"-with a broom stick in his hand," Garfield sang, pinning one end of the tinsel to the ceiling. The green youth transformed into a rabbit as he grabbed the other end in his mouth. A flurry of green fur bounced off the ladder and across the room. From the rabbit, muffled singing could be heard, "Running here and there, all around the square, sayin' catch me if you ca– oof!"
"Well, it looks like I caught you," Donna laughed, looking down at the green animal in her arms.
"Hey! That wasn't very "'tis the season" of you, Wondy," Garfield complained. "Not that I mind being in your arms," he added as an after thought.
The woman rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the slight smile on her lips. She dropped the rabbit so she could place her hands on her hips. "What exactly are you doing? Besides sounding like a dying cat," Donna asked, watching the rabbit scurry about.
"What's it look like? I'm dressing this place up for the party," came Garfield's muffled answer.
"Party?"
"Yeah," he exclaimed, shifting into a bird and pinning the decoration to the ceiling. The boy changed into his human form and landed on the ground with a thump. "The Christmas party! Gee, Wondy, it's only the day before Christmas Eve,"
"Exactly my point, shouldn't we be having this on Christmas?" Donna asked, eying the worn boxes filled with holiday decorations. The boxes laid scattered across the gray tiled floor in messy fashion.
"Everyone's always busy! You run off with Terry, KF visits his folks, Robbie goes to Gotham, Vic goes off with Sarah and the kids, and Goldie spends a few weeks at Tamaranean,"
"What about Raven?"
"Oh sure, she's here... secluded in her room all day," Garfield exclaimed, throwing his arms up in annoyance. "Whose lil old Changling got? Notta single person,"
"You have the Doom Patrol," Donna cried with slight amusement. She wasn't about to fall for the green hero's pity party. Next thing she'd know, she would be helping the kid decorate the entire room.
"Toaster head and the old man? I don't think so. We're not exactly on the best of terms right now," Garfield said with a shrug before rifling through one of the boxes.
Donna pursed her lips. Sparkling blue eyes gazed around the room, taking in the numerous boxes, unfinished decorations, and the size of the room. Her eyes finally landed on two large green ones. With one final groan, she gave in and started to pull some lights out of one of the boxes. "Thanks, Donna," Garfield chirped, sneaking a peck on her cheek.
The woman smiled, but her expression quickly turned sour as the green boy dashed out the room. "Garfield! I agreed to help you, not to do it all by myself,"
The shape shifter popped his head back into view before he answered, "You won't be, I just gotta do something real quick."
The Amazon shook her head in disbelief. She didn't trust a single word of the boy's promise to "be right back".
Garfield didn't mean to ditch Donna, but he had to ready his surprise for Richard before anyone got back. The Bat protégé was scrooge when he wanted to be and a stick in the mud about parties at the tower. However, a little coaxing with the gift Garfield had planned to give him and there would be no way the male could say no.
...
…
...
"I don't believe this," Richard muttered to himself. As the elevator doors opened to the tower's lobby, he was greeted with the sight of a holiday party. His teammates had been all around the room, chatting to one another and enjoying their snacks. The brightly cladded hero slowly stepped into the room. The further he walked in, the more the smell of pine and ginger flooded his senses. It had been so pungent, it left a lingering taste on his tongue. Richard crinkled his nose.
"Dick, you have arrived," Koriand'r greeted, being the first to notice the leader's presence. The alien princess floated to the male's side.
"Uh... yeah," Richard replied dumbly. "What's going on?"
The question had been spoken a bit louder than intended – Richard attempting to speak over the music – and attracted the attention of the rest of his teammates.
"I think it's a Christmas party, but from looks of that fruit cake, this may just be an assassination attempt," Wally piped up, shooting a glare at said dessert.
"Who...?" Richard began, but was quickly cut off by Victor.
"Do ya' really gotta ask?" the cybernetic man replied, waving a hand at the luxurious decorations.
It hadn't taken long for Richard to figure out who had been the one to set this all up. There had only been one person that begged the rest of the team every year for a holiday party; the same person whom picked out only the most spectacular decorations. Besides, the green youth had been the only one absent from the party. "Where's Changeling now?" Richard asked, crossing his arms.
"No idea," Victor answered as he strolled over to the food table and poured a glass of eggnog. "Salad head saw you comin' up to the tower and ran off. Said he had somethin' important to get," the man continued, walking over to Richard and handing the hero the beverage.
"Robbie, baby, you made it," a voice chirped from above. The group had barely enough time to catch sight of the green hawk before it transformed into a human and landed to the side of Richard. The older male noted that Garfield had something hidden behind his back, but chose to ignore it. The boy beamed at Richard, but the brunet's scowl held.
"Gar, you know any party has to be brought up to the rest of the team before hand,"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, but you would'ov shot the idea down like you do all the rest," Garfield argued.
"What about keeping an eye on the city? There's no way we could hear an alarm from the operations room over all this music,"
"But-"
Richard gave an exasperated sigh before he shoved his drink back into Victor's hand. He rubbed a glove hand across his face and stared hard at the green boy. "Okay, you can have your party if you want, but I'll be in the operations room keeping an eye out for any alerts," he said curtly.
"No! Come on, Dick, this won't be the same without everybody here," Garfield begged. Suddenly his expression changed to one more devilish. "Besides, you can't leave," he said as he threw a crown made of some sort of foliage atop of Richard's head, "you put the holly in this hollyday party!"
The green youth had expected some sort of laughing, at the very least a pity chuckle, but what he got had been complete silence. Richard's eyes widened slighty and he sputtered a few noises. The rest of the Titans were silent as well. Garfield tossed a look to his friends and grumbled, "Come on, holly... holiday... that was funny and you know it."
"Well... it was certainly brave to come out like that," Donna commented, stifling a laugh from behind her hand.
"Brave? Nu-uh. Look who he did it to, that was suicidal," Victor replied, tossing his head over his shoulder to look at Amazon.
Garfield looked between his friends. All he could muster was a "huh" as their comments confused him. Raven took pity on him and answered from her seat across the room, "That is not holly, Changeling, that is mistletoe."
Garfield had then been the one to gape like a fish. He looked between Richard's holiday crown and the spot where he had thought he put up the mistletoe. "What!? No, I... it wasn't...," Garfield trailed off as he noticed the "mistletoe" had red berries instead of white. The boy shoved his face in his hands in embarrassment and squeaked out an "Oh my God."
The Titan's leader couldn't help it anymore. The maroon coloring blooming over the shape shifter's cheeks and ears, and his undignified squeaking sent him laughing fit. The atmosphere became relaxed once more and laughter filled the room. Even the empath smiled at the scene, although for more than one reason.
By the time Richard's laughter subsided he had to wipe a tear from his eye. He smiled at the green male. "It's okay, Gar," he professed, "I like it better this way."
With that, Richard placed a hand on the younger hero's face and turned the boy's head so he could place a kiss on his cheek. The maroon coloring immediately came back tenfold. Richard walked past the awed teen as if nothing happened and grabbed a warm cookie from the catering table. The other Titans, with the exception of Raven, looked just as surprised but they slowly melted back into their conversations.
Garfield brushed his hand against the spot he had been kissed. He could still smell the alluring cologne Richard had worn. Garfield mused that maybe now their holiday celebrations could be a more common thing.