Ryou and Zen are two men who hate to lose--especially to each other. From high school rivals to rival co-workers, these two men have always been locked in fierce competition. They've competed over grades, sports, and even the number of Valentine's chocolates received! And now that they're salesmen at the same company, their rivalry has reignited.

One night, while out for drinks, the two start arguing about who is more experienced in love. Suddenly, their newest competition is set: the winner is whoever makes the other fall in love with them first! But will this competition of hearts really lead to a win or something far more complicated?

Fake Fact Lips has story and art by Machi Suehiro. English translation by Nomnom Namako and lettering by Jaewon Ha. Published by Seven Seas (March 11, 2025). Rated 18+.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

If you're looking for an intelligent, emotionally thoughtful BL, you won't find it here. Fake Fact Lips is an unabashedly ridiculous romance about two guys who have been rivals since high school and now work at the same company. Unable to stop competing, they decide one night to jerk each other off to see who orgasms first – which will, of course, determine the winner. Yes, this is the sort of insane romance fantasy that this book indulges in, and honestly, I'm here for it.

I'm also not really giving it enough credit. While Ryo and Zen's competitions are increasingly gonzo, the bigger plot point is that they're doing this because it's the only way they know how to relate to each other. They've clearly liked each other since they met at age fifteen, but neither of them could figure out how to express it. Ryo was more aware of his feelings at the time, but, uncertain of Zen's reciprocity, he acted like a competitive jerk. A relationship they fell right back into when they met in the workplace. Zen, meanwhile, is much more oblivious (possibly deliberately so), and pretty much follows Ryo's lead. A healthy relationship this is not.

But it is a good one to read about. Although technically enemies-to-lovers, it pushes the boundaries of that trope, because neither of them ever really considered themselves enemies. Their entire relationship, up to the point where the book begins, is based on the deliberate withholding of emotional information, and that's something Machi Suehiro does a good job of showing. Their competitions are just a way for them to stay in touch and interact. We can feel the tension (both sexual and emotional) between them as they try desperately not to lose – or “lose,” as the case may be, because saying that the one who falls in love is the loser is categorically false when it comes to them. But it does allow them a framework to work within that's familiar, if not actually comfortable. As we see towards the end, it's something that suits them and becomes something of their kink, or at least a comfortable way for them to bounce off of each other.

This is one of those mature titles that means it. There aren't a ton of sex scenes, but they are very explicit and uncensored. The art isn't the absolute best, but it's still quite good, and all of the characters are easy to tell apart, and not just because they have different hair colors. It's a good book to read when you need to take a break and turn off your brain, and it proves that when these guys fight, we're all winners in the end.

Lauren Orsini
Rating:

With anything short of perfect execution, I'd be criticizing this BL romance about “the dumbest competition in history” as overly tropey. However, this story's quick pace, high energy, and electric chemistry made me actually care a great deal about God's dumbest idiots and root for them to realize what is already obvious to everyone else. In Fake Fact Lips, the leads' emotional shared history and red hot rivalry draw out one another's sexiest traits, leading to a sizzling enemies-to-lovers one-shot that's a pleasure to read.

Since high school, Ryo and Zen have competed over every little thing, from test scores to (get your mind into the gutter) who can jack off the longest. After going their separate ways for college, the pair have unintentionally wound up working for the same company in separate sales departments. It's the perfect environment to rekindle their old rivalry after all this time. Even though these two can barely talk to one another without raising their voices, it's obvious to the reader and everyone around them that they clearly like each other a great deal. And thus, they escalate the competition from client sales to who can make who fall in love with the other person first. Nobody would even suggest this kind of competition unless they wanted the other person to fall for them in the first place! The enthusiastic consent implied by the ridiculous premise turns this into good, clean (well, dirty) fun. I especially appreciated the accelerated timeline of this romance driven by both leads' increasingly forward flirting attempts, the better to become more irresistible than the other. As each person dials up the charm, it also has the effect of sharing their best traits with the audience as well. Even better is when the vulnerability starts to come into play. What made each of these dudes so competitive that they can't have normal relationships? There's a satisfying, highly relatable explanation for both of them.

The uncensored sex that is a huge part of Ryo and Zen's love story isn't particularly inventive, but the characters' dialogue—at times bantering, at times revealing—keeps it sexy. By the end of the volume, I was convinced these two were made for each other—and shouldn't that be the end goal of any romantic comedy? I would have liked to see a bonus or after story about what things were like once they finally got together, but overall this was a prime example of the enemies to lovers trope done well.