Who: Celaena Sardothien and Damian Wayne What: Damian is not being a stalker Where: Theatre When: Backdated: Early September Rating: Family Friendly Status: Complete
Celaena had just finished talking to some aspiring ballerina’s at the back of the theatre after signing their programs. She smiled and waved at them as they headed off with their parents when she noticed a familiar face stood on the other side of the road. Grinning happily, she tucked her thumbs into the straps of her backpack and called across to him. “Well hello stranger,” she smiled. “Or should I say stalker?” she teased, waiting for him to walk over to her.
Damian had been busy getting ready for classes to start as well as hanging out with Bran and a few other friends, wanting to get as much out of the rest of the summer as he could. Not to mention, it took his mind off wondering what had happened to Dick and what was going on with Tim. And then there was the fact that there was yet another girl, who flirted with him who also knew Logan. It reminded him of everything that had happened between him and Alyssa because of Logan and to try and take his mind off of it, Damian had decided to wander over towards the theater where he’d met Celaena the month before. He didn’t know if she’d even be there, but he needed to spend some time with someone who didn’t know Logan; at least he hoped she didn’t know Logan.
When he’d arrived at the theater it had become clear that there was a show going on, so he’d decided to wait a little while and see if perhaps Celaena came out afterwards and sure enough, there she was. “I’m pretty sure that if I were a stalker, I’d be hiding better.” He said as he walked a little closer to the ballerina. “So, show tonight?”
“Maybe you’re so in love with me that you couldn’t help yourself,” Celaena teased as she took a few steps closer to him. “You were so overcome by the sight of me at the stage door you had to make your presence known and tell me of your true feelings,” she grinned as they came to a stop in front of each other. “It was a great show tonight. Great audience,” she smiled happily, proud of how the evening had gone. “What brings you to my stage door then? Apart from me, obviously,” she joked.
“Is that the plot of some young adult novel or something?” Damian asked, smirking as he stopped a foot or so from her. He couldn’t deny the fact that Celaena was very pretty and what little he knew about her was very different from Alyssa, which was probably a good thing. He needed to stop dwelling on his ex-girlfriend, especially since it had been almost a year now since they’d broken up. “I was wandering mostly. Thought I’d walk by just in case.”
Celaena laughed at that. “It could be, we could make millions,” she grinned, hitching her bag up on her shoulders. “So, got any plans? Or did you just want to be around my gorgeous self?” she ran her hand through her long hair and shook it out like a shampoo commercial.
Damian laughed and shook his head, “No. No plans.” He realized then that that could make him come off as kind of lame, so he quickly added, “But, if you’re not busy and you’re hungry, there’s a diner down the street.” He was expecting Celaena to tell him she had an after party to go to or something like that instead of going to a diner with a guy she barely knew.
“Well, luckily for you, I find myself blissfully unoccupied as well,” Celaena grinned at him, a sparkle in her eyes. “Do with me as you will,” she teased.
Damian felt his cheeks flush slightly at her comment as certain things went through his mind briefly and he was glad that it was dark outside so she couldn’t see it, “Alright then. Right this way.” He gestured in the direction of the cafe.
Celaena grinned brightly at him. He was cute and funny and she liked making him blush. “So what have you been up to today?” she asked, skipping to catch up with him and catching his arm with hers as they walked along. “Besides think about me,” she teased again, giving his arm a gentle squeeze.
“Not much really. Went to the gym this morning. Bought my books for my classes.” Damian shrugged a little as Celaena grabbed his arm. He hadn’t been this close to another girl since he and Alyssa were together, so it was a little odd at first, but he quickly relaxed into her touch as they walked towards the cafe, “Did you spend all day rehearsing before your show today?”
“Aww, you’ve been working out for me?” Celaena teased with a grin, playfully squeezing his bicep. “That’s so sweet,” she winked at him. “We were rehearsing this morning, then I had some time with the physio. Massage, acupuncture, that sort of thing. That’s one of my favourite parts about my job, the pampering,” she told him while they walked.
Damian chuckled as she squeezed his bicep, “Oh yeah, ever since we first met I’ve been clocking extra hours in the gym.” As they reached the diner, Damian reached out with his free arm and pulled the door open for her, “Ladies first.” He said, giving her a small smile. “That sounds like a good way to spend the day actually. I’ve never really had a massage and definitely never had acupuncture.”
“Why thank you kind sir,” Celaena smiled at him charmingly, heading into the cafe before him. She headed over to an empty booth and slid in one side. “Massage is great when you’ve been pushing your muscles. That and an ice bath,” she told him as she set her bag down on the seat next to her. “Acupuncture is good though. They put you under an infrared lamp and leave you to relax for half an hour or so. It’s lush!” she grinned.
Damian followed Celaena into the cafe and slid into the booth across from her, “I’ve never done an ice bath in real life, but I did in the dreams.” After some particularly heavy fights in his dreams, he’d soaked in an ice bath to ease his muscles, but that was only in extreme circumstances, considering the training he’d had made it so that he was able to withstand quite a bit.
"You did ice baths in your Dreams?" Celaena asked, leaning forward on the table. "Tell me about them," she encouraged. Normally she wasn't one to be all that interested in other people, but with Damien she was. She wanted to know more about him.
Damian was so used to the dreams now that sometimes he forgot that not everyone had them or he’d forget to ask if someone was a dreamer, but Celaena didn’t seem to be too surprised by his admission, so he figured it was okay to tell her, “I’m kind of a ninja in mine. I was more or less raised by a league of assassins. I’m only about ten in my dreams, but cause of the training, I’m stronger than other kids and I’m a superhero sidekick too.” He left out the part where his dream counterpart was probably one of the biggest brats in the history of brats.
“You’re an assassin too?!” Celaena stared at him with wide, excited eyes. “That’s amazing! No wonder we’re friends!” she grinned. “And you’re a superhero sidekick? That’s so cool, does that mean you have an alias? And a mask?” she teased, eyeing him up and down flirtily.
Damian nodded, “Yeah.” He wasn’t sure how much detail he should go into considering he spent some of his nights in costume, or parts of his costume, patrolling the streets for criminals. Then again, he did talk about it openly on Valarnet on occasion, “Yeah, my codename is Robin. I’m the fifth Robin.”
“Oooo...a codename. Very cloak and dagger,” Celaena grinned. “So are you like Robin Hood? Stealing from the rich to give to the poor?” she asked.
Damian laughed and shook his head, “No. Not like Robin Hood. More like, beat the crap out of the bad guys and send them to jail.” He left out the part where he’d killed in the dreams. He didn’t know what Celaena would think about that. “So, do you dream?”
“Ooo, I like that,” Celaena grinned at him. “All heroic and everything,” she teased. “Yeah, I Dream, um...not quite so heroic and selfless as you perhaps, but...I’m an assassin too,” she admitted quietly, feeling a little self-conscious about it. She’d never told anyone before, not even Izzy.
“Really?” Damian’s brows rose slightly, “That’s pretty awesome. Have you gotten any abilities from the dreams?” He knew others had developed abilities and things from the dreams, so he was now curious if any of the skills Celaena had as an assassin in her dreams had bled over yet into the real world.
"I'm not sure to be honest," Celaena tilted her head as she considered. "I think maybe my balance and coordination has improved? My reaction times? But I haven't tried anything like fighting or weapons training," she shrugged. "I suppose I should. How did you find out?"
“I just had a feeling. My ex was training with a friend and I’d join them and figured out pretty quickly that I could do things I couldn’t before. I also got a katana from the dreams and as soon as I picked it up, I just knew I could use it.” Damian knew how crazy it’d sound to anyone who wasn’t a dreamer, “If you wanna find out if you have any abilities, I could try training you.”
“You got a katana? That is so cool,” Celaena said, quirking a smile at him. Her blades had yet to appear, even though there was no guarantee they ever would. “I’d love to train with you!” she enthused, a big grin on her face. “What sort of thing do you have in mind?”
Damian shrugged a little, “The basics at first, probably. And if we find out that the dreams have actually gifted you with the knowledge of the things you can do in your dreams and you just don’t know it yet, then we can take it to the next level.” Getting to spend more time with Celaena would be a lot of fun, “But, I won’t go easy on you.”
“Ooo...promises promises,” Celaena grinned with a wink. “But I like your style, train hard, play hard,” she laughed. “When can we start?” she asked enthusiastically, all but bouncing in her seat at the prospect.
Damian smirked a little, “Well, what’s your schedule like? Can’t do it when you have a show, cause I don’t think they’d be too happy if you showed up with bruises.” Not that Damian would actually hit her or anything, but bruises happened while training and sparring.
"It's pretty busy right now, but in November I think we're starting to rehearse The Nutcracker. Can we start then?" Celaena asked enthusiastically.
“Sure. How about November first? It’s a Saturday. You could come over to my place and we could do it there.” Damian realized as he said it, that that could seem a little creepy, “I’ve got a roommate, by the way, so it wouldn’t be just us. I mean, I’m not trying to be that guy. Just that we have a good backyard for this kind of stuff cause of the dogs.” Dog and wolf, but Damian already thought he was coming off creepy enough; he wasn’t going to tell Celaena about the giant wolf that Bran had.
Celaena's grin broadened as Damian stumbled through what he was saying. "We can do it in November? At your place? In the garden? With your roommate in the house? Why Damian, how romantic," she teased in a sultry way to ruffle his feathers a little more. She very much enjoyed teasing him.
Damian couldn’t help but blush slightly then narrowed his eyes at Celaena just as a waitress came over to take their orders. “You know what I mean.” Damian was glad now that he’d decided to wander by the theater and was looking forward to October ending so that he could start spending more time with Celaena.