fake dating trope II (uptown girl)

He's great at making decisions that'll really mess with life in the long run. But honestly that should be quite obvious given the fact that he'd once been in a gang. And really, who the fuck lets a twelve year old join a gang? Then again, it's not like gang members tend to have morals.

Anyway…

He's not great at making choices. He made the choice to join a gang, to partake in gang activities, to cover his skin from head to toe in tattoos. Really, the list goes on and on and it would take days to recount all of his bad choices. The point, however, that he was trying to make was when he'd make these awful choices, he's unaware that they're awful until much later on.

And then he saw Hyuga Xin.

From the get go he knows she's a bad decision, all five feet of her. In fact, there's a warning label slapped on that girl's forehead that reads: Do Not Engage.

"What're you looking at?" Tenten is suddenly there, rudely dropping down next to him without even the slightest hint of an invitation. She follows his gaze across the coffee shop and then rudely snorts. "Absolutely not."

"I haven't even done anything."

"And you won't. That girl is so out of your league, it's not even funny," she points out while shaking her head. Their friendship is an odd one as most women are usually put off by his scary ass appearance. They met at the gym with Tenten criticizing the shit out of his workout regime during their freshman year. She wasn't afraid of him but that might be because she could crush a grown man's head between her well-muscled thighs.

Gaara only grunts, not bothering to argue. That girl, whoever the hell she was, was so obviously out of his league and he'd have to be blind not to see that.

"Gaara, I'm serious. Neji will kill you."

"Neji? I thought you and Neji were a thing. She's not really his type."

"Very funny, asshole. That's his younger cousin, Xin. She's a freshman and she's pretty naive so fuck off."

"Who's fucking off?"

They're joined by Ino, another woman who doesn't shit bricks at the sight of him. He's pretty sure that's just Ino though, she can make friends with the Devil. Like Tenten, she sits down without waiting for an invitation, armed with a big ass cup of some sugary shit with far too many pumps of caramel.

"Gaara needs to fuck off. He has his eye on Xin."

"Hyuga?" Ino's blonde brows shoot up her forehead. "Oh, honey, no. She's way too good for you."

"Yeah, Tenten said as much."

"I said she's out of your league."

"Same shit."

Ino begins glancing between Gaara and Xin, the gears in her head whirling before a great big grin takes over. "Maybe it wouldn't be a terrible idea…" she trails off.

Tenten rolls her eyes, "Ino."

"No, see, it's like Uptown Girl!"

Gaara levels her with a blank look, "what?"

"You know...Uptown Girl," Ino repeats before proceeding to sing a horrible rendition of the song. Tenten and Gaara cringe through the chorus, Ino was good at a lot of things but singing was not one of them.

"Ino...this is real life," Tenten says after a long pause. "And you can't sing, never put us through that again."

"Shut up," Ino pouts but she moves on rather quickly. "She's out of your league but I think that would be so cute. A girl of her social standing dating someone like you, just like in the movies!"

"Wow, thanks."

"Oh, I don't mean to be rude but her father could literally buy the three of us. I think he owns, like, half of Konoha and she's related to the Uchihas and they own like, the other half."

"So she's rich rich."

"Pretty much, you're better off just dating that Matsuri girl."

"Fuck you, Ino."

Gaara leaves it alone after that. The girls are right after all, he has no business trying anything with some naive rich girl, no matter how pretty she is. He sees her from time to time on campus grounds, usually with Uzumaki Karin and Haruno Sakura and sometimes even Ino and Tenten but he never bothers with it.

He kind of forgets about the whole thing. Sure, he sees her every now and then and shamelessly stares at her ass when she rushes by, but for the most part, life goes on. Matsuri still stalks him, Tenten criticizes everyone at the gym and Ino remains a crackhead for her sugary ass coffee.

And then Masaru asks Xin out. He doesn't really understand why Masaru gets to date her, dude's a fuckin' asshole. For some reason, Xin says yes.

"She doesn't know any better," Ino shrugs plainly.

Which makes it all the more sad when Masaru breaks up with her barely a month later. There's different rumors going around about it but the two significant runors that keep popping up is because she wouldn't have sex with him or that she was terrible at sex. And honestly, how fucked up is that?

From what he can tell from afar, because he doesn't know the girl well enough to just ask her, she seems just fine. She isn't really out of sorts, if anything she seems annoyed with the entire situation. The rumors continue to circulate and Masaru parades around his newest girlfriend like some prized show dog. And honestly he doesn't understand that at all. He cheats on Xin, breaks up with her and then proceeds to parade the other girl around like he's the victor.

Dude's a fuckin' idiot but it's none of his business.

And then in the span of one night, it suddenly is his business. With Ino meddling, he somehow finds himself on some sort of twisted version of a date with Xin. And he finds out that she's not okay like she's led everyone to believe. No, she isn't broken up about Masaru but she's embarrassed. She can't have people thinking he's one-upped her. She's the daughter of a ruthless businessman, she can't allow people to think she's pathetically hung up over Masaru.

So Gaara comes up with pretending to date. It's not really how he wants things to go but there's no way he'd get someone like her to consider him. Not seriously, at least. But this way, they can kill two birds with one stone. Xin can salvage her reputation and Gaara can get Matsuri to take a fuckin' hint.

It's perfect.

Until it's not.

He realizes this, of course, the morning after their deal is made. He finds her awake in his bedroom, shirt hanging from her thin shoulders and makeup smudges along the plains of her face. Somehow she still manages to be insanely attractive, even as she's scowling up at him about undressing her.

He assumes she wants to back out of their deal, that she's slept on it and realized how dumb it fuckin' was. And it was, it was completely dumb. Not the dumbest thing he's done but it's..it's up there. She doesn't back out and he realizes that she might be just as dumb. Even dumber, who knows, it's not a competition.

She leaves back to her place, promising to meet him at the gym after a well deserved shower. He has time to think, to question his actions. He realizes that he has a crush on this girl, even though she's not exactly what he thought she'd be like. He didn't make any plans to pursue this girl because they were on the opposite ends of the spectrum.

And yet somehow, they were 'dating'.

He was going to pay for this.

Xin shows up at the gym as originally planned. She's shed her skin tight jeans and cropped shirt for an outfit more comfortable. And really, the jeans did a phenomenal job for her ass and everything but there was something innocently cute about her plain white t-shirt and denim overall shorts.

She has that wide eyed look about her and he wonders if she's ever been to a public gym before. A club, he could understand but who hasn't been to a public gym before? The poor girl was so sheltered, it wasn't even funny.

Lee pauses in his own workout, leaning backwards to see what has Gaara's attention. "Oh, it's Xin," he grins his signature grin. "Surprised to see her in a place like this," he hums. "Is she here to meet you? I hear you two are dating."

"It's a new thing that just happened," Gaara shrugs one big shoulder. A dudebro with a confident swagger about him approaches Xin as she looks around the gym. He sidles right up to her, confidence just oozing from his sweaty pores and says something to her.

"Uh-oh…" Lee trails off nervously. He's known Gaara since they were kids and dude has a nasty temper. He's better now, compared to when they were kids but still...he has a bad reputation for a reason. Luckily he was above stabbing people now but he wasn't above punching somebody in the throat.

Xin takes a step back from the dudebro, smiling in confusion before turning away. He's insistent though and steps in front of her before she can make an escape. She blinks at him, smile slowly becoming strained. Dudebro keeps talking and Gaara watches as Xin's lips slowly begin to move.

She's counting back from ten.

She's gonna hit this dude. And really, under normal circumstances, Gaara would just mind his business. But dudebro could be the type to hit women and Xin probably was barely five foot even. He looks down at his dumbbell and briefly considers bouncing the shit off the side of dudebro's head. But that's probably attempted murder and he told his sister that he would be better so he puts the dumbbell down. "I'll be back," he grumbles to Lee.

Xin sees him approaching from around dudebro's arm and her smiles loses that tightness and becomes genuine. She tries to step around him again but is halted once more. Her smile finally drops all together as she stares up at dudebro with anger and confusion across her features.

"Yo," Gaara greeted gruffly, stopping at them. "She's good," he says with a sense of finality. Xin immediately tries to step towards him but for the third fuckin' time, dudebro intervenes. He's really starting to get on Gaara's nerves and he begins to rethink his promise to his sister. Dudebro actually has the nerve, the audacity, to fuckin' reach for Xin and grab her by her bicep.

"I'm trying to have a conversation here, man," Dudebro gives a condescending smile and Gaara is two seconds from choking the motherfucker out.

He knows he has that murderous expression on his face as his gaze drops to the hand wrapped around her arm back to dudebro's face. It's a silent warning, plain as day and dudebro is actually smart enough to realize he's fuckin' with the wrong one. He backs off finally, pouting violently for someone so big. Gaara regrets not punching the idiot but he avoids committing assault so there's that.

He looks at Xin with confusion. It was like she has no idea how to take social cues. Never going to a club, fine, he could see that, but what the hell was with this big wide-eye look she permanently sports? Has she ever been outside prior to attending college?

"You about to tell me you've never been to a public gym before?"

Her face twists immediately. "We had a gym at home, why would I need to come to a public one?" she asks with all the innocence in the world. "Why would you even want to meet here anyway? It smells like sweat and stupidity in here."

"Well, you aren't wrong," Gaara shrugged another shoulder, reaching for her hand. "I hang out here a lot so if guys see you with me, they'll know we're dating," he explained quietly while pulling her along and she went willingly, rotating her hand so that their fingers were interlaced.

"Lee!" Xin cheered the moment she saw the bushy-eyed weirdo. She let go of Gaara to approach him, smiling all the while. "Man, are you okay? You fell hard last night."

Lee grins at her, nearly blinding her. Somehow she doesn't go completely blind but Gaara is positive that she knows not to look directly at his blinding smile. "Liquid courage. You can't feel anything."

"You two know each other?" Gaara looks in between them. Honestly, he shouldn't be that surprised. Lee is just that friendly kind of person, kind of like Ino. He could make friends with just about anyone if he tried. He picks up his dumbbell once more, curling it to his chest. He wasn't trying to show off or anything but he didn't miss the impressed look in her eyes.

"Neji," Lee and Xin chorus together. With nowhere else to really sit, she sits behind him on the bench, nearly pressing against his back. "Isn't that heavy?" she leans around him, eyes focusing on the dumbbell rather than his flexing muscles. She fails but at least she made an attempt.

"I've lifted heavier," Gaara shrugs nonchalantly. No, he's not trying to impress her but hell if it doesn't work. She sits back with a thoughtful hum. She sits quiet the entire time, fiddling on her phone every now and then. Sometimes he catches her staring at his back in the mirror but he never says anything about it, a smirk curling at his mouth every so often.

When his workout is done, he tells her to stay with Lee while he goes to shower. She continues to eye him, eyes roving over his muscles and watching the trails of sweat in the dips of his body. Usually sweat would disgust her but she finds herself appreciating the sight. He could still feel her gaze while walking away. His smirk is full blown at this point.

It's probably despicable that he's using these odd circumstances to get close to the girl he likes but he has no other chance with her. Under normal circumstances, their paths would never cross despite their mutual friends. Ino and Tenten already made it clear that she was out of his league, even if Ino thought it was like some dumb American RomCom.

It's wrong, he knows but when he comes out, freshly showered, her eyes brighten at the sight of him. She's actually down on the floor, Lee next to her so that he can show her how to do a proper push-up. It's pretty impressive because she has no muscles to speak of and it's obvious she can't support her own weight but she shows him.

Gaara smiles at her.

This is bad.

They set out rules, come up with a cover story and share small tidbits of information about each other that a normal couple would know about one another. He thinks they're two dumbasses but everyone is even dumber because they all fall for it. For some reason, despite being on different ends of the spectrum, they get along well. They mesh well together, their personalities feeding off one another.

Their friends are divided. Ino loves the thought of them together and constantly sings that Uptown Girl shit whenever she sees them. Neji doesn't approve and he's pretty upfront about it but Tenten talks him into minding his own damn business. Tenten is neutral about it and Uzumaki Karin vehemently opposes it.

None of that matters, what matters is that Xin's ex-boyfriend and Matsuri know all about their relationship. Matsuri is still pushy about her feelings for him but she keeps her distance for the most part. She hates Xin, hates her with a passion and he's sure that has a lot to do with Xin telling her to fuck off the first night they met.

They become actual friends. They hang out because they want to hang out, not because they need to keep up appearances. He tells her about his tattoos, explaining their meanings while she reveals her freakish talent for cleaning and bakes him cookies. He takes her to the gym and to clubs and parties and she invites him over for Netflix binges, study dates and to just relax after a hard week of studying.

Everything is fine, for the most part. Sure, he may like this girl more than originally planned but it's no big deal. Maybe hanging out with her makes those feelings deeper but he never asks for more. It was his idea to start this fake dating shit in the first place. It's even working, for some inexplicable reason. It's not her fault that he's had a crush on her since seeing her two years ago. She doesn't have to know.

Okay, maybe things aren't fine but he's handling it, dammit. He's doing just fine until one night he decides to fuck everything up. Well, you know what, it's not his fault, not his sober fault anyway. It's all drunk Gaara's fault.

He's at some crappy bar with Lee when Masaru says some dumb shit about Xin. Honestly, he can't even remember what the asshole says but he knows it's bad enough because everyone stops talking to look at him.

Probably some derogative shit about her and sex or something dumb along those lines.

The point is that it pisses Gaara off enough to punch Masaru right in his goddamn face. Masaru goes down and no one really helps him because..well..fuck that guy. He's an asshole.

They throw Lee and Gaara out, which, you know, is fair. Lee tries to get him back to his apartment but Gaara drunkenly insists on going to Xin's place. Why? Who knows but he wants to see the little midget and Lee complies after making Gaara promise he won't hurt her in his drunken state. It's not like he hurts women or some shit but he's drunk and wired and Xin has a knack for pushing buttons.

She, of course, is hardly impressed. The door opens and there she is, dressed in her ratty Sonic the Hedgehog pajamas, hair piled messily on top of her head. Xin blinks up at them, frowning in confusion because the last thing she expected tonight was a drunk Gaara and a semi-drunk Lee. "Uh.."

"We got kicked out of the bar and he insisted on coming here," Lee explains apologetically, holding on tight to Gaara in case he sways too hard to the side.

Gaara takes an unsteady step forward and Xin meets him halfway, winding her arm around his waist to help Lee. Gaara is a big dude and she's not sure she's doing much to help but they get him over to her couch. He plops down like a sinking rock, slumping back.

"I'm sorry about him," Xin sighs heavily and rubs the back of her neck. "Do you wanna stay over tonight? Your place is kind of far.."

Far is an understatement. Xin lives in the good part of town, unlike the rest of them, who're slumming it up in what's known affectionately as the "Badlands".

"Nah, I'm fine," Lee denies with a sweet grin and wave. He turns to the door and she follows after him, shooting Gaara a look to stay put.

"Well, let me buy you an Uber, at least," she insists and Lee eventually agrees, knowing she won't give up. She's spoiled like that, not really used to hearing the word 'no'. Her friends don't help the situation, Gaara always says. Unlike them, he tells her no frequently, no matter how much she pouts.

Lee leaves after his Uber pulls up, waving goodbye to a drunken Gaara and kissing Xin's forehead. She acts like she hates it but her friends have yet to kick the habit.

"What'd you do to get kicked out?" Xin asks immediately. Before being interrupted, she'd been watching Disney's The Mandalorian but it was paused now.

"How do you know I did something?"

She joins him on the couch with an eye roll, curling into herself next to him. "Cause you're the drunk one? What'd you do?"

"There may have been an altercation.."

"Hell, was there property damage?" She's already looking around for her phone, ready to ask her father for money for repairs. He's trying to get her to kick that habit, depending so heavily on her parents. It was exactly why they ran her life the way they ran it.

He knocks her phone from her hand. "Would you consider someone's face as property damage?"

"Yeah but it's damage we don't have to pay for," Xin shoots him a dirty look as her phone drops to the floor. She's too lazy to pick it up. "Who'd you hit?"

"...Masaru."

Her mouth twists. "Gaara…" she pinches the bridge of her nose. "Why?"

"Why not? The dude's an asshole. I'm pretty sure it's not the first time he's been punched in the face."

"Stop avoiding the question."

"He was talking shit, Xin. I had to hit him."

"Did you really?"

Up until that point, he'd been leaning his head back against the couch. At her pressing, he picks his head up to look at her. "He was talking shit about you. Yes, I had to hit him."

"We're trying to get rid of that ex-gang member rep that you have and hitting Masaru isn't helping."

"I don't give two fucks if it ain't helping. He was talking about you so I hit him."

"Ain't isn't a word."

"Don't nitpick. Look, we're dating and if someone talks shit about you, I have to kick their ass. It's the rule."

"What fuckin' rule is that? You made that up."

"Guys' rules. You wouldn't understand."

Xin rolls her eyes again and leans her head back. It's silent for a good minute, not that either of them minds. They learn quickly that they each had short tempers and sometimes they needed a moment or two of silence to simmer down. They had yet to get into anything real but with their tempers, it wouldn't be long before they came to real verbal blows.

Gaara relents first, as usual, and throws a heavy arm around Xin's shoulders. She sends him a mean look but he's too drunk to really care and pulls her until she falls into his side. She goes willingly, grumbling all the while but she doesn't fight him off. Their relationship in its entirety doesn't make much sense. They're more than friends but less than lovers.

"I'm getting sick of this shit."

He says it without really thinking about it. But it's true, he's getting sick of the fakeness. Pretending to date her isn't enough, being her friend is not enough. He wants to kiss her and touch her and do things to her that would set her face on fire. He'd been completely aware that their schemes were dangerous but goddammit, he didn't think it would get so hard to resist her.

She wasn't even doing anything to entice him. Her behavior remained the same for the most part. Sure, she holds his hand and hugs him and everything in public but it isn't like she bothers to flirt or seduce him. Then again, he thinks she probably doesn't know how to flirt.

Which would usually annoy him but he found her obliviousness too endearing and—fuck, he couldn't keep this up.

Xin sits up abruptly and stares at him, eyebrows knitting together. It's only after looking at her troubled expression that he even realizes how his words could be misinterpreted.

"Do you want to stop?" she asks slowly, pulling away from him. "I mean, it has been a month and I think Masaru and Matsuri have gotten it. You did hit Masaru though..." she trails off, looking down at her lap. Her fingers twist together apprehensively.

"That's not—"

"Do you like a different girl?"

"I didn't say—"

"Or is it because people say I'm not your type?"

"Who says—"

"It's not my fault my parents won't let me get a tattoo."

"You're fine without—"

"But they can't stop me now so I could totally get one."

"Do not get a tattoo—"

"Is it because we don't kiss in public?"

"Why would you even—"

"We agreed not to but Ino's been saying she's noticing that you don't kiss me at all and…"

"Xin—"

"And we could, if you wanted to. I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to it."

"Wait, what—"

"I'm just saying, we're in a relationship and no one has seen us kiss so—"

"Xin, wait. Shut up."

She did so, blinking her big eyes at him. "Do you want to kiss me?" Gaara asks her pointedly. She turns away almost immediately, eyes darting down to her lap once more. Again, her fingers twist together. She rolls her lip into her mouth before her teeth press down on it.

"Uh. Well. I wouldn't hate it. I mean, if you don't want to kiss me, that's fine too. I'm just saying. If Ino has noticed, other people will notice too. But if you don't want to and you want to end this, I mean…"

"I didn't say that."

"You said you were getting sick of this."

Gaara's eyes narrow but Xin misses the look entirely. Instead she twists around and scoots away until her back is pressed against the arm of her couch. "It's a yes or no question, Xin." He reaches towards her, hand circling her ankle. It catches her attention and she nearly stills under his gaze.

She bends her index finger back, still chewing on her lip. Her face is bright under the light of her tableside lamp. Nervous energy is bouncing off of her skin as she stares back at him. Her eyes close slowly, like she's afraid to see his reaction and she nods. "Yes."

Gaara doesn't even stop to think of the consequences. He lurches forward, hands bracing against the arm of the couch to avoid crushing her. He's a pretty big guy though so it's not even enough to keep his weight off of her. There's a tiny yelp from under him and he nearly pulls back from her until her arms curl around his back and her legs widen to accommodate him.

He kisses her and it's fuckin' glorious. Her lips are awfully plump and plush and he feels like he's drowning and suffocating at the same time. She readjusts, pulling her arms from his back to settle around neck, kissing him as deeply as she could. He grips just under her knees and rolls her under him, hooking her legs around his waist. His entire weight selfishly overtakes her but he can't even find it in himself to really care. Hyuga Xin was made for him, soft body perfectly cradling him.

She's practically molded him and when he rolls his hips against hers, her head falls back with a soft moan. It might be the prettiest sound he's ever heard in his deprived ass life. He wants to hear more of it, more gasps and squeals and sighs and…

This is escalating way too fast.

One might call him a sap because she's clearly into it but he knows this wasn't right. He'd been harboring a crush on her for two years but the same couldn't be said for her, it almost feels like he's taking advantage of her. This wasn't a casual hook-up, one that he could roll off his back as another notch in his bedpost.

Xin wasn't just his idiotic partner in crime, she was his friend and he genuinely cares for her. She deserves more than a frenzied fuck that's long overdue. Two years overdue actually, but who's keeping track?

He is but whatever.

The point that he was trying to make was that he waited two years for something that wasn't even a sure thing. He could wait a little longer.

It's with great difficulty that he peels himself away from the soft little body underneath him. Her head pops up immediately, missing the friction that had been taking her to an entirely different height. "Something wrong?"

Gaara sits up completely and stoically eyes her. Ino and Tenten were right to say she was so far out of his league. Xin's beauty was almost angelic and he..well…he was a former gang-member.

"I saw you when you were a freshman and decided then that I wanted you." He says it almost casually, watching carefully for her reaction. Whether they continue their ridiculous fake dating ploy or not, she deserves to know that it wasn't so fake after all.

Xin's swollen mouth pops open but she doesn't say anything. She's confused, rightfully so because that was random as fuck. She didn't even know him back then. Or so he thinks. Her face resembles an apple by the time his words sink in and take hold of her.

"So, all this time…?"

"Yeah, I've had a thing for you. You were out of my league so I never tried anything but then Ino mentioned you were coming to that club that one night and…"

"You like me? Like, actually like me?"

He folds his arms across his chest, muscles flexing as he rolls his shoulders. "Yeah."

She blinks. Once, twice, three times. "I've been crushing on you since I was a freshman too."

"Excuse me?"

"Um, yeah. Everyone said you wouldn't be interested though so I kind of just…crushed on you from a distance? I was really freaked out that night in the club. I thought you might think I was weird."

She was weird. He just happens to like weird.

Gaara slaps his forehead with a laugh. What a fuckin' coincidence. They'd been crushing on each other for two years but neither thought they had a chance with each other. They really were fuckin' idiots.

"…Go out with me."

She squints, "I…I am."

"No. Like for real."

"Will you kiss me some more if I say yes?"

Again, he laughs and leans into her, lips brushing against hers softly. "I'm gonna do so much more, babe, if you say yes."

So maybe not all his decisions blew up in his face.

Who knew?

TeeBeMe: I thought Gaara deserved his own chapter from the fake dating AU.