So I spend most of my time reading Shonen, but when I don't I read so much girly manga my brain comes out of my ears. :D It's good times. And this time the manga I've been binging on is Lovely*Complex, which is hilarious and adorable and frustrating oh my god is it ever frustrating...

...anyway. This is because I was re-reading volume 11 (I think) today; the one that really focuses on Nakao and Nobuko's relationship and how completely they've grown to love each other and I squealed like a little girl. So. I came on here to look for stories that involved them and there are about two, so I thought I would cash in my two cents.

This is meant to be in Nakao and Otani's last year of middle school when (if I have my timeline right) Otani is dating the manager of the basketball club and Nakao mysteriously acquires a girlfriend who ends up being the love of his life. I started writing and ended up with this. Enjoy. 3

When Nakao came to school on the first day of the last year of middle school he was…weird.

Well, honestly there wasn't that much of a difference; he still smiled that dopey smile all the time, and he was as good as he ever was at basketball. But when he wasn't playing…

"Nakao. Nakao!"

Otani glared for a few seconds, then sighed and, for want of some better way of waking his friend, hit him hard on the back of the head. Nakao swayed and made a vague sound that might have been '…ow…" but stayed where he was; staring off into the distance with a huge, goofy grin on his face.

"Seriously man, you're freaking me out," said Otani, and when this too got no response he shrugged and sat down, still watching his friend out of the corner of his eye.

"…did something happen over break?" He asked finally, and got a sort of tiny nod in return—although Nakao had leaned forward to rest his chin on his hand and started doodling aimlessly on his paper, so obviously he still wasn't entirely invested in what was going on. "Like…what? You're totally zoned out."

"A girl," breathed Nakao.

Otani stared at his friend for a second, then waved a hand in front of his face. Nakao didn't even blink.

"A…what?"

"Girl," said Nakao dreamily, and as if to illustrate his doodles took on the roughly familiar shape of a word—(girl, girl,girl).

"Oh." There wasn't too much to say to that. Otani sat back and stared up at the blackboard for a while, then turned back to his friend, his brow furrowed. "…what?"

"I bumped into her grandma yesterday," said Nakao, as his hand continued to scrawl that single word over and over across his paper. "…she dropped all of her stuff and her money went all over the place, so I found all the money and picked up her groceries for her and helped her carry it home. And then I met her."

"Her?"

"Mm…yeah." Nakao's smile grew even wider, his eyes focusing on something distant, his face slowly flushing. "…her name's Nobuko. Isn't that a beautiful name? Ishihara Nobuko." He said the name like a prayer, his eyes going soft and dark as he let out a heartfelt sigh and leaned back in his chair, smiling dazedly up at the ceiling. "…she's gorgeous."

(am I supposed to look like that when I talk about my girlfriend?)

"So…" Otani shoved his hands in his pockets and slouched in his chair (trying to ignore the nagging feelings of inadequate boyfriend-ness that were washing over him), waiting for Nakao to finish his story, but he didn't seem too concerned with that; Otani could almost see the little sparkles floating around him (probably staring at some mental picture of this 'gorgeous' Ishihara girl, the idiot.) "…did you talk to her?"

"I gave her my number," said Nakao beatifically. "I guess now I'll just wait and see."

"You should call first, said Otani, and clapped his friend bracingly on the back. "Come on, girls like it when you take the initiative, right?"

"Yeah…" Nakao's brow wrinkled slightly, a cloud passing over his sunny expression for the first time that morning. "…I…well, that would be kinda hard..."

"Oh come on." Otani pushed himself up and came around the front of his friend's desk, leaning over it to look him full in the face. "…you like this girl, right? So be a man and call her!"

"…because she was so gorgeous I forgot to ask her for her phone number," finished Nakao, and shrugged. "Too bad, huh?"

"Oh yeah, too bad, I guess…WAIT! That just makes it worse, you idiot!"

"Hahaha, I got in trouble." Nakao ruffled Otani's hair and went back to grinning up at the ceiling, off in his own little world. "It'll work out, if it works out…or I guess…if she doesn't like me, y'know—"

And then his phone chimed.

Otani had never seen his easy-going friend move that quickly. He had his phone out and open within the space of a second, and all without losing that enormous, dopey grin. "Hi! This is Nakao, what—"

His eyes lit up. If Otani had though he had been seeing sparkles before, he was sure he was seeing them now; the guy was practically vibrating in his seat.

"Hi! Ishihara-chan! Hi! Um…um…hi! I kinda forgot to ask you for your number or I would have—" He paused as, on the other end of the line, a girl said something, and then he flushed, going red from the tips of his ears to the collar of his shirt. "…Yeah. Yeah, of course! I mean, you don't have to, I mean, I didn't do it for a reward or—yeah, she was really, really nice about it. You have a super-nice grandma, Ishi—"

Another pause.

"…Nobuko-san? Um…okay, I can do that if you like, but you gotta drop the 'san' off my name too—we're the same age, after all!" He listened, his foot tapping on the back legs of the desk in front of him as people started to filter into their new seats and the last stragglers began to saunter into the classroom. "Um…yeah, of course! Anything your mom wants to cook, I'm not picky, really!"

Otani stared.

It had taken him and Mayu months to finally get around to dating each other. Months. And Nakao just met someone yesterday and was already calling her by her first name and setting up dinner dates with her family.

Life wasn't fair.

"So I have to go," said a voice behind Otani, so close that he jumped and turned. But it was just the girl behind him talking into her cellphone, brushing a strand of golden-brown, curly hair behind one ear—she fumbled to hold the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she tried to organize her bag and her books at the seat behind Otani's. "…class is going to start. But don't forget, okay? Grandma insisted on having you come over—she really likes you."

"Yeah," said Nakao brightly. "Yeah! Okay! So I'll see you tonight, Nobuko-san."

"It's a date," the girl behind his said cheerfully, and then both she and Nakao, still listening to his mystery-girl on the other end of the phone, blushed brilliantly red—the girl started stammering into her phone, waving her hands frantically in front of her. "—I mean, not that I'm—I just mean—"

"No, I mean, it's fine! I don't mind—" Nakao was saying at the same time, looking more spectacularly happy than Otani had ever seen him. "Seriously!"

Wait.

No.

No way.

"Nakao," said Otani, a little bit hoarsely. But Nakao was so busy trying to reassure the girl he was talking to that he didn't seem to hear. "Nakao." And then, because desperate times called for desperate measures—"Ishihara-san!"

The girl blinked and turned to look at him, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion, and Nakao looked up at the same time at the sound of the name like a dog reacting to the promise of a treat. Before he could ask, Otani grabbed him by the shoulders and swiveled him around.

"Wha—?"

"How do you know my—?"

—and then they just stopped and stared.

"…hi," said Nakao, much more hoarsely than normal, and then cleared his throat. "…Hello. Hi!" That seemed to be all he was capable of; he opened and shut his mouth once or twice, then seemed to give up and just sat there, staring at her, obviously drinking in every inch of her (Otani could see where he was coming from; she was pretty all right, with big light brown eyes and golden-brown hair to match, her makeup done perfectly and her clothes flattering and stylish. But she was probably going to freak out in a second if the idiot didn't stop just standing there and staring at her).

...

(…never mind.)

"Hi," said the girl breathlessly, and then she just stood there and stared as well. Otani looked from him—the dumb grin, the rumpled clothes and messy hair that he never managed to flatten properly—to her; neat clothes, painted nails, bracelets and rings. Well, that was just…

…weird. That was what it was. That was just weird.

Nakao came to school the next day walking on air, and all of a sudden by the end of the month he was taking 'Nobuko-chan' to the amusement park. Otani tried not to sulk.

("I brought you those chocolates you like, baby! But you can only have them after you win this game, 'kay?"

"Thanks! Wow, they look so good! Of course, Nobu-chan made them for me, so—"

"Just make sure you win then—okay, sweetie? And if you win by enough, I'll feed them to you myself.")

Otani left after graduation with a sick, pounding feeling in his gut and words like 'I'm sorry,but there's someone else…' and '…I just don't feel the same way anymore…' running through his head.

Nobu and Nakao weren't helping.

(…and when he'll sit there watching his best friend turn to look as his dream girl walks down the aisle; seeing his face light up and both of them shine, they still won't be helping—by all rights he should be whupping anyone who makes Risa cry that hard, and they had a fight yesterday anyway, so he's going to have to make up with her when she's already feeling all weepy (she's such a pain sometimes, but she's worth making up with because he loves her, no two ways about that) and she's going to end up crying all over him...)

(...he'll let them off this time, though.)

...A monumental failure at ending things, that is my trademark. Oh well. I mostly just wanted to write about how they met each other, but then the thought of them getting married popped into my head and I couldn't resist. XD They're so absolutely fairy-tail lovey-dovey and I have never written anything like that before, so this was a fun little jaunt. Thoughts? Comments? Is there anyone else out there who loves these two as much as I do? :) Let me know!

-Twain