How Green Becomes Wood

"I would hope you both are healthier than I am." Dark replied truthfully, "I hope if either of you become fathers, you get more sleep than I do and trust yourselves more." He paused for a moment and then added, "And know how to be more light-hearted and less serious than I am."
 
"What do you mean? You're plenty light-hearted," Xander asked, confused.

Alec frowned and reached out to grip Dark's arm lightly. "I'm sorry that I make you feel bad about that. It's not your problem. It's my problem. You should be allowed to be you."
 
"I love you too." Dark replied before calling the waiter over to place the to-go order of pad thai for Daizi, "I am not intentionally leaving you out, Xander, I just truly do not know how to go about explaining things."
 
"Nah, it's cool. I know what you mean," Xander said, waving a hand.

"I can explain more later, if you want," Alec suggested.

Xander shrugged. "If you want. I don't mind if you two have something going on."
 
"I believe so, yes," Dark replied as he paid the bill before leading them to the car. "I am glad we had the time to do this. It may not have been all of our favourite activities, but I enjoyed being able to share something like this with you both."

During the drive home, he chatted easily with them, feeling a bit warm inside over what, to him, felt like an extremely successful bonding afternoon. As they stepped inside the house, he paused. The sound of the piano was drifting from upstairs. Daizi was playing again. But it also sounded like she was playing with more force than was typical for her, although the notes they could hear from downstairs all certainly sounded correct. Just a little different.

In truth, Daizi made it home from being with her aunts a full hour before the rest of her family had, and Ivy was fast asleep less than fifteen minutes after coming inside, exhausted from an afternoon of being passed around by people who were still largely strangers. So, like Dark had recently, she found herself completely alone in her home. Like him, she couldn't remember the last time she had the house essentially to herself. At first, she had no idea what to do with herself, so she drifted upstairs to... try to play? She guessed? That's what she vaguely remembered doing. Her harp still didn't feel quite right, so she sat at the piano, which wasn't that strange for her. Plenty of songs didn't sound right on the harp.

And she was alone. There was nobody there to listen in. Nobody there to ask questions, or to intrude, or to judge or to anything. It was just her---and a sleeping baby in the other room, but Ivy had grown up around so much music it seldomly woke her. And she just let herself play angry, angsty, frustrated music because (as far as she still believed) nobody was there, she was free, and felt no obligation to play pretty music.

I'm waking up late
Just offended my idol
They ask me how I feel, they hand me title after title
Josephine, every success I get I think about your reaction
And I make myself more and more into a tourist attraction
Cause in the end, I still feel the cut off thread
The little kid who doesn't know what she did wrong or said
I wonder if you know how much it fucked with me
Is that what you wanted, Josephine? Josephine? Josephine?
 
Alec and Xander both slowed to a stop as they took off their shoes and reached for the salt. Xander stood with one shoe on and one shoe off, and Alec had his hand lingering in the bowl of salt as they listened. Neither could remember the last time they'd heard Daizi play like this. It was... open. Free. Passionate. They finished what they were doing slowly, as if hypnotised, and moved to stand at the bottom of the stairs, caught in a feeling of wonder and trepidation.

Alec finally shook himself enough to ask Dark softly, "Is Mama upset?" He wasn't certain how to take the music and the lyrics. Sometimes songs were just songs. Sometimes they were more.
 
Dark stood still, looking up at the stairs. "She might be." Honestly, he was grappling with it as much as they were. It definitely didn't sound like a happy song, he noted that anger in her voice. But she was playing again. And playing like that. She did sound angry, but she sounded motivated. After a few moments considering it with furrowed brows he answered, "I think she has needed this."

The only thing changing is the color of your
hair
And I'm flashing like a chameleon song after song
It's a form of begging something that I'm proving you wrong
I'm proving you wrong
I'm proving you wrong
Oh please please please please
I'm proving you wrong
I'm proving you wrong
I'm proving you wrong
Oh please please please
please
please
please
 
"I agree." Dark nodded, putting the takeaway pad thai in the fridge. From upstairs, Daizi was definitely singing and not quite yelling, but her voice was still a bit raw and raspy as though she sang:

I'm drinking everything I ever wanted like scotch
And baby baby I'm gonna make you watch

Not really knowing what else to do with himself, Dark sat down on the floor of the living room and pet Enkidu, listening to his wife sing and play upstairs, glad to hear her working some of this out in her own way.
 
The twins settled down in the living room with a book, nestled together on one end of the couch. They listened quietly. Xander found himself enjoying the song with its raw emotion. It was beautiful, in its way. Alec tried to keep himself distracted, hating the sound. To him, it sounded like pain. He didn't want anyone to feel pain. He knew he sometimes played and sang to work though emotions, but it felt different when others did it.
 
Daizi played a few more songs after the one they came home to but none were as angry as the first, and as she continued to pay the songs and the piano became slower until she stopped mid-song and let the notes finish themselves. She took a deep breath, rubbed her face, stretched, and figured she should drink some water.

Feeling much lighter than she had before giving herself the time to really just be as loud as she wanted with her feelings, she went downstairs, fully unaware her family had come home.
 
Alec breathed a little easier when the songs stopped, and when he heard the sound of Daizi's footsteps coming their direction, he struck up a conversation with Xander, keeping his voice low, but trying to alert Daizi without scaring her. "Shoes are not so bad. The dress ones, I mean."

"Maybe not, but I think my feet are wider than yours. Wide feet and dress shoes are not a fun combo," Xander replied, also keeping his tone low.

"What? Our feet have always been the same size," Alec defended.

This, of course, meant they had to drag their feet out and start trying to measure them against each other.
 
Hearing their voices, Daizi paused, a faint blush coming to her face, "I didn't realize you all were home."

"We only just came inside," Dark replied, moving so it sounded like he was just sitting on the couch, "How were your aunts?"
 
"It was nice," She said, sitting down on the couch, "Khalaty Amira and Amty Fadia are flying back to Egypt tomorrow, and so are all of my cousins. I'm glad I was able to visit with most of my family one more time before they go. How was the suit shopping, though? Did you find something you liked?"
 
"Yes! I love the way the suit feels, and Xander got one that sits differently," Alec explained. He tried his best to describe both suits, omitting their colors but trying to get even the way the buttons felt described to her.

"I got a bowtie," was Xander's contribution.
 
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