How Green Becomes Wood

Dark nodded, and took the time to really listen and understand what Alec said before responding, "That makes sense. And it makes sense why your mom was so harsh with her rules, considering what she had been through, and having two sons who might have grown to replicate certain behaviors..." He allowed the thought to trail off. Their mother had not gone about it in the right away, in his opinion, but he could see why she had done what she did.

Dark took a little bit more time to think, finishing the last of his lemonade, "It is an upbringing I understand," he admitted, "Remember I grew up in a place where seeing a woman's hair was considered immoral, if she was not your family. And it took Daizi a long time to be comfortable showing her hair, even though she did not want to follow that modesty rule anymore. There is nothing wrong with a woman who chooses to cover her hair, but my point is we both had upbringings, me more than her, where bodies were treated as extremely shameful and private and something not to see. I remember, women were not even allowed to become friends with my father, nor speak to him if he did not address them first. But there is a difference. Context is everything."

Again he paused, drumming his fingers on the tabletop, "Please forgive me and try not to expire or astral project when I say this, I cannot think of a better way to express this sentiment: When see Daizi fresh from the shower, searching through drawers for the right bra while getting ready for work in the morning, it is neutral to me. It is no different than you see a man with a towel around his waist. But there are other times when she approaches me, and the same... shapes, mean something rather different," He blushed lightly, in spite of himself, "because the intention is different. There is nothing sexual about breastfeeding, so it is not something you need to be scared or anxious about seeing. It involves a sexualized body part, but it is no more sexual than seeing a lamb suckle the sheep's udder. I do understand it is not that easy to undo years of teaching, trust me, I very much understand, but it is still something to keep in mind. It is all about context, and that is true for diaper changes too--although I do not expect you to do them. It is no more sexual than your own bathroom trips are."

Dark rubbed the back of his neck, this conversation was important, he knew, but that didn't mean it was by any means comfortable or easy. He wished he had time to prepare, "As for what happens with an actual relationship... I suppose we can discuss that later, unless you would like to talk about it now. And of course, if you have any questions, about any of it, you can come to me, with them. I know the school does anonymous question boxes for those thing, and since there are two of you, if it is easier, we could..."
 
Xander tried not to squirm, he really did, but he couldn't help it as his face grew red at Dark's explanation. Maybe he should have stuck to agreeing to hide in his room. But Dark always said he should feel safe and comfortable! No, what he should do was figure out how to state an opinion or make a request without making it sound like he was arguing or going to war. That would save him from so many talks.

Alec took it easier. He was still embarrassed, and his insides squirmed even if his outsides didn't, but he sat still and listened politely despite the blush on his cheeks. He appreciated what Dark was saying and that he was taking the time to explain. He disagreed that intention and context were everything when it came to certain things, but he could see the argument and respected it. It wasn't really the point of the immediate subject, so he decided not to bring that up. At least, not right now.

Then Dark brought up talking about relationships, and both boys' eyes grew wide.

"Nope!" Xander yelped.

"No, thank you," Alec stammered, now as red as Xander. "At least not right now."

"Babies are more than enough right now," Xander agreed.

"Maybe another time. I guess it is something we have to face eventually," Alec nodded.

"But babies are more than enough!" Xander repeated.

Once they calmed from their initial fluster, Alec said, "But... thank you for the offer. Really."
 
"Okay, good," he nodded, and was not able to hide the fact he was relieved, "some other time, then. When you are ready." Dark instinctively went to take a sip of his lemonade, and then remembered it was empty so he set the glass back down. Then, he pushed his hair back, and looked again at Xander, "But, just so you know, I know the thought of her breastfeeding seems very strange and uncomfortable right now, but newborns eat something like very two to four hours, sometimes more, so it will become normal for you. I cannot imagine how it would not."

He had no idea how they would react to when the baby was potty-trained. Hopefully they would be more comfortable with it, and to an extent (and he even knew this was naïve), he believed that once the baby had been born, and they met her, they would clearly understand the difference between a diaper change and a grown woman, "Well. I suppose this is one conversation Daizi will not be sorry to have missed."
 
Xander snorted at Dark's last statement. "I imagine not." What he could not imagine was growing used to breastfeeding, but he figured that, in a way, Dark was right about that. If Daizi was not actually going to be walking around with an exposed breast, than the discomfort was on him to deal with. Somehow. As long as Daizi was being reasonable, so could he. Somehow.

"If Daizi really does feel bad about missing time, just tell her we're proud of her, and it's only temporary," Alec told Dark. "Afterall, in a few months' time, she'll be seeing all she could ever stand of us! When we aren't in school."
 
"You should tell her that, not me," He replied. "And it is true, soon she will be around much more, which will be nice. Although it feels almost too soon, we are over halfway to that finish line..." He breathed in deeply, "It is strange, for so many years I had hoped to be in this situation with her, and now it feels as if I do not have enough time to prepare."

Dark looked over at his shed. The crib and cradle were in good shape to be finished by the time he went back to school. But it seemed 40 weeks went by much more quickly than they ought to. It felt like only a month or two ago since she found out she was pregnant, and now... "But speaking of Daizi, though: It is her birthday on Monday."
 
"From what I hear, not even the people who plan for this feel ready," Alec told Dark with a grin. Then he frowned. "Monday?"

"Talk about leaving things for the last minute!" Xander groaned. "What are we doing for her birthday? The garden place? A petting zoo? A jazz concert?"

"Oh, jazz is a nice thought," Alec agreed. "What kind of gifts does she like? This is our first birthday together!"

"Outside of ours, which even we forgot, and supposedly his, but he won't tell us," Xander reminded Alec, hooking a thumb at Dark.
 
"We have been sort of preoccupied," Dark admitted. Declan, the baby, the hospital, CPS... It all did not really calm down until the week before, and then they were focusing on their trip the past Saturday, "I would not be surprised if she has forgotten about it, too. Thankfully while we were setting up the nursery I happened on something she would like for herself, so that is sorted... As for gifts, certainly you know her well enough to have an idea of what she would like. But I can take you to some of her favourite stores this week. If we do something like a concert, we would need to find something on the weekend, because she, unfortunately, has work on her birthday. Although," he had his own sly smile, "if we find something in the city in the evening, after her workday finishes, we could go to the museum and surprise her."

That idea was immensely pleasing. If Dark loved nothing else, surprising his wife was always great fun. Surprising her with the twins would be even better. He pulled his phone from his pocket to start looking at events in the city, but as he did, "and I count my birthday as the first of the year, I do not know when it actually is."
 
"I love surprises!" Alec grinned. "Let's do that! Let's surprise her in the evening!"

"I hate surprises," Xander grumbled, "but that sounds like fun." He gave Dark a narrow-eyed look. "We know her well enough to have an idea of what she'd like... is that your way of copping out of giving us any actual ideas?"

Alec laughed. "Probably, but he's not wrong. Come on! Let's go look online and see if we see anything that sparks an idea." He stood and grabbed his glass before bouncing inside.

Xander picked up his glass and followed, grumbling about people who couldn't even give birthday hints.
 
"No, I am not copping out, and if anything I am giving you ideas. The idea being she would much prefer anything you think up on your own to whatever I could possibly just tell you to get for her. If it seems to much like something I told you about, then she would probably presume you do not actually know her well enough to pick something, or that I did not trust you enough to allow you to try, and either way we are in mild trouble." He may have been exaggerating a bit, but at the same time he knew it would be Daizi's preference for it to feel exclusively like the twin's idea, rather than something he closely helped them on.

He chose to remain outside for a little while longer, it was a nice day. A hot day, but nice. The only reason he left the chair at all was to open the door to let Enkidu out.
 
Alec and Xander took most of the rest of that day trying to figure out what to get Daizi for her birthday. When they weren't doing that, they were researching something else, something, at least to their minds, bigger and better! But they were careful not to let Dark see. They were "only" looking up birthday things. Nothing else. When Daizi got home, Alec was especially attentive and even offered to rub her feet. Xander grumbled and mumbled and quietly tried to do things for her in a more subtle way while trying not to think of an earlier topic.

The next day, Alec sat at the kitchen table surrounded by scraps of paper. He frowned and shuffled through them, trying to figure something out. Xander had taken breakfast duty and was attempting to make an omelet. It didn't seem to be going well. So far, he had two plates of scrambled eggs.
 
That evening, Daizi was surprised by how sweet the twins were being, not that they were ever mean, but it certainly seemed like there had been a change. Although, she did reject Alec's offer: as nice as a foot rub sounded, it felt weird to look for one from her teenager.

The following morning, when Dark came into the kitchen, he looked around and tried to figure out which twin to address first. Scratching the back of his head, still a but groggy, he remarked, "You have made a lot of eggs this morning..." and then turned towards Alec and asked, "What are you up to?"
 
"Looks like more than it actually is," Xander grumbled as he tried, once again, to fold the omelet. It broke into multiple pieces, and he swore under his breath before shuffling it onto another plate.

"Xander and I are trying to figure out potential life paths to take," Alec told him. "What do we maybe want to be when we grow up, and how do we get to those places? What kind of a back-up plan do we have in case we change our minds later down the road? What will a single life look like compared to if we meet someone and decide to have a relationship? Simple things like that."
 
"Oh, simple, yes." Dark replied, "It seems a bit early in the morning for that. But you know, you will change your mind, that is a definite. Everybody changes their mind about half a dozen times, and you cannot account for everything. But still I would love to hear what you have so far." Saying this, he poured himself a cup of coffee, deeming he would need it.

Then he looked over at Xander again, "Do you need help? I get the feeling you are attempting to achieve some goal."
 
Xander waved a spatula at Dark. "Nope, nope. I'm almost done. We just need one more plate of eggs, and everyone will have a plate." He carefully cracked two eggs into the pan and started swirling. "Maybe you need more eggs to properly make one of these things... nah, this is just a scaled-down version."

"Professional athletes don't change their minds, even if they probably should," Alec pointed out. "In order to make it into the big leagues, or whatever it's called, they basically have to start from childhood. Not that 'professional athlete' is currently in either of our books. So far, our most favored possibilities are," he started looking over the notes and picking them out, setting them in front of Dark's spot as he did so, "run away to the circus, run away to a carnival, become a handyman, musicians, judo instructor slash win a bunch of competitions, and, finally, horse rider." He shook his head and set the paper down. "Don't ask me how a person makes money from riding a horse."
 
"Alright," Dark replied, and then let it go, sitting down beside Alec, "How many people are professional athletes compared to people who grew up saying they wanted to be a professional athlete before changing their minds? I do not even mean just because of injuries."

He picked up some of the cards, clearly seeing his own influence in some of them, "There are horse riding competitions. Jumping, dressage... Xander is too big to be a jockey," he set the cards down. It was not a question who that card was about, "All I meant by 'everyone changes their mind' is that as people develop and go through life, they often encounter new things which inspire them and pull them in new directions. Daizi went to college to be a concert harpist, and then took intro to Cultural Anthropology as an elective, and then even within her field changed her mind about what she wanted to do with it, and then what she wanted to study. And I wanted to run a carnival, then I started training to be a tattoo artist, then I thought maybe I would be a studio artist, then I thought I would become a historian and work with Daizi and now I teach history. The best job for you may be one you have not even discovered yet."
 
Xander ignored their conversation as he carefully added bits and pieces of onion, pepper, and handfuls of cheese to his tiny omelet. Yep, people definitely made these things with more eggs. Oh well, he hadn't wanted to waste a bunch of eggs if it didn't work out.

"I suppose that's fair," Alec agreed to Dark's statement. "And I suppose if you decided you were tired of dealing with snarky teens, you could always run a tattoo parlor out of the house. I am certain none of the neighbors would mind that." He grinned at Dark, eyes sparkling. "Anyway, these are just our current favorites. There's also starving artist, DJ, podcast book reviewer, cat herder..." He paused with a frown then turned to glare at Xander. "I told you, cat herder is not a thing!"

"Not according to Cooger," Xander replied, peering intently at the eggs.

Alec rolled his eyes. "Let's call that animal sanctuary or something. Anyway, plumber is out because neither of us want to deal with other people in states of emergency. Regular people are bad enough."
 
"Oh, they would love it," He nodded. It was too early to make himself smile to prove his was joking. Many of his truly visible expressions were a manual effort for the twins' sake. And because he figured he needed practice being expressive for the baby so she would grow up normal. It was still not something he took naturally to, and it was unlikely he ever would learn to, "but if I ever did decide to open a tattoo parlor, which I think about, sometimes, as a way to make money after retiring, I would like my own building. It feels more professional, I would not trust a tattoo artist operating outside of their own home. Unless I was that artist, and I was that client. I have a few I did myself."

Another sip of coffee. Behind him, he heard Daizi coming downstairs--she had slept in this morning, it seemed--"Cooger is not a professional cat herder, he volunteers. He is not paid to take care of the cats, so I would strike it off the list."
 
Alec chuckled at Dark's joke and obligingly took the "cat herder" paper out of the bunch. When he heard Daizi coming down, he quickly picked up the others and shuffled them into a pile. "A separate building would be nice, but if you had it here, you could work from home and be here in case any of us need you."

"Ha!" Xander crowed excitedly. "I got it!" He carefully scooped up the perfectly folded omelet and placed it on a plate. "Perfection!" He held it out for Dark. "That is beautiful, is it not?"

"Yes, but who gets to eat it?" Alec asked as he started getting together the toast to go with the eggs.

Xander paused, plate in hand, and froze in decision-induced panic.
 
"It would be nice to work from home," Dark agreed, and then turned a the sound of Xander's excitement, "Wow, that looks wonderful, well done! Now I see what you had been trying to make." He squinted again at the scrambled eggs. It occurred to him had he not been so damn tired because of the early morning, he would have probably figured it out. But he simply was not a morning person, and never had been.

"Who gets to eat what?" Daizi asked, coming into the room. Although she had been sleeping a little later some mornings, and had been getting less sleep at night, she still was, certainly, a morning person, and so she was much more awake than her husband was. Still, she went to the kettle and started it so she could have tea, which was useful for the horse pills they called "pre-natal vitamins."
 
"I made an omelet on the fourth try," Xander informed her, trying not to sound too proud about it. "You want it? Or do you prefer scrambled eggs?"

"Toast is ready!" Alec said cheerfully. "I'm sorry, Daizi. I was going to put the kettle on, but I forgot. Do you want some juice while you're waiting? Xander, I want scrambled."
 
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