Hello dear reader! As promised here is the first chapter of my new project ''Insufferable''. So there are a few things you should know before starting this story, mainly the AU part. This story is going to be AU, but there are also going to be show GG elements and book elements, just to clear that up. Some of the characters will be AU but I'll make sure to preserve their best bits. Also there'll be lots of pairings so whether you're a dair/nair/serenate/chair/derena or any other shipper I'm sure you'll find something of your preference up here. Endgames are up in the air, but be aware that this is mainly a Nate/Blair/Serena love triangle.
I don't own the characters used in this story, just the ideas.
Blair Waldorf never believed in fairytales. There is something fake and wrong with that level of happiness. It annoys her that people have such a need for a happy ending, a distraction from real life. She finds the original versions of those tales far more interesting. Naturally there's nothing comforting about Cinderella's evil stepsister's eyes being poked out by birds, Sleeping Beauty being raped or Little Mermaid turning in to sea foam, but maybe if her dad had read those stories to her every night before sleep she would have developed a more realistic view on life. She'd hope less and deal with disappointments without a struggle.
A giggle brings her back to reality, it's the one of Serena van der Woodsen. The blonde mouths a quick hello before running in to her boyfriend's arms. Her theory about real life fairytales and forced happiness projects on to Serena perfectly. She has this constant need for perfection, so much that it often interferes with her real life. Nate isn't like that, all he really wants to do is let loose, but never does because he loves Serena too much, or so she thinks. To Blair they were always that annoyingly cute couple that met in high school and would end up getting married with kids…and she is fine with that. Nate is a genuinely good guy, okay not just genuinely. Blair herself can't imagine a life without him, all three of them started out as friends at a tender age of four and some things never change.
There is one thing she can't quite pinpoint though. He is always nice to everyone, a little snotty which goes perfect with his life is so hard when you're hot and rich attitude and unresolved father issues which she can relate to completely, but he's also daring, he has a wild side which he never lets show in front of Serena. It's mostly because she'd find that behavior unnecessary. She's oblivious that Nate has actually smoked a joint before and in fact has a stash hidden under his bed, she has no idea that he was the one who broke in to Constance Billiard with Chuck one night and threw a pool party which resulted in almost getting them expelled from St. Jude's and she most definitely doesn't know that Nate has a criminal record that he earned for underage drinking and stealing a church cross while vacationing with his lacrosse buddies in Mexico.
But Blair knows all those things because he tells her. It's a love and hate relationship they share. She'll never stop teasing him about being a spoiled privileged pretty face, yet she'll turn in to an ear when he comes running to her with another one of his 'only you can know about this' stories.
''Is it just me and my insatiable crave for perfection or does that school uniform look much better on you than any other of those girls?'' she hears a familiar sultry banter from no other than Chuck Bass and turns around immediately, already preparing a smartass comeback to throw at his next provocation, she knows it's coming.
''Chuck, I thought you weren't allowed on the Constance Billiard ground anymore.'' He ignores her completely and continues his school uniform talk.
''It would be a shame though, for the uniform-'' he says slyly and lets his eyes check her out from head to toe. Surprisingly she doesn't fell violated like usual and asks herself what the hell is wrong with her.
''Why?'' she asks without really wanting to know, partly because she can imagine what his answer is going to be and partly because she isn't in the mood to fight of his sleaziness today.
''Because I would tear it the minute I got my hands on it.'' He whispers and he is so close that if she moved an inch towards him their lips would touch and today is hard enough as it is, she doesn't need whore germs all over her mouth.
''Wow-'' she fakes enthusiasm ''-is that what you tell to all those self-conscious money whores you parade around every day or do you just show them your platinum AmEx?''
He grunts, moves away and turns around on his heels before disappearing around the corner.
''If you ever become one of those ladies, give me a call, would you?'' he smirks and is gone before she can present him with the ladylike gesture of a middle finger.
Her class starts in approximately five minutes and as out of character for a student with perfect attendance it seems, she doesn't feel like attending classes for the rest of the day. It's their senior year, all of them know they are accepted to the Ivy League schools most of them didn't really deserve and didn't give a fuck about it, unlike the most she actually worked hard for Columbia even though she isn't really sure what she wants yet, she applied to other colleges too, just to see where they'd take her in. Most of them are Ivy League of course, because her pretentious father wants it that way, as for her mother… if it doesn't involve clothes and a big name in fashion she doesn't even bother with it.
Growing up with a famous mother and a very ambitious business oriented father grants a crappy childhood filled with nannies, expensive birthday and Christmas gifts which are supposed to make you forget that your parent is missing yet another big moment in your life because of a conference or an important meeting overseas. She resents them for it, especially her father because he used to be there in the beginning, every spelling bee contest, ballet show, recital. Then as she started growing up, he started not showing up. She is only eighteen for god's sake, she can't deal with it all alone.
There's where Serena comes in. The perfect friend, and she doesn't say that ironically. She means every word of it, because if there's a person who's tried to be through it all with Blair it's most definitely Serena, as much as she could. She doesn't know because Blair never told her about it, but Serena has missed all of Blair's biggest crises. Blair knows Serena best and she knew that if she told her about any of those they would tore the emotionally sensitive Serena down. S is amazing, someone Blair can thank heavens for every day, but there are times when she needs someone strong to pick up the pieces and that someone is Nate.
It all started accidentally on the night that Blair calls the biggest cliché of her younger life. Her parents had their biggest fight yet, Eleanor found a piece of lingerie that wasn't hers in the bedroom and all hell broke loose. Plates were shattering, so were family pictures, it all boiled down to her father storming out of the door, swearing he'd never come back and her mother locking the door after him. No amount of Audrey Hepburn's movies could've helped at the time. She locked herself in to her bathroom and reached in to the little cabinet where she had her perfumes neatly placed. She felt so much rage that she simply started shattering them against the bathroom mirror. A rather larger shard of glass fell beneath her feet and with all the desperation she was feeling, a fourteen year old Blair picked it up and positioned it inches above her wrist. She never thought about hurting herself before that and she didn't think she'd find any relief in physical pain, but she was melodramatic and she liked the theatricality of the moment. Despite the fact that she could've seriously hurt herself, she was ready to do it, and as faith had it her phone started buzzing on the edge of the sink and fell off. She immediately dropped the glass she was holding to rescue the damn buzzing thing because in her mind it was her father calling to say he was wrong and he was coming back. It wasn't her father though, it was Nate. He was just calling to ask her if she wanted to hang out, he registered her tear stricken voice right ahead and refused to let it go until she admitted something was wrong. They met up on her favorite bench overlooking Central Park and she told him everything. Serena never heard a word of it.
''I need your help, desperately.'' A breathless voice on the other side of the line whines.
''I'm listening.'' Blair says with amusement, Serena almost never seeks help from her, not directly anyway so a call like this is what she lives for.
''I'm meeting Nate's parents tonight.'' She says simply and waits for a response, when it doesn't come she clears her throat and tries one more time ''Blair! I said I'm meeting-''
''-I heard you, I heard you.-'' Blair's response is quick and cuts her off, she isn't sure what to say because for one she is confused ''But you've met Mrs. Archibald and the Captain before, I don't understand.''
Serena rolls her eyes even though Blair can't see her. She loves her friend to death but sometimes she can be so hard to deal with, she was way too rational for her own age.
''I've met them before, but I've never been to an official dinner with them at their home. Nate said not to worry but screw Nate, he never worries either way.''
''Well Nate is right, his parents are great people, they're not going to judge you.'' Blair lies trough her teeth. The truth was, Nate's parents are extremely judgmental, especially his father who dislikes the idea of his son wasting his time on a girl in the first place. He wants to get Nate in to the family business, so he keeps pushing him towards the Vanderbilt part of the family where interests were. In Captain's eyes a girl in Nate's life is nothing but a distraction. His mother doesn't care, not really. She's more occupied with being a trophy wife and having her hair perfect all the time. Blair's parents are messed up, but at least they care enough to know where and who she is with.
Serena huffed on the other side ''You're such a liar, you know that?''
Blair bites her lower lip, not having a clue what to say ''Fine, they may be a little judgmental, but who isn't. S, just calm down, they're going to love you, everyone does.'' She finishes her sentence with just a touch of bitterness that is new to her. She decides to ignore it, but it keeps poking at her chest. ''Listen-'' she fidgets with a piece of torn up paper she finds on the table ''-I have to go now, call you later, I promise.'' She hangs up without a proper goodbye and strangely doesn't feel a pinch of guilt doing so.
''Um yeah, Blair-'' the line breaks as she is trying to finish her sentence and all she is left is a beeping sound. Her eyes widen in surprise at the unusual behavior. She decides to shrug it off, blame it on all of the stress Blair is probably feeling with all the school drama going on. She picks out the dress for tonight by herself. She's still feeling strange and the usually helpful talk with Blair did the contrary so she reaches for her phone again and calls Nate instead. He doesn't answer of course but she doesn't let it get to her, not this time. Besides Nate is probably out with Chuck or something, there is no way he's ignoring her on purpose, he never does that.
''You're not gonna answer that?'' Chuck asks as Nate puts S on hold and he is almost appalled with the unkind and out of character gesture. Nate shakes his head and takes another hit of his joint.
''Nah, she would text back if it was something important, I don't feel like talking to her when I'm like this, she'd kill me if she knew I smoked pot.''
Chuck's eyebrow rise, a spark of amusement playing on the corner of his lips. ''Poor Serena, if you keep falling under my bad influence, she's going to lose her trophy boyfriend.'' He jokes and has no idea he struck a nerve. Nate laughs it off when on the inside he feels like screaming. He doesn't know if it's all the pot he's been smoking lately, his father pushing him in to politics, his mother not giving a fuck about him or Serena that's taken a toll on him. He feels rather depressed, there isn't a person he wants to see or talk to right now, okay that's not completely honest. There's a certain brunette he always wants to talk to, that he's dying to talk to right now, but he can't.
She changed drastically when she started high school, but ever since senior year started it's like she's a whole other person. The problem isn't Blair and her character, it's the fact that now Nate isn't the only guy who appreciates her perks. Maybe it's his judgmental side talking, but it seems like she has a new guy every month, she's slowly turning in to Chuck and he hates it. It is a little selfish for him to resent her for dating guys especially because he's the one in a relationship and has no right to pep talk her, but he cares way too much about her not to, in an older brother kind of way…sort of.
He remembers he has to attend a dinner at home and shuts his eyes tightly. Why did he agree to do that? He loves Serena and all, but at a time like this he is incapable to sit through a four course meal with his pretentious parents with their fake smiling, polite talks and pretending that everything is great. His father dislikes Serena and that's saying much because in his life so far he has yet to find someone who doesn't like her. Captain's not going to act on it of course, he'll be kind and approachable so much that Serena will start to like him and roll her eyes at Nate's ''non existing father issues''.
Chuck's phone suddenly buzzes and it breaks Nate's cloudy thoughts. His charismatic friend flicks the almost done joint away to pull his phone out, it reads Blair on the display and he smirks to himself. This ought to be interesting.
'Something important?'' Nate asks discarding his own joint, it has to be when it got him wearing that twisted smirk of his.
''It's Blair.'' Chuck says without blinking.
''Blair?'' Nate asks in a mixture of disgust and surprise ''Blair is calling you?''
Chuck almost feels offended by his reaction, almost. He's quick to recover and bring his friend down to earth.
''Well it's not you she's calling, is it?''
Nate feels like punching him and his stupid arrogance. Then again he realizes it's none of his business, and why should it be? Blair is not his girlfriend, he shouldn't even think of her as one, but Serena is. Yes. He has to go home, get ready for their dinner and simply shut it when it comes to Blair, Chuck or anyone who's given him hell lately. Keep things under control.
''It's time to go, see you at school I guess.'' He handles the situation gracefully, that is until the hit comes.
''I'll text you the details later, there's something so unnatural with that level of clarity, don't you think? I bet you everything I own that she's a wild one.''
Keeping things under control, it's not as easy as it sounds.
Okay, this is it for the first chapter. I've started on the second one, but the future of this story really depends on you guys, would you like to read more? Any requests for the future chapters? Please don't be shy:D tell me. As always review/follow/favorite/PM. Till next chapter, xoL