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When they all get together, something that happens more often than Dan would like, it’s usually at his place. Blair always uses Henry and his light sleep as an excuse to not host their gatherings at her and Chuck’s townhouse and Nate and the current girlfriend always cut the night short - him because of work, her because of school (this time, thankfully, grad school).
So his apartment in TriBeCa it is, and even though that’s a regular fixture, Blair always bitches endlessly about having to go south and the high odds of crossing paths with Nelly Yuki his neighborhood presents.
“Only you, Humphrey,” she had said to him during his housewarming party, while shoving a whiskey bottle in his hands, “would move to TriBeCa just when Brooklyn is starting to become cool.”
He was too stunned by the fact that Blair was actually talking to him after three years of ignoring his presence to say something back. But even if he had a comeback for her then, he couldn’t have used it. She had left him by the front door as soon as she finished speaking and had made her way into the party as if she owned the place - which was not very different from how she normally behaves.
She was there even if she had no reason to do so. Even when the odds of bumping into someone she doesn’t like were high, and the list of said someomes long. He hadn’t invited her and he and Serena were on one of their off phases, so Serena definitely had not invited her. But still, she was there. Making small talk with the kind of people she deemed below her in high school - and who is he kidding, probably still does - complimenting Jenny on her dress, and even acknowledging Vanessa's existence when they happened to bump into each other by the catering table.
Not that he was keeping tabs on her.
Except that was exactly what he was doing. He just couldn't help not paying attention to her.
That day had led them to a planned accidental meeting at the movies. Which then became two, then three, and then they stopped being accidental. It had taken them a long time, but now, now, they were in a place where they could call each other friends again.
Once, Dan had said he didn't know if he could be friends with her, not when he wanted more. Now, he knows he can. Or better, he knows he would rather be her friend than nothing else.
So they sit on a white leather couch, an ugly, uncomfortable thing that only found its way in Dan’s home because Serena couldn’t stop talking about it. The couch is big enough for him to sit with Blair on one side and Serena on the other while Chuck sits alone in a chair nearby, glass always full by his side.
At this point in the night, when it’s late enough that Nate has already left, but still too soon for Serena to let them call it a night, they are normally on their second bottle of wine. Blair had stopped halfway through her third glass, right after she spilled on the couch and left it forever ruined, while he’s still nursing his second; Serena and Chuck keep going at it, however.
And while they talk business - Serena had come up with an idea about a hotel for pigs that Chuck seems to be actually listening, even though Dan is sure they are talking about different kinds of pigs -, Blair inconspicuously puts her hand on his thigh, way too high up for it to be confused with a friendly gesture.
But when he turns to question her, she just leans closer, lips full of poison between her teeth.
“How can you be married to the Serena van der Woodsen and go around looking like that?” she asks him.
“Looking like what?”
“Like you were a traveling salesperson,” she says, her knees digging into the white leather of the couch, dextrous fingers working on his tie, “and not a New York Times bestseller writer.”
“Serena thought I looked nice.”
“Then I guess she has less sense than I thought.” Blair swiftly takes his tie off and unbuttons the top buttons of his shirt. “There, much better.”
At this point in the night, Serena and Chuck are way too drunk to notice how close Blair is to Dan, how her fingers linger on his skin, how her smile is bigger, brighter around him.
“So,” she puts the tie around his neck and holds on its edges, bringing him closer, “Did you catch the Cézanne exhibit at the MoMA yet?”
“Isn’t that the guy with the pipe?”
“Exactly, S” Blair turns to her, smiley and a little wobbly and Dan has to put both of his hands on her tiny waist to steady her. “I’ve heard it’s quite striking. Care to join me for a visit?”
“Nah,” Serena scrunches her nose, refills her glass. “I’ve already seen a real pipe.”
“What about you?” Blair asks him, face so close it would hardly be a movement at all to kiss her. “You’re going, right, Dan?”
She only uses his first name when she wants something out of him and it works every time.
She doesn’t seem to realize she doesn’t need to do that to get him to do anything.
“What about Chuck?” he asks.
“Chuck’s busy. Right, Chuck?” she asks, and he holds his glass up in response, his eyes glassy and lifeless. “See? I guess it will be just the two of us, then.”
Dan nods in agreement and is received with a half-shriek of excitement that almost knocks him onto the ground. “Great! I’ll call Dorota and ask her to pick Henry from school tomorrow. I’ll be right back.”
“You don’t have to do this right now.”
“Yes, I do,” she answers, already off of him and reaching for her phone on the coffee table. “S, can I use your room for the call?”
Serena looks at her, barely even aware of her surroundings, heavy-lidded. “Sure, B.”
And with a tap on his shoulder, Blair leaves him.
Dan is not a cheater.
It’s not to say he didn’t make his fair share of mistakes in his past relationships, but these relationships were always as close to being over without actually being over as possible when he committed those. He wasn’t right for doing that, but he doesn’t think of himself as a cheater either.
His mother was a cheater. She cheated when there was still hope for her and his father. She cheated because it was easier to cheat than to talk and try to fix things. And while that hits a bit too close to home for him, it doesn't mean he can truly forgive her for that, even though he said he did.
He then sees Blair again, in the corridor, tongue darting out of her mouth, licking her lips.
Serena and Chuck are way too drunk to notice how Blair tilts her head just a little, signaling Dan to follow her. They are way too drunk to notice how Dan does so, like a lovesick puppy.
They are always way too drunk.
Dan is not a cheater.
But if he were to cheat, there’s no doubt who he’d cheat with.