A/N: Hey everyone! The concept for this story came to me from the anime Love Lab! I have only seen a few episodes, but I think it could be a lot of fun to apply the idea of our favorite girls forming a club to 'practice' dating and being in love with each other, and all the potential awkwardness around it. So much NanoFate fluff potential, right? Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha anime.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

by : ~Nissanity~

Chapter 1 – Finding Your Feet

NANOHA POV

"You who suffer because you love, love still more. To die of love, is to live by it," I murmured.

I was running the quote over and over in my mind as I sat with my best friend, Hayate, in the cafeteria at school. She was engrossed in a magazine, and I was engrossed in my own thoughts.

"Have you ever been in love, Hayate?" I blurted out.

"I love you," she deadpanned, not looking up from her magazine.

"Could you love someone so much you would die?" I continued.

"That's a bit dark for you, Nanoha."

"I wonder what it's like to kiss someone?" I asked, chewing on my straw absently.

Hayate finally glanced up at me. "It's wonderful."

"Really?!" My eyes shot open in surprise at my best friend sitting across from me.

"Well, I assume so," she replied, shrugging. "Everyone else besides us is doing it, so imagine there must be something to it."

I pouted slightly. "Don't tease me like that, Hayate. I was hoping that you would tell me it was like fireworks and rainbows, and maybe puppies dancing on clouds."

"What? That's ridiculous," Hayate scoffed. "Kittens, maybe? But puppies..."

Before I could defend a pro-puppy stance, the school bell rang above us, signaling the end of our lunch period together. Hayate and I began our trek back to the classroom after depositing our trash in the receptacle.

"Hey Nanoha, where did that question come from by the way? You've never really shown interest in that sort of thing before?" Hayate asked as we walked down the hallway past the junior classrooms, about to approach our class at the end.

"Well..." I started slowly, and then trailed off as I could feel a blush come to my cheeks.

"Let me guess, someone has peaked your interest," Hayate ventured. "Did Yuuno finally make his way into your heart?"

"What? No. NO! Damnit, why does everyone keep trying to get me together with him?" I stomped my foot in frustration. "The only thing anyone can say is that we are childhood friends. That's not even a good reason!"

Hayate put her hands up to me defensively. "Whoa, okay, I got it. So tell me, why now?"

I smiled to myself as I blushed again. "The other night, I saw this French movie. It was so beautiful, and the two characters... they were chasing each other around, taking pictures of each other secretly. It was so romantic. And then...t-they kissed at the end and I thought that it might be nice."

"So you could picture being that girl getting kissed in the movie then?" Hayate interpreted, trying to finish her soda quickly as we came closer to our classroom door.

"Kinda. But more like I wanted to be him, not her," I concluded.

I turned my head to the sound of Hayate choking on her drink. "What did you just say?" she managed to get out, wiping her mouth.

"What?" I said, turning my head to the side.

Hayate stopped. "Are you... are you saying you wanted to kiss her?"

"She was really pretty!" I replied quickly. "You don't understand."

"Well, I think I do now! Although I admit I didn't see it coming from you," she mused. "Well, wait, now this is all starting to make sense..."

I waved her off. "I have no idea what you're talking about. And I probably don't want to. It's just, he was such a gentleman and so mysterious. I thought it would be fun to sweep someone off their feet like that."

Hayate grabbed me by the hand and started pulling me into the classroom. "Well come on then, Prince Charming. We will talk more about this after class. I think you just gave me an idea."

I sat down at my desk, pulling out my books and other materials for the class that was starting. It was the beginning of our Literature class, and I was excited for the discussion portion dedicated to our currently assigned book, Les Miserables. We had just reached the portion in the book where two of the main characters, Cosette and Marius, were falling in love with each other from a distance and I was entranced.

"Alright class," my teacher began, "does someone want to discuss this passage? - -

"Marius and Cosette were in the dark in regard to each other. They did not speak, they did not bow, they were not acquainted; they saw each other; and, like the stars in the sky separated by millions of leagues, they lived by gazing upon each other."

I raised my hand. "It's like love at first sight, but stronger. They were connected together by more than just average words or actions. Their love for each other was eternal and unbreakable, even if it was from a distance."

"Like the red string of fate," I heard a voice from behind me. I turned in my seat slightly and saw that it was Ginga Nakajima, the blue-haired girl that I have known since childhood, who had responded. I smiled at her, glad that she was also able to relate to the passage. She smiled in returned genuinely, and I was even further elated.

We continued to discuss different quotes and passages from the book before we moved on to the calculus portion of class. My attention drifted, my mind still replaying the movie from the night before and our discussion in class. Both the movie and the book discussed love from a distance, and the concept seemed to trigger all my romantic inclinations.

Hayate met me at my desk as the final school bell rang. "So, got any plans after school?" she asked me, kneeling by my desk.

"Nope! My parents don't need me at the cafe today. What about you?" I began standing up and putting my bag over my shoulder.

Hayate stood up as well. "Nothing at all. So, remember when I said I had an idea? Let's head back to your place, and I'll show you what I was thinking."

"So, what are we doing then?" I asked as Hayate started loading the French movie I had been talking about most of the day into my DVD player. She had previously placed a pad of paper and pen in my lap when I sat down on the edge of my bed.

"Oh, a gnome! That's different. I like gnomes..." she said, looking at the back of the DVD cover. She then turned her attention to me. "Okay, here's what I'm thinking. What if we study movies and books for ideas on what love is like? When you were talking at lunch today, I realized it's kind of pathetic that we don't know anything about dating."

"Pathetic? I don't know if I would use that - "

"It is," Hayate stated firmly. She then leaned over and pointed at my face. "But that's okay, we are going to 'un-pathetic' ourselves."

I cringed, but decided to let that grammatical inaccuracy pass by. I looked down at the notepad. "So, I should take notes?" I guessed.

"Yep!" Hayate sat down next to me on the bed. "Write down all the things you find romantic, so that you will always have a reference. I'll write down everything I find romantic too, and that way I can get a good idea of the type of person I might find interesting too."

Grabbing the remote in her hand, Hayate pushed the power button to the DVD player, and then the play button. After going through the initial menus, the initial French music to the movie began and a warm sensation took over me. It almost felt like my brain was melting.

"Hey!" Hayate yelled, watching my face. "Don't lose focus here. We have a mission."

Throughout the movie, I furiously wrote down all the moments I had found romantic and touching. I didn't glance away once from the paper and movie, and by the end I had filled up four pages. When the credits came on scene, I finally put my pen down, and I pulled the notepad in front of me and faced it toward Hayate next to me.

"Okay, here is what I - " I began, but stopped immediately when I saw Hayate's crumpled face.

"Nanoha..." she said, rubbing her tear-streaked cheeks with the back of her sleeve while still sobbing. "That was beautiful! Why didn't you tell me?!"

I paused to stare at my best friend, before I eventually felt my face crumple too. "I know, I know, right!" I cried as I crashed into her with a hug. "I did tell you, you idiot."

After we had calmed down from our emotional outburst, I looked down at my notes. "That was fun! Let's keep doing this, Hayate."

Hayate nodded. "Yeah, for sure. I'll bring some movies over too, and we can put references from books down as well. I know how much you were into Les Miserables today. Your whole face lit up in class."

I smiled and nodded while I thought about the book that had quickly become a favorite of mine. Under the list of things I found romantic from the movie, I added my most precious line from the book as well - -

"I have been loving you a little more every minute since this morning."

Over the next week, Hayate and I watched movies and listened to music after school that we considered 'romantic material'. We kept extensive notes on most of it, from what we found beautiful and poetic, to what we found cheesy and cliché.

I was discovering that I enjoyed a level of mystery and intrigue behind two characters being attracted to each other, and that I was also fond of the concept of one person saving another. Hayate enjoyed when the characters lived in their own silly little world, and it seemed like they had a connection where they understood each other completely even without speaking.

We were having so much fun with our new form of studying, I decided to bring my portable DVD player to school so that we could watch a movie during lunch. Since they weren't allowed at school, Hayate and I snuck away to one of the corner gardens that wasn't visited by students or teachers often.

She and I were rewatching one of our favorite scenes from a movie we had seen right at the beginning of our 'studies'. We had watched it often enough that we could recite the lines of the characters verbatim.

"Why didn't you write me?" Hayate started first. "Why? It wasn't over for me! I waited for you for seven years! And now it's too late."

"I wrote you 365 letters," I continued the scene in a serious tone. "I wrote you every day for a year."

Hayate pretended to start breathing heavier. "You...wrote me?"

"Yes!" I started the next line. "It - " I began, before I was cutoff mid-sentence.

"It wasn't over - - It still isn't over," came a voice suddenly from behind us.

Hayate dropped her notepad on the floor in shock, as I struggled to keep my the player from crashing to the ground. We both stood up and turned around, hoping it wasn't a teacher that had just caught us.

"Ginga!" I cried, happy and relieved.

She looked past me to the DVD player that I had set on the ground. "I love that movie, and that's one of my favorite scenes," she said. "I hope I didn't interrupt. I wasn't sure if you two were going to act out the next part of the scene or not."

I paused for a second, then felt my face blush furiously when I realized she was asking if Hayate and I were going to mimic the kiss that occurred right after the line Ginga recited.

"With her?" I heard Hayate ask incredulously next to me. I turned my head and saw Hayate pointing at me while looking at Ginga in disbelief.

I hit her hard on the arm. "Oh, thanks for the compliment, Hayate."

"So what were you guys doing? I had been standing behind you for a few minutes," she paused to scratch her cheek. "I thought I saw you talking notes or something?"

I turned my head to the sky, and buried my hands in my hands now that we had been caught in our strange activity. I heard Hayate's voice crack next to me. "W-we wouldn't do something like that. I mean, why would we?"

Ginga looked a little disappointed. "Oh. That's too bad, I thought it looked pretty interesting, definitely different. Like, a lot of fun. Well, nevermind, see ya later."

"Wait!" Hayate and I both said as Ginga turned to walk away. I had removed my hands from my face, and Hayate and I were now having a silent conversation about whether we should disclose our secret hobby.

"Are you serious?" Hayate asked, skepticism in her voice.

Ginga laughed. "Why wouldn't I be? I love romantic movies. I could see why you guys would want to do, well, whatever it is your doing."

I gathered up my courage. "We watch movies, and listen to music, and take notes about what we think is romantic about them, so that we can figure out what we find romantic about others," I told her quickly, hoping she wouldn't laugh.

Ginga's eyes lit up. "That's so cool! Can I - ? I mean, do you think I could join you sometime? If it's your own thing I understand, but..."

"No! I mean, yes! Yes, you can join us!" Hayate beamed. "We usually go over to Nanoha's after school to watch movies and take notes. You can even bring your own movies and stuff too, or we can rent something that you heard might be good."

Ginga bounced up and down a little bit, not able to contain her excitement. "I'll make a list of my favorite movies in class, and we can see if you have watched them yet or not! I know a lot of titles, and I own a lot of movies."

"Yeah, that will work!" I picked my notebook off the ground and showed it to her. "Hayate and I have seen these movies," I pointed to the left column, "and these are the ones we want to see." I then pointed to the column on the right, which was much longer than the left one.

Ginga took the notebook from my hand. "Yep, I have a bunch of these," she indicated to the right column. "Oh, I should ask, are you interested in older movies? I have a collection of black and white ones, and they have lots of romance in them."

I nodded. I have never seen any before but I was very intrigued by the thought of watching classic movies.

Hayate put her arm around Ginga's shoulder. "Ginga, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," she tried to quote in her best old-timey voice.

"Pffftt! Haa!" Ginga laughed hard. "Whew, okay...I'll make sure to put that movie first on the list, Hayate."

True to her word, Ginga joined us in our 'romantic studies' every day, coming over to my house with various movies and some of her favorite soundtracks. After a month of her joining our group, we had seen over 50 movies together, spending our weekends marathoning some of the classics.

The three of us fell into certain roles in the group. Ginga was considered our resource expert, always having something new Hayate and I had never seen or heard of before, or discovering something new herself that she wanted to share with us.

I became the data manager, responsible for note taking and inventory of the movies we had seen. I had devised a schedule so that we could watch movies more efficiently, and organized the notes so that we had a database of ideas for all types of situations.

Hayate became the voice of wisdom and insight when interpreting what we were watching. There were many times she would hit the pause button, run to the television, and point out little touches of the hands or other nuances that I probably would have missed if it weren't for her watchful eye. She provided valuable information for the database, as well as gave Ginga clues on what type of material we should look at for the upcoming week.

One day, Ginga and I were having a discussion after class about a movie we had just seen when Hayate came bursting into the classroom, excitedly waving a piece of paper in her hand. She slammed it down on Ginga's desk.

"Hey guys, I have good news!" she exclaimed. She paused for a minute as we looked at her expectantly. The pause continued. "Well, aren't you going to ask me what the good news is?" she finally asked.

"Wait, what? Why didn't you just tell us?" Ginga asked, perplexed.

"Well, because you didn't ask?" she responded, equally confused.

"But it was your news! Why would I - "

"What's the good news, Hayate?" I blurted out, trying to appease the situation.

She beamed. "I found out that we can get credit for the movie stuff we have been doing. We just have to form an official club," she indicated by pointing down at the sheet. "We can even have a club room here at school to do it in!"

Ginga and I gasped and looked down at the paper. "Is three club members enough?" I asked.

"Yep! As long as we have official roles and we can show that our group actually works on things, it's fine."

I suddenly bit my lip in thought. "So, do we have to show someone our material? That would be a bit awkward, them seeing data on what we find romantic."

Hayate shook her head. "No, we don't have to be specific, I already checked. If any of the student council asks us for our materials we have to provide it, but they say that doesn't happen usually. Not unless the club has been alleged of wrongdoing or something."

Ginga grabbed Hayate's hand in hers. "That's great, Hayate! I'm so excited!" she said up to her, grinning.

I watched as Hayate blushed a little unexpectedly. "Y-yeah," she stammered, "it's no problem!"

"Nyahaha, you really are the best, Hayate!" I said as well, making her blush even more with our compliments.

I picked up the sheet of paper from the desk and studied it carefully. "Is it okay if I fill this out? Some of these questions ask for information that I think only I know." I pointed to portions about treasury and how the club would record meeting minutes and such.

"Of course," Hayate replied. "I was going to ask you to anyway. I was hoping we could turn it in today though, since it might take a while to get approved."

"No problem," I assured her. "You two can go on home without me. I'll miss watching a movie with you today, but this is more important."

"Yeah, I actually have to go pick up my sister and her friend today," Ginga replied. "It's unusual for me to have to, but my dad is tied up at work today. See you later, Nanoha!"

"Bye, Nanoha!" Hayate said over her shoulder to me. "So you have a sister? I didn't know that..." I heard Hayate ask as she and Ginga left the classroom.

I headed to the window of the classroom to look outside and watch my friends walk away. After a few minutes, I saw them exit the front of the school building and begin walking towards the courtyard. I reached up and opened the window in front of me.

"You'd better miss me!" I yelled at them from above.

Hayate and Ginga looked up as they were walking by. "Get to work, Nanoha!" Hayate yelled back playfully.

I picked up the paper next to me and showed it to them. "I've got this, no worries." I said. Hayate and Ginga waved goodbye to me and continued down the walkway and out the front entrance to the gate. I stood for a few moments leaning out the window, enjoying the cool breeze against my face. It was spring, and the smell of blooming flowers and cut grass danced across my senses.

I heard the classroom door slide behind me and, with the window still ajar, the opening door caused a suction that forced many of the papers off of the desks and tables to fly towards it. The club paper also left my hand, but I made no attempt to grab it, as I was suddenly captivated and immobilized by the person who had just walked into the classroom behind me.

As the papers began to drop all around the room, I had a clear vision of long golden hair now present in the doorway. I saw a flash of red, soon realizing the the girl in front of me had deep, burgundy eyes that seemed to pierce right through me. She was not dressed in a school uniform, her black sweater in perfect contrast with her hair, eyes, and skin.

The paper in my hand had flown to her feet, it's corner stopping underneath the toe of her shoe. She reached down carefully to pick it up, returning her eyes to me once she was standing upright again. I wanted to speak to her to thank her but my throat had constricted, and I wasn't sure if I had any words that would be fitting for the beautiful girl in front of me anyway.

I watched as an older women with teal-hair walked up being the girl and whispered something in her ear, not noticing my presence across the room. I saw the blond nod slightly in response, and then she turned and placed the paper in her hand on top of the desk next to her. She began to walk away, but not before glancing one last time over her shoulder at me before she exited the room completely.

Once she had left, I allowed my breath that I was holding to release. I looked to my left absently as I tried to ensure that I hadn't just imagined the girl standing there so briefly before me in my life. I then began to feel a small smile enter my lips, as a thought had suddenly entered my mind of the mysterious blond with burgundy eyes that had captivated my being entirely - -

"I have found my Cosette..." I whispered to myself.

"What happened between those two beings? Nothing. They were adoring one another." Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

A/N: I really love writing about Nanoha being smitten with Fate. This is a quick chapter just to establish the story, I'm sure then next ones will be much longer as I go, as the girls start acting out scenes from their favorite movies together and 'practice' dating each other. If there are any movies or quotes from books you would like me to reference, feel free to send me a PM or leave it in a review.

And no worries, I'll be updating Idol Project before too long. Until then! =*..^= ~Nissanity~