure out how to navigate around him without really having any idea how large his chair actually was.

"Does it have lamb or beef in it?" Dark asked curiously, setting it down on the counter before coming around to help his wife.
 
"Beef. I hope that is alright?" Tristan asked, coming to a stop so Daizi could get ahead of him, also trying to figure out how to help her around him. "I would have prefered lamb, but it is difficult to find at times."

"That smells really, really good," Alec grinned. "Thank you! And thank you for coming."
 
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