#1 crush, rated pg-13. nanami/saionji (garbage challenge). post-series. 458 words.
(you will believe in me and i can never be ignored)
The only reason they started seeing each other was because Touga asked him to look out for his little sister. After all, they were at the same university and even though Nanami has a way about her in that she makes herself queen of any castle she waltzes into, Touga still asked his childhood friend to look after her. It's a big bad world out there, after all, even though they all know that the really bad worlds are sometimes the ones that you just don't see until it has already swallowed you whole.
At first it was just the awkward friendship of a pesky little sister and her brother's best friend. Saionji was soon to discover, however, that sharing his burgeoning love of photography with Nanami gave the girl greater depths than he had ever thought the seemingly-shallow girl capable of.
No-one had been more surprised than Saionji himself when he'd taken up photojournalism, even though he knew it all so obviously stemmed from his deep desire to capture single moments for eternity. He'd only started taking photographs in the last few months of high school; he would spend his time not in class or the dojo finding tiny pockets of time that spoke with perfect clarity before capturing them on film. Journalism had called to him only because he couldn't imagine life as a simple photographer; his body craved for something more, something to make his blood pump faster with a racing heart.
He likes to take simple photographs of Nanami, however. Sometimes she models the clothes she designs, but most of the pictures are not so planned nor so posed. They are simple moments caught without real thought – Nanami sipping her tea, Nanami poring over some heavy design text, Nanami frowning out the window at the unexpected cloud covering the sun.
Yes, the awkward friendship that blossomed into something approaching a romance baffles everyone but Nanami and Saionji. It is only because they know why it happened, and it is all to do with the way that they came together.
When they have lunch with Touga, it is obvious to them both who they have really come to see, who their hearts are really tied to. This doesn't bother either of them. In fact, both are completely aware that this is probably the reason why they have stayed together for so long. Occasionally Saionji takes photographs with his ever-present camera at these lunches. Only once did he set the timer and join the brother and sister across the table for a photo of three. That single photo, a moment of eternity pressed into film, says to them both who they really love, while proving at the same time that it doesn't really matter at all.