How Green Becomes Wood

"Sure," Xander nodded. "I know. It's just hard to put into words what Judo is for someone who does it. It's one of those things that just... It's like trying to explain the joys of flying through the air to someone who's never so much as jumped off a couch. There's something about it that just isn't capturable in words and makes it different."
 
"But you said you aren't sure it's for you," Sloan retorted. "You literally said you don't know if you care that much about it. So like, are you holding onto Judo, or are you holding onto the first kind of movement-with-competition you found yourself in?"
 
"Fine, sorry." Sloan replied, but honestly did not understand why it was such a touchy subject for him. He had expressed he wasn't sure if he wanted to keep doing judo, she had told him it's fine to try something knew if he didn't feelb that strongly for it, and now he was annoyed for her putting 'pressure' on him. If saying he could try something new was pressure, there was no chance he would've survived her upbringing.
 
Xander didn't bother trying to explain to Sloan, seeing no reason to. He vaguely knew she didn't understand, but in that moment, he really didn't care. Maybe another day they could talk about this, and he'd be calmer, but right now, it just felt like too much. He did not want to explain, and he felt like he was failing to explain what little he had tried to explain, and that was just making him more frustrated. He just wanted to get to class and get this day over with.

Becky came bouncing over, her brunette hair up in pigtails, and her outfit themed in pink and blue today, complete with fluffy hair ties. "Hi, guys! Xander, why do you look like someone stole your hedgehog? Where's Alec?"
 
Sloan sighed, feeling very much like she had been transported back in time over something that literally didn't even seem that deep. And of course, yes, she understood that Alec was home and upset, which was always stressful for Xander, and she wouldn't even be annoyed if it wasn't for how quickly he seemed to go from casually having a discussion with her to being visibly annoyed and telling her to drop it instead of just changing the topic or asking to talk about something else.

When Becky came up, she smiled and greeted her casually, but didn't try to answer for Xander, because he was in one of his moods and she wasn't going to make the decision to either lie or tell the truth and say the wrong thing. Instead, she chose to laugh slightly and say, "I don't think 'stole your hedgehog' is a real phrase."
 
"I know, but it should be," Becky chirped. "So... Where is he? He's not answering my texts, which isn't exactly unheard of, but he normally has his phone at this time of day."

"Home," Xander said bluntly.

"Okay..." Becky said slowly. "Why?"

"Not feeling well," Xander said.

Becky glared at him. "Don't make me threaten you with physical touch just to get you to offer me the basic human decency of telling me what's up with my friend, a.k.a., your older brother."

"I'm the older one," Xander said, slightly rankled. "He's home because he and Emma broke up."

"Finally!" Becky loudly sighed in relief. Her eyes widened, and she glanced around quickly. Thankfully, no one seemed to be paying attention. "Oops. Thank goodness no one heard," she whispered.
 
Sloan looked at the pair of them, felt this was only bound to get worse, and so she picked up her bag and said, "I'm going to go find Claire. See you both later, okay?"

Shortly after she left them, Milo came creeping into the gymnasium, his head down, trying to not attract much attention.
 
"It's fine," Xander huffed. "He'll be alright. In time. Just maybe don't look so happy about it?"

"Right," Becky said. She frowned. "I'll bring him some cookies or something." She spotted Milo before Xander and smiled. "Hey! I was hoping to see you today." Then her frown returned. "Are you okay?"

Xander turned to look at Milo.
 
"Yeah, fine," Milo replied, rubbing the back of his neck and looking up at them for only a moment. Now that he knew Becky was giving him candy to try and make him like her, although he believed it was platonic, he was half-dreading it. The bribe felt weird, and even though she literally just wanted to be friends, it made him second guess everything she did or said, because his paranoid mind only expected more ploys. "Just running late today."
 
"Oh. Okay," Becky said, her expression still concerned. She reached out to touch Milo's shoulder, but she caught herself. She'd never seen either of the twins touch Milo, and, yes, they were guys, and guys tended not to do that, and Xander did not touch period, but Alec touched a lot. She drew back her hand before it landed and offered a fist bump, copying what she'd seen Xander do. "I'm glad you made it."

Xander watched them carefully. Was Milo really okay?
 
Milo looked at Becky for a moment and then awkwardly and clumsily returned the fist bump before sitting down next to Xander. Then, scanning the area in his way, noted who wasn't there, and only briefly looked at his friend, but didn't inquire. Usually, if Alec wasn't there, it meant something had occurred, although sometimes he was just off talking to someone else.
 
"Right," Becky said, suddenly feeling awkward. "I had something I wanted to talk to you about, but it'll keep. I'll see you at lunch. See you!" She hurried away.

Xander pulled out a small fidget toy and started messing with it with more vigor than usual.
 
"Alec ended it," Xander told him. "Realized she was just trying to use him like a check mark in a box for her life list. She was stealing his sparkle. So, he said no more."
 
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