How Green Becomes Wood

"My brothers are twins, Ahmed and Tariq. But they're fraternal. Being the younger brother of twins was the worst. But Omar and I were born six months apart, so I still had someone. Then Daizi began following us around," He laughed at some memory and shook his head.
 
"Oh yeah, we were inseparable. I was older than I him, but he would lie and claim to be more handsome. Our teachers hated us." Marwan said with a grin, "We weren't mean, and we weren't picking fights, but we were still trouble."
 
Xander snorted as Alec came over to listen. "That's an old argument."

"What's an old argument?" Alec asked.

"Who's more handsome," Xander told him.

"Easy, it's me!" Alec claimed with a flourish of his hands.

Xander rolled his eyes. "Right, you keep believing that."
 
Hassan laughed, "You both have the same face, you're both just as ugly as each other. Not like me." He flashed his grin. "And, I'm an original."

"All I know is Omar exaggerated." Marwan replied, eating one of the cinnamon gummy bears without realizing they were cinnamon until it was too late. When he recovered, he said, "He took good care of your mom."
 
"The delusion is strong with this one," Xander remarked mildly to Alec.

They both paused and smirked a little at Marwan's reaction to the cinnamon gummy bears. Alec politely offered him a cup of water to help him out.

"She still speaks very highly of him," Alec said. "He sounds... like he was one-of-a-kind."
 
Marwan turned and peered towards his cousin, "It's because we didn't want to treat her like she was made of glass, she deserved to be messed with like anyone else, but a lot of people who wanted to mess with her wanted just wanted to hurt her. Someone had to teach her how to have fun."
 
"We have Hassan and Noor," He glanced around suddenly, realizing he hadn't seen his eldest child in a moment, "call your parents Amty and A'amm, aunt and uncle. But we'd be on your mothers side, so I'd be Khal Marwan, but I don't mind if you just call me Marwan. I'm not all that formal, we're technically just cousins, I think, by American standards."
 
"Khal Marwan," Alec said carefully.

"Marwan," Xander stated. "And I have no idea how family ties work. You're an aunt, an uncle, or a cousin to me. Once we get past that, I check out."

Alec looked toward the gathering in the living room. "This is the most family we've ever had in one room at a time! It is a lot of fun."

"It is a lot," Xander agreed quietly.
 
"Yeah, I should probably head back to that," Marwan sighed making a face, "My wife will be mad. I just prefer being at the kid's table." He ruffled Hassan's hair, "You, go find your sister. And you two better get used to it, because this is nothing compared to the madness you'll have on Saturday. And nothing compared to the chaos of if you visit Egypt, this is only a small assortment of relatives. My brothers all have their own kids."
 
Xander heaved a quiet sigh. "I dunno if I want to visit Egypt now."

Alec smiled and gave him a little nudge. "You'll be fine. It was nice to talk to you, Khal Marwan!" To Hassan he said, "Noor is out in the garden. I can go find her, if you'd like."
 
"Unfortunately, kid, I think it's inevitable." Marwan chuckled, walking back to the living room and squeezing both Daizi and Dark on the shoulder before he sat down next to his wife who gave him a quick where were you? look before holding his hand briefly.

"The garden? Okay, cool, nah I can find her." Hassan promised brightly, eating one more gummy shark before heading that way, "Woah, there's a lot of space. Do you have a football? I mean, we're in America, a soccer ball?"
 
"No, but we could probably get a cheap one to kick around while you're here," Alec said brightly. "Or maybe Sloan, our neighbor, her younger brother might have one we could borrow."

"As long as it doesn't end up in the flower beds," Xander warned.
 
"Uh-huh, I'll see if Sloan's little brother can surrender a ball," Xander said.

"I'll text her! I want to see Hassan's skills," Alec said excitedly. He reached for his phone. It wasn't there. "I just had it a second ago," he grumbled. He turned, looking around the room. "I was showing Noor a picture, she gave it back, and..." He trailed off.

Xander watched him for a minute and then pulled out his phone to text his friend to see if they had a spare soccer ball.
 
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