So, today's my birthday, and I had this kickass inspiration moment to write this chapter. Thank you all for your lovely reviews, they're wonderful! Keep them coming :) Enjoy!

One Foot Wrong

"There you go", said the waitress when she placed their food plates on the table. Nate didn't even thank her. Instead he burned imaginary holes on Dan's face when he stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

"You know man, actually it's nothing", Dan shook his head and poked his stake with his fork in an obvious sudden lack of appetite.

Nate sighed and played with his food as well. He had to build a tactic. He didn't want to push Dan into telling him, he hoped Dan will come around and tell him eventually, so he kept quiet and stared at his plate. A few minutes later Dan finally looked at Nate, who secretly smiled to himself, his plan seemed to work.

"Wait, you're not going investigate?" Dan asked in confusion.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't feel like it", Nate simply answered and kept playing with his food.

"Oh, ok", Dan answered quietly and took a sip out of his beer.

Two minutes was all it took for Dan to break. "Fine, I haven't told anyone yet, you promise to keep this between us?" Dan asked with a serious expression.

"Of course", Nate answered with triumph.

"I have no idea where to begin, so I'll just make it simple. We kissed", Dan confessed quietly.

Nate's heart sank. By thinking about how to make Dan confess, he totally forgot about what he might say. He was surprised by his reaction, he wasn't sure if he was mad about the fact that neither of them told him, or the fact that they actually kissed. Nate fought with the lump in his throat. "W-what?" was all he managed to say.

"I know, it came out of no where for me too. You see, we went out for drinks the other day, and we got completely drunk, and I kissed her", Dan said while staring at his plate. His food suddenly became very interesting.

"But… you guys are still talking, right? She asked about you today", Nate answered and immediately regret he mentioned the fact that Blair was interested in hearing about Dan.

Dan's eyes widened. "She did? I mean, we spoke to each other after that night, but we never talked about the kiss. I'm not even sure she remembers it happened", Dan expression looked a little too sad to Nate.

"I guess she doesn't remember", Nate said, his mouth in a straight line.

"Or she prefers not to talk about it because it was meaningless to her", Dan shook his head.

"Probably. That sounds a lot like Blair", he lied, Blair won't ignore anything like that.

Nate kept staring at Dan, whose face was still down, when he realized what Dan's last sentence was.

"Wait, did it mean anything to you?" he asked carefully, not ready to hear his answer. Dan finally looked at Nate, his eyes screaming the answer. He nodded. Something inside of Nate snapped. That gave him the answer, he was definitely mad at the fact they kissed.
Nate opened his mouth to say something, which probably would came out rude, but the ringing of his phone saved him from saying anything. He pressed the send button without looking at the caller's name.

"Hello?", he said while sending an apologetic look to Dan, who was still shocked by his own wordless answer.

"Nate!", Blair's voice demanded.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" he asked, not relieved to find out she was the caller.

"Huge crisis, I need to see you tonight. Meet me for drinks at the Empire later?" she asked, her voice indicating she was worried.

"What could possibly go wrong in an hour?" he asked in confusion while eyeing Dan, who just realized who he was talking to.

"Can't explain, I have to go. The Empire, 9 o'clock, be there", she said before hanging up. Nate frowned at his phone. There's a reason he never really schemed before, he just didn't get what was all the hype about.

"Was that..?" Dan asked a few moments later. Nate forgot he was there for a second.

"Yeah. I have to go man, talk to you later", Nate threw a fifty at the table, got up and paced quickly out of the restaurant. Why would Dan have feelings for Blair? And why the hell did it bother him? He wanted her to be happy, and he never really approved her relationship with Chuck, so why not Dan? He's a good guy, he'll keep her safe, and he dated her best friend. Wait, he dated her best friend, who is supposed to be the love of his life. Why does it feel like Dan is basically always screwing him even though he's his best friend? First with Serena and now with Blair. But it's not like he's in a relationship with her or anything, he doesn't have a say about this. All of this was confusing enough for him and it was probably the most thinking he has done recently. He decided to take a nap as soon as he gets home, and so he did.

Few hours later, Nate found himself in front of his closet, desperately trying to find a shirt which isn't plaid. Apparently Blair was right, plaid was all over his closet, and it took him a few minutes to find another shirt.

"Nice shirt", she greeted him as soon as he arrived to the Empire's bar.

"Thanks, I'm taking my 'girlfriend' seriously", he replied with a smile.

She patted on the stool beside her and he sat down. He ordered them both a drink. A quiet moment passed before Nate felt he's blurting something out, he just couldn't help it. "What were you doing kissing Dan?"

Her eyes widened just like Dan's were when he told him she's interested in how he's doing, causing a sick feeling of déjà vu to cross Nate.

"Shh, keep it down! How do you about that?" she asked, obviously horrified.

"Dan told me. Does that mean you remember the kiss?" he asked her. Why was everything getting worse by the minute?

"Of course I do, I thought he didn't!" she shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is such a mess", she added a moment later.

Nate has nothing else to add. Anything he will say might play against him. In which game exactly? He didn't know.

"It's just… he's cabbage patch. Serena's cabbage patch, and that's a territory I shouldn't be crossing anytime soon, or ever", she whispered the second half of the sentence.

Nate stirred the ice cubes in his vodka tonic and didn't answer for a minute.

"It's between you guys, I'm not getting in the middle of it", he finally said coldly.

"Hey", she replied with a smile and pounded his chest playfully, "What's with the attitude? You don't have to be all protective and jealous like a real boyfriend", she chuckled.

He was infuriated to hear her say 'jealous', but he didn't want her to see that. "I'm not jealous. Honestly, you guys have my blessing or whatever", he forced a weak smile at her. She smiled back at him and murmured something about the fact that she and Dan would never work and he doesn't know what he's talking about. Nate didn't even listen; he banned the whole Dan and Blair idea, at least for now. He didn't want to hear about it.

"Speaking of blessings… Apparently we have Epperly's", she rolled her eyes.

"What do you mean? Is this the crisis?" he raised his eyebrows.

"It is. I tried to save our 'relationship' status with a lame story; I don't think she bought it though. We have to make her see we're an actual couple before you seduce her", she said with her scheming tone again. He was getting used to that pretty quickly.

"I'll just bring you lunch again tomorrow, and we'll play like a convincing couple", he winked at her.

"That's a great idea", she said while clanking her glass with his.

For some reason, Nate felt like this was the tip of the iceberg, and he has a huge block of ice to reveal before he's done.