Chapter Text
When they least expect it, they are already on Christmas Eve, and they receive it working. It is two in the morning, and both young people are in front of the desk in their room looking at the final work of their entire project. Tim yawns and leans on Marinette, hugging a fresh cup of coffee. The two teenagers are more asleep than awake but feeling satisfied with themselves that they finished with time to spare.
They hadn't had a night like this in months. They had certainly relaxed in that regard. Alfred, of course, had been happy that Tim had a more regular sleep schedule; seeing him without such heavy dark circles had been a dream come true. However, that relaxation had made their progress very slowly with the project. The only thing they have pending is the trip to other countries to talk about future business and then the meeting, which Bruce agreed to hold a week after his return.
"Finish us at last. When will we go?" Marinette sighs as she rises from her chair and ignores Tim's protests.
"On the 30th of December. I had to change the flight time to eleven o'clock at night, although I doubt that Damian would like us to alter his schedule like that..."
"Then we can relax these days. I'll talk to mom to tell her about our arrival. "She walks to the closet, she takes out two shorts and two T-shirts, she doesn't hesitate to throw the clothes at Tim, who doesn't catch it and must get them out of his head.
Tim glances at her as she strips off her blouse. He yawns and sets the empty mug on the desk as he gets up to change as well. He looks at the screen one last time before logging off and shutting down the computer. In the morning, he will give a final review of the document, and then they will continue with his holiday plans. This means showing Damian how they spend Christmas Eve and, subsequently, Christmas itself.
They settle into bed and fall asleep shortly after, without any problem. Clearly tired from their time change.
Damian wakes them up at seven-thirty in the morning, out of Richard's mercy, because he knew that they would be working late to finish the document that they will present to the Board of Directors and the boy usually wakes up at six for weeks; in that time, Dick fixed him for the day and took him to play in the garden, climbing on the bars with him and rolling on the grass. Needless to say, he had to bathe him again before Damian could climb into the bed of his caretakers.
Damian jumps on the bed snuggling in the middle of his caregivers, trying to make space between the two bodies, moving Tim's arms and making him complain. He doesn't fall asleep, but he stays there, warm until he feels his hair being stroked. Finally, he turns to see Tim half asleep, closing his eyes little by little.
"Awake! You said we were going to play."
Tim groans a bit, but he wiggles out of bed. At times like this, he envies the boy's regard for Marinette; while he is often pulled out of bed, tackled on the floor, used as a mattress… she receives the softest and most loving treatment. Sure, she deserves it as she is the one who put the most effort from the beginning, but still, he would like to receive a little sweetness for once.
He collects clothes from the closet and heads to the bathroom. Damian watches him disappear through the door and snuggles up next to Marinette, who hugs him closer to her.
"Good morning." The boy looks at her before closing his eyes tightly, pretending to sleep, getting a little laugh and a tighter hug. "I heard you wake up Tim."
"He was sleeping too much. He said that today we are going to play for… the eve of something."
"Christmas eve; it's almost as important as Christmas itself. We can watch Christmas movies, bake cookies, and many other activities. And on Christmas morning, we open the gifts."
"Gifts?"
"Yes, gifts. It's common for each member of the family to buy or make a gift for the others. For example, in the last two weeks, I have been working on clothes for everyone."
"There're many." Damian wrinkles his nose at the thought of everyone who lives in the mansion, and even those who don't, but who have told him they are family. "I don't hav' anything."
"No, did you want to do something?" Marinette looks at him curiously, noticing the change in expression.
"Can l?"
"Of course, we can work on something today."
Damian nods and snuggles closer to her, wrapping his little arms around her. He closes his eyes to her, caressing his head, focusing only on the sound of Marinette's breathing and the sound of the shower.
Within minutes, Tim comes out of the shower wearing only blue-black dress pants and a white T-shirt. The towel is wrapped around his shoulders, leaving small wet footprints where he moves to the closet to choose a shirt and socks.
Marinette smiles at him when he turns to see them again. Tim shakes a smile before sitting down on one of the chairs in his room and preparing for Damian to drag him into whatever he has planned. When the child sits up, she moves out of bed.
A knock on the door cuts off whatever the boy was about to say. Alfred peeks out the door.
"Good morning. Breakfast is ready."
"Thanks, Alfred. We'll go down in a moment.” Tim smiles, trying to hide the lingering exhaustion.
"I'll have two cups of coffee ready. Excuse me."
Damian frowns, he expected to play right away, but he can't refuse Alfred's food. The butler goes to great lengths to prepare healthy and delicious meals for them.
The three of them go downstairs for breakfast as soon as Marinette finishes getting ready. She decided on a cozy warm dress and warm stockings. She is surprised that it is not snowing, but the weather is never like she expects it.
Adrien greets them with a smile before giving him a big bite of avocado toast and what looks like sprouts of some kind dipped in garlic sauce. Marinette can see pancakes. The whole-wheat toast is waiting to be prepared, bowls of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, peaches, two pitchers of orange juice, and apple juice.
Damian looks at the variety of food with curiosity. Alfred did not serve them the ready-made dishes but has distributed everything to decide what to eat. He climbs on the usual chair in the middle of his two caretakers, but instead of sitting, he stands still and turns to Marinette.
"I feel like I've just entered another dimension," Tim whispers when he sees all the fruits, oats, and whole wheat bread in different presentations. Also, Stephanie has one of those disgusting smoothies, and Cass is cracking a weird veggie and fruit sandwich. Alfred's worst decision was letting them decide how to put together their breakfast.
Richard has a small mountain of honey-covered pancakes with strawberries, blackberries, and whipped cream on top. Jason, who for some reason decided to have breakfast there, is devouring a double-decker sandwich with avocado, tomatoes, and tuna mixed with cream and something red that Tim hopes isn't jam. Besides him, Roy has toasts similar to Adrien's, but it has avocado, tomato, artichokes, and some seeds on top.
"Do you want fruit, Damian?" Finally, Marinette has settled down, bringing the toasts to eat them, similar to Roy and Adrien. She also has two muffins that look like oatmeal and a bowl of fruit.
Damian takes the bowl and puts it in his place, although he was also struck by the loaves of bread that no one else has touched, so he points to them, and it is Tim who takes two pieces, giving one to the boy before deciding what to put in a piece of whole wheat bread.
"Do you want to put ham in it?" Marinette asks Tim this time, who nods, accepts the ham plate, and places it next to his plate.
"Can you pass me the tomato? I think Jason has it. ”Tim asks before spreading some cream cheese on the bread and placing the ham, some avocado, and cucumber. When he receives the tomato, he also adds it along with a little olive oil.
Damian watches as Tim prepares his bread and imitates him, sticking in ham and grabbing the avocado he took. He also has some lettuce that he saw Marinette put on a bun. He knows that his two caretakers are letting him prepare his bread as he wants, although they have also brought him some yogurt and orange juice, in addition to the fruit bowl. He likes the freedom that they offer him.
When he's satisfied with his bread, he sits down and begins to eat it, frowning as he chews, fully focused on eating his creation.
Breakfast passes quietly. Damian never looks up from his food, agreeing to eat the yogurt with fruit that Marinette gave him when he finished his bread. A good breakfast, without incident, without arguing, and, in general, with everyone concentrating on what they would be doing on the day before the family dinner.