addy and steph are the (blondebat) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2013-12-03 00:57:00 |
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Entry tags: | door: dc comics, riddler, stephanie brown, supergirl |
WHO Steph, Eddie and Kara
WHAT Picking a Christmas tree.
WHEN Recently!
WHERE Some tree farm outside Gotham.
WARNINGS Stupid amounts of cute.
Christmas was definitely, finally coming to Gotham. In the few weeks since Arkham Asylum quietly released Eddie Nashton, the city kicked the holiday cheer into full gear. Every storefront had their decorations hanging off their doors and taped into windows -- ruddy-cheeked Santa Clauses beaming at happy shoppers, fake snow and snowflakes adorning corners and dusting windowpanes, candycanes in cups by the cash registers. Even in a city as dark and gloomy as Gotham City, splashes of green and red and joy painted the town, and there was that typical seasonal excitement buzzing through the city and cheering even the grumpiest Scrooge. There weren’t many things to celebrate in Gotham lately, what with the toxin earlier in the summer, then the superprison popping up in one of the oldest parts of town. Then again, there never really was much to celebrate, was there? But, Gothamites were always good at dusting off their shoulders and being happy in face of a world of troubles and pain, and the holiday season was the perfect time of year to turn that into overdrive.
Stephanie Brown and Eddie Nashton were no exception. They had been through hell the last few months, since the feds dragged Eddie into prison and Arkham City nearly imploded, and Gotham’s sweethearts deserved a modicum of happiness, didn’t they? They were taking it all in full-swing, making up for lost time every chance that they could get. Frequenting their usual spots, taking Matilda for walks around Stephanie’s neighborhood, sitting quietly while they worked together on different projects. And, despite the tiny drop of apprehension about the whole thing, living together was working out as well as they could imagine. They fell into a rhythm like most couples did, even if they both knew that this was temporary. Having Eddie around all the time hadn’t ruined the desperate affection and need that the lovesickness bubbled up in Stephanie. She loved rolling over and waking up next to him every single morning. Sharing meals with him. Coming home after long nights of patrol to him and Matilda just there. That was all she wanted this holiday season, to have Eddie in her arms again, and she got it.
That didn’t, of course, mean that she wasn’t going to leave it at just that. No, they were going to be the goddamn Christmas ambassadors, and no one was going to stop that. That was what found the couple driving out to a tree farm on the outskirts of Gotham to pick out a live Christmas tree for Stephanie’s apartment. Bundled up against the cold nipping at the closed windows, with Matilda pacing in the back seat, she was just excited. Excited for a couple hours of normalcy with her man and her best friend. Kara was meeting them there as well, as the Kryptonian girl had never experienced Christmas, and Steph was determined to show Kara everything she loved best about the holiday.
When they finally arrived, Stephanie jumped out of the car and opened the back door to let Matilda out as well. “I hope you’ve been using weights, so you can swing that ax, baby.” She looked over her shoulder with a grin, black peacoat over a pair of jeans and boots, with a purple beret and those green gloves he’d knitted for her as a gift. She held onto Matilda’s leash, who was just as excited as the couple to be out and about and away from the city. “Though I suppose we could get Kara to do it if you aren’t up for the challenge.”
Eddie would have liked to pretend that he feared the worst when he first moved in with Stephanie. He would have liked to pretend that he wasn’t sure they’d be happy in each other’s lives from morning to evening in the smallest apartment he had lived in for a long time. But, he wasn’t surprised or afraid. He was happy. Blissful even and he had known the second she gave him his own (temporary) key, that they were going to fit together just fine. They were both busy people, her with school and crime fighting and him with rebuilding his information broker business and snooping around the city for Selina. They both actively made time for each other, went on dates and generally found very little to fight about beyond what music to listen to while he was making food or building his new computer. It was nice, domestic and comforting in the way he had hoped it would be. Eddie Nashton finally felt like he was achieving something without cheating his way towards it.
Still, that carefulness they learnt while he was in Arkham wasn’t completely chased away. Sometimes Stephanie would toss and turn at night or wake up suddenly and cling to him as if she thought he would vanish once she closed her eyes. Sometimes he’d bite back a Riddle Me This in the middle of a conversation to avoid that raise of eyebrows and look of blue concern. And, Eddie still hadn’t told her about his plan to take down Blackgate City or help destroy the mob with Selina. For now, the only thing that mattered was enjoying Christmas and being their version of normal.
“Macho baiting doesn’t work with me. You know that.” Eddie informed her brightly, stepping out of the car in dark slacks, a red and green Christmas sweater, white shirt collar over the top and a matching dark green tie tucked under. He had on an expensive looking winter coat which gave him the look of eccentric money that was all Eddie Nigma. “I was planning on paying one of these farmer boys around here to do it for me. I’m sure they need an extra 20 to help pay for their next video game. Or bong. Probably bong.” Eddie rounded the car and walked up next to Stephanie, looping his arm around her waist and leaned in for a quick kiss. “Wanted to get one in before Kara gets here. Kissing in front of Kryptonians isn’t polite.” He pulled away just enough to lock his dark eyes with her bright blues. “You look pretty out here in the cold.” Eddie’s smile slipped up his face into a smirk and he gently touched her ruddy cheeks with the back of his fingers.
“You wait here. I’m going to go get us some hot chocolate. There’s always a snack stand at these things without fail.” He pointed at Matilda and told her to be good before wandering off towards the snack shack.
Kara was getting used to life in Gotham. It was nothing like the stark-white silence of Sanctuary, and it was hard not to be able to run a holoprogram when she was homesick, but it felt more like home than a lab with hundreds of thousands of tons of water pressing down on it. The city was dirty, filthy, and she had to admit that she liked Metropolis' bright lights and sunshine better than the muted sun that filtered through the smog in Gotham. But her friends were here, and they were more important than any pretty view was. And living with Kal was almost like having her own family back. No, in a weird way it was just like having her family back. Kal was nothing like her, and he wasn't even anything like her parents or her aunt and uncle, but he was still familiar in the way that only family could be, and she still remembered all those times she'd babysat him when he was small. Smog, small apart and all, she was happy in Gotham, and she was happy Damian had thought of it.
School was another thing that Kara was enjoying. As Alura Kent, no one looked at her twice. She was just another blonde, blue-eyed girl sitting in a lecture hall. It was too late in the semester to actually register for classes, but somehow Kal had managed to get her permission to audit some classes, so that she could get a feel for what it would be like in the spring. Math and Science were so easy that they nearly bored her to sleep, but History and English were amazing, and she'd already read each textbook through twice, without even relying on Sanctuary to do the translating for her. And she'd been reading a little about Christmas too. If Stephanie was excited enough about the holiday to invite her along to look for a tree, the least she could do was understand why they were getting a tree in the first place. And so her understanding was very historical, with very little of the practical thrown in, but it was better than nothing.
And Kara wanted to see her friend very badly. She hadn't seen Jason since his visit to Sanctuary, and even thinking about that made her blush, and she hadn't heard from Damian in a while. Seeing friends was a really good thing, and she was excited enough to put the little lingering fear that someone would recognize her aside. The government had been quiet, and there wasn't any reason to think that would change. That was her youthful belief, anyway.
She dressed warmly to meet Stephanie and Eddie, but not because she was cold; she wanted to fit in. Everyone else looked cold, and she thought she should look cold too. And so she showed up at the tree lot just as Eddie slipped away, but she didn't call after him, despite the fact that Krypto pulled excitedly on his leash, thrilled at the prospect of seeing Matilda again since their time in Wayne Manor. "Shhhhh," she told the dog, which didn't help at all, and she finally laughed and let him pull her toward Stephanie. "Hello," she said finally, when the dog had come to a stop, a laugh chasing the words and the pink hoodie she wore falling back from her blonde hair. "He is not well behaved," she conceded of Krypto, who was doing everything in his power to drag Matilda into shenanigans. She gave Stephanie a bright smile, and then she hugged her with a carefulness that she'd been practicing on random strangers in the building she and Kal lived in. "I am glad to see you."
Before Stephanie could respond to Eddie or steal a few more kisses before Kara arrived, he was strolling off in search of hot chocolate. She watched him walk away with affection flashing in her blue eyes, and Matilda whined for just a moment in his wake, tugging at the leash just slightly to follow her human daddy. Steph became too preoccupied with petting Matilda and cooing at her as they both waited for their riddled man to return that she didn’t even realize that Kara had arrived until Krypto was dragging the other blonde up to the other blonde/dog pair. The blonde bat stood back up immediately and beamed over at her friend. They hadn’t seen each other in some time, which was a crime given the state of both their lives. They both desperately needed a friend, and Steph knew that the two could just pick up where they left off with the ease best friends mastered. So, despite the months between their last hang-out, it didn’t seem awkward at all.
“Hey,” Steph greeted with a grin before Kara smothered her in a hug that was surprisingly human and okay. Maybe a little too tight, but still clearly the younger blonde was beginning to take control of her powers which filled Steph with joy and pride in the same way she felt when Cass started opening up to people or Eddie worked through his riddled mess on his own. It was progress, wonderful progress so easy and welcome in this new Gotham in a way that hadn’t ever happened before. Oh, people could change in their old worlds, but it never stuck, and there wasn’t an ounce of hope to keep them going. It was easier to fall back into old habits there; here, people like Stephanie and Eddie and Kara wanted differences. Good differences.
“I’m happy to see you too, Kara,” she said with another bright expression, taking Kara’s free hand in hers and squeezing it. “How are you? How’s Gotham treating you?” Steph had a litany of questions to ask the other girl because she had missed her friend so much. To their sides, Matilda and Krypto were sniffing each other, investigating the other dog with curious wags and little grumbles. “I’m excited!” the blonde bat exclaimed, letting go of Kara’s hand and clapping her own together eagerly. “Eddie’s gone off to get hot chocolates for us before we head out there.”
"Hey," Kara echoed. She was working on slang lately, and she was considering trying out the strange and wonderful contractions that the people on earth used in their language, but she hadn't been brave enough yet. Her internal translator didn't recognize the little apostrophe'd words, and she'd need to do all the work on those herself, so she'd been holding off. But hey was easy, and she gave her friend a gleeful little smile when Stephanie squeezed her hand. The dogs made her laugh, but they weren't hurting each other, so she let them wag and growl and sniff; Krypto had obviously been lonely too.
Kara tugged her fingers from Stephanie's, and she reached out and tucked an errant strand of blonde behind Stephanie's ear with the same care as had been evident in the hug. "You look happy and pretty," she said candidly, because Stephanie did. "Shahrrehth is doing a very good job." There was no sign of the girl that Cass had insisted did nothing but cry and eat ice cream, and Kara was so happy to see that. A quick glance (and use of her long-distance vision) in the direction Stephanie indicated let Kara know precisely where Eddie was in his journey for something she hadn't ever heard of, but the visual scan let her know it was something to drink, and a quick x-ray look into one of the cups made her sure it was a hot drink, probably with the chocolate that people liked so much here.
Mystery solved, Kara glanced toward the forest of trees with bright young curiosity. "I read up on trees and the traditions that surround them. We did not have anything like this where I am from," she said, intentionally not mentioning Krypton in the crowd. "I like the lights best. Do you put lights on yours?" she asked excitedly, because some pictures she'd encountered showed trees without lights at all, and she didn't like those nearly as much. She would need to make Kal get a tree once he was back from Metropolis.
Stephanie rolled her eyes dramatically; the blonde bat was never very good at taking compliments from anyone, be it friend or boyfriend or parent. “Yeah, yeah,” she said with a wave, as if her hand swiping through the air could dismiss her words entirely. Still, she couldn’t ignore the fact that Kara said she looked happy. Steph was. She was very happy, for the first time in months and months. Sure, there were hiccups here and there, and she woke up from nightmares of Eddie being thrown back into prison, but for the most part the blonde bat was just blissfully happy. “I am,” she said with an easy smile, nodding to confirm Kara’s observation. “He’s home. That’s all I need. He’s home, and he’s not leaving again any time soon.” They’d have to take him over her dead body if they wanted to try again. Steph smirked. “But yes, he’s doing a good job, too. He’s staying with me for a while, actually.” And it didn’t seem weird to say that to her, not like it should have. Maybe there was something to that.
The dogs continued their romp to the side, and Steph didn’t have the heart in her to stop them. Matilda had been one of the few saving graces when Eddie was gone, aside from Cass and the girl in front of her. The copper puppy was a reminder of Eddie, constant and living and breathing. Steph had always had a soft spot for her, but now she couldn’t help letting that softspot grow. She did roll her eyes again though, this time at the dogs instead of Kara’s compliments, before shooting her an excited raise of her eyebrows and a wide grin.
“Did you? I gotta admit, you probably know more history stuff than I do. I forgot all of that after eighth grade. So, what did you learn?” she asked, curious about how the Kryptonian interpreted certain Earthly traditions, especially ones so ingrained in worldwide culture. She smiled again and nodded. “Yeah, of course I do. Who wouldn’t put lights on their goddamn tree?”
“Hippies. Hippies don’t even have trees.” Eddie said a couple paces away, carrying three cups of hot chocolate brimming over with tiny marshmallows. “Here you go ladies.” He handed the first to Stephanie that clearly had more marshmallows than seemed possible and then the other to Kara which had just the right amount to make her first experience with hot chocolate the right one. “Bluebell, it’s good to see you.” He smiled at her, a little unsure if Kryptonians could even eat or drink (that was from not spending any time with Superman ever if he could help it), but he figured what the hell. It was an actual crime against all things Christmas not to offer someone hot chocolate.
He held his cup up to his chin, enjoying the simple warmth as he watched Krypto play with Matilda. Eddie smiled. “He’s a smart dog. Gentle with her.” He gave a sharp whistle and patted the side of his leg, which made Matilda reluctantly walk over and sit at his side, her tail thumping against the cold ground in controlled excitement. “You have to be a good dog today, Matilda. No running.” Eddie wagged his finger at her, dark puppy dog eyes meeting dark puppy dog eyes, before he scratched behind her ear and told her she was a good dog a couple times.
“Okay, so we need to think strategically about this tree. Are we more into a full shape or are we planning on putting a lot of ornaments on it?” Eddie held his hand out for Matilda’s leash and started down the row of trees that had that cookie-cutter Christmas tree look, but the branches and needles looked flimsy and hard to hang anything on. “These are White Pines. As you can see, they look good and have a nice color, but they don’t smell as nice and lack the sturdiness needed for eccentric tree decoration.” Eddie raised his finger in the air, spouting off tree facts from the top of his head before rounding one tree that was a perfect cone shape.
“Did I overhear that you read Christmas history and customs?” Eddie asked Kara, poking his head out sliigghttlly from behind a tree. “The legend these were used to explain the Holy Trinity is completely bogus, but a lot of history here is bogus. Legends are much more powerful than facts, especially in Gotham.” He glanced around to see if anyone was watching and then lightly shook the tree, his mouth turning down as needles fell around his feet and sipped at his hot chocolate suspiciously before moving onto another tree.
Kara tried to imagine a life in which another person mattered as much as Eddie did to Stephanie, but she couldn't imagine that at all. Even if she'd been genematched on Krypton, the relationships there weren't anything like what Eddie and Stephanie had here. She watched the other girl's face with a mixture of curiosity and happiness. She was completely happy for Stephanie, and she was so curious about what it felt like to be her. Maybe she would know one day, but she wondered if Kryptonians just weren't made like that. She knew Kal had been with Diana where she came from, but he wasn't with her here, and maybe Kal didn't know what love was like either. She would ask him when she had the chance.
"The Germans did not use lights. They put food on their trees. I think they probably had lots of mice and bugs," Kara told Stephanie with a crinkle of her nose at the thought. The anesthetized life she was accustomed to didn't include rodents, and she couldn't imagine leaving food out, even though natural food products had been scarce on Krypton for centuries before she'd even been born, and she had no actual experience with any of it before turning up in Gotham. She was glad her friend wanted to hang lights and not something like the cakepans that Jason had brought to Sanctuary.
Eddie's arrival made Kara smile with the same bright fondness she'd directed at Stephanie moments earlier. "I am glad you are home, Shahrrehth," she said, earnest and genuine. "I am glad you are making Stephanie happy, too," she added with a knowing grin. As for the hot chocolate, she took the mug he carried, and she peered into it. She didn't need to eat outside of Sanctuary. She could, but it wasn't very pleasant, since her body didn't actually need the food above the surface. But that didn't mean she couldn't taste things, and she dipped a finger in the hot chocolate and sucked the liquid off with a happy sound, which was abbreviated by her attempts to keep Krypto calmly sitting at her side, like Matilda was; Krypto wasn't nearly as well behaved.
"No one can seem to agree about where the tree tradition began," Kara said once Eddie mentioned the traditions, being helpfully unhelpful and watching him test the trees with awestruck curiosity. "Some of the things I read said a man named Martin Luther began it. Other things I read said it was about people called the pagans and a tree they had that never died. They say the first trees in homes were hung upside, from ceilings. I do not know how they got them up there back then. Things are old fashioned now. I do not know how they would have managed it when there were even less tools." There was a fair bit of criticism there, which slipped past without her notice as she looked down at the needles on the ground and pointed at them helpfully.
When Eddie arrived, Stephanie brightened even further, but resisted the urge to kiss him again. She had been doing that a lot lately, kissing him. Hugging him, holding him, keeping him as close as possible. Clearly making up for the time the two had lost in the months where he was locked away and they’d both been left to just pine for the other. So, she wanted to soak up every second of him that she could, greedily, unabashedly taking moments to take in his love. They were autonomous still, of course, but there was always that dash (or more than a dash) of dependency that they had. And months and months apart made it harder to quash when she needed to. But, she did, though she flashed him a smirk and her eyes glinted playfully when he handed her the hot chocolate filled to the brim with marshmallows. “Thanks, baby,” she said simply before handing off the leash for him to take.
“That’s a waste of perfectly good food,” she told Kara matter-of-factly and deadpan. “Food I could be stuffing my face with instead.” Steph wasn’t as well-rounded on facts like that as Kara and Eddie were, and she pulled a face, too before grinning over at the pair of them. “I’m glad we use lights, too. I don’t think Matilda and Bandit would be too happy if we had food all over our tree. Huh, girl?” She stooped a little to smooth a hand over the dog’s copper fur before reaching to tug at the branch of a nearby tree. The needles stuck to the jade green gloves, and she started to shake her hand out while Eddie curled a possible candidate. “Oh, we need a tree that can hold a lot obviously. I want lights and garland and ornaments and topper, too. There’s no other way to do it.” She sipped at her hot chocolate and leveled a serious look on both of them. As if she were the Christmas authority, and she dared them to test her rule.
Steph bubbled out a laugh. “We can’t all be advanced alien races, Kara,” she teased, sticking out her tongue at the other blonde. “Sometimes old fashioned is okay, too.” The blonde bat shot a significant look towards Eddie before wandering just out of earshot towards another group of trees that were neglected by the throngs of families shopping for Christmas joy. She lightly brushed gentle fingers against a Charlie Brown looking tree with a fond sort of smile. She liked little things that looked broken on the outside, but had a unique sort of beauty and meaning underneath it all.
Eddie quirked a smile at Kara’s rattling off of antiquated holiday traditions that were even older than he was. He liked obscure trivia facts, rumors and legends more than any other rogue in Gotham and most of his capers were centered around riddles that bloomed from knowledge even wikipedia couldn’t give. “We really need to teach Kara about basic pulley systems.” He mused. Who needed ropes and pulleys if there were hovercrafts and lasers? So many lasers. He smiled warmly at Stephanie’s look and then like they had some kind of secret code between them said, “New traditions are good, too.”
Matilda, who was always a very well behaved dog, yanked on the leash only a little towards Krypto and Eddie relented, walking over so that the two dogs could touch noses and play. He looked around the rows of trees waiting to be cut down, leaning to see if there was anyone who looked like they’d object to a dog on the loose and then bent down to unclip Matilda’s neon green collar from the leash. “Don’t start any fires, Matilda. Not like last time.” Eddie warned with a mock serious expression as the copper-haired dog wagged her whole body as a thank you for getting some freedom. Once released, Matilda didn’t wander off. She stayed next to Krypto like she was taking care of the alien dog and personally making sure he wouldn’t get in trouble.
Eddie smirked, wrapped the leash up and put it in his pocket before wandering over to Stephanie. “I don’t think Kara knows the significance of a tree such as this.” He touched the wilting needles next to Stephanie’s hand before gently running his fingers over her hand. A tiny, unseen sign of affection that no one could see except Eddie and Steph. Without so much as a brief smile directed her way, Eddie turned and his voice went bright like a bard about to entertain. Eddie’s regular voice, the one he used when he said Bluebell or asked how everyone was doing, was different from the story telling voice. No, that had a quality that seemed truly old fashioned and just as bright as those golden age comic books he was conceived from.
“Charlie Brown Christmas. Stephanie, help me out with this one.” Eddie cleared his throat. “Once upon a time there was this kid who everyone thought was kind of, well, kind of a loser. Charlie Brown was really earnest though and wanted to know why Christmas was such a big deal. What’s the point besides presents and bright lights and hot chocolate.” He looked to Stephanie to pick up the next part.
Stephanie looked over her shoulder just in time to see Eddie approaching and Matilda playing guard dog to Krypto. Both earned a warm smile from the blonde bat, and her gaze lingered on Matilda for a moment longer. The copper puppy really was the perfect dog for Eddie. Not only did she make him more patient and aware and eager to show his affection, she had that same sort of instinct he did: to care and protect others. Matilda and Eddie obviously had both been kicked around, but they still helped people, and that brought a smile to her face. But before Eddie reached her, she looked back down at the tree with that same smile, not looking up even when he brushed his fingers against hers. Just trailed the movement across her hand and biting back a grin and the urge to tangle him up in that tree.
A quiet hmph sounded from her throat when he bounded away to begin his grandstand showcase, but this was for the sake of Kara and of Christmas. Steph could granstand for that as well. She turned as well, but didn’t step away from the little tree, merely stepping to the side so Kara could see. Nodding along with Eddie, she waved her hands to bring Kara’s attention to the tree while he spoke until it was her turn.
“Well, Charlie Brown was sad because he didn’t like that no one really cared about the true meaning of Christmas was, so he went to his friend Lucy, who told him to help with the school’s nativity play.” Stephanie’s voice wasn’t nearly as bombastic as Eddie’s, nor was it as loud, but the point was getting across. Some couples or stragglers here and there perked up at Gotham’s sweethearts’ little song and dance of a demonstration for the Kryptonian. “But though Charlie didn’t like that they wanted to put stuff in that wasn’t about the birth of little baby Jesus, he still wants to put everyone in the right cheery mood for the show. So, he decides to go get a treeee.” And with a wave of her hand, she points at the tree next to her again, all goofy grin and joy, before placing her hands on her hips.
“And it was the most pathetic looking tree anyone’s ever seen, and so all of the kids totally make fun of him again, which is actually not very nice or in the Christmas spirit, but whatever. Charlie thinks he’s ruined Christmas, and that he doesn’t really know the meaning of it all to begin with.” With the quirk of an eyebrow, she tossed it back to Eddie.
Eddie grinned as Stephanie caught the Christmas ball and ran with it. Goofing around was one thing, but her being willing to do storytime in the middle of a tree farm with people peering behind trees to watch was one of the reasons why she was the right girl for him. “You’re going to make me do the Linus speech?” Eddie put his hand up to his mouth in a stage whisper, still all smiles and teasing as if this whole thing had been scripted from the very beginning. He cleared his throat and leveled a serious look at Kara. “Charlie Brown yelled at the top of his lungs for someone, anyone to tell him the true meaning of Christmas. And, his best friend who had been there through this whole holiday adventure, a soft spoken intellect named Linus, stepped up and said he would tell Charlie Brown what Christmas was all about.”
His storyteller voice vanished in a second and was replaced with an echo of that blanket carrying, sensitive boy who stayed by Charlie Brown’s side despite his repeated failings. It would have been a wonder to anyone that didn’t know Eddie was the Riddler and a Charlie Brown Christmas enthusiast how he managed to remember The Linus Speech (which was actually a piece of Bible scripture, of course). But, under all the eccentrics was a man who could relay information almost as efficiently as the internet. Eddie closed his eyes, one finger raised in the air.
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.” His voice dipped down with an echo of the shepherds’ fear. He opened his eyes and lowered his hand. “And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”
Eddie’s tone turned soft again, lined with a Christmas themed hopefulness as if he were bringing good news. “For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.'” Finally his voice returned to that over the top, showcasing level and he could see the separate groups of families stop dead in their tracks at the sound of a very familiar story. It fueled the fire of course. “And, suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'”
He paused dramatically then turned to Stephanie to finish off the Charlie Brown side of the story. Eddie tried his hardest not to wiggle his eyebrows at her in full knowledge that he had done something great, but he failed miserably.
Maybe when they first started hanging out, Stephanie would have been embarrassed by Eddie’s outlandish show and attention grabbing. That was Eddie Nashton though, the Riddler, and his brand of neon green and purple question-marks had always been about grandstanding. She knew that even when she was a little girl in eggplant trying to kick him and her father out of her house. But it wasn’t a point of contention or another reason in a long list to hate him anymore. No, Steph looked on with a very affectionate smile and bright blue eyes, so obviously in love with the goofball spouting Bible verse for the sake of Christmas. And yes, she was thoroughly impressed by the speech, and like how Eddie couldn’t stop the wiggle of his eyebrows, she was unable to hide how stupidly fond she was of her riddled man. It was funny to think that just a year before, they were both trying to piece their lives together after the debacle of a Halloween party and tiptoeing around each other. Now, though there were shadows of that after Arkham, it was clear that they were so far from the girl in eggplant and the man consumed by riddles that lived only as strokes on the page of a comic book.
She let the speech settle in on Kara and those eavesdroppers that began to creep in on the show. Before she turned from Eddie, she cupped her mouth and in the perfect stage whisper said, “Good job, baby.” With a wink, she shifted her attention back to Kara, who Steph was sure was completely overwhelmed by all of this. “That kicked Charlie’s ass back in gear, right?” she said frankly, before screwing her face up just an inch as a little kid nearby gasped at the language. “Whoops,” she murmured with a grin regardless. “Sooo, Charlie brings the tree home to decorate it. He plops it in front of Snoopy’s doghouse, which is decorated to the nines, and puts an ornament on it, and the branch just flops over.” Steph’s brand of dramatics were a little more muted than Eddie’s but it was still more than enough.
“Charlie wails ‘I’VE KILLED IT!’ at the top of his lungs,” as she yelled at the top of her lungs then lowered it back to her normal tone, “before going in his house to probably start an anti-bullying campaign or something. Who knows.” Shrugging, she looked around at the group surrounding them slowly growing by the minute. “But the kids in his class realize they’ve been pretty mean and go to Charlie’s. They see the tree, and best friend in the world Linus wraps his little blanket around it to keep it standing up right. And after they add the rest of Snoopy’s decorations to the tree and make it the prettiest tree you’ve ever seen, they start humming a Christmas hymn.” She hums a couple bars of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing before continuing. “And when Charlie comes out to see what they’ve done, they shout, ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS, CHARLIE BROWN!’ before they all join together and sing again.”
Stephanie took a moment to take everyone in before turning to Kara. “So, you see, Christmas. It isn’t just about the traditions and like, trees and presents. Those are awesome, don’t get me wrong. But it’s about good will towards everyone. Loving your friends and family. Kindness. Remembering how lucky you are. Stuff like that.” And again, she couldn’t resist turning to Eddie with a smile that said she knew exactly how lucky she was to have him back again.