Laurie, Marie-Ange, Doug, & Wade | Thursday Evening (backdated)

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Doug's birthday celebration.


The limo pulled up to the curb on Columbus Circle and a valet opened the door for them before Wade could even reach for the handle. He quirked an eyebrow in vague amusement before vacating he vehicle and turning to offer his hand to whichever of the ladies had followed behind him.

'Whichever of the ladies' actually wound up being Doug, who grinned at Wade as he stepped out of the vehicle, squeezing the other man's hand briefly. He would be hard-pressed to describe the emotions he was feeling right that second. So he turned and flanked the other side of the door to assist Wade in helping both of the ladies out of the limo.

Having twice the number of well-dressed men to offer a balancing hand as she stepped out of the limo must have made Marie-Ange playful, because as she straightened, she reached back to grasp Laurie's hand, gently tugging the other woman into a twirl and laughing at the perplexed expressions on everyone's face.

Laurie laughed and allowed herself to be twirled before pulling Marie-Ange in for an affectionate hug. With a semi-serious look she leaned over to straighten Wade's tie before giving him and Doug both affectionate kisses. If this was to be their first date, she was giving nobody a chance to mistake intentions. "We are all ridiculously attractive and superbly dressed. What shall we do with ourselves?"

Quirking an eyebrow, Wade let a smile curl slowly over his lips. "A delicious meal. Then dessert. However we want it."

Well, Laurie kissing both him and Wade might raise some eyebrows, but Doug suddenly found that he didn't really care what anyone else thought. It was his birthday, and for a change everything seemed right with his life. "How did I get so lucky?" he mused as the four of them made their way into the restaurant.

Wade just grinned, snagging Doug with an arm around his neck for a half-hug, half-lounge as they walked into the restaurant. A few words to the maître d' and they were on their way to the East Room, one of the private dining rooms. Usually reserved for parties of eight or more, Wade hadn't found it that difficult to persuade the right people to let him have it for the night for four.

He had had to insist that he didn't need party planners, though, and that they would probably just go with the extended Chef's tasting menu. True, it was a ridiculous number of courses, not the nine most everyone knew about, but. Wade loved Per Se and Per Se loved Wade. For a special occasion, he was comfortable pulling some strings.

A handful of visits in a handful of years, Marie-Ange hadn't yet grown jaded to the simple elegance of Per Se. Of course she hadn't, it was ~Per Se~ and indulgent and perfect and the worst time they'd had there was the night it had started to unexpectedly pour down rain as she and Wade had gotten off the subway.

And been offered warm towels by the servers and asked if they needed to delay their reservations so Marie-Ange could fix her hair and makeup.

"You have been sitting on this since..." Marie-Ange started to say, counting back days on her fingers. "Well, if Laurie had not been delightfully abrupt with Doug, I suppose this would have done the trick, yes?"

"As the indomitable Lana Kane says," Wade commented, holding out a chair for Laurie. "Yup."

"I've been told my way with words is refreshingly blunt from time to time," Laurie replied with a slightly mischievous smile as she allowed Wade to push her chair in. "This place is quite something, I've never been before. Is there a dining etiquette?"

"Taste everything, be honest with the servers if you are approaching needing to switch to a non-alcoholic drink pairings, and otherwise.." Marie-Ange waved a hand around the private room. "Put your water glass down before you do the math about how much this is costing Wade, because choking would ruin your lipstick."

"How much is this costing you, Wade?" Laurie asked, a concerned frown gracing her features as she turned toward him. "I have some money if it's an issue."

Wade tugged gently on one of Laurie's earrings before moving over to sit between her and Marie-Ange. "Money's not an issue," he said. He wasn't going to tell them how much it was costing. It was Doug's birthday.

Doug knew that the price tag for the evening would most likely be somewhere in the four-digit range, given what he knew about Per Se's tasting menus and wine flights. But he also knew Wade -didn't- see money as an issue, and his pockets were certainly deep enough to pay for things. Wade's sense of generosity, especially when it came to 'his' people, was one of the things Doug liked best about the man.

He shook his head minutely at Laurie. This wasn't just a birthday present to Doug, it was a gift to all of them. Doug was already feeling a warm fuzzy glow in his chest, and they hadn't even been served any wine yet. "So, are we getting all the optionals, too?" he asked with a grin.

"Are you a vegetarian this week?" Marie-Ange shot right back - playfully.

"This has been a very good week." Doug's occasional vegetarianism tended to be brought on by his PTSD surrounding various things (like being consumed by a Russian meat computer) acting up. "So no, I'm fine with meat right now." He couldn't resist giving Wade a salacious wink at that.

Wade gave Doug an eyebrow waggle because really. How was he supposed to not give Doug an eyebrow waggle for that? "Yes, we're getting all the optionals, then. And the wine - so like the ladybird said, be honest with our serverperson about if you need water or a swap to something not alcoholic. We're in for a delicious evening."

"I like the sound of all of that," Laurie replied with a mischievous smile, she looked up as a sommelier appeared with a bottle of wine. "So, what is the first course?"

Marie-Ange waved off Laurie's question in favor of speaking quietly to the sommelier - of the four, she knew the most about wine - and her companions' tastes. "Laurie, do you want the entire flight? It is ... I am sorry, to be quite blunt, I just do not know your tolerances. We can halve it and switch you to the alternative flight, or alternate - or you can stay with the non-alcoholic pairings for the entire evening. It is really up to you." She glanced at Doug, and didn't even ask - she knew his tastes. "Wade, do you want the alternative pairings?" She asked, unsure - sometimes he did, sometimes he just followed her lead with wine.

"Alternate pairings, please," Laurie replied with a smile, happy to let Marie-Ange handle the drinks, she may be a wine drinker herself but Marie-Ange was French, and thus of much, much more experience then she herself was. Besides, she preferred not to be drunk tonight - although a little tipsy was never a bad thing. "My tolerance for wine is not bad, but I'd prefer to keep myself semi-sober if we're to give Doug his other birthday present later."

It was a good thing Doug didn't have a sip of water when Laurie had said that, otherwise he might have sprayed it all over the tablecloth. As it was, he swallowed rather heavily and blushed a bit - for all that he was the White Knight of the Hellfire Club, with all that entailed, in private he wasn't always comfortable with something being primarily about him, which Laurie's comment implied was the idea.

Wade had considered the wine option, but he really wasn't a wine kind of guy. So he caught the sommelier's attention and requested the boutique liquor selection, rather than wine. After a brief discussion, he and sommelier decided to return to the question of the alternate, nonalcoholic selection every three to four courses. He'd also had a somewhat complicated eyebrow conversation with Marie-Ange to debate getting the liquor for Doug as well, but if it came down to it, he'd just share his own. As he'd said so many times before, sharing was caring, after all.

The sommelier disappeared into whatever side pocket dimension servers lived in between serving, and was replaced by their actual server - bearing amuse bouches - the infamous Thomas Keller salmon cornets, and tiny gougeres - flaky pastry and perfectly creamy gruyère cheese.

It was somewhat understated to anyone who didn't know her, but to Doug's eye (and likely Wade's, and possibly Laurie's at this point) Marie-Ange looked to be nearly to the point of bouncing out of her seat at the appearance of the salmon cornets. It was rare to see her so genuinely happy and unguarded - the night was full of unexpected small gifts to go with the large gift of the dinner out. He bit into his cornet and made a happy noise. "I can see why you like these," he told Marie-Ange.

"And now you get to have them!" Marie-Ange's restraint had only continued until the server left, and then she did bounce in her chair a few times. "They are the most perfect little things, and I was hoping they would be on the menu tonight. It changes - and no, I cannot predict it. But now I very much want to try to make a tarot deck based on chefs and restaurants."

Quirking a brow in Laurie's direction as he considered his little salmon cornets, Wade asked, "Which one do you think would be the taco card?" Despite what most people would've thought he'd do, present company excluded, he ate one of the cornets slowly, appreciating the flavor and texture.

"Maybe one of the heart suites? Tacos are very close to your heart, after all," Laurie replied, taking a small bite of her own cornet before closing her eyes in bliss to savor the moment. "These are delectable."

"Mm... they really, really are," Wade agrees. Dinner moves on from that point, each course and wine - or liquor - selection taking center stage before disappearing bite by bite. It's all very well orchestrated, meaning they have nothing to worry about save their general sobriety levels and conversation, which meanders.

By the time the chocolates arrive, even Wade is pleasantly full. Leaning back in his chair, the mercenary finished off the last of his dessert.

Doug was presented with the box of leftover chocolates with a heart-felt 'happy birthday' from their server, and thankfully a lack of singing. Doug took it in his hands and looked a bit lost. "What do I do with all this?" he asked. Marie-Ange gave him a fondly exasperated look that said she knew the real question he was answering. "You take it home with you," she told him gently.

"And then we let you play a game of 'which body part can I eat this chocolate off,'" Laurie said with wicked grin as she pulled him toward the exit. "Last one in the car has to get the coffee in the morning!"

Wade was the last person to the limo, yes, but he was also the only person awake the following morning. He'd gone for a run, done his forms, considered and then nixed the idea of a swim, showered, picked up breakfast food and pastries, and then the coffee. Walking into the bedroom, he was amused to find the makeshift pillow wall he'd erected between Marie-Ange's blanket-swaddled form and the other two occupants had half-fallen down. It'd served its purpose, though, and all three of them were sort of stirring, so he didn't feel too terrible opening the curtains.

Shaking the large paper bag full of food, he put the various cups of coffee on the beside table and greeted everyone with a bright, "Hashtag winning!"