in a flurry of makeup and dress, i do myself up for christmas at the manor.
just as i finish up my hair, dick swings the door open. His eyes go wide. "I didn't think you could get any more gorgeous," he comments.
i blush and giggle like a goddamn schoolgirl, "and I didn't think you could be my boyfriend, but here we are." he laughs and holds out his hand. I take it and wave goodbye to my teammates as we pass them. They wave back.
right after we exit through the zeta tube, i get a call from annabeth. "hey, seaweed brain. are you doing anything today?"
"yeah. i'm going with dick to the manor. bruce invited me. it's christmas, remember?"
"oh, never mind, then," she responds, disappointment evident in her voice.
"hey, hang on. dick, does every one of your siblings have a date?"
"nope," he says. "jason, steph, and cass don't."
"cool. would it be fine if annabeth came to dinner, too?"
"wow, percy. i never thought i'd say this, but that's a good idea," annabeth says. i roll my eyes.
"yeah, yeah. meet us outside of the zeta tube in gotham."
"ok. be there soon."
the first thing she notices are the scratch marks from hotshot, for which i promise her an explanation later. alfred picks us up not minutes later.
"it has been too long, mistress percy," he greets. "welcome back."
"always a pleasure, alfred. need help? i know a mean-ass brownie recipe." he chuckles and shrugs, an action so informal it looks alien from him. i follow him to the kitchen and begin making my brownies, topped with peach preserves.
when i'm done, i join everyone else in the dining room, sitting next to dick and across from annabeth. she sits between steph and jason, both of whom try to flirt with her and fail miserably. i can't help but chuckle.
finally, food. there's a huge feast. i get my plate, sit down, and dig in.
"oh, my gods. this is so fucking good," annabeth says. no one minds the language, since they agree with her.
"why be fucking good when you can be fucking m—" i cut steph off with a cough.
"steph, babe, if you want to keep your face intact, i would suggest not finishing that sentence." she glares at me like she wants to shoot me. that's when I get an idea.
i excuse myself to go to the bathroom. by the look i give annabeth, she knows to go too. when we're out of eyesight, we run to my old room, the one i used when i stayed here for a little while.
i open the drawer and examine the clothes. "alright, wise girl. they're in the closet. i'll pick out clothes while you get the guns."
she nods. we get to it. i choose two identical outfits, black shirts and black shorts. i call up selena and cass, who change into the same thing. we all grab guns and ammo.
we sneak back downstairs and start firing our water guns. the boys look utterly shocked, but they quickly take cover. i laugh as alfred runs away. surprising no one, jason whips his own water gun out and starts firing.
after about fifteen minutes, the boys surrender.
losers.
as everyone warms up by the fireplace in pajamas—whether their own or borrowed—i take the opportunity to sneak dick away to give him his present. i pull him to his old bedroom.
"open mine first," he urges.
i oblige. i gasp as i open the box to a giant collage of pictures; from our first to our most recent, dick has been apparently capturing all of it. along with this is a small locket necklace with a selfie of us from our first date.
"i love it! now open mine!"
his reaction mirrors mine. together, despite the cold and our still-wet hair, we fall asleep in content.
