Summary: Snapshots of the Non-Judging Breakfast Club's birthdays together throughout the years, all culminating to Chair happiness. C/B.
Spoilers: Uh, none really, but this does follow cannon, so if you know the TV storyline, than this reads better.
Pairing: Chuck/Blair. Both Serena and Nate's relationships are ambiguous.
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I affiliated in any way with the Gossip Girl television or book series. This story is merely for entertainment purposes.
Blair, age seven.
"Here's your cupcake."
Blair handed the smallest red velvet cupcake to Nate with a flourish before heading back toward her table in the middle of the courtyard. She sat down, smoothed the new skirt that she had gotten just for her birthday, crossed her ankles, and placed an embroidered handkerchief on her lap. She smiled superiorly at the other girls and said, "You always leave them wanting more."
Serena frowned. "I think that you should have given him the biggest cupcake. Leave him satisfied so that he doesn't go anywhere else." Blair glared at Serena, who then amended by saying, "But what do I know?"
Feeling better, Blair smiled at Serena with the perfect balance of charm and condescension. She'd spent months practicing it.
"Blair, you didn't give a cupcake to that boy over there," Kati said, pointing to the far corner of the courtyard.
All the girls turned to look, and saw one small boy standing in the shadows. Blair stood up, taking one of her birthday cupcakes with her and made her way to the corner, all the other girls watching her.
"Charles?"
He lazily rolled his head to face her, seeing Blair just a couple feet away, holding her cupcake out to him.
"What?"
Blair stood proudly, pronouncing "It's my birthday today. I'm seven."
"Well, happy birthday, then," Chuck said, still not taking the cupcake.
They stood just looking at each other for a moment, before Blair began shuffling awkwardly. "So, uh, when's your birthday?"
Chuck turned away. "It was a few weeks ago."
Blair's eyebrows knitted together. "Really? Why didn't you bring anything in, then?"
"I don't tell anyone when my birthday is. I don't celebrate it."
"Not even at home?"
Chuck shook his head. "It's not really a happy day."
Blair didn't understand. Her birthday was one of her favorite days of the year. Besides Thanksgiving, of course. Eleanor and Harold always lavished her with gifts, everyone paid more attention to her than usual, and she got new clothes and jewelry. What wasn't to like? Not knowing what to say, she just raised her eyebrows prompting him on.
"My mom died the day I was born," he whispered.
"Oh." Blair shoved the cupcake in his hand, gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek, and whispered, "I won't tell," before striding back to her friends.
The next day, Blair showed up to school holding a thin box with a pale, satiny ribbon. As she passed by Chuck in the hallway, she nudged the box into his arms. Later, when he opened it, he found a silk patchwork scarf with a note on the bottom saying, Happy Birthday.
Nate, age nine.
Blair walked around the circle, encouraging everyone to scoot in such a way that the circle was completely symmetrical.
Perfect.
"Okay, now that everyone is evenly spaced, we're going to play spin-the-bottle." A few people groaned and a few people blushed, looking down at the floor. Blair smirked.
"Nate," someone whined, "it's your birthday. Do we have to do this?"
Nate turned to Blair, who was glowering at both him and the fool who questioned her methods. "Uh, yeah we do. It'll be fun," he said encouragingly.
"Hey, Chuck!" Serena called. "Why don't you join the circle?"
Chuck sipped on some watered down wine and waved them off saying, "Child's play."
Blair shot him a pointed look and Chuck sighed, joining in the circle. Pleased at her skills of persuasion, she grinned and cried, "Nate's first!" before grasping the bottle and spinning it around for him.
The bottle spun easily on the smooth floor before coming to a stop right in between Blair and Serena. Serena glanced awkwardly for half a moment between Blair and Nate before clapping and enthusiastically exclaiming, "Nate and Blair are first!"
Blair blushed shyly before crawling across the circle and softly grazing her lips across his. She pulled back, taking a moment to look into his eyes and then quickly scooted back across the circle. She reached out for the bottle again and spun it, this time for her own turn.
It landed directly on Chuck.
Blair's shoulders slumped slightly before she reluctantly made her way over to Chuck. Again, she moved to lightly brush her lips against his, but instead Chuck grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her close, and stuck his tongue into her mouth. Her eyes widened and she yanked back, feeling her body turn completely pink.
"Chuck!" she yelped. "What are you doing?"
In return, Chuck just smirked at her and said, "Teaching you how to play it right."
Blair, age twelve.
Nate paced around Chuck's suite rubbing his temples. "Man, you have to help me. I have no idea what to do."
"Nathanial, use a softer tone this early in the morning. My hangover and your whining don't mix."
"Exactly the problem. Look, my brain is still fuzzy, and I wouldn't have any idea what to get Blair, or what to do for her birthday even if I were completely functional," he said, lowering his voice to appease Chuck.
Chuck sighed. "Fine. You go get some coffee. I'll take care of it."
Chuck spent the whole morning preparing the perfect birthday surprise for Blair, hoping that she would think that it was Nate who planned it all. Luckily, Chuck could count on Blair to be blinded by the movie in her head and see whatever she wanted to see.
And she quite enjoyed what she saw.
Nate dressed wearing a tie matching the yellow hue of her dress, pink peonies, and a small robin egg blue box in his hand. Blair grinned wildly, immediately reaching for the present and opened it to find a stunning gold band with a deep red ruby, delicately cut in the shape of a heart. She slipped it on her finger and kissed Nate appreciatively.
From the safety of his limo, Chuck watched the exchange, smiling at his handiwork.
Serena, age fourteen.
"Woooo! This is so much fun!" Serena exclaimed while spinning around Blair's room. "This skirt is definitely the twirliest!"
"Calm down, Serena! What with all you've had to drink, and all the spinning you've done, I'm expecting you to throw up any second. Something I don't want you to do while my clothes are strewn around everywhere, thanks to you." Blair kept on grabbing for Serena, but she would always just wantonly spin right out of Blair's grasp.
Nate stood up, swaying as he did so, and reached for Serena as well. Being stronger than Blair, he managed to get a hold on her, grabbing both her arms in his, trying to steady her. She slowed for a moment in his arms before she started dancing with him, spinning them both in circles.
Sitting down, Blair glanced over at Chuck and they both rolled their eyes at the pair's antics.
Suddenly, Serena stopped, staggering a little as she did so. She put her hand up to her mouth and ran into Blair's connecting bathroom.
"Serena!" Blair got up to follow after her. "Ugh, I told her…"
Nate flopped onto her bed, closing his eyes and grinning dumbly at nothing. Chuck took one look at the other boy, who was now snoring softly and went into the bathroom to help, muttering under his breath, "Happy birthday, Serena."
Blair, age sixteen.
"This sucks," Blair declared, as she felt him sidle up next to her at the bar. The party was raging around them, as successful as every Waldorf party always is. This one just felt like it was missing an enormous presence without Serena and Nate there.
Not that she cared about the Serena part, because Blair had decided a few months ago that they were no longer friends.
Missing her doting boyfriend was the real problem. Or so she told herself. His grandfather had fallen ill and, being the grand family force that he was, the whole Vanderbilt clan had to go to make sure that he was okay. Unfortunately, that meant that Nate was missing her Sweet Sixteen party.
"It doesn't suck. This is a great party," Chuck reassured her. "I already had sex with two girls."
She gasped, scandalized. "It better not have been in my bed!"
Chuck smirked. "Don't worry. It was in your mother's."
Blair's hands covered her eyes and shook her head. "Ugh, Chuck," she groaned. "At least I can always count on you to never change and be consistently vile."
"I try."
Chuck, age seventeen.
"I hate her."
"I know."
"I hate him, too."
"I know."
Blair sighed, downing another drink. She rested her face in her hands as she leaned onto the bar. "I'm sorry. I'm sure this isn't where you want to be on your birthday," she slurred. "You probably wanna be with some hooker."
Chuck smirked at her. "Blair, I can have a hooker any day of the year. What other day then today can I have you ranting about Nate and Serena?"
Blair chuckled wryly, "Also any day of the year."
"True," he agreed. "But what other day could I have you this very drunk?"
Blair looked at Chuck from underneath her eyelashes, murmuring, "Hoping to take advantage of me, Bass?
Chuck swallowed, leaning away. "No."
"You sure?" With that, Blair leaned in and kissed him deeply. She pulled away after a minute and breathed, "Happy birthday, Chuck."
Blair, age nineteen.
Serena rolled her eyes as she saw Blair, yet again, try to conspicuously glance at her phone.
Blair had been eyeing her phone all evening, willing it to ring so that she could give that Chuck Basstard a piece of her mind.
Serena sighed, having finally had enough. She snatched the phone up off Blair's bed and slipped it into her bra.
Blair glared at her. "I wasn't even looking at it."
"Sure you weren't," Serena said dryly. "Look. He'll call eventually; you know that he feels bad that he couldn't be here today, so it's not like he's purposely blowing you off. Now, it's 2AM. Either go to sleep and expect his call in the morning, or actually be a fun person and talk to me instead of just thinking of different ways to kill Chuck."
Blair just arched an eyebrow and sat back, pursing her lips.
"Fine. Be like—Oh!" Serena's eyes shot wide as a buzzing came from within her bosom.
Blair quickly leaned forward and made a move toward Serena's chest, before being swatted away. Serena obtained the phone from within the depths of her cleavage, and handed it to Blair, who immediately seized it, pressing the 'talk' button. She had an arsenal of insults on the tip of her tongue, but they all melted away when she heard:
"Sorry I missed midnight, but happy birthday, Blair. I miss you."
Chuck, age twenty-three.
"Chuck do something!" Blair screeched. "I'm dying!"
Chuck was completely frazzled, his hair sticking up on all ends from repeatedly running the hand that wasn't in his wife's clutches through his hair. He did it again, only making it worse as he yelled at the doctor, "Help her, she's dying!"
The doctor pointedly ignored Chuck and instead turned all her attention on Blair. "It'll be okay, Blair, just one more push," she encouraged.
Blair cried again before taking one huge breath in and pushing with all her might, crushing her husband's hand in hers in the process.
Chuck let out a yelp of his own, looking down at his mangled hand. It was useless; totally destroyed.
As soon as he silenced, another cry entered the room, this one much higher pitched.
The doctor was now holding a purply-pink, wrinkly baby in her hands that was squirming around and just wailing away.
A few minutes later, after the new baby was all cleaned up and propped comfortably in its mother's arms, Blair whispered, "Chuck, are you okay with forever having to share your birthday with Baby Bass?"
Chuck just smiled and leaned over to kiss his wife softly on the cheek. "It's the best birthday present you've ever given me."
A/N: I randomly had this idea a long time ago, and I wrote half of it over a year ago and I forgot about it until a couple of days ago. I guess I just thought that it was kinda a cute idea. I've wanted to post a GG story forever, but I've never finished one before. Please leave a review, telling me what you think. If I have enough ideas for other snapshots, I'll make another chapter, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. Thanks for reading!