Early the next morning Luke, waking shortly before Jessica, jumps in the shower, then after getting dressed, he quietly makes his way back to a sleeping Jessica. He gently traces the lines of her figure over the sheets clinging to her and smiles before leaving her to sleep. He leaves quietly out their bedroom and walks to the living room. Danny had already been up for a couple of hours working out, practicing fighting forms, when he catches Luke in the corner of his eye.
He stops and grins at him.
"Hey drunky, how ya feeling? You two got in real late and were real drunk, I bet your head is killing you."
"Actually I'm good, whatever that experiment did to me seems to dampen the effects of alcohol on me."
"Heh that must suck, must cost you a fortune to get a buzz."
Luke smirks "Actually it costs you a fortune to get me buzzed."
Danny laughs real loud, but Luke shushes him. "Quiet! Jessica is still sleeping, by the way you two ditched us last night. Not that I'm complaining about it. But I thought you and Trish wanted to hang out?"
Danny goes back to practicing but has a goofy grin on his face. Luke knows immediately what that means.
"Oh...OH! Well I'm happy for you two, Danny, really brother, after how you and Colleen ended things I was a little worried. You need someone like Trish."
Danny grins at Luke. "Yeah I know, I need more than my mission to complete me."
"Whoa she completes you, I didn't say all that, I just wanted you out that damn penthouse. But I get what you feel, it's the same with Jessica. It's like I found a piece of a puzzle that I lost and it's finally in place. Anyway gonna order some room service, don't be offended when a platter of bacon arrives."
Luke finds the tablet the hotel supplies to order services like room service and massages, maybe he'll get one for Jessica later.
Trish is also an early riser, although not quite as early as Danny. Hearing the men talking, she stretches and pops the vertebrae of her back, yawning. She didn't drink enough to be hung over last night, so she feels relaxed, well rested, and very sexually satisfied. Getting out of bed and taking the time to make it- hotel or not, she is a stickler for neatness and cleanliness, courtesy of being raised by Dorothy Walker- she dresses in her usual yoga pants and sports bra, slipping into the bathroom to wash her face, brush her teeth, and pull her hair up in a ponytail. She isn't self-conscious about working out in front of the men, so she joins them in the living room, smiling and nodding towards them.
"Morning."
She pauses to wrap an arm around Danny's waist mid move, distracting him with a kiss to the side of his ear, and then let go, easily popping down on the floor and starting her own stretches. She continues to talk easily as she eases into this routine, not even slightly out of breath.
"Do you do any sort of work outs other than lifting weights, Luke? Wait, weights would be ridiculously easy for you, what do you lift, then? Cars? You should try yoga, it helps with flexibility, and it's pretty common for muscular people to have limited flexibility."
Jessica, on the other hand, is not an early riser; ordinarily, she only sleeps every second or third day, and when she does, she is very much adverse to getting up once she's finally managed to pass out. Last night had been an unusually good night's sleep for her; she hadn't struggled to drift off, sleeping close to Luke, and she hadn't been plagued by nightmares as she so frequently was. She had stirred slightly when Luke brushed his hand over her, enjoying the touch but not enough to reveal she was somewhat awake, and continued to feign sleep in hopes he would go away for a while.
Unlike Trish, she had drunk more than enough for a hangover. Getting up was not something she was intending to do any time soon.
Only now she could hear Trish's altogether too chipper voice, chattering away as though it was not the crack of dawn. Well, maybe Jessica didn't actually know what time it was, but it felt like it was to her.
"Some people are on vacation and trying to sleep!" she shouted, barely moving her head enough so the words were directed towards the door rather than into her pillow. "Some people who don't idolize Aerobics Barbie videos to the point that they hop out of bed and start bending into shapes better suited for pretzels than humans!"
Trish continued to smile calmly, continuing her movements.
"And good morning to you, Jess, from those of us who enjoy all parts of the day."
"Those of you who are psychos!"
Luke gives Trish a slight smirk." I don't really need to workout, my body kind of does its own thing, besides people tend to frown on large black men bench pressing their cars."
Danny gets down on the floor with Trish, stretching with her. "Luke is a freak, he gets stronger just breathing."
Luke shrugs his shoulders. "Yeah sometimes I feel like the world is made out of glass and if I'm not careful I can shatter it."
Luke and Danny look at each other and laugh when Jessica calls out.
"I take it she's not a morning person, you better get her some breakfast fast."
"She'll be ok once I get some coffee and doughnuts in her." Luke yells over his shoulder to Jessica. "BABY YOU GETTING UP? OR DO WE NEED TO PERFORM LAST RITES?"
"Wow. Is that true? Is there something about the interaction of whatever mutant genes you have and the oxygen you breathe in adding to your body's muscle mass?" Trish pauses, intrigued. "Can we test that somehow?"
Jessica grunted unintelligibly before replying. "I'll go for burial. Death sounds peaceful. Sleep forever and it's QUIET."
Trish snickers, shaking her head. "Funny thing is, actually telling her she should sleep when she's obviously tired gets a similar reaction."
Just as Luke is about to respond to Trish there is a knock at the door. Luke leaves to answer and returns with a room service cart. He pours Jessica a cup of coffee, then answers Trish.
"Danny is exaggerating a little, and just how did you plan on testing this theory?"
Danny springs to his feet when he smells the coffee, making his way to it pouring about 80 percent sugar 20 percent coffee.
"Trust me I've hit him full power a few times, the shockwave leveled everything for 30 feet. All that big lug felt was his palm sting a little."
"Yeah but the first time I took a punch from you brought me to my knees and I saw little birdies. I'm gonna go raise the dead, be right back."
Luke grabs some doughnuts and goes to his and Jessica's bedroom. "Come on Jessica, I got you some coffee and doughnuts, this should bring you back to the land of the living."
Danny starting to feel the sugar and caffeine kicking in as he pours a cup for Trish. "How do you take it? Cream and Sugar? Black?"
Trish stares at Danny's coffee, eyes wide at the amount if sugar in it. She raises her eyebrows, stunned.
"How do you drink that and continue to function? I would be bouncing like Tigger...well you do look very bouncy. You and Jess really are opposites, she drinks gets completely black and in the same way she drinks whiskey. All one gulp at a time."
She smiles, shaking her head, as she tells her coffee preference. "One cream, one sugar. You know, minimalism." Accepting the cup, she takes a sip, still in lotus pose, and then sets it in the table behind her. "I'm ready to learn whatever you want to teach, you know."
In the bedroom, Jessica cracks open one eye, narrowing it towards Luke to make sure he does have what he says he does. Rolling over slowly, she pushes herself up and reaches her hands out like a zombie for the sugar and caffeine offering. Not until she has drank the coffee in exactly the manner Trish described does she have further things to say.
"Those two are not normal humans. Who the fuck wakes up and thinks, hey, let's roll on the floor and do push ups?"
Danny grins at Trish"The fist eats up a lot of energy when I use it, so it doesn't hurt to top off my tank." He suddenly sticks out his tongue and laughs." JUST KIDDING! It's my one weakness...sweet stuff..remember our first date? Those buns…GOD those buns!. Anyway about your lessons, I'm gonna have to think about how to do that? You say you studied another style. If I remember right the style you studied is far more aggressive and energy consuming then our Soft Fist."
"How can I describe it to you? Oh I got it..Tai-Chi is the closest equivalent to how you would describe it. Use a person's power against them to create opening, then perhaps we can incorporate some of your original style in to do damage. Yes this will work, you will literally float like a butterfly and sting like a bee."
Luke sighs but agrees with Jessica. "They are like the bizzaro versions of us. Plus I think your sister wants to experiment on me to see how my powers work. And what's bad is the chirpy smile and voice she said it in was creepy as hell."
He's kidding…a little...just a little.
"Well come on time to hit the shower, you can go by yourself and have a hot one or I carry you and it's gonna be ice cold, your choice. "
"Soft fist? How do you use a soft if you are the Iron Fists? That doesn't sound like it goes together at all, or do you just have to teach me differently because I'm not the Iron Fist?" Trish questioned, her eyes bright with interest.
She stood, abandoning the yoga in favor of hearing more about what Danny can teach her. " That sounds really amazing. Do you really think I can do that? Can you do it right now?" Then another thought occurred to her and she grinned. "You said I would use people's power against them. Does that mean I could even take down Jessica or Luke?"
Jessica scoffed out loud, sitting up a little more and rolling her eyes. "Oh I have absolutely no doubt that given the right tools, Trish would totally experiment on you and me both. Probably dissect us if it didn't actually kill us. And if it was possible with you. She keeps riding my ass about finding out more about the place that gave me my powers, she does not get the memo that I don't care how this happen to me or who did it, I'd rather just go on with my life. She always wants to TALK about everything."
She said the word talk like it was a curse word. At Luke's threat, she growled under her breath but got to her feet starting to head towards the bathroom.
Danny claps and smiles at Trish. "Yay you get an A+, Ironfist is a style only I can use but Soft Fist is a bit of a deception."
He looks around for something to demonstrate on and decides on a wall. "I hope this doesn't mean I have to buy this place." He barely swings his arm and punches a hole in what looks a concrete pillar built in the wall. "If I had used the ironfist I would have knocked down the wall."
Danny thinks about her other question. "Could you beat someone like Luke or Jessica with soft fist, it's possible. I don't know much about your sister as for Luke, anything is possible but doubt it. At least not for a long long time."
Luke gives Jessica a smack on the ass and grins as she walks away. "Don't take too long, kind of want to explore this place in the daylight. By the way, you look hot with morning bed head."
Trish watches Danny intently, smiling to her self. "Always did get good grades."
When she sees the hole he created, she takes a step back, holding up both hands. "Whoa...I can do that with SOFT fist? Show me!"
She got into her best fighter stance, attempting to look fierce.
Jessica flipped Luke off at his comment but almost smiles. After a long shower, she emerges with damp hair and passably civil, though far from cheery. She makes herself another cup of coffee and blinks at the hole in the wall. "Someone has shitty aim."
Danny moves in front of Trish, sliding between her arms, his eyes locks with hers, he only needs to slightly adjust her stance. Actually not at all, it's just an excuse to touch her. He peeks over her shoulder when Jessica and Luke come out of their room together.
"Welcome back to land of the living. And my aim was perfect, I don't miss."
Luke glances at Danny and Trish, then the hole." We gonna say that was there when we got here right? I think we interrupted them doing something kinky."
Danny once again gives Luke the finger.
"What da hell twice in one day and I've barely finished my coffee, must be a record. Anyway who wants to explore the city?"
Danny smiles at Trish and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "What do you say, ready to go public?"
Trish relaxes against Danny, smiling up at him. She lets him adjust her, keeping her expression and voice very flirtatious.
"You're a natural instructor. I'm sure you could teach me a lot of things."
Jessica made a face at them, wrinkling her nose.
"God, no lame not so coded sex references, I'm hungover enough without you giving me visuals and demonstrations to make me gag."
She slid an arm around Luke, giving him a pointed ass squeeze, and smirked at the other two.
"Every time you do something sappy I'll molest one of his boy parts, got it?"
Trish gave a nearly identical smirk, looking too amused by this. "Is this a challenge? A public one?"
Danny, defiant to Jessica's comments about PDA, starts to kiss Trish's ear lobe.
"You're not my first student but you are my favorite." He leaned his head so when he sticks his tongue out at Jessica and Luke they can see him. "No challenge, just us in the sunlight. And if someone sees us and recognizes us, so what."
Luke looks at Jessica, confused. "What's the big deal if they're seen together in public? Is that a rich person problem? If so I'm glad we're not rich, we do whatever we want."
"I think she's asking if I'm going to grope you in public," Jessica explained to Luke, raising an eyebrow at Trish and Danny. "And yeah, I don't see why the hell not."
She grabbed a pillow off the couch and threw it at the two; it burst when it hit them, sending stuffing flying everywhere. Trish squeaked and ducked, and Jessica grinned. "Right, I feel better now. Where to first?"
Danny picking stuffing out of hair, picks up another pillow looking towards Jessica.
"It's so on now!" He flings it with a decent amount of force that it explodes when Luke steps between it and Jessica covering him head to toe with the stuffing, Danny grabs another pillow and throws it this time Luke punches it with enough force that when it explodes it flies back on Danny.
"You goof look at you. You look like a snowman."
"Yeah well you look like a giant s'more."
Both men start laughing as they turn to their mates, both grab a pillow and swing them at Trish and Jessica, gently nailing them both. Luke grins at Jessica.
" You started this."
"That's right, and I'm finishing it too."
Jessica grabs a handful of feathers and runs to Luke, shoving them down the front of his shirt. She sneezes, shaking her hair out of her face, during which time Trish takes the opportunity to stuff several feathers into Jessica's hair. Giggling, Trish hits Danny with a pillow too, then Jessica with the same one. Rolling her eyes, Jessica tosses some feathers towards her.
"Didn't even feel that." To the guys, she smirks, "Just minus the shirts and we would be carrying out your slumber party fantasies."
Luke holds up his hands in surrender to Jessica. "Wait..just wait how did this turn into a free for all?" He turns and points at Danny and Trish. "When it should be us vs them..The Bizzaro Versions of us?"
Danny looks around the entire room is trashed stuffing everywhere. "Enough guys, we need to find a better outlet, now act like adults."
Danny walks towards Luke holding out his hand, once he's in arms reach, he smashes a jelly filled doughnut in Luke's face. "Looks good on you brother."
While Danny laughs, Luke grabs a napkin and wipes his face.
"Rand..you better start running."
Luke looks ridiculous, now covered in pillow stuffing and sticky from the jelly. "See what I deal with, he acts like a monk but he's really a monkey."
Jessica blinks, cocking her head at Luke, and slowly starts to smile wickedly. "Oh...good point."
She looks around the room, searching for another "weapon." When Danny smears the donut on Luke, Trish gasps, covering her mouth, and looks at Jessica worriedly, torn between wanting to laugh and worried Jessica will explode. Jessica's lips twitch, and she heads for the donut box, picking up another jelly filled and holding it up threateningly towards Trish, eyes gleaming. Trish squeals and jumps behind Danny for protection.
"Noooo it will be all in my hair! Danny, help me!"
Luke watches and smiles watching everyone, convinced both Jessica and Danny need this, he can tell Jessica is enjoying herself and Danny for him to just stand there and let a doughnut get smashed in his face while his girlfriend hides behind him is proof he's having fun. The man can dodge bullets so evading Jessica would have easy for him.
Not wanting to be left out he grabs a bunch of doughnuts and backs Jessica up. "That's right baby, bring the pain!"
"Oh nooo not my gorgeous hair!" Jessica mocks Trish in a high-pitch imitation of her voice, easily reaching Danny and pull in Trish out from around him.
As Trish cringes and tries to Shield herself with her hands, Jessica breaks the donut in half and deliberately smears its contents into Tricia's hair and over Danny's face. She raises an eyebrow at Trish's sputtering expression, still grinning.
"Come on Blondie, I've seen you with more fight to you when you ran out of your favorite lip gloss."
"Oh, you are in for it!" Trish threatened, squealing and laughing at the same time. She hooks her ankle around Jessica's and pulled, trying to trip her, but Jessica easily dodged around.
"Please, I can survive falling in 20 stories and land on my feet and you think you can trip me?"
Both Luke and Danny cringed when Trish squealed. "See that why I shave my head Trish."
Luke winks at her, running his hand over his head, showing how smooth it is. Danny burst out laughing and suddenly stops pointing behind the group to the horrified maid standing behind them.
"Ummm nobody answered the door."
Danny cuts in. "And there was no Do Not Disturb sign on the door. Look this isn't as bad as it looks."
Trish freezes, her mouth dropping in horror when the maid stares at them. Hurriedly she tries to come up with a reasonable explanation.
"Oh, hello! No need to worry about cleaning, see, we're in the middle of a rehearsal for a movie I'll be shooting soon. Um, we need to work on easier clean up, but we almost have it."
"Yeah, that's right. We are totally shooting a movie where people stuff feathers and jelly in people's hair, that's Trish Walker's idea of high brow entertainment," Jessica deadpanned.
Trish shot her an evil look and smiled innocently at the maid. "It was written by Adam Sandler, be sure to watch when it's released!"
When the maid backed away slowly out of sight, Trish whacked Jessica on the arm and scowling at her. "You could have backed me up!"
Then she started to giggle, covering her mouth. Jessica's lips twitched and she started to snicker too. When Trish gave her a hug, Jessica even allowed it.
"It's nice to see you looking happy," Trish whispered in her ear. "You deserve it. Believe that."
Then she wiped off some of the jelly in her hair and deliberately smeared it on Jessica's cheek before leaping back behind Danny again. Jessica just shook her head, looking back at Luke with unusually relaxed features.
"Were we going to do something today other than food fights? Cause if not, I warn you, any booze is off limits in being wasted."
Luke had moved next to Danny and whispered to him. "An Adam Sandler movie? Guess it doesn't matter if she's making it up cause nobody would have seen it anyway."
Danny gives Luke a fist pump as they stand there and watch. "Should I be concerned about how quick she came up with that?"
"Nah, brother you're good, it's not like she told you you're the biggest she ever had!"
Danny looks at him, defeated.
"What, she didn't say that to you? Well at least she's not lying to you…tiny."
Danny sighs out loud. "I guess I'm gonna have to pay for all this aren't I?"
"I need to shower," Trish announces. Going to Danny, she slipped an arm around his waist. "And so does he."
Jessica looked at Luke, the, disappeared into their bedroom. She returned with her camera and snapped several pictures of the other three, even as Trish tried to block her face.
"For the publicity shots...since you're headlining with Adam."
Danny happily follows Trish like a loyal puppy. "Right behind you."
Luke keeps laughing at everyone. "I bet we'll be showing those to their kids one day."
He moves in front of Jessica gently pushing her camera to the side, slipping an arm around her. "Damn baby, is all you packed was a camera, toothbrush and some panties?"
He leans to the side to grin and peek at her ass. "You really are my dream girl."
Now that Danny and Trish have vanished Luke confides in Jessica.
"Thankyou for being you and for Trish being her. Never seen Danny happier, and I've never been happier. So thank you."
As Trish and Danny disappear together into the bathroom, Jessica leans into Luke's embrace, relaxed and content. She doesn't protest his words, and she still carries a trace of a smile on her lips.