TV Multiverse 112 (Patreon)

He was back in Malibu, thanking Georgina for all her work when he received a call. “It’s Blair,” he said to Georgina, who was currently moaning on top of him.

“Respond,” Georgina said happily, her hips dancing wildly.

“Fine, but no teasing her until we’re sure she’s alone,” he replied. Georgina nodded. He called.

“Tell me,” he said. “Who’s in trouble?”

“I … what do you mean?” Blair said, her tone tense. “Can’t I just call you because I missed you?”

“Yes, and you do. But, you usually prefer to text first. For you to call directly means it’s important.”

“Maybe,” she said.

“Also, it’s clear that you’re self-conscious about asking for help. Meaning, it isn’t you who is in trouble. I’m going to take a wild guess, and it’s a favor for someone else, and you’re feeling shy about asking.”

Blair paused. “I hate you,” she said, but her tone was fond exasperation. For all her complaints, Blair loved when others picked up her smaller clues. It was a proof that they paid attention to her.

“No you don’t, you frigid little girl,” Georgina intervened as she tapped to turn on the speaker, followed by a moan.

“Oh, the crazy bitch is there as well,” Blair responded.

“Yes, he’s paying my salary,” Georgina said. “In orgasms.”

He shook his head, amused. “As much as I don’t want to cut this riveting intellectual debate, let’s focus on exactly who you want this favor for.”

Georgina laughed. “Isn’t it obvious? Like every scheme she tries to pull,”

“How dare you?” Blair responded, angry. “I’m not obvious.”

Georgina smirked. “Fine, let’s see. There are only a few people that you’ll ask favors of who will feel inappropriate. If it were about Nate, you would have sounded more exasperated than anything, because even you realized just how much of a boring boy scout he was, utterly nonthreatening. Even you’re not stupid enough to ask a favor for Chuck, and even if you did, you would have sounded far more skittish. That leaves only a certain blonde. Either she pulled another disappearing act, or she decided to make a mistake stupider than usual.”

Blair sighed. “I hate you, but you’re right. Serena is doing something stupider than usual.”

“How stupid?” Georgina asked.

“She’s going after a married man,” Blair said.

“So?”

“That married man is a van der Bilt, currently married, and in the middle of an election campaign for Congress.”

That made Georgina laugh even as she continued to jump up and down on his lap. “He’s going after Tripp? God, I knew Serena had a bad taste in man, but Tripp… He’s just Nate, but less charm and more baggage.”

“You know how Serena can be,” Blair responded.

“What’s the plan? Ethan comes to New York, plays Serena like a drum until she starts following him like a puppy.”

“Not so crass … but yes,” Blair said, her tone defeated. Mostly because, she was the one who asked him to stay away from Serena in the first place because Blair was afraid of losing him to Serena somehow. And, here she was, asking him to fly to New York to seduce her. As a favor.

What a complicated friendship.

For the next ten minutes, Blair and Georgina insulted each other, which would have been annoying if it wasn’t for Georgina getting even more passionate.

“Fine. I’ll take the next flight,” he said, then sighed, making a note to see if he could get his hands on a decent private plane. Or at least, start rolling the dice with higher rewards now that his skills and stats were more or less complete.

“Thanks. You’re the best. I … you’re the best,” Blair, her relief palpable. He could sense that it was partially about Serena, but also it was partially about him just offering his help without turning into a bargain like the classic Upper East Side style. “See you soon,” she added, and ended the call.

Georgina was surprised. “Was that an aborted declaration of love? How did you melt the heart of the evil stepsister of Cinderella?” she asked, teasing.

He could have turned that into a joke, but it didn’t. Instead, he flipped her under him, maintaining eye contact. “For a woman that acts like the queen of Manhattan, Blair expects very little. Just a charming man who can see Blair hidden under her shell, yet capable enough not to be intimidated by the Waldorf name.” He smiled as he noticed her blush. “Like someone else—“

She interrupted her with a desperate kiss, clearly not wanting him to point out the similarities. He chuckled happily.

“So, does that mean your little plans for your new home is delayed,” she said.

“Not necessarily,” he said. “Most of the work is already done, and I had hired a team to gather the grapes. It’ll be handled.”

“Good, because I would have some select words if you tried to send me to farm. I won’t live in the wilderness.”

He chuckled. Only Georgina could call a luxury lake estate wilderness without a hint of irony.

“Don’t worry, I won’t drag you away from your work,” he teased before he leaned deeper into the kiss. He was getting very fond of Georgina, which was enough for others to call him crazy.

She was amazing. The problem with her was keeping her crazy contained once she got attached. Luckily, he was confident.

He kissed her intensely. He still had some time.

&&&

In New York, Blair chose to pick him up with a limo despite the early hour. He greeted her with a kiss before settling down at her side.

Sharing the details of Serena’s latest obsession didn’t take long, mostly because there wasn’t a lot to talk about. At its core, it wasn’t just that Serena was enthralled with a married man, but that said man came from an important family that was currently trying to win an election.

If Serena’s involvement would damage the standing of the van der Bilt family, it could have become a long-term problem. A rational point would be to blame the man who was running for Congress for cheating, but expecting that kind of self-awareness from a family that called themselves Manhattan Royalty without a hint of irony was a fool’s errand.

“You know we can probably solve it without me seducing her, right?” he offered.

Blair looked excited at the idea. “We can?”

“Sure. Serena clearly has the attention of a toddler. All we need is to arrange something shinier. Nate clearly has a crush on her. How about we arrange it? If they get locked in a room, they will come out as a couple.”

Blair sighed. “It won’t work. Nate never had the spine to fight against any kind of pressure. Even if we pulled something like that, the moment Tripp showed up, Nate would fold like a wet napkin, and we would have a van der Bill civil war in addition to a scandal.”

“She’s a mess, isn’t she?” he asked.

“Yes. Especially since she decided to get ‘independent’ from her family.”

He acted surprised. “Isn’t she working for a PR firm, which hired her exclusively for her Manhattan connections?”

Blair sighed. “Somehow, she doesn’t see the irony.”

“Shocker,” he responded. If he were being fair, Serena had some good qualities, but self-awareness was not one of them.

She hugged him. “I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable,” she whispered. “I thought…”

He kissed her. “Look, the idea of seducing Serena is not exactly a horrifying thought for me. She’s fun, and she’s beautiful. Imagining her under me, moaning for more is not exactly a nightmare. My problem is you,” he said.

“Me?”

“Because you’re still bitter about her stealing your high school boyfriend and disappearing for a year,” he said, then paused. “And, if I were to guess, you’re far more mad about disappearing than the cheating part.”

She buried her face in his chest. “Maybe. Does it matter?”

“You desperately want to save her, while also resenting her. Hardly something that will help you feel comfortable with our relationship,” he said.

She sighed. “You’re weird.”

“And proud of it,” he said. “But, how about we change the topic? How’s the design going? You haven’t shared anything when I was away.”

She sighed. “Not good. I tried to do something outside my mother’s designs, but everything I do is derivative and boring. I feel terrible.”

He kissed her cheek. “First of all, it has been merely a week since you started, and you’re trying to change your whole design philosophy,” he reminded her. “Also, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“What do you mean it’s not a bad thing? You’re the one that convinced me to launch my own brand.”

“Yes, your brand. Not necessarily your designs.” She looked shocked. “If you want to be a designer, why are you at NYU studying business, and not at Parsons or the Fashion Institute?” he asked.

She sighed. “I don’t know.”

He kissed her cheek. “You’re an excellent eye for fashion, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to design. And, even if it does, it requires effort. Being the executive designer and running a business are two different challenges. One that even Tom Ford and Donatella Versace had failed.”

She sighed. “I thought about it, but the world is not crawling with genius designers. I even tried to bring little Jenny on board, but she refused.”

“Jenny?” he asked.

“Jenny Humphrey, Dan’s little sister, and the current queen of Constance Billard, my previous throne,” she said. “She’s too distracted by her new boyfriend, apparently.”

He chuckled. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say you offered something like internship, honor of working for you with no pay.” That made Blair shuffle. “Your reaction tells me she’s good enough to make that insulting.”

Blair sighed. “She’s good enough that my mother tried to pass a few of her designs as her own.”

He chuckled. “And you tried to get her to work as an unpaid intern. Let me guess. No credit either.”

Blair shuffled. “When you say it like that, it sounds bad.”

“It’s more than bad,” he said. “True creative talent is rare. Either you offer them enough incentives, or even when they start working for you, they will be poached by the first opportunity. When they resent you for not valuing their talents, they won’t stay even if you match the offer.”

“That’s not how Waldorf Designs operates,” she said.

He smiled. “And, tell me, how’s the growth of Waldorf designs for the last ten years?”

Blair shuffled. “Fine, you might have a point that my mother’s business strategy is not exactly groundbreaking. But I still want to do everything on my own.”

He shrugged. “If that’s what you want, sure. As long as you realize there’s a tradeoff. Control for the sake of control will kill your business. Do you think I get involved in purchasing decisions Haley makes?”

“Fair,” she said, then paused. “But doesn’t it mean the workshop is a waste? You have worked so hard to create that for me.”

“Of course not,” he said. “First, regardless of whether they are your designs, or you’re working with a designer, you still need a space to actually craft the dresses, and precision equipment is necessary for that. Second, it’s not a binary choice, that either you’re the owner, or the designer. Franky, having a commercial lead that actually knows fashion and understands design might be more valuable than having good designer that can also do the business side.”

She sighed. “I should get angry when you call me an okay designer,” she said. “But, I can understand the desire not to get bankrupt.”

He chuckled. “Blair. When I say okay, I’m not saying useless. You’re still good enough to build a design house that could be valued in millions in a year or two, and if you put your full focus, even without Waldorf name, valuation around ten million before you graduate is not that much of a challenge.”

“That’s not a small amount for a company that built from scratch, especially for valuation,” she said.

“It’s not, but tell me. Are your ambitions really that small?” he challenged her. “Do you want to build a business that when your mother sees, she’ll pat you on the head and treat it like a meager achievement? Or do you want to prove that you’re truly amazing?”

He wasn’t just blowing hot air. Blair had potential, not to mention her name and connections would truly supercharge the brand after the reveal. The media would love the story of mother-daughter rivalry if they played it correctly.

All she needed was to learn how to stop self-sabotaging.

“You trust little Jenny that much, huh? Should I be worried?”

He laughed. “Of course not. I haven’t even seen her designs, remember. But, I trust your judgment. If you’re calling her a genius, then she must be one. You’re not exactly generous with praise.”

“Good answer,” she said. Then, she showed a few from Jenny’s designs, and his eyes widened. They were incredible, far better than the placeholders in the show. No wonder more than once, people tried to poach her designs in the show.

At the same time, Blair talked about Jenny.

“She’s good, but I have a condition if you want to work with her,” he said.

“What?” Blair said.

“Don’t give her a key to my penthouse, and never leave me alone with her in a private setting,” he said. “Actually, even better. Never bring her to the penthouse.” Blair raised an eyebrow. “Look, she’s a sixteen-year-old who probably spent the last few years idealizing you and resenting you at the same time. When you two have a fight that brings those past feelings, what do you think she would do?”

Blair’s eyes widened. “She will try to—“

“Exactly. Then, I will refuse, she’ll resent you even more, probably pull some kind of stupid sabotage that she didn’t consider fully, causing a lot of unnecessary trouble.”

“I don’t think…” Blair started, then paused, burying her face in her hands. “Of course she would.”

“Yep. She would.”

While they were talking, she also checked Gossip Girl, which just shared Jenny and her new ‘flame’.

He recognized the man from the show. Damien Dalgaard, the son of the Belgian Ambassador, who used his diplomatic access to smuggle drugs; and used his free time to turn underage girls into drug mules.

A man who needed to be dealt with immediately. He always pitied young Jenny in the show, as no one was fair to her. Her family ignored her, her brother had more important things to focus on than her emotional breakdown, and even Blair chose to blame her instead of Chuck for Chuck’s betrayal.

He hummed, a quick plan appearing in his mind. One that he could combine. “Look, how about we kill two birds with one stone? I’m sure Jenny and her mysterious partner will go to a bar or a cafe. Tell Nate to bring Serena to the same location, while I’ll call a model. I’m sure Serena will immediately angle to steal the work of the model, and Jenny will chase it as well.”

Blair’s eyes widened, then she kissed him hard. “I can’t believe the trouble you’re going to go through to avoid a threesome,” she teased.

“I want you comfortable with our relationship, far more than I want to sleep with Serena,” he said. It was such a small concession that it shouldn’t even matter, yet Blair treated it as if he had just given her a priceless diamond necklace.

For the rest of the trip, they didn’t talk as long as one didn’t count moans of faster and harder than talking, using the privacy of the limo to his benefit.

At home, while Blair started making calls to arrange it, he sent a message to Amy, giving her the tip about the drug deal. He didn’t send it to Rosa, because she actually took the week off, and was having a roadtrip with Robin. He didn’t want to interrupt that with a drug bust.

Ordinarily, it would have been enough, but Damien’s status as a diplomat made it complicated. It would get even worse if Lily, Jenny’s extremely rich stepmother who was also Serena’s mother, interfered.

So, he called Carina. “Hello beautiful,” he said. “Can you be in New York tonight?”

“Work, or fun?”

“Both,” he responded, smirking.