How Green Becomes Wood

Dark thanked Alec for the little treats, and went back to his work, while Milo slunk in to join them, still feeling a bit awkward, since there wasn't really space for him to fade into the background, and he had absolutely no idea how to handle a group setting like this.

Sloan did join them, though, bemoaning the fact she was going to be a senior next year, and how stressful that was, but she thought it was pretty cool the twins had organized something like this, because she remembered doing nothing of the sort with them the year before. Of course, she didn't know just how complicated the twins' lives were the year before.
 
Xander greeted Milo and handed over a bottle of mini lemonade Alec had brought, but otherwise didn't say much, letting Milo do as much "fading" as was possible in a situation like this. He leaned against one of the walls and listened to the others talk.

Peter and Alec both expressed their sympathies to Sloan for the horrors of being a senior. It was a truly terrible, awful thing! But at least that meant it was the last year of high school, and then she was free! Just one more year of stress, and there were many promises to help as much as possible. Then they started college. Alec expressed his hesitation for college, and Peter stated that he was absolutely planning to go to college but hadn't picked a major yet.

At one point, Toby skated through the hallway on his board, and seconds later, a teacher went running after him. Peter and Alec agreed they doubted Toby would be going to a serious college.
 
Really, Milo just sat near Xander, occasionally saying something, but... Well, he was content sitting near Xander and watching everyone else talk. He felt sort of like part of it, just because he was there, and nobody was looking at him like he was an interloper. In all the schools he had been to, this was the first one who had such a relaxed attitude about finals week, and just taking a little picnic in a classroom was... pretty cool. He'd be sure to tell his mom about it on the phone later that night.

Sloan admitted she was excited to be a senior, and she was excited for prom, but the stress of the SAT and applying for colleges was what worried her, because she was definitely planning to go to college straight after graduating. She knew, already, that she wanted to be a social worker or a guidance counselor, but she didn't know where she wanted to go. Still, she defended Toby, because she felt they didn't know enough about him to determine his academic goals. And anyway, colleges were full of guys getting up to buffoonery.

Unfortunately, she had to leave earlier than she wanted to so she could take her last final--Sloan, unlike the twins, would not be attending on Friday, but she did tell her friends that she would be glad to sneak them off to an off-campus lunch if they got permission--and then went to complete her last duty of her junior year.

Occasionally, Dark looked up from his work to watch these teenagers just interact with each other, because even though he had watched teenagers live their lives for over a decade, it was still fascinating to him. The strangest thing to him was how much remained consistent over the years. One of the science teachers had once been his student, he had seen her talk like they were, now.

By the conclusion of the day, Dark was glad to be going home. He had felt exhausted all day, and he was glad to just... be in his own space and not have to think about anything.
 
The twins left before Dark the moment school let out, and they happily scampered out. Xander paused long enough to give Milo his daily invite to a ride home, as sincere now as the first day, and then walked out with Alec. The pair of them did not linger in the parking lot, moving quickly side by side. They relaxed once they were in the car and heading home.

FInally! Home! Alec, of course, went straight to Daizi and Ivy to tell them all about his day and to relieve Daizi from baby handling duty. Xander lay on the floor in the living room and reveled in the feeling of not needing to study or prepare. They were nearly finished! One more day to go! He sat up to give Enkidu a good petting before peeling himself off the floor and going to do productive things.
 
Ivy's little tooth hadn't yet poked out of her gumline, but it was definitely close to it. When Dark came home he spent some time with her, and then he went out to his shed after dinner, saying he wanted to work on something.

In the meantime, Daizi went to sit in the living room with Alec, enjoying the quiet evening, "Are you excited to be an upperclassman?"
 
"I guess so," Alec mused. "Hmm, no, not really, in truth. It is not that I dread it or feel negative toward it. I feel more neutral toward it. I don't see how much is going to change, really. It's just a different type of schooling, but the same, as far as I can tell."
 
"It just means you're halfway finished with high school," Daizi told him, letting Ivy chew on the teething necklace Sally had bought her all those months ago, "You're closer to graduating high school than you were to starting it."
 
"That part's nice!" Alec agreed eagerly. "I haven't exactly enjoyed high school."

"What's that?" Xander asked curiously as he walked in.

"What's what?" Alec asked.

Xander pointed to the teething necklace. "The thing Mini's chewing on."
 
"Neither did I," Daizi agreed, ruffling his hair. She hadn't fully adjusted to its shorter length, yet, "at least it hasn't been all bad, right? I hope it hasn't been all bad." When Xander came in, she said, "It's a necklace Sally gave me, oh... Months ago, before Ivy was born, I think. It's designed for babies to be able to chew safely on. She likes it."
 
"I think that's the point," Daizi replied, rubbing Ivy's back, "I can kind of feel her tooth when I touch her gums, so I think tomorrow it'll make it's appearance. She's six months old today. I mean, she's seven and a half, but-- Oh, I've explained that to you a thousand times, you know what it means." She kissed the top of Ivy's head, "She's a very big girl, now."
 
"She's a very big girl and such a pretty girl," Alec agreed happily.

"Need anything in here?" Xander asked, already thinking of food again and if he could find a small snack.
 
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"Hmm, a good point," Alec agreed. "Are we going to the beach this summer? That would be so amazing!"

"It's just water that fish pee in and probably people," Xander grumbled, hunting up an apple.

Alec wrinkled his nose. "Ew. Really? You have to go there?"
 
"I'd like to. We need to get it sorted with CPS first, because we have to cross state lines... I'm really not sure what it requires now that we're formally adopting you both, I should probably call Lance about that..." Daizi mused, rubbing Ivy's back, "We were thinking sometime in July. But we need to pick the right beach, too."
 
"So many things to deal with," Alec sighed melodramatically. "I guess we could get one of those cheap wadding pools and pretend to have a beach right in the back yard!"
 
"But then we couldn't smell the salt or hear the waves! And you should see how curly Dark's hair gets when there's salt in the air," She giggled, "Humidity gets it pretty bad, but not like the salt does... I wonder if Ivy's hair will curl too..." She hummed, playing with Ivy's hair, it was getting relatively long.

Just then, Dark came quickly inside, opening the back door with his elbow. His right hand was wrapped a rag he used to clean paintbrushes on and he was holding tight to it with his left, and a few drops of blood had rolled down his forearm. "I cut myself."

As soon as those words were out of his mouth, Ivy had been placed in Alec's arms and Daizi hurried to his side, looking fifteen and frightened, "Oh my god, Goose," she said, touching his shoulder as her voice rose a few octaves.

"On accident." He told her, seeing the lack of colour in her face and knowing. "It was an accident."

"Where? How?"

"My hand slipped," He told her, and winced as she took his hands in hers.
 
Alec found himself holding Ivy and quickly adjusted her to face away from Dark, moving away and soothing her, distracting her from the sudden tension. He wanted badly to help, but he knew that right now, this was how he could help: keeping Ivy calm and distracted.

Xander ran to get the first aid kit, trotting back as fast as he could. "How deep?" he asked, knowing just how sharp those knives were. "Let me wrap it up. I've got the gauze." He doubted it was the kind of cut a basic bandage could help, but gauze could potentially help more than a paint-stained rag.
 
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