& hello Tuscany!
GOSSIP GIRL FANFIC; CHUCK x BLAIR. Chuck goes to Tuscany with Blair, and everything breaks down because he did. Prolonged what-if meta analysis. Spoilers for seasons one to four.
for the Abed Nadir challenge at tvholics: to change one tiny action in canon, and analyse the consequences. This one is about all the consequences that flow from one single action, spanning Gossip Girl from seasons one to five. Partially fic, and partially meta analysis because I broke down and ran out time. Four more hours of international law applicable during armed conflict await!
GOSSIP GIRL
CANON
1.18 much "I do" about nothing.
Chuck and Blair are in love and about to go to Tuscany after his father's wedding, but wise words from his father makes Chuck think that being a relationship will spell the end of his hedonistic bachelor days. In response, he effectively abandons Blair, who goes to Tuscany nonetheless, but when he still doesn't appear, finds herself a new boy toy. When she comes back, Chuck is jealous, but unable to admit that he loves her, and loses her for it. Eventually, he realises in mid-Season Two that he and Blair are deeply in love with each other, but he's not ready for a relationship.
3.13 inglorious bassterds.
After a year's conflict, Chuck finally tells Blair he loves her, and they date. It's dashed to pieces when he loses his late father's legacy to his evil Uncle Jack. In Inglorious Bassterds, Blair finds out that if she sleeps with Jack, he'll sign the Hotel Empire back to Chuck. She does go to him behind Chuck's back, and Jack gives the deed to the hotel in exchange. He also reveals that the whole plan was Chuck's to begin with, and that Jack had bet that Blair wouldn't come, that he would give Chuck the hotel if she did. He wins, because his only goal had been to destroy what his nephew loved the most.
WHAT IF CHUCK HAD GONE TO TUSCANY WITH BLAIR?
I. breakfast with Tiffany's boring cousin Paul
"Claimed the jumpseat already, have you?"
Blair started at the low male voice from behind her, dangerously close to her ear, and she whirled around in shock and anger- only to see Chuck. Her response devolved into a roll of her eyes. "There you are. I thought you weren't coming, and had left some underling of your dad to take my place."
His gaze raked over the underling in question she'd been talking to (slick, well-groomed, vaguely reptilian, possibly to compensate for a lack of good looks) and didn't even dignify that with a response. As if said underling could. He thrust the roses he was carrying at Blair, a little awkwardly (he had never done this wooing with bouquets and chocolate before) and kissed her full on the mouth, not caring who on the helipad saw. He was Chuck Bass, and he had a girlfriend he was going with to Tuscany. And he was a man in love.
*
"This is nothing like the movie," complained Blair, with the air of someone who has run out of things to complain about and is grabbing at straws. She sipped lazily at her decked-up Cosmo, stretched out on the terrace of their hotel in a sundress. The view overlooked the wide expanse of the countryside, and the quiet of the morning was rare.
Chuck watched her from under the rim of his straw boater, a smile flickering, unaware, on his lips.
"But I'm glad you brought me," she went on, angling her head ever so slightly to look at him. "Remind me to thank Bart for getting married. If you hadn't made that best man's toast…"
"I'll tell Dad you said that." Thank Bart indeed. But his father had been wrong when he said they were going to come back from this trip with him a changed man. No more partying, no more drinking… not a chance. He was Chuck Bass, and he wasn't going to let that happen. "Hey… want to do something fun tonight?"
She half-sat up, her eyebrows dancing wickedly. "Always, Bass."
*
"How was your trip, B? How's Mr. B, your new boyfriend… ugh, okay, no, it's still icky to say that." Serena shook her head, as if to throw off Chuck cooties. Blair thought that motion was rendered futile by where Serena was currently reclining: Blair's bed.
"Boyfriend, schmoyfriend, I may be reconsidering this whole thing. Whoever heard of taming a Bass?"
"Uh, my mom-?" laughed Serena. "You know, who is currently married to a Bass…"
Blair pretended like she hadn't heard. "Maybe I'm overrating him, S. That speech he gave at the wedding about true love and forgiveness was great, and so was the birthday necklace, but this is… Chuck. The most meaningful conversation we've had has been about plotting to take down Georgina Sparks." Serena's smile slipped at the name, and Blair pounded on her theme bravely nonetheless. "Tuscany was… fun. Lots of fun. But I guess I thought it'd be… you know, more."
"You thought it'd be like a new relationship?"
"Kinda! Yes."
"But it wasn't?"
She flopped down on the bed, making it bounce. "Not for lack of trying. If we weren't indoors with the Do Not Disturb sign nailed to the front door, it was party after party. Which was definitely fun, but if that's his idea of a relationship…" She trailed off meaningfully.
"Oh come on, B, what you're saying is that you miss the drama?"
"No, of course I'm not."
Serena raised an eyebrow sceptically. Blair crossed her arms defensively.
"I'm saying it was some cheap Rock Hudson-Doris Day matinee… he's no George Peppard, and it wasn't worth Audrey Hepburn."
II. "not enough!" is better than too fucking much
The door to his room was locked. From the inside. Blair's stomach twisted to imagine what it must have taken for him to get like that, but she didn't knock. She poured the scotch and she left it on the table next to a DVD of Breakfast at Tiffany's, which was ostensibly the selfish choice, but it had subtext that she knew Chuck could use. He was obviously going too soft on his Uncle Jack. This was his father's legacy hanging by less than a thread, but she knew he had it in him to nail Jack to the wall. She knew there were reserves of merciless darkness in him, and he only had to use it once.
Just this once.
It was necessary.
She slipped off her shoes, and slid her feet up on the couch, stretching her legs. She settled back against the cushions to wait for Chuck to come out. Maybe they could talk. Maybe he'd found a way out. Maybe there was hope. Or maybe everything was lost, but she could be there for him.
*
"He's a bastard."
"Tell me why."
"Blair- I can't."
"Yes, you can. You always can. This is me."
"Not this one. This one, god, my father would find some twisted bitter pleasure in knowing he was right about me."
"Chuck. Remember what I will always tell you. The darkest thought you'll ever have, I'll be there for you."
"I. Fucked. Up. Blair. I was angry, I was furious, I knew what he wants - he wants to take away anything that makes me happy, I know he does - he wants to rip you from me, he knows you are the one thing more important to me than my father's legacy - I was angry, Blair. That's the only thing I have to say. I said something I shouldn't have, and I've lost the Empire, but it's just a hotel now. And I'm going to lose you, too."
"Chuck. Please. Tell me. What happened? What did Jack do?"
"Jack doesn't need to do anything. He's shown me I'm perfectly capable of losing you by just being me."
"You haven't lost me. I'm here. I'm right here. Your hand, my hand. I am right here, and I'm not leaving you."
"I told him - I told him I - the title deed for - oh god, Blair. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I so sorry."
"For what, Chuck? For what? What did you tell him?"
"I - for you."
"No."
"I was angry. I was blind, I couldn't imagine losing everything my father had worked so hard for, and I said it. But I didn't mean it. I swear I didn't. And the second I said it out loud, I didn't even know where it had come from. I didn't mean it, and I don't. You. You matter more to me than the Empire, even if I lose you. Jack can go to hell, and he can have the hell. Forgive me, Blair. Not your love, I need your forgiveness more."
The Blackberry on the glass-topped table flashed silently with a new text.
Jack. She scooped it up before he could. I'll consider it, nephew dearest, but only if she comes, but doesn't know.
He snatched it out of her hands, reading it for himself, face turning white. "I'm telling him it's out of the question, and I'll get my things. I am truly, truly sorry."
*
The doors to the elevator slid open, and Blair stepped through, resplendent. Jack glanced up from the billiards table, eyebrows arched in pleasant surprise.
"Signature first."
He shrugged.
"Chuck will never need to know."
He smiled.
You think you're saving him by coming here, but you've just made the first crack, and one day your love for him is going to grow so much that the crack becomes a rift that breaks you both.
&. more
What if Chuck had gone with Blair to Tuscany? They would have gone on a fun, breezy trip; she wouldn't have pushed him to say "I love you" and he wouldn't have realised that although he felt it too, he wasn't ready for a relationship. Three outcomes are possible:
-Their romance fizzles out after the summer.
-Their romance lasts the summer, but he resents her for killing his playboy lifestyle and "burdening" him with a relationship.
-She falls in love with him, and his ego wouldn't have gotten in the way of him saying it back. This sets up an inequality, because while she's emotionally mature enough for a relationship, he clearly isn't at this point.
What happens in canon after Blair comes back from Tuscany with her boy toy? Inglorious Bassterds as described above. The effect is that Chuck realises that all his life, he has prioritised his father over the girl he loves; a heartbroken Blair realises that it is possible to love someone too much.
Skip some details, and fast forward a year. Blair hates Chuck, and eventually reconciles with him, but realises after a series of incidents that he's still an immature boy in many ways. But several more things happen, and Blair is in a position where she has to choose between her new man, Louis Grimaldi, and the fact that she's clearly not over Chuck. In fact, she says herself that she and Chuck share a "great love" and the "mere happiness" that she feels with Louis can't compare to a great love. She's prepared to leave Louis for Chuck, but the latter stops her, prioritising "happiness" over the "great love." Cue Blair in a fairytale romance with Louis, and Chuck Bass, single, actually turning over several new leaves and going into therapy to deal with his severe issues of abandonment and leftover feelings of rejection from his father.
This brings me back to my original point. If Chuck had gone with Blair to Tuscany, and if they had lasted the summer, he would have not realised how emotionally crippled he obviously is. Similarly, Blair would have never realised that loving someone else is amazing, but she loves someone else to the point that she would prioritise him over herself, when he wouldn't do the same for her. Chuck would not have understood that someone did love him unconditionally and unlimitedly, and realise his own inadequacy. He would have not disappeared from New York, leaving Bass Industries in a precarious position, and come back to find it in financial ruin. He wouldn't have had to find an emergency backer, and he wouldn't have reconciled with his Uncle Jack, the only family he had left. He wouldn't have eventually been able to throw his own feelings for Blair under the bus so that she could go on to be happy- without him. He wouldn't have learned to become a genuinely good person, and step out of his father's shadow as well.
-He realises that he has given up his old hedonism but he's happy with her. She would want more from the relationship, but his level of emotional maturity would not have changed. He will have no idea what it feels like to lose Blair, and the need to become a better person who might one day deserve her.
This is because he won't be placed in a situation where he has to either confront his true feelings or lose her. He wouldn't understand that she was capable of loving him no matter how dark he became, and he wouldn't understand that if he really loved her, he had to let her go if someone else could make her happy when he couldn't. It also has a bearing on their individual character development: Blair realises that she needs to be established in her own right and not be defined by a boyfriend or his choices, and that it's important to preserve her self-worth; Chuck eventually learns that his father loved him very much but held the wrong values nonetheless, and that he can keep Blair only by stepping out of his father's shadow, and that is not at all the wrong life decision to make.
