Damian Wayne (grownup_robin) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-02-10 22:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, alyssa hamilton, damian wayne (robin) |
Who: Damian Wayne and Alyssa Hamilton
When: Saturday, February 9th. Evening
Where: Alyssa’s House
What: Damian explains why he's really in California and Alyssa talks about her dreams.
Rating: PG for talk of grusome dreams and adorableness.
Status: Complete
It had been a few weeks now since he’d accidentally run into Bruce outside Wayne Enterprises and while he’d been wanting to go by again, in the hopes of running into the older man again, Damian still wasn’t sure that he was ready to tell him who he actually was. After all, he’d just told him that he was new in town and was doing some sight seeing. How was he supposed to tell him that he was really his son and the reason he’d been there was to loiter around his business? Yeah, that would go over well.
Aside from trying to figure out when he should inform Bruce Wayne that he had a son, Damian had actually been settling in well, now that he was no longer living in that youth hostel. Things were a little weird at Alyssa’s place, especially her mother, and he’d actually gotten a job, so it wasn’t all bad. He still had to figure out what to do about school, but his plan was still to get his GED as soon as he was eligible. It just seemed easier than registering for school without a legal guardian. At least he’d be seventeen soon.
Currently, he was sitting in Alyssa’s living room, laptop open on his lap as he sat on the couch, one tab open to a google search of Bruce Wayne. He’d done all the research he could on his father, so there really was no reason to still be searching him out on the internet, but he found that every time he went on-line, he wound up typing his name into the search bar.
Alyssa was done with her homework and figured she’d watch telly while mucking about on her laptop. She went down to the living room, smiling when she saw Damian. “Heya,” she waved. She didn’t talk too much, figuring that the way his eyebrows were knotted together was a sign of concentration. Already in her pajamas, she curled up in an armchair and opened her own laptop.
Damian had been so invested in what he was reading, despite the fact that he’d read it before, he hadn’t heard Alyssa come in. At the sound of her voice, however, he jumped slightly and quickly switched the tab to facebook. He hadn’t told anyone else the exact reason he was in California and he didn’t want to have to explain why he was looking at stuff on Bruce Wayne, “Hey. What’s up?” He glanced over in Alyssa’s direction, wondering if she’d seen what he was looking at.
She hadn’t, and she just assumed she’d startled him. “Not much, done with homework so I figured I’d come down and watch crap telly and hang out. Don’t want you thinking I’m antisocial.” She smiled and looked up at him. “Guess you had the same idea. Which awful Facebook games are you playing?”
“I don’t think you’re anti-social.” Damian just figured that she had other things to do and he didn’t want her to feel obligated to hang out with him just because he was living with her. “And I wasn’t playing one just now, but when I do, the only one I play is Criminal Case.” There was something about forensic science and detective work that intrigued Damian. He wasn’t sure if that meant that he wanted to go into that field, but he just knew that he was always drawn to those types of shows as well as unsolved murder cases. “Do you play any of them?”
“Oh, that one’s fun!” Alyssa moved to sit next to him, feeling okay with it since she was in a longer pair of PJs and she wouldn’t be flashing him or anything. She brought up her Facebook page to show her the games she played. She was more into the adventure sims, the ones that weren’t silly girlie things. “I like the superhero one, it’s actually a bit like an actual RPG.” She smiled and showed him her monitor, not noticing that their arms were touching.
Damian hadn’t expected Alyssa to come over and join him, but he had to admit that he didn’t mind exactly. It made it feel a little less like he was just a house guest and a little more like Alyssa was his friend. If there was one thing Damian missed from home, it was his friends. “I never got into Farmville or any of those games. I mean, who wants to grow fake crops?” He asked, glancing over at her monitor. If she looked at his then she would have seen the tab at the top of his screen that read Bruce Wayne next to his tab for Facebook, which was currently the active one.
“It really just seemed like a time sink.” Alyssa grinned at him, flipping around on the television until Investigation Discovery came on. “At least I know what shows you and I will watch together. Solved’s my favorite.” She didn’t want to tell him about her dreams yet - oh, by the way, I dream that I kill homicidal demons didn’t really seem like conversation to have with a new friend. She hadn’t looked at his monitor, not wanting to make him feel awkward if he was ogling pictures of Demi Lovato or someone.
“I like Cold Case Files,” Damian said, glancing at the TV, “That guys voice is wicked creepy, but there’s something interesting about it. I’m impressed that they show the real crime scene photos and stuff.” He certainly wasn’t ogling pictures of Demi Lovato or anyone else for that matter. “When I watch the scripted shows, I try to figure out the outcome before it’s revealed.”
“Oh, everyone does. I like Solved because it goes into the forensics a bit more. The science is interesting. … hell, maybe I should major in this.” But she didn’t know if she could. Her dreams still haunted her a bit. She closed her eyes, trying to get the laugh of Haigh out of her mind, the way he giggled when he shoved people’s faces into acid. Her dreams were supremely messed up and she knew it. “On second thought,” she murmured, “nursing’s probably better.”
“Whenever I start thinking about what I want to do, I keep coming back to forensics or detective work, but I’m not sure.” Damian hadn’t had any of these dreams that he kept hearing everyone talk about and he couldn’t help but wonder if he would eventually. If he did, what would they be like? From what he’d read, a lot of people had pretty crazy dreams. “Is nursing what you’re gonna go to school for?”
Alyssa shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t know yet. I was going to go undeclared for a semester or two and hopefully figure it out.” She smiled at him, liking that he didn’t mind her sitting close. She was a tactile person, prone to bouts of cuddling and hugging, and while she didn’t want to do any of that with him - talk about inappropriate - a friendly closeness was welcome.
Sitting there, like this, with Alyssa did feel nice and it was nice to not have her trying to come on to him like that one girl who had kept trying to hit on him at a party back home, “Well, you still have time, right? You don’t have to make up your mind right away. What else do you wanna do besides nursing?”
“I’m not really … good at anything.” Alyssa laughed, realizing that made her sound like a ditz. “I mean, I get good marks, but I’m not spectacularly passionate about everything. I like reading, but not enough to write or be a librarian. Biology’s fun, but I don’t know what I’d do in it specifically. Like that. I’m good at footy, but I don’t think I’d want to have a go at it professionally.” Was it vapid to sort of want to get married and have kids? Did people do that still? She supposed it was just because she was having boy problems. “I’m good with medicines and stuff, though, I love medical shows. Nursing’ll probably be where I go.”
Damian listened as Alyssa explained, his fingers moving across the touch pad on his laptop idly, the pointer moving across the page at random. “You’ll figure it out. My mom always told me to do whatever made me happy. I mean, as long as it wouldn’t hurt me or anyone else.”
That made Alyssa smile. “Your mum sounds like she was lovely. I wish you were with her, and that she were here.” Seeing ghosts had opened Alyssa’s eyes to how damn transient life was, how fleeting. So many people were still trying to tell people that they loved them, even in death, and she really hoped that Damian’s mother was in the light. Whatever it was, it was where that woman belonged. “I’m sorry, you probably don’t want to … I’m sorry.”
Damian’s blue eyes welled up slightly as Alyssa spoke and he dropped his gaze to the screen of his laptop so that Alyssa wouldn’t see and blinked back the tears, “Thanks. I wish she were here too.” Damian had taken Talia’s death pretty hard and for a while afterwards, he’d wondered if there was something they could have done sooner. Something that would have saved her life, but he knew that he couldn’t dwell on that stuff forever otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to move on. “It’s fine. You don’t have to be sorry.”
She saw the tears and reached out to hug him. She moved her laptop, closing her eyes and pulling him closer. “I think even Mum knows that she should keep quiet around you. She hasn’t been nearly as awful lately. It’s not fine. It’s wretched. And I am sorry. You don’t have to be so bloody brave.”
Damian appreciated the hug and couldn’t help but lean into Alyssa. It had been so long since he’d really had any actual physical contact like this and he was actually surprised that he craved it. Most of the people who had hugged him when his mother had died obviously pitied him and he could tell that despite them being sincere when they said they were sorry for his loss, it just wasn’t the same. “Thanks, Alyssa.”
He was warm and smelled good, and it made her heart thud in her chest. She closed her eyes, curling closer into him. “You’re welcome, Damian.” She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed sleeping next to someone until she’d cuddled someone else. It was hard to let go, so she just let her head rest on his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here instead of at that hostel.”
“Me too. At least here, I know no one is gonna steal my stuff,” Damian chuckled, hesitantly wrapping his arm around Alyssa’s shoulders. He didn’t really know what he was doing, but it felt like the right thing to do. “I mean, I hope I don’t have to worry about anything being stolen.” Damian smirked and squeezed Alyssa’s shoulder gently.
Her arms wrapped a bit around his waist, snuggling closer. “I don’t think I’ve ever stolen anything.” Maybe kisses from Logan, but she wasn’t going to say that. “Not even gum or candy.”
As Alyssa pulled him a bit closer, Damian closed the laptop and moved it aside so that it wouldn’t fall off his lap, “You know, if your mom came in here right now, she’d probably throw some lube or something at us,” His tone was light and it was obvious that he was teasing Alyssa. Her mother was so different from Talia and Damian was still getting used to just how open she was. She certainly wasn’t your average mother.
“Probably.” Alyssa laughed, looking up at him and teasing right back. “You know what that is! Ha! I knew you were really a boy!” She couldn’t help it, reaching out to tickle his sides a little.
Damian was about to respond when Alyssa started tickling his sides and he reached for her hands in an attempt to stop her. If there was one part of his body that was ticklish, it was his sides, “Of course I know....I’m a teenage boy...” He was laughing in between his words while still trying to stop Alyssa.
“You knew, I didn’t!” She grinned at his laughing. Before she quite realized what she was doing, she’d leaned down and pressed her lips to his, cupping his cheeks lightly.
Damian certainly hadn’t been expecting that and he couldn’t help it as his eyes widened slightly as Alyssa’s lips pressed against his. He had never actually kissed a girl before, so he wasn’t sure what the should do and instead simply sat there, too surprised to realize that he should at least kiss her back.
Bright red, Alyssa pulled away. “Oh, god, I’m so - oh, bugger. I’m so sorry.” She clapped her hands over her face, knowing the blush was spreading down to her neck.
As surprised as Damian had been, he knew that he needed to work fast, otherwise things were bound to get awkward between them and that would just make living together really difficult, “Alyssa, it’s okay. Really.” He reached for her arm in an attempt to keep her from leaving, “I wasn’t expecting that. Next time I’ll know that with you tickle fights end in your trying to kiss your victim.” He teased, smirking, in an attempt to keep her from being embarrassed.
“Only the cute ones,” she murmured, but that didn’t help. “So, I’m going to go commit ritual suicide. Want anything from the kitchen before I do?”
Damian couldn’t help but chuckle, “If you’re offering, I’ll take a can of coke.” He hoped that she was just going into the kitchen and was coming back, because the last thing he wanted was for her to go hide in her room or something, because that would just make things awkward, which was what he didn’t want.
She grinned, running her fingers through her hair before trying one more time to kiss him. He had warning now, maybe he’d like it?
This time Damian wasn’t trying to find off a tickle attack and when Alyssa kissed him, he went with it. His eyes slid shut and he kissed her back, a bit awkwardly, but he returned it none the less. He didn’t know what any of this meant, but he wasn’t going to think too hard about it at the moment. Right now, he was just glad that Alyssa didn’t seem embarrassed anymore.
She mostly wanted to see what it was like to kiss someone that wasn’t Logan. It was … nice. It was cosy, and it made her smile a little. She didn’t know what would happen with it, but when she pulled away, she was grinning. “Right, a Coke. You shouldn’t drink it so late in the day, it’s why you can’t sleep, you know.”
Damian also smiling as Alyssa pulled back and chuckled at her comment, “Thanks, mom, I’ll keep that in mind.” He teased as he winked at her. Damian would be lying if he said that he’d never wondered what his first kiss would be like and now he didn’t need to wonder anymore.
“Still sorry, you know. Still committing seppuku later.” She winked at him as she moved into the kitchen, returning with two Cokes for them.
“Well try not to make too big of a mess.” Damian smirked then picked up his laptop when Alyssa left the room and opened it back up, clicking to the tab with the google search for Bruce. Despite Alyssa only being gone for a few minutes, Damian had quickly gotten distracted by the various links, attempting to find something that he hadn’t already read that he didn’t hear the other girl come back into the living room.
“Want me to leave you to it?” Alyssa handed him the soda, sitting down close, but not too close. It actually felt good that the kiss had been awkward; somehow she felt more comfortable with him. He was a good sort not to be too big of an ass about it, and she liked that they were able to talk crap to each other.
“What?” He turned at the sound of her voice then shook his head, “No, you don’t have to leave. I was just...” It occurred to Damian that what he should do was ask other people if they knew anything about Bruce, despite the fact that he’d technically met him already, “Have you ever heard of Bruce Wayne?”
“The businessman?” She nodded. “A little, why?”
As much as Damian had wanted to keep this to himself, he realized that he needed to tell somebody and even though he had only known Alyssa for a short time, he felt like he could trust her, “He’s my dad.” Well there it was. He couldn’t take it back now and to be honest, it felt good to tell somebody.
Her eyes went wide. “I take it he doesn’t know.”
Damian shook his head, “I didn’t even know until a few months ago. My mom told me when she got sick,” Closing the laptop again, he reached for the soda she’d brought him and took a sip before continuing, “That’s the main reason I came out here.”
She found herself hugging him again. “I wouldn’t know how to feel in your position. I’d probably be too upset that he didn’t see me to want to talk to him.”
Damian appreciated the hug, “I was more upset that my mom would never tell me. Now, I just want to know about him. I saw him a few weeks ago. It was so surreal. I didn’t tell him who I was, but I want to. I’m just nervous about it.” Damian was sure that there were other people who had come to Bruce in the past, claiming to be his child, so what were the odds that he’d believe some kid?
“You know, now that you mention it, you do have his jawline.” Alyssa cocked her head to the side. She could sort of see it. “I hope he remembers your mum. But honestly, no matter what happens, it’s not like you have to worry about having a place to stay. Mum likes you. She’s always saying how convenient it is you can reach the top of shelves.”
“Well, I’m glad I can help her reach things without a step ladder.” Damian laughed and took another sip of his soda, “No matter what happens, I just want him to know. I doubt he’ll remember my mom. If he does, I’ll be surprised.”
“He’d better or I’ll shoot him.” Alyssa narrowed her eyes, folding her arms. “Not … really, don’t go to the police or anything. I just have a bow and I - “ Well. There went her not telling him about her dreams. Shit. Alyssa was starting to wonder if she was fit to be in society.
Damian’s brows rose slightly, “You have a bow? Like bow and arrows?” Damian had taken karate for a little while a few years back, but he had never used any types of weapons, “That’s pretty cool.”
“It … you know those dreams you see people talk about online? The really mental ones? Well, it showed up after one of them.” She looked down at her hands as she spoke, trying to keep herself from wringing them without much success.
“Really? That’s pretty crazy.” Damian had heard about the dreams, but had yet to have any of his own, “But it’s pretty cool too. Do you know how to use it or did that not transfer over from the dream?”
“I know how to use it a bit.” She hopped up and went upstairs briefly, coming down the stairs with the bottle and handing it over to Damian. “It holds holy water. I uh. Kill demons in my dreams.”
Damian took the bow from Alyssa and inspected it, “This is pretty fucking cool,” He said, holding it out and pulling the string back as if he were going to shoot something, but he was lacking arrows, so it was safe. “Really? That must be pretty insane.” He handed the bow back to Alyssa.
The string was made of light, and Alyssa smiled as she pulled it back. When she touched it, an arrow made of light appeared. “It’s horrible, actually. I have to watch people being … you know. Every night.” She shook the bottle once, sending the light sailing back into it, and suddenly the bow didn’t look like a bow at all.
“Wow. Yeah, that actually doesn’t sound so cool,” Damian hoped that if he ever started having any of those dreams they weren’t bad ones. He’d hate to find out that he was a murderer or something like that.
“It’s why I look so knackered all the time - I haven’t been sleeping well.” She curled her knees to her chest, sighing a little. “It’s like a horror movie every night, only … real.”
Damian bit his bottom lip as he listened to Alyssa then reached over and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, “Have you tried using sleep aids?” He wondered if sleeping pills worked against the dreams or if they will happened regardless.
“Yeah, but I don’t want to get addicted. And they sort of stopped working anyway.” Alyssa sighed to herself. “But watching this man chop people up and put their bodies into acid is … not great dreaming fodder, really.” She leaned against him, glad that she had a friend nearby.
Damian couldn’t help but make a face as Alyssa described her dream, “Fuck. That’s really twisted. Hope you get some nicer dreams soon.” Alyssa was too nice to have such awful dreams, “I mean, they can’t all be like that, right?”
“I don’t know. I helped one little girl reunite with her father. He was killed in World War II, and she was … bludgeoned to death.” She shuddered, thinking of May’s screams. Sometimes she’d hear a little kid laughing or yelling while she was awake, and it would give her goosebumps.
“Wow.” Damian’s brows rose and he held Alyssa a little closer, “Definitely fucked up. Do they happen every night?” He asked, curious as to how often Alyssa had these nightmares. It sounded awful, but so far Alyssa didn’t seem to have gone crazy from them, so he was pretty sure that she could handle them; as awful as they sounded.
“Every night, yeah. They sort of loop. Sometimes I get new bits, but then it just gets added to the loop. I’m apparently the last in a line of girls who hunt demons, they’re called Entities. They can possess evil people and let them live on past death to continue whatever evil things they were doing. I’m the only one who can stop them. That’s why I can see ghosts. … when I’m awake, too.” She hadn’t told anyone but Mitchell that.
He wanted to ask if her mother knew about these dreams, but he was pretty sure that he’d know if she knew, because Alyssa’s mother wasn’t subtle about anything, “Yeah, that would make sleeping difficult.”
“It was nice when I was sleeping next to someone, but that’s - “ That’s too much information, Alyssa Hamilton! She shut her mouth immediately, swigging her Coke to buy time. “That’s not. Possible?” She cursed herself under her breath.
Damian’s brows rose slightly when she mentioned the dreams being lessened when she slept next to someone and he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d had a boyfriend, “Well....if you want to try and get some sleep now....you can, right here.” Whatever she’d meant by the comment, he found that he wanted to help her in any way that he could.
Her green eyes filled with tears, and she nodded, leaning her head on Damian’s shoulder. It was the sweetest thing anyone had said to her in a while, and the genuine kindness of the statement struck her. She curled up and leaned harder against him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I - did a stupid thing and ended up shagging this older bloke Mum used to date and he’s nice, but he wants … not me?”
Well Damian hadn’t expected that and while it shocked him a bit...or a lot...it was obvious that Alyssa was upset about the entire thing and he didn’t want her to get more upset if he seemed like he was judging her, which he wasn’t, “Well then he doesn’t deserve you.” He wrapped his arm around her a little more securely and rubbed her arm, reassuringly.
She let out a shuddering breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in, and she closed her eyes. “You’re a good sort, Damian. Bruce had better realize how bloody fantastic you are,” she murmured. Exhaustion was catching up with her, and soon her breathing had become slow and even with sleep.