fandomhighdorms | Cabins Gym area, late Sunday morning

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Cabins Gym area, late Sunday morning

After finally figuring out what was going on, Momoko had rushed back to the dorms to check on her room on Saturday. She was very happy to discover that this year her remote-controlled colouring bug had not come to life and coloured all over her walls again.

While in her room, she'd grabbed the swimsuit she'd somehow forgotten to pack and today tried to sneak from her cabin down to the beach for a nice relaxing day in the sun and surf.

Which didn't happen, because a certain blonde sempai had been lying in wait and Momoko was stuck in the camp gym doing katas instead of swimming. At least Dinah had let her put clothes on over the swimsuit; that would have been just too embarrassing.

"Are you suuuuuure we can't just skip and go to the beach today? It's too hot to exercise! Ooh! Or we can exercise on the beach! That's perfect!"

[for one, but the cabin gym area is open for any]

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Momoko felt the yank and was indeed pulled a bit forward, but she dug in. And stomped her foot for good measure.

"No water until you explain. Why are you thinking like that? You don't normally give up so easily on something. What happened?"

Dinah folded her arms over her stomach, glaring back, and trying to be matter-of-fact. "I--" She cut herself off, swallowed. "We talked, you know. About how to stay together, after I leave." The semi-miserable, semi-tough-girl look was back. "And it just wouldn't work. Long-distance. Jaime did that already, with his last girlfriend." Her shoulders slumped. "I could stay for a year, but then he'd graduate, and it would just be the same thing. Only later."

"You talked... Hey! She broke up with him! Not the other way around! I was there!" Sort of.

Momoko threw her hands up, fuming, and stomped in a small circle. "How would it not work? I don't get it! There's always portals and stuff! Of course he's going to graduate. What difference does that make? And why would you stay? He wanted you to stay? You've got college, and a life to get started. How dare he!"

Forgive her, Momoko is getting a little mixed up.

"No! No. That was my idea. Jaime said I shouldn't do that for him." Dinah stepped out of the way of the stomping, still hugging herself. "And I told him I'd come back! And that there were portals! But. He said--" She swallowed hard. "A clean break was better. That it was inevitable. And even if it doesn't feel right--" It didn't, it so didn't. "--I can't... I don't know... it makes sense."

Of course Momoko didn't know that Dinah wasn't the only one on-call for crimefighting and emergencies. But it wasn't that much of a difference, really.

Momoko stopped stomping as she heard Dinah's tone. She took a deep breath and sat down, crossing her arms and glaring. At no one, just... glaring.

This wasn't right, they were supposed to be happy. What was the point of everything if they weren't going to be happy?

"Right. How does it make sense that you two like each other so you have to break up?"

"That's not the part that's making us break up. Just that --I have a job to do in New Gotham, and he doesn't live there." Dinah swallowed again, sitting down right in the middle of the gym area. "And we're only eighteen. And I wish it was true love forever but I don't even know, Momoko. And we only have forty days and that's not long enough to know for sure." She hugged herself harder. "And I don't want to spoil my last six weeks here fighting with him about it."

Because there was only so much I'm-okay-with-it-no-really she could manage, with Momoko demanding answers.

'Inevitable'? Momoko fumed. What did that even mean? "I don't understand." Who cares who lived where? After a look at Dinah's face and posture, Momoko's eyes narrowed a bit more. She was totally going to have a talk with Jaime. But first, Dinah.

She leaned over and reached for her beach bag. With it in her lap, she pulled out a bag of caramels and tossed them onto the floor. "No."

Then a small bag of chips was tossed next to it. "No." Fruit Gummies. "No." Animal crackers. "No." A candy apple. "No." Twinkie. "No." A baggie of gingerbread men. "No." A handful of suckers. "No... Ah! Here!"

She retrieved a small white paper bag and spilled the contents onto a clean-thank-you-very-much handkerchief. "Dark chocolate raspberry truffles." There were four. "I found a place when I was at home. They're not exactly the same as what Warren gave me when he left, but they're close." She pushed them at Dinah. Momoko was still mad and not sure a hug from her would work right now. But chocolate was totally a hug, too, right?

Dinah stared at them, after Momoko had been denying her her water, and tried not to sniffle. She gulped. "Really?" Then she took a breath, and a truffle with it, and started to nibble. No, her eyes were not watering! No. Just... shiny. That was all.

Candy from Momoko was totally, completely like a hug.

"Thanks," she whispered, rubbing at her temple with the heel of her hand.

Even if Dinah'd been eating them the wrong way, Momoko totally wouldn't have lectured this time. "Really. They're my favourite chocolate, and they really help. Oh!" And he water bottle was shoved closer too; Momoko had kind of completely forgotten about it.

It made her feel better, calmer, seeing Dinah eat. Not that she was any less confused by the whole thing. "So, when did you decide all of this? How long have you known?"

Dinah nibbled some more, then took a long sip of water, and tried to piece it together. "Umm. Hmm. Not really sure..." She had a feeling Momoko wasn't going to like the answer, but she sighed as she pinned the memory down. "For-sure for-sure, about when I got back. We talked about it, a couple times before that. Gotham. The summer dance weekend when I was here. But I hoped-- Anyway."

She didn't want to put this all on Jaime. Even if she was the one still hoping, even if she knew it wouldn't work out in the long run. Who cared? She still thought hanging on until their feelings changed or 'til they figured it out could be a good idea, a lot of the time. But maybe she was the one being selfish, there. Maybe he was right. Or maybe she was just used to the idea now.

"So, yeah. About three weeks, I guess." More chocolate, and Dinah muttered, "This helps. To have chocolate. If I have to talk about it."

Nope. Momoko didn't like it. "That long?"

Which, when taken with the glare, could be easily translated into, 'why have you been hanging on to something that sharp for that long by yourself?'

Because Denial was her friiiiend.

"Yeah." Dinah looked down at her hands, and licked a few smears off her fingers. "Maybe I was hoping it wouldn't happen."

Or maybe it just spoiled everything every time she let herself think about it. She snuck a look at Momoko, and sighed. "I should've said something. I guess. But I didn't want to make a big deal of it." And now she was hugging herself again.

Momoko's shoulders sank and her expression softened. "Hoping it wouldn't happen... That, I can totally understand."

She shoved the pile of goodies out of the way and sidled over to sit next to Dinah. "It is a big deal, Dinah; I wish you'd told me. I wouldn't have said stuff that I totally shouldn't have, for one thing." And she'd have lit into Jaime long ago, for another.

"You don't have to be okay with this, you know. You can totally hate it. You're allowed."

Oh, don't be nice to her, Momoko. That was making her face crumple up as she tried to be stoic. Karla knew about how she wasn't okay with the no-sex thing; but in the bigness of that, the whole breaking-up-no-more-boyfriend had sort of gotten lost. "I do hate it," she said, her voice stretched thin. "But I can't, there's no way to fix it, there's no one to be mad at, except the universe, I don't know, but I never would've even met Jaime if I hadn't come here..." Dinah pulled her legs up and put her head down on her knees, hair falling into her face.

Momoko had a strong desire to pinch her friend for that.

"Or Priestly, or Raven, or Karla, or Francine, or Tony, or me, or Jak, or Arthur, or Professor Gibbs, or Professor Cabot, or anyone else. Besides, you want to know him, so no thinking things like that!"

She wasn't sure she wanted to ask, but: "Why aren't you mad at Jaime?"

"That's what I meant," Dinah said, voice harsh from its place behind her hair. She pulled out her ponytail so she could hide better. "I don't want to wish I didn't meet him, but there's nothing to blame. The good stuff came with the bad stuff. Like you guys." She sighed, and turned her head, not sure how to explain. "Because... He feels how he feels, Momoko. And, it's not like he doesn't care." Although sometimes she rattled him to just check on that. "It's-- he's being careful, and he doesn't want us to hurt more, and... Oh, I don't know. It makes sense when he explains it." That was half of it. Just the helpless avalanche of logic on her head.

Dinah gave one of the truffles another longing look. "And if I get mad, it won't help."

The truffles were totally Dinah's, now, so there would be no argument if she ate them all. That's what chocolate was for.

"Of course it would help. It would help you feel better! If he feels how he feels, then you should feel how you feel." She frowned at Dinah. Her friend was just making herself more miserable, trying to hide everything. Something Momoko knew all about. "Even if it makes sense, which I still don't see, he totally deserves to know you're mad about it."

"Not-- not yet," Dinah pleaded. "I can't deal with that fight. Spoiling everything." Zipping the truffle to her wasn't stealing if it was now hers, right? Nom. Nom. Sigh.

"After the trip to Texas," she said tentatively. "If nothing else happens."

Momoko was very very confused. Dinah and Jaime liked each other and because they did, they were breaking up. But not yet, later. Meanwhile, they were all supposed to be friendly and pretend it wasn't going to happen, and all in front of Jaime's family in a different world.

Riiight.

"Who else knows? And are you sure you're going to be okay, pretending like that? You two totally don't act like you're going to break up. That's got to hurt."

It did hurt. Like a sprained arm. Every time she thought about it, or tried to feel it, it hurt. "It's not pretending," she said, subdued. "I mean. I'm sure he'll tell his parents we're breaking up." Dinah swallowed more chocolate, needing it. "And... I think I told Tony, the first time it came up when we were on the trip, that it might happen. And Karla, but-- it was in the bunch of a lot of other stuff, I don't think she really realized it." She looked away, scuffed her foot. "No one else."

It was totally pretending.

"I'm glad you told some people. Especially since it's not obvious. You totally don't need to be carrying that all by yourself. After the trip, you're totally going to say something to Jaime, okay?" Momoko leaned over and put her arm around Dinah's shoulder for a hug. "We totally need a monster invasion right now, don't we?"

She sighed. Whenever she was dumped, Momoko liked to go flying. Or eating. But what would Dinah do? "Uhm. Want to switch from the beach to maybe hitting some punching bags instead? I have a sharpie and can totally draw Jaime's face on one for you?"

Dinah started snickering, feeling better, and took the next-to-last truffle. "Naaaah. I'd feel silly. And we're going on a date tonight." She took a breath, then grinned. "But I'm totally up for going power-crazy at the beach? And maybe some flying?" she wheedled.

"Power crazy?!" Momoko looked aghast at her friend, not a bit fooled by the grin, but glad to see it nonetheless. "Not while I'm trying to swim! If you try to drown me I am totally not taking you flying. Or doing any cool free falling or stunts while doing so, either"

"Oh fiiiine, be like that," Dinah said, still working on her truffle as she stood up. "I'm all for the free-falling over the dunking you with super-powers. C'mon."

She reached out for Momoko, and hugged her with one arm. "We gotta reward ourselves. My student is doing too well not to." And is too good a friend, she sent.

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Cabins Gym area, late Sunday morning

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