Vanessa/Adrienne/David | BACKDATED

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David shows up at Vanessa's apartment with food rather late in the night...only she got distracted with other activities and sort of, well, forgot.

The shower was running and Adrienne was contemplating amending her earlier protest about getting into it with Vanessa, debating whether or not she could set aside her argument about not wanting to fall asleep with wet hair. How Vanessa had lived all these years without a blow dryer, Adrienne didn't know, but she voiced her horror at this fervently and insisted she stay in bed instead of joining her companion. It was going on three in the morning and Adrienne was exhausted. She stretched out languidly on the bed, yawning, when a knock at the door startled her.

Adrienne paused, contemplating whether to alert Vanessa. Whoever it was had bypassed the building's security and the building locks, so her money was on a Trenchcoat of some variety. Or possibly a hired kidnapper from New Son, but why would they knock?

She threw on a robe but left it untied as she padded towards the door. If their visitor was a Trenchcoat, Adrienne had no qualms about showing off her assets, and if it was a kidnapper she hoped they'd be surprised enough that she could pull the gun she got out of Vanessa's nightstand on them. She opened the door in a flourish, holding the gun with the ease of someone who knew what they were doing.

David took a second to respond, testament to the fact that he had not been expecting the welcoming committee. But years of training kicked in and he dropped the paper bag he had been carrying, deftly stepping out of the direct line of fire. His free hand darted out to grab Adrienne’s wrist, unceremoniously twisting it and forcing her to relinquish her hold on the firearm. He supposed that he had either surprised the naked woman, or she had not really meant to shoot him, because it had taken all of three seconds to disarm her.

Releasing her wrist and snatching the gun from the air before it hit the ground, David levelled it at Adrienne, the bottle of alcohol still safe in his other hand. He quirked a questioning brow at her, not quite taking the time to rake his eyes over her state of undress. The unasked question of ‘who are you?’ hung in the air between them, not quite taking on a voice as he considered the possibilities and weighed the probabilities of her being friend or foe or Vanessa herself.

Adrienne had been disarmed in an instant but she wasn't about to just stand around and let some unfamiliar man brandish a gun at her in front of Vanessa's apartment at three a.m. She hadn't been able to protect Vanessa the last time, but she'd be damned if she didn't try and protect her this time! Her self defense training kicked in and she dropped low, hoping to get out of the line of fire, while striking out at North's knees with a leg, trying to knock him off balance. She also screamed at the top of her lungs to alert Vanessa.

Having a naked woman lash out at you was certainly an experience. David stopped shy of actually releasing the gun’s safety, lowering his arm so that he could kick out at Adrienne’s attacking foot, sliding it up so that she lost her balance and he could wrap his fingers around her ankle as she fell back-first to the floor. Then, for insurance, he weighed down her other leg with his foot pressed firmly at her knee.

“Please stop screaming,” he requested, a parody of politeness as he cocked his head to the side. “You’ll wake the neighbours up.” What non-existent neighbours Vanessa had. Well, since the naked lady (and forever she would be christened as such) was screaming enough to wake the living dead and had not put up much of a fight, David weighed her in favour of ‘not-foe’ for the moment.

Which was to say nothing of the throwing knife that buried itself in the door frame inches from David's eye. "The neighbors don't like when I shoot guns in the house either," Vanessa told them, voice low and flat with not just a little bit of a threat in it. "So unless someone tells me what the fuck is going on I will start burying blades in flesh that isn't my own." She'd heard the screaming and immediately panicked that someone was coming back for her but was taking Adrienne. One would have thought it would have been a relief to see David instead, only there was a gun involved and Vanessa had no real assurance that just because it looked like David it really was. Which explained why Vanessa was standing in her living room dripping wet, completely naked with a gun trained on the pair in her left hand and three more throwing knives in the right. Her gun's safety had never been on and now she slowly pulled the hammer back. "I have no problems paying for repairs to the building or apologizing to the neighbors for the gunfire, though, so I wouldn't push me."

Panicked, Adrienne was thrashing about on the ground where she was pinned, struggling to remain coherent enough to tell Vanessa what was going on. "This crazy fucker bypassed all the building security and was knocking on the fucking door!" she spat. "I took the gun with me when I opened it and ended up like this in like three fucking seconds before I could get a fucking word out! He's a fucking ninja motherfucker! Shoot him before he kidnaps you!"

David had flinched when the throwing knife flew at him, although he showed no other outward reaction. The fact that he had not reacted by pointing the gun at Vanessa and releasing the safety of the gun in his own hand was, if he said so himself, a show of immense self-restraint on his part. Fortunately for his life, however, it only took a moment for him to take in Vanessa’s rigid stance (not quite bypassing her state of undress), the cocked gun in her hand and the screaming naked lady’s words.

“I wasn’t aware that you had company, Kuschelbär,” he remarked, tone even as he very deliberately lowered the firearm. A flick of his fingers had the cartridge discharged and dropping to the floor with a dull thunk that echoed in the tense atmosphere. Of course, his own gun was in his shoulder holster, and his muscles were tensed in a way that would allow him to spring away from the door should things turn really ugly. “Lower the gun, and I’ll release this lovely lady,” who was, he had not failed to notice, pretty much splayed on the floor. “It seems that I do not react well to strangers answering your door with a gun.”

Her eyes tracked over David slowly. It was the pet name that convinced her more than any physical scrutiny that it was David. After all, most of the trenchcoats would not react much differently to a woman with a gun pointed at them. Not even the ones who did know Adrienne. "Neither would I, iubit." Her eyes flicked down to Adrienne. "Even when they are very pretty." She pushed the hammer back in place and lowered the firearm but never put the safety on. "Scuzaţi, soţul meu, I'd not originally anticipated company and been understandably distracted about your eventual arrival.”

Vanessa's gait approaching the pair was more a predator stalking prey, still too tense and on edge to simply relax. She pulled the knife out form where it was buried in the wood and returned it and its brothers to the hand that held the gun as an obvious indication she would not be killing anyone. Then she kissed David's cheek and extended a hand down to help Adrienne up. "Now, if you two are done screaming and trying to kill each other, I still need to rinse off." Gaze flicking from him to the woman on the floor and back again, Vanessa smiled. "Though should anyone wish to join me..."

"I wasn't gonna use it unless he tried to kidnap us," Adrienne muttered in regards to the gun as she let herself be hauled up off the floor, sounding almost apologetic. "Why didn't you just say you know Vee?" she asked the ninja guy as she looked him over, trying to determine whether he was Mag Ealga or a Trenchcoat. "I mean, what was I supposed to think when you showed up at the door at three in the morning and then didn't say anything to me and just took me out without saying anything like 'hey don't shoot me you idiot I'm a friend of Vee's'?" She was still pretty shaken up by the entire thing, mostly scary!Vanessa's reaction to it all, and as usual, that led to rambling.

“Habit,” David shrugged, not really seeing the need to apologise for his actions, though he did offer the naked lady his characteristic half-smile as he bent to pick up the paper bag and the discarded cartridge. When it came to meeting unfamiliar faces with dangerous weapons, his crowd tended to react first and ask later, after all. Besides of which, Adrienne had come out of it completely unscathed. He stepped into the apartment and closed the door, reassembling the firearm with practiced motions.

“I did not know there was a party going on,” he commented, setting down all the items on the nearest table. David, having come straight from the office despite the late hour, was dressed in his usual slacks and light-coloured shirt. In the name of comfort, however, he had traded his office jacket for a worn leather one. Slowly dragging his gaze down Vanessa’s naked form, the German man smirked. “So you’ll forgive me if I’m slightly over-dressed, ja?”

Adrienne still had no idea who this guy was but he seemed to be prettttttty familiar with Vanessa, so she relaxed a little and went into her default mode, flirty and full of false bravado. "I dunno, do we forgive him, Vee? I think he may need to be punished in some way. And he definitely seems overdressed."

"I'm not sure punishment is quite the route I would take." The problem, David was quickly finding out, was that Adrienne clearly amplified Vanessa's usual flirty, sexual mask she so often hid behind. He'd very much become acquainted with Vanessa hiding behind her defense mechanism but she and Adrienne tended to feed off one another and considering their relative states of undress it was clear that this could have been an entirely new level of trouble the German had walked into. "Though, I think the only fair solution is for him to be less dressed lest he feel left out." Vanessa's smirk was all mischief and sexual intent. Her free hand, still wet from the shower, tugged at his shirt a little, only pulling it out of his slacks enough that another two buttons became visible. "Wouldn't you agree, bella?" Her eyes moved back over to her friend, taking a moment to appreciate the view of her in the open robe, while her hand remained on David's shirt.

Oh Christ, where was this headed? Was this what Vanessa had been getting up to lately? She'd broken up with Warren so she could, what? Have sex with everyone who responded to her flirting? Was this how she was trying to deal with what happened to her? Adrienne pushed the thought out of her head, however, since it came with the added baggage of thinking about how she knew Garrison had been sleeping over at times, and she really didn't want to go there. "I agree completely, Hollyhock... but maybe ask him if you should start with his jacket?" She wasn't entirely sure ninja guy was into this whole thing and didn't want to pressure him into something he'd have to completely shut down, since they were in pretty heavy innuendo territory here. "I'm also curious as to what he has in his bag."

“Food,” David informed Adrienne, although his gaze remained firmly on Vanessa, gaze predictably slipping below her neck before bearing down into her eyes. A faint smile ghosted past his lips as he slowly helped her tug his shirt out of his pants before carefully tangling his fingers with hers and lifting them off his person. “Hungry?”

Vanessa's only response was an almost placid smile with a hint of smugness. It was the sort of look that told David she knew all along he would not have said yes, because that was the game they played between the two of them. "Play nice while I'm gone, soţul meu," she murmured, kissing his cheek again before stepping away and letting her fingers slip free from his. Vanessa cast a look behind her as she walked back to the bathroom where her shower was still running. "And you, honeysuckle, try not to attack anyone?" She smiled. "Unless he asks you to, of course." And then she was off to stash the various weapons in the bathroom and finish her shower. "He always brings exceptionally good food," the blonde called over her shoulder just before the door closed behind her.

"Yeaaaaah, sorry about that," Adrienne mumbled to North when Vanessa had sashayed away to the shower. "Even though I technically didn't attack you." She closed and belted the robe she was wearing and perched on the arm of the couch. "Since you obviously do know Vee, I don't think I have to tell you why it was I was being cautious with answering the door." There was an apologetic note in her voice, along with a sheepish smirk, as she hoped North would understand she'd just been trying to protect her friend from further kidnappings. "Adrienne Frost, by the way." A hand shot out towards him and she smiled politely. "Who the hell are you? And what is this exceptionally good food you bring?"

“David North.” A dark, overtly admiring gaze slid down the V-neck of the robe before he offered the woman his hand and a slight half-smile. No, of course she had not attacked him. Emma’s sister was not what he would have expected her to be, certainly, despite the fact that he had read some of her files. “Of the trenchcoats.” Moving around her to settle himself on the same couch, the spy picked up the abandoned paper bag and handed it to her. David had not expected to feed more than two, or he would certainly have brought more, but he was sure they could make do. “See for yourself.”

After shaking his hand, Adrienne pulled a food carton out of the bag and opened it. "Risotto? With... mushrooms?" She couldn't tell what the dark chunks were, and didn't recognize any familiar scent. "So, David North, how's the life of a Trenchcoat these days? No more being sixteen again lately?"

“Fortunately,” David said, propping his chin up on his palm, elbow resting against the arm rest. “We’re back to our usual boring schedules and lifestyles.” There was a hint of a smile at the corners of his lips and his eyes crinkled at the corners as he watched Adrienne study the food. “And that’s rabbit. I would have made more, but it seems that my sixteen year old self wasn’t too keen on grocery shopping.”
"Are you sure your sixteen year old self didn't contract an STD?" The voice preceded Vanessa's re-emergence from the shower, this time without the soap clinging to her skin and hair. She was only wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts small enough that it was a little questionable whether they were shorts or boyishly cut underwear. Her hair was hanging down loose rather than in its typical braid. "I mean, wouldn't that be what most sixteen year old boys would get up to? Sex sex and more sex? What with you being so devilishly charming in your old age and all."

“My sixteen year old self practiced safe sex, I assure you,” David replied, voice bland as he shrugged off his jacket and shifted into a more comfortable position. And given that his teenaged self had tastes that ran towards teenaged girls, it really was fortunate that he had been given no choice but to practice abstinence during the X-Force’s brief trip down memory lane. Granted, he certainly had not objected to flirting with Wanda. But that was a matter neither of them had revisited.

The blonde was well aware that the whole topic of being sixteen wasn't particularly pleasant for David, thus her tactic was to redirect the conversation to something more hypothetical and amusing. Whether her perching on the arm of the couch with her legs laid out across his lap was also part of that redirection remained to be seen, but Vanessa seemed quite at ease with her position. "And did I hear something about rabbit? Poor Adrienne is misguided. Well, I call her misguided and she calls herself a vegetarian."

"We can't all have your metabolism," Adrienne chirped. "I'm sure you could eat styrofoam and your system could handle it."

"I don't know, I've never tried styrofoam." A long finger tapped against her lips as Vanessa seemed to consider the prospect. "I'm not really fond of food that bland, though. I think I'll need to pass on the styrofoam. Besides, I think it's the five miles of running and beating the hell out of a heavy bag every day that keeps the metabolism up, love. That and I'm not over the hill like you lot yet." She gave both of her friends a sweet smile at that.

David flicked a finger at Vanessa’s calf at her comment before draping an arm over her legs, otherwise completely unperturbed by the familiarity and her usual jabs at his age, even if Adrienne hardly seemed old enough to warrant it.

“I’m sure the wine is vegetarian enough for your metabolism, Miss Frost,” he commented. “And if you’re hungry, this kleines Mädchen has assured me that she can whip up a mean takeaway order. Without burning down her kitchen, too.”

"It's true, no one makes a phone call like Der Rotzlöffel," Adrienne smirked. "But I'll pass on the food, thanks. I'll have to do extra laps in the pool tomorrow as it is with just the wine. You two eat, though.

"Pfft, models." Vanessa rolled her eyes and slid from the couch's arm into David's lap only for a leg to drop off the couch so she could stand. Forks, obviously, were sort of necessary here. "And since when do you both speak German?" She shot a look at the two over her shoulder. "I'm not sure I can trust the two of you together now. Especially since I'm pretty sure neither of you are exactly calling me Buttercup or whatever."

“Can I trouble you for three wine glasses, then, Buttercup?” David responded, mildly facetious. He retrieved the food box from Adrienne and crumpled the paper bag as they traded looks the way only two complete strangers who had found a commonality could. Then, with the convenience of having a bottle opener keychain, he uncorked the wine bottle.

With Vanessa seeming more intent than ever to ramp up their game of testing his self-restraint, and her attractive best friend seating no more than a metre away in nothing but a robe, alcohol suddenly seemed more like a necessity than a luxury to David. One day, he told himself, the shapeshifter may just find where his limits lie and he would – could – do nothing to stop her from realising that she never really wanted to.