Fic - billet-doux (Blair/Dan) pg, 1/1
Aug. 30th, 2011 09:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
abvjTitle: billet-doux
Summary: Their differences are what make them work; their similarities keep them together. Blair takes what she can get.
Rating: pg
Author's Notes: 694 words Fufure fic. No real series spoilers since I haven't watched this show in years. For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
leobrat. It's been a while since I've written these two, so con-crit is both welcome and appreciated. All mistakes are mine. These characters, however, are not.
Summary: Their differences are what make them work; their similarities keep them together. Blair takes what she can get.
Rating: pg
Author's Notes: 694 words Fufure fic. No real series spoilers since I haven't watched this show in years. For
leobrat. It's been a while since I've written these two, so con-crit is both welcome and appreciated. All mistakes are mine. These characters, however, are not.At twenty-five Dan has a quarter-life crisis that could rival her fathers. His first novel, while brilliant, is floundering spectacularly. The New York Times calls it inspired, but amateurish. Dan sees this as a failure. Blair sees it as nothing but an opportunity for improvement and eventually convinces him of this as well.
For his birthday she takes him to Europe for the first time to take his mind off of it, to help him move on and forward. They travel to Britain, Ireland, and Scotland and hike through mountains and towns and cities she’s never seen so he can visit the homes of the authors he reveres so much. They read the works of Shelley and Dickens and Shakespeare in the places they were penned. Dan geekily refers to it as an out-of-body experience. Blair just likes watching that slow, beautiful smile spread across his handsome mouth as he mumbles the words of Hamlet in the eerily replicated Globe. Blair sees a side of the continent she never has before, the side that doesn’t include five star hotels and Egyptian cotton sheets. She finds she loves it even more because he’s there with her, right by her side.
On his actual birthday, though, they find themselves in France, travelling to Monte Carlo because she convinces him that he would like the Opera if he just gave it a try (and she’s already bought tickets and they were expensive and after enduring weeks of what he calls the true backpacking experience, she really wants a hot shower and soft sheets to land in at the end of the night. She doesn’t tell him this though, even though he most definitely suspects her ulterior motives. He always does.) Blair knows he’s just humoring her, that when he leans in and murmurs okay against the corner of his mouth, it’s giving in, not making a choice.
Blair takes what she can get, whatever he’s willing to offer.
That morning they walk around the grounds of the Hotel de Paris and beyond, his hand solid in hers as the sun peaks over the horizon. Dan revels in the architecture and history, the vibrant colors brought alive by the early colors of dawn. He is truly astounded by all the beauty the city has to offer. Blair points out places she recognizes from Grace Kelly’s Monte Carlo: C'est La Rose and wears her Audrey-era sunglasses with pride and glee.
When it’s 6:27 exactly, she sings him Happy Birthday in flawless French. He kisses her softly, his lips familiar and warm as they spread wide under hers. His sigh is happy, content as it leaves his mouth. Blair swallows it whole and wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her, reveling in his warmth.
“See,” she says giddily after he pulls away. “Didn’t I say you’d like it here?”
Dan just laughs. He never likes to admit when she’s right.
This is the thing that Blair has come to appreciate the most about Dan – the fact that he is who he is, no questions asked, in any space and at any time. Dan is almost always sure when she is not, always strong when she’s struggling to find her footing. Most importantly, Dan knows when she is these things, when she is weak and doubting, because he can see past the façade and carefully crafted pretenses, the wit and malice she spouts of an effort to hide the truth.
The thing that Blair has come to love the most about Dan is that he offers her his strength in the simplest ways – his shoulder against hers, the gentle squeeze of his fingers around her own, his soft, toothy smile when he thinks nobody else is looking. Dan offers her everything he has and never asks for anything in return and allows her to take and take and take until he has almost nothing left. When she is given the opportunity, when she is given a chance, she does the same for him.
It’s why the work as well as they do – their differences counteract at first, then eventually combine to form a near-perfect, solid, indestructible whole.
For his birthday she takes him to Europe for the first time to take his mind off of it, to help him move on and forward. They travel to Britain, Ireland, and Scotland and hike through mountains and towns and cities she’s never seen so he can visit the homes of the authors he reveres so much. They read the works of Shelley and Dickens and Shakespeare in the places they were penned. Dan geekily refers to it as an out-of-body experience. Blair just likes watching that slow, beautiful smile spread across his handsome mouth as he mumbles the words of Hamlet in the eerily replicated Globe. Blair sees a side of the continent she never has before, the side that doesn’t include five star hotels and Egyptian cotton sheets. She finds she loves it even more because he’s there with her, right by her side.
On his actual birthday, though, they find themselves in France, travelling to Monte Carlo because she convinces him that he would like the Opera if he just gave it a try (and she’s already bought tickets and they were expensive and after enduring weeks of what he calls the true backpacking experience, she really wants a hot shower and soft sheets to land in at the end of the night. She doesn’t tell him this though, even though he most definitely suspects her ulterior motives. He always does.) Blair knows he’s just humoring her, that when he leans in and murmurs okay against the corner of his mouth, it’s giving in, not making a choice.
Blair takes what she can get, whatever he’s willing to offer.
That morning they walk around the grounds of the Hotel de Paris and beyond, his hand solid in hers as the sun peaks over the horizon. Dan revels in the architecture and history, the vibrant colors brought alive by the early colors of dawn. He is truly astounded by all the beauty the city has to offer. Blair points out places she recognizes from Grace Kelly’s Monte Carlo: C'est La Rose and wears her Audrey-era sunglasses with pride and glee.
When it’s 6:27 exactly, she sings him Happy Birthday in flawless French. He kisses her softly, his lips familiar and warm as they spread wide under hers. His sigh is happy, content as it leaves his mouth. Blair swallows it whole and wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her, reveling in his warmth.
“See,” she says giddily after he pulls away. “Didn’t I say you’d like it here?”
Dan just laughs. He never likes to admit when she’s right.
This is the thing that Blair has come to appreciate the most about Dan – the fact that he is who he is, no questions asked, in any space and at any time. Dan is almost always sure when she is not, always strong when she’s struggling to find her footing. Most importantly, Dan knows when she is these things, when she is weak and doubting, because he can see past the façade and carefully crafted pretenses, the wit and malice she spouts of an effort to hide the truth.
The thing that Blair has come to love the most about Dan is that he offers her his strength in the simplest ways – his shoulder against hers, the gentle squeeze of his fingers around her own, his soft, toothy smile when he thinks nobody else is looking. Dan offers her everything he has and never asks for anything in return and allows her to take and take and take until he has almost nothing left. When she is given the opportunity, when she is given a chance, she does the same for him.
It’s why the work as well as they do – their differences counteract at first, then eventually combine to form a near-perfect, solid, indestructible whole.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-30 02:23 pm (UTC)I haven't seen the show in years, either but for some reason, I fell in love with Blair/Dan this year and whenever I can get good fic, I grab it. I'm so happy to see you try your hand at it because I love warm, fuzzy feeling this creates and the way you observe them. Thanks for sharing!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-31 12:56 am (UTC)Thanks for reading! Glad you enjoyed it.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-30 04:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-31 12:57 am (UTC)Thanks for reading!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-30 06:41 pm (UTC)This is so lovely and perfect!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-31 12:57 am (UTC)Also: I love your old school icon. Those were the days!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-30 11:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-31 12:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-31 01:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-31 01:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-31 01:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-31 01:41 am (UTC)I'm really liking the idea of the show actually going there. I've always shipped them, but I never thought it would happen. Maybe I'll pick it up this season, who knows! I could not like any of the new stuff I'm DVRing.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-31 01:43 am (UTC)I mean if you wanted to jump back into GG this season, I don't think you would be too confused...And you could always ask if you were :)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-01 11:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-31 06:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-31 03:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-01 04:10 am (UTC)They really had amazing moments, there's always YT to catch up with them and leave out all the rest...
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-01 11:55 am (UTC)The last line is a little cheesy but the rest of the story keeps it from being overly so
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-01 04:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-02 03:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-03 02:46 am (UTC)rec {2011} [fandom] (pairings) fanfiction recommendations
Date: 2012-05-28 05:30 pm (UTC)