I have been chatting with @sojirosteacup about Hana Yori Dango/Boys Over fanfiction today and the topic of pregnancy fanfic came up and I mentioned I had once posted about the first Hana Yori Dango fanfic I had ever written. I ended up taking this post down, because i was a bit embarassed. However, i decided to repost this since the story shows what younger me thought was the greatest Hana Yori Dango fic to be written.
It’s April of 2010 and the teen pregnancy trope is all over teenage media. You and your friends became first exposed to this trope a few years back when you went to see a movie in theaters called Juno. This followed with MTV releasing a reality show called 16 and Pregnant, which eventually became a beast of its own. Now you and your friends are religiously watching the ACB Family teen drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager. It seems like everyone is hopping on this trend.
It’s not just on TV where you find this trope, teen pregnancy fics have exploded on Fanfiction.net, the only site you read fanfic (ao3 did exist back then but it wasn’t as popular as it is now). You would read teen pregnancy fic after teen pregnancy fics in your favorite fandoms from that time (in no particular order): Sailor Moon, Fruits Basket, Ouran High School Host Club, CardCaptor Sakura, Camp Rock, The Mortal Instruments, The Hunger Games, ect. So of course you want to jump on the bandwagon.
You have attempted to write fanfic for several years now, but have never posted any (thank god, they were terrible). You first jumped on the Harry Potter/Sailor Moon crossover trend in the 2000s after reading Heroine of the Valley’s Sailor Witches Series and ended up on your own crossover idea on-and-off for years (which probably deserves a tumblr post of its own, but because of the JK Rowlings’ many controversies in the past few years, I’m gonna pass). Then you attempted to write for other fandoms, but none of them really stood out. Then around the late 2000s you discover K-Drama and J-Drama. Your favorite being Hana Yori Dango and its sequels. There’s something about this drama you love, to the point you watch the K-Drama version and read the inconsistent english fan translation of the manga available on the internet. While you are rereading the fan translation of the manga once again, you end up coming up with an idea that would result in your first attempt at writing Hana Yori Dango Fanfiction.
Long intro I know. However, I’ve decided to go down memory lane and talk about the first Hana Yori Dango fic I wrote and I should warn you, it’s pretty unhinged. The fact I still have the unfinished work and the outline 15 years later is crazy. Like I tell my friends I have all the fanfics I wrote back from 2001 onwards and I haven’t lost them. That’s 24 years of me attempting to write fanfiction and I’ve only been publishing on ao3 since late 2024. Take that as a sign to never give up on your goals of publishing fanfic.
Now where were we? In April of 2010 I began writing When I Look at You (I know, clever title right). When I Look at You was a Tsukushi/Tsukasa and Tsukushi/Rui love triangle fic. Not only do I have the entire outline for this fic, I wrote the prologue and the first four chapters. Remember how I said this fic is unhinged, well the prologue opens with Tsukasa and Tsukushi meeting again after four years, only for us to find out Tsukushi has married Rui. Back then I had a thing for torturing my characters, and so I decided that right out of the gate Rui is an obstacle (does this sound familiar to my readers of my current Hana Yori Dango fic, The Imperial House lol).
We then flashback to what happened four years ago, to chapter 184 of Hana Yori Dango specifically. Where after Tsukushi and Tsukasa run from the SPS they sneak to the Doumyouji mansion. Except unlike in the original source material they get interrupted, in this fic they actually have sex (which I faded to black). We then find out from Tsubaki the next morning that their father is dying and Tsukasa needs to go to New York. Akira and Soujirou try to have Tsukushi stop him, but she refuses. Then Tsukasa tries to get her to come with him and she refuses again. Honestly, this chapter is not that great.
So in the next chapter Tsukushi starts to get pregnancy symptoms, however she’s convinced she’s just sick and can’t afford a doctor. However one day Rui catches Tsukushi being nauseous and he’s concerned. Tsukushi laughs it off and lies to Rui by promising to see a doctor. Obviously this only works for a few days and Rui confronts her and Tsukushi ends up fainting (causing drama). So they end up at the hospital and of course Soujirou’s older brother is her physician. He runs some tests and then tells Tsukushi she’s pregnant. After reassuring Soujirou's brother it wasn't Soujirou who got her pregnant, Tsukushi meets up with Rui in the waiting room. Tsukushi then lies again and tells Rui she has a stomach bug.
The next chapter involves classic scenarios such as Tsukushi researching pregnancy in school and lying to Sakurako and Kazuya that it’s extra credit. Tsukushi tries to call Tsukasa and he does not answer her calls. The F3 takes Tsukushi to prom and teaches her how to dance (because that’s important when you're pregnant). Soujirou’s older brother breaks doctor-patient confidentiality and accidentally tells Rui that Tsukushi is pregnant. And the chapter ends with Rui offering to take Tsukushi to New York.
Chapter four was my interpretation of the New York Arc. Where Tsukushi and Rui bump into Shigeru who helps them set up a meeting with Tsukasa at his family’s mansion. Which does not end well. They attempt to meet Tsukasa at his New York City prep school and during their argument Rui is like Makino’s pregnant but don’t worry, the child’s mine, not yours (god I cringed while rereading that). Then the chapter ends with Rui admitting he knew for a while and then he proposes to her (I told you it’s unhinged). Oh and there's the scene afterwards where Shigeru tries talking to Tsukasa, basically with Shigeru saying that she thinks that Rui is lying and the child is actually Tsukasa’s. However Tsukasa refuses to listen to reason.
That was the last chapter I wrote, but like I said I have an outline and the plans for the work included:
Tsukushi getting kicked out of Eitoku for getting pregnant
Tsukasa finally grows a pair and shows up at Tsukushi’s and Rui’s wedding. However at that point it’s too late and Tsukushi refuses to see him
The baby ends up being a girl
We then go back to modern day and Tsukasa and Tsukushi keep bumping into each other and catch feels
Tsukasa and Tsukasa end up having an affair
Tsukasa eventually discovers the truth about Tsukushi's pregnancy
Tsukushi ends up discovering she pregnant again, but because of the timing she knows the child is Rui’s
And because I’m low-key evil, the plan for the ending of the fic was for Tsukushi to stay with Rui because her children’s happiness and wanting them to have a stable home was more important than her feelings for Tsukasa.
So Tsukasa became an eternal bachelor.
And that is how I began and failed to finish my first Hana Yori Dango fanfic. I did leave a few details out here and there, but this was getting long enough already. This was fun, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I was cringing reading this all again.