perfectlyportia (perfectlyportia) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-11-13 10:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, effie trinket, haymitch abernathy, portia, proteus |
Who:Portia, Proteus, Haymitch and Effie
When: During the tether plot
Where: Haymitch’s house
What: Dinner
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
To say that Portia was nervous was probably understating it. While she liked the idea of having dinner with Haymitch and Effie she was also nervous that Effie was going to be very unsubtle about her matchmaking attempts. She was beginning to regret telling the other woman how sweet she had found Proteus to be, it had planted too many ideas in her head and Portia was perfectly happy simply gaining a new friend.
But Proteus didn’t know any of that of course, he just thought they’d been invited out for dinner because that was what Portia had told him. She’d dressed in a cute black and red dress, not too dressed up and they had arrived at Haymitch’s house and knocked on the door.
Most nights Proteus just picked up dinner on his way home from work. He didn’t normally go out with something to eat. Certainly not with people he didn’t know. Although he felt like he owed Portia. She was forced to spend most of the day with him at work. He didn’t think it would have been right or fair to say that he wasn’t sure about it. It wasn’t as if they were strangers to the both of them. It was dinner at Portia’s friends house. It shouldn’t be as bad as he thought that it would be.
So looking at the beautiful face of the person that he had been attached to he put on a smile. He told himself that it wouldn’t be as bad as he thought it would.
As she knocked on the door he stood slightly behind her. He didn’t want to be right in the face of a couple of strangers.
Effie and Haymitch had gotten dressed together, with Effie fussing over him playfully. Her sense of style and fashion weren't nearly as strong here as they'd been in the Dreams, and she wouldn't really hold him to any style regulations, but it was fun to primp and preen, and then to straighten his clothes, too. Almost unnecessarily so. Haymitch looked smashing no matter what, really. He didn't need Effie's help to be fashionable.
Effie had also done a number on the house lately. Hints of her style and fashion sense were popping up all over the place. A picture on the wall. A throw blanket and pillow. A vase with flowers. She left his bachelor pad just that: a bachelor pad... but it was becoming more and more obvious that this bachelor belonged to someone. Belonged to Effie.
She opened the door with a bright smile. "Portia! I'm so glad that you could make it!"
Haymitch hadn’t minded the fussing, she was too sweet to mind too much and in all honesty he rather prided himself on looking good. They made a rather impressive couple. Though they’d toned it down tonight, after all it was just friends over for a casual meal. He knew Portia in passing through Effie and had to admit he was rather intrigued to see who the kind woman had ended up attached to.
Portia smiled as the door opened, “Effie, thank you for the invitation” she said stepping forward to hug her friend, “You look great” she added before stepping back, “Effie this is Proteus. Proteus this is Effie” she introduced them.
The first thing that Proteus saw when the door swung open the bright smile on the hostess face. His gaze then moved across the entry to the blonde man standing next to her.
Although he didn’t move towards either in anyway he offered a smile in a way of greeting. Yes, he needs to practice on being more social. Maybe it was just a lot of new people, not just customers but people that he actually had to impress. Especially in front of someone as beautiful as Portia.
He stood up straight as Portia introduced him to her friend. “Um, yes. Hello,” he said with the small smile still on his face.
“Hi.” Effie beamed to Proteus. “Thanks for coming over. I made pasta, I hope that’s all right?” Okay, so Haymitch helped with dinner. Or, really, did most of the cooking.
Okay, so Effie helped. She’d washed the salad and filled the pot with water for the pasta. That was an important part, right?
“Come on in! What can I get you to drink?” She asked, stepping aside to admit her friend and her new friend into Haymitch’s (and her) home.
Haymitch raised an eyebrow at Effie’s claim but said nothing, besides Portia knew which of the two of them were more likely to have cooked. Once they were all inside Haymitch stepped forward holding out a hand to the other man, “Haymitch Abernathy, pleased to meet you. Looking after this one I hope?” he said indicating Portia.
Portia blushed, “Oh Haymitch, hush. Proteus has been lovely, I’m very lucky” she said, giving a smile to the man in question. Then she turned to Effie, “Just a soda for me please” she answered.
Proteus wasn’t sure that he should be thanked for coming. It wasn’t as if he knew anyone there. He sort of felt like a third wheel, even if there was four of them there. Yet he wasn’t about to let that show. “Thank you for having me,” he said in hushed tone. “I have no problem with pasta. None at all.” That much was true. There wasn’t a lot of food that he would say that he didn’t like or wouldn’t even try.
“I was very lucky to have been matched with Portia,” he said with a genuine smile. Although the second after he said that he second guessed what he had said. Was matched the right would to say.
But thankfully Portia chimed in not seconds later. “Oh, yes. One for me as well,” he said as he asked for a soda as well.
Effie beamed, and moved to the kitchen to grab some sodas from the fridge. She had a big bottle of a vanilla flavored soda, and poured all four of them a glass. They didn’t drink in this house, because of Haymitch’s history, so that wasn’t even an option. But Effie kept the place stocked with really interesting drinks nonetheless. So they wouldn’t get bored.
“So, I’m curious about this being matched, being stuck together thing. How does it work?” Effie asked once everyone followed her into the kitchen.
“Well” Portia said, “Basically after waking up together” she couldn’t help blushing there, “we’ve discovered we can’t go more than about thirty feet from each other. It’s like some kind of invisible force or rope stops us, right?” she looked to Proteus for confirmation with a smile, wanting to involve him in the conversation too.
Even though the two of them had been matched and woken up together he wasn’t sure there was an answer for that question. It was something that could be easily described. By the power of, well, who knows what they suddenly woken up together and unable to go a certain distance apart from each other.
“Yeah, we actually attempted it twice,” he said agreeing with her.
The second time was more to actually figure out for far apart they could get.
“Wow. That must have been absolutely bizarre to realize.” Effie said, passing out the drinks after they were poured. “...Though, I do admit, it sounds really interesting, too. I’m glad that it worked out well for the two of you. It could have been so much worse.” Like, if one of them was attached to a serial killer or something. So far it seemed like they made a cute couple.
“If somebody else had woken up with Effie, I wouldn’t have been very happy” Haymitch commented taking Effie’s hand after she handed him the soda.
“Thankfully neither of us has to worry about angry partners” Portia smiled, “So between that, the fact that we get on well and Proteus is a sweetheart it really could have been a lot worse” she agreed. They had gotten super lucky, even their jobs matched since Portia could work from anywhere allowing Proteus to continue attending his job.
At the mention of Portia calling him a sweetheart the man turned a shade of pink. It wasn't exactly the first time that she had said that he was a nice man. He didn't expect her to say that to her friends and especially not in front of him. In that moment all words escaped him. He stood there holding the soda.
Effie gave a little laugh. “Seriously. If someone else had woken up here? I don’t think either of us would have been very happy.” She looped an arm around Haymitch’s, and leaned up on her toes to tap a kiss against his scruffy cheek. “You two lucked out.”
Haymitch mumbled a bit but rubbed his nose against hers a little, “Yeah, sounds good. Making new friends out of it can’t be bad right?”
“It’s nice that the strange things around here went in our favour for once” Portia agreed, “So how have you two been?” she asked moving the conversation away from them.
The conversation moving away from the two of them was probably a good thing. He didn't know what else he could say about himself. Not that he actually said much about himself. He had actually said as little about himself as possible.
At this point he just took a step beside of Portia as she asked about her friends.
Effie grinned at Haymitch, but then pulled away a little. PDAs were all well and good, but they had company over. She smirked softly to Portia. “Good.” Now that the Old Man was gone, Effie was free of that agony. But there was the Ganon thing lingering in the back of her mind. She couldn’t possibly repay the debt that the Old Man incurred.
Haymitch nodded, “Things are fine. Working out a couple of things with Stark and a few other clients. Nothing as interesting as your work” he smiled at Portia before looking at Proteus, “What do you do?” he asked curiously.
There was a moment of hesitation. Haymitch had just mentioned working with things with Stark. He assumed that meant Tony Stark and he didn’t think what he did could compare to working with Tony Stark. But it was only a brief moment of hesitation.
“I’m a baker. I’m working at Baxter’s Bakery right now,” he said with a small smile on his face.
It might not have been working with Stark but it was something that he loved to do.
Effie gave a little gasp. “Baxter Bakery? With the sparkling lattes? I love that place!” She said, enthusiastically. Hell, she didn’t have a job. Up until the Old Man died, she’d been a professional trophy wife, pretty much. Now she had to figure out how to make big bucks fast so she could pay off the Old Man’s loan shark.
“I think I’m becoming addicted to those lattes” Portia smiled, “So much so that Proteus may not get rid of me even when this event is over” she joked with a grin over at him.
"Yes, I've worked there for a little while now," he said with a smile. He hadn't been working there long. For a little while he worked in as a janitor. He was glad that he was able to get the chance to work for her. "Well, I'd be glad to see either of you there anytime," especially Portia.
“I’ll come and visit you.” Effie said, reaching her hand forward and touching his arm. “I’d love to have a friend behind the counter. You can tell me what’s especially good the time I come in.” She released Haymitch’s arm and headed over to the table, then set her drink down. “Come on in and sit, and we can have dinner.”
Portia nodded, “It’s definitely handy to know someone who works there” she admitted giving Proteus a bright smile. Before the all followed Effie to the table, “Thank you so much for having us over” she said as they sat.
“Wait until you’ve tried it to thank us” Haymitch joked, winking at Effie.
Despite the friendliness Proteus still felt similar to a third wheel. He was in the house of strangers. At least he was starting to see Portia as a friend but they were still getting to know each other. It was hard to fit in when there was so much that between the three of them.
At the remark a small smile stretched across his face. He didn't think that sounded good but he was sure that couldn't be true. It didn't smell bad which was a good sign. Unfortunately the smell didn't always translate to the taste buds.
"Thanks for the warning," he joked.
“Hey!” Effie reached over and smacked Haymitch’s arm. But she was grinning. Then she started in on her own food. Everyone was served, with drinks and whatnot, so they were all ready to dig in. And it wasn’t terrible.
“I have ice cream sandwiches in the freezer for dessert, so don’t fill up too much on pasta.” Effie added, grinning.
Of course it wasn’t terrible. Haymitch had done most of it which meant it was actually rather good, he just liked winding Effie up. She was cute when she was frazzled. In fact she was cute most of the time.
“It’s lovely thanks to both of you” Portia said with a smile, “I look forward to dessert too” she added with a grin at Effie.