A/N: So this has been sitting on my laptop for ages now and I thought it was finally time that I put it out there. I'm an avid Chair fan, but there was just something about Dair that intrigued me & still does. I had an idea for where this story could go eventually, but we shall see, I might just leave it as a one shot. Any accidental almost quotes from One Tree Hill/Dawson's Creek or anywhere else I obviously do not own, or Dan & Blair & anything else GG related.
Dan sat on the steps a cup of coffee steaming in his hand, the metal cold against his skin, his feet dangling above the calm city street below him. It was dawn and the city was just waking, a man dressed in pinstripe hastily scrambled to the underground, a fresh copy of the New York times safely tucked under his arm; a yellow cab, the signature of Brooklyn and the Upper East Side slowly drifting north towards the river; a tabby cat yawning opposite as the first glimmers of sunshine warmed it's skin. This was Dan's favourite time of day, when he could just watch the world and escape. He could be anyone he wanted to be in those moments. He could think. Sometimes he felt like it was his secret, like he was the only one in the whole of New York that managed to catch this fleeting moment in a city that never slept.
He felt her sit down beside him and was immediately reminded that it wasn't just his secret anymore, this silence of the city. He couldn't quite remember when it was that she'd decided to stay or if it really even mattered, but she was here now and quite frankly he was glad of the company, even if it was Blair Waldorf. They'd fallen into a routine of him writing, (pretending to write); her being irked out by being in Brooklyn,(loving it and not being alone) and somewhere along the way realising they didn't really hate each other all that much, in fact they had more in common than either cared to admit. She'd got used to Dan and his unusual, if a little creepy, desire to get up ridiculously early and watch the world go by. In the beginning he had tried to be quiet as he tiptoed around the apartment, but after a while Blair had become intrigued by what all the fuss was about and joined him. They sat there making up stories of where people were going and who they were, until one of them finally felt the need to move. Normally Dan would initiate the morning banter, knowing full well how much it annoyed Blair that he was so chirpy this early in the morning, '6am is for sleep , not Good Morning America chit-chat Humphrey', she had told him. But this morning he was uncharacteristically quiet and it was making even her a little anxious and Blair Waldorf didn't get anxious over silence. No. She filled it. 'Okay out with it Humphrey! What is it? You've been sitting out here watching the world go by for god only knows how long now and nothing, no morning Blair, no what's up Waldorf?, not even one of the infamous Brooklyn nods. If anything your back to broody Brooklyn boy, so spill before I send a blast to Gossip Girl asking her where the hell Dan Humphrey is?' He turned to look at her 'School starts again tomorrow.' She looked at him bemused; she knew that, 'so...' He sighed, 'So school starts again tomorrow and Serena isn't back...' He waited calmly for the news to sink in. He hated the fact that it had to be him to tell her that both her best friend and her...Chuck, (what even was he now?) were not coming back, but had instead decided to go on a mission to take down Serena's mother. He took a deep breath and looked at her, 'she's not coming back Blair and neither is Chuck...at least for a while.' Still he waited. After a while she finally looked up at him, tears threatening to escape her brown eyes. 'I know,' she whispered, 'Chuck called me yesterday.' Recognition appeared on Dan's face. She had known, of course she had known, she was Blair Waldorf. 'But...' he started. 'I know, I know, Serena said.' Blair looked at him a sly smirk in contrast to the un-spilled tears. She had just wanted him to say it, to make him cringe. 'Are you okay?' he asked. 'Yeah, course I am Humphrey!' Blair nodded. She shook her head and looked up at him through now misty brown lashes, 'I get it. I get why they have to do it...I just wish they didn't always have to leave to do it, everyone always leaves.' She looked down, suddenly fascinated by the threads of the blanket that she had bought with her, blue weaving in tangles of crushed purple, or was it crimson. Hardly anyone saw this side of her, least of all Dan and it scared her a little that it had been so easy to let him in without even realising. 'Hey not everyone, I'm still here,' said Dan, trying to make light of the situation. 'You don't count' Blair replied simply, a light giggle escaped as she forced a smile and the unshed tears away. 'Gee thanks!' 'I just wanted this year to be different, you know, after everything.' She looked down at the now empty cup of coffee in her hand and dropped it carefully to the floor, frustration at herself burning inside her, a stray tear meandering down her cheek. Dan had put his cup down too; he leaned over and put a cautious arm over her shoulder in an attempt to comfort the defrosting ice queen. Although they had gotten closer over the last few weeks, Dan still wasn't entirely sure that she wouldn't have him hunted down and castrated with a nut cracker if he pissed her off. 'It will be different this year Blair. I've got a good feeling about this. Hey who knows you and me; we might even become friends this year.' He let his arm fall of her shoulder and stood to go back inside, as he got to the door he heard her call out. 'There's more chance of pigs flying round Times Square than that happening Humphrey and it's 'you and I', you should know that being a writer and all' she spat. And ...we're back, thought Dan.