gotham_knocking | Housewarming

Housewarming

The new apartment awaits its guests. Brand new folding chairs line the walls of the dining room, and the living room is as clean as possible.

Almost everything is ready. Let the housewarming begin!

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As the hour nears, Alex is in the kitchen. He is slicing carrots!

The guests arrive, and settle in for some food and drink and conversation...

Rapunzel is beside him, trying to supervise without looking like she's supervising, and slicing celery into neat sticks.

There is a "No Rachels in the kitchen" sign made with sparkly red and orange glitter held on the fridge with magnets, as planned.

"Is it only the Milliways crowd that's coming, or will some of your Gotham friends make it, too?"

Rapunzel walks around the room, making sure that nothing needs refilling, and that the guests are happy. She wants Alex to be able to relax and brag about his new place, without having to worry about that sort of thing.

"I thought about inviting Bruce and Vicki, and Lynne Vega. But...well, I think that trying to explain Rachel's spandex and Kita's hat in the summer and everytihng else would have been a little hard." His carrotsticks are inexpert but not that badly sliced otherwise. "Vicki and Lynne would ask too many questions. And I would too."

The first guest, qua guest, through the door is the man in the gray suit. "Nice place," he observes.

She grins at him while she continues slicing.

"Good plan. I was wondering what they'd think of it all. Now I don't have to worry about nipping out to trim my hair every fifteen minutes."

Though she wouldn't mind meeting this Lynne Vega person he thinks so highly of.

"Maybe you could have a separate gathering, like a dinner party, for your Gotham friends."

"Michael...glad you could make it. Welcome!" Alex extends his hand.

"Yeah, that might be fun. Lynne and Vicki probably don't know each other, and with me no longer in the crime reporting game, Lynne needs someone to trust in the press."

Soon there is a plate full of carrots. "What do you think?"

"And you must be Rapunzel," the man in the gray suit greets her. "I'm Michael Donighal. Knox has mentioned you to me, though I don't know if he's mentioned me to you in turn."

"It's an honor just to be invited," Michael replies as he accepts the hand and shakes it.

She kisses his cheek and steals a carrot stick for the plate.

"Good work! I'll put some of these on the platter, and the rest in the fridge, for refilling. How do you feel about broccoli?"

"Ever been to Gotham? I forget." He shows Michael a table of asosrted hors d'ouevres.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Micheal Donigal. He may have mentioned you, and I just don't remember. Meeting so many new people, and hearing about dozens more, after decades of never making any new friends...it's a bit much, sometimes."

Not that she minds one bit.

"Ummmm." Not getting around it. "I hate it. Do we have to serve it?"

She laughs, and shakes her head.

"Well, I bought some. We can serve it, and other people can eat it, or we can let it go to waste. How about cherry tomatoes?"

"Those are the little tomatoes, right?" Here is a man who never bought sald in his life. "You just dump them on a plate? Or do you do something." Also a man who never paid attention to the crudite tables at weddings and cocktail parties.

"That's them. You should wash them, first, and then put them on the round platter thing over there, in one of the sectioned off spaces."

She arranges her celery sticks on said platter after a few moments, and then goes to the fridge to get out the cold cuts.

"Can I trust you to put the cookies on a tray without half of them disappearing?"

He makes a face at Rapunzel, and then smiles. "Yup. But once the party starts, all bets are off." He gets three boxes of mixed cookies from the counter.

"Agreed."

She wants him to have fun, after all. She grins and pats his backside as he goes.

"You might want to sit down and actually eat a meal before everyone arrives. Do you want me to make you a sandwich while I've got this turkey out?"

"That is a great idea." He smiles at her, and feels that this is so natural for both of them. It's something new and he likes it. "I remember my mother once saying that she never got to eat when we had guests. Of course, she was busy being a Jewish mother, and I think she wasn't supposed to eat."

She laughs at that, and reaches for a loaf of bread.

"I don't have a lot of experience with that sort of thing, seeing as my mother was a witch and all."

She does know how to make a nice, thick sandwich, though. She piles it high with meat, and adds lettuce and tomato.

"Mayo? Mustard?"

"Both. But use the brown mustard. I learned that from Mom, too." He pauses for a second.

"I called my parents about my nomination. They were thrilled. And Mom actually wanted to come to the dinner. Dad didn't - he likes staying in one place. So they probably aren't coming. But...

"It's been a while since I heard Mom that happy."

She smiles at him over her shoulder while she finishes his sandwich.

"Yeah? You could always take her as your date, if you wanted--or have two pretty girls, one on each arm."

She transfers the sandwich to a plate, and takes it over to him.

"Did you talk to Eliot?"

"You want to meet her?" Why does asking that question amke him feel so nervous? For heaven's sake, they're both adults. And yet...

"Thanks." He takes a bite. "Yeah, I talked to him...you know, I don't think we will ever get along that well. Not that we argued or anything, but he was so uninvolved. Like I was just another reporter he happens to know."

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Housewarming

Preparation

Mingling

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