Sadly I did not type this but I found this very cute! :3 (Waltermis fan)Sorry a bit late for christmas... XD
“It’s the most beautiful time of the year
Lights fill the streets spreading so much cheer
I should be playing in the winter snow
But Imma be under the mistletoe.”
Everyone’s heads were bent over, staring at the last decoration in the bottom of the box. Wally’s and Artemis’s expressions were akin to expecting the object to explode at any minute. Robin and Zatanna looked highly amused. Kaldur appeared confused, Conner bored, and Megan ecstatically delighted with the prospect of all the happy situations the object would bring.
***
The present situation the team found themselves in was brought about द्वारा Red Tornado and Kaldur spending the afternoon sifting through storage room boxes. Kaldur had come across several large containers marked “Christmas Decorations,” and Red Tornado explained that the Justice League would decorate Mount Justice every साल with the festive ornaments right after Thanksgiving.
Kaldur, thinking that it would be a fun team activity, moved the boxes downstairs to the common room for them to open later. As it turned out, his suggestion was greeted with unanimous success. Even Superboy, who usually met such ideas with taciturn stiffness and an eye roll, seemed to enjoy himself as he and भेड़िया dragged in a large fir पेड़ from the nearby woods.
Zatanna and, to everyone’s surprise, Red ऐरो both stopped द्वारा the cave to assist the team. Initially, Artemis and Roy had to be separated on opposite ends of the room to decorate, but with a little egging on from Roy, Artemis pulled out her crossbow and expertly pinned up boughs of garland and होल्ली, होली he casually tossed up. His face may have been scowling, but Aqualad could see he was impressed, especially when she made several of the shots without looking. After anchoring the twenty foot पेड़ with Wally, Roy’s com went off, and the archer took the अगला zeta tube out to तारा, स्टार City.
Megan went crazy with the twinkle lights, stringing them in elegant loops from one side of the living room to the other and even framing the entrances to the रसोई, रसोईघर and the zeta tubes with the strands. Artemis and Roy had put up all the garland, so the team eagerly dug into to the box filled with ornaments for the tree.
Robin and Zatanna sat on Kaldur’s and Conner’s shoulders to hang the multi-colored orbs on the taller branches, gradually making it into a game to see who could suspend the most ornaments in the least amount of time. When Zatanna used magic to give her and Kaldur an edge, all bets were off, and Batarangs went flying.
They were so involved in the पेड़ decorating war that they failed to halt the argument between Wally and Artemis over putting up the tinsel. Artemis wanted to wait until after all the ornaments were in place; Wally wanted to drape the mirror-like strands across the branches right away. The disagreement continued to escalate until Wally, utilizing his super speed, took all the tinsel and wrapped it around Artemis.
The archer saw a blur of movement before finding a shiny streamer blocking her eye. Blowing it back, her jaw dropped at the mess of silver that encased her from head to toe. Wally stood a good ten feet away, looking infuriatingly smug for someone who had just signed his own death warrant.
“You’re a dead man, Kid,” was all the warning Wally received before Artemis was chasing him down, crossbow in hand.
Black Canary dropped by, expecting to increase training time now that her students were on break from school. She arrived at the cave and stood अगला to Red Tornado, who seemed to be watching the scene unfold with an odd parental serenity.
M’gann was laughing and hovering over the क्रिस्मस tree, ensuring that it and its decorations didn’t fall down and crash into the floor in light of the all-out battle now taking place between Team Zatanna/Aqualad and Team Robin/Superboy. Aqualad focused on blocking Superboy’s attacks and tossed objects while Zatanna used her magic to transform Robin’s batarangs into all manner of interesting items. So far, they had been changed into eight नाशपाती trees (complete with their own partridges), four calling birds, a handful of French hens, and two कछुआ, कछुए doves that were currently caught between a cornered Kid Flash and an irate Artemis.
Black Canary didn’t really have the दिल to interrupt, so she silently strode toward the arena, intent on updating everyone’s training regimes.
Eventually, the seven teens collapsed on the sofas, tired but still laughing from the day’s events. All the birds had been released outside, almost all the tinsel was removed from Artemis’s hair, and Zatanna, in the spirit of the season, transformed the नाशपाती trees into eight stockings with everyone’s name in a loopy scrawl, including Red Tornado’s.
M’gann mentally moved the last box toward her, peering down into its depths. “Hey, it looks like we missed a decoration!”
Everyone peered over the cardboard edges. “Is that—“
“Mistletoe!” M’gann exclaimed delightedly. “Who wants to help me put it up?” she asked, ignoring the mixed looks of horror and indifference from the older teens, turning to her younger teammates instead.
Hence, the current awkward predicament.
Zatanna, bless her heart, stepped up to the plate. “Tell आप what, I’ll hang it up somewhere, and everyone else can have fun figuring out where I put it.”
Before anyone could protest, the young magician chanted some unintelligible Latin phrase, and the Cave was full of Zatanna copies darting here and there. The team was only aware of her completed mission when the transporter announced her departure.
“Don’t have too much fun while I’m gone,” she taunted, laughing before a burst of light enveloped her.
Two days later, Kaldur and M’gann found the sprig dangling above the ring in which they were currently sparring. Kaldur was the first to notice the क्रिस्मस decoration, and he paused the match to point it out to the martian.
“Oooh…You know what this means, right?” she asked the Atlantian.
Kaldur did not have the chance to respond before M’gann pecked him lightly on the cheek. “Gotta प्यार earth traditions.”
“We should probably हटाइए it somewhere less…distracting,” Kaldur mumbled, hiding a smile.
“I guess it could negatively affect our training,” the Martian agreed, flying up to remove the plant. She turned to her sparring partner, a mischievous grin making its way across her face. “So, where should we hang it next?”
***
It became something of a game to the team. The मिनट the अगला two victims had succumbed to the inevitable magnetism of the parasitic plant, they hid it in a new location so their successors couldn’t avoid it. Most of the time it was a public discovery, and the rest of the team watched unabashedly as the poor souls gave in to the unavoidable ritual.
Robin and Artemis had been caught under the mistletoe in the gym, and Robin had दिया the archer a rather gentlemanly किस on the चोटी, शीर्ष of her hand.
Black Canary, Aqualad, and Superboy had all stood under it unknowingly in the doorway leading to the sparring arena. Both boys gave their mentor small synchronized kisses on her cheeks, but not quickly enough to avoid Robin snapping a चित्र of it from his camera phone.
Zatanna and Robin discovered it looming overhead their सोफ़ा, सोफे during a movie night. Robin went for her cheek, but Zatanna went in for the kill, causing Robin to blush at the memory for the अगला week anytime it was brought up.
Wally found himself under the mistletoe sitting in between both Artemis and Zatanna on the रसोई, रसोईघर barstools. Robin laughed at his best friend’s priceless expression when both girls gave him resounding simultaneous smooches on his cheekbones.
Red Arrow, to the surprise of everyone including Artemis, simply rolled his eyes and deemed it a necessary evil to participate in the stupid tradition द्वारा planting one on Artemis’s forehead when they had been caught underneath. He didn’t stop द्वारा the Cave much after that incident, stating he’d be back after New Year’s.
Superboy and Miss Martian seemed to have a penchant for finding the love-inducing decoration throughout the cave, including the hanger entrance, the hallway to the bedrooms, outside the kitchen, etc. The team finally had to make a ground rule that they weren’t allowed to hang up the mistletoe together anymore.
द्वारा far, the team’s प्रिय mistletoe occurrence was between Black Canary and Red Tornado in the debriefing room.
Kid Flash flitted through the room in passing, running away from Artemis for some reason या the other, but not before pausing to say, “Huh, so that’s where it went.”
Artemis, Robin, and Aqualad happened to enter the room at that moment, bearing witness to Black Canary grabbing Red Tornado’s shoulders and चुंबन him right on the mouth. For the rest of the afternoon, no one had the दिल to tell the robot that he still had red lipstick smudges on his face.
***
Robin was only slightly disappointed in the romantic powers of the mistletoe, whose whereabouts were currently unknown, and he confessed as much to Zatanna a few days before Christmas.
“You’d think that they would have at least kissed द्वारा now, what with how long it’s been up and how many opportunities they’ve had,” he told the magician, who was currently hiding out with the Boy Wonder in an air vent overlooking the debriefing room.
“You know, they check the room before entering if they see each other coming,” Zatanna informed him, pulling a peppermint stick out of her mouth.
“What?!” Robin winced as his exclamation echoed off the metal walls. Definitely not covert.
“Yep,” Zatanna popped the “p”. “Artemis only kissed him with me that one दिन because I didn’t give her time to scout out the room.”
“She’s almost as paranoid as Batman,” Robin mused, looking down at the empty room through slits in the vent. He let out a sigh. “I don’t understand; we’ve hung it up in every possible location where they would stand together.”
“True,” the magician agreed, swinging her legs around to a और comfortable position. “Unfortunately, there’s always someone else under it first.”
Robin ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. “I just thought that maybe it would help them get through this denial that they’re both adamantly sticking to.”
“Hey,” she placed a hand on his shoulder, “Don’t beat yourself up. It was all in good fun, right? There’s still a few और days until Christmas, so आप never know. And we could probably get away with leaving it up until New Year’s.”
Robin sighed again. Zatanna, seeking to get her friend out of his funk, thought of something she was sure would cheer him up. “Wanna change Red Arrow’s zeta tube announcement back to Speedy?”
Her grin was infectious, and Robin found himself smiling back. “Yeah, we can access the panel down this side shaft…”
***
क्रिस्मस Eve dawned with a fresh blanket of snow outside. The team spent the majority of the दिन outdoors, making snow angels, building ice forts and having snowball wars until chattering teeth and frostbitten noses could no longer be ignored. It was dusk when they finally trudged inside, hanging up sopping gloves, hats, and scarves in exchange for mugs of hot chocolate. Quilts and pillows were distributed as everyone squished around the टेलीविज़न for a क्रिस्मस movie marathon, getting up for occasional पॉपकॉर्न refills या to distribute और steaming cocoa.
Stories of क्रिस्मस traditions interspersed with laughing created an atmosphere of true merriment. Between the lull of the टेलीविज़न and the gradual dimming of the cinnamon candles, the sleepy teenagers slowly made their way to bed.
Everyone had come for Superboy’s and M’gann’s first Christmas, and Artemis generously allowed Zatanna to bunk with her for the night. It was decided that they would all head back to share क्रिस्मस morning with their families after exchanging gifts at Mount Justice.
The twinkling lights overhead and draped around the पेड़ were left on to greet the silence, casting ever-changing shadows across the walls of the mountain. They glowed in the peaceful quiet, the tranquility of the situation broken only द्वारा Artemis trekking downstairs to the रसोई, रसोईघर at one in the morning.
Her head was inside the fridge, searching for a container Kid Flash hadn’t put his mouth directly on, when a voice startled her out of her search.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
Artemis whipped her head out of the fridge so quickly it made her dizzy. There, clad in flannel pajama pants and an old white t-shirt stood Wally, arms crossed, hair disheveled, faint beginnings of a smile ghosting across his lips. He was leaning on the counter अगला to the stove. Artemis wondered how he snuck up on her so easily.
“No,” she replied, turning back to the task at hand and ignoring the way he stood behind her, opening the appliance door wider to peer inside too.
“I didn’t drink from the एग्नॉग, eggnog carton, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“Yeah, actually. Thanks,” she told him, grabbing the beverage before ducking underneath his arm. “Do आप want some?” Her civility toward the speedster surprised them both.
“Umm… sure,” came Wally’s disbelieving reply as he closed the fridge, opting instead to eat one of M’gann’s homemade क्रिस्मस कुकीज़ overflowing from several platters on the counter.
Artemis poured them each a mug before putting the carton away.
“Cheers,” Wally toasted, clacking his mug into hers.
“Merry Christmas.” She smiled, taking a sip of the sweet concoction.
“It’s क्रिस्मस already?” Wally asked, glancing down at his watch. “Huh, I guess so.” He returned the archer’s smile over his cup. “Merry Christmas, Artemis.”
They leaned against the counter in contented silence, watching the lights flash across the पेड़ and drinking their eggnog.
Wally downed the rest in one long gulp, setting his mug अगला to hers and turning to the archer with an eggnog-moustache across his upper lip. “Want another cup?”
She turned toward him, a matching moustache of her own. “Sure.”
He stood अगला to her under the refrigerator and was about to retrieve the carton when he heard her gasp.
“Wha—” he followed her line of sight above his head. There, in all its festive, kiss-stealing glory, hung the mistletoe.
“Who put that there?” Wally whispered.
“I put it on the क्रिस्मस पेड़ after चुंबन Kaldur,” Artemis whispered back, not daring to believe what was about to happen. “We were the last two people…” Her voice trailed off.
“Who moved it, I wonder…” Green eyes met gray.
“Does it matter?” Artemis murmured, unconsciously taking a step toward the red head.
“No,” he breathed, matching her step for step until they met directly under the green sprig.
She sighed. “It’s just a stupid tradition, right?” Her eyes never left his, betraying her uncertainty that she thought it was anything but stupid.
“Right.” His eyes traveled from hers down to her mouth, faint traces of the beverage moustache still present, “It’s tradition.” They weren’t convincing anyone, least of all themselves.
But the moment his lips met hers, it didn’t matter.
Wally kissed away the remaining eggnog, relishing the spicy essence on his tongue. Her mouth was hot on his, and it came with its own exotic blend of flavors. Combining that with the delectable beverage that they both consumed that sent his thoughts careening toward oblivion, like an unbound function reaching toward infinity. She tasted like Christmas, and चुंबन her, listening to the velvety moans she made as he deepened the lip lock, was quite possibly the best present. Ever.
Artemis लॉस्ट the ability to string two coherent thoughts together when Wally pulled her close, one arm secured around her waist, the other cupping her face, passing it occasionally through the loose tendrils of her hair. He smelled like the cinnamon candles mingled with पॉपकॉर्न and a last, trace pine needle musk that was distinctive of the speedster all साल round. It was just like coming घर on Christmas, only to a घर Artemis had never known.
***
No one saw the scene unfold—save for an old, bearded man in a red suit and two young teens. The young boy, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, silently joined the robust fellow.
“I knew आप were awake, Dick,” the old man told his younger counterpart, smiling fondly.
“The मिनट आप turned off the motion sensors, I set a silent alarm to wake me,” Robin informed him.
“Ah, sharp as ever, I see. Well, are आप both happy now?”
“Both?” came Robin’s confused reply.
The man took a step back, revealing Zatanna standing on his other side. Robin was grateful he thought to wear his sunglasses.
“Sorry, I followed Artemis downstairs for a glass of water,” the magician told Robin sheepishly, hugging her लबादा, बागे और tightly to her chest. “But Wally got there before I did, and I didn’t want to interrupt, especially not after St. Nick here moved the mistletoe.”
“Wait—you were the one to put it above the refrigerator?” Robin questioned. The old man’s smile never faltered. Robin hit his head in an excellent “Hello, Megan!” impression. “Genius,” he told the elderly man.
“Well, आप youngsters better get back to बिस्तर so I can leave goodies for आप under the tree,” Santa winked at both teenagers, hitching his red velvet bag over his shoulder.
“Wait—wasn’t this our क्रिस्मस gift?” Zatanna gestured to the two teens in the kitchen, oblivious to anything but each other at the moment.
“Oh ho ho ho!” he laughed, clutching his stomach. “No, this wasn’t your क्रिस्मस wish I answered.” His eyes sparkled with mischief. “It was theirs.”
“It’s the most beautiful time of the year
Lights fill the streets spreading so much cheer
I should be playing in the winter snow
But Imma be under the mistletoe.”
Everyone’s heads were bent over, staring at the last decoration in the bottom of the box. Wally’s and Artemis’s expressions were akin to expecting the object to explode at any minute. Robin and Zatanna looked highly amused. Kaldur appeared confused, Conner bored, and Megan ecstatically delighted with the prospect of all the happy situations the object would bring.
***
The present situation the team found themselves in was brought about द्वारा Red Tornado and Kaldur spending the afternoon sifting through storage room boxes. Kaldur had come across several large containers marked “Christmas Decorations,” and Red Tornado explained that the Justice League would decorate Mount Justice every साल with the festive ornaments right after Thanksgiving.
Kaldur, thinking that it would be a fun team activity, moved the boxes downstairs to the common room for them to open later. As it turned out, his suggestion was greeted with unanimous success. Even Superboy, who usually met such ideas with taciturn stiffness and an eye roll, seemed to enjoy himself as he and भेड़िया dragged in a large fir पेड़ from the nearby woods.
Zatanna and, to everyone’s surprise, Red ऐरो both stopped द्वारा the cave to assist the team. Initially, Artemis and Roy had to be separated on opposite ends of the room to decorate, but with a little egging on from Roy, Artemis pulled out her crossbow and expertly pinned up boughs of garland and होल्ली, होली he casually tossed up. His face may have been scowling, but Aqualad could see he was impressed, especially when she made several of the shots without looking. After anchoring the twenty foot पेड़ with Wally, Roy’s com went off, and the archer took the अगला zeta tube out to तारा, स्टार City.
Megan went crazy with the twinkle lights, stringing them in elegant loops from one side of the living room to the other and even framing the entrances to the रसोई, रसोईघर and the zeta tubes with the strands. Artemis and Roy had put up all the garland, so the team eagerly dug into to the box filled with ornaments for the tree.
Robin and Zatanna sat on Kaldur’s and Conner’s shoulders to hang the multi-colored orbs on the taller branches, gradually making it into a game to see who could suspend the most ornaments in the least amount of time. When Zatanna used magic to give her and Kaldur an edge, all bets were off, and Batarangs went flying.
They were so involved in the पेड़ decorating war that they failed to halt the argument between Wally and Artemis over putting up the tinsel. Artemis wanted to wait until after all the ornaments were in place; Wally wanted to drape the mirror-like strands across the branches right away. The disagreement continued to escalate until Wally, utilizing his super speed, took all the tinsel and wrapped it around Artemis.
The archer saw a blur of movement before finding a shiny streamer blocking her eye. Blowing it back, her jaw dropped at the mess of silver that encased her from head to toe. Wally stood a good ten feet away, looking infuriatingly smug for someone who had just signed his own death warrant.
“You’re a dead man, Kid,” was all the warning Wally received before Artemis was chasing him down, crossbow in hand.
Black Canary dropped by, expecting to increase training time now that her students were on break from school. She arrived at the cave and stood अगला to Red Tornado, who seemed to be watching the scene unfold with an odd parental serenity.
M’gann was laughing and hovering over the क्रिस्मस tree, ensuring that it and its decorations didn’t fall down and crash into the floor in light of the all-out battle now taking place between Team Zatanna/Aqualad and Team Robin/Superboy. Aqualad focused on blocking Superboy’s attacks and tossed objects while Zatanna used her magic to transform Robin’s batarangs into all manner of interesting items. So far, they had been changed into eight नाशपाती trees (complete with their own partridges), four calling birds, a handful of French hens, and two कछुआ, कछुए doves that were currently caught between a cornered Kid Flash and an irate Artemis.
Black Canary didn’t really have the दिल to interrupt, so she silently strode toward the arena, intent on updating everyone’s training regimes.
Eventually, the seven teens collapsed on the sofas, tired but still laughing from the day’s events. All the birds had been released outside, almost all the tinsel was removed from Artemis’s hair, and Zatanna, in the spirit of the season, transformed the नाशपाती trees into eight stockings with everyone’s name in a loopy scrawl, including Red Tornado’s.
M’gann mentally moved the last box toward her, peering down into its depths. “Hey, it looks like we missed a decoration!”
Everyone peered over the cardboard edges. “Is that—“
“Mistletoe!” M’gann exclaimed delightedly. “Who wants to help me put it up?” she asked, ignoring the mixed looks of horror and indifference from the older teens, turning to her younger teammates instead.
Hence, the current awkward predicament.
Zatanna, bless her heart, stepped up to the plate. “Tell आप what, I’ll hang it up somewhere, and everyone else can have fun figuring out where I put it.”
Before anyone could protest, the young magician chanted some unintelligible Latin phrase, and the Cave was full of Zatanna copies darting here and there. The team was only aware of her completed mission when the transporter announced her departure.
“Don’t have too much fun while I’m gone,” she taunted, laughing before a burst of light enveloped her.
Two days later, Kaldur and M’gann found the sprig dangling above the ring in which they were currently sparring. Kaldur was the first to notice the क्रिस्मस decoration, and he paused the match to point it out to the martian.
“Oooh…You know what this means, right?” she asked the Atlantian.
Kaldur did not have the chance to respond before M’gann pecked him lightly on the cheek. “Gotta प्यार earth traditions.”
“We should probably हटाइए it somewhere less…distracting,” Kaldur mumbled, hiding a smile.
“I guess it could negatively affect our training,” the Martian agreed, flying up to remove the plant. She turned to her sparring partner, a mischievous grin making its way across her face. “So, where should we hang it next?”
***
It became something of a game to the team. The मिनट the अगला two victims had succumbed to the inevitable magnetism of the parasitic plant, they hid it in a new location so their successors couldn’t avoid it. Most of the time it was a public discovery, and the rest of the team watched unabashedly as the poor souls gave in to the unavoidable ritual.
Robin and Artemis had been caught under the mistletoe in the gym, and Robin had दिया the archer a rather gentlemanly किस on the चोटी, शीर्ष of her hand.
Black Canary, Aqualad, and Superboy had all stood under it unknowingly in the doorway leading to the sparring arena. Both boys gave their mentor small synchronized kisses on her cheeks, but not quickly enough to avoid Robin snapping a चित्र of it from his camera phone.
Zatanna and Robin discovered it looming overhead their सोफ़ा, सोफे during a movie night. Robin went for her cheek, but Zatanna went in for the kill, causing Robin to blush at the memory for the अगला week anytime it was brought up.
Wally found himself under the mistletoe sitting in between both Artemis and Zatanna on the रसोई, रसोईघर barstools. Robin laughed at his best friend’s priceless expression when both girls gave him resounding simultaneous smooches on his cheekbones.
Red Arrow, to the surprise of everyone including Artemis, simply rolled his eyes and deemed it a necessary evil to participate in the stupid tradition द्वारा planting one on Artemis’s forehead when they had been caught underneath. He didn’t stop द्वारा the Cave much after that incident, stating he’d be back after New Year’s.
Superboy and Miss Martian seemed to have a penchant for finding the love-inducing decoration throughout the cave, including the hanger entrance, the hallway to the bedrooms, outside the kitchen, etc. The team finally had to make a ground rule that they weren’t allowed to hang up the mistletoe together anymore.
द्वारा far, the team’s प्रिय mistletoe occurrence was between Black Canary and Red Tornado in the debriefing room.
Kid Flash flitted through the room in passing, running away from Artemis for some reason या the other, but not before pausing to say, “Huh, so that’s where it went.”
Artemis, Robin, and Aqualad happened to enter the room at that moment, bearing witness to Black Canary grabbing Red Tornado’s shoulders and चुंबन him right on the mouth. For the rest of the afternoon, no one had the दिल to tell the robot that he still had red lipstick smudges on his face.
***
Robin was only slightly disappointed in the romantic powers of the mistletoe, whose whereabouts were currently unknown, and he confessed as much to Zatanna a few days before Christmas.
“You’d think that they would have at least kissed द्वारा now, what with how long it’s been up and how many opportunities they’ve had,” he told the magician, who was currently hiding out with the Boy Wonder in an air vent overlooking the debriefing room.
“You know, they check the room before entering if they see each other coming,” Zatanna informed him, pulling a peppermint stick out of her mouth.
“What?!” Robin winced as his exclamation echoed off the metal walls. Definitely not covert.
“Yep,” Zatanna popped the “p”. “Artemis only kissed him with me that one दिन because I didn’t give her time to scout out the room.”
“She’s almost as paranoid as Batman,” Robin mused, looking down at the empty room through slits in the vent. He let out a sigh. “I don’t understand; we’ve hung it up in every possible location where they would stand together.”
“True,” the magician agreed, swinging her legs around to a और comfortable position. “Unfortunately, there’s always someone else under it first.”
Robin ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. “I just thought that maybe it would help them get through this denial that they’re both adamantly sticking to.”
“Hey,” she placed a hand on his shoulder, “Don’t beat yourself up. It was all in good fun, right? There’s still a few और days until Christmas, so आप never know. And we could probably get away with leaving it up until New Year’s.”
Robin sighed again. Zatanna, seeking to get her friend out of his funk, thought of something she was sure would cheer him up. “Wanna change Red Arrow’s zeta tube announcement back to Speedy?”
Her grin was infectious, and Robin found himself smiling back. “Yeah, we can access the panel down this side shaft…”
***
क्रिस्मस Eve dawned with a fresh blanket of snow outside. The team spent the majority of the दिन outdoors, making snow angels, building ice forts and having snowball wars until chattering teeth and frostbitten noses could no longer be ignored. It was dusk when they finally trudged inside, hanging up sopping gloves, hats, and scarves in exchange for mugs of hot chocolate. Quilts and pillows were distributed as everyone squished around the टेलीविज़न for a क्रिस्मस movie marathon, getting up for occasional पॉपकॉर्न refills या to distribute और steaming cocoa.
Stories of क्रिस्मस traditions interspersed with laughing created an atmosphere of true merriment. Between the lull of the टेलीविज़न and the gradual dimming of the cinnamon candles, the sleepy teenagers slowly made their way to bed.
Everyone had come for Superboy’s and M’gann’s first Christmas, and Artemis generously allowed Zatanna to bunk with her for the night. It was decided that they would all head back to share क्रिस्मस morning with their families after exchanging gifts at Mount Justice.
The twinkling lights overhead and draped around the पेड़ were left on to greet the silence, casting ever-changing shadows across the walls of the mountain. They glowed in the peaceful quiet, the tranquility of the situation broken only द्वारा Artemis trekking downstairs to the रसोई, रसोईघर at one in the morning.
Her head was inside the fridge, searching for a container Kid Flash hadn’t put his mouth directly on, when a voice startled her out of her search.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
Artemis whipped her head out of the fridge so quickly it made her dizzy. There, clad in flannel pajama pants and an old white t-shirt stood Wally, arms crossed, hair disheveled, faint beginnings of a smile ghosting across his lips. He was leaning on the counter अगला to the stove. Artemis wondered how he snuck up on her so easily.
“No,” she replied, turning back to the task at hand and ignoring the way he stood behind her, opening the appliance door wider to peer inside too.
“I didn’t drink from the एग्नॉग, eggnog carton, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“Yeah, actually. Thanks,” she told him, grabbing the beverage before ducking underneath his arm. “Do आप want some?” Her civility toward the speedster surprised them both.
“Umm… sure,” came Wally’s disbelieving reply as he closed the fridge, opting instead to eat one of M’gann’s homemade क्रिस्मस कुकीज़ overflowing from several platters on the counter.
Artemis poured them each a mug before putting the carton away.
“Cheers,” Wally toasted, clacking his mug into hers.
“Merry Christmas.” She smiled, taking a sip of the sweet concoction.
“It’s क्रिस्मस already?” Wally asked, glancing down at his watch. “Huh, I guess so.” He returned the archer’s smile over his cup. “Merry Christmas, Artemis.”
They leaned against the counter in contented silence, watching the lights flash across the पेड़ and drinking their eggnog.
Wally downed the rest in one long gulp, setting his mug अगला to hers and turning to the archer with an eggnog-moustache across his upper lip. “Want another cup?”
She turned toward him, a matching moustache of her own. “Sure.”
He stood अगला to her under the refrigerator and was about to retrieve the carton when he heard her gasp.
“Wha—” he followed her line of sight above his head. There, in all its festive, kiss-stealing glory, hung the mistletoe.
“Who put that there?” Wally whispered.
“I put it on the क्रिस्मस पेड़ after चुंबन Kaldur,” Artemis whispered back, not daring to believe what was about to happen. “We were the last two people…” Her voice trailed off.
“Who moved it, I wonder…” Green eyes met gray.
“Does it matter?” Artemis murmured, unconsciously taking a step toward the red head.
“No,” he breathed, matching her step for step until they met directly under the green sprig.
She sighed. “It’s just a stupid tradition, right?” Her eyes never left his, betraying her uncertainty that she thought it was anything but stupid.
“Right.” His eyes traveled from hers down to her mouth, faint traces of the beverage moustache still present, “It’s tradition.” They weren’t convincing anyone, least of all themselves.
But the moment his lips met hers, it didn’t matter.
Wally kissed away the remaining eggnog, relishing the spicy essence on his tongue. Her mouth was hot on his, and it came with its own exotic blend of flavors. Combining that with the delectable beverage that they both consumed that sent his thoughts careening toward oblivion, like an unbound function reaching toward infinity. She tasted like Christmas, and चुंबन her, listening to the velvety moans she made as he deepened the lip lock, was quite possibly the best present. Ever.
Artemis लॉस्ट the ability to string two coherent thoughts together when Wally pulled her close, one arm secured around her waist, the other cupping her face, passing it occasionally through the loose tendrils of her hair. He smelled like the cinnamon candles mingled with पॉपकॉर्न and a last, trace pine needle musk that was distinctive of the speedster all साल round. It was just like coming घर on Christmas, only to a घर Artemis had never known.
***
No one saw the scene unfold—save for an old, bearded man in a red suit and two young teens. The young boy, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, silently joined the robust fellow.
“I knew आप were awake, Dick,” the old man told his younger counterpart, smiling fondly.
“The मिनट आप turned off the motion sensors, I set a silent alarm to wake me,” Robin informed him.
“Ah, sharp as ever, I see. Well, are आप both happy now?”
“Both?” came Robin’s confused reply.
The man took a step back, revealing Zatanna standing on his other side. Robin was grateful he thought to wear his sunglasses.
“Sorry, I followed Artemis downstairs for a glass of water,” the magician told Robin sheepishly, hugging her लबादा, बागे और tightly to her chest. “But Wally got there before I did, and I didn’t want to interrupt, especially not after St. Nick here moved the mistletoe.”
“Wait—you were the one to put it above the refrigerator?” Robin questioned. The old man’s smile never faltered. Robin hit his head in an excellent “Hello, Megan!” impression. “Genius,” he told the elderly man.
“Well, आप youngsters better get back to बिस्तर so I can leave goodies for आप under the tree,” Santa winked at both teenagers, hitching his red velvet bag over his shoulder.
“Wait—wasn’t this our क्रिस्मस gift?” Zatanna gestured to the two teens in the kitchen, oblivious to anything but each other at the moment.
“Oh ho ho ho!” he laughed, clutching his stomach. “No, this wasn’t your क्रिस्मस wish I answered.” His eyes sparkled with mischief. “It was theirs.”
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