Stitched Up

Christmas special

When you thought about it, Alfred Pennyworth was a rather mysterious man. But there were two things that he loved for sure and everybody knew it : his family and Christmas holidays. He loved it because it gave everybody an excuse to reunite and make truce. It also gave the butler an excuse to let people taste his fabulous cooking. Turkey, pumping pie, salads,..Alfred always made tons of food to everyone's tastes.

This year was no exception. He forced Bruce, Dick and Jason to be at the Manor for a few weeks, so they could celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and even the New Year. Alfred made sure to ask which ones of their friends, rather Dick's friends, were alone during those holdidays. The old man loved to take strays in, who do you think Bruce learnt it from ?

In the end, everyone had someplace to be despite Kori and Roy. Out of respect for Roy's native origins, they didn't celebrate Thanksgiving the American way, they did eat turkey but they made sure to be very respectful and remind the origins of that holiday. Roy did a small prayer and they ended the day by some movies and games.

Today was Christmas day, Alfred's favorite day ever. While Dick, Kori, Roy and Jason were binging candies and video games all night, Bruce and him made sure to put all the presents under the tree, waking up early in the morning to snap a picture of the four teens asleep on the couch, all packed on each other. They woke them up around 9 a.m., because Alfred wanted to see their face go from " I as gaming all night and barely slept three hours " to " this is excatly what I wanted ! " when they opened the presents.

If the friends groaned at first when Bruce woke them up, they didn't complained anymore the second that they sent Alfred's signature hot chocolate waiting for them on the table, as well as some chocolate chip pancakes. Even though they weren't normal teens, even the biggest villain couldn't resist Alfred's cooking. Theur raced to the table until they were stopped by a frowning Alfred that stopped them all in track. Still, he couldn't help but smile fondly at their sheepish grins. They sat around the table and engaged in a cheerful act before Alfred rushed them to the living room to open their gifts. Before that, they an to their room to pick their own gifts too and put them under the huge de corated tree.

Alfred and Bruce were in charge of the distribution, while the younger ones were bouncing on the couch like kids. Kori and Dick were bieng loverbirds as always while Roy snickered at them and Jason rolled his eyes. Soon enough, they all had their gifts on their knees, waiting to open them. Even Bruce ssemed eager to do so.

They all received what they wanted and even more. Alfred was right, their faces were as bright as the Sun ! After that, they ate the traditional chestnut turkey and mashed potatoes and the spent the afternoon playing board games.

After this long day, everyone went to sleep with a smile on their faces. Dick was sharing his bed with Kori as usual and even though Roy was supposed to be in a guest room he requested to be in Jason's room for once because he didn't feel like sleeping alone that night. Of course, Jason was more than happy to let Roy in. He did though spent ten minutes of intensive checking to see if his bedroom was perfect before letting the ginger settle in. He pulled the spare matress under his bed - one that Alfred and Bruce had bought him in case he wanted to have friends over - and took a blanket that he handed to Roy.

They talked a bit before going to bed, Jason more than beat by the day. He wasn't used to having so much good emotions at once, and his body still tried to get used to it. Though it did get better, it was still tiring to process their lifestyle. After a few minutes or so, Roy heard the younger snore lightly and muffled his laugh. He layed on his back, watching the glow-in-the-dark stars and planets patched on the ceiling. He was tempted to close his eyes, but that would mean memories coming back, and that he didn't want. The stars didn't help neither, it reminded him of all the nights he would lay in the grass when he was a kid, listening to his parents or Brave Bow tell him more about constellations, and astronomy. Those were happy days, but hey were forever gone.

As Roy felt himself start to tear up, he got up in the most silent way to not disturb Jason's very light sleep and exited the room. He went to the terrace, and just layed back on the ground. It hurt, but he didn't care.

In contrary to the center of Gotham City, the Wayne Manor was isolated so it was possible to see a few stars, even through the thick gray clouds that seemed to haut the town. This time, he let the tears add in his eyes as the dark thoughts invaded his mind, and in no time they started to roll, feeling oddly hot on his cheeks.

After a while, he heard the sublte sound of sheets being carried, and if it wasn't for this he couldn't have guessed that someone was being him. Must be one of the Bats then. He wiped his tears with the back of his hand and turned, forcing a smile on his face. He expected to see Dick, but a much smaller figure appaered before his eyes, carrying two heavy blankets and two lighter ones.

" H-hey. You weren't in the room, so I figured maybe something was wrong. I hope I'm not intruding ?" said Jason with a concerned look on his face. Roy gave him a faint smile and patted the floor next to him " C'me here kiddo, you're not intruding. ". Jason put the two big blankets on the terrace so they can sit on it and the other ones on top of them so they didn't get cold.

"So..." started Jason timidly" wanna tell me what's wrong ? Of course I'm not forcing you or anything ! " Roy let out a smale chuckle and nudged the teen's arm. " I know you aren't, chill mate. And yeah, I mean you even brought blankets so I might as well tell you what's wrong. " Jason just sat there, waiting in a respectful silence while Roy had a sad smile plastered on his face. " You know, it's really nice to be with you all here for the holidays. I mean, we have tons of fun, we eat the all mighty cooking of Alfred, I can see you, Dick and Kori and even got presents from everybody so yeah, this feels nice. " The youngest just hummed, encouraging him to continue " This feels nice, but..but I can't help to be a bit jealous too. Even though I understand it's a bit fucked-up too, you have a family that is obviously loving you very much. And don't get me wrong, I'm really happy for you and I know you had it rough your entire life so you deserve even more than this, but my point is, why not me ? Why did all my parental figures had to die ? And why did this bastard of Oliver had to kick me out when it was all his fault from the start, and clearly I was just a kid ! Or maybe I'm just a fuck-up..." Roy couldn't stop the single tear from falling from his eye, and Jason just pressed his body to the ginger's side, leaning his head on Roy's shoulder. He spoke so slientlty it was barely above a whisper " You're not a fuck-up, really. And even if you were, we could be two" he offered the older a smile and leaned his head back " I know we're not the closest, but if you're looking for home, then I'll be your home. Just come to me whenever you want, no matter in what state or what emotion you are feeling. You're always welcomed ". Jason felt his entire face and neck flush, not believing what he had just said. That must have been too presumptuous or sound like a love confession, oh no-

The current of his thoughts was cut by Roy putting his head on top of his and whispering, sounding touched " Thanks, Jason ".

They stayed like this for a few hours, just happy in each other's presence.

After all, isn't Christmas all about spending time with your loved ones ?

Wow, okay sorry for the long wait ! One month late but here is the Christamas special that I hope you enjoyed ! There's another chapter coming ou today, and I hope this marks the come back of the weekly chapter :) thanks for reading and to those who are like Roy, remember you are always more worthy in another person's heart <3