#dan&serena proceed to lock themselves into the same dance they've been doing since high school and it's

[nateserenas]

literally to present the world with a better version of you which could mean facing your future and and forgetting past mistakes or finally settling on a brand new path while they both stare at ticket stubs from a film they saw together (literally they both kept the tickets...) and then they promptly throw away the ticket stubs as though they've just been burnt because they catch themselves doing something terrible - thinking about each other. (literally they both kept the tickets but then absolutely did not think about why they'd kept the tickets, because as if they've reached a point where they'll allow themselves to realise that maybe it's possible for them to enjoy each other's company yet. and then them throwing away the tickets is them being like nope refusing to think about why I kept this it never happened i definitely did not willingly engage in recreational activity with dan humphrey/blair waldorf and then i definitely definitely definitely did not keep the evidence it just didn't happen none of it happened i will not think about it ticket gone means no more thoughts on the matter okay case closed moving on time to go visit serena...)

#AND THEN THEY BOTH LITERALLY GO VISIT SERENA #gg voice while dan is walking out the door to see serena “ and forgetting past mistakes” blair looking at her resume blair walks into seren #but a new year doesn' #sn't wipe away old problems #dan&serena proceed to lock themselves into the same dance they've been doing since high school and it's #blair's words that are a significant part of breaking dan specifically out of it #and then blair with her resume trying to figure out where she belongs in the world and her terror at the thought of becoming her mother lea #s to her plotting and scheming for something she doesn't actually want that much #and it's in talking to dan that she starts to let herself make plans for her life based on who she is and what she actually wants to be #rather than planning her future to run from the fears that have haunted her her whole life #it's about how they've always seen each other the mistakes theyve made what they're afraid of #but also the beauty they're forced to admit exists in their enemy/frenemy (depending on the day) #so it's like now they're talking and they're showing each other how they see each other and it's so very different from how anybody else se #es them and it's these pictures that are completely different but completely accurate that help them break the patterns of their pasts #in that the newness the difference allows for the realisation of “youre not what you were” and the accuracy is like i know you we'll show e #ch other what we actually are we see each other #okay now i'm #just rambling but it's them running away from the fact that they enjoyed each other's company and then proceeding to spend the episode trap #ped in patterns they've been trapped in forever until they help each other realise that they don't have to be trapped forever and then they #end the episode beginning to actually face the future and settle on a new path when they go see another movie together #okay done now so sorry this is insanely long help