Sebastian knows that Valjean (tookthesilver) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2013-03-20 19:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | catwoman, jean valjean |
Who: Wren & Sebastian
What: A chance meeting
Where: A local deli
When: Recently!
Warnings/Rating: Unless I need to warn for sweetness.
The afternoon had been full of meetings with this person and that person, investors and hotel representatives, and there were more than a few moments where Sebastian wished he had his father there to help him through this. It wasn’t that he didn’t think he could handle it, but having someone else there, someone who wasn’t a twenty-five year old that the people were barely taking serious would have been nice. So by the time he got out of his last meeting, the people were already starting to pour out onto the streets in preparation for an evening of excess; too much money, too much sin, too much everything. One would think that being in Vegas would lend to wanting to partake, but the glitter and glitz had long since lost any charm to him.
Steering away from the crowds, Sebastian stepped into one of the local delis that he had become fond of since returning from Italy. He’d pick up sandwiches, some salad, something to take back for him and Nell to enjoy for dinner. And it was while waiting in line that he spied an all-too familiar woman making her own entrance. A glance at the line, a glance at his watch, and Sebastian was stepping out and towards the door. “Now there’s a face I could never forget,” he said sweetly as he approached her. He was dressed as smartly as he ever was, a tailored Italian suit, hair a little longer than it had been before, but he was still Sebastian through and through and Wren was still Wren; he’d recognize the woman anywhere. She was one of those few people in the world that he trusted fully, someone who wouldn’t bullshit him, and that was something that Sebastian had learned to respect and seek out over the years.
Wren could still remember when she'd first met Sebastian, here, in this very city. They'd both been young, and they'd both been a little lost. She'd been running from heartache, and he'd been on vacation from a family he didn't know how to stand up to. It felt like years ago, but she was transported right back there as soon as she heard Sebastian's voice. It seemed so far away, that summer, and so simple compared to everything that had come after. It was before Luke, before so many things, and the thoughts made her slow to respond. Her smile, when it finally settled on her lips, was completely genuine, though. "Sebastian," she said fondly. They hadn't slept together in over half a decade, but she'd liked him then, and that lingered. Even when everyone thought he would follow in his family's footsteps, she'd waited for him to see reason. She wondered where they would be if his family hadn't made him stop seeing her way back then, but it was just a thoughtful thing, and nothing more than that.
She had come into the deli to ask for a job application, and she was dressed in a simple white dress with brown pumps. Her hair pale hair was twisted in a tortoiseshell comb, and she was a far cry from the cinnamon-haired girl of his youth. He looked impeccable, just like he always had. And he looked happy, which was nice to see. His own relationship had stood the test of time, it seemed, just as hers had. But she wasn't really surprised when it came to him. Sebastian had always wanted permanence, family, something that lasted. She'd feared those things herself, and she still did somedays.
Her hunt for an application forgotten, she reached a hand out and rubbed her fingers over his designer-clad shoulder, a gesture of true affection. "You look happy," she said, echoing her thought from just a few seconds earlier. She knew Nell had spent time with Luke in Gotham, and she almost mentioned it, but she wasn't sure how much he knew about what Nell had been up to; she kept it to herself in the end.
Her voice would always be a familiar, welcome thing to his ears, for no matter what had happened between them, she had left a positive imprint upon his life. Where she had let her fingers come to rub his shoulder, Sebastian moved to instead embrace her quickly, just a squeeze before releasing her with a smile. “I am happy,” he responded after a moment, and foregoing the line for sandwiches, he gestured to an empty table nearby. “If you have a moment, let me buy you something to drink. Please.” Sebastian was still all charm and politeness, something that lingered from his boyhood. He didn’t wait for her to respond, instead stepping over and pulling a chair out, giving her an expectant look that stayed until she had seated herself and he joined her across the table. “So. I was wondering if you were still in town, or if life had chased you off elsewhere. Putting down roots here?”
Wren was used to small embraces these days. She was used to arms that wound around her waist, and she was used to a little upturned face. Sebastian's hug wasn't anything like that, but she returned it all the same, less awkward with it than she would have been when they were young. "I'm glad," she said when he agreed that he was happy. And, as much as she hated charity, she nodded politely when he motioned to the table and offered her something to drink. "Okay," she agreed, and she took the seat he offered with a quiet, "thank you." The waitress came, and she asked for a green tea, and then she turned her full attention to the man across from her. "You look so grown up. Not a handsome boy anymore," she said, because she still imagined him as the young boy he'd been then. "We rented a house, and Luke's finishing up the police academy here, so I think we're staying for the foreseeable future," she admitted, and she twirled her wedding band unthinkingly as she spoke. "And you? How are things with you and Nell?" she asked.
An order for a coffee came from him, and then it was his turn to let his attention linger on her. He couldn’t help the smile that came to his lips at her words, though it came with a roll of his eyes in amusement. “You say that as though I’m in my thirties or something. I’m not that old, you must remember, and in no rush to get there.” Sebastian gave a nod of his head as she gave the quick update to their lives, and as her fingers twirled the wedding band around her ring finger, eyebrows rose again. He didn’t think to ask as he reached over to take her hand, getting a better look at the ring she wore, and then his look was knowing. “And you failed to mention this to me?” he asked, expectation in his voice. “And Nell and I are well. We’re looking at buying something in the area, something together. It’s a big step, but one I think we’re ready for. I’m still surprised over this, though! And happy. Very happy for the both of you.” And it was a genuine thing he felt there. No matter what had happened between them, he wanted nothing but the best for her, and Luke seemed to be a man who would provide that.
"Mid-twenties is almost thirty," Wren teased, and she tried to imagine what thirty would actually be like. She hoped it would be calmer, and she hoped they all walked away from their twenties in one piece, and that was the most basic thing she desired that. Beyond that, she wanted stability, a bigger family, and for her friends to find something that fulfilled them. Sebastian, at least, seemed to have found the latter, which made her smile. She was lost in those thoughts when he reached for her hand, and the touch broke her from her reverie. "Oh," she said, a little shrug of her shoulders accompanying the sound. "It's new. I still forget. We didn't plan it or anything. We just went to dinner on Valentine's Day and ended up married." Which was, in its most basic form, true. As for the house the house Sebastian and Nell were getting, Wren's smile brightened at the prospect. "You have to throw a housewarming party. I haven't seen Nell in forever." She paused then, and her head quirked thoughtfully. "Were you okay during this last thing the hotel did? Both of you?"
“I’ve got nearly five years until thirty, so let’s pretend it doesn’t exist for the moment.” But despite his words, he was grinning in exchange, falling back in to that comfortable rapport he had with the few people he considered true friends in his life. “So dinner turned into getting married on a whim?” It was a bit surprising, but this was Vegas, and it was the city where anything that could happen often did. “Well, no matter. So long as you’re happy and he’s happy, then really, that’s all that matters, isn’t it?” Sebastian withdrew his hand, glancing up as the waitress brought their drinks, giving her a polite nod in exchange before his attention was back to her, busy stirring in his own sugar and creamer into the black coffee. “And of course we will, once we figure out what and where and everything that goes along with it.” He paused in the stirring, tapping the spoon once against the edge of the cup before laying it down, his lips twisting slightly. “We haven’t really talked about it. I was fine, mostly. I let him have his time through in Vegas because I honestly didn’t feel cut out for trying to get by where he was from. As for Nell, I’m not entirely sure.” One shoulder shrugged up and he sipped for a moment at his coffee. “You? Any catastrophes?”
"I don't know, some days thirty feels like it would be an accomplishment," Wren said honestly. She feared not growing old these days, as opposed to actually making it there. "But, yes, dinner turned into getting married on a whim. I'm not sure if it can actually be called a whim, though. We have a house now, and Gus is about to turn five. Luke's about to finish the police academy. It just felt right, and I really like there being something solid that says the future's supposed to be okay." She looked up when the waitress came, and she thanked her for the tea. She cradled the warm cup in her hands before taking a sip, and she nodded at his agreement about a housewarming. He and Nell seemed the type to have lots of friends to invite over, and she suspected they would have a huge wedding, once it happened. She was, admittedly, surprised that he and Nell hadn't discussed their time apart, Maybe it was because they didn't share the same door? But that terrified her even more than Gotham did. Not seeing Gus for nearly a month was terrible, but not seeing Luke for that length of time would have made it so much worse. "No catastrophes. I was really, really glad to be home, though," she admitted.
While Sebastian could certainly understand where it was she was coming from, he was in no hurry to grow any older any time quickly. Life was short enough as it was, and he wanted to hold onto every moment, put the brakes on if he could to let some of these better moments linger. Knowing that things were stabilizing for her put a smile on his face, and he was truly happy for the girl. “It’s a long stretch from where we were when we first met, isn’t it?” he asked, a twist of his lips in amusement. Growing quiet, he sipped at his coffee once it was sweet enough, fingers playing along the handle for a moment, his gaze growing somewhat distant. “I was glad to be home. Glad to be back where everything was predictable. I have too much to do on this side without being kidnapped to France against my will.” One shoulder shrugged up and he glanced back over towards Wren. “We just can’t escape things like this, can we?”
"It's a really, really long stretch," Wren agreed. It felt like so much longer than six years, but then six years sounded endless, too. And maybe getting here hadn't been so very easy, but she was glad to be here, all the same. "Would you change anything?" she asked, idle curiosity as she sipped her cooling tea. She worried about things like that, about changing things. Would she be sitting here now if she hadn't gone through the things she'd gone through? She didn't think so. Maybe it was the same for him? She didn't know. She knew he had a fiancee he'd left behind somewhere, but she didn't know much more than that. Idle conversation on the journals had told her that he was still speaking to his family, even if he didn't plan to take them over anymore, and maybe he hadn't had any bumps along the way. His comment about France made her nod, though. "I know what that's like. We sent Gus to stay with his grandfather while we were stuck in the hotel." As for escaping, that question made her expression turn somber. "No." It was as simple as that. This time, at least, their door had walked away unscathed. The same couldn't be said for some of her friends though, and she wondered if this reprieve meant they would get theirs the next time around.
The conversation gave him a lot to think on, serious, somber things he didn’t let himself linger on too often, but here, it was almost impossible to escape from it. When Wren asked if there was something he would change, his answer came with a shake of his head. “Would I like to take back some of the things that have happened? Yes. But all of it, it’s brought us to this point, and maybe we wouldn’t be here had it not happened. Maybe I wouldn’t have reunited with Nell. Maybe you and Luke wouldn’t have gotten married. Things are what they are, and I wouldn’t change that.” There was a sliver of a smile as he sat his cup back down, steadying his gaze on her, brown eyes somber. “Life keeps throwing some of us together. I think it means we need one another. That even if something happens that hurts one of us, we know there are people there, friends, that can help pull us back together. We’re never really alone, are we?”
She smiled, and then she nodded, his words echoing her own thoughts. "Maybe we need the bad things, in order to make it to the good, to appreciate them," she said and, god, they both sounded so grown up. "We're not very much like we were all those years ago, are we?" she asked, even though she didn't really need his answer. The answer was in the question, and she shook her head when he said they were never really alone. "No, I don't think we are alone," she agreed. And she knew this was a lull; these quiet times were always lulls, but these days she actually believed she might be able to make it to the next, and the next, and the next. "So, tell me more about house hunting," she finally said, settling in with her cup and a smile. It was nice to have a friend who had known her forever that wasn't falling apart, she decided. She reached a hand across the table, and she squeezed his fingers impulsively. Yes, it was really, really nice.