Fake Marriage
Fake dating's higher-stakes sibling: characters marry for visas, inheritances, insurance, or undercover assignments, and must perform an entire domestic life convincingly. Rings, shared addresses, and in-laws make this lie far harder to compartmentalize than a few staged dates.
What is Fake Marriage in fanfiction?
Fake dating's higher-stakes sibling: characters marry for visas, inheritances, insurance, or undercover assignments, and must perform an entire domestic life convincingly. Rings, shared addresses, and in-laws make this lie far harder to compartmentalize than a few staged dates. With over 20,000 works on Archive of Our Own, Fake Marriage is one of the most beloved tropes in fanfiction.
Why readers love Fake Marriage
The performance demands real intimacy — shared beds, learned habits, convincing tenderness — until neither party can locate the line where pretending stops.
Examples of Fake Marriage
A green-card marriage between coworkers that survives the immigration interview but not the feelings, or undercover agents whose suburban cover marriage outperforms their real relationships.
Best Fake Marriage Fanfics
The highest-rated Fake Marriage stories across all fandoms on AO3.
The Game Plan
Completeby FestiveFerret
Shane Hollander is the number two overall NHL draft pick and a newly minted Montreal Voyageur. He’s also laser focused on his goals: being the best by beating the best. For him, this means a continued rivalry with number one draft pick—and new Ottawa Centaur—Ilya Rozanov. But when a problem with Roz
Facade
Completeby Hazel_Athena
Left with only three other crew mates, it’s a ready expectation that Sanji will start fawning all over Robin in his usual obnoxious way. However, that’s not what happens. Instead, looking wild around the eyes in a way only someone who knows him well would recognize, the cook doesn’t break stride unt
a sequence that you never learned
Completeby annataylor
"'Spock,' Jim breathes out, completely overwhelmed by the gesture—not quite believing that Spock knows him so well, that's he's already started researching, that he trusts Jim with a member of his own endangered species." When Jim gets it in his head to adopt an eight year old Vulcan, Spock present
Boomerangs and Rainbows
Completeby mindbending
At Sokka’s behest, the Gaang skips rescuing Zuko during the Siege at the North Pole. Instead they leave him, unconscious, buried in the snow.In completely unrelated news, Sokka’s haunted by a ghost now. (If you'd like more details before deciding to read this story, look here for spoilers.)
Homesick at Space Camp
Completeby K0bot
Lance realizes he's been an asshole to Keith, and on a diplomatic mission to a key planet for the Voltron alliance he... overcompensates.
We Are So (Not) Married
Completeby MikeWritesThings (orphan_account)
In which everyone thinks Hizashi and Shouta are married due to an incident and while the nation is struggling to decide if this is a good or bad thing, Hizashi's struggling with the urge to say out loud, "Damn, I wish we were actually married, though."
time out of mind
Completeby aknightley
Keith and Lance wake up married. In the future. He lays there a moment, processing the faint throbbing in his head, a strange bitter taste like lemons in his mouth. When he opens his eyes, the room spins wildly into a kaleidoscope of colors, so he closes them again, breathing in and out until he
just say you do
Completeby biblionerd07
Steve just wanted a job. He wasn't expecting a marriage proposal. And he certainly wasn't expecting to accept.
Thirty-Eight Days and Counting
Completeby thecommodore_squid (orphan_account)
It didn’t escape him that Steve shared his assumed last name. “Are you gonna be my cousin?” Bucky asked dully.Steve frowned. “Husband, actually,” he said easily, holding up his left hand to show a typical golden band.Bucky scowled and closed the door.AKAAn AU in which Bucky is put in the witness pro
Bending You(r logic)
Completeby scribespirare
Assflash, newshole, we were married the whole goddamn time.
Write It on My Neck
Completeby diamondbruise
Sure, he could ad-lib this. Wei Wuxian nodded. “The agreement. Yes, the agreement! Where I…don’t call you handsome?” The man stared again. “You do not need to call me ‘husband’, either."Wei Wuxian nodded seriously, though inwardly, he was kind of shocked. What kind of a marriage was this? or, wwx
Limited Partnership
Completeby Pookaseraph
Mike isn't entirely certain how he let Donna and Jessica talk him into marrying Harvey while his boss was in a coma, even if they swore he wouldn't mind. He thought the hardest part would be going to the hospital and confronting the sight of his boss and friend lying there, but instead it turned out
My World Is Filled With Cheer And You
Completeby bleep0bleep
“It was a last minute decision. Single parents with children draw attention to themselves in this type of neighborhood, and this department didn’t have a big budget to relocate all the werewolf and werewolf sympathizers that were targeted on this list. We’ve combined a lot of our relocation assignme
Spyderwebs
Completeby surveycorpsjean
Katsuki and Izuku are tasked with an undercover mission as a couple aboard a luxury cruise ship. The problem is, they haven't seen each other in years.
the cost of a thing
Completeby quiettewandering
16 months ago, Cas became human. 12 months ago, Cas left the bunker and a broken-hearted Dean behind.Now they must work a case together, where married couples are dying mysterious deaths and the only way to earn the neighbors' trust is by pretending to be married. Slowly, Dean finds that he loves be
Love a Lie
Completeby ambpersand
Malfoy’s hand is unforgiving against her own, squeezing hard enough that it aches. Hermione digs her nails in, knowing the sensitive expanse of his pale skin will be marked for hours. A fair trade, considering the heavy diamond ring on her finger that feels like a shackle. Her hand and arm still tin
New Romantics
Completeby the7print
"We’ll call ourselves the new romantics: partners in crime, 21st century millennials making money out of marriage. Like a movie, but in real life."What do you do when you're set to inherit billions from your recently deceased grandfather's will, but only on grounds that you must be legally married?
the warp and weft of your being
Completeby tardigradeschool
When getting legally married to Spock is the only way to keep him on the ship, Jim is more than willing to do so. (In fact, upon reflection, it turns out that there are very few things he wouldn't do for Spock.)
not even work husbands, just regular husbands
Completeby TheElevenOfSpades
If Viktor had kissed Jayce to avoid being caught by MelAnd then it gets worse
but, baby, watching you blush
Completeby calvingseason
Eddie opens his mouth. Closes it. Finally, he settles on, “You told your parents you’re married? To a man?” Chimney and Hen both glance at him with twin looks that clearly mean he’s on his own with telling the rest of the story. Which—they had no problem teasing and joking about it three seconds a
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Related Tropes
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Fake Marriage fics are on AO3?
There are over 20,000 works tagged with Fake Marriage on Archive of Our Own.
What fandoms have the most Fake Marriage stories?
Popular fandoms for Fake Marriage include MCU, Supernatural, Haikyuu.
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