This is my first ever fanfic. It takes place the day after the Dan/Blair kiss that happened in the most recent episode. Reviews much appreciated! If people like it then I'll be writing following chapters as soon as I have the time - and they won't be limited to just DB. There may well be some juicy DS/CB action, so keep your eyes peeled.
Blair slid into her elegant brown and black patterned dress, and examined herself in the mirror, smiling contently. She looked sexy, yet sophisticated - just as she'd hoped. It was the beginning of March and still relatively cold, so she topped it off with a classy winter coat. She strutted out of her apartment, briskly heading down the street. She was going to meet Dan for breakfast. He'd picked out a special place for them - a small, fairly hidden-away Italian café just a few blocks away from her apartment. She was almost positive nobody who knew her would be there, most importantly, neither Serena or Chuck. Neither of them knew about her secretive little affair with Humphrey, and she wanted it to stay that way. She was in the middle of contemplating the horrific events that could take place if they were to ever find out, when her train of thought was abruptly interrupted. She'd arrived at the café. She swung open the door and noticed him instantly - he was sitting at a table in the corner, keenly examining the menu. Blair smiled and approached him, her high heels clacking fiercely with each step.
"Well, well, well. Right on time, Humphrey. Makes a pleasant change," she teased, gracefully taking a seat opposite him. He looked up at her and smirked. "Oh, so that's the greeting I get after last night?" Blair violently snatched his menu from him and used it to shield the side of her face. "There will be no talk of last night, Humphrey. At least not in public," she harshly whispered, looking around to make sure nobody had spotted them. "Okay, okay…" he said, putting his hands up playfully. Blair relaxed a little, placing her menu back on the table. "And come on, Blair, we worked at W magazine together long enough for you to know I'm always on time - especially when you're involved," he mumbled charmingly. Blair couldn't help but smile. He always said the sweetest things. Getting a compliment out of Chuck once in a while had been like trying to squeeze blood from a stone, whereas with Dan, they seemed to flow at all the right moments. It had taken Blair quite a while to understand what Serena saw in Dan. For so long she had looked down on him, branding him a boring, poor, judgemental nobody. But after spending so much time with him recently, Blair began to realise it was her who had been judgemental. He'd managed to change her opinion of him completely. Well, except for the poor part; but that no longer mattered. The truth was, Blair didn't know many guys like Dan, or to put things more bluntly, guys who weren't complete assholes. They were certainly a rarity in her world. She felt a sense of self-worth and security with Dan, and it was refreshing. She often wondered - could he be the guy to finally get her over Chuck? He definitely had the potential. But the only problem was, she had a reputation to uphold, hence the shady meeting spot. 'Spotted: Blair Waldorf at a romantic brunch with Lonely Boy' was pretty much the last thing she wanted broadcasted all over Gossip Girl, and not just for Chuck and Serena's sakes. It didn't change the way she felt about him, though, and those feelings were gradually flourishing.
"I must say, I'm actually rather impressed by your choice of bistro. Be as it may a little trashy, it's out of sight at least," she bantered, taking off her coat. Dan smiled. "Well thank you, thank you. Although it wasn't all that easy. The Upper East Side just so happens to be pretty, you know… open. But uh, on the topic of being out of sight…. there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about," he said, his tone growing slightly more serious. Oh God, Blair thought to herself. She was pretty sure she knew what was coming. Dan went on. "What if… I mean… what if we don't need to be sneaking around like this? What if we let people know about us?" He was speaking quickly, and Blair could tell he was nervous. She sighed. "Dan," she said, trying to stay calm - "You of all people should know that Serena would be crushed if she ever found out about this. And I highly doubt Chuck would be okay with it. This thing between us is simple. And… nice. But things are different in the spotlight. It's just another scandal to them. It'd hit the Upper East Side like a hurricane."
Dan grinned smugly. "Wow. Did you just call our relationship nice? Now there's something I never expected to come out of your mou-.." Blair impatiently interrupted him - "This is no joke, you fool! And… yes. I'll admit, that slip of the tongue wasn't entirely false. It has been nice, for us. But it won't be nice for Chuck and S."
Dan rested his chin on his fist, deep in thought. He sighed. "Look, Blair. I don't know if you know what the situation is with me and Serena but I can tell you with a pretty huge amount of confidence that she won't be mad," he said, a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Have you gone insane?" Blair replied, "This is Serena we're talking about. Serena, blonde hair, about two feet taller than you are. Serena the love of your life Serena. Look at me, I'm Serena and I'm so popular. My name's Serena and I can get any guy I want. I'm Serena, and I'm sleeping with a crazy ex-con posing as an innocent teache-" Dan cut her off. "Yeah, I think I know who you mean now," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "So then you know the situation." Blair retorted. "You know that this can't get out. She'd be in a lot of pain and… I don't even wanna think about what would that would do to our friendship. I just can't risk it. I don't want to lose her," she said. Dan nodded, acknowledging her point, and then spoke, "Look, I understand where you're at with this. I really do. I'm just saying that I'm not sure she'd care at all." Blair frowned, clearly perplexed. He continued in response to her confusion - "It's like… I'm just another guy on her list, you know? She only wants me sporadically. She comes at me saying all this stuff, saying she wants to give things another try, and then she gets with another guy in a heartbeat. Colin, Ben… who's next? She's virtually been ignoring me for the past couple of weeks. I'm sick of being her back up plan. What we had, it just, I dunno. It doesn't seem to mean a lot to her, so I'm done with it, you know? I'm done." Blair widened her eyes momentarily in shock. She could tell he was bitter and she hadn't realised how much he was hurting from the Serena situation. Dan definitely had a few open wounds that needed patching up, just like she did with Chuck. She could relate to his situation completely. Just like Serena had run off with Ben, Chuck had run off with Raina and acted the same. Acted like their relationship never happened. Blair was silent for a couple of seconds, and this confused Dan. "Uh, Blair? Come on, I just opened up to you. Are you really gonna leave me hanging like that?" Blair's eyelids fluttered as she woke up from from her deep pondering session. "I… I just realised. I realised you're right," she said. Dan simply nodded. He knew her pretty well now, and he knew what she was thinking about. Chuck. D and B were pretty much in the same boat in terms of their exes leaving them hanging. "You're right about them not caring. They have other people in their lives now. They technically moved on. And we can too. But we can't just jump into this, Humphrey. If I was suddenly romantically involved with some guy I met in Central Park it wouldn't matter so much. But you're Dan. Even if Serena is with Ben now, which I'm not even sure she is anymore, it'll matter to her. Believe me, I know her. And let's face it, you and Chuck hardly have a history of being best 'buddies'. So if he was to find out that me and you are in cahoots..." Dan sighed. "So what are you saying? You want to end this?"
"No, I'm saying we don't let this get out, whatever this is. Not now. Eventually, perhaps. We'll see how things go, but we can't do it now. We just can't."
"So we keep things zipped."
"Zipped."
Dan nodded and examined Blair. Although she put on a hard front, she looked so vulnerable, and he knew why. He knew how important her friendship with Serena was to her. He reached out and gently took her hand. Her heart sped up a little. She still couldn't believe she was getting all flustered over Dan Humphrey. How surreal. Funny how things can turn out. The lonely boys of the world can be enough for even the most dazzling of queens. A waiter arrived with a notepad, ready to take their orders and they broke their hands away. They began to order. "I'll have a …"
Forty-five minutes later they were done eating. The door of the café swung open and they made their exit together. Little did they know, somewhere across the street, a cunning little minion had spotted them. The two of them were wittily bantering away as per usual, and they broke out into laughter. He leant out to quickly kiss her on the lips, and just as he did, the minion's hand shot up into the air, wielding a Sidekick cellphone. SNAP SNAP. And just like that, that moment in time was saved to the minion's phone. Unfortunately for B and Lonely Boy, that little minion just so happened to be one of Gossip Girl's most loyal followers. The pair unknowingly walked down the street. But as for the evidence? That wasn't going anywhere… anywhere except for GG's blog. In a number of minutes that photo would be everywhere. S and C certainly weren't going to be delighted at the sight of that.
