How Green Becomes Wood

"Okay..." Daizi replied, a little uncertain. She knew he was upset the day before, and if both twins suddenly couldn't stand being around her for long, she'd probably shatter on the floor. She paused for a bit and then said, "I can't help you with that, I'm afraid, I don't know what normal colors look like."

"I think if you take a picture on your phone, there's a setting to apply a Negative filter to it, but I don't have any real photo negatives." Dark said.
 
"Oh, really?" Alec set aside what he was doing and took out his phone. It took him a couple of minutes to actually get the picture app up then flashed a quick picture of Dark without warning. Then he busily fussed with the phone until he found the right filter. "Found it!" He frowned. "It doesn't look quite right, but I guess it wouldn't on my project, either. Thank you! This is perfect."

Xander stepped into the doorway. "Breakfast ready yet?"
 
Dark turned around, "Did you just take a picture of me?" He asked, mostly confused. He had never really liked having his picture taken in the best of times, even when he was fully prepared (although he could occasionally be found going through his wedding pictures, because those he found loved), and pictures when he wasn't expecting him were his least favourite.

"It should be done soon," Daizi told Xander, "good morning, by the way. Alec said you were finishing some last minute homework?"
 
"Uh-huh. Wanna see?" Alec innocently turned the phone so Dark could see. "I'm sorry I didn't get you better composed. I just wanted it for the colors, so it's not that great." The picture was at a Dutch angle with the front two-thirds of Dark's head cut off. The odd brown and grey colors with their strange tints did not help the situation at all. Most of the picture, thankfully, seemed to be of Dark's shoulders and back with a fair amount of kitchen behind him.

"Morning. Yeah, almost done," Xander said, already leaning back. "I'll just come back in like five minutes."
 
Dark looked at the phone and smiled in his own way, "Well, it is definitely one of the pictures of me," He was teasing, of course, "Do not worry about the composition."

Daizi turned towards Xander, "Are you feeling okay? If you touched anything in the hospital last night, who knows what you might have come down with." The genuine concern in her voice was evident.
 
"I'll take a better one next time," Alec promised. He shoved his phone into his vest pocket and started getting out the plates and utensils. "pictures like this should be easy to get the composition right, as opposed to painting, so I have no excuse."

Xander paused. "No, I'm fine, I don't feel bad, I just gotta get this done. This teacher doesn't like late assignments."
 
"Are you sure?" Daizi asked, "And you were with me in the hospital last night, we're able to write you an excuse note if you're behind on assignments due today." She nearly got up to put her hand on his forehead but remembered he didn't like being touched. She didn't even know why she was concerned, like Dark said they had a late night. Xander having a slow start followed from that. But she couldn't shake the feeling something wasn't quite right, and if it wasn't that he was sick, it was something else.

"Breakfast is ready," Dark said, bringing the omelets to the table. By now he knew what everybody liked on them, so he handed them out accordingly, "Alec, would you bring the toast to the table?"
 
Xander bit his lip, fighting back a sharper retort. She was concerned. He should take that as a compliment, but her fussing was starting to annoy him. Remember she was not running at full strength. "Nah, it's fine. I'm saving those for later when I really need 'em. But breakfast is ready, so I guess I'll just eat and finish it in the car." He walked over and sat opposite Daizi, checking out his plate. "Thanks. Looks good."

Alec brought over the toast and gave everyone their allotted portion, taking great care to set Daizi's exactly where it was supposed to be so she could find it. "There. Toasted." He sat next to Xander and started buttering his toast.
 
"Alright, if you're sure..." She sighed. If he thought he had convinced her nothing was wrong, he was incorrect. But she doubted that even if she pushed him she would get anywhere, so she dropped it. But there was no doubt that she was going to ask Dark to glance back occasionally while driving to see if he actually did work on homework in the car.

"You are welcome," Dark said, sitting down next to Daizi, who kissed his cheek and then whispered to him her request about making sure Xander actually did homework in the car, in Arabic, of course. She didn't use Xander's name, and drapped her arms around his shoulders, being careful to add, act like I'm flirting with you so as to not arouse suspicions. It probably wasn't her best move as a foster parent, but, honestly, if Xander could be sneaky, so could she. He was a bit confused, but went along with it. Her spy act was endearing enough to make him ignore the ethics of using the language barrier to their advantage. He actually kind of laughed, which might've made her desire to act like they were flirting actually work, and... brought them dangerously close to actually flirting.

Instead they separated, not wanting to gross out the twins, and Daizi decided to take a risk and take some of what Xander had said to heart the day before, saying, "Next week we're going to try eating real, solid Middle Eastern food again. I want the baby to get to know her heritage," This wasn't a vindictive act, she was trying to show she was listening to him and cared about what he had to say. He didn't want her to make him walk on eggshells with how she avoided talking about the baby (although she still firmly believed she wasn't the problem there, because she was just trying not to upset the twins), so she was testing the waters by just casually talking about her.
 
Alec bit down a little harder on his fork than necessary and sat wincing for a second. Then he ate a couple of more bites before proceeding to push the eggs bits around awkwardly. Then he quietly made his excuses and started cleaning up his spot.

Xander frowned. "Is next week too early? Shouldn't you wait a bit to let the meds kick in?" he asked, unknowingly echoing Alec's worries earlier. "And does that work? It's not like the tiny thing is eating it, so what does it care what you eat?" He was genuinely confused as to her logic, not upset by the topic. He shoveled in a few bites, cleaning off his plate ridiculously fast.
 
Dark raised an eyebrow at Alec, although his response wasn't unexpected. It was just another reason why they needed to speak to him. It was interesting though; Dark looked at Xander, who had wanted Daizi fo just be honest. Certainly he knew that his brother clearly hated hearing anything about the baby? He normally protected his brother over all things, so it was interesting how, in this instance, he wasn't.

"Alec had the same concern," Daizi replied, "but it's not like I enjoy eating bland food. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, but if I don't try I won't know. As for the baby--I mean, I don't understand the science behind it, but she's developed taste buds already. She's had them for two weeks, actually, and I guess the molecules of food end up in the stuff she's swimming in," 'stuff' seemed like a less gross alternative to 'amniotic fluid,' "she's not tasting exactly what you and I would, but some facsimile of flavours she'll get. I guess there's research suggesting what I eat now and when I'm breastfeeding will affect what foods she likes for the rest of her life."
 
"Weird," Xander said, making a face. That topic was way to gross to continue. He stood and cleared off his space. "Ready to go soon as I grab my stuff."

He headed back to his room, Alec on his heels, and the pair quickly scrubbed their teeth and grabbed their bags, ready to walk out the door in only a few minutes. Alec pulled on his grey coat even though it was predicted to be a warm spring day, and they waited patiently by the door for Daizi and Dark to join them. Once in the car. Alec went through his backpack, checking one last time that he had everything he needed for the day. Xander had a notebook open on his knees, but he was alternating between staring out the window and scribbling doodles. Definitely not doing homework.
 
Daizi nodded in agreement, "All of pregnancy is weird."

In the car, Dark took a few brief glances back, and he couldn't quite tell if Xander was doing homework or not, but the notebook on his lap gave plausible deniability. If he was lying, at least he was dedicated to the lie.

As always, they brought Daizi to the train station and then drove to school.
 
Alec called a cheerful goodbye to Daizi as she left before slumping back, looking tired the rest of the way to school. It had been a long night, and he hadn't slept well. He slept a little better once Xander had crawled in with him, but even then he'd been plagued by weird, vague dreams. He didn't want to go to school today, but he was also determined to try to pretend everything was normal for as long as possible.

Xander grumbled a farewell to Dark as he slid out of the car and followed Alec up to the doors of the school. It was going to be a long day. Good thing Logan wasn't here, and he hoped the usual pranksters and minor bullies ignored him. He was in the perfect mood to get into a pointless fight. Best to avoid all points of irritation.

A short, blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy stood waiting in the hallway near the administrative office. He didn't look like he belonged in highschool. At maybe five-foot-one and fair-skinned he barely even looked like he belonged in elementary school. He looked like a kid from a sappy Victorian novel where all the kids were angelic, too-pure-for-this-world Tiny Tims. He was even dressed in what looked like perhaps a school uniform, though not any uniform from any of the schools in the immediate vinicity. He smiled brightly and nodded politely to Alec and Xander passed, but he was really waiting for Dark.
 
Dark followed the twins into the building, adjusting the bag on his shoulder. He was tired, it felt like the entire house was tired. Even Enkidu was slow on his walk that morning. It sort of seemed like everything was on the cusp of falling apart, and ultimately, his wife was struggling with pregnancy hormones, the twins were clearly dealing with puberty hormones, even if they didn't realize it, and he was somewhere in the middle trying to be a cool-headed optimistic, and he had never been an optimistic man once in his life. Maybe when he turned fifty he'd treat himself to a nice mid-life crisis, then it'd be his turn to be a little crazy. But... well, he kept thinking about that scan yesterday, and how much she moved, and how it really seemed like this time, this time it was going to work out. He held to the thought of holding her, one day, and the thought of her made it easy for him to be an optimist.

He was thinking about her when he walked past the strange blonde child. He wasn't the shortest one in the school, but, being as tall as Dark was, he did have to take notice of shorter-than-average students since they were, well... tripping hazards.
 
"Excuse me, sir!" the blond kid called out after Dark, raising one finger. "Are you Mr. Dark, the History teacher? I'm Peter Hollis." He waited expectantly with a smile that said he fully expected Dark to understand why that should be important to him.
 
Dark paused and turned, looking a foot and a half down at the teen, "I am. Hello, Peter Hollis," The name meant nothing to him, and he took an awkward pause as the blond--apparently non-American--boy smiled expectantly at him, "May I help you with something?"
 
Pale brows rose. "Oh. Well, this is awkward, isn't it?" he said with a soft accent that sounded almost Australian, but not quite. "I'm sorry, sir, apparently one of us has been misinformed." He sounded both regretful and amused at the same time. "I'm a new transfer student here, and I was told to come talk to you about my schedule and that you could point me toward the person who's supposed to be showing me around. An Alexander?"
 
"Oh." Dark blinked, and then ran a hand through his hair, "Right." He had no idea what this kid was talking about, "I remember now. Just let me stop in here," He pointed to the administrative office, "and then I will be right with you."

He went into the office, and luckily the secretary who liked him was there that day, so he was able to quickly get the information he needed, and then he returned calmly to Peter and handed him a piece of paper, "Well, there is your schedule. You are in my homeroom and my second period history class, and you are meant to be led around by a set of twins named Alec and Xander, not one person named Alexander. I can help you find them, if you like." Although why the school assigned Alec and Xander as guides, he had no idea, and the secretary was just as lost.
 
Peter took the paper and quickly looked at it before folding it neatly and tucking it into the book he was carrying. "Thank you, sir, I appreciate your time," he said with a grin. "I'm looking forward to being in your class. "Two blokes, eh? Not just the one? Wow! I must be getting special treatment!" He chuckled lightly. "I'd appreciate your help spotting them, if you can spare the time. It's not like I have a picture or anything, otherwise I'd go myself."

Alec and Xander were hanging around on the very edges of the gym where many of the early arrivals went to wait for classes to begin. Alec was busily scribbling away in his notebook while Xander leaned back in the bleachers and stared blankly up at the ceiling.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top