Garfield had been hanging glowing lights across the living room for twenty minutes, shifting into a monkey every few seconds just to reach the higher spots. Rachel sat on the couch pretending not to watch him, hood pulled up, purple hair peeking out, the faint glow of her forehead gem pulsing like it had its own heartbeat.

“You know,” she said finally, voice dry, “most people use a ladder.”

Garfield dropped down, shifting back with a grin sharp enough to show off his fangs. “Most people can’t become a whole zoological catalog on demand.”

Rachel rolled her eyes, but the corner of her mouth twitched. “Show-off.”

He hopped onto the couch beside her. The cushions bounced. “You’ll thank me when the pack gets here. We need at least some holiday spirit in this place before Kory starts lecturing us about joy.”

Rachel shrugged, pretending she didn’t like the soft gold glow hanging above them. “It’s fine.”

“Fine?” Garfield gasped dramatically and flopped sideways, his head landing in her lap. “Rachel Roth said something is fine. Call the League. Freeze hell over. Alert Batman.”

A low, warm shadow curled around Rachel’s shoulders, her powers reacting to her embarrassment before she could stop them. Garfield felt it, humming softly like it was nothing new to him.

She looked down at him, brushing green hair out of his eyes. “They’ll be here soon. Kory, Dick, Tim… all of them.”

“Yeah,” he said, softer now. “But we’ve got a few minutes of quiet first.”

Outside, snow drifted past the windows, catching in the lights like falling stars. Inside, the room was warm, smelling faintly of cinnamon from the cookies Gar had burned earlier, though he insisted they were “experimental.”

Rachel traced the edge of his ear, her gem glowing faintly. “Are you excited?”

“Yeah,” Garfield admitted. “But also… I kinda like it when it’s just us.”

Rachel’s powers flickered again, dark mist curling around her fingers, not threatening, more like a soft exhale of magic. “Me too,” she said quietly.

A knock echoed from the hallway downstairs.

Garfield groaned. “Nooooo. The peace is gone.”