meet the (grand)parents...

[theresalwayshope]

Allison felt a little like she was going insane.

She started out just planning to invite Aramis and Porthos over to meet Jason. Dinner and drinks, nothing big. Then she realized she didn't just feel obligated to invite Athos, she wanted to. So, if she did that, she obviously had to invite D'artagnan, and she really wanted to meet Constance...and she'd promised Grey a chance to help her bake a cake, so if she did something more than dinner, she could let him come over at some point...

The small family dinner became a small dinner party, and with a few more additions morphed into an impromptu potluck for the whole building...or anyone that wanted to show up. She told the family about it privately, asking Porthos and Aramis to make sure the others at least stopped by (with a subtle warning that Jason would be there), told everyone else she knew in the city, and for the rest of the building she posted a couple of handmade fliers: one in the elevator, and another in the laundry room announcing that, with either a main course or appetizer offering, an invitation to the holiday celebration taking place in apartment #39...dressy casual to formalwear welcome, bring your favorite Christmas CD as a bonus.

And, of course, she told Jason...and told him her family would be there.

By the night of the party, Allison was ready...she just felt a little like she was going insane.

She kept her outfit cute, but simple, and took care of dessert by baking some cupcakes, gingerbread cookies, and a two layer chocolate cake which she invited Grey over to help her bake. With a little careful scheduling, she also managed to contribute to the food on hand with her second ever attempt at beef bourguignon: rich, hearty, and sort of impressive under the right circumstances. By party time, she had her front door standing open, some Trans Siberian Orchestra carols playing on her stereo, and while she didn't yet have a tree, she'd gotten some cute plastic holly garland to hang around the apartment, and for fun had ringed her whole living room ceiling in multicolor Christmas lights for good measure.

The party was good to go. The place smelled good, the food came out okay with more to come...the evening was good to go.

And when Jason showed up, her family would show up...and they'd all meet each other...

While she waited for her guests, loved ones, and boyfriend to start arriving, Allison puttered around in her kitchen, swore to herself she was not hiding, and tried to pretend that she wasn't having visions of someone either drawing a sword or a knife by the end of the evening.

Tonight had to be perfect.

(HOLIDAY GATHERING POST! Treat it thusly. :P Front door's open, come and go as you please, anyone in the Bramford Building is welcome, and if you know Allison even remotely she told you about the party. Gather at will, and leave a call for Allison in your subject line if you want to play with her directly! Open eternally, will probably be linked near the end of the month. :D)

Comments

[theresalwayshope]

Whenever Allison catches Jason's eye, she feels sane in the moment, relaxed and warm and good, even a little bit giddy to have him around for more than just a hot and half-crazed grope against the wall (or more, and sometimes they even make it to the bed after an especially active night patrolling). When he doesn't catch her looking, though, she can tell what he's doing, and it worries her a little.

In a lull between greeting guests, she makes her way over and, once she knows she's been spotted, she sidles up next to him so she can wrap her arms around his waist and steal a kiss.

"So? Verdict: do I throw a better party than your dad?" she asked cheerfully, hoping to distract them both at least a little bit from the reason for the entire thing. "I mean, it's not Wayne Manor, but I bet a stuffed shirt like him wouldn't think to put Trans Siberian Orchestra on the stereo."

[prodigaljaybird]

"Nobody he couldn't buy to play for his guests in person," Jason agrees, sliding his arms around her with enough speed to suggest he's been dying to for a while now. "And all his canapés've got nothing on those tiny hotdogs inside biscuits."

He grins, nerves settling just enough to let him get hungry at the thought of more. "Is it all going like you want?" he asks, and it better be, because Jason has no idea how to fix a party if it isn't. "You seem happy."

[theresalwayshope]

Allison stifled a little squeal as he wrapped her up in his arms very suddenly, relaxing her guard enough to be caught by surprise, and really not trying to stifle her squeal all that hard as she slid her own arms around his neck, melting into a giggle.

"The correct term is 'pigs in a blanket,' you heathen," she teased, leaning in to steal a kiss she'd been equally eager for since he'd walked in the door, "and of course I'm happy. The party is going well so far, I've got my family, my friends...the sweetest and sexiest guy in any dimension with his arms around me...everything I want for Christmas, more or less."

She grinned at him, then her smile wavered just a touch as she dropped a kiss against the bridge of his nose.

"Have any of my uncles come by to interrogate you yet? Are they doing the 'hurt her and I'll skewer you' thing? Please tell me they're not doing the 'hurt her and I'll skewer you' thing..."

[prodigaljaybird]

"Porthos did," says Jason, "It was fine, we talked swords." He grins, but it fades somewhat as he scans the room for the other two, circling like wolves. The one that gives Allison so much trouble is already his least favorite, too dourfaced to escape reminding Jason of Bruce, and part of Jason hopes he doesn't come over at all.

"They're not gonna do that, are they?" Jason asks. "Because I can totally pretend to let them hurt me, but it's gonna be awkward."

[theresalwayshope]

"You don't have to." She assured him with a laugh, kissing his cheek and glancing over her shoulder at Aramis as he told the lady from six some clearly entertaining story that had him gesturing grandly at the ceiling. "For one, I come by my combat skills honestly...and for another, they know you can handle yourself."

Facing Jason again, she ran a hand through his hair, fingers tracing the scar on his scalp as had become her habit when she was feeling especially sentimental...and leaned in to kiss his cheek, using it as an excuse to whisper in his ear.

"They know exactly as much about you as I did before our big fight." she assured him quietly, then before she drew back to talk normally again, she took advantage and nipped playfully at his jaw, lifting her head with a wicked grin.

"But if you want to be awkward, we can play a dirty holiday game right under my uncle's noses." she offered teasingly. "Like...let's see...20 Questions About My Underwear, or talk about creative uses for tinsel while naked, or--"

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason colors to the tips of his ears, his eyes darting out and immediately meeting Aramis', whose own dark eyes look so knowing that Jason only blushes more. "Uh," he says, trying for the cool vigilante tones that had attracted Allison to the Hood in the first place and failing, "Fuck, I can't feel my feet." This is not supposed to happen to assassins.

He pulls back and presses a quickly swiped can of Coke to the back of his neck before it catches fire. An odd sort of camaraderie rises to him then, unbidden, for this is without a doubt as undone as Bruce had felt around Catwoman all those times. "You gotta turn the heat down," he says, and whether he means the central air or Allison herself, Jason doesn't specify.

[theresalwayshope]

Allison couldn't resist giggling at his unrest, hands steadfastly on his shoulders as he drew back, reaching for a cold soda to try and calm the flush coloring his neck and face.

"I like it hot." she informed him boldly, laughing as she ran her fingers over his cheek. "Besides, he's not the reason that red is my new favorite color."

To further make her point, she planted a big, smacking kiss against one blushing cheek before she hugged him hard, resting her chin on his shoulder for a moment.

"I love you, you know." she reminded him, showing him a little mercy by keeping her hands on his shoulders, and not on other, more fun places as she drew back to smile at him, then flinched as she remembered something. "Oh! And before I forget, since this is a Christmas party...you need to tell me what you want for Christmas. And I promise, I will turn that into a dirty pick up line later, once you've actually given me an honest answer."