Natsby

Natsby is the slash ship between Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby from the The Great Gatsby fandom.

Canon
Nick moves into West Egg, Long Island, New York, and thus becomes neighbours with Jay Gatsby. Gatsby, rather obviously, is the man the entire story revolves around. Nick recounts his story and the story of Gatsby, looking back from some indeterminate point in the future. He remarks how much he despised everyone involved in the debacle. Everyone, that is, except for Gatsby, despite the fact that Gatsby "represented everything for which [Nick] had unaffected scorn".

The first time Nick sees Gatsby, he is standing out on his lawn, looking across the bay and stretching his arms out as if to reach the other side of the water, where a green light shines in the distance. Nick thinks about saying hello, but decides to leave Gatsby to his business. By the next day, Nick has practically forgotten this "encounter". When Nick actually meets Gatsby for the first time, he had been personally invited (via Gatsby's butler) to one of Gatsby's big parties. Nick spends the entire afternoon with Jordan Baker (a friend of his cousin Daisy's), the only person he knows, until he meets a man who recognizes him from the war (WWI). The man invites Nick to ride his hydroplane with him in the morning. Jordan comes over and Nick remarks how he hasn't even met Gatsby at all yet. The man then reveals that he was, in fact, Gatsby, of which he thought Nick was aware.

As time passes, Gatsby and Nick grow closer, becoming fairly good friends, though Nick does not admit it. Nick goes to two of Gatsby's parties, accepts Gatby's hydroplane ride offer, and, "at [Gatsby's] urgent invitation, [makes] frequent use of his beach". Gatsby and Nick go out to lunch together, where Gatsby, out of nowhere, asks Nick what he thinks of him, then launches into a mostly false and rather grandiose backstory of his life, which Nick does not believe in the slightest, until Gatsby smiles at him. Gatsby introduces Nick to a friend of his (who he had already told about Nick at some point), and they talk for a while, until Daisy's husband Tom runs into them, and Gatsby all but disappears into thin air.

Gatsby arranges, in a convoluted manner, for Jordan to ask Nick if he would invite Daisy over to his house so that Gatsby could come over to Nick's house and "accidentally" run into Daisy. Nick agrees to help Gatsby in his pursuit of love, and as he is telling Gatsby that he accepts, Gatsby invites Nick to Coney Island and to his personal swimming pool, both of which Nick declines. Gatsby also offers to help Nick to become richer, which Nick also declines, because he assumes Gatsby is only offering it as payment for inviting Daisy over.

On the day Daisy comes over to Nick's house, Gatsby has several panics, which Nick allays. Gatsby and Daisy chat, albeit a bit awkwardly, and eventually Gatsby invites both Daisy and Nick over for a tour of his house. Nick is unsure if Gatsby actually wants him to come along, seeing as the afternoon was supposed to be for Gatsby and Daisy, but Gatsby seems serious in his asking Nick along. For the rest of the tour, Nick plays the awkward third wheel, asking occasional questions as Daisy cries over Gatsby's shirts. Eventually, after staring at Gatsby for a while as he and Daisy stare at each other, Nick decides he's had enough and just leaves, which Gatsby and Daisy do not seem to notice.

Nick spends more time with Gatsby, often listening to Gatsby talking about Daisy, but occasionally talking about himself (to a reporter), which is how Nick becomes one of the few people to know one of the closest stories to Gatsby's actual backstory. Nick finally scolds Gatsby for expecting Daisy to be exactly as she was in the past when they knew each other. Gatsby does not take the hint that he needs to forget the past and tells Nick the story of his and Daisy's first kiss. Nick wants to say something, but forgets what.

When Gatsby has been sulking in his house and firing all his servants, Nick goes to check on him. Gatsby again invites Nick to lunch, this time at Daisy's house and at her request. Soon, and very quickly, everything goes terribly for everyone except for Nick, who isn't directly affected. Gatsby calls out to Nick for a talk when he sees Nick walking home after everything happens and Nick tells Gatsby he should really get some sleep.

Nick runs to Gatsby's house in the middle of the night, sensing that something was wrong, but not knowing what. Nick tells Gatsby that he should run away to escape the police, who will soon be after him, but Gatsby doesn't want to, wanting to stay for Daisy. Gatsby tells Nick his true backstory and Nick stays the night (though it's actually morning) with Gatsby, having breakfast with him, staying and missing several trains only because he doesn't want to leave Gatsby. Then, finally deciding to leave, Nick gives Gatsby the only compliment he's ever given him (at least out loud). Gatsby smiles and Nick leaves, thanking Gatsby for his hospitality for the last time.

The next day, Gatsby is found dead in his own pool.

Nick arranges Gatsby's funeral, being one of only two people to ever know that he was not a murderer. The only ones to attend Gatsby's funeral are his father, an owl-eyed drunkard, and Nick. Everyone else had long since abandoned Gatsby forever. After all is done, Nick returns West, unable to live in the East any longer after everything.

Quotes
"After Gatsby's death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes' power of correction."

- Nick Carraway in narration, Chapter 9

"The nature of Mr. Tostoff's composition eluded me, because just as it began my eyes fell on Gatsby, standing alone on the marble steps and looking from one group to another with approving eyes. His tanned skin was drawn attractively tight on his face and his short hair looked as though it were trimmed every day. I could see nothing sinister about him. I wondered if the fact that he was not drinking set him off from his guests, for it seemed to me that he grew more correct as the fraternal hilarity increased."

- Nick Carraway in narration, Chapter 3

"'They're a rotten crowd,' I shouted across the lawn. 'You're worth the whole damn bunch put together.' I’ve always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end. First he nodded politely, and then his face broke into that radiant and understanding smile, as if we’d been in ecstatic cahoots on that fact all the time."

- Nick Carraway to Gatsby and in narration, Chapter 8

"If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away."

- Nick Carraway about Gatsby in narration, Chapter 1

Fanon
The Great Gatsby is considered "classical literature" and as such, is required reading for many high school students, which is often many people's first introduction to the book. That and the movie staring Leonardo DiCaprio, which has had many memes made out of its screenshots. Despite this, a vast majority of those who read the book agree that the way Nick describes men, especially Gatsby, is not a heterosexual way to describe people. Those who do not ship Nick and Gatsby usually ship Gatsby and Daisy, the woman who Gatsby pines after for the entirety of the book. Because of Gatsby's pining, many consider it to be a story of unrequited love.

It is the most popular ship for the fandom.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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