xp_logs | Nathan, Domino and Jake

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Nathan shows up to give Jake the Talk. He brings backup. Who brings baked goods.

The hammering on Jake's door was loud, persistent, and rather aggressive-sounding. "Oh, Cake-Boy!" caroled a familiar, amused voice. "Open up - I come bearing baked goods!"

Jake looked up from the stack of photographs and profiles he was sorting through, blinking; he hadn't been expecting anyone, although he was learning that people dropped in to the Brownstone without warning on a regular basis. He frowned as he crossed to the door; the voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. With a vague sense of trepidation, he opened the door.

"Hi Jake," Domino said cheerfully. "I did bring cupcakes." She raised a white bakery-style box. "Unfortunately, I also brought him."

"Gavin," Nathan said dryly, from where he was standing behind Domino. "By the way, I want one of the red velvet ones. And aren't you going to invite us in?"

The look on Jake's face cycled rapidly from curious to delighted to apprehensive to what could only be described as "Oh God don't kill me." He blinked once, then decided to smile. After all, there were cupcakes. "This is a surprise," he said, holding the door open so that the pair could enter. "Dare I ask what brings you two to the neighborhood?"

"He has devious plans. I just wanted to bring you cupcakes," Domino said, pushing the box at Jake and then walking in, eyeing the apartment curiously. "Very minimalist, Jake. Hardly looks lived in at all."

"Don't knock the man's decorating," Nathan said, taking the box right back away from him and opening it, selecting a cupcake before he went over and set it down on the lonely coffee table. "I think it speaks to a new and admirable self-restraint."

"Either that or LeBeau's keeping him so busy he hasn't had time to buy much yet," Domino pointed out, then beamed as she turned back to Jake and gave him a quick peck on the cheek that was 'cover' for getting close enough to whisper in his ear. "Don't worry, I won't let him hurt you."

"That's...comforting," he muttered in response. While he'd been expecting Nathan to show up, he hadn't expected him to bring Dom with him. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. "So. Um. Make yourselves comfortable. Can I get you anything to drink, or plates, or, um..." He trailed off as he realized that the only place to sit was on the couch, which was more than comfortable for two, but incredibly awkward for three, if those three involved Dom and Nathan on either side of him.

Domino, grinning from ear to ear, shifted over to sit beside Nathan. "There you go, Jake. To get to you he has to come through me."

"I'm sure that would be much more comforting to the poor boy if I wasn't telekinetic," Nathan said dryly, unwrapping the cupcake. "Shame on you. Giving him false hope like that."

"You're both having entirely too much fun with this," Jake protested halfheartedly, sitting on the edge of the couch next to Domino. He eyed Nathan nervously, then sighed, resigned to his fate. "I don't suppose you're going to get this over with any time soon?"

"And what do you think 'this' is?" Nathan said, oh-so-patiently.

"Answering a question with a question," Dom said. "Someone's been picking up bad habits from his therapist. Or maybe Xavier."

"That's what I was afraid of," Jake sighed, picking up a cupcake. He didn't eat it, simply started to decimate the wrapper with his fingers. "I can't imagine you're here simply for a social call."

"Any reason why not?" Nathan asked, waving the hand with the cupcake negligently before he took a bite. "Mmm," he said. "I need to take one of these home for Rachel. You don't mind, do you?"

"Come on, the least you could do is not steal the man's baked goods."

"Hey, I asked. And what sort of person wouldn't want to send a cupcake home to an adorable tiny redhead?"

Jake felt a bit like he were watching a tennis game from the perspective of the ball. He waved his hand, trying to appear gracious. "Take as many as you want," he said. After all, he wasn't entirely convinced they weren't made with sodium pentothal or something else equally devious. He bit his lip, eyes flicking back and forth between the pair, before deciding that Domino at least appeared to be on his side. "So, what sorts of trouble have you been getting yourself into lately?" he asked her, finally taking a bite of his cupcake. Oh, these were good. He was beginning to regret saying that they could have the rest. Although maybe that was the sodium pentothal talking.

"A little of this, a little of that," Domino said, snagging a cupcake for herself. "I rather like having a legitimate job. Has all kinds of fringe benefits I never anticipated. Like this week," she drawled, "I get to come to New York, see some of my favorite people, and go sweettalk a bunch of UN types. I'm very, very good at sweet-talking." She licked some of the icing off the top of the cupcake, then winked at Jake.

He grinned back. "Are you, now? I had no idea." He nodded towards Nathan. "And he's not making you work too hard?"

"Jake, Jake - since when does he make me do anything? I just picked up his work ethic, somewhere along the line..."

"Oh, hush," Nathan said, brushing crumbs off his knee. "Look, Gavin, it's not that I don't appreciate the sheer terror - it's very gratifying - but in this case, you're overreacting." He cracked a very slight smile. "At least, you're overreacting as long as Jean-Paul keeps looking like a cat who's gotten into the cream."

"Meow," Domino said, helpfully.

"Wait," Jake said, suddenly incredibly amused, "you're saying that as long as I'm good in the sack, you're not going to threaten my life?" He took a thoughtful bite of his cupcake, not even minding that Nathan was sneaking another one. "I could do that."

"I thought maybe," Nathan said, then looked very serious for a moment. "Now, when it comes right down to it, what you do and do not do with said Quebecois is entirely up to you. Don't think for a moment that I don't know that. But... you remember that talk GW and I had with you back when you and Laughing Girl here first discovered your mutual love for baked goods?"

"I always wondered what you and GW actually said to him, you know?" Domino put in suddenly, eyes narrowing. "Why he actually gibbered at me, the next time we met..."

Jake swallowed his mouthful of cupcake, his expression more than a little uneasy. "I remember. You two were very, um, creative." He put the remains of his cupcake down. "And persuasive."

"GW invoking Heloise and Abelard was the best part, I think," Nathan said, ignoring the Look he got from Dom. "But anyhow. I think my point is made, so I won't belabor it." He smiled at Jake and took another bite of his cupcake.

Domino rolled her eyes. "How I ever made it out of my teenaged years without shooting both of you, I'll never know," she said darkly, then patted Jake's shoulder. "Don't worry. Just have fun! You can do that, right? You and Jean-Paul both."

"Right. Fun." He peered at Nathan suspiciously, but decided not to press his luck, picking up his cupcake instead. "Where did you get these?" he asked through a mouthful, trying to keep from moaning in pleasure. "I'll have to add this place to the Tour."

"Dom can fill you in on all those important details," Nathan said dryly, rising. "I think I'll be going. While intimidating you is all kinds of fun, Gavin, I prefer to do it in small doses. Otherwise you might get desensitized."

"You're an evil man, old man," Domino said as he turned for the door. "Pick me up after your meeting?"

"So long as you're not on a sugar high. If you are, you can walk home."