How Green Becomes Wood

Noor looked at Xander and slightly stuck her chin out, silently gesturing what are you looking at? before following after her brother.

"That's so cool. Amty Daizi and A'amm Dark are weird." It was clear by his tone he meant this positively and he looked over at Alec, "Hey, um," he shifted his eyes over his shoulders to make sure his parents were distracted and then leaned in, "Do you got any American snacks? I want to try everything."
 
Alec lit up in a delighted smile. "Yes we do, and that guy," he indicated Xander, "is your man."

Xander smirked. "We've got a few things here at the house, and I know where to get more. If you want, we can show you around a bit and treat you to some junk food."
 
"I want to try sour patch kids," Hassan grinned, "This is my first time in America, I want to try everything. Does your school do the American foot ball? Like in the movies, with the cheerleaders?"

Noor wandered away from them and peered out the back door at the garden, arms crossed.
 
Xander winced. "Yeah, we got football. And cheerleaders. They're pretty toxic. They've been getting better since their ringleader got taken out. We don't have sour patch kids, but we do have gummy worms. Regular and sour."

Alec followed Noor and looked out at the garden. "That's Mama's pride and joy," he told her, keeping his voice low. "I'm going to try to learn more from her when she has more time."
 
"What! You don't like them!" Hassan responded, shocked, but then frowned for a moment before laughing, "I guess most of the American movies have them as the bad guys. It's always the girl with glasses who is the good one not the cheerleaders. I've never had gummy worms, either."

"It's so green." Noor replied.
 
"It kind of varies. Depends on the school. Depends on the couch. Depends on what the school will put up with," Xander said. He gestured for Hassan to follow him into the kitchen. "A couple of the guys are okay. I don't really know anything about the cheerleaders, but there's this one girl who's into gymnastics - kind of similar to cheerleading - and she's one of the coolest people I know." He went to the cabinet that was the twins' stash of American junk food and fished out several gummy candies they had. He set gummy worms, gummy sharks, and bears. The bears came in regular and cinnamon, and the worms cam in regular and sour. "Gummy worms and gummy bears are about as American as it gets with gummy candies."

"It is really pretty right now. It's going to get browner as winter comes. It is even greener with all sorts of colors in spring," Alec told her. He fished his phone out of his back pocket and searched through his pictures until he eventually found one of Ivy looking at a flower earlier in the summer. The picture was wide enough to see a fair amount of the garden and the flowers. He held out his phone to Noor so she could see it. "This is summer."
 
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Hassan's eyes lit up and he even allowed himself to rub his hands like a house fly hatching a plot as he looked down at the display, "I can't believe your parents let you have all of this. Which is the best?"

Noor looked at the picture for a few moments and then turned her face back to the garden, "Amty Daizi works hard. It looks like it would make you sneeze in Spring."
 
Xander shrugged. "I think it's kind of their way of acknowledging this is how we grew up. Their food is way different than what we grew up eating. And we buy a fair amount of this with our own money." He pointed to the worms. "I like the regular worms, but the cinnamon bears are a runner-up. Lemme grab you some water." He got a cup and filled it with water before handing it to Hassan. "Have fun."

Alec nodded. "It does make my nose tickle. Do you have a garden back home?"
 
"I've never even heard of cinnamon bears," Hassan replied, thanking Xander for the water and then after a few moments of thinking, decided to try the cinnamon bear first and after swallowing, he grinned at Xander and laughed, "That is very weird. It's good."

"We have a courtyard. We have a few plants in pots, but it's not like this." Noor replied, glancing behind her, "Hassan is going to ruin his appetite."
 
"It's a weird flavor," Xander nodded. "You can get them dipped in chocolate, too."

"Most likely, but isn't that one of the fun things to do when going somewhere new?" Alec asked with a smile. "Do you want to try some?"
 
"Cinnamon gummy bears dipped in chocolate?" Hassan asked, making a face, "Americans have a reputation, you know."

She shook her head, "Maybe later. Right now I'm just 'meeting my relatives.' Or whatever." She took a glance behind him at her father holding Ivy and then looked back at the garden.
 
"We also have a saying: don't knock it until you try it," Xander said blandly. "Some weird as heck combos are really good, like chicken and waffles with Maple syrup. Other stuff isn't so great, but it's worth trying."

"You sound utterly thrilled," Alec said, amused. "You can wander the garden, if you want to get some alone time. Just don't pick anything. Some of the flowers are special."
 
Hassan raised his head and squinted at Xander, holding a gummy worm halfway to his mouth. "What is 'knock it'?"

"You try sitting next to my brother on a twelve hour flight, having a few hours of rest, and then needing to get dressed to hang out with people you barely know." Noor replied blandly, "It makes a lobotomy look like a spa treatment."
 
"Um." Xander paused, trying to think of how to define something he used constantly without thinking. "I think it's like... criticize. Don't criticize something, like food, until you try it. But it's meant in like a joking way. Not super serious. Usually."

"That does sound difficult," Alec said sympathetically. "There's a nice bench swing out there. You can go sit for a bit and rest if you'd like. I don't think anyone will really notice, and I can come get you in a bit."
 
"Oh," Hassan nodded studiously and then grinned again, "Don't knock it until you try it. Very cool."

"Hassan..." Marwan said, having stepped into the kitchen after insisting Daizi and Dark he was perfectly capable of getting his own water, "What are you doing?"

Hassan dropped his shoulders and stared up at his father with wide eyes, quickly finishing the rest of his gummy worm.

"Difficult is a word for it," She drawled, but then forced herself to say, "That would be nice, thank you. I'll be sure to compliment my aunt on her flowers afterwards."
 
Xander turned with an easy shrug. "I was showing him the rubbish Americans like me eat compared to him," he said. He held out a gummy worm to Marwan. "It's just one. Can't hurt."

Alec fetched her a small blanket to wrap around her shoulders if she got cold and opened the door for her. "Rest well!"
 
Marwan glanced behind him and then joined them, positioning himself so his back blocked the view from anyone else who may poke their heads in. In Arabic he told his son, "Don't tell your mother." After Hassan promised he wouldn't, he patted him on the back and bent with his elbows on the counter to enjoy the candy with them. "You'll be in trouble if I'm not invited next time." After eating a gummy shark, he extended one hand to Xander, "I'm Marwan, your mom's cousin."

"Thanks," Noor replied, taking the blanket from him and walking out to the swing.
 
Xander hesitated briefly before accepting the handshake. Handshakes weren't usually too bad, but with all these people, he was wondering how many there'd be. "Xander. The elder twin," he said. "Nice to meet you. Do you prefer bears, worms, or sharks?"

Alec watched her go and then turned to keep an eye on the rest of the gathering. He needed to remember to keep track of the time for Noor. Maybe... fifteen minutes? Twenty? If she wasn't back in twenty, he'd go get her before anyone noticed she was gone. Hopefully.
 
"Elder twin? You have proof of that?" Marwan grinned the same asymmetrically grin as his son. "In college, I had one too many cavities on sour gummy worms. I stress ate them while studying for my exams."
 
"Pretty sure I do," Xander said. They never had gotten around to figuring out that argument, and he didn't think they ever would. It was more fun this way. "I'm a regular worm myself." He flicked a worm at the other two. "Don't say it. The joke is way too easy."
 
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