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abvjTitle: A Summary of Moments
Summary: It makes more sense than one would think -- the two of them.
Rating: pg -13
Author's Notes: 1,516 words. For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lexiesloan . I haven't seen this show in years except for bits and pieces so I'm going to go ahead and label it slightly AU. Not exactly what you had in mind, I'm sure, Katie, but I hope you still like it? Be gentle, please -- I'm rusty with just about every fandom these days. All mistakes are mine, these characters are not.
[prologue]
Serena and Nate get married on a quiet Saturday in September on Martha's Vineyard and it's everything Blair would have expected out of something as grand as the noble Archibalds and fabulous Van Der Woodsen's joining two empires together for better, for worse.
There are hand crafted Armani bridesmaid dresses that were too floral in color to be tasteful, Vera Wang sweeping over Serena's tiny frame in all the right places, and too many people to even begin to count. It had Lily written all over it -- her touch seeping into every perfectly placed flower and every flawless stitch of fabric. It's a testament, maybe, to how who they are now is so utterly independent of who they once were because Serena just smiles and laughs and lets the her of yesteryear filled with resentment and rebellion fade into oblivion as she makes a promise of forever and ever that Blair is almost certain she has no idea how to keep.
And Blair does what she has always done and stands next to her once forever friend, bites the inside of her cheek as she smiles flawlessly. She stands next to Serena and tries oh so hard not to be bitter as she thinks back over the years, from now all the way back to day one, and loses track of how many times she's stood by Serena's side, fierce and loyal down to her bones and how many times Serena, well, didn't.
The minister pronounces them husband and wife and there is a tinge of something in the back of her throat as she watches her once knight in shining armor kiss her once best friend. It sticks in her throat for one second, two second as she attempts to swallow it down before eventually subsiding completely.
Blair would be lying if she said she didn't know this day would eventually come. It's just one of those things, really. The little nuances you learn to just eventually accept and stop questioning. The sky is blue, two plus two equals four, and Nate and Serena are two parts of a pretty whole, an epic love story that no one could ever compete with.
It just took her a little longer than everyone else to figure it out.
i.
Humphrey corners her somewhere after the cutting of the cake, passing her a glass of champagne as he gulps down his own and her eyes scan the crowd for familiar faces out of habit. Instinctively she takes a step back and to the side -- leopards can't change their spots and Blair Waldorf's number one priority has been, and will always be, self preservation.
"Some party, huh?" he says softly, pulling at his crooked tie in a way that is so endearingly Humphrey and she closes the distance she put between them and shifts her weight from left to right.
"Sad it isn't you?"
He pauses, cocks his head to the side and smiles, teeth and all. "No," he laughs, grimacing slightly as he actually tastes his champagne this time. Blair snickers under her breath out of sheer habit. "It's better this way."
Blair hides her smile behind the wine glass.
ii.
It is not really too out of the realm of possibilities, her and Humphrey. Not essentially anyway. She's a bitch and just about everyone in the known universe knows it. He's a pompous, conceited asshole -- he just knows how to bury it better than most. Hides behind his toothy grins and fading flannel, but at the end of the day he spends just as much time perfecting his a-social, too cool for popularity personality as she does plotting her next move towards becoming part of the official social elite of the Upper East Side.
It starts somewhere during their sophomore year at NYU.
Hatred breathes familiarity for the both of them and Vanessa is gone, Chuck, too (Serena was never really there, mind you, Always seemingly stuck in her own little world and somewhere along the way Blair had come to accept that this was always going to be the norm) and something starts to shift.
A common 8 AM class turns into coffee just about every Tuesday and Thursday. They do study groups and dinner at the commons and by winter break they have gone from hatred to mere mutual dislike and by summer vacation they had actually managed to have grown towards something akin to friendship.
It's natural, the progression from sworn enemies to friends, from friends to something more. Natural, in a way, but also too different from anything she's ever known to make her feel comfortable at first. Suddenly she doesn't spend her time worrying about the next time he might screw this up; doesn't spend lazy Sunday mornings counting the good days on her fingers and toes in preparation for the bad ones.
It's different from anything she's ever known. No better, no worse, just different. Mature in a way she could definitely see herself growing accustomed to.
When she looks back on it, however, they have always been more alike than they are different - too smart for their own good, more sensitive than they would both would ever admit to anyone.
Both on the wrong side of a love story that they could never, ever compete with.
And the only real surprising aspect of it all is that it took them so long to get on the same page.
iii.
There is also a kiss somewhere in there that marks the true commencement -- and many more after that -- but Blair doesn't like to spend too much time thinking about it because the memory tastes like cheap vodka and diet coke and it is so far from who they are to each other now that it makes her stomach turn.
iv.
Dan is entertaining her with ideas for the novel he's working on -- arms failing and voice getting louder the longer he continues. She laughs, the sound crinkling the edges of her eyes as she taps her finger against her seventh glass of champagne and contemplates another.
She catches Serena looking at them from across the dance floor, always blissfully unaware, eyes narrowing in concern.
Blair laughs even harder, raising her glass towards Serena in her version of a mock solute and offers a small smile in return. She turns her attention back to Dan, still going on about his heroine and antagonist and the epic battle of wits that will ensue and she leans in, all innocent smiles and wide eyes and mumbles a soft you ready to go?
He laughs.
"Uh, yes."
v.
Her back against the door, his knee between hers and they are here more often than not -- clandestine meetings full of quiet sighs and soft kisses. Her fingers curl and fist into the fabric of his shirt and then release, traveling up over his shoulders to his neck, to the back of his head and tangle in the short hair there. He's gentler than Chuck, steadier than Nate and most beautiful in the way he pulls back, left hand palming her cheek, smile steady on his lips as he regards her in the most lovely way.
Blair leans in and kisses him again, hands reaching down to untuck his shirt, reaching for the warm skin underneath. His fingers travel down, down, down dipping under pink floral satin, fingers pressing into the skin of her bare thigh before pausing as he buries her face into the crook of her neck.
"God," he breathes, and the sound vibrates deep in her bones and she's way past ready. "I've missed you."
"You're sounding awfully sentimental there, Humphrey," she replies, teeth teasing his earlobe and his hand leaves her thigh and reaches for her face again, lips sweeping over hers softly, tongue teasing hers open.
"I thought the occasion called for it," he says with a shrug and she rolls her eyes.
Dan leans into kiss her again, but she pulls away, laying her palm flat against his shoulder, using him for leverage as she reaches under her dress, fingers hooking under the edge of her underwear. They've been past half-meant sentiments and grand declarations for years and Blair has never been one to waste time.
She pauses, bangs sweeping across her forehead as she looks up at him, grin permanently etched on her lips.
"You going to do this or should I?"
He's laughing when he kisses her again.
[epilogue]
In the morning Dan buys her coffee at some tiny shop downtown and they sit at a table in the corner, him reading the Post and her the most recent copy of Cosmo she could get her hands on.
After her second refill Blair catches sight of her watch and sighs, foot bumping his leg under the table as she shifts in her seat.
“We should probably get going.”
Dan doesn’t bother looking up as he mumbles, “We’ve got time,” behind his cup of coffee, smile folding around the ceramic rim.
Blair smiles softly as she reaches for the society pages.
Summary: It makes more sense than one would think -- the two of them.
Rating: pg -13
Author's Notes: 1,516 words. For
lexiesloan . I haven't seen this show in years except for bits and pieces so I'm going to go ahead and label it slightly AU. Not exactly what you had in mind, I'm sure, Katie, but I hope you still like it? Be gentle, please -- I'm rusty with just about every fandom these days. All mistakes are mine, these characters are not. [prologue]
Serena and Nate get married on a quiet Saturday in September on Martha's Vineyard and it's everything Blair would have expected out of something as grand as the noble Archibalds and fabulous Van Der Woodsen's joining two empires together for better, for worse.
There are hand crafted Armani bridesmaid dresses that were too floral in color to be tasteful, Vera Wang sweeping over Serena's tiny frame in all the right places, and too many people to even begin to count. It had Lily written all over it -- her touch seeping into every perfectly placed flower and every flawless stitch of fabric. It's a testament, maybe, to how who they are now is so utterly independent of who they once were because Serena just smiles and laughs and lets the her of yesteryear filled with resentment and rebellion fade into oblivion as she makes a promise of forever and ever that Blair is almost certain she has no idea how to keep.
And Blair does what she has always done and stands next to her once forever friend, bites the inside of her cheek as she smiles flawlessly. She stands next to Serena and tries oh so hard not to be bitter as she thinks back over the years, from now all the way back to day one, and loses track of how many times she's stood by Serena's side, fierce and loyal down to her bones and how many times Serena, well, didn't.
The minister pronounces them husband and wife and there is a tinge of something in the back of her throat as she watches her once knight in shining armor kiss her once best friend. It sticks in her throat for one second, two second as she attempts to swallow it down before eventually subsiding completely.
Blair would be lying if she said she didn't know this day would eventually come. It's just one of those things, really. The little nuances you learn to just eventually accept and stop questioning. The sky is blue, two plus two equals four, and Nate and Serena are two parts of a pretty whole, an epic love story that no one could ever compete with.
It just took her a little longer than everyone else to figure it out.
i.
Humphrey corners her somewhere after the cutting of the cake, passing her a glass of champagne as he gulps down his own and her eyes scan the crowd for familiar faces out of habit. Instinctively she takes a step back and to the side -- leopards can't change their spots and Blair Waldorf's number one priority has been, and will always be, self preservation.
"Some party, huh?" he says softly, pulling at his crooked tie in a way that is so endearingly Humphrey and she closes the distance she put between them and shifts her weight from left to right.
"Sad it isn't you?"
He pauses, cocks his head to the side and smiles, teeth and all. "No," he laughs, grimacing slightly as he actually tastes his champagne this time. Blair snickers under her breath out of sheer habit. "It's better this way."
Blair hides her smile behind the wine glass.
ii.
It is not really too out of the realm of possibilities, her and Humphrey. Not essentially anyway. She's a bitch and just about everyone in the known universe knows it. He's a pompous, conceited asshole -- he just knows how to bury it better than most. Hides behind his toothy grins and fading flannel, but at the end of the day he spends just as much time perfecting his a-social, too cool for popularity personality as she does plotting her next move towards becoming part of the official social elite of the Upper East Side.
It starts somewhere during their sophomore year at NYU.
Hatred breathes familiarity for the both of them and Vanessa is gone, Chuck, too (Serena was never really there, mind you, Always seemingly stuck in her own little world and somewhere along the way Blair had come to accept that this was always going to be the norm) and something starts to shift.
A common 8 AM class turns into coffee just about every Tuesday and Thursday. They do study groups and dinner at the commons and by winter break they have gone from hatred to mere mutual dislike and by summer vacation they had actually managed to have grown towards something akin to friendship.
It's natural, the progression from sworn enemies to friends, from friends to something more. Natural, in a way, but also too different from anything she's ever known to make her feel comfortable at first. Suddenly she doesn't spend her time worrying about the next time he might screw this up; doesn't spend lazy Sunday mornings counting the good days on her fingers and toes in preparation for the bad ones.
It's different from anything she's ever known. No better, no worse, just different. Mature in a way she could definitely see herself growing accustomed to.
When she looks back on it, however, they have always been more alike than they are different - too smart for their own good, more sensitive than they would both would ever admit to anyone.
Both on the wrong side of a love story that they could never, ever compete with.
And the only real surprising aspect of it all is that it took them so long to get on the same page.
iii.
There is also a kiss somewhere in there that marks the true commencement -- and many more after that -- but Blair doesn't like to spend too much time thinking about it because the memory tastes like cheap vodka and diet coke and it is so far from who they are to each other now that it makes her stomach turn.
iv.
Dan is entertaining her with ideas for the novel he's working on -- arms failing and voice getting louder the longer he continues. She laughs, the sound crinkling the edges of her eyes as she taps her finger against her seventh glass of champagne and contemplates another.
She catches Serena looking at them from across the dance floor, always blissfully unaware, eyes narrowing in concern.
Blair laughs even harder, raising her glass towards Serena in her version of a mock solute and offers a small smile in return. She turns her attention back to Dan, still going on about his heroine and antagonist and the epic battle of wits that will ensue and she leans in, all innocent smiles and wide eyes and mumbles a soft you ready to go?
He laughs.
"Uh, yes."
v.
Her back against the door, his knee between hers and they are here more often than not -- clandestine meetings full of quiet sighs and soft kisses. Her fingers curl and fist into the fabric of his shirt and then release, traveling up over his shoulders to his neck, to the back of his head and tangle in the short hair there. He's gentler than Chuck, steadier than Nate and most beautiful in the way he pulls back, left hand palming her cheek, smile steady on his lips as he regards her in the most lovely way.
Blair leans in and kisses him again, hands reaching down to untuck his shirt, reaching for the warm skin underneath. His fingers travel down, down, down dipping under pink floral satin, fingers pressing into the skin of her bare thigh before pausing as he buries her face into the crook of her neck.
"God," he breathes, and the sound vibrates deep in her bones and she's way past ready. "I've missed you."
"You're sounding awfully sentimental there, Humphrey," she replies, teeth teasing his earlobe and his hand leaves her thigh and reaches for her face again, lips sweeping over hers softly, tongue teasing hers open.
"I thought the occasion called for it," he says with a shrug and she rolls her eyes.
Dan leans into kiss her again, but she pulls away, laying her palm flat against his shoulder, using him for leverage as she reaches under her dress, fingers hooking under the edge of her underwear. They've been past half-meant sentiments and grand declarations for years and Blair has never been one to waste time.
She pauses, bangs sweeping across her forehead as she looks up at him, grin permanently etched on her lips.
"You going to do this or should I?"
He's laughing when he kisses her again.
[epilogue]
In the morning Dan buys her coffee at some tiny shop downtown and they sit at a table in the corner, him reading the Post and her the most recent copy of Cosmo she could get her hands on.
After her second refill Blair catches sight of her watch and sighs, foot bumping his leg under the table as she shifts in her seat.
“We should probably get going.”
Dan doesn’t bother looking up as he mumbles, “We’ve got time,” behind his cup of coffee, smile folding around the ceramic rim.
Blair smiles softly as she reaches for the society pages.
