Who: Damian Wayne and Peeta Mellark What: Alyssa's two exes walk into a coffee shop... Where: Coffee Shop When: Backdated: Thursday, November 12th. Afternoon Rating: Family Friendly Status: Complete
Damian had been worried that he wouldn't be able to balance school and patrolling after he'd gotten used to patrolling during the summer when no matter how late he'd stayed out, he didn't have to worry about getting up early the next morning, but he'd actually been doing alright. Sure, he was tired mornings after patrolling, but he couldn't not go out and make sure that people around Orange County were safe at night. His dreams of Gotham had gotten too into his head.
He was beginning to wonder if he maybe he should reach out to the other members of the Bat Family and see what they thought about setting up some sort of schedule so that they would all do equal patrolling and get equal nights off. There were enough of them after all. It was definitely something to think about.
Having just left class for the day, Damian decided to grab a cup of coffee then stop at the gym for a little while. He wasn't planning on patrolling that night cause he had a paper he really needed to write and coffee was going to be what got him through the night.
Stepping into the coffee shop, he got into line and pulled out his phone to send Celeana a text. His girlfriend was another reason he thought some sort of patrolling schedule would be a good idea, so that he would have the time and energy to spend more time with her.
Okay, so his bakery served coffee, but it wasn’t the greatest coffee. Not a lot of people sat around to eat their food, so they didn’t have to get super fancy and he was running a bakery first and foremost. But when he needed to head to the coffee shop for a pick-me-up then he always toyed with the idea of expanding, but that would also be encroaching on Audrey’s thing. Thankfully he didn’t have to go far and he stepped in line behind another young man.
There was something about him that seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. He wrote it off as just something that happened occasionally and shrugged his shoulders. He studied the board in front of him to try and decide what he wanted and tried to keep a small distance between the two of them as the line continued to move. However, he couldn’t help but get caught up in studying the menu that he walked right into him. “Oh! Sorry, I spaced for a second,” he apologized as he stepped back.
Damian had just pressed ‘send’ on his phone when the guy behind him walked into him. At first he thought maybe he hadn’t been paying attention since he was texting, but when he looked up he saw that the teenage girls in front of him hadn’t moved any, so it meant that the guy behind him hadn’t been paying attention, which was confirmed a moment later when he spoke up. The voice sounded familiar and it wasn’t until Damian turned around that he recognized him. Damian hadn’t really talked to Peeta at all at Alyssa’s birthday party over the summer, but he recognized him none the less.
“Hey, no problem” He didn’t know whether or not he should remind him that they’d met. It wasn’t like Damian had been jealous of their relationship; just shocked that Alyssa would have gotten engaged to someone after such a short time. However, that was over now and Damian had a pretty good idea that he knew how Peeta was feeling since he too had been pretty much blindsided by a breakup with Alyssa.
It had taken him a moment to realize that it was Damian in front of him. He honestly didn’t care much about who Alyssa’s exes were, but he remembered him being at the birthday party. It was kind of strange to run into him here, but then again Orange County was actually quite small if you got down to it. He couldn’t just pretend that he didn’t know who Damian was, so he offered a small smile. “Damian, right?” He had never been worried about anything with Alyssa’s exes when they were together, but apparently he should have. He only knew a few things about Damian’s relationship, but it was in the past and Peeta wasn’t the type to dwell on things like that.
Damian nodded, unable to pretend now that he hadn’t recognized Peeta, “That’d be me. How’s it going?” It was probably a stupid question, but it was all Damian could think of at the moment. Unlike Peeta, Damian had been worried about Logan almost the entire time he and Alyssa had been dating and no matter how much she’d told him he didn’t have to worry, he couldn’t help it. He was glad he didn’t have to worry about any of that with Celaena and there was no drama in their relationship.
“Um, not bad,” Peeta couldn’t help but feel a bit of a blush in his cheeks because this was incredibly awkward. He rubbed the back of his neck and gave him a small smile, “I mean, I’ve been better. I’m sure Alyssa told you.” He had been told that she sent out a message about the breakup, but he had only chosen to tell his close friends because honestly, no one really needed to know his business. That was definitely something that bled over from the dreams where he was an unfortunate celebrity for the Capitol, so keeping a low profile was what he enjoyed about this life.
Damian nodded, “Yeah. Yeah, I heard about that. It sucks. I know.” He hoped that, for Peeta’s sake, he was taking it better than Damian had. In Damian’s case, he’d taken it extremely hard, but at the time he’d had Bran whose girlfriend had just broken up with him as well. So Damian had moved in with the Starks and he and Bran got over their breakups together.
“It does, but I’m getting over it. It’s definitely for the best and I know that I can be much happier now,” Peeta answered honestly. Maybe people expected him to mope about, but Alyssa had been exactly what he needed during that time in his life. Being without her was almost like a breath of fresh air and he realized he was too young to be tied down. So, after a week of letting his emotions be at the surface he was feeling a lot better about things and he would leave any snide comments to Johanna to make because she seemed to speak his mind better than he could.
“You’re handling it a lot better than I did.” Damian noticed that the girls in front of him had moved up so he did too, not wanting to hold up the line too much. “It took me awhile; mostly cause I didn’t understand why she broke up with me. She didn’t exactly explain when she kicked me out.” That had been the hardest par; not knowing.
“Oh you didn’t watch me for the few days afterwards,” Peeta explained with a laugh. He wasn’t the type to dwell forever. He stepped forward as Damian moved forward, “And yeah, she told me that she still had feelings for Logan and didn’t want to string me along. But if you’re left without a true answer then yeah, it’s harder to get over. I understand that.” He was a little thankful that at least Alyssa gave him a reason, but he felt bad for Damian- that was a jerk move to just end it with no explanation.
Hearing that Alyssa claimed to still have feelings for Logan didn’t surprise Damian in the slightest and he sighed, nodding a little, “I always assumed that. It was the biggest thing that I worried about while we were together. She always claimed she didn’t feel that way about him, but I always knew she was lying to herself.” He probably shouldn’t have been talking about this, considering he and Alyssa had finally found a place where they could be friends, but he didn’t think that Peeta was going to go telling her what he was saying and it wasn’t like Alyssa didn’t know that Damian had always felt that way.
There was a big difference between Damian and Peeta when it came to Alyssa apparently. Damian worried about things like that and Peeta honestly didn’t. He knew Logan was an ex and thought it was through and didn’t care that the pair will still friends. He wasn’t someone who wanted to control his girlfriends or worry about their relationship because if it was meant to be, then it would be. “Well, apparently she finally decided to stop lying to herself. If she’s happy then so be it,” he wasn’t going to wish that union well because he could still hold a little bit of bitterness, but it wasn’t his concern anymore, “But hey, shit happens and we all just end up learning. It’s not the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Damian nodded, “I always knew there was something still there, but what happened was probably for the best. I was only sixteen when we started dating and my mom had just died, so when we broke up, it felt like I was just losing everyone.” There was a time when Damian wouldn’t have talked quite so openly about his mom’s death and Alyssa with someone he barely knew, but he was a different person than he used to be and part of that was because of Alyssa, but also because of his dreams, “I’ve had time now to mature and honestly, I’m happy now.” Celaena was a big cause for that and while their relationship was still new, it was healthier.
“I’m sorry, man, that is a lot to go through for anyone. I’m glad that you’ve managed to grow from it and it doesn’t hurt as badly anymore,” Peeta honestly did wish Damian well and he was happy to hear that he was able to grow from the experience. It was lucky that Alyssa hadn’t timed their breakup as horrible as she had timed her break up with him. But, thanks to the maturing Peeta could see that Damian had the potential to be someone that he got along with.
“I didn’t have anyone to fall back on after my mom died, but I was lucky to have friends to fall back on after the breakup, so that helped a lot.” Damian moved up as the next person reached the counter, “Not to mention, I have a girlfriend now who is pretty awesome.” Damian smirked at the thought of Celaena and wondered what she was doing at that moment.
“That’s awesome, glad things are going well for you now,” Peeta answered truthfully as they continued to move forward. He knew that he would get over Alyssa soon enough, but there was never any kind of set time table for that sort of thing. Out of sight, out of mind, basically. Soon enough it was Damian’s turn up at the counter and Peeta gestured for him to go ahead and order, “Looks like it’s your turn.”
“Going as well as can be expected with all the weird shit that goes on here.” Damian was sure that Peeta knew what he was talking about. If he was part of Valarnet, then he was more than likely aware of the crazy stuff that went on. When he reached the front, he placed his order then turned back to Peeta, “Go ahead, it’s on me.”
“Yeaaaaaah…the only downside to being around here now,” that was about all someone could say when the weirdness of Valar was mentioned in real life. There was no rhyme or reason for any of it, so you just had to roll with the punches. The comment by Damian to go ahead and order brought a smile out, “Thanks, Damian, I really appreciate it.” He stepped forward and placed his order before moving to stand beside Damian.
“How long have you actually been out here?” Damian was curious if Peeta had been through a winter in the OC in the last few years or if he’d been around for the volcanic ash or the Orcs or other hundreds of crazy things that had happened in the last few years, “It’s no problem. It might sound weird, but I feel like we could get along pretty well.” It wasn’t like Damian became friends with everyone who had liked or dated Alyssa, case in point, Logan, but Damian felt like he could get along with Peeta like he had with Bran.
“I’ve moved here almost a year ago, in December, but I’ve lived in the area my entire life. But apparently outside of the weird bubble,” Peeta explained. He had been through a few weird things, but nothing that had affected him too severely, “And I think we could as well. We need to stick together.” Damian didn’t seem like a bad guy at all and they could certainly find other things to relate on besides Alyssa.
“So you know about the snow. When I moved here from Chicago, I was thinking I wouldn’t have to deal with snow anymore, but then a year after I moved here, it snowed.” Damian still didn’t understand it, but then there were a lot of things he didn’t understand about Valarnet, Orange County and the dreams. When the barista placed both of their drinks on the counter, Damian picked them up and handed Peeta his, “We do. I’ve thought about starting an ‘I dislike Logan club’. You could be treasurer.” He smirked to show that he was kidding. As much as he had disliked Logan, the man still intimidated him, even if Damian was taller than the older man.
“Yeaaaah, the snow was a little strange. I wasn’t surprised when the whole place shut down. I certainly wasn’t prepared for it,” Peeta admitted. It had been one of the first surprises that he had experienced when he was here. He took his cup with a thanks and then let out a laugh at the club and shook his head, “Oh man, wouldn’t that be something? Let’s discuss it on our way out? I’ve gotta head back to work for a little bit, but I want to hear more about this club.”