A/N: Heeeeeey!!!!!! Another one-shot!!!!!! Lolol. Aren't you psyched?! XD I know, I know…I should really stop doing this. I should really just focus on those multi-chaptered fics but…as of right now I just have two oneshots: this one and the next, and then I will have only the multi-chaptereds to update! *cheers* *hopes crowd is cheering as well lol* Only until next Monday though probably…XD hahaha. *clears throat* I can't help it. I'm sorry. *has no restraint* lol Moving on though, this little one-shot is just a humorous little romantic fluff fic on Chuck and Blair…going to the zoo (during the summer before S3). Heheh. I was contemplating doing a series, like…at the zoo, at the amusement park, at the carnival, at the museum, etc, but then it would never end, and as previously stated: I need to get back to my multi-chapters…or I will be writing for like 100 years after GG is over. XD
R & R!
I OWN NOTHING! Lol
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Her eyes fluttered open and smile warmed her lips at the feel of his arm encircling her waist. He was so close to her and they were so comfortable, and it occurred to her just then how unlikely it would be that Chuck would have felt this way throughout most of his life if sex had not either just previously taken place or was bound to any moment.
She felt his steady breathing along the back of her neck and thrills ran up and down her spine. Every aspect of this relationship continued to amaze her. For a little bit after he had confessed his love to her—finally—she had thought during her innermost quiet moments that perhaps he was just waiting for something to get screwed over between them, whether planned or coincidental, whether to each other or an outside influence. After all, he had been so resistant to start something with her for so long, she wondered if he was only going to enjoy them until something went wrong.
But he didn't. He continued to adore her. And though sex was definitely almost a daily ritual, he didn't require it. He didn't need to participate in that activity with her, he just needed to be near her, sometimes it was enough just to hear her voice. No one had ever made her feel like that. So safe, so secure, so loved.
Only Chuck.
Shivers ran up her spine again when moist lips trailed down her neck to her bare shoulder. The strapless silk nighties she wore were his favorites, whether they were going to have sex and it built up the anticipation before hand, or he just loved the feel of the smooth material when it passed softly against his fingertips as he wrapped his arms around her.
His nose always buried itself in her luscious locks, and when she turned in his arms and wrapped her own arms about his neck as she was doing now, nothing could stop the rapid beating of his heart. He never wanted to go back to life without Blair, life without love. This was an unending paradise.
An idea came to her.
"Let's go to the zoo," she whispered, briefly pressing her lips to his own. His head backed up a little bit at her statement.
"What?" he asked, smiling at her suggestion.
"The zoo," she nodded slowly, "let's go to it!" she perked up and his smile widened. She was adorable. He nuzzled his nose with her own, and she giggled.
"Okay."
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They were inside the gate within minutes and the way her face lit up at all the different places they could go, all the animals they could see, sent his butterflies into a rapid whirl. She held out her hand for his and he grabbed hold of it, kissing her knuckles before following her lead down the path.
"Monkeys!" she cheered and he shook his head at her.
"Monkeys."
"Yeah," she said, and continued walking. His eyebrows fused.
"We're not going to stop in? See the furry creatures?"
She scoffed. "Absolutely not!" Her face looked petrified and he tried not to laugh.
"But, you cheered for them! And you're never fake with me. What was—"
"I was trying to get a rise out of you," she sang, and he could not stop smiling. He grabbed her by the waist and swung her around.
"Why don't you like the monkeys? Are they too fuzzy?" his nose fell into the crevice of her neck.
"What?! No!" she squealed, still unable to touch the ground.
"Do they have too many hands?" he teased.
"Chuck, put me down!"
He spun her a few more times and then set her on her feet. "It is the fingers thing, isn't it?"
She sighed dramatically, trying to avoid his gaze and he smirked. Finally she looked at him. "They're probably really grubby!"
He laughed, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her along. "Alright, let's find something less…grubby."
She smiled.
"Though, we did come to the kingdom of animals, so I have to warn you…the chances of finding something not grubby will be slim."
She rolled her eyes. "It's not like we'll actually be touching them." His eyes darted to her and it made him wonder why she had even had issues with the monkeys to begin with.
"Okay," he began, tentatively. "What's next then?"
"Whatever makes you happy," he beamed at her when she stopped moving and turned to face him.
"Tigers?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. His eyes darkened.
"You mean besides the one I've got in front of me?"
Her lips parted and she just barely breathed a yes, lowering her eyes to his lips. Within moments they found themselves in the seemingly empty monkey building in a desolate corner. Everything was dirtier than it should have been and the Blair Waldorf he knew so well would have found it all detestable.
But no one else was there and her tongue was probing his mouth in a way that made him forget his name and where they even were to begin with. He had issues with cleanliness too, of course. But she was the one backed up against the wall—not him. He couldn't stand it. He gushed in every regards to her, and beside the inevitable shower they would take together later, he knew the dirt in her hair would be anything but pleasing to her deep brown eyes the next time she spotted a mirror. These public places really had to work on the specs of dirt that stuck to the wall. Just because the Brooklyn population didn't care one way or the other didn't mean the rest of the world had to suffer. In one swift movement he spun his body against the wall, and she hardly noticed. His fingers riding up her skirt and sweeping across her back was very distracting.
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Sea lions, penguins, lions, tigers and yes…bears. Camels, hippopotamuses, horses, giraffes. It felt like they had seen everything. Chuck bought her anything and everything she wanted. Since the food was clearly unsatisfactory, however, he called in a proper Upper East Side meal and after a death glare and a few green bills the zoo management allowed the caterers to pass through their metal gates.
"Thanks for this," she said, and he just simply smiled. It felt like he had always been smiling at her, from the very moment she accepted his love confession and asked for nothing more. She was amazing.
Their fingers intertwined across the table they had carefully wiped off. Everything seemed so detestable here, but she had wanted to see the animals and who was he to complain? He got to be next to her.
Suddenly, and so very out of nowhere, he leaned across the table and kissed her.
"What was that for?" she asked, blushing a bit.
"You had a crumb on your lip."
She bit her bottom lip softly, loving his absolute devotion and admiration to her.
"Yes, that one." He bumped his fingertip on her nose briefly and she ducked her head. Her food was gone and he snapped his fingers for a waiter to take away her plate and wash it promptly. (Yes, he had paid a little extra and some service men and women were allowed to stay and assist them in any way. Chuck even glared at them a bit when they had forgotten to lay a small piece of covering over the nearly dried puddles Blair had to walk across or rather…into.)
"You didn't want to come, did you?" she asked, glancing at him half-way down the next block of paved ground…towards the farm section. No matter how much she despised the enormity of cows and how they would moo inconsiderately loud, she liked the spots and the babies were so cute.
He turned his head towards her briefly. "I'll admit, I was a little surprised at the suggestion. But, wherever you want to be, I want to be."
She smiled, shaking her head.
"What?" he asked, breaking into a smile as well.
"You can be so cheesy sometimes."
He laughed. "I blame you."
"Me? What did I do?"
They both stopped and he gestured for her to enter the farm section, though warning her with his eyes to stay a safe difference away from the cow's watering trough. The sea lions certainly did not have any respect for her desire to remain dry. Luckily, there had only been a few droplets.
"Chuck," she demanded, smiling. She had to know. He sighed testily, realizing she wasn't going to pass through the big barn entrance until he answered her question. He stepped a step closer to her after having taken a step back at their halt. He shook his head and smirked, placing a tender kiss along the side of her neck.
"You gave me butterflies," he whispered and she shivered again, that exciting thrill shooting up her spine. She looked intently into his eyes, all else fading away until she heard that dreadful moo interrupt their perfect moment. She sighed, looking annoyed.
He chuckled. "You know, we don't have to stay if you don't want to."
Her jaw dropped a bit. She looked so conflicted.
"The suite's cleaner," he offered.
She shook her said at him, smiling wildly, and he knew he had dug himself into an embarrassment hole, one he might possibly not be able to dig himself out of immediately. No longer was she conflicted about whether to stay or go. No. She had discovered something—or thought she had at least. He would probably let her win regardless, though…she did love a challenge.
"I knew you didn't want to come." Her eyes sparkled.
"In my defense," he began, "I acted the part."
She giggled, shaking her head and moving away from the farm exhibit, grateful to escape that awful mooing sound. "No, you didn't. You just acted the part of an adoring boyfriend." She stifled another laugh.
"Now, now, that's unfair. It wasn't an act."
"Which one? The zoo trip or the boyfriend?" she quirked an eyebrow, stopping once again and turning to him. He grinned.
"I never said I wanted to go to the zoo."
Her lips parted.
"I just said I wanted you to be happy and that I wanted to be next to you."
Blair crossed her arms across her chest and pouted, her eyebrows furrowing. Maybe he would let her win a little more. "You brought caterers though—"
He lifted a finger. "I called them in after the fact, there's a difference."
"But," she began to gesture confusedly, "all the gifts and trips to like a million exhibits. Chuck, don't you think that's going a bit overboard?"
He shook his head at her. "No."
She sighed at him, rolling her eyes. "Let's just go home."
Uh-oh.
He really should have let her win a little.
"Blair—"
She kept walking, passing through the gates in a rush and holding up her hand for the limo to drive by. Unfortunately Chuck had caught up with her before it arrived. If he hadn't, he didn't have a doubt in the world she would have waited for him.
He spun her towards him with some difficulty.
"Blair, I don't understand."
That was a statement he hadn't ever expected himself to say.
She kept her lips pursed and refused to speak. This way he couldn't kiss her lips and she didn't have to tell him why his not actually desiring a zoo visit bothered her so much.
He sighed, then made a spinning motion with his finger above his head. Blair turned to look behind her, and noticed that the limo had just about reached them when his single gesture had sent it in the opposite direction. She turned back to him and huffed.
"Chuck, this is ridiculous. I'm not mad."
His eyebrows rose in doubt.
"Not really." She crossed her arms across her chest again.
"Blair."
"Fine," she stomped her foot, and for the moment he pushed the thought of how adorable it was to the back of his mind. He would mention it to her later when they were in bed. "I didn't like that you didn't want to come and only came because of me, because then that means that you're whipped—that you only ever do anything because I want to do it and because I want you to come with me. I just, I don't think that's fair, I think you should be able to do things you want and—"
"You didn't want to come either," he concluded.
Her eyes snapped up to his. "What?" she asked incredulously. He couldn't possibly assume that. She was the one who suggested it!
"You didn't want to come."
"How, when, what?!" she asked, completely confused as to how he had come to this conclusion.
"You hate monkeys. You can't stand the sound the cows make. The buildings were so dirty and yet you had no problem entering them. You detest all the food here. You knew I would be calling in the catering service and that I would ask some of them to stay…" he raddled off the remainder of occurrences that had happened while there.
She gaped.
"…plus, I know you," he smirked, and she was still gaping. "You wanted to see how long I could handle the same environment that you can't stand either. You wanted to see if my claim to do anything for you, to always see you happy at all costs, could be taken to the test and if it would survive."
Her mouth snapped shut. All possible defenses gone.
"Well, I've got news for you, Waldorf," he leaned in close, his lips a breath away from her own. "I won."
She closed the distance between them with a passionate kiss and he just barely found enough focus to lift his arm above them and signal the limo to come back around. His hands found the narrow curve of her waist and he deepened the kiss, managing to open the door to the limo when it came around, and pull them both inside without any injuries or real lessening of their physical interactions.
She wouldn't tell him that she actually loved monkeys…they were tolerable.
That it was him who despised their grubby fingers. How could she despise them when they were unreachable?
She actually found them cute (the monkeys, not the fingers).
She wouldn't tell him that she purposely dragged him into the monkey exhibit, not simply because she had to see the inside—glancing briefly at the pictures and the animated creatures inside their glass cages—but because she knew getting dirty would require a co-ed shower as soon as they got home.
She wouldn't tell him that the noise that cows made didn't entirely bother her.
It was an annoyance to be sure, but since Chuck was a boy his nannies had been convinced the animal was his favorite animal and therefore had given him a plush toy of the creature for nearly every birthday. He clearly was much more bothered by its calling sound.
They both disapproved of the food, as spoken of before.
They both admired animals from afar, not really close up, though she supposed that had been assumed.
And they both secretly had been thrilled to go to the zoo, at one point or another.
Sometimes the charade was just too much to keep up. Though covering up their true motivations had switched from the year before. Instead of trying to convince for the mere sense of a game or something that was existent but not, they were trying to convince each other of what they really wanted and why they wanted it.
Or maybe they were just trying to convince themselves.
The line between what they wanted for themselves and what lengths they would go to for each other…was beginning to blur. Though, she had to admit, he was getting surprisingly better than her, in losing sight and becoming blind.
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A/N: Yay! *claps* *cheers* lol. I hope that wasn't too confusing at the end. Reading/skimming through it, I can definitely see where it might be, but I hope it's not. If it is feel free to ask questions! I know I always want to know an explanation to stories/chapters I, for the strangest reasons, can't understand. XD Review!