WHO:Frosty & Chuck WHEN: June (pre Emma's diamond shatter) WHERE: Victrola WHAT: Chuck's admiring his work, Emma needs a night off. RATING/WARNINGS: None STATUS: Complete
Chuck was trying not to spend too much time at Victrola. Pam had things covered. Plus there were other clubs out there, not owned by him. Of course they were all second best, but he preferred not to sleep with his clientele. However he did still like to go and admire his creation. See how well business was doing, enjoy the dancers and the drinks.
Which was precisely what he was doing tonight. Chuck sat on his couch. It had the best view of the stage. He always let Pam know the nights he planned on stopping by so no one else sat there. He had a drink in his hand when he spotted someone familiar. His favorite business partner. Emma Frost. Chuck caught her eye and waved her over.
Usually, Emma indulged in Victrola with the companionship of a client or potential one. Wowing them with the nightlife, enjoying the view, the wining and dining of rich men. Tonight was not one of those nights. She was hot off the heels of a spat with Jean and with the woman living with her and partially in her head, well, Emma just needed a night off.
Martini in hand, she sashayed her way over to Charles at his behest, plastering her usual serene smile on her face, “Why Mr Bass, enjoying the fruits of your labor?”
“Why do you think I have this club?” he quipped smirk on his face. Of course that was only that half of it, it truly was a smart business decision. There was so much instant sex these days thanks to the internet. But burlesque was an art form and there was something to be said about being teased in just the right way. Of course his father hadn’t seen all the possibilities, just wrote it off as his son wanting a sex club. But now that Bart was dead Chuck had free reign to do as he pleased, well at least on the West Coast. The only downside was he didn’t get to rub it in his father’s face.
“And what brings a gorgeous woman such as yourself here alone tonight?” Chuck was fairly certain in the past when he had seen Emma here she was with clients.
“Even gorgeous women such as myself like a little me time.” With things as they were between her and Jean, in that almost not entirely sure stage of their relationship, building up their trust as the dreams continued to make them question one another, Emma just needed the little bit of space with her thoughts from time to time.
Being head over heels for a telepath was dangerous after all.
“Besides, I enjoy a good burlesque show.” Her previous profession wasn’t secret, and Emma did rather enjoy the gentlemans club feel.
“Well then you came to the right place.” At least for the burlesque show. He wasn’t sure exactly how much me time she would get in his club full of people but perhaps he could help with that. At least keep her from being bothered by random customers. “Have a seat,” she said patting the empty spot on the couch next to him. “Enjoy the show.”
“No entourage tonight?” Not that she’d noticed a flock all the time, but then, why wouldn’t a rich, successful young man not keep a few interesting ladies nearby? Emma’d worked with more than a few men who did like to have them draped around like accessories. At least Charles understood the commodity of content employees and not playthings.
“A quiet night at the club is this?”
“Not tonight,” Chuck replied with a shrug. It was true Chuck usually had at least one female on his arm (that he brought to the club, not a customer.) But now that he was sort of seeing Blair he had toned it down a bit. Some nights he went solo. Not always, but tonight was one of those nights.
“Quiet for me,” he added with a smirk. “But that’s lucky of you. Leaves the rest of my couch free for my favorite business partner.”
“Hmm, you’re too kind.” Emma was fine with sitting with a good view, watching the dancing while sipping at her drink. She had no intention on staying out overly late, she needed to get her head back together, not cause a deeper rift between she and Jean. It was just a few hours to herself really.
“And how is business progressing, dearest? Endeavours keeping you busy?” Emma was near constantly tied up in dealings, and since Adrienne had decided to make a power play she was working ever harder to sort that mess out too. Add to that Christian’s decision to drop a meltdown on her and Emma really just needed a break from business right then too.
“Always,” Chuck replied. Sometimes it was a wonder he had any time for a social life at all. Which was probably why he didn’t bother dating, well until Blair. But for the most part random hookups where the girl didn’t even stay the night worked fine for him. “But that’s how we stay ahead.” Or how he would beat Jack and get Bass Industries back. Either way.
“Let’s not talk business though.” Unless of course Emma had a proposition for him. But other than that he could use a night to relax and enjoy the fruits of his labor. “What else have you been up to?” he asked shifting his gaze back to the dancers.
Had she been up to anything aside from work? It was rather complicated to remember a time when Emma wasn’t working. And right then that seemed to be all she was doing at all. “I’m afraid you’ve caught me at a little bit of a loss,” if it weren’t for Jean at home then Emma likely wouldn’t do much other than work. “My dearest sister has decided to make a play for the empire I built, so work is almost all I’ve been doing.”
Adrienne was a leech though, and it did make Emma far more wary of Cordelia -but Cordelia was a party brat, she just wanted to have a good time, her ambitions were limited to how many parties she could attend in a night. “So I’m afraid unless you wish to hear of the dream-carnage that is being dealt to my relationship,” and Emma wasn’t sure she wanted to talk about that anyway, “then I’m afraid business is all I’ve been embroiled in.”
Chuck knew exactly how she felt. Not that he had any siblings but he was a teenager when his father passed and didn’t handle it very well. Now what should be his was Jack’s. But he was on his way to getting it all back. “I don’t see that happening,” Chuck assured her. “I don’t think anyone is as equipped to run Frost Enterprises as you,” he passed a smirk forming on his lips. “Except me, but lucky for you I have my hands full with Bass Industries.”
As far as her relationship went. Well Chuck wasn’t sure he particularly wanted to hear about it. Relationship woes weren’t his thing. Hell relationships in general weren’t his thing. “It’s a shame how dreams seem to affect our lives,” he wasn’t experiencing that much with Blair however it was a little confusing what were dream feelings and what was real.
“I’m not sure if you’ve ever met my hellbeast of a sister.” Adrienne wasn’t quite a hellbeast; a lazy ambitious, entitled snobbish elder sibling with less effectiveness, perhaps. But she had her moments. Foolishly, Emma had assumed allowing the woman access to the Boston properties would suffice, but then, Adrienne always wanted what she couldn’t have. Namely, Emma’s brains. “She wouldn’t be awful, just not nearly as good as I am.” Helped when you could read minds though.
Which was in part thanks to the dreams. Emma had yet to get to the stage where she despised the constant double of nightmarish happenings. She thought she had, after her Hellions, after her school, after Genosha. It just seemed like children were dying all around them and there was nothing to stop it. But then something would spark a little hope, and there’d be a time of change and then it would devolve into more shit.
“Oh, they are a bane, that is for sure.” Watching a rather delightfully bendy woman display herself in a fabulously strategic lace outfit that Emma had to find out if they had in white, she considered just how much she would change if she could from the dreams, “but then, I’m as fabulous there as I am here.” The husband stealing notwithstanding at least.
He chuckled at her last comment. “I know the feeling,” he agreed with a smirk. Though let’s be honest, any form of Chuck Bass was magnificent in any world. “Alright, enough dream and business talk for real this time. Let’s just enjoy the show.”