THE LANE NEXT TO YOU

a FREE! fan-fiction

characters introduced in ch1.

Momotarou Mikoshiba- (16) HS 2nd year. Love crazy teen who's just learning what it means to fall in love for real.

Nagisa Hazuki- (17) HS 3rd year. The object of Momo's affections.

ch 1.

STORY OCCURS about 1/2 a semester after FREE! Eternal Summer (OVA) episode 14.

[MOMOTAROU MIKOSHIBA WAITS ON THE LAWN RIGHT OUTSIDE OF THE IWATOBI POOL]

His palms were sweaty.

He was nervous. And that was saying something because it took a lot of doing to make Momotaro Mikoshiba nervous. This wasn't a first. Momo had made confessions before. Hell, earlier this week he'd confessed his undying love to Gou Matsuoka repeatedly (unaware that she had been secretly dating his older brother for months now). Gou's rejection had been a shock but like all his previous heartbreaks he was quick to recover.

But today was different. This one was different.

Momo was an out of sight out of mind kinda guy, no matter how romancey he thought he'd felt for someone in the past he'd never lost sleep thinking about them. If he didn't see the object of his interest with some sort of regularity he'd usually move on to some new obsession. But this one was different. For alot of reasons this one was different. This new love had formed from friendship. Similar interests. Things Momo believed constituted a good ole fashioned 'adult' relationship. He hadn't slept since the last time he'd seen the person in question. That was different but what most likely made it the most different was that his current love interest was a man. Hazuki Nagisa (no matter how girly his name) was a man and there was no denying it. And this man was it. This man was Momotarou's 'the one'.

Momo waited outside of the Iwatobi swim clubroom to catch the object of his affection after practice. It was a beautiful day. The Sakura tree by the pool was in full bloom and its petals whipped though the air surrounding Nagisa as he exited the clubroom. He was perfect, the day was perfect and Momo couldn't wait any longer to confess and start their perfect life together. He took a deep breath and ran to meet Nagisa-san.

Momo:

(elated)"Nagisa-san!"

Nagisa smiled as he caught sight of Momo.

Nagisa's smile was enough to keep him going for days.

Nagisa:

(happy)"Momo-chan! Long time no see!"

Momo:

(nervous/excited)"Nagisa-san! I-"

This would be his last and best confession ever. That much Momotaro Mikoshiba was sure of.

end ch 1.