Title: Deviating From The List
Author: Silver Miko
Fandom: Gossip Girl
Set 2X25 "The Goodbye Gossip Girl"
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When it came to gifts, much like life in general, Blair Waldorf liked to get what she wanted. When every November rolled around her famed birthday list was out, and Blair expected the best. She loved it when she got exactly what she asked for, but what she loved more was the occasional surprising gift that blew her away.
Those were rare. Usually the only one exempt from The List was her father, but then Harold Waldorf always knew exactly what she'd like without asking.
Then there was Serena, who was so just out there and not one for lists and such that her gifts tended to be spontaneous. In grade school it'd be something like home-made paper dolls from fashion magazines or cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery afterschool. In junior high it was random ski-trips or parties. Similarly in high school.
Nate always got her what she told him to, no surprises. He didn't have to give it any thought, and later after everything of junior and senior year, she could see that their parting was always going to be inevitible as winter turns to spring.
Then there was only other male exempt from The List, but that was because he chose it that way. Chuck Bass was the only person of her peerage who could get away with deviating from it, really.
The List came into fruition in fifth grade when they were nine. She had asked Nate to get her sunglasses like Audrey's in Breakfast At Tiffany's, and of course he did. Serena had gotten her tickets to the Icecapades for the following month as Blair had recently started to learn to ice skate.
And Chuck? He ignored what he had been told she wanted and had gotten her a set of headbands. Alright, designer headbands in a multitude of colors and patterns that were actually really nice. And it was generally surprising to her that Chuck had such good taste, though she shouldn't really have been so shocked. He was her fashionable equal. The Carey Grant to her Audrey Hepburn.
She had looked blankly at them at first when she opened them, and gave a tight smile. She wasn't sure what to make of them really. Later on, he caught her alone for a moment while Nate was in the bathroom and had stated he got them for her because they were like a crown she could wear everyday, and as an afterthought casually said he thought the red one would suit her well.
After that, Blair began to wear headbands regularly and no one ever suspected that the trend that would follow for years was started by Chuck Bass.
It was in eight grade, their last year of junior high, and as usual Chuck ignored her list. He had also taken to giving her gift to her in private instead of with the pile of gifts. She suspected he thought it gave him a dash of debonair. He had started to dress quite sharply, she had noticed. He was probably the only boy in school who could pull of a purple tie.
So when she had gone to get some fresh air somewhere around 10 pm, her head a little fuzzy from the champange Serena smuggled in, Chuck had joined her and presented her with an antique looking cameo brooch. He had said it was something he found laying around and thought she'd like it because she liked that sort of thing. Classy and elegant.
She didn't know what to say so she gave a tight smile once more and a stiff thanks, walking back into the party.
When she wore the brooch months later at eight grade graduation, Nate had noticed it and asked where she got it. She told him, and Nate looked at her in disbelief. He told her then that the cameo in question had belonged to Chuck's deceased mother, and was most definitely not something that was just 'laying around'. Nate didn't think much of it, figuring it was just one of those things Chuck did.
Blair tried not to think of it, or of what it meant. Chuck never talked about his mother much, not because he didn't care, but because it was too much for him to ever speak of. For him to give her something that was his mother's....she didn't want to think of it. Thinking of it was leading down a path she wasn't yet ready for. Not for another three years.
Then was her seventeenth birthday, after the limo, after the lines were obscured and everything of her world was shaken and stirred like a dry gin martini, and he had given her the butterfly necklace. She gave him butterflies. Butterflies she knew he'd never felt before, because she had known Chuck for a long time and because he was her equal. And it scared her badly, so she scathed at the butterfly notion.
At the end of the night though, it was his arms that she was in. Thinking back then of that night, she should have really known how truly telling the whole event was and that she had been where she belonged now.
And now here they were, on the street and it was June and not November and not even her birthday. He was standing by his limo (the limo that kickstarted it all), impeccibly dressed and holding gifts.
For her.
All of her favorites from across the ocean. He had known and remembered all of her favorite things and flown to Europe to get them for her. Things that she knew Nate would never be able to recall and yet Chuck always knew.
And that in itself, was the best gift of all.