A Rumble of Frost chapter 15

February 15th 2001, Clair Temple's condo, 8:00 AM EDT

I  got back to Claire's place pretty early in the morning. I was  exhausted, but pretty smug. Gwen had eventually been so worn out from  all the fun that she fell asleep, and as much as I'd have liked to nap  with her (because gods was I tired). That didn't seem to be in the  cards. I took a quick shower when I got there (cold, to wake me up) and  when I got our found Claire casually mixing scrambled eggs in the  kitchen.

"Well aren't you all domestic and shit?" I asked  teasingly. I had to stifle a yawn, but my body tended to run on less  sleep if I needed it to. I'd have to eat a ton to compensate, but I  already scarfed a bunch of donuts (not the ones on the floor) before  leaving Gwen's.

Claire snickered. "Please, I'm used to  having to cook when Felicia is here. The girl has almost no day to day  lifeskills, but she eats plenty. You think you get tits like that  scarfing salads? Leaving that aside though, I heard you going out last  night. Where did you get off to?" She looked me over, presumably  checking for some sign of what I'd been doing, but I was freshly  showered so it didn't really work out.

"Girlfriend's  house." I said matter of factly as I checked her chairs. I had to be  careful sitting down on wooden furniture, most kitchen chairs aren't  rated for five hundred pound men. I found one that was metal (she had  kind of a mix and match set) and cautiously took a seat, sighing with  relief when the thing didn't creak ominously. It would be fine, I'd  developed a sixth sense for when chairs were going to break under me  over the years.

The smirk became rueful. "You've got balls  kid. I'm surprised Felicia doesn't mind, but it's your business, the  two of you. Can't really complain when I get to keep tappin' that ass.  So, I assume you all are going to track down that guy Felicia mentioned  in town? I didn't get a name from her but he sounds like your best  lead."

I shrugged. "Probably. This part isn't so much my  area of expertise as Pete's. Like I said, I'm kind of a blunt  instrument. I'm working on that, but part of that process is accepting  input from my team, who know better than me in some situations. I'll  probably just let the two of them make the plan this time and try to  adjust to their way of thinking. No need to pretend I'm competent when I  still have stuff to learn."

Claire stopped cooking,  turning to me with a scrutinizing look. "That's...surprisingly mature."  She noticed the eggs were still going and with a curse started scraping  the bottom of the pan (stove was too hot, rookie mistake) but kept  talking. "I had you pegged for the macho big swinging dick type. Never  admits he's wrong, punches anyone who talks badly about him. That was  almost introspective though."

That just got another shrug  from me. "People who feel the need to throw their weight around don't  usually have much of it. I know how strong I am, I don't need to prove  shit to anyone. I can admit when I make a mistake, or when I need to  improve. Nobody is perfect. It's not like I'm some buddha with no pride  or something. More like I have so MUCH pride that I don't worry about  what most people think."

She actually giggled at that.  "You're so arrogant you're humble? Consider my horizons broadened. It's  refreshing though. People with something to prove are exhausting."

"Don't  I know it." I agreed. "I grew up around quite a few of them. My own  outlook on life is mainly a factor of a contrarian worldview and an  obsession with personal power. Speaking of personal power, you awake  yet?" I called that last bit over my shoulder at the shadowed lump on  the still broken couch.

"Yes." Called a muffled voice.  "How did you know? Wait, no I got it. My breathing changed." Peter  pushed himself up on the couch, looking tired still, At my confused look  he elaborated. "Claire gave me a specific time frame to avoid the worst  possibility of issues. Once that passed I was able to go to sleep for a  while." He turned to the pretty nurse. "Thanks for that by the way.  Seriously, I owe you one."

She just waved him off. "De  nada. Like I said, you're a good kid, and you helped out Felicia.  Guessing you slept ok? You seem to have gotten at least a bit of decent  rest."

"Yeah, I got a few hours." He said with a smile. As  he sat down, Claire turned off the stove and got out some plates,  scraping a portion of the cheesy scrambled eggs onto them. "Heard what  you were saying a bit ago by the way Billy, and yeah I can help you come  up with a plan."

I sighed in relief. "Oh good, because  apart from being a thug, I'm also tired as hell. I was up all morning  letting Gwen play rodeo champ with my face. Dear gods that girl has  strong thighs, even my indestructible ass felt like she might crush my  head." It was a little mean, but Felicia had shown me the joys of  tormenting Peter, and seeing the kid's face turn bright red was too  funny to miss out on.

He choked on a bite of eggs, eyes  going wide. "Y-you, I...what? You went to Gwen's last night?" Guess he  woke up after the girlfriend comment. "That's nice I guess." He mumbled.  "She really let you...like with your mouth?" Gods, he was almost as  much of a virgin as Gwen, no wonder they got along. He looked both  directions discretely. "Do you think you could give me like...some  tips?"

"Awwwwwww!" Cooed a sugary voice from behind Peter.  The slowly dawning horror on his face told me that his danger sense  didn't consider mortification to be deadly, because he clearly hadn't  heard Felicia sneaking up on him. She ruffled his hair as she plopped  down in a chair, waiting for Claire to get her a plate as she grinned at  our spider themed teammate in an appropriately feline way.

"Little  Petey wants advice for licking his strawberry ice cream cone?' Peter  wilted slightly, and Felicia's cat that ate the canary grin got wider.  "You shouldn't be asking Billy for that. Claire and I could tell you all  about how to please your lady friend. We're experts aren't we Claire  bear?" She put a hand to her face and faux whispered "She says I munch  muff better than any girlfriend she's ever had, and her tongue game  isn't anything to sneeze at either."

Peter's head looked  like it was about to explode, and I was surprised there wasn't legit  smoke coming from his ears. I rolled my eyes. "That's enough. I was just  ragging on him a little. Don't torment the boy Felicia." I shot him a  small smirk. "Though if I were you I'd ask her a few questions when you  get the time. Embarrassing or not, a bit of a crash course couldn't  hurt." I was sure she would give him a detailed explanation, probably  with diagrams, just to see how far she could push his embarrassment.

She  pouted at me, but stopped when I said. After a perfunctory 'how did you  sleep?' greeting, I asked her about her contact and the guy they  mentioned. She was still eating, but at my words she looked up in  surprise. "Oh, the magic guy? His name is Strange." I blinked at her,  gesturing for her to say more, but she just looked confused, then let  out a giggle and shook her head. "No, I mean Strange is his actual last  name. Stephen Strange junior. His dad was some kind of big shot magic  user in town years ago."

Claire's head jerked up. "Wait,  what? Stephen Strange was a wizard? That's wild." We all looked at her  in confusion. "He's kind of an urban legend in the medical world, even  now. Strange was a hot shot surgery genius like...thirty or forty years  ago. He was one of the best in the world. He got into a car accident  though and his hands got paralyzed. He vanished for a few years and then  showed back up and when he did his hands worked fine."

She  shook her head in amazement. "He stopped doing surgeries, but he'd  medical consult with some of his old colleagues from time to time. They  say he cured diseases that should have been fatal. Which, come to think  of it, magic would probably explain. Anyway he vanished years ago, but  he was such a big deal you still hear references to him now and again  when someone runs into something they can't treat. Didn't know he had a  kid."

"That's a weird career change.  Doctor to wizard." Then I paused. "Though I guess they both like to  play God, so maybe not as weird as I thought. "You know where we can  find him though? Somehow I doubt wandering around hospitals asking about  Stephen Strange's wizard baby is going to be an effective way to find  someone. Don't suppose she gave you a street map or a cell phone  number?"

Felicia  snickered around her eggs. "No. Sorry, just an address." She smirked  sarcastically. "I can try to get a map from my contact if you need one.  But I figured we could just look up directions on the internet."  She  batted her eyes at me innocently, and I glared at Peter who was  snickering at her sarcasm.

"Anyway."  She said after she finished swallowing. "He lives at 177A Bleeker  Street. I looked it up on my phone earlier and it isn't actually that  far from here. Less than a twenty minute drive probably. It's in the  village."

Claire  snorted at that. "Of COURS the wizard lives in Greenwich. Are you all  heading out after breakfast? I have work in a few hours, despite just  coming off a shift yesterday. Fucking hospital hours." She sounded  bitter, but also resigned in a way that told me she didn't really hate  her job, just wished it would ease up.

Felicia  finished her last bite and dropped it on the plate. "Yeah. We should be  good to leave. We were here all night...mostly. So no one would be  looking for us, plus we aren't in costume. Thanks again for the clothes  Claire bear." She popped to her feet, the t-shirt she'd changed into  before getting up not hiding her lack of bra or generous endowments at  all and leaned down to give Claire a quick kiss. "You're the best."

Claire  rolled her eyes and slapped Felicia on the ass. "Away with you minx. Or  I'll make your friends go see the magic man alone and keep you here all  to myself." That got a giggle from the platinum blonde, who turned and  stepped over to me.

Looking  over her shoulder she said. "Well if you don't my kisses I'm sure Billy  does." She climbed into my lap, molding herself against me and kissing  me hungrily. I didn't turn her away, kissing her back and getting a  handful of one of those huge tits while I did it. I was so engrossed  that once she got up I didn't even realize she'd taken my damn car keys  until I saw her stroll over to the door, twirling them around a finger.

Our  host snickered. "Yeah she's good at that. She got my panties off me  like that once. Still no clue how I didn't notice, though she had to cut  them in one spot to get them off without sliding them down my legs."  She gave a wistful sigh. "Great, not I'm going to be horny all day.  Guess it's appropriate. She goes to see the wizard and I spend a few  hours with my magic wand."

Peter  choked again and I just laughed, clapping him on the back. "Maybe you  shouldn't eat around Claire or Felicia. They seem to time their comments  specifically to make you choke. Come on Pete, lets get down there  before Felicia takes off with the car and we have to catch a cab. I  could see her doing that."

Claire  laughed at him as he ignored my warning and started scarfing down  scrambled eggs. "Honestly, you're adorable Petey. Your redhead is a  lucky girl. If you take Felicia up on her offer of a lesson I'll make  sure she doesn't tease you too bad." Her eyes flicked to me. "As for  you...doesn't seem like you need one, but since you're so open to  learning I don't think I'd mind giving you a LIVE demonstration  sometime."

I  shot her a wink. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for breakfast by the  way, even if I already ate earlier." I turned and left, hearing Peter  scramble to run after me as I opened the apartment door and headed for  the elevator. I laughed at his disheveled appearance. "You've got a way  with people bud, they both already treat you like family."

He  snorted at that. "Not the way with people I'd prefer when it comes to  beautiful women. Especially not certain beautiful women." His eyes  unfocused as his hand dropped to his pocket. Then he shook it off. "I'd  much rather have YOUR way with people. I can't believe you went down on  Gwen Stacy. That's...terrifying. She scares me."

"She  tries to scare people." I said with a laugh. "She's a big softie  though. You two have that in common. As for my way with people..." I  shrugged. "I'm a big, well built, good looking guy with power. That  checks a lot of boxes for most girls. It's just a physical thing though.  You seem to connect with people much easier than most."

He  made a noncommital noise, but I could tell he wasn't buying it. I  rolled my eyes. "Pete, let me let you in on a little secret. Aspiring  models don't let their platonic besties take pics of them in their  unmentionables. You need to ask that redhead out. I guarantee she's  interesting in you, and you clearly have a thing for her. Just sack up  and say the words man, it's not like she's going to murder you if she  doesn't want to do it."

This  time his response was less noncommital and more pensive. I smiled at  the ponderous look on his face. Peter wasn't a pansy, I'd fought him  myself. Now that I'd made it a matter of overcoming an obstacle he would  ask her out, I was sure of it. I was also sure she'd say yes. Like I  told him, pretty redheads don't let you take pictures of them in their  underwear if they aren't into you. Speaking of pictures, I fished my  phone out of my pocket and texted Betty about meeting up later tonight.