A/N: This is a Gossip Girl AU, but by no means do you have to have watched Gossip Girl to understand it, it's super centric on Madge and Gale's relationship. All you need to know is that the characters attend a super fancy and expensive preparatory high school, and they live in the Upper East Side of New York, a pretty pricy and bougie neighbourhood.

It's a long one, enjoy!


Rise & shine Upper East Siders, it's a new school year and I bet many of you have probably thought about your resolutions to be better students, children, boyfriends and girlfriends. Lucky for me, some of you never change. Let's turn on the juice and see what shakes loose, xoxo Gossip Girl.


Madge sits patiently in the black car as it moves slowly through the streets of the Upper East Side. After a long summer of rest and relaxation school is starting again, and she doesn't mind it. School is not too much of a pain for her, it's a chance to see her friends and although she'd never care to admit it, she enjoys the classes as well.

Her dad hired a new driver apparently, and Madge silently wonders why. It doesn't bother her that much; this one doesn't try to make idle conversation with her and pry into her life, and that's good enough for her.

The car stops at an apartment on 5th Avenue and 81st Street, and Delly Cartwright opens the door and steps right in.

"Hey Madge!"

"Hi Dell, you look tan," she says to her friend, loving the way her bronzed skin looks with her light hair. Madge would do the same if she didn't burn every time she tried.

"Oh yeah, I got back from Ibiza just yesterday. I'm jetlagged as hell."

"Do you want to stop for coffee?"

"You're so thoughtful, but no thanks. I probably won't crash until the afternoon, I'll go then."

Madge starts to do the math of Delly's jetlag in her head, but gives up. Her friend talks more about her vacation and the boys she met while she was there and Madge just listens. It's almost surreal to be going to Constance Billard again, and the thought of going back to classes and lockers makes her adjust her necktie and fix her tights nervously.

The car pulls up to the steps of the school, and Madge gets out with a sigh. They walk past the doors of St. Jude's School for Boys, the sister school of Constance. She notices Delly peeking her head into the courtyard.

"Are you looking for someone?"

"Yeah. Peeta Mellark, you know him?" Yes, she knows Peeta. They're parents used to have dinner parties together where she and Peeta were left to play with his nanny. He was her first boyfriend in junior high after all, so Madge just nods. Delly continues, "He's having a huge party today in his penthouse. Parents are out of town."

"And what do you need to ask him?"

"I need to know if I can bring someone," Delly says with a coy smile, and Madge is instantaneously more interested than before and her ears perk up.

"Who?"

"Just this guy, he doesn't go to St. Jude's, obviously. I met him at the beginning of the summer when I was in the city, he's beautiful and he's sweet to me. I don't know…" Delly explains as they walk into the doors of Constance. She's clearly more attached than she usually is, her indifference towards the boys she hooks up with is almost notorious.

"Bring him for sure," Madge urges with a supportive smile. "I want to meet him."

"Gale introduced us actually," her friend adds, and the mention of his name makes Madge tense, her heart beats a little bit faster. Delly either notices her hesitation or is just going off on a tangent when she asks, "Have you been keeping up with him over the summer?"

"No, why would I?" she answers tritely. Gale and Madge had established that they're little arrangement only served a single purpose, and she felt as if making an active effort to catch up with him fell on the other side of the boundary. Delly drops the subject observantly, and the rest of the walk through the halls to the senior wing is spent hugging old friends and whispering to each other about some new girls.

Grade 12 is a whole new year, one with it's own set of issues. While most people are focused on the seniority, the parties and the experience, Madge is constantly reminded of university applications and holding onto the family reputation. It's exhausting, but it's for the best. And lucky for her, her parents urges are usually just verbal. They don't care about her enough to enforce it and she has most of her nights out anyways, going to whatever swanky social event her classmates have come up with this time.

She starts to organize her locker, and a couple of girls come up to her and ask about her vacation, Peeta's party and her schedule. It's all polite and menial, so unlike the snarky girls that some of them really are.

Soon the class bell rings, a couple of girls just keep talking, not regarding the noise. They start to disperse nevertheless, but Madge was too busy organizing her school bag to have noticed it. She's the only one in the halls now, and she groans in frustration.

Despite what others might think about her, Madge hates being late for class. So she scurries down the hall towards the English room, aware of the sound of another pair of footsteps rounding the corner. It's Gale and he smirks when he sees her, and suddenly Madge is being pulled into the janitor's closet and she squeals in surprise.

"My god, Gale. You're crazy."

"Thanks. How was your summer, Undersee?"

They're so close that Madge can count his eyelashes, like she's tried to do many times. She can feel his fingers dancing under her skirt inching closer to her ass, and it makes her suck in her breath. "It was fine, I don't know. Boring."

"Did you go to the Hamptons?"

"When do I not?" she smartly responds. Call her spoiled, but she's tired of going to her family's home in the Hamptons with her parents. There's nothing to do and she always has to see her classmates there too, which she'd rather not have. "What about you?"

"I went on a hiking tour with Katniss. And our families, of course."

"Are you two married yet?" Madge teases with a subtle resentment, even if Gale's reassured her multiple times about his platonic relationship with Katniss Everdeen. Madge can never tell what she's thinking or what she wants, and that annoys her.

"I'm popping the question fifth period today actually," he responds sarcastically, and Madge takes the time to step forward so that he's the one pinned against the supply shelf and kisses him for the first time in months.

He tastes like coffee and smells like pine, and she sighs in content when he starts to kiss her back. Gale manages to be everywhere at once; she feels his hands grabbing her cheeks through her La Perla's, his feet in between hers pushing her legs apart and and his teeth nipping at her lower lip. She puts her hands flat on his chest with the intention to slow his down, but she knows she could never resist when Gale pulls her into the closet like this.

They had never meant to make a habit out of it. He had kissed her spontaneously in the middle of a heated argument one night at Glimmer's sweet sixteen, and he set a fire in her that she didn't know existed. But now they kiss when they need to take their anger out on someone, or when one of them is horny or simply just bored. And Madge can't even count the number of times over the summer she's stared at her phone talking herself out of texting him, because she likes conversation with him, she likes the way he treats her. Not like some delicate doll who can't be touched, but a woman who needs to satisfied and he never stops until she's there.

"Did you miss me?" he mutters against her mouth.

"No," she lies. "I didn't. Sorry."

"But what if you did?"

"Well then I guess I'd be in love with you, wouldn't I?"

The words are harsh, probably harsher than he expected, so Gale gives her silence. He licks her soft neck and blows on it, and Madge holds in her gasp of pleasure so that he won't get too cocky. It doesn't work though, because goosebumps come up onto her skin and it makes him chuckle. "Goosebumps. Jesus, Undersee."

"It's because it's cold."

"Sure. The draft in tiny school closets is insane these days."

He's oozing sarcasm and it pains her. "You're such a smartass."

"Don't you like it?" he asks coyly, and something flashes in his eye that makes her press her lips against him again. They land on his neck, kissing and sucking his stubbled skin. Gale's unlike the preppy and couth boys at St. Jude's who ask her on dates to their daddy's yacht club, he's strong and tall and such a man. She makes her way to his Adam's apple, and then the other side, and when she sucks that little bit harder she sees a small pink welt start to form.

Gale groans her name and she scolds him. "Don't be too loud."

"Why? It's not like we haven't fucked in this closet before anyway." Madge's face turns red and Gale beams as if he's accomplished a goal.

"Don't you have class?" she asks trying to change the subject.

He just shrugs. "I have a free period."

"Okay, well I'm late for English. I'll see you around," she puts simply, straightening out her skirt that he ruffled up.

"Wait, Madge," he starts when she tries to open the door. He grabs onto her wrist and when Madge turns back around he looks disappointed, but also hopeful. "Are you going to Mellark's party tonight?"

"Are you?" Gale nods, and she looks down. "What's the point, it's not like we can hang out anyways."

"Hey, we're our schools' worst kept secret at this point," he recognizes. "Come on, humour me."

Madge looks at him and she doesn't see the cocky, witty guy that always cracks a joke at her, but a guy that really just wants to spend time with her. She wants it too, she just can't stop thinking about her stupid reputation or what her parents would think about him. Gale's really smart and it's not like he's on scholarship (talking to the scholarship kids is strictly forbidden), but his parents work hard to send him here and he doesn't live in the Upper East Side. He lives in Brooklyn, and Madge has only ever crossed that bridge a handful of times out of necessity. The thought crosses her mind that maybe he missed her too, and he wants to spend time with her.

"Maybe," she decides. "We'll see."

He sighs and gives her a smile. "I'll take it. Just text me and I'll come find you."

She nods in agreement and listens for footsteps outside, stepping out when it's safe and leaving Gale to exit in two minutes - as they've rehearsed. It's almost too routine, Madge can't believe they're at it again. She was counting on the whole "new year, new me" thing but clearly old habits die hard.

The rest of the school day is spent brainlessly milling through her classes and talking to her friends. She has a reputation, for being diligent at school but also for being somewhat popular. Madge isn't sure how, perhaps people all have assumptions about blondes with rich parents and her quiet composition could be seen as a mystery. It's stupid, she knows, but it's better than being left behind. If only people would just get off her case sometimes, though, that would be nice.

"Have you seen Gale Hawthorne yet?" Clove asks at lunch while they sit on the steps of the Met. Madge is staring intensely at her yogurt but she's not really hungry enough to put it in her mouth. "He went to the forest or something - got super strong and tan, it's delicious."

Glimmer laughs cruelly. "Didn't he go with Katniss Everdeen? I question his choice of company."

Madge scrunches her nose in distaste. She rather likes Katniss Everdeen, just not when it looks like Gale pays her more attention. The two girls sat next to each other in history last year and spent their time trading notes and making fun of the likes of Clove and Glimmer.

"I don't know," Clove sighs while twirling a piece of hair. "But he's always brooding, I feel like he thinks a lot, do you know what I mean? It just makes me want a slice."

"Maybe he'll be at Peeta's," Delly pipes up, looking directly at Madge as if she's trying to agitate her into a confession. Delly is Madge's only true friend around here, and she knows what she's been up to. The problem is Madge doesn't want to say it out loud and make things official, it almost feels like she's jinxing their relationship.

"You're so right Dell, I'll stop by Neiman's today and pick something hot out."

And in that moment nothing looks more appealing than Madge's stupid yogurt. She stabs at it and shovels a little bit in her mouth, never looking up at the other girls. None of them would notice anyways, except for Delly, but she would never pry.

Afterschool Madge has her first piano lesson of the year, It's something she loves doing and is happy to be picking back up, but she spends the whole lesson internally debating the pros and cons of going to Peeta's party.

She wants to go, but knows it won't be as great as she's expecting. It's the first party of the year which means some people will be going a bit crazy, but perhaps crazy enough for her and Gale to be ignored all together. As pathetic as it sounds she just wants to see him. After a long and lonely summer all she wants is to make up for lost time and see him a little bit longer.

In the end, she decides the pros outweigh any social harm that might come to her. Besides, she has a new dress from Barney's that her mom picked out for her a month ago and she still hasn't gotten the chance to wear it.

It's a dark grey, shimmery slip with a strappy and revealing top. Madge isn't sure why her mom lets her go out in clothes like this, but it is fashionable, so she can't complain. Her mom is nothing if not fashionable, and instead of being emotionally available, Madge supposes she buys shiny things for her daughter to make up for it in some strange way.

Madge keeps her makeup simple and puts her day-old hair in a messy chignon. A choker is paired with her little dress, and after a quick dinner of whatever her maid cooked up tonight, she's out the door and into her new driver's sedan, off to Peeta Mellark's penthouse.

The Mellarks own a swanky penthouse with a great view, right on the East River. The whole family is old money, Peeta used to always tell them about how his dad was nicknamed "The Baker." When people asked why, he always had the same stupid answer.

"Because he knows how to bring in that dough, you know what I'm saying?"

They did indeed, know what he was saying. He received a Maserati for his sixteenth birthday, and from then on no one laughed at his baker jokes anymore.

When Madge arrives the place is already pretty crowded, packed with students taking shots and playing some party games. There's beer pong in one corner and a girl getting tequila sucked out of her stomach on the pool table, and for Madge, regret is already starting to kick in. She does a quick head scan for Gale, doesn't see him and sends him a text, letting him know she's arrived. For now, she'll be by herself.

Thankfully she finds Delly after a dozen minutes of pushing past a couple of stumbling bodies. Not so thankfully, Delly's a bit tipsy too, and she's cuddled up with a tall, long faced boy who has broad shoulders.

"Madge! Babe, you look hot!" she exclaims, shaking her new boy and looking at him for confirmation. "Doesn't she look so beautiful? I fucking love my best friend, Thom. She's amazing."

Delly loves to give compliments when she's drunk, and Thom gives Madge a look that says he's amused too. He nods and smiles. "Hi, I'm Thom."

"Madge Undersee," she replies, and he cocks his head in recognition as if he knows something she doesn't, and then he nods eagerly.

"Nice to meet you Madge."

"Madge!" Delly pipes. "Did you meet Thom? He's the boy I said I've been seeing!"

Madge nods reassuringly, knowing that mentioning that introductions had already occurred would only make her upset. Perhaps it's just because the music is loud, it's easy to miss what someone's been saying. "Wow, how long have you guys been seeing each other?"

"Things have been casual since… June?" her friend estimates, and Thom shrugs, agreeing with the guess.

Then Delly starts to nuzzle him, touching noses and laughing every time their lips almost touch. Madge sees Thom's hand start to curl under her friend's thigh, so she decides that it's time to leave them alone for a while.

They exchange brief goodbyes and a promise to see each other around throughout the night and Madge is alone again, wandering the penthouse aimlessly making small talk with people who flag her down.

It's exhausting, it truly is. Madge considers herself a nice person, but she can only listen to people talk about exotic locations and private jets for so long.

After another 30 minutes, she's bored, still yet to see Gale and needs fresh air. So Madge heads towards the balcony where of course, some people are smoking their drugs of choice. It's windy enough for the smell not to bother her, so Madge stands by the wall and checks her phone to see if he's texted her back yet. The answer is no, and she scoffs to herself for thinking this party would be fruitful at all.

"Hey Undersee!" she hears from the other side of the balcony. It's Marvel, he's lounged over a couch with some of his friends with a fat Cuban cigar in his hand. "Do you want a smoke? Darts, cigars, joints, hookah, we got it all."

For the first time Madge sees the hookah sitting on the table and she can't help but laugh and cover her mouth. Marvel's definitely on something else too, he's being ridiculous.

"I'm good, but thanks."

"Are you sure? I have menthols, I know you like those."

"I'm really fine," she says with conviction, deciding that Marvel and his band of stoners are the definition of peer pressure. She starts to go back into the doors when she sees Gale coming out at the same time. He takes her by surprise,

"Hi," she smiles flirtatiously, and Gale backs her right out onto the patio.

He puts his hands around her waist and gives her an affectionate hug, and Madge needs to look back at the stoners to make sure they aren't paying any unwanted attention. Gale's being publicly affectionate, that's how she knows he's a little tipsy. "Undersee, you're here."

"Yeah, I've been waiting for you for an hour," she scoffs, and then she frowns. "I'm not having that much fun. It's too crowded, too rowdy."

"It's nice out here," Gale offers, and Madge raises an eyebrow skeptically at Marvel and his friends. He just laughs and shakes his head. "Don't worry about them, they're too fucked to notice us. Come on Madge, dance with me?"

Gale puts out his hand to her as if they were at a ball, and Madge can't help but giggle. She takes it and he spins her around so that her back is tucked into his torso and they're both looking out over the balcony into the Manhattan skyline. She feels his hands lingering at her hips and even though they've been there countless times before they make her skin tingle. They sway gently to the residual music that manages to float outside, mostly the thumping of the bass and a whisper of a melody.

"How drunk are you?" she asks quietly, hoping he'll hear her.

Gale hums into her ear. "Not that drunk, I only got here a while ago."

"And what were you doing before you came out here?"

"Beer pong," he replies, as if it's the only natural answer. "Also, Clove kept talking to me, holding me back. I don't get good vibes from that girl."

Madge smiles silently because she considers that a small victory. Clove has a lot of things, but she'll never have Gale Hawthorne. But then the question arises, does she really have Gale Hawthorne? They never really talked about it, but Madge would jump towards the opportunity for more if he asked. The idea scares her though, of a relationship in a school like this, and Madge can't help but ask the questions and the words spill out of her mouth.

"Why do you like me?"

"Huh?" Gale asks in confusion, and for a second Madge thinks he might be too drunk to be having this conversation right now. He swore that he wasn't though, so Madge tries again.

"Why do you like me? I'm no different from Clove or any other girl at Constance. I'm just a little rich girl with lots of petty problems."

"Who said anything about me liking you?" Gale teases, and Madge turns around to glare at him which makes him put his hands back on her waist. "Hey, I'm kidding. You know I'm so into you, Undersee." He pauses for a little bit as if to think, and then he looks right back at her. "I guess you're different."

"That's a fucking cliche," Madge grumbles dismissively. If he wanted different he'd be with Katniss, not with her.

"No, but it's true," he insists. "I feel like you play up the stereotype. Like you pretend to be this snobby, prude and mean kind of girl, but you're not. When you let your guard down, you're the sweetest and most caring person I know, and I need that kind of person sometimes."

"Why do you think I do it?" she asks curiously, not caring that she's being psychoanalyzed in the middle of a party by her year long fuck buddy.

"Because you need to fit in," he shrugs. "That's just how it is in the Upper East Side. It's the same reason you don't want to really date me or tell anyone about…"

"I'm not ashamed of you," Madge explains clearly, shocked that Gale thought that. "I'm not trying to hide you, I… I like you a lot." She wishes she knew how to say something that meant more but she doesn't. "But like you said, the people we're surrounded by are vicious. I'm always afraid that if people really find out about us, we'd be ruined. They'd tarnish us."

"I wouldn't let that happen."

"You say that now," Madge promises. The Upper East Side doesn't let anybody come out unscathed; it makes fools out of them all. They're heads touch and their noses bump, but Gale doesn't kiss her. He just holds her there with his eyes closed as if he knows she's right, but doesn't want to admit it.

They stay that way for a sweet moment until they hear hoots and hollers from beside them. "Nice work Hawthorne," one of the boys on the couch snickers. He's still in his St. Jude's uniform which makes Madge scrunch her nose in distaste. How plebeian. "Didn't think you'd be the one to get Undersee to put out, eh?"

It's disgusting, but they pretend to laugh along. None of them will remember it coherently enough in the morning anyways. Gale leans in closer to whisper in her ear. "You were right, it's filthy around here, do you want to go?"

She nods, but then frowns. "My parents are at home this week, we can't go there." Save the maid, her fifth avenue apartment is usually totally empty. It's lonely, sure, but it always makes for a good place to hang out.

"I have an idea, but I don't know if you'll like it," Gale starts jokingly, and Madge urges him on. "My place is empty now."

Madge wonders what could be so harmful about that, but then she remembers the reason she's never been to his flat before. "Brooklyn?"

"Yeah," he chuckles. "Brooklyn."

"That's fine, I'm not that snobby," she insists. "I'll just call my driver, we can leave now and… oh." She doesn't know her new driver's number. He dropped her off at this dumb party with no means of contacting him back.

"So you're not too snobby for Brooklyn, but are you too snobby for the subway?" he asks, and Madge thinks about the last time she got on the MTA. It honestly does scare her a little bit, her mother always tells her horror stories of the types of people you meet on the subway.

Gale senses her slightly scared expression and he laughs a little bit more, which only makes Madge jut her chin up with pride. "That's fine. Lead the way."

Maybe he's surprised by her response, but she likes the way he's looking at her, like she's exciting and fearless and so many things that she's not.

He leads her out of the party, no one even notices that they're slipping out. The music and talking was so loud, all Madge hears when she walks down the street and into the subway station is an ambient buzz ringing in her ear. It's dark out, so the station's fluorescent lights feel forceful, but Gale keeps her by his side, hand around her shoulder.

When they make it to the turnstiles, Gale pulls out a card and swipes it, easily making his way in. Madge on the other hand freezes, not really sure what to do.

"You don't have a metropass, do you?" he asks with no judgement, just worry. He points to the machine in the back. "I obviously can't come back around and help you, but you can buy a ticket over there. If you need help just shout."

It should be such an easy thing, but it's not. She looks at the metal machine, perplexed, tapping on the screen looking for a single ride ticket. When she gets to the payment part, it only costs three dollars, but Madge can only fish out a fifty from her wallet. So she feeds it in, cringing at all the dirty bills and loose change that spits right out of the bottom.

Finally she retrieves her ticket, joining Gale on the other side.

"Are you okay?" he asks knowingly, always checking up on her.

"Of course."

The ride on the subway is long, but not too bad. They only transfer once and Madge only sees a couple of other people, all who look very normal. It's actually quite fun, zooming around underground and looking at the colours of each of the stations, but she would never tell Gale that. He would be too smug.

His building is not too far from his stop either, and after walking for five minutes in the summer night, they walk up three flights of stairs and make it to his apartment.

As Gale promised, they're the only ones home. He flicks on the scattered lights and reveals a spacious gentrified apartment, complete with exposed brick and movable dividers for some walls. It's actually nice too, just nothing like Madge's place back in Manhattan, and nothing screams "Brooklyn" more than this place. She guesses that Gale's jokes about his parents being hippies were not a joke at all.

"So what do you think?" he asks after she stares for a while.

Madge snaps out of her trance and smiles, letting him lead her across the apartment. "It's nice. Where's your room?"

"Well, right this way m'lady," he responds, and she can't help but roll her eyes. So stupid.

Gale's room is surprisingly neat, and Madge looks around as they sit on the edge of the bed, not saying any words. After a while though Gale coughs to break the silence, perhaps not really knowing what to do with himself either.

"Do you want a beer?"

Madge has never really tried beer before, she prefers wine and cocktails and all those girly things. But she wants to continue to impress him in some twisted way, so she nods and Gale heads to the kitchen.

For the brief moment when he's gone Madge looks at the belongings in his room: a couple of pictures with his family and one with Katniss. She turns it facing down in spite. What? Madge just doesn't want to be looking at Katniss Everdeen while she does whatever they plan on doing in this room.

She's nosily flipping through some prints of photos he took himself when Gale comes back in with two cans in his hands.

"I got you a cider instead, thought you'd like it more," he explains, giving her the cold can. It tastes just like apple juice, so Madge shrugs and sips it quietly. It's sweet that Gale thought about that.

"Nice pictures," she says, nodding at the prints.

"Thanks," he shrugs. "Do you want one?"

"One of your prints?"

"No, do you want me to take a photo of you?" Gale rephrases, nodding at an instant camera hanging by the neck strap on his bed frame.

It looks vintage, unlike those dinky modern ones that come in pastel colours. Madge looks at him, unsure. She's standing in front of his window in a dress that is frankly just not enough to keep her warm and she feels a little small. Gale grabs the apparatus just as she tries to decline, but he nods his head in encouragement. "Just stay right there, put your cider down maybe."

She places it on the window sill hesitantly and looks at him with apprehension. Gale's eye is already behind the camera, finding the frame. "I don't know, I'm not good at the whole smiling thing."

"You don't need to smile," he explains. "Just express how you're feeling." Madge is super camera shy, so she looks down at the ground because apparently she can't think of any natural facial expressions. Suddenly Gale calls her name softly, and when she looks up at him the flash goes off. It's done, he didn't even let her prepare and now the camera is whirring and spitting out a white card.

"Hey, you didn't let me decide on an expression."

"You weren't going to. Besides, you looked good."

"Can I see?"

"We can't flip it up," Gale explains, placing it face down on his nightstand. "We have to let it develop."

Madge rolls her eyes, completely unhappy that she participated in this. "You're such a dork."

"Come," he motions, getting her back on the bed. She sits in the middle, crossing her legs and letting the silence of the night seep into the room.

"Was this place always an apartment?"

"No." Gale shakes his head. "I think it used to be a factory or something. A sweatshops that made clothes, toys, stuff like that. They transformed it a couple year ago, and my parents loved the facade. The red brick and everything."

"It's cool," she nods.

"I know it's no Mellark penthouse or anything, but it's home."

"I like it better than Peeta's," Madge asserts, but Gale just raises his eyebrows and doesn't question it. It's the truth, no matter what he thinks.

He reaches over to the nightstand grabs the Polaroid. "Let's have a look at this picture."

When it's turned over and revealed, it's actually not half bad. Most of the frame is the window, with all the city lights and shapes in the background. On the side though, stands Madge. There's something about the washed out print that makes her look caught in the moment, it adds to her wide eyes and pouty nude lips. It's then that she realizes her hair was a mess, fallen out wispies frame her face and her braid looks more like a bundle of knots. Too bad she wasted one of his photo films.

"Sorry."

"What for? The way it turned out is awesome. The flash makes you look ethereal."

"Don't kid," Madge says while shaking her head. But she can't help but love his words; they make her heart speed up and her body turn to jello when he takes her arm and pulls her on top of him.

"I'm not kidding." He kisses her then, and Madge dips her head down from her hovering position to meet his lips passionately. She's yearned for him for three months and doesn't have the control to hold back down. So she brings her legs around and down in a comfortably straddle to find a better angle.

Madge has never really kissed anyone else. She's pecked some middle school boyfriends and participated in some games of Spin The Bottle, but none of that could ever add up to the way Gale feels. She doesn't know any better, but he could be the best kisser on earth, Madge supposes.

And Gale's had his fair share of real kisses, she knows that. Few at Constance, but before they happened Madge would see him at parties in some dark corner with some mysterious girl. It does nothing for her self confidence, but Gale claims he loves her lips too. Perhaps she'll just have to believe him.

After a while Gale pulls away to just look at her, and he plays with the hem of her shimmery dress. "You're so fucking pretty."

Those words could only come out of his mouth and manage to make her weak and speechless. Otherwise they'd sound useless, devoid of any meaning and emotion. She continues her kisses, rough and insistent this time while letting her hands roam his chest.

When Madge is done with his mouth she trails down to his neck, licking the hickey that she left this morning in the school closet and giving it a little twin right beside it. Usually in his uniform tie would make it hard to go any further, but right now in his grungy band t-shirt she's able to nibble on his collar bones and kiss his chest, dusted with dark and fine hairs.

She's making him grunt and gasp, so Gale pulls her back up for more kisses. Typically he doesn't like to be out of control and tonight, Madge taking the lead is a whole new concept. She loves it though, nipping at his lip and sucking on his tongue in the most lewd way possible.

Normally their clothes would be off by now, but Madge doesn't know what's got a hold of her. For some reason she can't wait, she needs to feel him right now and can't think about anything else. When the kisses start to slow and Gale is hard between her legs, she doesn't bother to undress him or herself. Instead she grinds herself against his bulge, and immediately she gasps, not realizing how much she missed the feeling.

"Oh fuck," he groans, and his eyes and locked on where their crotches are joined. Madge's dress rides up a bit so that he sees her little red, see-through panties rubbing against his pants.

It feels incredible, her sensitive clit grinding against Gale's hardness. She's so caught up in the sensation that she starts to whimper, louder and louder with every wave of movement. Madge's arms leave his neck and instead, prop her up by being placed behind her, on his legs. It gives her more mobility and it gives Gale more of a view.

And Gale doesn't move his hips at all. He just sits there with his hands lazily on her hips with starry eyes, mesmerized by her actions. It's moments like these that make her feel powerful, make her feel wanted.

She knows what his cock looks like, how it feels inside of her, and it makes her wet to think about it straining in his pants, dying to get out, feeling the dull sensation of her pussy rubbing it up and down. Her hips are moving faster at this point, desperate for more friction but too lost in the moment to change positions.

It does the trick, nonetheless. Soon Gale's moaning back, putting more meaning in his arms that are guiding her hips down onto him. Madge feels something spreading from her chest down towards her cunt, and soon she's chanting, desperate for release.

"I'm so close, Gale, I'm so fucking close. Please," she begs, putting her hands against his on his waist and preparing for her release.

She's practically mewling, jerking her hips erratically when they hear a loud clang from outside, and Madge immediately stops, frozen in horror.

"What the fuck is that?"

"The door," Gale answers back, sounding more frustrated than scared. "I guess someone decided to come home after all."

"Is it your parents?" she asks, scared to confront them in this state, hair frazzled and dry humping their son.

"No," he assures. "They're out of town visiting relatives with my youngest sister. It's one of my brothers, just wait here for a second, okay?"

Madge nods obediently, and Gale gets up from his position and adjust his pants. Good thing they're dark coloured, because Madge is sure she made a little wet spot on them from her arousal.

She listens closely at the footsteps, and Gale goes out to approach the figure.

"Rory? I thought you had a sleepover."

"I thought you were having friends over," the brother snorts. He sounds just like Gale, but his voice isn't as deep. "I knew you were lying about the whole 'people actually like me' thing."

"I do have friends over for your information."

"Then why is it so quiet? Do you have literally one friend?" Rory is sarcastic and witty, Madge knows where it comes from. There's probably a silent exchange, because they don't talk for a couple of minutes and then Rory speaks up again, more enthused than ever. "Shit, really? A girl? I don't think this was Mom and Dad's idea of you branching out this year."

"If you tell them you're dead meat," Gale threatens.

"Can I meet her?"

"I don't think she wants to find out what the personification of grease looks like quite at this time."

"Wait, is it the blonde one you always talk about with Thom? What's her name - Maddie? Something with an M…"

"I highly suggest you stop talking," Gale insists, but Madge just holds in her giggle. She assumes Rory puts up his hands in surrender or something like that, because the conversation ends and Gale is back in his room in no time.

He rubs his hands on his face and laughs slightly, sitting back down on the bed. Madge had taken the time he was gone to put herself back together, rearranging her hair and straightening out her dress.

"I guess there's no hope of picking up where we left off them," he jokes, and Madge laughs along. Gale looks a bit in shame though. "I'm so sorry this happened, trust Rory to ruin everything."

"He didn't ruin anything," Madge comforts, edging closer to him and putting a hand on his cheek. "I had fun, we had fun, then reality came back. Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure you don't want to finish? You looked pretty riled up and -"

"There's no way that I'm going to do that when your little brother is at home," she dismisses. "My dad sent me the number for my driver. I'm going to text him now."

Gale looks a bit saddened, he's biting his lip as if he wants to say something and Madge senses his apprehension. "What's wrong?"

"Don't you want this year to be different? Less like last year and more like…"

"Right now?" she poses, finishing his sentence. Madge agrees. Tonight was magical, they're better together when they aren't sneaking around and leading each other on. Gale wants it too be like this all the time, and she can't help but want the same thing. "Even if we tried, I'm afraid I'd lose you."

"That's not possible."

"Yes it is."

"What do you mean?"

She sighs, unsure how to voice her insecurity. "You know all that stuff you were saying? About me letting my guard down when I'm with you and not being my true self around others? I think… I think the opposite is true. I'm not this person that you're 'so into.' I'm not confident and sexy and honest and all of those things. Everyone would tell you so, if they found out."

"Madge, you do realize I love you for your humility and not your perceived perfection, right?"

At first she doesn't notice the word, just laughs at the truth of what he's pointing out. But when his sentence sinks in and it all clicks, Madge looks up at him with wide eyes. "You love me?"

"Hard not too," he responds casually. She doesn't know how he always manages to be so composed. "It's okay, you don't have to say it back."

Madge throws herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and nestling her neck over his shoulder. Maybe a hug isn't enough to follow up the words he just uttered, but Gale doesn't seem to care. He buries his face in her neck and they stay that way for what feels like hours.

Afterwards they lie on his bed waiting for Madge's driver to get there. They face each other and he plays with her hair, and even though they made no verbal promises Madge knows that there's an unspoken one. A promise to try this year, to stop hiding and sneaking around. Some people find it thrilling but for her it's just exhausting; she just wants some sort of normalcy in her senior year at Constance.

Of course, the year will probably end up being anything but normal. But at least for now, they can keep on hoping.


Spotted: Princess M leaving an apartment late at night… in Brooklyn? There's only one pauper I can think of who belongs to that kingdom. Don't sweat it M, I'll keep your secret. xoxo, Gossip Girl.


A/N: What do you think? Please let me know, I recognize that the setting was a bit different, it was fun to try things out!

P.S. Gale's home is totally the Humphreys' apartment, and when I think about the Mellark's place I think about the Bass penthouse.