Title: Foolishness

Summary: Most people believe that Nick was just a loyal friend, but he had different reasons for his actions

Pairings: Implied Gatsby/Daisy, Daisy/Tom, one-sided Nick/Gatsby

Warnings: AU, OOC, tad bit of angst, Char death(This is still somewhat canon)

A/N: So, this was written at two in the morning, over a year since I've read the book, please pardon any mistakes in the timeline/actions I present.

From the moment Nick moved to West Egg, he knew his life would not be easy.

Oh, he knew being in the bonds business would be boring and tedious at times, but he wanted the normalcy of a regular job after coming back from the war. No, the minute he laid eyes on the huge house across the lawn he knew. Life for Nick could never be easy.

Having his cousin Daisy around was splendid and he cherished her very much. From then on though, his life seemed to be the stuff of soap operas. Lies, cheating, arguments, and manipulations surrounded him on all sides. Not wanting to get involved, he stayed by Jordan's side. A crush soon developed, but Nick knew it would not last and pursued nothing serious with the young woman.

Then Gatsby was brought into conversation. So many rumors, stories and half truths were floating around him that Nick didn't know what to believe. A set image was instilled into his brain. 'He killed a man', 'he's an oxford man', 'wonder how he made all of his money. Illegally?' Not always one to believe whatever he heard, he tried not to listen to the tales, but they were said with utmost certainty that he sometimes forgot that they might not actually be true.

The moment he met Gatsby, oh, it was wonderful. He was sitting at the same table as Nick, and Nick immediately liked the man whose name he had yet to learn. When he found out this man was The Jay Gatsby he was floored. He seemed nothing like the man every believed him to be.

After that, Nick was very glad he moved to West Egg. Spending all of his free time with Gatsby was never dull. They could just sit there having lunch and Nick would be happy. They shared some interesting conversations and he was glad that Gatsby actually understood what he was talking about when horrors of the war were brought into the conversation.

Nick liked to think of himself as a jealous person when it came to Gatsby, seeing as how he tried to monopolize all of his time. Really he was probably one of the most unselfish people that someone would ever meet.

When spending so much time with one person, it was hard not to form some type of bond with them. Be it familial or love. It became the latter for Nick, eventually. Nick was always there when Gatsby needed him, to help with something or just to keep him company in his too large empty house.

So when he found out that Gatsby was in love with Nick's cousin, and it seemed like vice versa was true, he set out to get them together. Nick loved both Gatsby and Daisy dearly, so if they made each other happy so be it. He set up tea times for them to get together, always at his little cottage so others would be none the wiser to what was happening.

He was happy to see both of them more carefree then they had seemed in a while, and it broke his heart that he couldn't make Gatsby look like that. So he became better at hiding his real feelings, and began to resent them and himself for his thoughts. He knew he shouldn't think like that, but he was just so angry that both of the people he cared about could forget about him so easily and not see through his flimsy masks he was constantly wearing these days.

As time went by he was still heartbroken, but he knew he couldn't do anything to ruin the new relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. Days turned into weeks, and the light of their relationship seemed to dim. Neither of them seemed to understand how the other changed so much in the many years they weren't together, and began to realized they built the other's memory up so much that the real thing couldn't compare anymore. They kept at it though, hoping something, anything would be as it was previously.

Nick hated himself for hoping their relationship would fail so he would finally have a chance with Gatsby. But after the whole scene at the hotel in town, he couldn't suppress the little bubble of joy that appeared in his throat.

Dead. Gatsby was dead. He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. But there he was, out by the pool. 'why?' was the only thought that could form in his head. He looked from Gatsby over to Mr. Wilson and his blood ran cold and boiled in anger all at once.

This was because of Daisy and Tom. One couldn't admit what she had done, while the other couldn't stand Gatsby even being alive. Because of them, the man he loved was dead and they didn't seem to care.

They retreated to their little bubble of money and foolishness, and pretended nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He couldn't even stand to look at them as they departed the country to travel while their new house was getting ready.

A few days later the funeral happened and it finally sunk in that Gatsby wasn't coming back. His best friend, and love interest was gone and Nick now had nothing to keep him in West Egg. Everything reminded him of Gatsby, these days.

That night he finally allowed himself to cry. Cry for the love he had lost, the friend he would never see again. Cry for Daisy and Tom and how cruel and foolish they could be. For George Wilson, who had lost everything in one night.

But mainly he cried for James Gatz, a man that had everything and nothing in the end.

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