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"You should teach me that sometime." She envied the way he so easily did the things he did. The way he so easily moved through life without letting his demons openly haunt him. Or, at the very least; he made it seem easy.
Green eyes immediately snapped back, focusing in on that all too familiar face. She smiled then, the kind of smile only reserved for him. The kind of smile all demons hid away from. "You have my full attention." It was that easy for him to ground her. Always had been.
She was a little jealous of his life. The kind of life she'd never have for herself. "Because you're spending parts of it with me, duh."
"Alcohol helps," He shrugged as he brought the beer back to his lips again. If he didn't drink, Damian was pretty certain he'd be a miserable person. The only time he ever felt good when he was sober was when he was in danger or when he was with his son, which in all honesty were the same thing considering who is ex was. If it weren't for that, he would have been a very angry person, constantly lashing out about little things.
His face scrunched up when she declared that he was stuck with her for part of his day off. After a moment, his features smoothed out and he smiled wider, "Koda will like that. You should see him now, he's a fucking beast." Although, he was getting old and Damian knew he'd have to face that fact sooner rather than later. "What do you want to do with our time tomorrow, Luxie? Your choice because I'm fresh out of cool shit to do in my, as you said, old age." He scoffed again at the very concept of him aging.
"Maybe I should rethink my life choices regarding that." She offered a simple shrug. She wasn't quite at the point where she felt the need to drink her sorrows away, though.
"He takes after his dad, then." It was still hard for her to imagine Damian having a child. It struck her as such a unrealistic thing that it was almost funny. It suited him, though. She could see the change it had forced on her old friend. "I'd love to meet him."
She pondered over his question. Tapping a finger to her cheek, she hummed lowly. "That depends. Do you feel like doing something low key and chill, or something more... You?"
"Fuck. No. You're not going to be like me," On this, he wasn't afraid to put his foot down. The last thing he was about to let happen, was for her to waste away and be anything but herself. Damian had no choice, his true self was heightened when he drank.
Once he was past the initial blunt force of responding to her drinking habits, he eased back and smiled. "He's better than me, of that I can assure you." And it wasn't even just Koda that was better. Jace was going to be a better person than Damian and his ex ever would be. If he had any influence on his kid, he would make sure of that. "But, much like me, he's gonna adore the hell outta you." It was safe to say this because it was something she already knew.
His eyebrows shot up and he placed a hand on his chest, "As if I can't do low key and chill. I'm the epitome of such things!" He paused and dropped his hand, "That's such a lie. I dunno, baby, whattaya thinkin'? Movie date or four-wheeling? Both?"
Her eyebrows shot up at that and annoyance flared across her green eyes. "Don't sell yourself so short, Damian." She said strictly, a finger pointing at his face. Her features softened then. She felt like giving him a hug. "You're better than that."
"Aren't children always?" She'd never realky considered having children. She didn't want her genes passed on. It would be equally unfair and selfish of her to wish that for herself. He seemed happy. It had helped him grow. "You both better." This time she did reach her hand out. Not to ruffle his hair, but to place her palm against his cheek. Then she pinched it.
She laughed: he couldn't keep the facade up for long. He'd never been a great liar. "Both sound hood. Either way, I'm cooking."
For a moment he just looked at her. It was sort of entertaining the way that they both were so protective of each other. There was no way he'd ever let anything bad happen to her if he could actually stop it. Her ability he may not have had control over, but her safety, he did. "Only in your eyes, Lux," He answered quietly as he looked down at his hands.
His lips quirked up and he nodded. He'd always heard that dogs took after their owners. And he supposed that his kid had, too, in some ways. When she placed her hand on his cheek, his smile widened and he scrunched his nose when she pinched. "I don't think you ever need to worry about me in that regard, doll face." He would adore her long after she was gone, no matter how much it hurt him.
"Thank God," Damian laughed. He was getting a little sick of cold pizza and wings. Plus, he was pretty sure he'd get fat if he ever stopped working out. Alcohol and pizza, not the healthiest choices. "I missed you, ya know."
"Don't say that." He'd been nothing but good to her. She wouldn't let him talk about himself that way. While she understood where it was coming from, she didn't agree with it. Perhaps she was biased, but it hardly mattered. It was still the truth, even if it was her truth.
"Good." She replied with a sort of finality.
She wondered how these men managed to survive on their own. It wasn't just Damian, but her father too. They seemed to wrapped up in everything else surrounding their lives, they completely forgot to take proper care of themselves. She supposed it was a good thing then, that they let her mother them to death. Until now, neither of them had really complained. Not that she'd let them, of course. "I missed you too." She said, smiling.
"So, what's on the menu?" She was a decent cook. She'd picked up on a lot after her mother had died. It was one way to keep herself busy, but also a way for her to feel like she was contributing at home. She supposed it had been natural for her to take on the role of her mother. She was the only woman left in the house. Perhaps it was a tad old fashioned, but she didn't mind.
He shrugged, he couldn't particularly help the way he looked at himself. It'd been something in the making since he was too young to remember. Not only because he had no family, but he had no clue who he was supposed to be and what he'd become was based on alcohol, military training and more alcohol. Nothing about that was something he found to be great.
Lux had left it wide open for him with her question. And it was so easy that it almost hurt, so he had to say it despite how creepy it sounded, "You?" His smile crept back onto his face and he laughed, leaning back on the stool so that she didn't reach out and smack him or something. It was truly terrible, like, he couldn't even handle the fact that he'd just said it. Damian never did feel bad about his poor jokes and the tastelessness of them. Although, to be fair, he found himself to be pretty funny on occasion.
"Okay, okay, but in all seriousness, I'm feeling some lasagna or something like that. Pasta is the best and I fully intend on clogging my arteries as quickly as possible with all those carbs," He smirked.
Though the brunette would strike her hand against him, she had to admit, it was tempting to at least scold him. She didn't, of course. What could she possibly say to something like that? She wasn't exactly the most experienced person. He had her by a mile there and while it didn't embarrass her, she had no response other than rolling her eyes at him.
"What is it with men and pasta?" She asked, more so to herself than to anyone in particular. Her brother and father both seemed to think pasta was the better choice. Maybe not always, but often enough. "You have someone to cook for you and you choose lasagna?" She shook her head at that. She supposed she should count her blessings. Lasagna was pretty easy to make, after all.
"Pasta is easily the most amazing thing ever created in the world. And I won't have you trying to sway my opinion, Luxie!" Damian said with a stern expression. He took his Italian food intake very seriously. And he felt as though everyone should indulge a little. It wasn't his fault that it was the only thing he could remember of growing up. Only one of the houses that he'd been to was ever really decent and they made a point to try a little bit of everything, he figured that was probably why he liked it so much.
"And yes, lasagna," He stuck his tongue out at her.
The question again brought a smile to his face. He could have said something like, it depends on who has the bigger bed, but he managed to refrain from his terrible joke. His wasn't all that nice, a little place with very little in it. He'd never been sentimental, and his apartment showed it. "Yours might be a bit more comfortable."
"Whatever you say." She chuckled. Pasta was fine, sure, but there was a million of other dishes she could list that was both healthier and better. She was never one to argue, though and simply shrugged. If he wanted pasta, she could make pasta. At least it didn't take a lot of effort on her part.
Again, the brunette laughed. "You're supposed to be the adult here." She reminded him. Though, she supposed it was nice to see him still carrying a childlike youth. It was a trait she hoped he would never lose.
"You're probably right." She agreed with a simple nod. "I'll see if dad and Colby are around, too." She wasn't sure if either of them would be home, but she wasn't about to throw them out if they were, either. "Anyone else you want on the guest list?" She asked, leaning forward. "A lady friend?"
Damian arched an eyebrow and snorted, "When have you ever known me to act like an adult?" He could only name a select few times that he bothered with it. And it typically was when he was with his son, but even then, he hated being serious and strict with Jace seeing as he only got to see him twice a month.
He scrunched his nose up, "You're really testing my behavioral skills, aren't you? Colby is one thing, but I'm not sure I can control my jokes around your dad." And he sort of needed to since he was kind of a big deal in Damian's workforce.
"I actually met this really cool chick just the other day. She was a real hands-on kinda girl," Lie. Big lie. Or rather, exaggeration of the truth. He met plenty of 'lady friends' as she called them. It was rare that they became repetitive or worthy of taking to dinner. Least of all around the only person who knew the ins and outs of his personality. He couldn't afford for Lux to tell them something embarrassing about him.
She could only smile at that: He made a fair point, after all. "Fine." She simply said, head shaking. She could hardly fault him for it. In truth, she liked him better this way. She couldn't really picture him acting like what society deemed to be a proper adult.
Her dad wasn't the kind of person Lux would ever tell someone not to be themselves around. He was understanding, though, she knew a whole different side to him than most did. He, like everyone else, had a professional side. "I'm sure you'll be fine." She offered with a chuckle. "What's the worst that can happen?"
"Oh yeah?" She asked, genuinely curious. "If her being a 'hands-on kinda girl' is the first description that pops into mind, I'm not sure she's dinner material." She wondered if he really talked about all the girls in his life that way. She wasn't about to reprimand him for objectifying girls that way, of course, but it was... Well, it didn't matter.
"Uh, plenty of worse things could happen! He's terrifying and I'm...generally a smart ass," Damian laughed. There was just something about authority figures that he'd always clashed with. Probably the fact that he liked to make jokes at inappropriate times, but who could blame him, honestly. Life was boring without jokes.
Noting her reaction to what he said, he rolled his eyes, "Oh c'mon, don't look at me like that. You know I'm just joking. And don't even say you weren't looking at me a certain way because you were." It was the same look every woman gave him when he said something smart and perhaps distasteful. Although most of the time he was joking. In fact, 99% of the time he was joking. The other 1% was reserved for special cases.
Like his ex. He couldn't help but speak poorly about her, even if she had given him his kid.
She couldn't quite help the laugh that escaped her lips: She'd never understand how someone could find her father scary, but then again, they probably didn't know him the way she did. To her, he was a caring and loving father. To them, well. He was a cop. A detective. A formidable person. "He's not terrifying." She reached her hand out to poke at the tip of his nose. "You're just a sissy."
Leaning forward, she crossed her arms over the bar top. She stared at him directly, head tilted. "How would you want me to look at you then?" She already knew the answer to it, though, he'd likely offer it jokingly. She was hoping to surprise him with her sudden brashness. She was usually the timid one of the two, after all. Besides, if he could joke, so could she, right?
