dexter and blair.

for someone who’s well known to be a daily grump, among his group of friends and acquaintances, dexter gowen seems to be nowhere near in playing the part around his newly-announced fiance, blair hastings. he wasn’t the kind to delve into matters that aren’t beneficial to his career — finding it absolutely pointless to be spending his time on things far from his interest; but as he stayed inside the mansion they’re once again, sheltered under and with their journey after the show, dexter found himself trying to figure out what it was about the blonde that’s incredibly captivating. it often left him anticipating for the firework show; a smile only to be wiped across his face by the end of the night. that was the exact effect blair hastings has on him. an inaudible laugh escaped from the small gaps of his lips as he felt her nudge him; his body moved like a pendulum before it came swaying back to gently push her in return. “i’m engaged to a child,” he couldn’t help but tease, a dumb smile spread across his features like it belonged there — and it did. every time he’s around the blonde, he could never seem to control his lips from curving upwards. and to think he’d never find happiness. “don’t ask me how i got them, but according to the blueprints of this mansion, i think the first bedroom to the left from the stairs would be more than enough for us,” he informed; the smile on his face turned into a rather sneaky grin; a quick wink given her way. 

she found herself staring up at him as he nudged him back, she seemed to find her self having random moments in which she’d find herself admiring her now fiancé. how he decided to legally bound himself to this blonde was far beyond what she could really understand, but she knew she wasn’t about to question it. after all her ups and downs she had managed to not only find love but to be loved in return and to her that was a miracle. “you may be engaged to a child but i am engaged to a genius” she mentioned after hearing about how he had gotten his hands on the blueprints for this place, she smiled softly as she rolled her eyes. she intertwined her fingers with his. “shall we, fiancé” 

felicity and blair.

felicity couldn’t help but crinkle her nose, letting out a quiet and feigned groan to follow after; eyes rolling at the reminder of the recent news of the blonde’s engagement, the light annoyance present on her face held intentions to only tease the blonde. “i still can’t believe you’re getting married.” the brunette has come to care for the blonde as though they’ve stemmed under the same family tree. she’s no longer just a best friend, but a sister; and to watch her grow into the woman she’s become, only made felicity proud. “i’ll take your word for it,” she chuckled, shrugging her shoulders at the other’s question. “honestly, if it wasn’t for you, i wouldn’t be back here again. though i do have to admit, i’m rather curious. there’s a list of people i’d like to know if they’ve matured — including doe-eyed bambi who gave you that fucking scar.”

blair looked down at the ring on her finger. “i still remember wanting to hit him when he asked thinking it was a joke. yikes, who would have thought i, blair hastings would ever get married. and to think i was aiming to growing old with you, getting wine drunk and going to the theatre every second weekend” she playfully mentioned. the blonde shrugged her shoulders at the mention of peyton. “she wouldn’t want to show up anywhere near this place or myself. i heard the invites weren’t even extended out to cleo either. the only doe-eyed bambi we’re going to have around here is precious little charlotte, i saw her name on a cast list while signing dexter and myself in”

“Yeah, it was a pretty shitty break up.” Benji hated to even think about it. All it did was hurt him even more. Even though it had been over three years….the man still felt the heartbreak from it from time to time. “It’s crazy to think about how far we’ve come since our teenage years. And we’ve managed to stick together through it all…” he heaved out a sigh. This time it was more content than anything….his eyes fixing on the view from the roof.

He only took his arm away when she spoke again, wanting to ask him something. “Ask away, B.” he nodded, smiling as she brought up wedding things. He was so happy that she had found someone to spend the rest of her life with. He was happy that she was happy. Her question caused his eyes to widen slightly, smiling nonetheless. “B….are you sure? I’d be honoured to give you away at your wedding.” his heart warmed at the idea. “You know I love you, B. I’d do anything for you. And I’ll proudly walk you down the aisle.”

"its insane how times change. i feel like part of me hasn’t changed at all, yet i feel like a different person at the same time” she laughed slightly as she looked out at the view from the roof of the mansion. now this she missed. 

she couldn’t help but smile when benji agreed to being apart of the wedding. she was disappointed her own family had become so distant but it wouldn’t have been right for a stranger to give her away, at least this way someone important to her will get to do it. someone she had always been able to depend and count on even though she had always made a point she didn’t need anyone but herself. “i’m more than sure, ben. besides dexter you’re one of the most important men in my life and it wouldn’t feel right. i can’t exactly ask you to be a bridesmaid but at least this way you can ensure i’ll make it down that aisle in one piece.” she commented. she couldn’t help but laugh, shaking her head slightly. “i still can’t believe i’m getting married. that someone wants to legally be stuck with me. i never thought i would find love or believe in it but then that bloody english man came in to my life” she said still in disbelief as this was her life now. “sorry, you’re going through a crisis and i’m here talking about my stable love life”

“Yeah, he really wanted to be here with me…” Benji sighed softly. He couldn’t imagine being away from his son. It was either bring Noah with him, or not come back on the show. “I guess it’s kinda hard to keep in contact with someone when you live in a completely different country. Plus, I kinda removed her from all my social media accounts so I didn’t think she’d be contacting me anytime soon…” he explained with a shrug, taking the joint back from Blair. Blair had been there from the start. She had seen the shit Benji had been through, she’d heard him vent on countless occasions and the two of them had even gotten into shit together. If there was one person he was glad to have here with him, it was Blair.

He took another hit from the joint, a soft sigh escaping him soon after. “Thanks, B. I’ll always have your back to. You know I will. You’re my ride or die.” he bumped his shoulder with her own. “We got up to a lot of trouble together…” he then draped his arm over her shoulders to pull her closer. “You truly are the best friend anyone could ever have, B. I’ll probably take you up on that offer if shit gets too crazy.” he smirked, handing her the joint again.

“you both would have been hurting when you guys broke up. everyone deals with heartbreak differently..” she commented knowing she had her fair share of heartbreaks in the past. not that it was something she was hoping to ever have to worry about in the future. she rolled her eyes as he called her his ride or die. “you and i have always been a package deal. in crimes, with reckless.. with everything really” she said with a laugh as she rested her head on his shoulder. 

“since we’re on the topic of us i do have something i want to ask of you benji” she said, lifted her head up and looking at him. she inhaled the joint, blowing the smoke in the air before speaking again. “i was looking over some basic wedding things, and since i’m no longer close at all with my brothers or dad it seems weird for a stranger to do this when i have the person that has been there for everything right in front of me. guess what i’m trying to ask is.. will you walk me down the aisle on my wedding day and give me away to dexter?” 

Benji followed Blair up to the roof, more memories flooding his mind once they were up the top. He’d spent a lot of time on the roof when the show was airing. It was a place he often came to when he needed an escape. Even though he knew there were camera’s basically watching their every move no matter where they went. He watched Blair lighting the joint and smirked. It had been some time since he’d smoked so he was pretty eager for it.

Taking the joint from her, Benji put it between his lips and took a hit from it, his eyes rolling when she brought up the exes. Still, he passed her the joint back and released the smoke into the air above them before answering. “I’ve seen them both. I was hoping to avoid Avery because things were really awkward between us, but…couldn’t seem to do that. And then I also saw Charlotte and spoke with her as well. Do you think I made a mistake bringing Noah here? I mean, he was close with Charlotte. And when she left, he asked about her a lot…”

she inhaled from the joint as he spoke about how he had already ran in to both exes. blair knew pretty much everything there was to know when it came to both women in benji’s life. she had always thought avery was sweet, but way to naive to keep up with ben then there was charlotte on the other hand. she had definitely been a rollercoaster with her friendship wise. when she first arrived at reckless blair was cautious of the girl, even calling her out a few times. but as blair grew she became more understanding of the irish gal. after all blair preferred ben with her over cleo any day.

“you know noah would have hated being away from you, and me.. and alice and her daughter. you did the right thing by bringing him. yes, you and char broke up but it was her choice to not make contact with noah.” she said to him. “i’ve got his back, ben. and i have yours, as i always have and always will do” she said to him passing him the joint. “we both went through so much in this house. made so many friends, and lost so many” she placed her hand subconsciously on her leg where she had previously been shot. “if this place gets too much, my studio isn’t too far from here. you and noah can always crash there for a night or two. it’s still set up as a crash pad when i work far too late”  

“I think you’re both just bad influences on eachother…” Benji scoffed lightly, smirking to himself as he watched his son playing the nintendo switch. “It’s good to know that you’ve got a soft spot for us Preston’s, B.” he added teasingly before Noah was looking up from his screen when Blair was speaking to him. “Harry Potter lego!? Say no more— I’m out. You’re the best, B. Dad, if you need me, I’ll be in the kids room!” his eyes widened with excitement as he practically jumped off the bed and hurried to the exit of the bedroom. “Behave yourself, Noah! Don’t spend too long on that game.” Benji called out to him before he ran off.

Once the child was out of the room, Benji got up from the bed and then smirked at the sight of the joint in Blair’s hand. “Say no more.” he nodded his head, mocking his child’s words. This wasn’t uncommon for the pair of them. Smoking on the rooftop of their nightclub in the early hours of the morning was something they enjoyed doing all the time. The mansion was no different. “Remind me again who the bad influence is around here?”

“come on let’s go then” she said rolling her eyes as she walked out of her room. “i believe that would be you benjamin preston” she smirked as she made the comment. she walked down the halls, hiding the joint up her sleeve. it was like she knew the way to the roof like it was the back of her hand. 

she opened the latch on the fire exit, and walked out on in to the open air. she placed the stick between her lips and lighting it. she breathed in deeply before passing it over to benji. “okay, so are you going to tell me now what’s on that pretty mind of yours? have you seen charlotte or avery yet?”

Benji laughed lightly, knowing that his son would have turned bright red if someone were to tease him about a crush he may or may not have had. Noah’s personality was so similiar to Benji’s when he was the same age. He hoped that his son wouldn’t go down any rebelious paths when he hit the teenage years. The blonde was trying hard to avoid that.

The sneeze made Benji smile as he sat himself on the bed. Noah finally gave up hiding and opened up the closet door. “It’s way too stuffy in there, B. We need to find a better hiding spot later. When dad isn’t around.” Noah took the nintendo switch from Blair and walked over to the bed to sit with his father. “Oh gee, thanks, Noah. You’re so nice to me.” Benji rolled his eyes. “It’s fun to hide from you though, dad. You always panic. It amuses me.” the eight year old laughed, ruffling Benji’s hair before settling comfortably beside him so he could play the game again. Benji draped his arm over his son’s shoulders and then smiled back at Blair. “You’re a bad influence on my son, B.” the blonde teased jokingly.

blair laughed, giving benji a innocent smile. “oh look who it is..” sarcasm was almost second nature to her now. “don’t worry little man, we have plenty of time to figure out the best hiding places” she said ruffling his hair and she handed him the gaming console. 

she held her hands up in defence. “more like he’s the bad influence on me. you know the kid is my weakness. He bats those gorgeous eyelashes and tells me i’m pretty.. it’s hard to not go along with his schemes. if only he wasn’t so much like his father” she smirked. “hey- noah why don’t you go plug that console in to the tv in the kids room? if you look in the case i may have slipped the harry potter lego game in there for you” she said sending him off to his room. she waited for benji jr to leave the room before pulling a joint out of her handbag, she held it up and looked at benji. “roof?”

“Touché.” Benji smirked faintly, turning around to face her again. “Yeah, he insisted on coming to the mansion with me after finding out Lucy was going to be here as well.” Noah and Lucy had both been babies that were born during the filming of Reckless. And for a couple of years, they’d even been on the show with their parents. Benji was glad that his son had Lucy here with him. The two were super close now.

“Yeah, I might actually do that. If he’s going to hide anywhere, it’ll either be with Lucy, or with you.” his eyes narrowed playfully at his best friend as she backed up against the cupboard in the room. “Excited? Oh yeah—” he was about to start complaining about how he’d have to come face to face with not one, but two ex-girlfriends in the house, but then he remembered that Noah was in the room and well. It wasn’t something he needed to discuss around him. “Definitely. And I can tell you about how excited I am to be back here…” he rolled his eyes.

“I think it’s cute, it’s like he has himself a little girlfriend” she said, in almost a teasing tone knowing it would cause the young kid to roll his eyes. She bit on her lip, she knew this trip back in to the past would trigger a lot for a majority of the people in this mansion. It amazed Blair knowing how far she had come from being the rebellious teenager she once was.

She let out a sigh as she heard a sneeze coming out of her closet. “Noah..” she whispered. “I mean..” she let out a sneeze herself. “Damn allergies.. forgot how dusty? this place was..”

As soon as the door opened, Benji raised his brows at the sight of his best friend. “You look like you’re up to no good, B. Can’t fucking fool me.” his eyes moved past her shoulder to see if maybe he could spot his son from where he was standing. It wasn’t the first time Blair had helped/assisted Noah in hiding from his father. Noah’s bond with Blair had always been so strong. The eight year old absolutely adored Blair. Much like his father. It seemed like most of the Preston boys were quite fond of Blair, actually. Benji, Carson and now Noah as well.

“Oh well, he can’t have gotten too far.” he waved it off as if it didn’t matter. If he didn’t actually know the whereabouts of his son, this would have been a whole different scenario. However, he was 100% sure Noah was in Blair’s room….which was why he pretended he was no longer interested in finding his son. “Mind if I join you? Figured I could keep you company until Noah turns up…” his eyes drifted over to the cupboard for a split second before his attention went back onto Blair as he stepped past her to get into the room.

“Benny, when have I ever actually been up to something good?” she threw the question back at him. She stepped aside as Benji walked in to her room. “I’m sure he’ll turn up eventually. He told me last week that his friend Lucy was going to be here.. he’s probably gone off to find her” 

She grabbed one of the coats off her bed, slyly grabbing her Nintendo Switch that she was playing on with Noah just moments ago. “Sure, you’re more than welcome to sit in and wait for him. But he really isn’t here..” she backed up to the cupboard door, leaning against it tyring to seem casual. “Bet you’re excited to be back, we might have to check out the roof tonight to celebrate.. if you know what I mean?”

Kailani Lea couldn’t help but laugh, rolling her eyes playfully at Blair. “Still just as full of yourself i see..” she teased as she enveloped her in a hug. Blair was one of those people you could be completely candid around and she would definitely judge you but only with fair and true honesty and kailani truthfully appreciated it. it’d always been refreshing. “agreed. i can only imagine how busy you’ve been though.” she pointed out “I’m really really good actually - more importantly, how about you?” 

She shrugged her shoulders. “Well least you can’t doubt my confidence” she laughed. She smiled as she pulled away from her hug, looking at the girl in front of her. “I’ve got a store opening up in London in the next few months, club warehouse has been marked as one of the hottest places in New York to party and now on top of that I’m planning the wedding of the century for moi” she said rattling of the list of things happening in her life. “I’m doing really good actually, I’ve been crazy busy.. but I couldn’t be happier at the moment. How about you my love??”

{ { @bhxstings } }

Benji had spent the last half an hour showing his eight year old son around the mansion they’d be staying at. At first, Benji hadn’t been planning on bringing Noah into the mansion, but after much thought he decided it was better to have his son with him rather than staying elsewhere. Plus, Noah’s best friend was here so the boy had insisted on staying in the Reckless mansion with his father. Noah also had people living in the mansion that Benji knew would help look out for him as well….which was reassuring to the father.

Making his way down the hallway where most of the rooms were located, Benji stopped at one door in particular and knocked on it a few times. “B, is Noah in there with you?” he called out before the door was even opened, knowing that if his son was deliberately hiding from his father as his way of having fun…that he’d most likely be with Blair.

Blair was unpacking hers and Dexter’s bags, folding up the clothing as she chatted away with the boy whom seemed to be able to find her way to easily. “So if you’re here..hiding from your dad, where on earth is-“ she said shutting herself up upon hearing the knock at the door.

“Speaking of the devil?” she said before looking over at the boy. She looked around the room looking for a place to hide him. “Here put on this coat and get in the wardrobe” she said passing his one of Dexter’s coats and closing the wardrobe door. “Shh” she said giggling slightly before opening the door. She raised her eyebrows as she looked at Benji. “Oh, hey you. When did you get here?” she said glancing over her shoulder making sure the wardrobe door stay closed. “Noah? Can’t say I’ve seen him but if I do I’ll be sure to tell him you’re looking for him” she lied, unable to help herself from smirking slightly. 

she could recognize the sound of the blonde’s voice with her eyes closed shut. the fact that her best friend’s here with her to endure the torture together, has felicity feel the slightest bit at ease. the first few minutes of arriving had the brunette almost changing her mind, for the walls of the mansion peeled with memories she much rather forget. “took you long enough to arrive,” she lightly groaned, walking up toward the blonde and greeting her with a tight hug as the corner of her lips tugged into a small smirk. “i’ve only been here for about fifteen minutes, and i was this close to booking a flight back to paris.” she demonstrated her temptation by creating a gap in between her thumb and index finger. “i can’t believe i let myself get dragged back to this hell hole again.”

“ dexter took forever trying to decide which grandpa sweaters to pack, so don’t go shooting me for being late ” she said laughing as she met her girl half way, wrapping her arms around her. “ this is going to be great, i promise. you’re not going to regret this.. that much at least ” she looked back at the building for a moment. “ I honestly thought it was a prank when I got the call from MTV saying they wanted us all back and to do some cheesy reunion special. Is anyone else here yet.. do we know who we will be once again sharing the hallways of hell with? ”

if dexter gowen was ever granted the chance to be honest, he’d offer his two cents on the thought of returning to the reckless mansion. the news of the reunion wasn’t what he would expect out from the reality show; nor was he ecstatic or cared much about it when he first heard of it. but he reckons if it’s important to the blonde, and if it keeps him from sleeping alone with a vacant space beside him, he would very much happily oblige. he walks through the front door of the mansion with an exasperating sigh of slight annoyance — the thought of physically being there, arriving within the compound, has dexter already predicting the jokes his fellow lawyers would jab at him as soon as he resumes back into his hectic life. he settles himself beside the blonde, the wheels of their luggage coming to a full halt as his gaze lifts, following the direction of blair’s. “think it too late to make a run for it?” he joked, giving out an airy and dry humoured chuckle.

this place gave the blonde so many mixed feelings, some of her best and worst memories happened in this place. she met the man she now calls her fiancé here, she also met people that soon became people she couldn’t dare to dream life without but memories of being shot, attacked and the countless times she mindlessly got drunk due to never feeling good enough loomed over her. it was safe to say that it had been quite a while since she had felt those feelings, but it didn’t stop her from reminiscing momentarily. she laughed under her breath at his comment. she turned looking at him. “oh come on, grumpy” she said in her native sarcastic tone as she nudged him. “if we’re going to make a run for anything it’ll be to get the best bedroom in this joint before the rest of the inpatients show up”