AN: So. More Dair. They're stuck in my head lately. I think they're my OTP. I know this idea has been done before, but I've been wasting too much time on Tumblr and I wanted to try it. Basically it's Dan as a WASP and Blair as the scholarship girl from Brooklyn. Also, this one goes out to EmilyRose09, who suggested I write a full Dair story, though I'm not really sure this is what she had in mind. But I just could not get this idea out of my head. I people like it, I'll keep writing it.

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The Other Side Of This Life

Welcome To The Dark Side

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Daniel Humphrey gets out of his town car and runs a hand through his long curls before he makes his way up the steps of the Met.

(Serena had been on him about getting a haircut before school started up; she'd always preferred him with his hair short.)

His black Chucks are scuffed, his button-down is mostly unbuttoned and half untucked, his stripped tie hangs undone around his neck, and black suspenders peek out from under his shirt. Disheveled yet handsome is a look Dan's cultivated well throughout his life. He shrugs on his St. Jude's dark-blue blazer as he runs up the steps.

A small crowd waits eagerly for the Upper East Side Rebel, including his picture perfect girlfriend Serena van der Woodsen.

"Morning, angel-face," Dan greets the golden goddess with a peck on the lips. "Sorry I'm late."

"And on the first day, too!" Serena exclaims, still flashing him a dazzling smile.

Dan shrugs, busying his hands with knotting up his tie. "My alarm didn't go off," he offers as an explanation. Although the reality is he hit the snooze button a record breaking 15 times this morning.

A few guys from the soccer team nudge him and Dan diverts his attention to greet the rest of his friends. The usual gang's all here and accounted for.

Plus one more.

A few minutes go by before Dan notices a new face among their select little group. A petite girl with brilliant chestnut-brown eyes, long brunette hair, and a fox-like face. "And who might you be?"

Before the girl can answer, Serena introduces her. "Ooh! This is Blair Waldorf. She's a new transfer student." She turns to Blair and adds, "B, this is Danny. My boyfriend."

Dan offers her a hand to shake. "It's Dan, actually," he amends, "Dan Humphrey. S is the only one who gets to call me Danny. And only because she insists on it." He looks at the New Girl up and down. She wears simple black ballet flats, has an actual book-bag instead of a Kate Spade purse, and she hasn't added any gaudy accessories to her uniform save for a headband. "Where are you from, Blair Waldorf?"

Nate Archibald elbows him. "Dude," he mutters quietly, "be cool!"

Nate is the classic UES WASP-oid, a good-looking lacrosse player who smokes copious amounts of weed and prefers everything in his life to remain copacetic. He's also Dan Humphrey's best friend.

"My father and I just moved to Brooklyn," replies Blair. "I transferred from Chilton, in Connecticut."

"Yeah," cuts in Serena, "Blair has never lived in the city before. I figured we could show her the ropes."

Dan smirks. "Sure," he says. "Welcome to the dark side, Brooklyn. You're gonna have fun. Trust me."

Blair narrows her eyes at him, but decides to hold her tongue. It's her first day and she's still feeling this group out. Hell, Serena isn't her ideal pick for her first social interaction at Constance. Sure, she's been lovely so far, but Sunshine Barbie is definitely not they type of girl Blair had ever been friends with. However, Blair was fond of following the rules so, as per the headmistress' instructions, Ms. van der Woodsen was to be her student guide for the first week of school.

Serena rolls her eyes and slaps Dan's chest playfully. "Don't be an ass, Danny," she reprimands him with her ethereal smile.

"C'mon! I'm joking," Dan exclaims with a grin. "It's a nickname—you don't mind, right, Brooklyn?" he asks, turning to face Blair.

"And what should I call you?" Blair coolly volleys back. "Manhattan? 5th Avenue?"

Dan blinks at her and grins. "Touché, Waldorf."

Blair raises an eyebrow. "Thank you, Humphrey."

Serena giggles and grabs Dan's face, pulling him into a kiss. "Behave," she warns. "I'm gonna go sign us in for the assembly," she tells Blair, that smile gracing her lips once more. "Meet you inside, okay?"

Blair smiles back at her. "Thank you."

"What kind of student guide would I be if I didn't? I'll grab us the good seats, too. Don't stress, just mingle and get to know everybody. I got you covered." Serena turns and places her hands of Dan's chest. "I'll see you for lunch?"

"Yes, boss." Dan answers with a mock salute.

Serena slaps his chest once more and kisses him goodbye. "Oh and B," she calls out over her shoulder, "don't let him get douche-y with you!"

The crowd disperses quickly after that—the boys head over to St. Jude's and the girls to Constance Billard.

(Apparently same-sex prep schools are a must for Upper East Side WASPs.)

But Dan Humphrey still stands there and she feels like his brown eyes are burrowing into her. "Good luck, Waldorf," he says after a beat. "I think you're gonna need it."

Blair frowns. "Is everyone here this obnoxious or are you just a special case?" she snaps.

Dan chuckles. "No. We're pretty much all the same," he replies, sliding on his messenger bag and heading down the steps.

Blair watches him walk away and suddenly her eyes zoom in on the book sticking out of his back pocket. "You read?" She doesn't really mean to ask the questions out loud, but she blurts it out anyways.

Dan turns to face her, smirking at her look of incredulity. "Yes." He replies, "Ever since my mom got me Hooked on Phonics. Don't tell anyone, though. I'll lose serious cool points for that."

Blair blushes with slight embarrassment, but presses on. "What are you reading?"

Dan skips up a few steps until he's towering one step above her. "See for yourself, Waldorf." He pulls out a worn-out copy of Letters to a Young Poet by Rilke and hands it to her. "It does have a lot of big words in it, but I manage."

Blair blushes once more, and Dan's surprised to find that he likes teasing this girl. She stares at him for a second. Takes in his bright brown eyes, enticing grin and his messy mop of curly hair that falls almost gracefully across his forehead, and she can't help but think that this guy's actually kind of handsome.

"I love this book," she says after the pause seems to drag on.

"Keep it, then." Dan says decisively, then turns around and heads down the steps.

Blair furrows her brow in surprise. "Wait! Are you through with it?" She calls out, but Dan just waves a hand dismissively without bothering to turn around.

"What is his deal?" Blair asks herself, and already she finds him cocky and infuriating. She flips through the book and is surprised to find that it is thoroughly read: passages are highlighted and notes are carefully scribbled on the margins. She stops on a particular quote:

"It is also good to love: because love is difficult. For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation. That is why young people, who are beginners in everything, are not yet capable of love: it is something they must learn. With their whole being, with all their forces, gathered around their solitary, anxious, upward-beating heart, they must learn to love."

It's one of her personal favorites, and she wonders... "Daniel Humphrey. Could you actually be hiding a brain beneath the surface?"

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Dan walks late into the assembly hall and immediately spots Nate. He takes one of the two empty seats next to his friend.

"Dude, where were you?" The Golden Boy inquires.

"Just around." Dan grins mischievously, glances behind them where Anthony Avuldsen, Charlie Dern and Jeremy Scott Tompkinson are horsing around and discussing soccer tryouts and lacrosse. He bumps fists with them and returns his attention to Nate. "And where is Chuck?" he asks.

Nate smirks. "Late, man," he answers as if it should be obvious. "It's Chuck Bass." He says the name mockingly, trying to capture they way Chuck does it; as if it encompasses some greater meaning, which amongst this group it's fair to say it does.

"S is looking good today." Nate mutters.

Dan raises a challenging eyebrow. "Jealous?" he teases with a smirk. "Sorry, Natie-boy. You know I don't share my toys, at least not until I'm done playing with them."

Serena van der Woodsen has been Daniel Humphrey's on-and-off girlfriend since middle school. They'd all grown up together—Dan and Serena and Nate—and it was no secret that Nate Archibald was a little bit in love with Serena.

Hell, everyone was a little bit in love with Serena.

"So, what'd you think of the new girl?" Nate asks, opting to change the subject.

Chuck Bass walks in then, takes the seat next to Dan. "Gentlemen," he greets, "I trust you had a pleasurable summer."

"We make do," Nate answers.

Dan smirks. "Just like always," he adds. "Nice scarf, by the way." He says, motioning towards the J. Press patchwork scarf that hangs around Chuck's neck like a calling card.

"Do not mock the scarf, Daniel," Chuck says. "It's my signature."

Chuck Bass, the only son of Bart and Misty Bass, is handsome in that aftershave-commercial kind of way.

He also has a reputation as the horniest boy in Dan and Nate's group of friends. (A reputation he is very proud of, by the way.)

They all laugh, falling into the comforts of their usual banter, and then the assembly starts. The principal is yammering on about high standards and the future and how this is an elite institution. They tune out pretty quickly.

Chuck leans towards Dan, "How's the new meat this semester, Humphrey?"

Dan licks his lips, pauses for a beat before answering. "Nothing worth your time," he replies.

And Dan wants to focus on the conversation and rate the new freshman girls on the bang-able scale, but Blair Waldorf—the brunette girl from Brooklyn—is still stuck in the back of his mind.