How Green Becomes Wood

Dark scrolled through them for a moment. A few were a bit blurry, but he did turn around the camera to show one, where the light breeze had just barely tousled Daizi's hair, "I like this one." He rarely liked how he looked in photographs, but he was glad to have them. When both he and Daizi were standing again, he said, "I think we should take the one with the height measure and then be done with it for now. I just do not wish to forget."

"Well that's one we all need to do independently," Daizi grinned, holding his arm, "I presume otherwise we'll obscure what measures."
 
"Getting one with Ivy is going to be interesting," Alec remarked. "I'll go first!"

Alec surrendered Ivy to Daizi and went to stand by the sign. Then Xander went. Xander tried not to look too moody, but it was basically his default expression.
 
Dark took the pictures, looked at the two of them for a few moments, and then, looking up at the twins, was torn between two choices. "I think Alec is an inch taller than Xander," He lied.
 
"What, really?" Alec asked, shocked, as Xander demanded, "No he isn't, lemme see! If he is, it's his shoes!"

"I'm wearing the same sole height as you!" Alec declared, sticking his tongue out at Xander.

They both hurried toward Dark, shoving each other aside in their efforts to see the picture first.

"You must have been standing on your toes!" Xander said, managing to push Alec aside for a split second.

"You're the one who's all worried about his height!" Alec argued, shouldering Xander aside.
 
Dark clicked his tongue, "With the two of you shoving each other around, I cannot hand my phone over, you will only drop it. But an inch is not particularly large, so it does not really matter."
 
"An inch is a massive deal when you don't already have 68 of them!" Alec countered. He reached for the phone, but Xander got in the way.

Then Xander paused, still hanging onto Alec's arm. He narrowed his eyes at Dark. "Wait a minute... Dude, he's messing with us."

Alec looked at Dark in shock. "Wait... Are you?" He frowned at Dark. "You are!"
 
"I think I am technically 80 inches tall, not 68," Dark replied, "Six times 12 is 72." He stared at them both when they accused him of lying, "Why would I do such a thing? I am simply telling you what I saw."
 
"60, 80, 100, whatever, you would totally lie to us just to see what would happen!" Alec accused, jabbing a finger in Dark's general direction.

"You absolutely would," Xander agreed. "You enjoy chaos. It's a statement of well-known fact."
 
"We know," the twins said.

"You do realize when the mini gets older and starts messing with you two, you will only have yourselves to blame," Xander pointed out.

"Ivy will be better than any of us. It'll be in her blood," Alec said.

Xander smirked. "She'll team up with us, I bet."
 
"She'll team up against both of us depending on what she can benefit most from," Daizi grinned, kissing Ivy on the cheek, "And she'll be right to. If she's predictable, we'll have failed as parents."

"Now it's her turn to measure her up," Dark said, "Spider, if you kneel with her and help to hold her up, I believe she will cooperate."
 
As the twins waited for Dark to get Ivy's picture, they wandered a bit, looking around and reading the signs as best they could from where they stood. There was a lot to see! They didn't even think about it as they joined hands again, their fingertips lightly clinging to each other rather than a full handclasp. It was something they'd done literally since birth, and neither had ever thought twice about it.

An older-middle-aged woman walking by cooed softly. "Oh, it's so sweet to see couples willing to be affectionate in public! Without going so far as to need a censer bar over them."

For a moment, the twins thought they were talking about their parents, but, no, she was looking at them.

"Uh," Alec said, blushing deeply. "I don't..."

"Oh, that's alright, no need to be ashamed! And I love when couples are brave enough to dressing in matching outfits, and even your hair!" she giggled. "How long have you two been a couple?"

"I don't even know how to respond to that," Alec whispered, looking a little queazy.

"Mama! Ba!" Xander called for them. "We need you to embarrass someone for us!"
 
"What are you talking about?" Dark asked, coming up to them with Ivy on his hip. For once, she wasn't holding onto his beard because she was too interested in his scarf and Daizi followed close behind, temporarily leaving the stroller unattended, but this wasn't the sort of place where anyone would try stealing it.

"Who do we need to embarrass?" She asked, while Dark stared a very long way down at the middle-aged woman.

"Were you talking to our children?" He asked, positioning himself between them without looking openly defensive, because he hadn't heard what was going on but clearly saw his children were in some level of distress.
 
"This lady thinks we're dating," Xander informed them. "Alec's brain broke under the idea."

"Uh... I thought... They are both your children?" she stammered, reddening as she looked up and up.

"Dating," Alec squeaked, torn between hysterical laughter and massive embarrassment.
 
"Yes they are both our children," Dark replied while Daizi bit her lip to keep from laughing, "They are identical twins. Even though this one is an inch taller."

Daizi pressed her face against his shoulder to hide her expression both from this stranger and from her children. Ivy only waved to the woman and then went back to examining her father's scarf.
 
"Oh." She turned a very interesting shade of red and mumbled some things about leaving. She did gave Ivy a little wave before she quickly hurried away.

"How?" Alec demanded. "HOW?? Even if you wouldn't say twin, we look related!"

Xander snorted. "It's because of that whole inch you have and the fact that I'm way more handsome." He ducked aside as Alec swiped at him.
 
Once the woman left, Daizi broke down laughing, squeezing Dark tightly just to stay upright. She didn't even have words for that. "Be nice," she eventually squeaked out, "Maybe she has vision problems!"

"Or perhaps she---" Dark began, but then decided he didn't want to make that color of joke to his children, "I do not know, honestly, you both have the same face."
 
"It makes no sense," Alec huffed. "None at all! Maybe she usually wears glasses and didn't realize she forgot to put them on."

"Come on. Let's try to get through the maze without someone trying to say one of us is dating our mother," Xander grumbled.
 
"Or your father," Daizi teased, "Are we not being measured?"

"We are finished growing, there is no point," Dark replied, glancing at the board once again. "It only goes to six feet anyway, there is not much of a point for me to stand against it. And the maze is much more enjoyable for all of us. Ivy stands just higher than two feet, by the way."

"She's gotten so big," Daizi said, unsure if it made her proud or sad, "Should we put her back in her stroller for the maze?"
 
"If you're going to make us do it, you should be sign pictured, too," Xander stated. "We can get two in one for this since you're both so tall. Ba, you stand on one side, Mama on the other, and Alec will hold Ivy."

"If the trail is wide enough, we can use the stroller, but I don't mind helping to carry her," Alec offered, coming to take Ivy from Daizi.
 
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