Please Read: Hey. So this is my first try at Gossip Girl Fanfiction. I wrote this after rewatching episode 17 numerous times. I couldn't wait six weeks for some GG goodness so I constructed how I imagined events to occur. Was kinda wary about putting this up, unbeta-ed and all so apologies in advance for run-on sentences and grammar errors. Also I suck at writing in third-person, but this was the way the story had to be told. I attempted to keep it very close to canon. This chapter starts with the end of episode 17 and what I thought happened afterwards. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl, nor am I affiliated with the companies and other party members concerned. Title is from the song by The Killers called Mr. Brightside which I also don't own.


"And not us. Dan and Blair: individual entities. Two proper nouns separated by a conjunction."

SEPARATED BY CONJUCTIONS

Chapter I: It Started Out With A Kiss

PREVIOUSLY, IN "EMPIRE OF THE SUN"

"What are you doing here?"

Dan walks in hesitantly. "I don't know," he replies. "Is Serena here?" Blair knows Dan is aware Serena was not here; he was just using her as an excuse but she doesn't call him out on it.

"No," Blair answers. "What's going on? Is everything okay?" Surely he wasn't here for some sort of casual visit; he would have at least called first.

Dan shakes his head and sighs. "I've been walking around the city all night with one, all-consuming, paralysing thought."

"Why am I walking around the city when I live in Brooklyn?" Blair retorts, raising her eyebrows. It was easier reminding herself of the difference between them. He is the sappy, Lonely Boy of Brooklyn and she is the powerful Queen B of the Upper East Side.

Dan ignores her teasing remark and gets right to the chase. "What if my dad and Dorota were right?" he says. "What if there was another reason we were keeping us a secret?"

"Another reason? Like what?" Blair enquires curiously. But she knew the answer to that question.

Dan takes a few steps closer to her. And it was like every step he took, pulsed in time with Blair's heartbeat. The tension rising between them. "Plausible deniability?" he suggests, repeating Blair's words from that morning. "Blair, we kept us a secret because we were afraid there was something more."

Something more? Blair thinks, dubiously. With Dan Humphrey?

The idea was absurd. If someone had told her a year ago that she would have something more with Dan Humphrey, she would have never even conceived of the idea and laugh it off.

And that's exactly what she wanted to do at this moment; Brush off the idea because there was nothing between her and Dan. But some part of her couldn't. And this knowledge, that there was even a possibility of something—made her afraid. "You need to go back to Brooklyn," she orders him.

Dan shakes his head, defiant."Not until I know, for sure, they were wrong. That there was nothing between us."

"I can guarantee it," Blair says, indignantly, masking her fear. Blair never thought she'd see the day where Dan Humphrey would make her feel afraid. Dan steps closer, placing a hand on her shoulder. His touch sends a tingle down her arm but Blair tells herself that it was because his hands were cold from being outside. "But just so you are secure in that knowledge," she allows, carefully. "what did you have in mind?"

"Just one kiss," he says. "and then I can know without a doubt." Dan's eyes pierce back into Blair's.

One kiss from Dan Humphrey. It sounded blasphemous. Her head was completely opposed uttering negatives but her heart was screaming louder... "I suppose that would work," Blair agrees, taking a shaky breath. "One kiss and that's that."

"One kiss and that's that," Dan repeats, his eyes fall to her lips and then back into her eyes. "So?"

"So..." Blair echoes, smiling softly back at him.

Silence fills the room and for a moment they just gaze into each others eyes, anticipating who was going to make the first move.

Stop me now, Dan's eyes urge silently.

Go on, let's get this over with, she insists back.

"Oh, for crying out loud, Humphrey!" And before she could stop herself, Blair drops all of her inhibitions and grabs Dan's collar, pressing her lips against his.

~/~/~

Dan Humphrey and Blair Waldorf.

Lonely Boy of Brooklyn and Queen B of the Upper East Side.

Two pronouns separated by a conjunction...

Physically, two people connected by the lips.

~/~/~

Dan freezes under her lips. It was unnerving. Whatever he was feeling was unfamiliar. And he gets over the initial shock of knowing that it was Blair's lips he was kissing. Not Vanessa's. And not Serena's. But Blair Waldorf: The Queen B of the Upper East Side.

And then before he even realizes it, Dan is kissing her back, his hand cradling her waist.

Blair feels something warm churn in the pit of her stomach. A spark she thought would never burn again, suddenly ignited and bursting with life.

Here she was, kissing Daniel Humphrey. And it wasn't repulsive. In fact, it was quite pleasurable. Blair revels at the feeling of Dan moving his lips against hers. Her hands reach up around his neck, pulling him closer, and Dan's hands tighten around her waist.

Blair's back presses against a wall, and she's suddenly surrounded by everything Dan Humphrey.

And she's pulling him.

Closer, and closer and closer.

Taking it all in.

His scent, his warmth—the spark...

And Dan doesn't stop her, feeling the same thing.

And for a moment, they are just Blair and Dan.

Not Waldorf and Humphrey.

Not the Upper East Side and Brooklyn.

Not Queen B and Lonely Boy.

For a moment, they forget. And Blair doesn't even think about Serena, Dorota, or Chuck and Raina, or Jenny or even Gossip Girl.

And Dan doesn't think about Rufus, Chuck, or Serena and Ben, or Vanessa.

Just Blair and Dan. Two people who enjoy watching old movies together. Who like attending art shows. Who share the same avid appreciation in classic film and literature.

Blair and Dan. Two people slowly realizing their obscured feelings for one another.

Suddenly, Blair's phone buzzes loudly on the table, startling them both.

And then Blair realizes what is happening and she pulls away from Dan, breathless.

Blair looks up into Dan's eyes, and they feel it. Realization dawning on both of them.

Dan removes his grip from Blair's waist when she goes to retrieve her phone, and rubs a hand on the back of his neck.

"Uh, that was..." he starts.

"Shh!" Blair cuts him off. "Let's not talk about it." She glances down at the text she got from Serena.

Chuck and I are coming over. I think something's wrong. See you soon. -S

"Blair, we need to talk about this," Dan says. "Obviously-"

"No," she interrupts. "You need to leave."

"What? Why?" Dan asks worriedly. "Look, I know..."

"Shut up, Humphrey," Blair exclaims. "I promise we'll talk about this—whatever this is—later. But Chuck and Serena are going to be here any minute and you just can't be here."

"Fine. But we will talk about this soon," he confirms, seriously. "Don't try running away from me, Waldorf."

Blair laughs. "I'm not afraid of you, Humphrey."

"Oh, really?" Dan quirks an eyebrow and steps closer to Blair, her heart beating erratically against her chest. Blair gulps, but doesn't drop eye contact from him.

He leans in and daringly places a chaste kiss on her lips, and then whispers, "Are you afraid now?"

And then he turns away, leaving the penthouse, leaving Blair flustered and confused.


AN: I'm still holding out for Chair to have another chance, but right now, Dair seems to make a lot more sense. Less destructive and all.

Hit or miss? Reviews would be awesome :)