Author's Note: Ah, one-shots. They're always fun to do. As always, the couple is Nick x Momoko. What else would you expect from me? This is an experiment to see if I can make a story without any dialogue, like Yuki-chan did with "Illusion". I came close with "Smiles", but apparently no dice. This one, however, will try. Let's go!
Angelic
An angel.
A radiant, heavenly being.
Those were the only words he could use to describe her.
Ever since they'd met in grade school, he'd felt that way about her.
When he was still young, and he was heading off to his English class in the third grade, he had no idea that the new student entering the class would be his future soulmate.
It was a normal class for the first fifteen minutes, but when Miss Kitami introduced the new student...
He literally lost his breath.
This girl...
This wonderful-looking girl with bright yellow hair tied into two ringed buns, those deep emerald eyes, and that ever-so-cute outfit...
If he hadn't already fallen in love, that angelic smile would have hooked him instantly.
All throughout class that day, he tried his best to keep his attention focused on the lesson, but his mind continually drifted back to this radiant, wonderful girl.
His best friend continually poked him, trying to keep him focused, but to no avail.
He just couldn't shake these feelings, no matter what he tried.
When recess came around, he sat under the shady tree he always sat under, trying to make sense of what the heck was going on.
His train of thought was interrupted when the very girl his mind had been so occupied by walked up to him, asking if he wanted to be her friend.
Darn that stupid stuttering of his, always acting up when he didn't want it to...
But that infectious giggle of hers... he would have to be a fool to resist it.
So he said, basically, that he'd love to be her friend, and the next second, her arms were around his neck, and she was as happy as ever.
Introductions were made a few seconds later.
Her name was Momoko.
His name was Nick.
And that was the day it all started.
As the years went by, the two would grow ever closer.
They had done all the things best friends usually do: parties, sleepovers, doing silly stuff on the playground as kids...
No one in their right minds could separate them.
Even now, in the present time, as he was approaching his eighteenth birthday, Nick could still remember how that friendship had changed into something more.
It was when they were both around thirteen years old.
Nick was on his way home after a rousing game of basketball in gym class. It was basically his team against Momoko's team, and the teams had pretty much fought each other to a draw.
As Nick passed by Momoko's house, which was only a few minutes from his own dwelling, he heard something odd...
...and then, all hell broke loose inside the house.
Wondering just what was going on, Nick ran up to the front door of the Asuka household, knocking frantically.
That was when he heard gunshots.
Deciding to forego the knocking, Nick took a few steps back, then barreled forward full charge, forcing the door open so Nick could enter and assess the situation.
The first thing he noticed was that Momoko's mother Minori was screaming her head off, and her husband Kenzou was trying in vain to calm her down.
Noting that this wasn't going anywhere, Nick cleared his throat to get the Asuka family's attention.
Minori explained that Momoko was being held hostage by a robber, and that was all Nick needed to hear.
Not wasting a single second, Nick raced upstairs and kicked the door to Momoko's room open, seeing his best friend being held at gunpoint by a typical robber (face covered by a ski mask, stuff like that).
The robber raised his gun, but Nick was able to safely roll away from the impending shot, though it was a very close call.
Nick continued this pattern of rolling away from the shots (many of the dodges were extremely close; on one of them, Nick actually felt the bullet just barely miss him) until he decided it was time to get up close and personal.
Another roll to distract the robber gave Nick enough time to roll forward and right behind the robber.
Now Nick was glad his parents had convinced him to take those martial arts courses.
Before the robber could bring his gun around in time, Nick stood himself up, and in one swift motion, struck the robber with a backhand to the neck, giving Momoko ample time to free herself from her captor's grasp and throw a punch at him.
In those two attacks, the robber was officially out cold.
Before Nick could make a funny remark as he was prone to do, Momoko rushed into his arms, crying her eyes out but still happy that she was all right.
Nick just returned the heartfelt embrace, not knowing what else to say.
Later that day, after the police had arrived to take care of the robber, Momoko was sitting down in the kitchen, trying to keep her nerves settled from the aftermath of that harrowing experience.
She remembered how glad she was that Nick had been there to save her.
She remembered how warm she felt in Nick's hug.
And she even remembered how Nick had blushed the instant she'd hugged him.
Over the five years that they had been friends, Momoko had often wondered if it would be possible for that friendship to become something more than that.
Momoko often wondered if Nick loved her.
Now, after that incident with the robber...
The warm embrace the two had shared...
Maybe Nick really did love her.
And she had a good idea of how to test that theory.
A couple days later, after school, she decided to put her plan into motion.
All throughout classes that day, she couldn't keep her eyes off the boy who had saved her life.
Once school finally let out for the day (which Momoko was very glad for, as it was VERY hard for her to keep her focus due to her plan), she met Nick at the front gate like she always had.
She explained that she wanted Nick to follow her without peeking, so Nick closed his eyes and allowed Momoko to lead him through the area.
When Nick was allowed to open his eyes again, he noticed that Momoko had taken him back to their old school, Umi no Hoshi Elementary.
What REALLY caught his attention was that the two of them were standing under a large, shady tree.
The very tree under which the two of them had first become friends.
Nick began to wonder what was going on, until Momoko intervened, asking if Nick really loved her.
Now, Nick had never been so confused in his entire life. Thankfully, Momoko said she'd let Nick take his time if he needed to think about it.
So Nick did just that, reflecting back on the five years that the two of them had shared together, including the very incident from the other day.
After about two minutes of thought, Nick turned back to his best friend...
...and said that yes, he did love her.
Momoko wanted to jump for joy, but she'd wait for that until later, when she was sure nobody was watching.
Instead, she instructed Nick to close his eyes again.
Wondering what Momoko was up to now, Nick closed his eyes. Momoko then leaned forward, closing her eyes as well...
...and they shared their first kiss under that shady tree.
Nick was surprised at first, but after recovering from the initial shock, he began to kiss Momoko back, which seemed to please her to no end.
The kiss had only lasted fifteen seconds, but to both of them, it had felt like an eternity.
When they finally parted, both of them were nearly out of breath.
Momoko said, for no particular reason, that she really liked that.
Nick, reverting back to his silly self again, quipped that she should expect more of that as time went on. This just earned another giggle from Momoko.
After a couple more seconds, Momoko asked if this meant that the two of them were officially boyfriend and girlfriend.
Nick just stated that they could call each other whatever they wanted.
Momoko nodded happily, and leaned in to kiss her new boyfriend again. This time, Nick returned the kiss without hesitation.
Nowadays, when someone asked Nick for a description of his girlfriend...
An angel.
That was all he could use to describe her.
