How Green Becomes Wood

"Oh. Cool." Milo replied with a little nod, although he wasn't exactly sure what any of that would taste like. "I'll think about it, okay?" Then, the bell rang, so Milo groaned and then stood up, picking up his back, "I'll see you later. Hopefully today will be fast. I want the school year to end."
 
"Same," Xander groaned, standing up, as well. "If you want to join us for frozen dairy, meet us at the van. We'll wait a few minutes, so don't feel rushed. Later, Stitch." He gathered Alec from his conversation with Becky and Tom and headed off to his next class. Biology. Huzzah.
 
"Alright, cool. I'll let you know." Milo said, and went off to his classes, where he blended into the backround and did his best not to exist. He really wanted to skip, but now that he had a conference with his teachers, they knew he existed. It was too soon to test them.

Sure enough, and perhaps surprisingly, he did, in fact, show up at the van at the end of the day. He liked hanging out with Xander and it kept him out of the house, so it seemed worthwhile.
 
"Do you think he'll come with us?" Alec was asking as they walked toward the van.

"Oh, yeah, totally," Xander assured Alec. Then he gestured toward the van. "See? He beat us to it."

Alec brightened and grinned. "Excellent! The more the merrier!" He started to lift his hand but suddenly stopped, looking to the side, movement catching his eye. Someone was moving toward them through the jungle of cars.

Xander started to turn to see what had caught his eye. Before he could even tense, a tall, broad-built man appeared from between the cars and shoved between the pair. His hand circled Alec's bicep, holding tight. Alec froze, completely seizing up and shrinking down slightly. The man grinned at Alec, his eyes glinting furiously in his dark face.

Xander was in the top five of his class in his Judo lessons. Not the top, but up there. Yet in that moment, he was a skinny, fifteen-year-old with no options and no hope and no one to turn to. The kid who lost nearly every fight he got into. He couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

"Hey, kids. It's been a while," the man smirked, his hand tightening on Alec's arm.

Xander swallowed, shaking as he tried to get his brain to engage. "Dax. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, kids," Dex told him, still baring his teeth in a grin. Then he noticed Milo. "Who's that?"

Xander followed his look. "That?" He took a breath. "Oh, that's just Snitch. He's nobody. Everyone at school hates him, even the teachers. Just a little creep."

"Takes one to know one, don't it," Dax chuckled raspily. He gave Alec a tiny shake. "Let's go somewhere private and catch up, okay? A couple of old friends. And you'll follow me willingly, won't you?"

"Yeah," Xander forced through a dry mouth.

"Yeah." Dax started off, walking toward the nearby stand of skinny, decorative trees across the road from the school. He slid his hand up to Alec's shoulder, looking like a companionable father-figure walking with his teenager. Xander walked with him, not once glancing toward Milo. The less attention aimed at Milo the better. Dax mustn't think he was a problem. If he did, Dax had a specific way he dealt with problems.
 
Milo stared blankly as he walked up to them, seeing this occur. That wasn't good. This wasn't good. He didn't know who that other man was, but it seemed really obvious Xander and Alec did not like him and did not want him there. So, he swallowed, slowed down, and when they weren't looking at him anymore, took a few quick pictures. If something happened, eye witness testimony was faulty. His pictures were fact. Then he turned on his heels and sprinted back to school, pushing past everyone to get to Mr. Dark's classroom. He had never been a fighter, but hell he was fast.

"Mr. Dark, sir, you've gotta hurry," He said, stumbling over both his words and feet, speaking before he was fully in the room.

Anyone barging in would be a surprise, but when it was the quietest, meekest student in the entire school, Dark was standing before all of the words were out, "What is happening?"

"It's XanAlec," He tried to say both names at the same time, but somehow managed to not simply say Alexander, "It's Alec and Xander, there's some man, he's walking off with them, I don't know what's going on."

"Where are they." Dark asked, his voice dropping and walking out into the hall, while Milo hurried after him, explaining where they were, and telling him everything he had seen. As they left the school building, he told Milo to stay inside, and then walked steadily in the direction he had been told to. For his part, Milo stood bouncing on his heels, incredibly anxious, incredibly freaked out, but as he watched Dark walk away, he kept thinking. Eye witness testimony was really unreliable. Half of the people who watched Titanic think didn't think the ship broke in half. So just when Dark was just far enough away to not notice him following, he slunk along after, because. Well. If things went poorly, and he photographed it, it'd be really useful evidence.
 
Dax was a big fellow, easily six foot plus a couple of inches, and his muscles seemed to strain his dusky-colored skin. The fact that he looked a bit dehydrated didn't help. Dark eyes glinted every time he glanced back at Xander, who followed him meekly, not wanting to enrage him. Not while he had Alec under his thumb. Only once Alec was out of reach could Xander dare to do something. As it was before, so it was now. It didn't matter how old they got, how fit they got, or how settled they got, a man like Dax could strip it away in a mere glance.

Once they reached the decorative stand where no one would see them at a glance, Dax swung Alec around and took a good look at him. "That's quite the look you've got going on, buddy. Thinking of turning into a girl, are you?" he asked, his tone jovial, his grip solid as he held Alec's shoulder.

Alec kept his eyes lowered, his face white. He didn't try to answer, his expression rigid. His mind had gone blank in fear. Attract no attention. do nothing to anger him.

"Your mother might have a thing or two to say about that," Dax chuckled deep in his broad chest, giving Alec a shake that rattled his teeth.

"Don't," Xander's voice shook so badly he could barely get the word out. "Don't talk about her. You don't get to-"

Dax swung around, backhanding Xander hard across the side of the face. "Shut your mouth, boy! Don't you sass me!"

Xander saw the blow coming and lunged back. Dax still struck him hard, but not as hard as he would have had Xander not reacted. Xander still stumbled, sparks dancing in his vision.

"Your mother left me a load of debt," Dax snarled. "You know how much money I gave that woman? Most of it for you brats. You owe me."

Alec squeeked and wiggled just a little. Dax barely even spared him a glance as he shoved the teen down and grabbed a handful of his shoulder-length red hair. Alec's protests died into the sound of a mewing kitten and stopped altogether.

"We don't owe you anything!" Xander spat out, his eyes on Alec. "We've got nothing to give you even if we did!"

Dax lashed out again, this time his hand connecting full force on Xander's left ear. "Like hell you do! You're living in the nice part of town with a good family, right? You got the money. You're paying your mother's debts!" He struck out again, catching Xander's ear a second time before shaking Alec lightly by the hair. "Pay up, or baby bro gets it!"

Xander could barely hear over the ringing in his ear. He went still, one knee on the ground, panic fully setting in before he went cold. No. He had to give the man what he wanted. He had Alec. He wasn't going to let that happen again. Not again. Never again! Dax could hit him all he wanted, he wasn't letting him touch Alec! But what to do? Trying to draw his attention wasn't working. He still had a hold on his brother and wasn't letting go. The only thing to do was to go still. Force Dax to try to draw a raction from him. Doing that would mean letting go of Alec.
 
"Marhaban."

He had arrived just too late to have seen this stranger strike Xander, but he was holding tight to Alec. This man was tall, but Dark was taller. And he stood, still in his suit and tie, with his shoulders back and his face as hard as stone. His arms were crossed, but not in his usual way. Both hands were free, but not evidently so. As much as he wanted to go in and get this stranger off of his son, he could tell there was something deeply wrong with this stranger, and he didn't want this man to react against Alec before he had a chance to be ripped off. So he said, "Let them go." But his voice was more grim and fell than either teenager had ever heard it before. And there was no light in his eyes.
 
Last edited:
Dax paused and turned, an expression of true bewilderment breaking through the fury. "Huh? Who the hell are you?"

Xander shifted enough to see Dark, and twin emotions of fear and relief at the sight of his kind, gentle father standing like a vengeful giant twisted in his heart. He reached up slowly and put a hand to his ringing ear as he watched warily. Alec didn't react at all, staying as still as possibly, not even doing the normally instinctual thing of reaching up to try to grab the arm holding him or pull away.

"I don't know who you are, bud, but keep walking. I'm having a word with my boys here," Dax snapped.
 
"Your boys?" Dark asked, a smile, a visible smile, flicking at the corner of his mouth as he strode up to Dex. Maybe he was unafraid, maybe he was unbothered, but he stood right in front of him, placing himself between Dex and Xander, since he couldn't get between him and Alec yet. "We have a problem there, my friend. I would advise against doing something stupid."
 
Xander pushed himself to his feet and moved back a couple of steps, eyes darting from Dax to Dark to Alec and back again.

Dax sneered as Dark stepped up to him and didn't back down even when a sane man would be running by now. "What? Friend? Huh? You think you're tough, do ya? Huh? What'cha going to do?" He started to raise the hand holding Alec, earning a quiet squeak from the teen. Dax glanced down irritably and threw Alec aside, sending him stumbling off to one side. "Alright, come on, big boy! Let's see how tough you are!" Dax scoffed, raising his fists.
 
Dark laughed. A deep, rumbling, laugh. "Who the hell do you think you are?" He asked, gesturing with one hand at their surroundings. But his eyes were dead, and he did not back down. "You look ridiculous. Surely it is better you run home, yes? Rather than continue to make a fool of yourself."
 
"Fool?" Dax spat out, practically biting the word. "Oh, you are gettin' yor ass handed to you!" He called Dark a slur and swung.

Xander, meanwhile, carefully skirted around the pair and went to where Alec remained on his knees. He dropped to one knee and wrapped his arms around Alec, eyes never leaving Dax and Dark, ready to grab Alec and run. Alec hunkered down as small as he could, trembling, tears running silently down his cheeks.
 
He took the first hit, but blocked the second one. While gripping Dax's wrist tight enough to make his own knuckles go white, "I will count to three," his voice was low, but even, "kess ommak, and at the end, you can run. Or I will put you out of your misery, okay? How does that sound? One."
 
Something surely must have broken in Dax's wrist, but instead of running, he screamed furiously in Dark's face, veins popping out in his neck. He swung harder with his free hand, aiming for Dark's ribs. Furious and unrelenting, all reason lost to him.
 
"Two." Dark groaned, and then looked quickly at the twins, tossed his phone to them, and said, "Call the police." Then he looked back at Dex. In his dark eyes was a flash of lighting which revealed his inner storm, and shadows were in his voice. "To the great beyond." Then, he released Dax's arm, stepped back, and swung hard at his face, taking a few steps beyond the other man after the impact, purely from every ounce of force he put into it.
 
It took Xander a second to grab the phone, and when he did, he didn't use it right away. He was frozen, watching the two grown men, a hollow pit of dread in his stomach.

Dax's head snapped back at the force of the punch and he stumbled back. He stood blinking for a few seconds, his nose leaking blood. For a moment, it seemed like he was going to shrug it off. Then, gently, he folded like a lawn chair and crumpled to the grass and dirt, unconscious. That was it for his threat.

Xander knelt holding Dark's phone in one hand, his other arm wrapped around Alec, and stared. Finally, he goaded himself to dial the numbers. He said only. "There's a fight. One person's down. They started it." Then he told the dispatcher where they were and dropped the phone. He didn't hang up, just dropped it and folded around Alec like a protective blanket.
 
"Yakhsaf allah bih al'ard." Dark spat, but still nudged Dax into the recovery position with his foot while shaking out his hand. Then he turned to the twins and dropped down on the ground with them both, "I am sorry you had to see that. Are you alright? Let me look at you? Are you okay? Who was that man, what happened?" He gently touched Alec's face, not touching Xander, although he wanted to, because even in times like these, he cared about Xander's boundary, although his gaze was darting between both of them, "Are you okay? I am sorry, he did not let me get to three. I wanted him to leave."
 
Boh twins initially flinched away when Dark dropped next to them. The bastion of their protection had become so very dark. So violent! Then they registered who it was, that this was safety, that he'd done what he did to protect them, and turned toward him. Even at his most terrifying, Dark still remained their place of safety. He was their father. They were rattled to the core, and his laugh would haunt their nightmares, but they still trusted him. Alec leaned over into Dark and started sobbing, still completely silent. Other than a bruised scalp and some missing clumps of hair, he would be alright. Physically.

Xander's face throbbed where Dax had stuck him, and he would have an incredible bruise later. For now it just looked red as Dax hadn't broken the skin. He knew how not to break skin. It took Xander a deliberate effort to untense enough to answer Dark's question. "Dax Clark," he rasped, not letting go of Alec, who was clinging to Xander's shirt even as he leaned into Dark. "Mum's boyfriend. She was gonna leave." He fell silent and hunched over more, overwhelmed by everything that had happened. "Couldn't stop him. Couldn't stop him." Hot tears fell from his eyes, tears of anger and humiliation and fear. His stomached hurt so bad he thought he might throw up, but he held it together.
 
Last edited:
When they flinched away from him, Dark's breath caught in his throat. They were scared of him. He scared them. He hadn't wanted to hurt this man. He wanted him to run, he told him to run. And he scared them. It was only for a moment, but they looked at him like they thought he could hurt them, too. The way he had laughed at this stranger who hurt his sons and threatened to hurt him might haunt the twins nightmares, but that look in their eyes was going to haunt him, too. Every fear he ever had about becoming a father. Every fear he had about what he'd become. Who he would be like. There it was, reflected in their faces.

It was only a moment.

But the inside of his head was like a forge, and he was on fire, and hammers were ringing out, drowning out everything but this blazing crucible.

Still, he pulled Alec close to his chest, holding him securely, and firmly, but not tightly. He didn't touch his head. Like the last time he held him, his heartbeat was audible through his chest, but not like it was before. He was scared, too. "You are safe now," he promised softly, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, "I am sorry. I am so sorry." He held his other arm awkwardly, once before he had held Xander close in a moment of crisis, but he wasn't going to force that. Instead he sat so if Xander wanted to, he could easily have the space to be held. It was still his choice. What the hell else was he supposed to say? Whatever pain there was in his hand or face or stomach, he couldn't feel it yet. He hadn't noticed the blood on his wedding ring. There were other thoughts in his head, things he might have wanted to say, questions, legal options, orders of protection, but they were all happening at once. "You are safe now," he repeated, "I have you."
 
Last edited:
Xander hesitated for a few seconds, and then he leaned into Dark, pressing up against him almost desperately as he started to shake. He leaned into his father, shaking hard, his mind a whirl as he tried to calm down. Pressing into Dark gave him the ability to allow himself to let go, if only for a moment, and to be a small child again. A small child who was scared and hurting after a terrible fright. It just wasn't fair!

Distant police sirens rang out. Police didn't always run in with sirens and lights blazing for a mere fight. The fact that Xander had mentioned being right across from the school might have had something to do with that. Alec had started to calm down a little, but the sirens made him flinch again. He made no move to leave Dark's hold, listening to Dark's heartbeat and letting it center him.

Xander took a deep breath and pushed himself away from Dark. He wiped away the wetness from his face, not letting himself flinch when he rubbed his bruised cheek, and forced himself to pull it together. He had to deal with this. He had to take care of things. He was sixteen and nearly a man. It didn't matter how he actually felt. He would be fine because that's what was needed. He would be alright because he had no choice. He needed to deal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top