Wanda and Jake - Thursday evening

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Jake and Wanda reunite and shatter their own longstanding record for becoming roommates. Together, they drink wine.

(And eat cake, of course.)



The knock startled Wanda enough that she dropped her book on her foot. Cursing, she hopped around for a moment, calling out "Hang on a tic!" as she stooped to scoop the book off the floor. She sighed when she realized she'd completely lost her place and tossed it on the couch for later. "Bloody well be better worth the interruption," Wanda grumbled, gingerly touching her cheeks - her broken nose had been reset more or less properly but under the bandages it was still sore and puffy. And it left her a bit grouchy.

Stomping over to the door, she threw it open and then promptly choked on her "What?!". "...oh. My. GOD!"

Jake grinned. "Can I borrow your couch? I think I left mine in my other pa..." He trailed off, blinking, the bruises on Wanda's face finally sinking in. "Um, wow. What happened to you?"

"Never mind my face!" she squealed, throwing herself bodily at him as she screamed like a little girl. They stumbled back into the hall before she let go, leaning back so she could grip him by his shoulders. "What happened to the rest of you?"

"Oof!" Jake hesitated for a half-second, then wrapped his arms around Wanda in a deep hug. When she leaned back, he ran a self-conscious hand over his short cropped hair. "It's a long story. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours?" he offered.

She nodded and then winced as she instantly regretted the movement. "I think that's fair enough," Wanda replied, tugging him into the apartment. She grinned at him. "Seeing as you neglected to tell me you were stopping by, I lack the necessary supplies. So you will simply have to make do with no cake but I do have a bottle of wine or two floating around here." The pain might still be there but the irritation had started to melt off from the moment she'd opened her door. She hadn't quite realized lately how much she missed her old roommate.

Jake let her tug him as far as the doorway, where he stopped to collect the overnight bag and laptop case he'd left propped against the wall, as well as a couple of white boxes. "I came prepared," he said, handing the boxes to the taller woman. "Chocolate Chambord cake in one, some sort of almond Amaretto in the other, and cookies for bribing Amanda with. Take your pick." He followed Wanda into the apartment, feeling himself start to relax for the first time in several days. "I got into town early and had time to kill before my meeting with Remy, so I decided to stock up on provisions."

She juggled the boxes for a moment as she walked over to the dining room table. It was surprisingly free of books, papers, maps or the occasional skull that could be found from time to time in her rooms. "You came bearing gifts," Wanda said, smiling as she dropped her precious cargo off. "And asking for crash space, with baggage in hand." Hands free, she turned back and clasped them in front of her, looking a little younger and more care free than she had a moment ago. "Jake, be still my beating heart, does this mean...?"

Coming to New York had definitely been the right idea. The shapeshifter fought to keep a straight face. "It does make me feel a little better to think that perhaps someone will benefit from my misery," he said, tongue firmly in cheek. "But if you're hoping that I've found myself seeking an arm, a job, and a place to live, then you would be correct. Although why you would hope for such a thing is beyond me," he mused rhetorically, the barest hints of a smile starting to pull at the corner of his mouth.

Instead of squealing and throwing herself at him, again, Wanda just laughed in delight. "Right, then. Put your stuff down, you've got a couch, or bed depending on your mood, at your leisure. I'll get the plates and we'll attack this cake..." She disappeared into the kitchen, only to stick her head back out again. "And, Mr. Gavin, if you thought for one moment that the comment about looking for an arm escaped me, you have another thing coming."

"As long as I get to sleep for two days straight, I don't care where it happens," Jake declared. "Unless it's Reykjavik. Never been able to get a good night's rest there--either there's too much sun or there's not enough." He followed her into the kitchen. "I'm holding you to the promise of wine, by the way. I need a good drink. And good cake. And good company. Oh look," he said brightly, "I have all three!" He dutifully took the plates Wanda handed him, resisting the temptation to swipe a finger through the icing of the almond cake. He thought for a second, watching Wanda divvy up slices, then decided she wouldn't let him get away with dodging the issue. "And I don't mind where I sleep as long as you don't mind waking up with a one armed man."

"Darling, I've woken up next to worse," she responded, pursing her lips at him. As soon as the cake slices were on plates, Wanda disappeared again; she reappeared a moment later, two wine glasses in one hand and a bottle of the good stuff she kept stashed away. She waited to speak again until she'd poured both of them a drink and sat back down again, her knees brushing against his as she shifted. "I know it has been a while, Jake, but the last time we saw each other, you still had one of everything. What happened and who do I have to go hurt now?"

He'd known Wanda for years at this point, but even so, her concern for him on top of the stress of the last few days absolutely melted Jake. He covered by taking a bite of the chocolate cake, which was every bit as good as he'd expected. "Mmmph. Technically speaking," he said around a mouthful of chocolate and raspberry, "I still have two of everything, with the added bonus of a third arm. Which is weird," he admitted. "I can still feel the other one, I think." He shook his head. "But to answer your question, I don't really know. That's part of why I'm here--I wasn't quite sure where else to go." He washed the cake down with wine. "So I called Remy."

She rubbed at her forehead though she was careful not to touch any part of her face that still actively hurt. "You have three arms," Wanda repeated. She knew enough about Jake's powers to make a leap of intuition. "Something happened to your actual arm and you're compensating - which is why we aren't the same height right now, I'd assume. Well, you came to the right place to figure out what the hell happened." Wanda reached over and patted his hand, the one not holding the fork. "You're more than welcome to stay with me until we can get you settled - it'll just be like old times. They were certainly not as complicated times."

"Complicated, indeed," he replied, balancing the plate of cake on one leg as he sank back into the couch. "Did I mention I've been booted from Infonet?"

"Really?" Wanda blinked. "Does it have anything to do with the whole arm thing?" The cake was fantastic; whatever Jake had lost lately, he still retained his taste, that was for sure.

He sighed. "I don't think so. Devi and my mother are devious, but I can't see them having me attacked like that. Honestly, you'd think they'd just ask." He shrugged. "I think it was just lousy timing." He paused with the fork in his mouth for a moment, thinking. "Or am I not being paranoid enough?"

Wanda shrugged. "Being bitches don't necessarily make them suspects but don't knock them off the list first. You would not be the first to suffer at the hands of family." She thought for a minute and then groaned. "I'm going to have to go grocery shopping soon, aren't I? I remember your appetite and Amanda's been very fierce about fattening me back up."

"You have no idea. I have no idea, for that matter. I can only imagine how much I'm going to have to eat now that I'm growing my arm back on a daily basis." As if to prove a point, he dug into the amaretto cake. "And what's this about fattening you up?" he asked, poking her gently in the ribs with the end of his fork. "I notice I'm not the only one who's been dieting around here. Your turn to spill."

"Not the ribs!" she said, scrunching away from the poking fork with a laugh. Trust Jake to remember where one of her few ticklish spots were at. The cake wavered for a second on the plate but Wanda stabbed it with her fork and prevented it from falling off. "Fine, fine, tit for tat, I suppose." As she finished her cake, she went into details about the whole mess with the Astral Plane, the connection with Monona and the magical attacks that had plagued her for a week before they were able to stop them. "The weight I lost is slowly coming back but I was off my game for a while. The, uh, nose was more recent. I ate a bloody gun butt to the face."

Jake had refilled their wine glasses while Wanda upheld her part of the bargain, and was now settled with his head in her lap. He sipped at the wine as she finished. "That doesn't sound like it was any fun at all. Work related, or have you developed a new workout regime?"

She smirked down at him, one hand gently playing with his hair. "I have other ways of making my workouts interesting, thank you very much. When in doubt, assume work related. We keep busy around here. Amanda's suffering from a concussion, from the same event actually, so when you visit her don't ... shake her or anything. I like my assistants to be in one general piece."

"I see--the exciting and glamorous life of a think tank researcher has its downsides," he grinned up at her, raising an eyebrow. "I'll definitely have to make sure to take beer with me when I deliver Amanda her cookies, then," he said thoughtfully. "Sounds like you've all had a rough week."

"Behave." Wanda removed her fingers from his hair to smack his forehead with her palm. "Cookies, good. Beer, bad. Am I going to have to tattoo that across your forehead before I release you? Besides, you are sticking around so there will be enough time for her to get over her mushy brain problems and take you down to the pub. I suppose I'll have to tag along to make sure you don't get into any trouble..."

"Hey!" Jake started to sit up, but then surrendered to the twin forces of cozy and gravity once he realized Wanda wasn't going to continue to hit him. "What's wrong with beer?"

"Let's turn your brain into a cup of scrambled eggs and then dunk that into the vast amounts of beer I know you both can put away and see how you feel." Relaxing into the corner of the couch, Wanda dropped her arm so that it draped across his shoulder and chest.

"I...Oh. Right." He blinked. "My brain doesn't turn into scrambled eggs," he protested, gesturing aimlessly with his wine glass. "How am I supposed to know these things?" He mock pouted. "That settles it, then; once you two are back in fighting shape, the three of us are going to have an epic night out on the town. I do have a birthday coming up in a few weeks."

Despite the fact that it did, actually, hurt to smile Wanda couldn't help it. "You, my good sir, have yourself a deal," she said, cheerfully taking up the challenge. "Until then, though, you'll have to put up with us as we heal. Now, come on, it's been ages - give me some good gossip." She didn't have to tell him she'd missed him or that seeing him had made her the happiest she'd been in ages. He already knew. And that was just one of the reasons she loved him.

Jake stretched, feeling more comfortable than he had in ages, then laced his fingers through Wanda's. "To tell the truth, the last year's been awfully boring--I've been working way too much. But there was this weekend in Vienna..."