The Archer | T.D. ✔

Chapter Fourteen

It was the week before Christmas, and everyone in Wayne Manor was in full holiday mode. Dick and Stephanie were singing carols at the top of their lungs, Jason not so politely telling them that they sounded worse than Damian trying to tell a joke. Of course, Cass and Rory took it upon themselves to deck out Barbara's wheelchair with red and green tinsel and battery-powered lights so she was a rolling spectacle wherever she went.

Alfred had taken it upon himself to start baking on the 20th and also to start decorating the manor all on his own. Of course, everyone else was not happy with this idea. With some miraculous convincing on Bruce's part, they managed to get Alfred to go to the store and get some stuff they wanted for Christmas Dinner. Alfred knew more than anyone that when you had more than three people attending you needed to start days ahead with the prep work.

While he was gone, they managed to decorate the foyer. They had just barely gotten the tree together when Alfred came in the door and looked close to tears, of course, he refused to let them direct how the tree looked because he wanted it to look decent.

After spending an hour decorating the tree, most of the manor was ready for Christmas. Naturally, multiple people completely forgot to do their shopping except for Rory, Tim, Alfred, and surprisingly Jason. They all got a kick out of watching the other scramble from store to store to try and find gifts. Even Damian was trying to find something decent for his family, after all, Christmas was a special time.

Everyone in fact was so busy, that no one noticed just how odd Tim and Rory were acting. Well, no one except Jason and Cass who just so happens to be the most observant people in the whole manor besides Tim and Rory. What started out as simple flirting turned into some of the most adorable yet cringe-worthy acts either of them had seen. It began with Tim and Rory just casually flirting with the other, and quickly turning red and looking away. That was the first sign that something had happened on Rory's birthday.

The second sign was that literally every time their hands touched both of them would freeze and drop whatever it was they were holding. Several of Tim's mugs had been the casualty of this happening and Alfred began to hide the good china after cleaning up five of the mugs.

It was the 23rd, the day before Christmas Eve, and the Ballet that Jason finally decided to do something about this. Watching them skirt around each other was both adorable and irritating to the point that Dick was starting to notice and he was pretty oblivious when it came to love, especially with himself. 

He was helping Rory wrap her presents to everyone, except his own because that would ruin the surprise when he noticed what she had gotten him. "Rory, I have a question and you need to answer it honestly If you lie, I will douse you in ice water and throw you outside to freeze." 

Rory lifted her head from wrapping Bruce's gift to look at him. "That's a little morbid, I would expect that from Damian more than you." she chuckled.

"We all know Damian would not do anything to hurt you, for some reason he seems to like you. Maybe it's because you tried to kill Tim." he chuckled softly at the memory.

"Yeah, maybe that's why. But I will answer your question to the best of my ability," she responded and turned in her spot on the floor to look at him.

"Alright." Jason set down the gift he was wrapping and looked her straight in the eye. "Are you in love with Tim?"

Rory's eyes widened and her face started to go red. "I don't have to answer that."

Jason grinned "But you said you would, and you can't lie to me. Besides, whether or not you answer my question doesn't matter. Your reaction was all the confirmation I needed."