Vanessa & Wade | Tuesday Afternoon

[x-deadpool.livejournal.com]

Vanessa drops by to give Wade some cake and he surprises her.


It occurred to her once she was physically at the mansion that she had no idea where Wade had been stashed for the duration of his residence here. She’d had to ask around before she found the right suite. If he was out and about that was fine. Vanessa wasn’t going to hunt him down, she’d just wanted to drop something off for him.

Knocking on his door to see if he was there, Vanessa balanced a pink bakery box on her other hand. Hopefully no one would steal it if she left it outside his door for him.

Wade frowned at the door, having just stepped out of the shower so he could head to his bedroom and get some clothing. It could be important. It could be a potential minion. Potential minions didn’t need to see him in his party suit. So he grabbed a towel and slung it around his hips and then headed for the door. Potential minions could deal with shirtlessness when they showed up at his door randomly in the middle of the afternoon. Because obviously all normal people showered in the middle of the afternoon. Obviously.

Opening the door, he felt his eyebrows go up. “Hey, kidnapee,” he said, grinning. He needed a better nickname for her. He’d just have to try out a few and see what fit her best. “What can I do ya for?”

White eyebrows darted up almost instantly. That was not the sight she had been anticipating. She’d seen Wade wander around in his boxers plenty, but still damp and in a towel with presumably nothing beneath it was a slightly different thing. She forced her eyebrows back down and arranged her face in an expression that was much more casual and far less likely to betray the hell out of her. He’s very likely gay, Nessa, she reminded herself, but her eyes had already taken a tour down his body and back up again.

“My favorite ex-husband,” she finally greeted with a smile that managed to be much more casual than she thought she could manage. “Didn’t figure you for being in, but thought you should get a gift.” Her arm extended to hold out the box balanced on her palm. “A thanks for kidnapping me.”

“Ah, Stockholm Syndrome,” Wade said, taking the box from her with a grin. “My favorite syndrome. Come in, come in. Half the fun of giving a gift is watching while the person you gave it to tries to figure out if it’s gonna explode.” Wade turned around, leaving the door opened behind him while he waved Vanessa in with his free hand, most of his attention focused on the pink box. It smelled delicious.

Wade shook it very, very gently. Nothing rattled. He heard no ticking. Delicious smelling things had, upon occasion, been known to explode, but Wade figured if Vanessa really wanted to kill him, she’d do it more personally. Like with a knife. “Mm... I smell... chocolate. And vanilla. And something else. Something... like cinnamon. A box full of delectable little treats?” Raising his eyebrows, Wade looked back at Vanessa.

When he turned around she was left with a view of his back, glistening slightly from the remaining moisture on his body, and his towel-covered ass. Vanessa was a sucker for backs. She wasn’t sure why, she just was. And he had a really nice back. It was surprisingly unscarred despite his occupation and well toned. It was a very nice view. The door was shut behind her, but Vanessa lingered near it in order to watch him move. Until he looked over his shoulder at her. That got her moving pretty quickly. So distracting. So obvious.

“Could be,” she answered, regaining her attention span quickly. “Or, I could be trying to blow you up and covered the bomb in vanilla extract and sugar.” She wasn’t sure why Wade distracted her so easily. Yes, he was pretty. Pretty wasn’t her type. He wasn’t just pretty. He was attractive, but he could also kill people. God, it was so sad that she found the ability to take life attractive in a man. And how sad was it that she was totally distracted by a guy who may very well be gay? Vanessa would have blamed it on needing to get laid, but she was already getting laid.

Wade took in Vanessa’s expression when he’d looked back at her and then he looked down at his ass. It was a smackable ass, if he did say so himself. And he did. Frequently. But only when it was appropriate. “But would you include chocolate and cinnamon in a bomb? I dunno. I guess I’ll just have to take the chance.” Putting the box on the counter, he opened it and grinned. “Oh, cake. Lots of cake varieties. This is delicious.” Then he half-turned and propped his hip against the counter so he could look at Vanessa while also contemplating which piece of cake he wanted to eat. Waggling his eyebrows, he pointed at Vanessa and, in his best British accent, said, “Cake or death?”

She wrinkled her nose and leaned against a wall. “So, sugar attack or death? I think the cake would be less painful and far less final.” Vanessa had to work to refocus her mind. She’d been so caught off guard with Wade’s moist lack of clothing that her entire brain had gotten derailed. She was finally getting it back on track. Or at least she was starting to get it back on track. Why couldn’t painfully attractive men just not be home when you were assuming they wouldn’t be? That would have allowed her to keep her focus and feel a lot less like a dazzled thirteen year old.

Picking up a piece of cake, Wade held his other hand under it and walked back over to Vanessa. “Cake it is - good thing you’re the first person I asked. We’re running a little low and I’d hate to only have ‘or death’ to offer you...” Holding the cake up so she could take a bite, he raised his eyebrows. “And this is my test for poisons, in case you were wondering. I’m a generous person, so I’d’ve shared anyway, but this way I can make sure you’re not nefariously trying to be rid of me.” Not that the poison would work, anyway, but he kind of wanted to see her take a bite of cake. From his hand. And then swallow it. He wasn’t sure why.

“What if you simply have the wrong slice?” Her eyes moved from the cake in his hand to his face and back again. Only the lowering and raising of her eyelids indicated where she was looking, but it was an obvious indication. “But I wouldn’t want you to think I was being uncooperative, would I? It would give away my nefarious plan.” Her voice had lowered just a little bit, dropping into something a lot closer to what she sounded like when she started to flirt. A mental note to stop that quickly followed.

Vanessa’s lips parted and she leaned in to take a bite of the cake. Just before they parted further her eyes darted back up to Wade’s face. If he was going to have her eating out of the palm of his hand literally then she’d see just how amused it made him. She took a bite and then straightened as she chewed. After swallowing she licked a bit of frosting off the corner of her mouth. “Mm...the texture of the coconut is weird,” she told him with a wrinkling nose. “I don’t think I like German chocolate cake. But I hope you do.” Vanessa head tilted to the side a bit and she quirked an eyebrow. “Satisfied?” Now she was stuck with the taste of coconut chocolate in her mouth. It was sort of gross, actually.

Reaching over with his free hand, Wade ran his thumb along the corner of her lip where the icing had been - just to make sure it was gone, obviously, it was a completely innocent move - and then licked the pad of his own thumb. “So far as this slice is concerned,” Wade said, taking a bite of it himself. “The red velvet might be more to your liking.” He picked that piece up next and brought it over to Vanessa, too.

Now an eyebrow rose and stayed there. “I think you have a fetish for feeding women out of your hand,” she told him, a smile playing faintly along her lips as she spoke. This time she licked at the frosting at the tip of the slice first. It was sort of cheesecake-like. She didn’t mind cheesecake so that was definitely better. Vanessa once again leaned in and took a bite of the cake, eyes still watching Wade. She licked her lips after swallowing and nodded. “That one’s better, yeah.”

“Mm... there are worse fetishes to have,” Wade said, eyes on her tongue as it swiped up the little bits of icing still left on her lips. That was nice. That was really nice. Wade liked it. And when Wade liked things... Wade often enjoyed repeat performances. So he grabbed the most traditional piece of cake out of the box and offered it to Vanessa, yellow cake with white icing.

A third piece of cake. Really? One corner of her mouth pulled into something of a smirk even though her expression read more along the lines of, Really?. She had been watching him and he had been watching her intently. His eyes weren’t low enough to be staring at her breasts. In fact, it was hard to notice that they weren’t on her eyes but rather her mouth. Once again she indulged him and leaned in to take a bite of the new piece from his hand.

Wade shifted into movement as soon as Vanessa had the cake in her mouth, before she could lick that bit of icing away. Using his free hand, careful of the cake in the other, he slid his fingertips along her jaw and used his thumb to tip her head back just a bit. Then, prepared for any type of reaction this might garner, he leaned down and kissed the icing away himself, lips brushing over hers with a softness that belied much of what Wade was capable of.

Vanessa was very, very lucky that his lips hadn’t met hers until she’d swallowed or she may have very well choked. She probably should have seen that coming with the focus of attention he’d had on her mouth, but she really hadn’t. Return of the kiss was more muscle response than thought. She was hardly against kissing him back. If she was honest she had wanted to kiss him since that day at the pool. A hand came to rest on his hip before he had pulled away and Vanessa was left with a look of surprise on her face. Her lips were still parted, eyebrows slightly raised, as she stared at him. “Aye,” she whispered, “worse fetishes to have.”

“Much worse,” Wade assured her, nodding solemnly. “I mean. I could want to lick icing off your bare stomach. And that would be sticky in ways that probably aren’t the good kind - I mean, it’s theoretical at this point. Cake icing getting in awkward places would be easy and I imagine that wouldn’t be very fun...” He trailed off and shrugged, licked his own lower lip to get the last bit of icing off of it, and then pressed another kiss to Vanessa’s lips. Really, he did this just to see if the first time had been a fluke. It might’ve been - pure shock had kept her from gutting him or something. He needed to know for sure.

This time her free hand slid up around the back of his neck and pulled him in closer to her. She wanted to keep him there this time. She wanted to actually appreciate and enjoy this kiss that she’d been pretending she hadn’t been wanting. Vanessa never deepened the kiss, she kept it light and only lips, but she also took her time in allowing her lips to explore his a little before allowing the kiss to break. Her hand fell away from his neck as her lips parted from his and Vanessa was left staring at him from very, very close proximity. Her hand was still on his hip but she didn’t notice. She was busy trying to figure out something to say.

Wade smiled. It had nothing of the brashness of a grin to it. This was something smaller, something softer, something he rarely showed others. “I’ll have to remember that,” he said, voice very low. “Yellow cake and white icing... taste good on you.”

Vanessa licked her lips. They tasted like cake and frosting and him. She had no idea what expression she wore, but it felt soft. It felt terribly, terribly exposed but she wasn’t actually sure how to shut it down or throw up a mask in front of it. Because he’d caught her off guard. “Lots of things taste good on me,” she told him, voice soft and distracted and not at all matching the words she spoke.

“Cherries,” Wade said. “I bet those taste good on you.” He brushed his thumb along Vanessa’s jaw for a moment, that small smile still curling at the corners of his lips, before letting her go and stepping back just a little to give her some space.

The hand at Wade’s hip fell away when he stepped away. It was the first time she remembered where it had been. While she had let him step away, Vanessa hadn’t particularly wanted him to. She was a bit at a loss for what she did want him to do - or even what she wanted herself to do aside from figuring out something to say already - but being farther away was definitely not it. She bit her lip to keep herself from frowning. “Strawberries taste better. Blackberries. Oranges.” Vanessa began to smile very slightly and very gently as she listed fruit. Her voice took on the very faint edges of flirtation, but they were quiet edges hidden in an already hushed voice. “Apricots. Most fruits are delicious on me.”

Reaching over again, Wade tucked a bit of hair behind Vanessa’s ear and smiled. “Just cherries, love. I think I’d be good with just cherries.” Like her voice. Bitter but sweet at the same time, full of dangerous little pits that he’d disregard for as long as he could. “I’m not really into fruit salads. Just like one at a time, most of the time. And right now, I’m definitely stuck on cherries.”

Her head leaned slightly into the touch of his hand before it vanished. “That could be a problem. I never eat cherries.” Vanessa chewed on her lower lip a little. “I hate the pits and when they’re more tart than sweet.”

“Mm... we’ll get you some maraschino cherries,” Wade said, still smiling a little. “But I kinda like the other ones.” He kind of wished he was wearing pants instead of a towel. Pants would be nice right about now. So he could have something to do with his hands. Like stick them in his pockets. Wade was a big fan of pockets. They were good for hiding things. Or occupying disobedient hands so that he could think of doing something other than reaching out and touching Vanessa.

“Which ones are maraschino cherries?” Like she knew types of cherries. She didn’t even know types of pears, just the brown ones or the green ones. Clearly she was a very knowledgeable woman. She was also a very awkward woman who felt more like a teenager at the moment. Vanessa was great at handling situations so long as she didn’t mind letting a mask get her through it alright. She hadn’t worn a mask regularly in a while now and she didn’t want to start now but she also didn’t know what to do with herself at the moment. Flirting was her instinct to cover in situations, but it was an instinct that felt inordinately out of place right now.

Vanessa’s eyes dropped for lack of anywhere else she felt was safe to put them and got reminded that Wade wasn’t really wearing anything. She swallowed and her eyes darted right back up at him. “I...should probably go, what with interrupting your nudity and all. I actually figured you’d be off causing trouble somewhere anyway and was just planning to leave the cake for you.”

"You did interrupt my nudity," Wade said, looking down at himself as though surprised. "I mean, Jesus. I had to put a towel on and everything." He tipped his head to the side, took in Vanessa's expression, and then nodded toward the door. "Thanks for the cake, darlin'. Now you'd better run away before I decide to drop towel for your viewing pleasure."

And now she was picturing him naked, great. Brain, could you cooperate for like five minutes here? “Right. See ya.” That was all the conversation she could manage while trying to redress Wade in her mind. Vanessa headed for the door, but paused when her hand came to rest on the doorknob. Why am I so awkward right now? Turning, Vanessa pressed her back against the door and looked back at Wade. “Why did you kiss me?”

"Because you deserve to be kissed the right way." Wade's tone was oddly serious as he said that. "No bells or whistles or fake elegance. Just an honest kiss."

“So you kissed me because...you thought I needed to be?” That was strange. But it made things a lot easier to digest. He hadn’t meant it, he just thought she deserved it and decided to be the one to do it. It made no sense to her but maybe Wade liked being in the business of pity kissing. Now she was left to wonder what about her screamed I can’t get kissed by anyone so please take pity on me.

“You’re beautiful. You don’t need me to tell you that - and let’s be honest, that’s kind of a lousy reason to kiss someone, anyway. ‘Hi, you’re hot, let’s swap spit.’ Not the best approach. But you’re beautiful and you can shoot a gun that’d make most men nervous. That’s a different kind of hot right there, but still applicable. And you let me kidnap you. You went ice climbing at the drop of a hat and took the hits. You learned how to swing an ice tool just right - and you didn’t mind showing me your scars.” Wade lifted his chin a little, then finished, “So I wanted to kiss you and if I was going to do it, I thought you deserved to have it done right.”

That was entirely different from a pity kiss. The problem Vanessa was having, she realized, was that it hadn’t been a throwaway kiss. It wasn’t the way she kissed Warren. It was the way Lex had once kissed her. She did not want to fall for anyone. She didn’t even want to like anyone. And Wade had kissed her like a guy who liked a girl did. That was sort of disconcerting. “Oh.” If someone asked her why she had kissed any number of people she had in her life Vanessa wasn’t sure she would have much of a reason other than because I wanted to. Wade had reasons, though. Her throat felt a little dry, but her voice managed to not croak when she nodded and said, “Yeah...you did it right.”

Wade quirked a half-grin. “Thanks. I did try.”

That damn grin. I am not allowed to like him, she scolded herself, even as she realized she probably already did. “You need to get back to your nudity. I’ll see ya.” She finally pushed herself away from the door and pulled it open so she could escape because staying meant figuring out what to say or do and she wasn’t prepared for that. And her impulse was overwhelmingly to kiss him again.

Waiting until the door had closed behind Vanessa, Wade cocked his head to the side and then laid the back of one hand against the palm of the other and cupped them before wiggling his thumbs. “Awkward turtle,” he said sagely. “Awkward turtle.” She was usually very composed, almost artful in the way she flirted and teased. Conversation came easy for her, something Wade appreciated - but once he’d kissed her, it was like all that’d flown out the window. Short sentences, small words - and her tone. He shook his head almost wonderingly. Nothing really described her exit from his suite any better than awkward turtle.