When Mistletoe Hits Critical Mass

For: jacklemmon

Tim Drake isn't really sure whose idea it was to have a party for all the Titans—Teen, former, or future—but he's thinking it was a pretty good one. It's actually kind of surprising how well it's working, given the complex, soap-opera-ish history between most of the people in the room. Maybe it's the Christmas spirit, maybe it's the fact that he's pretty sure that someone spiked the punch, but everyone is in a good mood and getting along.

Whoever let Impulse and Superboy do the decorating, though, needs to be politely reminded never to do that again. And by politely reminded, Tim means smacked into submission. The entire Young Justice HQ is covered in glitter and garlands and wreaths. There are not one, not two, but three Christmas trees—all covered in more decorations and tinsel than should be physically possible. There are stockings for all of them on the wall, with their names (or, more often, codenames) written on in glitter glue. Tim recognizes Bart's handwriting and sighs.

Worst of all, above and beyond the fact that it looks like a Christmas catalogue vomited into their headquarters, is the mistletoe. It's everywhere. It's in the doorframes, above the trees (although in that case, remarkably ineffective), near the fireplace, and hanging randomly from the ceiling. Tim had mapped out the location of every single plant as soon as he'd walked in, and then mapped out the best routes around the room for avoiding it. It wasn't that he'd mind being caught under the mistletoe with some of the heroes in the room—Starfire came to mind (as did Nightwing, but that was a thought for another time)—but the odds were against him actually ending up with one of those. He'd be more likely to get caught under the mistletoe with Cyborg, and while Vic was a nice guy and all, Tim had no intention of locking lips with him. Ever.

Tim is making his way towards the table covered in cookies, dodging between a slightly tipsy Cissie and an exuberant Arsenal, when he sees it. The mistletoe is moving. No, not moving—it's growing. And moving.

He blinks, sure that it's just a side effect of the punch he had before he realized it was spiked. When he looks again, though, it's still happening. A glance around the room tells him no one else has noticed, which is probably a good thing, given the overwhelming good spirits and inevitable sexual tension.

Abandoning the cookie table, Tim works through the crowd towards Dick, easily evading attempts at conversation. Dick is talking with Raven in a corner, their dark costumes clashing horribly with the sparkly red garlands behind them.

"Nightwing," he says quietly. Dick turns to look at him, one eyebrow quirked. Tim tilts his head slightly upwards and Dick follows the motion, looking at the ceiling. Tim can tell the exact moment Dick notices the mistletoe, because his expression shifts from curious to serious in the course of a few seconds.

Raven is looking at both of them curiously. Dick turns to her and says, "I'll be back in a minute." She nods, but watches them as they walk away.

"Superboy and Impulse did the decorating, right?" Dick asks as he and Tim drift away from the crowd. Dick has his hand on Tim's arm, a light touch, and despite everything, Tim finds his focus caught on that for a minute. He forces himself to pay attention to the strangeness at hand instead of his awkward crush and nods.

"Could this be Superboy's doing?"

Tim thinks for a minute. It does seem like something Kon might try to pull—especially if it means he could kiss some of the girls at the party that would otherwise be off limits—but he's not sure it's something he could pull off. The moving, yes, with his TTK, but unless he's developed new powers in the last few days, Tim is pretty sure that Kon can't make things grow.

He shakes his head. "Not likely. It doesn't match up with his abilities," he explains.

Dick nods, looking serious. Tim glances up again, noting that the mistletoe hasn't stopped its expansion. No one else at the party has noticed yet, as far as he can tell, but it will only be a matter of time. Tim is almost—almost—curious to see what will happen when they realize the ceiling is nearly covered in mistletoe, but he's not sure he wants to be in the room to find out.

"Is there anyone else who could be doing this?" Dick asks. He and Tim look around the room, mentally cataloguing everyone's powers and personality. There are a few people who could possibly pull something like this off, and a few people who would probably think it was a good prank, but no one fit into both categories. Besides, anyone who'd do it for a prank would want to draw attention to it, and so far, no one had done so.

"I wonder where the mistletoe came from," Tim said. Dick looked at him and then tapped his earpiece.

"Oracle? Could you do me a favour?" he asks, and Tim listens in as he explains the situation. Oracle is more than willing to help, and comes back with the name of the nursery where Kon and Bart had made their purchases within a minute. Sometimes her ability to hunt down information is a bit intimidating.

"Radicans Nursery," she says. Dick's eyes narrow in the way that means he's trying to think of something. The name sounds familiar to Tim, too, but he can't quite place it. From the humming noise in his earpiece, he suspects that Babs is having the same problem.

Suddenly, Tim knows where he's heard the name before.

"Toxicodendron radicans," he says, looking at Dick. Dick's eyes widen.

"Poison Ivy," he says. "Of course."

They both look up at the mistletoe with new wariness. Chances are that this is just a precursor to the rest of her plan, whatever that is, and they have no idea what timeline they're working with. The mistletoe seems to be content with growing and crawling along the ceiling for now, which means they have some time to figure things out.

Suddenly, Batman's voice cuts into the thoughtful silence on their earpieces.

"I'll handle Ivy," he says. "Get the party away from the mistletoe."

Tim jumps a bit. Dick's mouth quirks into a smile and Tim flushes, embarrassed to be caught by surprise. Dick doesn't tease him, though, just ruffles his hair a bit and says, "Understood."

If Tim blushes harder at the ruffling, well, it's not going to be easy to tell.

"C'mon," Dick says. When they turn back towards the crowd, they can tell that people have started to notice the strange mistletoe activity. There's a worried murmur going through the room, and more than a few people are staring up at the ceiling. Of course, a couple of people are trying to use this to their advantage—Tim catches sight of Kon doing his best to get a kiss from Grace, and, surprisingly, succeeding—but mostly people look worried.

Tim glances at Dick, waiting for a cue. Dick looks down at him and shrugs. "We should probably just explain the situation," he says. Tim nods.

Dick does most of the talking, since he knows most of the people in the room and Tim doesn't. When he's done, Tim isn't surprised to find Bart and Kon next to him, looking uncomfortable.

"Sorry, Rob," Kon says. Bart nods and looks miserable, vibrating a little in place.

Tim shakes his head. "Not your fault—she's done this kind of thing before. Ivy knows what she's doing."

Bart brightens at this, then zips over to Tim and gives him a hug. Tim pats him on the back, a bit awkward, but pleased nonetheless. Kon settles for a manly smack on the shoulder that would probably hurt if Tim wasn't wearing his costume.

"Go on, help get people out of here," Tim says, detangling himself from Bart with a smile. Bart nods and zips off, faster than Tim can see. Kon follows behind him. Soon the place is nearly empty—of people and food, Tim notices, eyeing the strangely empty treats table.

When he looks up, Dick's watching him with obvious amusement.

"It's not like I chose them for the decoration committee," Tim says, a bit defensive of his friends. Dick laughs and shakes his head.

"It's like critical mass, getting this many of us in one place," he says. "Something's bound to happen sooner or later. We're lucky it was just this."

Tim nods, looking around the room. They're the last ones in it, and the mistletoe hasn't stopped growing. It's covering the entire ceiling at this point, and starting to clog up the doors.

"We should get going," Tim says. "Before we're trapped in here."

Dick nods, then pauses. "One more thing," he says, and Tim turns to look at him questioningly.

He doesn't expect Dick to lean down and give him a soft kiss on the lips, but that's what happens. Tim is too startled to react, but when Dick draws back he looks up to see Dick smiling at him and feels warmth flood his entire body.

"We are under mistletoe, after all," Dick says, and Tim grins up at him.

"We'll be under mistletoe until we leave this room," he points out, a little bit worried that Dick won't get what he means, or won't like it, but mostly too happy to care.

Luckily, Dick grins back at him. "So we will be," he says, and leans down to kiss Tim again. This time, Tim does kiss back.

He has no idea whose idea this party was, or who decided to let Impulse and Superboy do the decorations, but he's pretty sure he owes them big. Maybe he'll buy them a plant.