"What are you doing?"
Robin and Wally looked up from their task to see Darcy, Kaldur, Conner, and Megan staring at them oddly. "We're putting up the Christmas tree." said Wally. "Duh."
"Why?"
The speedster stared dumbstruck at Darcy. "Uh, because it's December! You know, the month Christmas is in?"
"Isn't Christmas that holiday which celebrates the greed in everyone?" asked Megan.
Robin, Wally, and even Darcy winced on that one. "Uh, Megan," said Robin carefully. "It's not about greed. It's about giving to each other. You know, happiness and stuff."
"Are you kidding me?" exclaimed Wally. "You're telling me you guys don't know what Christmas is?"
"I know of the holiday." said Kaldur. "But we did not celebrate it Atlantis."
"I haven't been alive that long." said Conner simply.
They all looked at Darcy, who had been around long enough. She shrugged. "I didn't even know what Christmas was until I escaped from the Lab, and even then, Selina wasn't big on the holiday cheer. I mean, we went to a couple parties where she dressed up as Mrs. Clause..."
"Mrs. Clause?" asked Robin skeptically.
She winked at him. "Well, more like Little Miss, if you know what I mean."
"But, this is terrible!" said Wally. "None of you have ever celebrated Christmas?" There was a group shake of the head, after which Wally clapped a hand to his forehead. "Fine! Then this Christmas is gonna be awesome! Come on, Rob!" He stood and headed out of the main room.
"I thought he was decorating the tree." said Conner questioningly.
"He was." Robin sighed, getting off the floor. "You guys can finish if you want. I mean, this is technically your first Christmas."
He left the room, leaving the four to stand there staring at the tree, unsure what to do.
"What's going on?" asked Artemis, sipping a juice box as she entered the room.
"We're not quite sure." said Kaldur. "Robin told us to finish decorating the tree."
She snorted. "Let me guess: None of you have ever decorated one before, right?"
"How did you know?" asked Megan.
"It makes sense." She stepped forward and opened a fresh box of ornaments. "Here, it's not that hard. You just take one of these," She picked up a sparkling red bauble. "And you hook it on one of the tree branches."
"That was what I was just about to do." said Darcy, nodding stiffly. "You just beat me to it."
Artemis laughed. "Come on. Let's finish decorating this thing."
"Recognize, Zatanna, A zero three!"
"Hey, guys!" said the dark-haired girl, entering the mountain headquarters. "What's happening?"
Darcy quickly looked down at the ornament in her hand. Last time she'd seen Zatanna, the girl had been flirting up a storm with Robin. And she was really good, too. Like she'd had lessons directly from Catwoman. It had kind of hurt, watching that, and Darcy had been more than a little grateful when Zatara had forbidden her from joining the team.
"We're getting ready for Christmas." said Artemis, who had become fast friends with the girl magician.
"Oh, I love Christmas!" she said happily. "Do you need help?"
"Well, I think we have too many people on the tree already." said Darcy, putting an honest effort into keeping dislike from her voice. She didn't hate Zatanna. Not really. She just... didn't like who she liked.
"That's okay. I can make Christmas cookies!" she said happily.
"I can help!" Megan volunteered. "Darcy's right. There's too many over here, anyway."
"Conner, would you pass me that red ornament?" Kaldur asked. "I wonder why we do not celebrate Christmas in Atlantis. This is quite enjoyable."
"How are we getting the star up there?" Artemis asked. "The boys got a really tall tree."
Darcy grinned. "I could do it, but I think we'll let Conner do the honors."
The clone shook his head. "No. I don't want to knock it over." he said in his quiet way.
"You sure?"
He nodded.
"Okay." She shrugged and picked up the golden tree-topper. With the agility of a cat (one wonders where that came from), she found a handhold in the wall and climbed up until she was level with the top of the tree. "Catch me if I fall." she told them.
"I thought you never fell." Artemis said.
"Funny. Just don't let me fall, okay?" She leaned forward and placed the shining star atop the tree. "There." she said. "That's better."
Crash!
The loud noise emanating from the kitchen was enough to startle Darcy into overbalancing. She waved her arms around, though this helped nothing, and she tumbled off the handhold directly into the arms of Robin.
"Oof!"
He cocked an eyebrow at her from behind his shades. "Don't cats always land on their feet?"
She narrowed her eyes. "Ha ha. You're hilarious."
"Omigosh! Darcy, are you okay?" asked a panicked Megan, floating into the room.
"I'm fine." she said as Robin set her back down. "What happened?"
"Wally happened." said Zatanna, walking into the room and covered in flour. The speedster followed behind her, looking sheepish and also covered in flower.
"Misjudged the distance between me and the bowl." he said apologetically.
"But the tree looks amazing!" said Megan. "It's so sparkly!"
"It's not plugged in yet." said Robin, going behind the tree. Suddenly, the entire thing was full of bright, blazing colors, lighting up the room. They all made noises of appreciation and excitement.
"Pretty." Darcy commented.
"And that," said Wally proudly, putting his arms on Megan's and Darcy's shoulders. "Is how you decorate a Christmas tree."
. . .
Okay, so maybe this won't be all fun and games, but how interesting would that be if there weren't any issues? So, here's Christmas with the YJ team.