You're The Reason I Come Home
Title: You're The Reason I Come Home
Characters: Nate/Serena
Rating/Word Count: PG/1,700
One-Line Excerpt: He waits for her because he thinks she deserves it, even if he knows she doesn't.
When they're seven they go to Vermont, his family and hers, plus the man her mom is with.
Nate gives her all the marshmallows from his hot chocolate and she tucks her toes up underneath the leg of his pants at his ankles to keep warm.
"Your feet are cold," he tells her quietly, blowing the steam off their mugs, alternating between the two. He tries to kick his legs out to get her to move her feet but it doesn't work.
"I know. You have to keep them warm." She burns her tongue on her hot chocolate, pushes it up against the roof of her mouth and looks at him. "Okay?"
He nods, hair falling in his eyes, and starts blowing on her drink a little more than on his own.
...
They go to Disney World with Blair's mom and dad when they're 11, and he eats a turkey leg with his bare hands and chases the girls with it while Eleanor and Harold sit nearby.
"That'll be trouble," Harold tuts, smirk on his face.
"Already is, darling," Eleanor agrees with a shake of her head. "It already is."
...
Serena's mother lets her go with the Archibalds to Prague when she's 13. It's last minute and Blair's in the Hamptons and Serena is crying for no reason when Nate comes up with the idea. It doesn't take much convincing.
They walk around the streets holding hands and fumbling through Czech. He kisses her on a busy street in the middle of the day when no one else is paying attention.
"Do that again," she whispers. He smiles and pushes the hair off her sunburned shoulder before he presses his lips to hers again. "I like it."
"Yeah," he says, forehead against hers. "We should, like, do it all the time."
She giggles and licks her lips, and his dad calls him over to look at some historical thing or whatever. She tucks her hair back behind her ear and loosens her grip on his hand. He slips his fingers between hers and pulls her along with him.
...
They're in the middle of a fight when it comes time for March break at 14. He's dating Blair and Serena's spiraling downward in spectacular fashion, and maybe he's just scared for her, but she doesn't think it's fair that they went from kissing to him babying her.
(Maybe she just doesn't think it's fair that they stopped kissing.)
"Stop it!" he shouts at her, grabbing the shotglass from her hand. She doesn't even really know why he's there at her place. Her mother is out...somewhere, and he should be anywhere but alone with her. "Stop."
"I don't have to do what you tell me to."
"Serena," he says quietly, slipping his fingers around her wrist. He smoothes his thumb over the back of her hand and pulls her towards him. She's tipsy from tequila and he's so close and he pushes his nose against her cheek a little bit. "Do what I want you to."
It gets hard to breathe, but she can't pull away. "You never do what I want you to."
He sighs and lets go of her hand when his phone rings and Blair says she wants him to take her for frozen yogurt. He leaves and Serena calls Chuck to bring more alcohol and whatever pills he can get on short notice.
...
She makes him paint her toes for her by the pool at her grandmother's Hampton's house. She calls him disgusting when he kisses the top of her foot and he laughs, digs his fingers into her sides and messes up her nailpolish, so he has to start all over again.
She doesn't really know how she went almost a full year without him (then with someone else).
"Nate?"
"Concentrating."
She smiles. His tongue is just barely poking out the side of his mouth and he's got her heel cupped in his hand while he works the brush with the other.
"D'you miss me?"
"You're right here," he says, but his voice has changed and she knows he knows what she meant.
"Nate."
He looks up at her, slides his fingertips down the center of the bottom of her foot. "Yeah. Of course I did."
She smiles and closes her eyes against the sun and tries not to think it's sexy when he blows on her toes.
...
She runs because it's what she does best.
He waits for her because he thinks she deserves it, even if he knows she doesn't.
...
"Of course I did."
Her heart races and she leans in when he does and she's so very close to giving in and getting something.
She pulls back too fast and too easily and when she looks at Nate through the window when she's on the sidewalk, he's got his eyes closed and she wonders how many times she can break his heart before he stops letting her do it.
...
He doesn't tell her not to leave him.
But for a whole six months, she doesn't.
...
Blair decides on Paris and that's where they go, and Serena should take more time to think about him and miss him and try to think of ways to get him back.
Instead she flirts with waiters and makes out with hosts and lets the boys she sleeps with buy her café au lait in the morning before she never sees them again.
She's banking on Nate doing what he's always done, being there for her and smiling and looking cute and reminding her that there's someone, somewhere who loves her, however he does.
...
She hates Juliet.
...
She lays on the grass on campus when it's too cold to do it, and he smiles when he sees her because really, this is just about the most normal thing he's seen her do in a while. He stands over her and smiles down at her and her face lights up like it used to when she was little and innocent and way less jaded than he knows she is.
"What are you doing this weekend?" he asks.
She pushes herself up on her elbows and looks at him through her lashes. "I don't know. What am I doing this weekend?"
...
They go to Maine to his family's house there. His mom is in Rome with his aunt, so he's got the place to himself. Well, himself and Serena. She wears flannel pants to bed and a plaid shirt in the daytime with a wool scarf around her neck and her hair in a braid, and she somehow makes it look like this is her every day wardrobe.
"God, you're cute," he says as she sips hot chocolate with marshmallows.
("Six, Nate! I need six."
"Why six?"
"I don't know. Just because.")
"I am not."
She pouts over the rim of her mug and he shakes his head.
"Totally cute."
...
"I like it here," she says after crawling into bed with him. She's done it the last two nights after he fell asleep. She wants to curl up to him tonight, though, so she does it when she knows he's awake. She slides her hand across his stomach and he tangles their fingers together.
"My bed?"
Maybe it's supposed to be a joke, but it's exactly what she meant.
"Yeah," she whispers. Her lips are close to him and she really wants to kiss him, but she's trying to stop acting upon her impulses so much.
"I like you here, too," he says quietly.
"Really?"
His lips brush against her temple and he runs his thumb along hers.
"Like you everywhere."
...
"Bought you something," he says, sneaking up behind her. She's got her hair down and all messy (he'd never tell her it's messy, but he loves it like this) and she looks basically amazing. (Always.)
"Oh?" she asks, peering at him over her shoulder.
"Iced coffee."
She giggles and takes the cup from him. "It's November."
He shrugs and grins at her. "So?"
She leans in to kiss him and he lets her, grabs onto the ends of her scarf to keep her close when she tries to get away. (He really doesn't want her to get away at all. Ever. Whatever way she might try.)
...
It continues where it started, and that's where she thinks it'll probably end, too. (Or maybe, she's starting to believe, it won't end at all.)
They walk down Fifth Avenue and she pushes at his arm when he makes fun of her, and when they're stopped at a corner waiting to cross, he twists her hair around his hand and she kisses him easily. He tastes like coffee and chocolate, and for the first time in forever, she can't think of any other thing she wants to taste. (Any other boy.)
"Will you stay with me?" she asks nervously, voice quiet as she looks at him from the corner of her eye.
He slips his arm around her waist and doesn't ask her to clarify where or for what length of time.
"Of course I will."
Characters: Nate/Serena
Rating/Word Count: PG/1,700
One-Line Excerpt: He waits for her because he thinks she deserves it, even if he knows she doesn't.
When they're seven they go to Vermont, his family and hers, plus the man her mom is with.
Nate gives her all the marshmallows from his hot chocolate and she tucks her toes up underneath the leg of his pants at his ankles to keep warm.
"Your feet are cold," he tells her quietly, blowing the steam off their mugs, alternating between the two. He tries to kick his legs out to get her to move her feet but it doesn't work.
"I know. You have to keep them warm." She burns her tongue on her hot chocolate, pushes it up against the roof of her mouth and looks at him. "Okay?"
He nods, hair falling in his eyes, and starts blowing on her drink a little more than on his own.
...
They go to Disney World with Blair's mom and dad when they're 11, and he eats a turkey leg with his bare hands and chases the girls with it while Eleanor and Harold sit nearby.
"That'll be trouble," Harold tuts, smirk on his face.
"Already is, darling," Eleanor agrees with a shake of her head. "It already is."
...
Serena's mother lets her go with the Archibalds to Prague when she's 13. It's last minute and Blair's in the Hamptons and Serena is crying for no reason when Nate comes up with the idea. It doesn't take much convincing.
They walk around the streets holding hands and fumbling through Czech. He kisses her on a busy street in the middle of the day when no one else is paying attention.
"Do that again," she whispers. He smiles and pushes the hair off her sunburned shoulder before he presses his lips to hers again. "I like it."
"Yeah," he says, forehead against hers. "We should, like, do it all the time."
She giggles and licks her lips, and his dad calls him over to look at some historical thing or whatever. She tucks her hair back behind her ear and loosens her grip on his hand. He slips his fingers between hers and pulls her along with him.
...
They're in the middle of a fight when it comes time for March break at 14. He's dating Blair and Serena's spiraling downward in spectacular fashion, and maybe he's just scared for her, but she doesn't think it's fair that they went from kissing to him babying her.
(Maybe she just doesn't think it's fair that they stopped kissing.)
"Stop it!" he shouts at her, grabbing the shotglass from her hand. She doesn't even really know why he's there at her place. Her mother is out...somewhere, and he should be anywhere but alone with her. "Stop."
"I don't have to do what you tell me to."
"Serena," he says quietly, slipping his fingers around her wrist. He smoothes his thumb over the back of her hand and pulls her towards him. She's tipsy from tequila and he's so close and he pushes his nose against her cheek a little bit. "Do what I want you to."
It gets hard to breathe, but she can't pull away. "You never do what I want you to."
He sighs and lets go of her hand when his phone rings and Blair says she wants him to take her for frozen yogurt. He leaves and Serena calls Chuck to bring more alcohol and whatever pills he can get on short notice.
...
She makes him paint her toes for her by the pool at her grandmother's Hampton's house. She calls him disgusting when he kisses the top of her foot and he laughs, digs his fingers into her sides and messes up her nailpolish, so he has to start all over again.
She doesn't really know how she went almost a full year without him (then with someone else).
"Nate?"
"Concentrating."
She smiles. His tongue is just barely poking out the side of his mouth and he's got her heel cupped in his hand while he works the brush with the other.
"D'you miss me?"
"You're right here," he says, but his voice has changed and she knows he knows what she meant.
"Nate."
He looks up at her, slides his fingertips down the center of the bottom of her foot. "Yeah. Of course I did."
She smiles and closes her eyes against the sun and tries not to think it's sexy when he blows on her toes.
...
She runs because it's what she does best.
He waits for her because he thinks she deserves it, even if he knows she doesn't.
...
"Of course I did."
Her heart races and she leans in when he does and she's so very close to giving in and getting something.
She pulls back too fast and too easily and when she looks at Nate through the window when she's on the sidewalk, he's got his eyes closed and she wonders how many times she can break his heart before he stops letting her do it.
...
He doesn't tell her not to leave him.
But for a whole six months, she doesn't.
...
Blair decides on Paris and that's where they go, and Serena should take more time to think about him and miss him and try to think of ways to get him back.
Instead she flirts with waiters and makes out with hosts and lets the boys she sleeps with buy her café au lait in the morning before she never sees them again.
She's banking on Nate doing what he's always done, being there for her and smiling and looking cute and reminding her that there's someone, somewhere who loves her, however he does.
...
She hates Juliet.
...
She lays on the grass on campus when it's too cold to do it, and he smiles when he sees her because really, this is just about the most normal thing he's seen her do in a while. He stands over her and smiles down at her and her face lights up like it used to when she was little and innocent and way less jaded than he knows she is.
"What are you doing this weekend?" he asks.
She pushes herself up on her elbows and looks at him through her lashes. "I don't know. What am I doing this weekend?"
...
They go to Maine to his family's house there. His mom is in Rome with his aunt, so he's got the place to himself. Well, himself and Serena. She wears flannel pants to bed and a plaid shirt in the daytime with a wool scarf around her neck and her hair in a braid, and she somehow makes it look like this is her every day wardrobe.
"God, you're cute," he says as she sips hot chocolate with marshmallows.
("Six, Nate! I need six."
"Why six?"
"I don't know. Just because.")
"I am not."
She pouts over the rim of her mug and he shakes his head.
"Totally cute."
...
"I like it here," she says after crawling into bed with him. She's done it the last two nights after he fell asleep. She wants to curl up to him tonight, though, so she does it when she knows he's awake. She slides her hand across his stomach and he tangles their fingers together.
"My bed?"
Maybe it's supposed to be a joke, but it's exactly what she meant.
"Yeah," she whispers. Her lips are close to him and she really wants to kiss him, but she's trying to stop acting upon her impulses so much.
"I like you here, too," he says quietly.
"Really?"
His lips brush against her temple and he runs his thumb along hers.
"Like you everywhere."
...
"Bought you something," he says, sneaking up behind her. She's got her hair down and all messy (he'd never tell her it's messy, but he loves it like this) and she looks basically amazing. (Always.)
"Oh?" she asks, peering at him over her shoulder.
"Iced coffee."
She giggles and takes the cup from him. "It's November."
He shrugs and grins at her. "So?"
She leans in to kiss him and he lets her, grabs onto the ends of her scarf to keep her close when she tries to get away. (He really doesn't want her to get away at all. Ever. Whatever way she might try.)
...
It continues where it started, and that's where she thinks it'll probably end, too. (Or maybe, she's starting to believe, it won't end at all.)
They walk down Fifth Avenue and she pushes at his arm when he makes fun of her, and when they're stopped at a corner waiting to cross, he twists her hair around his hand and she kisses him easily. He tastes like coffee and chocolate, and for the first time in forever, she can't think of any other thing she wants to taste. (Any other boy.)
"Will you stay with me?" she asks nervously, voice quiet as she looks at him from the corner of her eye.
He slips his arm around her waist and doesn't ask her to clarify where or for what length of time.
"Of course I will."