Fake Dating — Tag Meaning
The most common species of pretend relationship: a dating ruse undertaken for reasons that seemed sound at the time — making an ex jealous, surviving a reunion, winning a bet. The fake-dating contract always includes rules, and the rules always get broken.
What to Expect From "Fake Dating" Fics
Rom-com architecture: negotiated boundaries, public performances of affection, private confusion, and a real confession before the end.
How to find Fake Dating fics on AO3
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Browse "Fake Dating" works on AO3Want the deep dive? Read our full trope guide: Fake Dating →
Popular Fics Tagged "Fake Dating"
Real examples from AO3's most-kudosed works:
I Need A (Girlfriend) Hero!
by LilaVaporizer9000
it's a risk, it's a gamble
by nondz (pinkjook)
sunday kind of love
by lunarorbits
Let Loose Your Glow
by athousandrooms
Lovefool
by Kittendiamore
Insurgents by the Poolside
by abandonedstrawberry
Related Tags
Fake/Pretend Relationship
The canonical tag for one of fandom's most beloved engines: characters pretend to date — for a mission, a wedding, a visa, a nosy family — and the performance becomes real. Every staged kiss and practiced anecdote doubles as genuine intimacy the characters refuse to acknowledge.
Tag guide →
Fake Marriage
Raises the pretend-relationship stakes to legal documents: a sham marriage for citizenship, inheritance, cover identities, or convenience. The domestic intimacy marriage requires — shared homes, shared beds, performed affection for witnesses — gives the trope its slow-burn power.
Tag guide →
Meet-Cute
Borrowed from romantic comedy jargon: a first meeting that is charming, memorable, and a little absurd — colliding bicycles, mistaken identities, rescuing the same cat. In fanfic it powers countless AUs where canon characters get a softer, funnier origin than the battlefield where they actually met.
Tag guide →
Idiots in Love
An exasperated, affectionate tag for two people obviously in love and somehow the last to know. Everyone around them sees it; the readers see it; the characters construct elaborate alternative explanations for why their heart races. The 'idiocy' is emotional, beloved, and entirely mutual.
Tag guide →
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