Fake Relationships Are The Best Relationships

Summary: What's this? Nate and Serena both getting dumped by Dan and Vanessa in the same week? Solution? Start a fake relationship with each other of course! But what happens when a fake relationship starts to feel a little too real? Nate/Serena. With Chuck and Blair thrown in, because I can never resist that couple.

This is a light fic, with a big dollop of romance and a bunch of ridiculous but cute Nate and Serena scenes. I know this is a couple that not many people are invested in, but re-watching 'Summer, Kind of Wonderful' when these two made out made me go WOW. Now THERE'S a couple who would be extremely hot together.

And yes, I put Chuck and Blair in as an already established couple, because I can never resist those two.

xoxo

Serena was walking through the halls of Constance Billard, her mind on the assignment that was due the next day when her phone beeped.

And so did everyone else's.

Sighing, she grabbed her phone out of her bag and flipped it open, wondering what juicy tidbits Gossip Girl had uncovered now.

Fact has it that two of Constance's most famous couples have called it quits. Everyone's Prince Charming, Nate Archibald has parted ways with Cinderella herself, Vanessa Abrams. Meanwhile our favorite newly-reformed bad girl, Serena van der Woodsen, has left behind the lowly Dan Humphrey. It's about time, S. We were beginning to miss your single, hard-partying ways. But what will become of two of Gossip Girls' most sought-after individuals?

Only time will tell. And you can bet that I'll be watching.

Serena froze on the spot, blinking, willing the text to disappear from in front of her eyes. It was bad enough breaking up with someone, let alone having everyone else knowing your private business.

"S!" called Blair from down the hallway. She approached her quickly. "I just read it. Is it true?"

Serena nodded. "Yeah. We broke up. Again."

"Oh S!" Blair hugged her friend. "I hope you're okay."

"Uhhh… thanks B. I'll be fine."

She disentangled herself from Blair's grasp, only to spot Chuck heading towards her.

"Hey sis. You and Lonely Boy split again?"

Once again Serena nodded.

"My deepest sympathies." He wrapped an arm around Blair's waist and whispered into her ear. Serena shook her head, still in shock over her best friend and step brother dating.

Blair giggled and blushed, before turning to face her friend again. 'Uh… Chuck and I have some…. homework to do. Are you sure you're okay?"

Serena rolled her eyes at her friend. "Gross, B. I know you and Chuck are heading off to do something dirty in the school. Again. So yes I'm fine as long as you two leave before I'm scarred with the image of my best friend and brother naked together."

"You could always join us," quipped Chuck.

Blair whacked him on the arm.

"Or not."

"I'll see you later," said Serena, waving over her shoulder and continuing to walk down the hall. She made her way outside and found a secluded area and a bench to sit on. She took a deep breath of fresh air, trying to calm herself down.

"Bad day?"

Serena started then saw Nate leaning against the wall, looking at her.

"Well I've had better."

He chuckled. "Me too."

Nate walked over and sat down beside Serena. "I saw the latest Gossip Girl blast," he noted. "We've obviously had great weeks," he said sarcastically.

Serena sighed. "Don't you just wish that we could get away from it all?" she said, twirling a strand of her long blonde hair through her fingers absentmindedly.

"More like don't I wish I could get some sort of revenge on Vanessa?"

Serena nudged Nate playfully. "Hey, careful now! Even though you guys broke up, V is still a nice girl."

Nate shrugged. "Yeah, but still… I'm willing to bet that somewhere deep inside you, you're wishing that you could get back at Dan."

"It's not that deep, actually," laughed Serena. "It's not so much that I have anything against him, I just want to beat him in the comeback stakes. Make him miss me a little, get him jealous." Serena paused. "I'm a horrible person, aren't I?"

Nate laughed openly. "I think everyone feels that way after a breakup, even if you're still friends with your ex. There will always be that competition on who will move on first."

"Touché."

Serena and Nate both sighed and looked at the ground, lost in their own thoughts. Eventually Serena snapped her head up, her eyes bright with a devious idea.

"So how badly do you want to win your competition with Vanessa?" asked Serena, bumping Nate teasingly with her shoulder.

Nate looked at her, shaking his head slightly. "I know you too well, S. Too well to say yes to whatever crazy plan you've thought of now."

"Awww, c'mon Nate!" she begged, tugging on his arm. "Pleeease? Just hear me out, okay?"

"Fine. What is it?"

Serena paused dramatically. "So we both want to start dating again before Dan and Vanessa, right?"

"Right."

"Well, what if we pretended to date each other?"

Nate looked at her in disbelief and Serena quickly jumped in and kept talking.

"It's the perfect plan, Nate! That way, we don't use anyone as a device to get over our exes. We both know we're pretending to like the other, so no one gets hurt. And let's face it; based on our history everyone will believe we're actually a couple. It's the perfect plan!"

"Except for the fact that we aren't actually dating each other," pointed out Nate.

Serena threw her hand in the air, as if trying to physically brush off Nate's comment. "Look at it this way Nate. It means we win. We don't use anyone. No one gets hurt. Sounds perfect to me."

Nate pondered in silence, trying to ignore Serena's nodding and to look at the plan from an objective point of view.

"I guess it could work…" he started to say, before getting cut off by Serena throwing her arms around him. "YES!!! THANK YOU NATE!!"

Nate laughed, hugging one of his best friends in return. They pulled apart and both stood up, ready to get back to class.

"We are horrible people, aren't we?" said Nate, shaking his head.

"No, I don't think so. We're not hurting anyone. It's just a bit of fun."

Nate still looked uncertain, so Serena took his arm and looked him in the eye. "Nate, if you really don't want to do this, you don't have to. We can be like normal people and get over our exes by dating new people, for real."

Nate, however, couldn't resist the subtle pleading in Serena's eyes. "I said I'm in, so I'm in."

She grinned widely before grabbing her bag and walking towards her next class. "I'll text you tonight so we can work out a time to get together and sort this out."

"Sounds like a plan," he called out after her.

As Serena rounded the corner and out of his view, Nate grinned to himself.

One thing was for sure, life was never boring when you had Serena van der Woodsen by your side.

Serena was lounging around on her large, squishy double bed when she heard a knock on the door and watched Nate walk in. She grinned at him and swung her legs around so that they were dangling over the edge of the bed. She patted the spot next to her and Nate crossed the room and sat down.

"So, did you call up your lawyer so we can get a contract figured out?" giggled Serena.

"Ha ha ha," said Nate sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "So what is it that we need to figure out exactly?"

It was Serena's turn to roll her eyes at him. "Well, if we're entering into a fake relationship, we obviously need set rules and boundaries so we know what is and isn't acceptable in public."

"Agreed, "said Nate, nodding. "Well personally I think if we're having a fake relationship, we need it to look as real as possible so clearly we need to sleep together a lot."

Serena whacked him across the arm and he laughed openly at her. "Okay, okay, I was kidding!" he said, grinning. "Hand holding, hugging, arm around the waist, head on my shoulder, all appropriate signs of affection, right?"

"Check," said Serena. "They're all very couply signs of affection we need to be portraying. What else?"

"Well…" started Nate. "Couples do tend to kiss each other in public…"

"Yes they do," said Serena, trying to keep a straight face.

"So, kissing on the lips is okay?"

"For the good of our fake relationship, I believe it is needed."

Serena and Nate grinned at each other.

"Anything else?" asked Nate.

"Ummm…. Well it depends," said Serena, looking at the floor. "How real do we want to look?"

"Very real," said Nate quickly. "We need people to believe that what we're doing is genuine."

"Well from my experiences, couples do more than just kiss on the lips. So I guess what I'm saying is…"

Serena blushed deeply and Nate couldn't help but grin at how cute she looked.

"Yes?" he asked, willing her to go on.

"We're going to have to kiss each other properly. You know, with tongues."

Nate laughed at her. "Who knew Serena van der Woodsen could be so modest?"

She looked up at him from underneath her eyelashes, too embarrassed to say any more. Nate opened his mouth to speak.

"I have no problem with that Serena. We're just kidding around. If you kiss me properly in front of everyone, I won't be surprised." Nate paused, pondering whether he should say his next comment or not. He decided he would. "Besides, I'm not exactly going to get upset over a hot blonde throwing herself at me."

For the second time that day, Nate got whacked across the arm by Serena.

"I deserved that."

"Yes you did."

"So when do we start this fake relationship?" asked Nate.

"Tomorrow. At school. We can meet on the steps before homeroom. We'll give Gossip Girl something to blog about!"

Nate grinned at her. "Especially after everyone sees me sticking my tongue down your throat."

Nate got whacked across the arm. Again.

"Ouch!"

Serena felt distinctively nervous as she stood on the steps, knowing what was going to happen. There was no real reason to feel nervous but she couldn't help it anyway. She tried to convince herself that the nerves were for the public display of affection she was going to give everyone that morning. No one likes their private lives to be blogged and talked about. But she knew the nerves where deeper than that. If she could admit it to herself, she knew the nerves where for kissing Nate. She had done it before and they were just friends, putting on a show. So why did she feel this way? She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She hadn't been herself after her breakup with Dan so she decided to blame her nerves on that.

"Hey Serena!" called Penelope, gesturing towards her and attempting to get Serena to join their circle of friends. "We're over here!"

"I can't!" she called back. "I'm waiting for someone."

"For who?" asked Penelope, clearly puzzled. Everyone of importance was already standing in their friendship circle.

Serena ignored her and continued scanning for Nate.

"Looking for me?" a voice from behind her asked. Serena's heart sped up as she recognized the person's voice standing behind her. She turned around slowly, grinning.

Her breath hitched in her throat when she came face to face with him, only inches apart.

"Ready to start the show?" he asked quietly.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Slowly and deliberately, Nate leaned forward, cupping his hand on her face. He pulled her close, staring into her eyes, then shut them at the last second. Serena followed suite and in an instant their lips met. He slowly moved his lips against hers and she felt his hand move around her waist, pulling her in against his body. He opened her mouth with his tongue and slipped it inside, moving in synchronicity with each other.

It was the perfect movie kiss.

Serena exhaled and they broke apart gradually, eyes fluttering open. Serena let out a small giggle and he grinned back at her.

"If I was your real girlfriend, I would be kissing you all day with a technique like that."

Nate laughed before replying. "Right back at you." He slipped his arm back around her waist, and she leant into his side.

"I think we achieved our goal for today," said Nate, looking around the courtyard.

There were people everywhere with their phones out, snapping photos of the two of them together.

"Looks like we really did," said Serena, nudging Nate and getting him to look in a certain direction. There was Dan and surprisingly Vanessa, who was there to film more of her documentary, standing together mouths agape at seeing their two exes entangled with one another.

Serena turned her face to look at Nate. "See you at lunch?" she asked.

"Absolutely."

Serena grinned as she walked to her next class. This fake relationship thing was actually a lot of fun.

End Chapter One

So that was the set up for the Nate/Serena goodness. Please review, it makes me happy. The next chapter should be up soon. The whole story is pretty much finished. It just needs a touch of editing.