Chapter Text
She had been enjoying a martini while waiting for her best friend and her boyfriend to return from where she sent them to sober up, conversing with an actress from a new movie that she hadn’t seen, but was supposed to be very popular when she felt someone coming next to her. She turned around ready to check the level of sobriety of two of her closest friends when she saw it wasn’t them, but Serena's younger brother.
Eric was standing behind her and was fidgeting with the sleeve of his suit jacket. He didn't want to disturb Blair, but he didn't have too much of a choice. “Blair, have you seen Serena? I’ve been looking for her.” He asked, hoping his sister’s best friend would have the answer. He already asked ten people and they haven’t seen her in too long. He was worried she got drunk or high again and he and Blair or Chuck would have to clean up her mess again. He was losing respect for his sister with each passing day when he or her friends had to cover for her and help her. She was lucky she had Blair and the rest of them who loved her and took care of her without a second thought or complaint.
She excused herself from her conversation and sat up to mingle with Eric through the crowd. They shouldn’t stay in one place while discussing sensitive topics for the sake of less chances of overhearing. Her friend was already hanging on by a thread before her mother sent her to rehab and she didn't want her to be the reason Serena was away. “I asked her to get some air with Nate about half an hour ago. She should be back by now. Want me to search with you?” She suggested with a smile, but they both knew it wasn’t a request, it was an order, the same it always was when Serena was concerned.
She made Eric promise a long time ago that he would never go after Serena alone, he would call her or Chuck and they’d deal with it. She remembered the few times when she was terrified her friend finally overdosed and she wouldn’t allow Eric to witness that if she had her way. She still had nightmares sometimes that she got to Serena too late and her friend was gone before she could get to her.
Eric was the baby of their group. The four of them, Nate, Serena, Chuck and she fought like cats and dogs all the time. They always had a complicated love-hate relationship that was clearly affected by small events which tilted the waves one way or another. Eric, though, they decided a long time ago, one day when they were old enough to see he was targeted for his softer personality, that he would be their little prince, protected by all four of them in an united front no matter what was going on between them and that he was never to be used in their wars. She would honour that pact until she died, because even if she moved across the world, she would come back in a flash for her group of four, Nate, Serena, Eric and Chuck.
He wasn’t stupid, he could tell what she was doing and why, but he couldn’t for the life of him even try to be annoyed by her protectiveness. His mother was neglecting him on a good day and forgetting about his existence on a bad day, his sister was spiralling out of control with bad influences, drugs and alcohol, so he wouldn’t turn down the chance of someone giving a damn about his health, physical, psychological and emotional.
“Yes. Thank you, Blair.” He smiled at her. It felt wrong to call her his friend’s sister, but he knew Serena would lose her mind if he dared to call her his friend or his sister figure. For someone who neglected him just as badly as their mother, his sister was extremely possessive of him, especially when it came to Blair. He never understood why there was the subtle rivalry over him, but he guessed it had more to do with the two friends than him.
She lightly bumped their shoulders together and linked their arms together, aware of the younger boy’s want for affection. She was glad to provide some sort of physical contact as much as possible and when her friend wasn’t there to get territorial over her brother even if she abandoned him on a daily basis without a second thought. She had been taking care of Eric since he was little and Lily left him and Serena on the her family's doorstep with overnight bags while she went on vacations with her flavour of the month. “You know you can count on me, mini van der Woodsen.” She said with a teasing tone, her eyes showing just how serious she actually was. She cared about this boy like family and she didn’t plan to let him think she was another one of those people who forgot about his existence until it was convenient.
They checked the gardens, the main hall, the bathrooms and all the other rooms until the only one left was the bar, the last place Blair wanted to find her already drunk best friend and her light headed boyfriend. The two shared a look and entered the bar quietly so they could assess the situation.
What they found instead of some sort of drunk shenanigans was her best friend half naked on top of her boyfriend. Blair had to put a hand over her mouth to keep herself from saying anything. Tears gathered in her eyes faster than she could ever remember them appearing. She watched frozen in place as two of the most important people in her life were having sex on a dirty bar stool without a worry in the world while her entire universe was collapsing. S
he couldn’t feel anything besides blinding pain and sadness. She was barely making her sobs as she wished for the floor to swallow her whole or for the night to start over.
Eric had no idea what was happening. He was at a loss for words. He couldn’t begin to comprehend why his sister would do such a thing. She was ruining the best thing she had in her life for what? He knew she was selfish and never thinking things through, but this was a new level of messed up even for her. She betrayed the one person in the world who would’ve stood by her through anything without thinking about herself and she didn’t even seem to care. He watched his sister not have any reservation getting closer with Nate and he had finally found the reason he had been waiting for. He had finally lost all the respect he had for his sister.
He was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of a muffled sob and he quickly realised who he was with. He went into action and gathered her in his arms, hugging her close, letting her cry on his shoulder for the first time since they met. When he was little he believed Blair didn’t even know what crying was, much less experience it as well and here he was, years later, with a sobbing Blair in his arms because his sister had to ruin all the good things in her life. “Blair, I’m so-” He tried to comfort her, but was stopped by the choking voice of his friend, because she was his friend now. She allowed herself to be vulnerable with him enough to cry on his shoulder and she didn’t automatically try to pretend she was fine at his first sign of life, so she was officially his friend. Serena could go and fight with whoever she wanted about it, he wouldn’t change his mind.
She felt her heart being ripped out of her chest and stumped all over until it became fine powder. She could not take pity as well that night unless he truly wanted her to die of heartbreak. “Don’t speak. Just tell me I’m seeing things. Please, Eric.” She begged for only the third time in her life with tears falling down her cheeks. She never liked to say please, much less use that tone, but the sight in front of her combined with what she was experiencing made her not above asking him to lie to her, tell her it was all a bad dream.
How he wanted to be able to tell her it wasn’t real. He wished he had a magic wand to fix this for her, but unfortunately he wasn’t magical. He was just a rich boy who thankfully knew her well enough to give her what she needed at that moment. He rubbed her back in a repetitive motion as he listened to her cry against his shoulder like those two deserved this much of her pain. “You know what’s happening, Blair.” He said to her gently and sighed as he wanted this horror night to be over with and the bloody moans to stop. He decided to get her out of there as Serena and Nate’s moans became louder and louder. He was still holding her close to him as he guided them out of the bar. Blair was practically melting into him as all the crying caught up to her. “I’m so sorry. I never thought Serena would do something like that to you.” He apologised for his sister. He apologised on behalf of his sister in the past year more than he did his entire life, but to Blair he would apologise as much as he could, because she deserved more.
She shook her head a few times and gathered herself. She couldn’t be seen crying at the party. Still, she couldn’t make the tears stop from falling. It wasn't the act itself as the betrayal, they should’ve just told her they wanted to be together and get it over with. She loved Nate with all her heart and he didn't seem to even see it. “That makes the two of us.” She mumbled bitterly, wishing she was at home where Dorota would make her coffee, put on an Audrey music and give her some food. She didn’t want to be at the wedding anymore, she was done with parties for the night. She tried to collect herself again, failing miserably.
He didn’t like how out of control she was. Blair wouldn’t even cry, much less not be able to stop, so he took it upon himself to take care of her. She helped him on numerous occasions and it was time for him to return the favour. He put a hand around her waist and encouraged her to cry against his shoulder, preferring to have the others thinking she was drunk over heartbroken. “Let’s get you away from the party, Blair.” He suggested lightly and tried to think of a method of transportation away from the wedding when he noticed Chuck heading their way.
Chuck took Blair into his arms and maneuvered her around so that she looked like they were hugging and talking. He was moving his lips to keep up the pretense of them having a conversation as he started to lead her towards the exit.
“Chuck, what are you doing?” He asked desperately, trying to regain control over the situation. He wouldn’t let Blair down by sharing her being vulnerable with others without her approval. She had a full plate and Chuck was an entire buffet of his own.
He pulled Blair away from Eric's hands as he tried to grab her back. He had to keep her in this exact position to save face, for Blair’s sake not his. He saw what happened and he wouldn’t get any pleasure in humiliating her by doing something stupid that night. He wanted to offer his support and comfort. He would tease her after she was out of the shark tank and didn't sound like she was breaking. “I saw you two and I also saw the other two. I’m helping. Arthur is waiting for us. Let’s not drag it out.” He explained quickly and had to half pick up Blair so she wouldn't trip as they walked towards the exit. He noticed that the young van der Woodsen was still following and smiled to himself, pleased that Blair had another person standing with her in this mess.
She breathed in his cologne and she felt safe. His arms around her and his familiar cologne helped her relax and not be as stiff as she turned when she cried. She normally would have yelled at him by now for taking charge like this and not asking her about what she wanted, but this wasn't normal and she appreciated his attempt at keeping face, for her mind most likely, he didn’t care about his reputation enough to try to hide he was leaving early from a wedding. “Thank you.” She whispered at him, her face still hidden in his shirt and her voice low, but she could swear his heart rate went faster when she snuggled deeper into him in the cold air of the night.
He scolded himself internally for reacting this way for simple gratitude. He shouldn’t be this gone for a girl who didn’t even consider him an option for anything but the friend category. “Don’t mention it, Waldorf.” He swallowed his pride and smiled at her one of his rare and honest smiles instead of his usual smirk. He might’ve imagined it, but he caught her cheeks turning a shade of pink.
Arthur opened the door to the limo for them wordlessly and drove away quickly like he understood something was wrong and they needed to get away. The ride was quiet as half way through Blair finally gathered herself enough to stop crying or sniffling and spent the rest of the ride cleaning and redoing her makeup thanks to the products Chuck asked Arthur to bring with him when he picked them up, wanting to offer Blair as much control and dignity over the situation as he could. He didn’t want her to even consider he was pitying her or she would fight him over her own comfort and wishes.
The three of them entered her apartment silently, Eric and Chuck standing on either side of Blair like a pair of bodyguards. In her living room was now a projector screen put up with the Breakfast Club intro prepared to start, three of those beds that she used for her annual soiree with a multitude of soft blankets and pillows on top, bowls of healthy snacks and her favourite desserts were gathered together, martinis and water were on the coffee table and face masks were prepared to be used. It was exactly what she liked to do when she was sad.
She was offering her first small smile since the mess happened a few hours ago and both Eric and Chuck took it as a good sign. “What’s with all this?” She asked in surprise at the set up. She was delighted of course, but she didn’t text Dorota to prepare anything and even then she didn’t do all this when she was upset.
The small smile on her face made it all worth it. He couldn’t have asked for a better reward for his effort than seeing her smile and not look haunted and heartbroken. He wasn’t stupid, it wouldn’t all just magically go away, but he would do his best to help her remain as happy as possible as she recovered. “I thought you could use some happiness. I called ahead and prepared everything for a classic Blair Waldorf sad day.” Chuck replied and wasn’t prepared to see the surprise in her eyes at the mention that he knew what she liked to do when she was sad. He never understood why the others never paid attention to Blair and what she wanted and liked to do, it seemed only fair when she remembered everything they said and tried to include those things as much as she could in either parties, presents or just conversation. “Don’t you dare say thank you. I wanted to.” He cut her off when he saw her mouth open. He didn’t do it for praise, he did it to lift her spirit and to hear that beautiful laugh she made whenever she watched an Audrey movie.
She already took off her heels when they entered and was minutes away from going upstairs to change and bring some clothes for Chuck when she noticed that Eric was also taking off his shoes and making himself comfortable. That certainly she didn’t expect, not that it didn’t warm her heart. It was weird, but in a good way to see that Eric wasn't uncomfortable to be with her without using Serena as a point in common.
“Eric, shouldn’t you get back? I think we left Serena alone and she wasn’t well and I don’t want her to-” She said and started to worry about her best friend, former best friend she corrected in her mind, habits were hard to break. As much as she didn’t like Serena, she didn’t want her to get in trouble.
It was mind blowing to see that after his sister completely threw away years of friendship and trust that Blair was still worrying about her well being and her safety. He used to argue with people when they dared to call her an ice cold bitch and after this night he was ready to fight them for her. She was loyal and kind, you just had to be in her good graces and maybe have a teaspoon of luck and he was somehow one of the luckiest people in the world to see her like this. “Blair, no offence, but I don’t really care about Serena right now, okay? She made her bed and she’ll have to sleep in it. Now you on the other hand deserve some cheering up. I’m staying.” He shrugged and to make a point, he took off the jacket as he threw himself on one of the beds. He would be there for her that night and he would be her friend, she deserved one that wouldn’t imminently betray her after drinking too much champagne. He was also thankful Chuck was there, because he might’ve been willing to deepen their friendship, but he wasn’t in the same class as them and Blair would need a listening year with similar challenges and experiences, the minions not being included.
She was close to crying again, this time with happy tears at how sweet the two of them were to her. She didn’t realise how much she wanted to feel that someone cared until they proved that they listened to her when she went on and on about herself on the rare occasions when she wasn’t busy babysitting Serena, entertaining Serena, going after Nate, trying to make peace with Nate or plotting against a person who wronged her. She had quite a lot of difficult tasks. “Then grab a macaron or some strawberries and watch Audrey with us.” She told him and she went upstairs to quickly change into a new pair of clothes and to search for something Eric and Chuck could wear as pajamas.