Work Text:
Nakamura finally has it in his hands, his holy grail, his bible, the latest Loveable Lunches volume, now with the promised roommates arc.
In this volume, Taku and Makunouchi’s relationship develops further when they finally move in together. The cover art even has the two of them cuddling in bed together wearing matching pajamas. It was so cute Nakamura couldn’t help but squeal.
But, as much as Nakamura wanted to dive into the story, there was an obstacle in the way.
Homework.
Otogiri-sensei had cruelly assigned homework the day of the manga release. Just his luck. That teacher was always getting in the way of his attempts to pursue Hirose, his daydreams during class, and now his precious manga!
He sat at his desk working through each math problem at a rapid speed. The manga sat on the desk in front of him serving as a reminder of his reward when he finishes.
Once he completes it he doesn’t even bother to do his usual routine of double checking, he shoves the homework carelessly into his bag, slightly crumpling it in the process.
“Done,” Nakamura shouts out loud with a triumphant smile.
He grabs the manga eagerly as a dehydrated man would grab a water bottle after several days in the desert.
He practically launches himself on top of his bed. He flips through the first page with hands shaking in anticipation.
Everything about this volume was seriously adorable. Taku and Makunouchi cooking their first meal in their shared kitchen, Makunouchi gently comforting Taku through a thunderstorm, and even sleeping in the same bed together just like the cover art suggested.
However, when Nakamura turned the page he was met with an illustration that made him question the life choices that had led him to this point.
In the illustration, Makunouchi walks in on Taku mid- shower. The steam from the hot water being the only thing covering Taku’s privates.
“…Was this necessary?”
He put the manga down on his bed and took a lap around his room to process what he just witnessed. He plopped back down on his bed and continued reading.
Nakamura turned the pages, but something begins to feel off. The pages were getting thinner and thinner until he was met with the final page.
Thank you for reading! See you in the next volume!
Nakamura’s eyes widen with his mouth agape, rereading the words to make sure he isn’t seeing things.
No way.
It was over.
Nakamura really finished the whole volume in just one evening.
Just how greedy was he?
He should’ve savored every panel the Mangaka crafted like a true fan would. Instead, he just speed-ran the whole thing like a total newgen.
Nakamura turns his manga upside down and gives it a good shake hoping to somehow find a secret chapter. But, to no avail, he finished the volume and was in severe denial.
Nakamura flips back the pages, opting to reread the volume much more slowly this time. He analyzed every expression, studied the way the backgrounds were drawn, even counting the number of spikes in Makunouchi’s hair.
He could even recite his favorite chapter from his memory at this point.
“I never realized Taku was holding a plate of corn in this scene.” Nakamura thought to himself.
Eventually, Nakamura gives up. He lies flat on his bed in defeat with the manga on top of his chest. Maybe if he stared at the ceiling long enough a new volume would just fall on top of him?
“My life is over…” Nakamura says feeling completely defeated.
It will be around three months until the next volume comes out.
Three long grueling months without new content of his precious bible.
Life has lost all meaning now.
He should’ve paced himself, reading one chapter each day. Maybe sneaking in half a chapter during lunch if he was feeling adventurous. Perhaps, when he finished the next volume would be out.
But no, he had consumed it all like that raccoon that wouldn’t quit eating the trash from his home.
“Should I continue rereading?” Nakamura’s hand reached to pick the Loveable Lunches manga back up but he slaps his own hand away, knocking some sense into himself.
He was really at an all-time low. Maybe some phone time could do him some good? It’d be nice to see what other people online thought of the latest release.
Nakamura puts his manga away grabbing his phone off his charger. He hastily types in his password. He opens up TikTok and searches for “Loveable Lunches new volume.”
He’s met with various discussions, edits, and fanarts for the new volume. It was comforting that he wasn’t the only one who finished the manga so quickly.
He scrolled through the videos, liking and saving them to his folder dedicated exclusively to Loveable Lunches. It was nice seeing what fellow fans could create.
Nakamura was fairly good at drawing. He made his fair share of fanart.
Posting it though?
Absolutely not.
Commenting on other posts?
Terrifying.
He was a nervous wreck in person, but somehow was worse online even behind the safety of a screen.
As he was scrolling, he stumbles upon a video dedicated to people discussing theories for what the next volume could be about. Nakamura, being curious about other fans ideas scrolls through the comments.
Some think Taku and Makunouchi would start their college classes.
Others theorize about a possible proposal arc.
But one comment in particular catches Nakamura’s eye.
@MakunouchisLeftEyebrow
Working on a fanfic that’s a continuation of where the volume left off! It’s called “Loveable College” on AO3 if anyone’s interested!
Nakamura stared at the comment in confusion.
“…Fanfic?”
He knows what fanart is. He makes fanart.
But fanfic? He had no clue what that was. Let alone what this A-O-3 is about.
“Could that be a new kind of bomb?” Nakamura questions.
Regardless, that commenter seemed quite fond of it, and they are a true Loveable Lunches fan judging by their questionable username.
Despite his suspicions, he found himself opening his search browser to find AO3. He clicks the first link, and everything looks safe.
Until a pop-up appears on his screen.
Nakamura began internally panicking, it’s over his phone is hacked.
He leans closer, actually taking a look at what’s on his screen.
It’s just the Terms of Service.
Nakamura attempts to skim over it, but his need for MakuTaku is stronger. He clicks ‘agree’ without a care.
Using the search bar at the top, Nakamura types:
Loveable College
He presses enter, finding the so-called fanfic the commenter was referring to. Seeing a sequence of strange words he didn’t quite understand such as:
No Archive Warnings Apply
Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Canon Divergent
Author Is Sleep Deprived
“Idiots in Love,” Nakamura murmurs out loud.
That is the only part Nakamura fully understood. Taku and Makunouchi were definitely idiots, and very much in love.
He hopes the author can have a good sleep tonight.
Nakamura clicks the title, and the page changes. He scrolls down and pauses in confusion.
There were no manga panels. It’s all just words.
He scrolls continuously being met with words, words, and even more words until he reaches the bottom.
Chapters: 1/?
This was still being updated. Even if it was just writing without any actual drawings to go along with it Nakamura had found himself more MakuTaku content!
He scrolls back to the top, deciding to actually give this fanfic thing a chance. It was better than having no content for three months.
Nakamura blinks. His eyes are exhausted from how long he’s been staring at his screen.
“One more fic, then I’ll sleep.” He tells himself for the fifth time.
The sun could be seen rising through Nakamura’s window. His phone is on the brink of death. He has to lie at an awkward angle in order to read and let his phone charge simultaneously.
Nakamura had completely become an AO3 fanatic overnight. He had even signed up for an account with his email address and was waiting to get his invitation.
Nakamura begins to fall in and out of sleep. Every time his hand fell limp he quickly wakes up, only for it to happen again. Fortunately, he ends up falling asleep mid-fanfic, his phone still in his hand.
He woke up only two hours later, it was already time to get ready for school, but Nakamura had barely slept.
Maybe reading fanfiction all night wasn’t the most responsible decision, but Nakamura was missing out on a whole world he didn’t know existed. He had to catch up on all the stories.
Nakamura gets out of bed sluggishly and changes into his school uniform. He fumbles the buttons a few times trying to get them through the hole.
He goes to the bathroom to brush his teeth, and can’t help but stare at his reflection. Nakamura’s hair had more flyaways, and his eyes looked more dead than usual. His attempts to tidy his hair were futile. He had to accept his appearance like this or else he’d be late.
He grabs his school bag and slides his phone into his pocket. Luckily, it had fully charged during his sleep.
He sat at the table eating the breakfast his mother made. His sister, Kana, was ranting about some school drama, and his dad had already left for work by now.
Under the table, Nakamura has out his phone to refresh his email every few seconds, but sadly he had no invitation yet.
He puts on his outdoor shoes and swings his bag over his shoulder. On his way to school, Nakamura almost bumped into several objects and people while he was reading and walking.
Drinking and driving was a crime though, not reading and walking so it was totally fine!
Now, Nakamura has finally made it to school. That means several hours apart from his newly beloved AO3.
He goes to the cubbies and changes into his school shoes then makes his way to the classroom.
He still had five minutes before class started, that’s equivalent to a one-thousand-word fanfiction if he reads it fast enough.
When the bell rings Nakamura gives his phone case a little kiss before putting it away, taking out his math homework from the previous night.
He notices how crumpled up it is and begins straightening out the crinkles from his carelessness. Otogiri-sensei always takes attendance before collecting homework, so he had time to fix it.
Otogiri-sensei comes around collecting everyone’s homework one by one. When he reaches Nakamura’s desk he takes note of the boy’s appearance looking not too hot.
Nakamura can barely focus on whatever Otogiri-sensei is teaching. All he can think about are all the other amazing pieces of fanfiction he hasn’t discovered yet.
Another short one-shot wouldn’t hurt. He sat fairly far in the back anyway. It's not like he’s a memorable student.
Nakamura slides his phone out of his pocket, sneakily typing in his password like he was cracking the code to a bank vault. He scrolls until he finds something short enough to read. Nakamura’s eyes flicker between the board and his lap.
When a particularly adorable scene of Taku falling asleep on Makunouchi’s shoulder happens he can’t help but smile. It reminded him of the time he was stuck in the gym storage with Hirose, just more romantic.
Otogiri-sensei can immediately notice Nakamura is not paying attention. Not only is he smiling at his crotch, but he’s also letting out small giggles and even kicking his legs.
“Is Nakamura seriously texting a crush?” Otogiri-sensei thought to himself as he approached Nakamura.
Nakamura wasn’t even looking up to check if the coast was clear, completely infatuated with the story. Otogiri-sensei whacks him on the head with a rolled-up packet with a stern look.
“Pay attention, Nakamura. You can be on your phone during lunch.”
Nakamura’s head immediately snaps up, his facial expression a mix of embarrassment and apologetic.
Nakamura decides to daydream about MakuTaku fanfiction during class as a precaution from now on.
Now, Nakamura was basically a pro at looking like he was paying attention in class while reading a fanfiction in his mind.
While his art teacher was explaining today’s drawing prompt, Nakamura was thinking about Taku and Makunouchi going on a picnic.
He started to understand the meaning of tags which he previously only thought were a block of nonsense. Nakamura was particularly fond of the fluff tags, maybe even hurt/comfort under certain circumstances.
Full-on angst was still too intimidating for him especially with all this talk about Dead Doves. He even found some humor in tags about the author's real life.
Nakamura was even starting to have favorite authors. @MakunouchisLeftEyebrow was talented in writing full stories, while @EllJeeBeeTeaThing excelled in oneshots that tugged at his heartstrings.
Then one fateful day it had arrived.
Nakamura’s college acceptance letter into having his very own AO3 account arrived! He was practically sitting at the cool kids’ table with his favorite writers.
Now, to come up with an inconspicuous username that would no way connect to him at all.
“OctoBL,” Nakamura whispers to himself as he types it..
Totally anonymous.
Lunch break had arrived. Just a few more classes and Nakamura was home sweet home for a full weekend on his phone.
He sat down on a bench in the courtyard, reading on AO3 like it was simply one of his basic functions.
Eating, drinking, sleeping, and AO3.
All very important.
Nakamura was feeling more confident these days. He had his brightness up to halfway, and held his phone casually instead of all close to his face.
He reached the part the author teased in the summary. A kiss shared between Taku and Makunouchi under the mistletoe.
It wasn’t even close to Christmas.
But Nakamura didn’t care.
“Finally, the payoff…” Nakamura said to himself.
A shadow fell over Nakamura.
Assuming it was just some clouds he didn’t look up.
Besides, his precious stories were more important.
“Yo, yo!”
Nakamura pauses.
Clouds don’t talk.
And that voice sounds awfully familiar.
Nakamura reluctantly peels his eyes away from his screen being met with…
“HIROSE!?” Nakamura shrieks, as he fumbles with his phone in his hand.
Nakamura could feel his soul leave his body.
He leans his phone closer to his body, trying to hide the romantic kiss scene on his screen.
Hirose blinks in astonishment, “Why are you screaming?”
Hirose asks in the most casual way ever. If only he knew of Nakamura’s greatest sin that was just seconds from being exposed.
Nakamura presses his phone against his chest, to hide his screen.
It’s too late.
What if Hirose already saw his screen?
He can already imagine what could happen next.
“Fanfiction? You’re such a freak. You seriously have an account too? Go touch some grass!” Daydream Hirose mocked.
“Hey, Nakamura.”
He flinched.
The real Hirose crouches down to meet Nakamura’s height on the bench with a look of concern.
Hirose asks, “Are you good?”
“Yeah!” Nakamura nods his head, his voice cracking.
Crud, how humiliating.
He laughs, “You’re such a funny guy!”
Hirose moves to sit down beside Nakamura, putting his lunch next to him. He was so close to Nakamura. This kind of reminded him of that one fanfic he read last night.
CRAP HIS FANFICTION!
Nakamura adjusts his body, turning to the side so Hirose wouldn’t be able to take a sneak peak at his screen. Even if Hirose was the sweetest boy ever it would be embarrassing if he found out he read fanfiction.
It’s not like he could lie and say he wasn’t reading it like he did with the Loveable Lunches manga, it was on his phone. He’d be caught red handed reading fanfiction.
Gay fanfiction.
About two fictional men.
Under the mistletoe.
It was May.
He was a hop, skip, and a jump away to being those lunatics preparing for Christmas during summer.
While Nakamura was having an internal crisis Hirose was peacefully eating his lunch.
“Y’know, I’ve been noticing lately.”
Noticing?
Hirose was paying attention to Nakamura?!
He’s totally cooked.
“You’ve been on your phone more often,” Hirose comments,“It’s nice seeing you happier.”
Nakamura began feeling more nervous. Hirose was even observing the changes in his mood.
“Happier?”
“You’ve been smiling at your phone these days. You were even caught by Otogiri-sense earlier this week!” Hirose teases.
Oh gosh.
Nakamura was smiling in public over AO3. If Hirose had noticed, does that mean everyone else has? His classmates probably think he’s a total weirdo smiling at his phone.
“Actually, I was wondering…” Hirose rubs the back of his neck.
“Just what are you looking at?”
Nakamura begins trying to come up with a good lie. He can’t have his crush know he’s smiling over gay fanfiction.
The news?
Nobody would smile over a newspaper.
An online comic?
The only online comics he knows are also BL.
His email?
That would reveal he was waiting for his AO3 invitation.
The longer he takes to answer the more suspicious he looks, so Nakamura decides to tell a vague truth instead.
“It’s actually embarrassing.”
“I didn’t mean to pressure you man! I just thought you found something cool, no biggie.”
Jeez, Hirose was such an understanding guy. He even thought Nakamura had cool interests, but it was the opposite.
Nakamura’s reading about two fictional men kissing. The more he thought about it the more he felt like a loser.
“Everyone has hobbies they feel at least a little embarrassed about, or at least I do.”
Hirose adds casually as if it weren’t a big deal, which it wasn’t. Although, to Nakamura it was huge.
The thought of Hirose having an embarrassing interest never crossed Nakamura's mind. He liked normal things like video games and music.
Nakamura couldn’t help his curiosity.
“Embarrassing hobbies like what? Only if you want to tell me, of course!”
“Oh like…” Hirose taps his chin as if he were thinking.
“Fanfiction.”
Nakamura’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“Fanfiction. It’s pretty embarrassing, but I like reading stories people write about my favorite band, Aqua Pet.”
Nakamura stopped breathing momentarily listening to Hirose in pure shock.
“Aqua Pet is how I got into reading fanfics, actually. I thought it was weird at first, but then I got totally hooked. It’s nice that people are so passionate about something they write something about it for other people to enjoy!”
Hirose was just like him. He got dragged into the world of fanfiction too, and he even appreciated the effort of the authors.
“There’s this one author I like that updates every Friday, and the chapters are funny too. I’m not a big reader, but I always get excited for an update.”
Despite Hirose feeling a bit embarrassed about reading fanfiction, he opened up to Nakamura about it. That made him fall in love with Hirose even more, the way he could effortlessly be himself was admirable.
“That’s not embarrassing. It’s nice you have something you enjoy, Hirose.”
“Thanks, Nakamura. You’re really understanding.”
Understanding?
Hirose was the understanding one!
He was so patient with Nakamura’s shyness, always tries to include him, and even listens to his rambles about octo-buddies!
“I should get going. The bell’s going to ring soon, and I don’t want to interrupt you and your phone time further. See ya!”
Hirose waved at Nakamura and walked away.
Nakamura gives a wave back, a little delayed and with an awkward smile. When Hirose turns his back he puts his head in his hands.
Hirose reads fanfiction.
Not romance
Just comedy.
Hirose had more in common with Nakamura than he originally thought.
That evening, Nakamura sat at his desk on his laptop. Not his phone because this was serious business.
He stared at the blank document. It didn’t even have a proper title.
His fingers moved across the keyboard to type a sentence, only to immediately delete it for the third time.
It was Nakamura’s turn to feed the fandom.
Even if it took him a while to write his first sentence.
After all, every writer starts from somewhere.
Even the most advanced authors.
“Just how does someone start a fanfic?”