Disclaimer: Still Not King. Err... Mine. Still Not Mine.
A/N: Special thanks to Jaz for doing the beta thing even in the face of Christmas, and Havok for assuring me it doesn't suck.
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Emma Frost was having a bad day. She simply wasn't the type that enjoyed a full house. Worse, the house was a mansion. Worse than that, the people overflowing it at the moment were mostly mutants, many of them powerful ones. Even worse than THAT was that many of said powerful mutants didn't like her very much and had, in fact, fought her in the past.
And to top it all off, it was Christmas, and they were being cheerful. The X-men mansion was filled with dozens of cheerful, powerful mutants, and none of them bothered to practice mental discipline. The result to Emma's telepathic senses was rather comparable to having a pack of four year olds led by a singing Barney the Purple Dinosaur stampeding through her skull. It would have been enough to send a lesser telepath running. Emma simply gave a fake smile, sent some sharp insults toward a few of the most cheerful ones, and retreated into Xavier's office.
The office had to be the one place in this madhouse none of the cheerful mutants would normally enter without Xavier's invitation. Which meant it was safe, as Xavier was downstairs mingling with the crowd. Emma pegged the bloody cripple as probably the most cheerful mutant of them all. Well, if it meant there was a quiet place in the mansion, Emma wasn't going to complain about him too much.
Besides, there were bright sides. Frost Enterprises made good money off the overcommercialized holiday. The weather outside was a drizzling rain that matched her mood perfectly. And Xavier's office held a particularly well stocked minibar that Emma was currently performing a hostile takeover on.
As for everything else, Scrooge said it best. Bah. Humbug.
Not satisfied with the bottle she had been trying, Emma moved a few bottles aside, to get to where she knew Xavier kept the good ones, then selected a red wine at random. She poured a glass and moved to the window. Another bright side. This room probably had the best view of the grounds in the entire mansion, dreary as it was at the moment. Sipping her glass, Emma contently looked out, then shifted into her diamond form.
Emma sighed in pleasure. A few precious moments of silence. Having been one for years, Emma felt only a telepath could truly appreciate being alone. The temporary absence of the constant battering on the psychic shields that stood between a sane telepath and insanity was quite relieving. Being able to steal a few of these moments was very high on her list of reasons she was grateful for her diamond form.
Then the door opened.
"Hey Frosty."
Leave it to Jubilee to disturb a perfectly good quiet moment. Emma shifted back to flesh, and sipped her drink again before slightly turning her head to gaze at the young woman intruding on her peace. The same stare that had reduced some of her business competitors to begging for mercy had the effect it usually had on Jubilee. That is, none at all. Jubilee crossed the room toward her without even bothering to look deterred.
"Jubilation. What are you doing here?"
Jubilee's voice was all too cheerful as she replied. "Spreading the Christmas cheer."
Emma pretended to look around the room for others, then raised a sardonic eyebrow at Jubilee. "To me? I'm touched."
"You should be, Miss Grinch. See? Floppy Santa hat and everything."
"Everything?"
Emma looked Jubilee over. There was something different about Jubilee. Ah yes. Her clothing was different from her usual attire. If one didn't count the Santa hat, one could say the simple dress she wore was tasteful. Emma vaguely wondered what else Jubilee meant, then decided it wasn't important.
"Too bad. I am not in the mood for cheerfulness. Now leave."
Content that the situation was back under control, Emma turned back to the window, and brought her glass back to her lips. She could hear Jubilee as she retreated to the door, then the satisfying click as the door closed. Blissful silence once more.
For about fifteen seconds.
"Looks cold out there."
Emma almost dropped her glass from shock as Jubilee's voice suddenly sounded in her right ear. Emma silently cursed Jubilee's ability to consistently not show up as a mental presence on her telepathic radar, then Wolverine for teaching Jubilee not to make noise as she walked, then Jubilee herself for failing to disappear. She then once again turned to face the intruder, after having slowly put her glass on the window sill. Just to make sure she wouldn't give in to the temptation of using a fairly good wine as an anti-Jubilee weapon.
"Jubilation. I hope you have a good reason to persist in annoying me?"
"Why Frosty. You say that as if you're upset with my being here."
Narrowing her eyes, Emma coldly noted: "How perceptive. And that after I told you to leave. Why would I NOT be upset?"
"'cause of what I swiped from Santa's little blue bamfing elf?"
Jubilee dangled something in front of her eyes, then swiftly moved it higher. Emma's mind managed a shocked 'mistletoe?' in the second before her body shoved it aside and noted 'Hey, that's a very nice kiss we're getting here. Pay attention!'.
And Emma did. It WAS very nice. It was soft and it was intense and it was promising and it was perfect and it was... Really not the right time, place, or person. The white-clad telepath jerked back, struggling to regain her usual icy composure.
"Jubilation Lee, what do you think you're doing?"
"Let me spell this out for you Frosty. There's just you..." Jubilee whispered into Emma's ears, the soft feeling of Jubilee's breath sending warm tingles over her skin.
"...and me..." The tingles were slowly spreading from Emma's cheek, making her skin feel sensitive as they traveled downward. Emma tried to fight them back and regain a measure of control. Unfortunately, the tingles got reinforcements as they set up additional landing zones where Jubilee's hands were resting.
"...and the fact that the Victoria's Secret ad you're currently wearing is the only underwear in the room." Emma shivered. The tingles skipped her stomach altogether and settled down comfortably below it, where they threw a victory party. They'd apparently invited all her hormones, and the little traitors seemed to be enjoying themselves. It didn't help that Jubilee decided to kiss her again.
It took Emma a considerable longer time to break the kiss this time. "Jubilee, this is not right. You're my student, and even if you weren't we must consider -"
"Emma."
Jubilee using her actual name was enough to stop Emma in mid-rant. Emma raised an eyebrow at Jubilee. "Yes?"
Jubilee took another step forward, effectively trapping Emma between the window and her own body. "You talk too much."
Emma opened her mouth to voice her objections at being considered too talkative by JUBILEE of all people, but was silenced as Jubilee took advantage of both the opportunity and Emma herself, resuming their kiss and deepening it.
'Oh very well then.' Emma surrendered telepathically, not quite managing to keep her contentment with the situation out of her mental voice.
This time, the kiss wasn't broken.