#the diamonds were fake bu the gesture and the meaning of it were REAL ok

[terrainofheartfelt]

What do you think is the most romantic gift Dan gifts Blair?

mmmmmmmm good question! and actually, very hard. but i'm an overthinker like that.

bc like, blair has had relationships chock full of material gifts that emotionally amounted to Nothing: chuck's necklaces, louis' dresses, even nate seems to follow this standard formula of chocolates and jewelry and apologies.

and we know from watching him, dan is not good at material gifts, it's not his bag. (there's a whole holiday episode about it!). and while in this house we know that the five love languages model is pseudo-science trash, we also know that different people do express affection in varied and different ways. and dan is an act of service person more than a gift-purchasing person.

this is just to say, his gifts to blair in the course of their relationship are things that appear small, but it's the intent and the message behind the gesture that's momentous.

in headcanon land, I like to think that he gets a copy of a book that's significant to the two of them, and annotates it with comments and questions and messages for her. since nads (beloved) brought up Open Me Carefully last night, I can see him doing so with that title. other contenders: Age of Innocence, Breakfast at Tiffany's, any poetry collection: thinking of Rilke, Oliver, Shakespeare, KEATS (iykyk), and knowing Dan, he'd probably try more contemporary/less classic writers just to get a rise out of Blair.

I just like that idea, because dan seems to know that blair doesn't want material gifts with empty gestures behind them anymore. not to bring up the milk and honey route AGAIN, but that thing nads writes about how gifts to blair come to represent the time other men weren't able/willing to give her. So dan always makes a point to give her his time.

#ohhhhhh now thinking about how blair sort of grows from #thinking that a boy giving her the right necklace or the right ring is a representation that he understands her #that he sees her and knows who she is and what she likes #to letting that go in favor of something real #and like the most seen and known and understood is when dan gives her a costume jewelry tiara #the diamonds were fake bu the gesture and the meaning of it were REAL ok #they really are a ship that's about the little things #dair #gossip girl #gg hcs #asks #anon #gg meta