I. Bruce Wayne
--
After one particularly heinous session of midterms, with her mother and Cyrus going to London for the week and her Dad and Roman occupied with the newly adopted Cambodian twins ("Isn't it so Angelina?"), Blair takes Serena with her to Gotham City for the week before Christmas.
"Blair, make sure you visit our friend Bruce Wayne. I hear he's quite the catch."
Eleanor raises her eyebrows, and continues talking about how great Bruce Wayne is. Which is what she's tended to do about anyone with a suffix and/or lots of money since her repeated failure of a relationship with Chuck Bass.
Blair rolls her eyes and agrees to do it, if for no other reason other than she's always been one to keep up appearances. She gets the number from her mother and makes a note reminding her to call while in Gotham on her new BlackBerry.
But then Serena comes over to help her pack and Bruce Wayne slips out of her mind. Three days later, Blair has packed the majority of her new winter wardrobe including a new Burberry trench, Marc Jacobs sweaters, wool skirts from Phillip Lim, and killer brown suede Sergio Rossi boots, among her other fantastic clothes.
--
The plane ride is about three hours, and Serena talks about how excited she is while Blair thumbs through her January French Vogue and throws in her typical witty comments whenever Serena says anything particularly stupid. And what's even worse is that they're flying commercial. The point is, when they land all Blair really wants to do is get a vodka martini and find a cute boy.
"And so then Carter got all jealous because I was hanging out with Nate and then IdumpedCarterbecauseIthinkIloveNateandNatewantstobewithmetoo."
All of the air whooshes out of Blair's body and she's surprised she can even formulate a response.
"You're going out with Nate? What, you thought if you said it fast I wouldn't hear it? That only confuses small children or the mentally retarded."
Serena smiles and giggles, and while she at least has the decency to look nervous, Blair can't help but be annoyed. After all those years when Nate was hers and the summers at the Vanderbilt's and the I love you's and the goddamn ring and the green sweaters with hearts sewn into sleeves.
Blair sighs, because she loves Serena and knows that this is her own twisted way of asking for permission. She just twists her ruby ring around her pinky and forces a smile on her face nodding and giving whatever approval Serena was looking for in the first place.
It's not like she's surprised really. After all, Serena has always taken what she's wanted with little to no regard of whom she would hurt to get it. Serena starts telling the oh-so-magical of her and Nate's reunion while Blair fights the urge to gag and stares absentmindedly out at the Gotham skyline approaching.
Yeah, a martini sounds good right about now.
--
Serena calls Nate when they get into their suite at the Ritz-Carlton Gotham, giving Blair the thumbs up and a gorgeous smile and running off into the bathroom to have a perfect, sickening relationship with the boy Blair once thought was her forever.
Then, her BlackBerry goes off.
The note reads: Call Bruce Wayne, family friend. Dinner preferable. Which Blair does. Immediately.
Alfred invites her to dinner the next night at the Wayne Penthouse and when Blair casually mentions the Manor, Alfred clears his throat and calmly states, "Tragic fire. It's being rebuilt brick by brick as we speak."
"And is there any chance I could talk to Bruce myself? We are actually friends." Blair says it teasingly, because everyone knows Bruce is a bite of a recluse and even more eccentric than anyone on the Upper East Side.
"I remember when your father and mother brought you to Gotham quite a few years ago. You probably don't remember me. As a recall, you spent most of your time chasing after Bruce and Rachel, even though they were older than you." Alfred chuckles in remembrance and then becomes somber, Blair can hear it through the crackly reception of her phone.
"Well then seven thirty at the penthouse?"
"Yes. See you then, Miss Waldorf."
After she hangs up, she wonders if Dorota would start making all her appointments for her.
--
Blair spends the next day shopping, assuring Serena that she looks even better than Angelina Jolie in the leather Stella McCartney dress she tried on and picking up a few things of her own. They lunch at a five star restaurant downtown, and Blair feels so at home it makes her heart ache.
Come dinner time, Serena flits off (in the leather dress) to meet up with a couple people she met in line at Starbucks and tells Blair with a wink that she won't wait up for her to get back from Casanova's castle.
She laughs it off, but something at the bottom of her stomach wants to click instantly with Bruce Wayne. If for no other reason than to finally have something Serena hasn't. So she carefully zips herself into a long-sleeved navy Proenza Schouler and black Prada booties and slides a black velvet bow headband into her curls as a security blanket.
When she gets to the apartment, she greets Alfred with an air kiss and is seated at his table.
"And where is Bruce this evening?"
Alfred's face might have clouded over, but Blair can't be sure.
"Master Wayne should be home soon. He had some…business to take of."
Blair nods, because after dating Chuck she knows how much business means to men (even in her head it still sounds bitter and she hates it). But after five minutes turn into twenty and twenty into an hour, Blair decides she's been made the fool enough.
"Alfred, please give Bruce my regards, and that I'm sure we would've had a wonderful time had he decided to show up. It's been lovely."
She kisses him on the cheek on her way out and her shoulders don't crumple until she hits the elevator.
When she gets home, Serena is back into her silk teddy drinking hot chocolate and Blair doesn't ask about why she isn't out pursuing the Nate Archibalds and Chuck Basses of Gotham. She knows she wouldn't like the answer.
Instead, she changes into her pj's and cuddles with Serena on the couch and they watch Mr. and Mrs. Smith while discussing the merits of Angelina (Serena, big surprise) v. Jennifer (Blair). They fall asleep entwined together while Mr, and Mrs. Smith are wearing matching white button downs, and Blair loves her best friend again.
--
The next morning, Blair wakes up with a crick in her neck and Serena's head in her lap. After sliding out from underneath her, Blair pads over to her cell phone and calls room service for an order of an egg-white omelet with spinach and feta and an order of chocolate chip pancakes with two lattes.
While listening to her messages, she's surprised to hear from one Bruce Wayne.
"Hello, Blair. I know you couldn't possibly have had a good time with old Alfred last night. Any chance I could talk you into dinner tonight? I know some great restaurants. Call me back. Oh, and I promise I'll be around. Unless you call, I'm coming to your hotel room at seven. And I own your hotel, so don't try to run from me."
Blair sighs and wonders if she'll ever learn.
--
When Blair walks out her room in an emerald green Zac Posen dress, Serena wolf-whistles loudly and makes several lewd comments.
Blair smiles and toys with the hem of the short dress and even does a Tyra-inspired walk down the hallway.
Serena laughs out loud and says, "So who are you all dressed up for? Are you hiding the hotties from me Blair Waldorf?"
"Hardly. It's that ass Bruce Wayne again." The eye roll fools Serena but Blair's heart skips a beat at his name.
When the doorbell rings ten minutes later, Blair purposely makes Serena talk to Bruce for ten minutes in order to keep him waiting. But when she first meets him, the only thing she could think was that he was completely worth the wait.
In what looks like a custom Armani three-piece pinstripe suit, Bruce looks better than Nate or Chuck or even Carter ever did and when he leans down his six foot frame to kiss her on the cheek she almost swoons.
"It's so nice to see you, Blair."
"It's so nice of you to show up, Bruce."
He chuckles and has the decency to almost blush explaining that he had urgent business and Blair cuts him off by walking towards the door and telling Serena not to wait up.
--
He takes her to his latest project, a Japanese restaurant named Ryu that already has a two-month waiting period to get a reservation.
"So, Blair Waldorf, it's been what, ten years since I last saw you. You've aged wonderfully."
"I'm not some Bordeaux that's been in the back of your wine cellar, Wayne."
"And I didn't mean for it to sound that way, Blair. I simply meant to compliment you."
Blair scoffs and then the waiter comes over so she can't say much else. When he orders for them both she doesn't know if she should be indignant or turned on so she settles for some kind of repressed sexual tension that always gets her untroubled.
They make small talk throughout the rest of the meal, and when they get up to leave he puts his hand on the small of her back.
She shivers.
--
She fingers his lapel and compliments his suit when they're waiting for the valet and he raises his eyebrows as the Lamborghini rolls up.
Serena might be sexy, but Blair can be seductive in the old Hollywood Glamour way of hers that only comes from watching black and white movies and wearing Audrey outfits.
When they get to the first red light, he leans over to kiss her and Blair thanks God he didn't decide to take a limo.
--
After what seems like an eternity of kissing heatedly every block, Blair thinks she couldn't possibly be more turned on until he opens her car door and picks her up with one arm.
With her legs wrapped around his waist, she pants as he plants kisses all down the nape of her neck and in between her cleavage until the elevator finally reaches his apartment.
He's better looking than Nate and a better lover than Chuck and makes her come twice before he even enters her.
They have sex against a wall and on his bed and Blair moans and writhers underneath him in ectasy. He collapses against her and whispers her name against her pulse and Blair just smiles as their skin sticks to each other.
"Best wine I've had in a while."
Blair full out laughs for the first time the entire trip and Bruce smiles because he can feel her laughing against every inch of his skin.
They fall asleep somewhere around three and it isn't until the five minutes before she falls asleep that Blair notices the scars.
She tells herself it's just because she's so tired even as she feels them underneath her fingertips.
--
The next morning, there's a note.
Business meeting in Shanghai. Life or death situation.
There's no apology and it's hardly an explanation but Blair has little time to process any more before Alfred jumps nearly a foot at seeing her in Bruce's high thread count, Egyptian cotton sheets.
Blair does the walk of shame with as much dignity as she can muster and walks out of the apartment for the second time in just as many days feeling disappointed by Bruce.
--
Ever the charmer, there are a two dozen red roses waiting for her back at the hotel from him and Blair tears the card in half which probably contains some half-assed apology that wouldn't make her feel any better about waking up alone. Besides, there are only four days left of her vacation and she's not going to waste it mooning over some poor little rich boy.
--
(even if she wanted to, Bruce doesn't call again while she's in Gotham so she boards the plane without thinking twice.)
--
Eleanor inquires about Bruce while they're talking over the catered Christmas dinner and despite Serena kicking her under the table and biting her lip, Blair simply takes a sip of her champagne.
"He passes along his best to you and Daddy."
Eleanor looks disappointed and turns around to start talking to Cyrus again while Blair tucks Bruce Wayne somewhere in between 'Chuck' and 'Carter' in her heartbreaks.
--
Five years later, Bruce will mysteriously go missing. After a ten day search, he will be found in the Batman's costume at the bottom of the river. Blair will be watching the breaking news bulletin on CNN when the video footage comes in and all she will be able to think about is the feel of his hand on the small of her back and his car's leather sticking to her thighs. She will run into the bathroom and throw up (without the help of her finger) and that will be that.
--
AN: So what started out as a one-shot morphed into chapters because I couldn't keep the interactions short enough. Next up: Jasper Whitlock. Oh, and mystripedskirt, this wouldn't have come out for weeks if it hadn't been for you, so thanks!