Alyssa Hamilton is Heaven's soldier. (four_leaves) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-02-26 22:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | alyssa hamilton, damian wayne (robin) |
Who: Alyssa Hamilton and Damian Wayne.
What: Catching up after coffee.
When: February 19th, before her thing with Logan.
Where Coffee shop where they first met.
Warnings: Nah, G for all.
Status: Complete!
It had been some time since Damian had seen Alyssa and while he was pretty sure that by now he was mostly over her, it was still weird to think that she was back. Not only was she back, but he was on his way to see her. The last time they’d seen each other had been when Alyssa had explained why she’d broken up with him and things hadn’t ended very well and then she’d started dating that guy and things had just been awkward, but now, Damian hoped that they could salvage the friendship they’d have before they’d started dating, because above all else, Damian missed having her as a friend.
Reaching the coffee shop they had agreed to meet at, Damian stopped outside the door for a moment before taking a deep breath and stepping inside.
Alyssa was already sitting inside with a cup of tea warming her hands. She looked up every time the door opened, obviously nervous, but she hadn’t been prepared for how nervous she’d be when she saw Damian. It hadn’t been that long, not really, but somehow he seemed taller. Smiling, she waved at him and stood so he’d see her and come sit. “Damian?”
Hearing her voice brought back so many memories, but where it would have hurt a year ago, it didn’t any longer and he found himself smiling back as he walked towards her table, “Hey.” Since she was standing, he took advantage and of the situation and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. He’d filled out a little more since the last time she’d seen him from all the daily training and patrolling he did, but he was still a bit on the lanky side as well. “It’s good to see you.”
She hugged him right back, grinning up at him. He’d always been quite a bit taller than her, but most people were. “It’s good to see you too. Oh, you look so happy, you have to tell me everything that’s going on with you.” It felt like eight hundred burdens were lifted off of her shoulders to see him smiling.
“There’s not really much going on,” Damian said as he finally sat down. “Just going to school and making sure the streets are safe at night.” With the rise in the crime rate recently, it was good that Orange County had some superheroes to protect it. “What have you been up to?”
“You’re still in school? That’s really good. Do you have a major picked out?” She sat down and crossed her legs, sipping at her tea once more. “Nothing, really. I got sick of being a sad sack back in England, so I just moved back here a week ago. Re-enrolled at UCI, so that’s sorted. Now I’m just ... dunno, going around and visiting all of my old friends who’re still here.” She was still sad Kitty was gone.
“Yeah. After I got that money that my mom left me, I figured it was the best time.” Whether or not Alyssa knew about the money, Damian didn’t remember, “Not yet. I’m just doing general stuff right now. I’ll figure out a major eventually.” He nodded as he listened to the rest of what she said, reaching across the table to place a hand atop hers, “We might not have been in the exact same situation, but I know what it’s like. So you’re not alone.”
She smiled weakly at him. “Well, thank you. Really. It’s ... honestly, it feels like it did when I was at boarding school.” When she’d hoped her mother would phone but never did. Eventually Alyssa had just learned not to hope. She’d been smart enough to know that her mother’s “bonding” with her at the end had been a dying woman’s last wish to make up for lost time, and honestly had very little to do with her, herself.
“Well, if you ever want or need to talk, I’m here for you.” He hoped that it wasn’t awkward. They might not have been a couple any more, but he hoped that they could still be friends. Back when she’d first broken up with him and tried to stay friends, it had hurt too much for Damian to even think about being friends, but now that time had passed and he’d healed, there was a much better chance of that happening than before.
“You’re a good friend, Damian.” Alyssa smiled and leaned back, looking at him. “You look much happier than you were before I left. What’s been happening with you?” Her life was boring and somewhat depressing; surely his was better off.
“Nothing really. Like I said, mostly just school and patrolling. Nothing really different or new.” Damian agreed that he was happier, but he figured it was mostly just from time and not any one thing in particular. “I’m still just as boring as before. I mean, as boring as someone who hangs out on rooftops and kicks bad guy butt can be.”
“So not very.” She smiled and sipped her tea, glad that they weren’t as awkward anymore. “I’m just glad you’re still here. I have some time until the next semester starts, so I’m just cleaning out the house right now. Making sure to donate Mum’s things.”
Damian’s brows rose slightly, “You guys didn’t sell the house?” He hadn’t been back to Alyssa’s house since the night she told him to leave so he hadn’t realized that no one else had been at the house since she had left, “Are you planning on staying there after you’re done?” He wanted to offer to help her move things, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure he was ready to go back to her house just yet.
She shook her head. “She left it to me in her will, that and the house we had in Essex. I’m letting that, and then I had Mum’s savings. I’m fine that way, and ... dunno. The house has some good memories.” She’d taken her mother’s old bedroom, but filled it with her own things.
“So you’re gonna live there alone? What’re you doing with the other two bedrooms?” He couldn’t help but be a little curious about whether or not they’d done anything to his old bedroom after he’d left. “Ya know, this time two years ago, I’d only been living there for a few weeks.” When he thought about the fact that in two years he’d lived in four different places, he almost couldn’t believe it. He’d gone from the hostel he was staying in just after moving to Orange County, to Alyssa’s house then to Bran’s then he and Bran had moved into the condo.
“One’s a guest room - your old bedroom, and my old room is a study. It’ll be nice to have a place dedicated to schoolwork.” She’d cleared out some of the old furniture, donated it, and gotten lots of things from estate sales. It was almost like living in a whole other house. “I might redo the carpet or something - just to make it feel more like my own, but not in an expensive way.”
“Are you gonna look for a roommate?” Damian was happy to hear that Alyssa appeared to have everything under control. Sure, the circumstances were sad, but she appeared to be doing well and he hoped that if at any time she did need to talk, she’d come to him, “I, personally, couldn’t imagine not having a roommate. I mean yeah, it helps when it’s your best friend, but so long as they aren’t an ax murderer, I think a roommate is a good idea.”
“I don’t know. I might get a cat instead. Or a couple.” Really, she wasn’t ready to have to deal with human interaction on a daily basis. The thought of someone asking her ‘how are you’ on a daily basis was enough to make her nose wrinkle. “They’re like roommates, just less messy.”
“Well, as long as they’re litter trained and don’t throw up hair balls all over the place,” Damian smirked, “Summer and Cobalt are extremely well trained. Probably better than a cat.” Of course, the Direwolf was ingrained to be loyal to its master and since Damian was close to Bran, he was loyal to Damian as well.
“Of course.” Alyssa chuckled. “Hair balls are a thing that cats just have to do, but litter training’s expected.” Maybe she’d get a couple of older cats, ones that needed homes.
“In the dreams I’m actually pretty fond of cats. I pretend I’m not, but I am,” Damian smirked a little and leaned back in his chair, “So, what’re you studying at UCI? Seems like everyone goes there.”
“That’s cute.” She finished her tea, fiddling idly with a swizzle stick. “Psychology, I finally settled on that. I think I can do a lot of good there. Where are you going?”
“That’s pretty cool. I don’t think I could do that. But that’s not something I’m interested, so there’s that.” Damian watched her, glad that this meeting wasn’t as awkward as the last one had been, “Like I said, just the general stuff right now. Still getting used to school again. Took me so long to get my GED that it’s been awhile since I was last in school.” After his mother had died and he’d moved to Orange County, school hadn’t seemed important.
“It takes a while to get back into the swing of studying, I’m sure. Were you fond of school when you were younger? Before?” She didn’t know much about him before his mother had died, something that had occurred to her somewhat belatedly. That they hadn’t known much about each other past the present.
Sure, they’d talked about their pasts before, while they were dating, but maybe not as much as they should have. In response to her question, he shrugged, “Sometimes I was. It all depended on what was going on really.” A lot had happened during Damian’s childhood that had distracted him from things like school at different times.
“I’ve always loved school,” Alyssa chuckled. “It was easier to throw myself into studying than to fret about Mum not being around, I suppose.” Because even at a young age, she hadn’t wanted to open that psychological can of worms. “I’m sure once you find what you want to major in, things will pick up.”
“As much as you liked school, it didn’t take much for me to distract you from your homework.” Damian smirked as he watched her then glanced around briefly, “Hey wait, isn’t this the cafe that we first met at when you told me that I should move into your spare room?” He recalled making a post complaining about the youth hostel he had been living in and Alyssa responding then they had met up when she got out of school one afternoon and the rest was history.
“Well, no.” She stuck out her tongue, grinning back at him. Oh, it felt good to finally be able to joke about these things. But then she blinked in recognition. “You know, I think it is?”
“I guess we’ve come full circle.” Damian said, smiling. He was also glad that they seemed to be at a place where they were comfortable with each other again and he hoped that things just continued to get better between them.
“I’m just so glad you don’t hate me.” By all rights, he could have, and Alyssa would’ve understood. “I just - there’s nothing for me in England. You’re here, Logan’s here, I thought Kitty would be here but she’s gone - at least here is familiar.”
“I’ll be honest, I kind of did at first, but it had more to do with the fact that it felt like everyone in my life eventually left in some way, but…” He shrugged a little, “...we were friends first and I’ve missed you and I want to be friends again. You were my first friend here.”
Alyssa smiled at him. “I don’t blame you, and I’m sorry I left at all without saying so. Things were so rushed.” She leaned over to squeeze his hand. “We’re still friends, Damian. We never stopped, there was just a weird bump.”