How Green Becomes Wood

"I am sure it will be a very enlightening course, especially as I am largely self-taught," Dark told Alec, earnest in his response.

When he opened up Xander's present and the balloon floated up, Ivy burst out in bright laughter, amazed by the rubber thing and its sudden appearance. Dark looked up at it in surprise and then stood to catch the string. He understood the intention but couldn't resist looking sarcastically at Xander and asking, "Are you trying to tell me something about my cooking?"
 
"Absolutely. It doesn't have enough cream in it," Xander smirked. "Happy birthday."

Sally had sent Dark a birthday "card" that was actually a small, tall rectangle. When Dark opened it, it turned into a popup card with skulls, ravens and black and red roses. "Happy Birthday" in gothic font took up the front.

Jack had sent Dark an actual card. It was from a small business and was an elegantly done, properly creepy monster that looked slightly like a cross between a spiky octopus and an angler fish. On the front, it said in curly letters, "Unhappy Birthday." Inside, the card had been drawn to look like a creepy room, and Jack had written, "Welcome to a new decade." His card had come with a gift, a book on the history of tattoos in Australia with beautiful, glossy paged photos.
 
"I will be sure to work on that," Dark teased, and then more earnestly said, "Thank you."

Dark spent some time reading over the birthday cards, making a mental note to thank them later, and then Daizi gave him his gift from "Ivy", a resin skull with vampire fangs, carefully made to look as realistic and aged as possible. Then Daizi gave him a silver ring with a replica of a Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet fragment on it.
 
Alec was fascinated by the skull and asked to see it when Dark was ready to give it up. It was very cool! He gave it back once he'd gotten a good look at it.

"Not bad. Not as good as Italian food, but not bad," Xander quipped dryly.
 
"I wouldn't know. The only thing even close to Italian that I've had is chicken Alfredo from a very clearly not Italian restaurant," Xander said mildly.

Alec snickered and said, "We should get going so we aren't late."
 
"We can be fashionably late," Daizi grinned, reaching out her hand to Dark. He took it and stood.

"We could be, but we probably should not be," Dark replied, kissing the back of her hand, "Ivy-Qadira, Baba is very sorry, but you cannot bring the pretty balloon."
 
Alec gently took the balloon and stashed it aside carefully stashed if for Dark to do what he wanted with it later. Then he and Xander headed for the car. They wondered if other people had gotten there first.
 
On the drive over, Daizi put on Dark's favourite music, and soon enough they were at the nicest Arab restaurant in town. Cooger was waiting for them outside and immediately squeezed Dark into a fierce hug, wishing him a happy birthday and only teasing him a little.

"Be careful," Dark said coolly, "You turn 40 in only a few months."
 
Lex smiled as she watched them. "You're looking pretty good for your age," she said, handing him a tiny box about three inches wide and maybe half an inch deep. It was her gift to him, a round ornament for a tree or wherever else someone might want to hang it. It was white with simple black lettering that said, "Iraqi Dad - Noun: Like a normal dad but so much cooler. See also: Handsome, and Exceptional." She didn't expect him to open it there, and she expected Daizi would get a kick out of it when he told her about it.
 
"I am older than him and look younger." Dark replied, nodding to Cooger as he took the present from her, "Thank you for this. I hope you do not mind if I wait until I am home to open it?"
 
"Sure thing," Lex assured him. "It's weird sitting around opening gifts while people stare at you, right? Who came up with that tradition?"

"People who enjoy watching to see if the other person really liked it or not," Alec muttered to Xander, who nodded.
 
"The less people stare at me the better," Dark said, opening the door to the restaurant and allowing everyone to enter before him. In her carrier, Ivy was already screeching with delighted excitement to see her uncle. Responding to her in a cute, gentle voice, Cooger kept telling her she just had to hold on a little, 'cause just as soon as he was seated, he'd take her out to play, he promised.

"We're just waiting on a few more people," Daizi told Lex as Dark let the host know they were there so they could be shown to the backroom, "It'll be a fairly small gathering."
 
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Seeing Daizi and Dark, Lex had had a moment of feeling severely underdressed in her jeans and blue sweater, but then she glanced at Cooger, dressed much the same, and relaxed. If he wasn't dressed to the nines, then it was okay. "I have a hard time imagining Mr. Dark there agreeing to a large birthday celebration," she remarked, following Daizi into the restaurant. "You look good, by the way."
 
"No, he wouldn't," Daizi agreed, "and thank you. It's his favourite dress of mine, actually. Or at least my favourite that isn't too over the top, I couldn't very well bring out my wedding dress."
 
"Believe me, we wanted to decorate for him, but he didn't want it," Daizi said, "He's not really a big fan of his birthday, he moreso celebrates it because he knows we want to celebrate him."
 
Lex grinned. "I barely know him, and that sounds like him. Me, I love a good birthday bash. Not big, but good. Quality over quantity and all that, right? But I wasn't always like that."

The twins followed their parents, staying close and sniffing appreciatively at the smells. This was a nice restaurant! It was easy to see why Dark wanted to come here.
 
"I'll keep that in mind," Daizi chuckled, making a mental note to tell Cooger, "I don't know what I like best. All I really care about is good friends, good memories, and ideally both."

As they said this, Art came in boisterous and excited as ever, in a bright, floral blazer over a cream colored sweater, followed by Hetty, who was much more shy, hands in the pockets of her grey dress. Of course, they went to Dark first, delighted to see him, and then went to say hi to the twins.
 
It was still strange to see teachers outside of school, no matter if their father was a teacher, but Art and Hetty were both favored teachers. Alec greeted them enthusiastically. Xander was more subdued but still polite and upbeat.

Lex hung back, people watching and recognizing Art from school. They were good people.
 
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