Prompt Post - Part Eight [CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS]
THIS PART IS NOW CLOSED. YOU CAN CONTINUE POSTING FILLS, BUT PLEASE PROMPT ALL NEW THINGS HERE.
Part one here!
Part two here!
Part three here!
Part four here!
Part five here!
Part six here!
Part seven here!
Feel free to reprompt posts from previous parts once. If you do so, I'd recommend leaving a link to your fill on the original prompt, in case somebody ( Read more... )
“Oh man,” Wally said, eyes widening as he looked over the whole thing. “Please tell me this isn’t some bad guy illusion where the second we touch any of it, we fall into eternal slumber or turn into guinea pigs or suddenly start kissing each other or any of that weird storybook stuff. Because this looks freaking amazing.”
“It’s not,” Robin grinned, surprising everyone by walking over to give the strange man a hug, which was politely and affectionately returned. “Dig in, guys.”
“You know him?” Artemis asked even as she slid into the nearest chair and began loading up her plate. The others followed suit a minute later, except Kaldur, who seemed uncertain still, and Robin, who was having a quick muttered conversation with their guest. With a final nod, he turned back to the team.
“This is my, uh, well, this is Alfred,” Robin explained. “He’s basically cooler than any of you will ever be. Including me.”
As the Boy Wonder took his seat and Wally choked on a piece of chicken over the fact that Robin had just said someone was cooler than him, Kaldur paused with his hand on the last open chair.
“Will you not join us?” he asked their benefactor. “You must have been working a long time to prepare all this.”
Alfred just smiled and shook his head.
“You are most polite, but a little bird informed me that you have all worked much harder today,” he said, nodding knowingly at Robin, who grinned. “And furthermore, I have cookies to attend to. Do sit down.”
Kaldur hesitated, but could not ignore his hunger and tiredness much longer. With a grateful nod, he slipped into the last chair and tucked in with a will.
The team fell into their standard routine, chattering and bickering and recounting the details of the mission endlessly. All the while, Alfred moved among them, refilling glasses and listening to their chatter and occasionally reminding Robin to keep his elbows off the table, which amused Wally to no end. Every so often someone would exclaim over how good the food was, emphasizing that it wasn’t just that they’d nearly been fried to death in the underbelly of Australia some hours before, that it really was the best ___ they’d had, ever, and everyone would chime in to agree, and Alfred would just smile and humbly deflect the compliments, insisting that they were exaggerating, at which everyone would protest.
By the end of an hour, everyone was kicking back their chairs, claiming they couldn’t eat another bite, but it was only when Wally himself made that announcement that Alfred took them seriously and began to clear the plates. Kaldur and M’gann instantly rose to attempt to help, but he waved them off and told them not to be silly, and he sounded so damn British and so damn sure about it all that they sat back down and let him do it alone.
“I don’t think anyone’s gonna be able to eat cookies, Alfred,” Robin groaned, rubbing his stomach through his sweatshirt.
“Young appetites are quick to recover,” the butler replied dismissively, humming to himself as he filled the sink with warm water and rolled up his sleeves.
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“You sit right there, young lady,” he said firmly. “You’ve had a very long day saving the world and getting yourself set on fire and doing all those rash things you heroes do. Washing up is the least I can do.”
M’gann still looked distressed. Conner patted her arm awkwardly.
“Don’t argue,” Robin advised. “It’s useless. Trust me, I’ve tried.”
“All of you run along to the media room now,” Alfred ordered as he began to scrub at the plates. “You may watch yourselves a film until a respectable bedtime. I will bring in the cookies shortly. Now shoo.”
The team complied; no one stopped to question why they obeyed this man almost more readily than they obeyed Batman himself, but dutifully disappeared down the hall and traipsed into the media room where someone had rearranged the couches and beanbags to face the TV, and conveniently left a DVD on top of the player.
“Can we keep him?” Wally asked hopefully as Robin inserted the disc and stole the remote out of the unsuspecting speedster’s hand.
“No way,” Robin grinned. “Loan only.”
They settled in, M’gann and Conner on either side of Kaldur on the couch while Robin, Wally and Artemis flopped into the pile of beanbags on the floor before them, and the movie began to play. It was the Incredibles, and as they all soon learned, Wally knew every word. (They also learned that Artemis was not afraid to follow through on threats regarding kicks to the groin, but thankfully that knowledge precluded any further experience with it.)
A half hour passed, then an hour, then more.
Slightly after ten, Alfred slipped inside, a pan of fresh cookies in his oven-mitted hands.
“Oh dear,” he murmured, though there was no hint of concern in his voice. Instead, he looked rather pleased, and not at all surprised.
The movie was long over, its menu graphics looping again and again, but the music fell on deaf ears. M’gann had shifted to lie with her head in Kaldur’s lap, a blanket draped over her sleeping form as the Atlantean dozed above her with his head leaned against Conner’s, which was on his own shoulder. At their feet, Wally was snoring loudly in a pile of beanbags, blissfully unaware that Robin was using his stomach as a pillow and Artemis had curled up against his other side for warmth. All six were out cold.
With fond sigh, Alfred set down the cookies on the entry table, then picked his way through the sleeping bodies, fetching the extra blankets from the side table and draping them over the sleeping teenagers one by one. When all were tucked in, he stepped back and looked over them all for a moment. Then, satisfied, he gently plucked the remote from a sleeping Robin’s hand and turned off the TV, plunging the room into warm, silent darkness, and gingerly found his way through the black back to the door.
As he left, tray in hand, he eyed the cookies deviously.
“Well I suppose someone needs to eat them while they’re warm,” he murmured, and the echo of his footsteps disappeared into the corridors of the Cave.
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Alfreeeeed! You brought in Alfreeeeed!!!
Even if they didn't get to eat his cookies!
I don't even know why they have medicine. A good daily dose of fluff like this works better than any medicine ever would! Or at least it did in my case. I don't feel like keeling over anymore!
I can so see him telling Robin to please remove his elbows from the table! And Robin actually says that this random old guy is cooler than he is! Everyone's minds have been boggled.
Who is Alfie taking those cookies to now? Batman? Or Roy? :D
Dear narnia_in_space. I love you~!
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I love you too~! And I'm glad you're feeling better. ♥
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I'm discovering it at a rather opportune time, as I'm currently down with a cold. Excellent chicken-soup for the tired soul.
Many hugs, and best wishes for the new year.
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