How Green Becomes Wood

"Good morning," Dark said, immediately going to brew some coffee. He liked tea, he often drank tea, but it wasn't enough sometimes. "I am doing fine, I am certainly on the mend."

Daizi drifted in, shortly after him, bouncing Ivy on her hip, because she was a little grumpy that borning because her schedule had been thrown off the day before.

"Good morning, habibi!" Daizi chirped, much happier than her daughter, hugging Alec with one arm.
 
"Good morning, Al'umu!" Alec greeted her, taking a risk. It felt like a good morning for risks. "And good morning to you, ukht ghadibatan. I think it looks like a lovely morning even if it is a school morning."
 
Daizi's face brighted and she kissed Alec's cheek, "Sabah al-noor, abni," Morning light, my son, sabah al-noor being the typical, Arabic response to good morning, "She is grumpy today, isn't she? Oh, it's amazing what disrupted sleep does!"

"Let us all hope the day goes by quickly," Dark said, quietly impressed with Alec's pronunciation. He still needed some work on getting the gh sound, but he was certainly improving.

"You and I both know your coworkers missed you, Goose," She said, releasing Alec so she could continue pacing the kitchen with Ivy.
 
Alec grinned and muttered the Arabic saying to himself, trying to commit it to memory so he could say it on another morning. He finished packing his lunch and moved on to helping with breakfast. He was looking forward to today! He wasn't looking forward to school without Xander, but he was going to be brave. He was going to make an effort to enjoy himself and not focus on the fact that Xander wasn't with him.
 
"You can take a class over the summer," Dark suggested, preparing breakfast along with him, "If you really want to work on your language skills. Otherwise, if we visit Daizi's family in Egypt, you will be able to talk to everyone, but not read any of the signs."
 
Alec looked at Dark in surprise. "You think I should? I hadn't really thought about it. Xander and I have been trying to teach ourselves, but I guess we still have a lot to learn."
 
Dark shrugged his shoulders, "If it matters to you, and it is something you want to improve on. We never are going to push you to learn our language, but since you are already learning, it might help you grasp it better.'
 
"Might be a good idea, especially since we have people to practice with, but the question is, which variation of Arabic do we focus on?" Alec frowned.

Xander finally came downstairs as they were sitting down for breakfast. He mumbled a good morning to the room at large before grabbing something easy to eat and sitting down.
 
"Good morning, Xander," Daizi said softly, still pacing around the kitchen. Ivy wasn't crying, but she had certainly woken up on the wrong side of the crib, and whenever her mom stopped walking, she expressed her displeasure.

"Learn Modern Standard or Egyptian." Dark advised him, bringing breakfast to the table, "It is unlikely you will ever visit Iraq, so it will not help you much. But Egyptian Arabic is more widely known."
 
"Okay," Alec agreed eagerly. He glanced at Xander. "Sleep well?"

"Too well," Xander mumbled, head down. He felt whatever the non-alcoholic version of hungover was. The day before had been awesome, but he'd overdone it. He was utterly exhausted, half deaf, and headachy, but it was worth it.

Alec looked at Dark. "Thank you for breakfast. Ready to go back to work?"
 
"Oh, habibi..." Daizi said softly, hearing that tone in his voice and understanding fairly well how he was feeling, "Let me get you some water."

Dark sighed, and regretted it, but stood, "I suppose so." He kissed Daizi on the lips as she fetched Xander water and kissed Ivy's forehead, saying his good-byes to them both. Then, he said in a soft voice to Xander, "Go back to bed and rest, you do not need to be awake."

Since his bag was still in his classroom, he just grabbed his keys and walked to his car, wanting to stretch out his goodbyes, but knowing he shouldn't, for his own sake.
 
Xander attempted to protest Daizi's offer for water, but he didn't have the effort in him. Instead, he turned to telling Alec goodbye, giving him a hug before he left. Dark got a vague wave.

Alec hugged Daizi and gave Ivy a very light kiss on the forehead. Then he grabbed his bag and headed out. Time to have a good idea!
 
Even had Xander argued, she still would have brought him water. She also brought him pain killers, and after the door was shut and Alec and Xander had left, she told him, "I'm going to go upstairs with Ivy so she doesn't bother you, okay?"

Dark was less enthused about the day than Alec was, but he drove to work nonetheless. To his surprise, and moderate discomfort, when he walked into the teacher's lounge, his coworkers clapped for him and gave him praise he didn't think he particularly deserved, but he supposed it was better than ridicule.
 
"No, it's okay. I'll go upstairs and hang out in my room," Xander protested. "You don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine. You should have the run of the house."

Alec walked into the gym and looked around. It had been a while since he had been here early enough to need to wait in the gym. With Xander driving, they arrived comfortably on time. He steeled himself and went to find his old spot. At least he had extra homework time! He had a lot to catch up on, even with extensions.
 
"If you're sure, but let me know if you need anything, okay?" Daizi made him promise and then let him retreat to his room.

After about fifteen minutes of Alec being there, Milo slipped up behind him, hands in his pockets, "Hey Xander..." he said, noting the change in hair but not thinking anything of it until Alec turned to face him, "Oh, you're not--- I'm sorry, from behind--- You got a haircut---"
 
"Promise," Xander agreed before heading to his room. He didn't want Daizi to feel anymore trapped than she already was. He knew she didn't like having to go to another room to feed Ivy, and he appreciated that she did, though he had no idea how to thank her for it without making it awkward. There was no way he was going to trap her with a whiny baby.

Alec turned when Milo spoke to him and smiled, amused. "Hey. Yeah, it was kind of a spontaneous thing, and I didn't think about how similar I'd look to Xander. How does it look?"
 
"It's um. Edgy." Milo replied, sitting down next to Alec, "It's French. My mom dyes her hair anytime she has a bad day." He scratched behind his ear. This was weird. He knew what he wanted to ask. But he felt like he shouldn't.

"Are you all okay?" Well. He asked it.
 
Alec considered the question. "I think so," he finally said. "Bumps and bruises, and Xander's still got a nasty concussion, and Ba didn't get out without a scratch, unfortunately, but we're healing. Physically and mentally." He glanced at Milo. "I'm sorry you had to see all of that, but thank you for what you did."
 
"I'm glad you're healing," Milo murmured, scratching his arm. "I was worried. I'm glad that, you know. I saw it. So that I could tell your dad. I'm not really brave or anything. But I can run pretty fast."
 
Alec glanced at him in shock. "Not brave? Not only did you save our lives, you came back to record it all. That was pretty brave. Thank you." He smiled and patted Milo's shoulder. "You are a real gem of a guy." He started putting things into his backpack since the bell was going to ring soon. "Say, why haven't you stopped by?"
 
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