How Green Becomes Wood

"You worry about us, so I worry about you," Alec said with a little smile. He scampered up the stairs after Xander thinking that at least this had gone over better than with Declan, but maybe that was part of the problem. Declan, looking back, had been cut and dried. Neither Dark nor Daizi had ever really liked him. This guy they had said was "nice." Nice at this point was scarier than being a jerk and being able to just write him off.

Xander sat on his bed holding the plastic horse model he'd gotten over a year ago. He always kept it dusted and sometimes moved it to a new location, seeming to enjoy posing it. He'd even started making small accessories out of scrap leather pieces he had. He was trying to get his latest accessory, a saddle, to fit, but something about the design hadn't worked. It kept sliding off no matter how he fidgeted.

Alec sat on the side of the bed, watching him. "What if he's not a bad guy?" he finally asked.

"I don't want to be the solution to making someone else feel better about their guilt," Xander said without looking up. "I don't want to be some kind of trophy or prize."

"Fair," Alec nodded, "but what if he really does want to get to know us, guilt or no guilt? If it's guilt, he'll look at us, see we're happy, and that's that, but maybe he'll want to learn more about us as people."

"Why? Doesn't sound like he gets along with his brother, so why should he care about his brother's offspring?" Xander grumbled. He finally gave up and tossed the miniature saddle aside.

Alec shrugged. "No idea. I guess we could ask him. It seems only fair. If we're an answer to his curiosity, then he should have to answer some of our questions."

Xander carefully guided a bridle onto the horse's hard nose and hooked it in place. It had taken him several tries to get the latch correct on the bridle. "Alright," he finally said, "but I get to be as rude as I want. He's the one disrupting our peace and scaring our parents."

"Alright, but please try not to be too mean?" Alec begged.

"No promises," Xander warned, "but I'll see what kind of compromise I can do."

"I can agree to that."

Xander sighed. "No family but our Mum to a whole crowd within a couple of years. Life is insane."

Alec smiled and inched over to cuddle up. "You're telling me."
 
When both twins went upstairs, Daizi sighed heavily and leaned against her husband, who wrapped both arms around her, and they sat quietly together, both thinking deeply about what had transpired. Ivy had fallen asleep on her mother's chest, and Daizi was in no rush to go and lie her down in her crib. What a stressful day.

But at least they felt like they had, more or less, done the correct thing. Even if it wasn't comfortable, even if they didn't relish it. Dark was kind enough to text Tristan to let him know the twins needed some time to think about it, and then set his phone far away, wanting to at least try to think about anything else.
 
The next morning, Alec came down the stairs and hugged both his parents. "Good morning! Sleep well? I think I slept good, but I kept dreaming that a carrot was trying to eat my foot," he said, frowning thoughtfully. "I wonder if that means anything."
 
"I slept fine," Daizi said, absolutely bewildered by how Alec started that conversation, "I think whatever you did before bed, you should stop doing, habibi. That sounds more than odd."
 
"No, no carrots," Dark replied, working at the stove, "and nothing particularly special. It will be ready soon."

In her high chair, Ivy turned and squealed at her brother, holding up one toy to him before putting it back into her mouth.

"I think she is very, very grateful you helped to watch her yesterday," Daizi said, turning happily towards her.
 
"I had a lot of fun, and so did Xander, though he was also very scrupulous in trying to keep us on the perfect schedule," Alec grinned. He moved closer and grinned at Ivy. "Good morning!"

"Why are you so cheerful?" Xander grumbled, wandering into the kitchen.
 
"It's really hard trying to keep her on a consistent schedule, but I appreciate the effort," Daizi said, sitting down after running her hands over her baby's face. Then she raised her head, "Good morning, Xander. Breakfast is almost ready."

"I hope I am not included in that 'you,'" Dark said, his back still to them, "I am never cheerful."
 
"Don't worry, you are not included," Xander assured Dark. "I mostly meant this ray of sunshine," he gently knocked Alec on the shoulder, "and that mini patch over there."

"Patch of what?" Alec asked, making a face at his brother.

"Sunshine, obviously," Xander yawned. He ran a hand through his hair, tosling it. "What day is it? Thursday, right?"
 
"Good." Dark nodded, satisfied. He could be pleased, content, glad, and sometimes, when the wind blew in the right direction, even happy. Cheerful was a bridge too far.

"What does Miss Ivy-Qadira have to be unhappy about?" Daizi asked, resting her chin in her hand.

"Yes, it is Thursday," Dark answered Xander, "Have you lost track already?"
 
"Nothing at all! It's all good things for her, just as it should be," Alec said happily.

"Just making sure. It's been a weird couple of days," Xander said. "I have horses today."
 
"That it has been," Dark agreed, bringing their breakfast to the table.

Daizi hummed, "That's exciting. I'm really glad you finally get to consistently work with horses after all this time. Do you like the horse you're paired with? Outside of the general thrill that they're a horse?"
 
"His name is Judson, and he's a pretty big boy, but not a giant. He's part Thoroughbred, and I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm an incompetent foal," Xander admitted. "Breakfast looks good. Thanks. I'm not sure I love him, but he's a pretty stable guy."

"Thank you for breakfast, Ba!" Alec said.
 
"Is that a pun?" Daizi asked with a grin, despite knowing Xander was not likely to be thrilled to have been caught in a pun, presuming it was accidental. "You have time to bond, which I'd guess is part of the point."

"You are welcome," Dark replied, at last sitting down to join them.
 
"Hardy har har," Xander said dryly. "It wasn't intentional. Anyway, yeah, I guess it'll just take some time, but I'm looking forward to riding off into the sunset."

Alec snickered at the reference and dug into his breakfast.
 
"For something that was not intentional, it was pretty clever," Daizi chuckled, "You might have a career in comedy. You can pivot your band to writing original comedy songs, and how fun that would be for you!"
 
Xander peered at her skeptically. "It's too early in the morning to retaliate," he sighed, turning his attention to his plate. "I need food before comedic rebuttal."

Alec giggled. "I like the sound of that."
 
"I'm not sure if Comedic Rebuttal works as a band name, but it's definitely a good title for your debut album." She grinned her crooked grin at him, knowing she was driving him crazy.

Dark couldn't help but find it endearing, this was exactly the person he had married.
 
"Debut album? Featuring what? Joke songs? Maybe Weird Al parodies? We might get in trouble for that," Xander huffed.

"I like it," Alec grinned. "We should do all the number one hits by bands and people who were told they wouldn't make it big."
 
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