Vanessa & Lex | Wednesday evening

[x-copycat.livejournal.com]

Vanessa stops by the mansion to surprise her boyfriend with a visit and what she finds to be an amusing proposition born from her conversation with Angelo the other day. Surprisingly, having a nearly naked girlfriend on your bed reading dirty letters about sexual conquest can still take a turn and blow up in everyone's face. Because women are crazy.

Vanessa had claimed personal errands as her reason for someone else having to man the office. Visiting her boyfriend counted as a personal errand, didn't it? She had even broken out her one and only push-up bra for the occasion. What, Lex was a working man and he needed some sort of reward some time or another, right? When she hadn't found him in her cursory run about the mansion Vanessa had decided that instead of searching high and low for him she would go the one place she knew he'd turn up eventually: his suite. His suite mate had been leaving when she wanted in so it was easy enough to get into Lex's room to camp out for him. She could entertain herself, right?

Entertaining herself, as it turned out, took on an X-rated bent. And after that she'd gone searching for the one thing all guys have stuffed away somewhere. Porn. But Lex didn't have any porn, which she found vaguely troubling. What he did have, however, were letters from his friends sharing their exploits. Apparently that's how they kept themselves warm and alert at night out in the field. She was on the seventh or so letter by time she heard someone come into the suite. The footsteps were too light to be the suite mate's so Vanessa figured it was a fair assumption they were Lex's. She didn't move from her spot on his bed. Just in case it wasn't him she didn't want to corrupt young minds. All she had on was that push-up bra under a white, collared shirt of Lex's that only had one button done up and a pair of low cut panties. Ankles crossed and sitting upright, she almost looked like a proper sort of woman. "Busty redheads, eh? Did you keep these because that's your type? Because I can be a redhead if you want," she said, speaking more loudly than necessary in order to catch her boyfriend's attention. At least she hoped that was who it was.

Lex dropped his groceries on the floor and dropped to a crouch before he registered whose voice it was coming from the other room. After a second his muscles loosened and he picked the bag off the floor, thankfully he didn't have anything breakable in there today. He decided not to acknowledge her words, instead moving to the kitchen and opening the refrigerator. Busty redheads? He wondered what she could be looking at to think that he liked busty redheads, and then it dawned on him.

He was across the room faster than he thought possible, using the counter as means of propulsion. "What are you doing?" he cried, trying to keep his face from going flush with embarrassment. Anyone who didn't know his fellow platoon mates would think that the pictures were perverse and slightly ridiculous.

A foot rocked to a beat only heard inside Vanessa's head as it dangled off her other ankle. "Hmm?" While it was impossible to see her eyes rise from the page and corresponding picture to her boyfriend her eyebrows rose with them and created a more obvious effect. "You didn't have any porn. Which is a little odd. I was looking for that, found these," a hand indicated the box of letters at her hip, "and I've been entertaining myself. Because I thought I should take a break from my other methods of entertaining myself." A sly smile quickly spread across her lips and her legs shifted, thighs tensing and pressing together and then relaxing again.

Lex had to blink heavily to keep himself from staring. "Those are from my platoon mates, it was their way of keeping score. I refused to play so I became the default judge. We had quarterly competitions, when not on patrol, to determine who got to drink for free on the next platoon R&R." He picked up some of the photos and flipped through them idly, dropping down beside Vanessa to enjoy her mischievous nature to the fullest of his abilities. The first two girls were conquests of his buddy Marcus Ralden, who was killed in a police action in 2004; they were fair skinned with blond hair. He never won any of the competitions, probably on account of the serious damage done to him by an rpg during his first tour. The rest of the pictures were of nondescript women, and Lex turned to see if his girlfriend was jealous or curious. "Every picture has a story, and most of them aren't really worth repeating to anyone who wasn't there."

Her legs uncrossed so one could slid across Lex's lap and curl around his waist idly. She wasn't the jealous sort and Vanessa's curiosity was fairly mild. These were the tales of other, nameless men she didn't care about. And they were terrible writes of erotica to boot. "All pictures have stories. And what ones aren't worth repeating can be overlooked in favor of more interesting fictions." Vanessa set the letter and picture in her hands aside and leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on her boyfriend's neck.

"True, and you wouldn't understand them anyway. It's a guy thing, and thankfully you can only take the form of a guy... not the mind of one." Lex chuckled because he knew that he could deal with her teasing him with male forms as long as she was still female beneath it all. He was starting to think that he could be worth her as long as he could see her personality, and he felt confident that he could find it in any of her other selves. "Though, this one is of a particularly crude nature; apparently, Private Diego Sosan thought it would be funny to have a tryst with one of our commanders three daughters. However, he ended up getting caught by the other two and had to implicate them all so that they wouldn't be able to give up their sister." He handed over a photo of three stunning women wearing different parts of a man's combat fatigues.

"The one with the boots is cute," she said, looking over the three. One girl wore the guy's shirt, another his pants and the third was in his boots. And they looked remarkably like a Charlie's Angels spoof porn. "And, actually, that's not true. The bit about the mind of one. If I have long enough contact I pick up someone's psi-print. It's sort of your mental fingerprint and it allows me to think through things the way the person I'm mimicking would. I can't get their experiences or skills or anything, but I can at least process information as they would even if I don't have the knowledge to understand why they think the way they do." She grinned wickedly. "You never met Manuel de la Rocha, did you? If you had then you wouldn't need to know who else I've mimicked over the years. Knowing him is all you'd need to know of how much I understand the male brain." She also didn't think sharing conquests was all that unique to men. Women did it as well in their own way. Vanessa didn't want to burst Lex's bubble, though.

"Oh, I met him when I first came to the mansion. Pretty cool guy, he had a sister, right?" It had been a long time since he thought of the man and he couldn't remember what happened to him. "So, wait, you can think like people? Do you ever use that with X-Factor?" He had actively avoided asking her about her new work because he wanted her to have a place where she could go and be free of his presence, his was the X-men.

"No, it involves about ninety minutes of continuous, direct skin-to-skin contact. Same deal if I want to borrow someone's mutation on top of their body. Manuel and I used to cuddle so I could try to figure out his mutation and he could try to figure out how to work it better than he was able to at the time." His sister eventually broke whatever loop he'd been in with that anyway. "I did tell someone he was an ass and get him a date in the process, though." She grinned, then remembered her actual reason for being here aside from getting mostly naked and looking at dirty pictures and letters. "Speaking of, if I swore it would only be women can I have an orgy as Angelo?" Explaining was so overrated.

Lex blinked, twice. Orgy? As Angelo...? his mind could barely fathom what she had said. Looking straight into her eyes he tried to make sense of what he was feeling. There was jealousy, confusion, and more than a small amount of curiosity. "You're serious, aren't you?" What else do you say to a woman you've been falling for who suddenly proposes to have an orgy as a man, especially if they don't invite you.

Her face gave away nothing. Vanessa was so amused by the prospect, and by how Lex may or may not answer, that she hadn't bothered to seriously consider it. She was fairly certain Angelo really would let himself be borrowed in duplicate fashion if she really wanted to go forward with said orgy. Vanessa herself, however, was much more fascinated by the capabilities of his mutation and it wasn't as if Lex was into guys. With that fascination glittering in her eyes, she told her boyfriend seriously, "He can have limitless fingers. And I'm willing to bet he can manage to manipulate his skin into having other similar appendages even from his leg or arm or summat."

She was serious, Lex couldn't believe it. He wasn't upset by the fact, merely dazed by the sudden thought that he might not be adequate for her. "So you want an infinite number of appendages to be able to please as many girls as you desire. I can't really say that I ever expected to have to come up with an answer to this question." He looked her over, taking her hands in his. "I think," he began, unsure what would come out of his mouth even as he spoke, "I think I am comfortable enough with you that I would allow it. Do I approve of it; that's another matter. I find the concept intriguing, what man hasn't, but I have reservations about the prospect in a are you going to find me inadequate after this manner. I know it might be very insecure of me, but it's definitely one of the things I'm wondering about."

"You kind of caught me off guard, and now I'm a little jealous at the prospect of you getting to be with an unknown number of attractive women in one of the most coveted of male fantasies." He smiled, recovering slightly from shock. "That being said, I will support you on this if it's what you really want to do... mainly because I don't think I can come up with another reason to tell you no, except that I like you too much to share you."

That was a very interesting reaction. Vanessa loved reactions and occasionally considered doing or saying things just for the reactions that could be reaped. You learned a lot about a person from the way they responded to situations. For example, Lex seemed to be willing to agree to whatever she wanted for the sake of her wanting it. Head tilting to the side she asked, "If you like me too much to share me then why do you agree to allow me to do this?" She also found his interpretation of the situation very interesting along with his admission of jealousy.

"Honestly, because if you really want to do it then I'm not going to be able to stop you," he shrugged as he spoke, as though admitting a level of powerlessness, "So, I figure that if I support you, begrudgingly, then at least you know that I care about what you want." It made sense in Lex's mind, even if saying it aloud gave him pause. There were a hell of a lot of things that could happen from her having an orgy as a man and, though most of them seemed fairly harmless in the long run, he knew that denying her what she wanted would make his life miserable. Thus, he decided to play the less dangerous game and side with her from the beginning. "If you would like me to be righteously indignant over the fact that you want to have an orgy I can be."

Lex stood up for full affect and puffed out his chest, "No, you cannot have an orgy in the skin of a man." His voice grew steadily louder with every word, his voice deepening to a hard bass at the same time. "You must stay right here, my bedroom slave. You have no right to desire anything for you are mine." His voice was loud and concussive till the very end, when he collapsed on the bed in a fit of laughter.

Vanessa wasn't laughing along with him but rather looking at him curiously, as if he were a specimen that needed testing to understand. He assumed that she would do this no matter what he said. He assumed she would completely ignore the fact that they were - supposedly - in a committed and monogamous relationship with one another to have an orgy, of all things. Very calmly Vanessa slid off the bed and stood up. She pulled her jeans back on without a word or seeming at all fussed. Once the button was done up she gave her boyfriend the full weight of her gaze.

"I've participated in every man's fantasy a number of times and in a number of ways. I've also got very strong, inflexible ideas about what it means to be in a relationship. Apparently, you either don't share those ideas or don't give me enough credit to think I've got them. Or perhaps you just don't think I would abide by them, which means you think I'm a liar in some respect." She undid the button of Lex's shirt she wore and then let it slide off her shoulders. His shirt was left on the dresser before she pulled her own shirt back on. "I think we should both think about that. And about your lack of a backbone when it comes to me." This was strike two on the backbone front.

Lex sat up, shocked once more into a momentary silence. It was clear he had said something wrong, but he didn't know what it was. He had complimented her on her indomitable will, he had supported her in something he did not agree with, and he had played the part of the jealous lover. Somehow, that had received the exact opposite reaction than the one he had hoped to garner. "Wait," he said, slipping between her and the door. "You seem to have misunderstood everything I just said. I'm not letting you go anywhere until we discuss this." He stepped forward, tall and proud, hoping that she would give him a moment to collect himself so that he didn't fuck up any more than he already had.

An eyebrow went up in what became a thoroughly unimpressed expression. "Let me get this straight, you will let me do whatever I want when it involves - how did you put it? -
pleasing as many girls as I desire, but when I want to leave your presence after you've offended me you presume to assert your own desire? Interesting." The things a guy will stand up for. He wasn't distracted for more than a minute by his half-naked girlfriend and had no will of his own when she wanted to have an orgy but when she wants to walk out of the room suddenly he wants to have his say? In a calm, even tone of the likes her mother used when she was in trouble Vanessa said, "Please remove yourself from my path, Alexander."

Lex sighed deeply, he'd apparently started digging his own grave as soon as he tried to anticipate her mood and now he was about 5 feet down with nowhere to stop in sight. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to play the part you think they want you to play. With no desire to let her leave, he stepped to the side. "I'm sorry that I offended you; that was not my intention at all. As a point of fact, before you leave, I was trying to communicate how much I trust you." He figured that she would not care to listen to him try and explain himself, but he couldn't stop himself. "You are the best thing that's happened to me in quite a long time, and I honestly thought that you were messing with me. So, I tried to be playful and it seems that I said the wrong thing."

He held out his hand in an open, inviting gesture and hoped that she would respond. He was completely off-balance and did not know what she wanted from him, but he couldn't stand the thought of letting what had started out as a most pleasant conversation end in a fight that he had no idea how to fix. "I know that I probably can't make up for this right now, but give me a chance to try."

"Your mistake," she told him clinically, "was assuming my lack of integrity and saying what you thought I wanted to hear rather than what you meant." She took several steps past him until she had cleared the doorway to his bedroom. She only made a quarter of a turn, just enough to be able to look at him easily. "I find Angelo's mutation fascinating in its possibilities, but I hadn't given enough thought to the humorous proposal to even consider if I'd actually want to do it. And there is your other mistake. You assumed I was serious, but I never would have seriously considered being unfaithful, not even if you knew about it. I don't like to be shared and you don't like to have a backbone. Unfortunately one of those is a serious problem. And not one that will be resolved in the next thirty minutes." She wondered for a moment if his lack of backbone had to do with a desire to keep her. Ironic since that was precisely what was running her off. "I think we both need to consider the assumptions we make about one another and our relationship."

Lex looked at her with a longing that he could not put into words. He didn't want to lose her, and by the sound of it he had definitely endangered their relationship. "I didn't assume you lacked integrity, and I told you what I meant when I said I was jealous and didn't want to share you. Supporting you in what you really want to do is what I thought relationships were all about." He took a step after her, and reached out towards her once again. I will not lose you, he decided, no matter what it takes to make this right.

"Maybe I'm wrong in this, but I openly admitted not having a good answer to the question." He reached out to the door with his mutation and shutdown the locks without tensing. It was a level of control he hadn't exerted in almost a year and he did it as though it required no effort at all. "If you want to leave, then I will think long and hard about how I fucked up. However, if you are willing to bear with my presence I think that we could both use a drink and a moment to work through this - it's your choice."

"You also openly said you thought I'd do whatever I damn well please and to hell with what you wanted in so many words as well," She pointed out, maintaining the same cool calm she'd been speaking with all along. Vanessa wasn't filled with the sort of passionate anger that lent itself to yelling so she wasn't going to bother with any. "If that's your idea of me or our relationship then obviously one of us is doing something wrong or sending the wrong signals. For the record, other people can define their relationships however they want but mine don't involve fucking other people. Ever." With that she turned away from him fully and headed for the door. She was pissed but in a quiet, seething way and she knew that any conversation with her right now wouldn't get anywhere productive. It would probably just piss her off more, really.

When she got to the door, though, it was locked. She tried to unlock it and turn the handle again but it wouldn't budge. "Why won't your door let me out?" She wasn't sure there would be enough snow to properly cushion the landing if she had to jump out the window.

"Because we're not done talking." He walked slowly towards her, forcing himself to stop short. He wanted to reach out and pull her to him, to hold her until she realized how much it hurt him to see her so angry, but he knew that is not what she wanted. Instead, he stood there and waited to see what she would do. "You know, after all we've been through, that I don't think you would ever cheat on me. However, you did ask the question and I did answer it. It may not have been my best moment, but damnit I was not ready to be asked something that pointed. You should know by now that I rarely say the right thing. I'm terrible at talking to people, even the woman I love - especially the woman I love."

Vanessa had a lot of responses for him until he got to the end. Love. He loved her. He loved her and he brought it up after a conversation that involved him saying she'd do whatever she wanted anyway? He really was the worst timed man ever. "I asked a question, you answered it and in the process said that you thought I'd do whatever I wanted regardless of what you wanted. I hate repeating myself so why don't you stop making me and unlock the door?" That's right, she was going to ignore that bit about the love. While she was looking at him through narrowed eyes really wasn't the moment for that so overlooking it entirely seemed like the preferable option.

"Sure thing, Vee." Lex could not do anything more than walk right up to her, reach past her and unlock the door. He wanted to kiss her but he knew that it wasn't what she wanted; the resulting pain in his chest was infuriating.

There was a soft click and the door unlocked and slid open. "For what it's worth... I am sorry." Her stony gaze was utterly disconcerting and her dismissal of what he'd said left him feeling hollow. He felt himself channeling all of the nearby current through himself unconsciously, and he hoped that he didn't lose control of it until after she left. As soon as she left he knew he'd need to pour himself a heavy drink.

"I know you are," Vanessa replied quietly. "But nothing useful will be said right now." She spared a slighter softer glance at Lex and then stepped through the doorway. The hall lights were all dim near the door to Lex's suite. Lights further away down the hall were fine, but the few clustered nearby looked like they might flicker out completely any moment. With a mental note to let Kyle know the bulbs needed to be changed Vanessa headed down the hall. Hitting something would be really handy for excising all that pent up anger and annoyance right now.

The door closed, and Lex breathed out a sigh that crackled with energy. He had to get out of the mansion before he hurt someone or caused a great deal of damage. "Fuck me," he said, setting off another round of crackling light from his mouth. He ran towards the window and checked that there was enough snow beneath it before jumping out. The quarry is the only safe place for me at the moment, he knew nobody would wander in on him there.