Disclaimer: I don't own Free!.
A/N: I had a fit of Nagisa/Gou feels while watching episode two, okay? (beware for some spoilers) I ended up writing this... XD Don't get me wrong, though, I think the Mikoshiba brothers are cool. I just had to write this. Squint for some MakoHaru. Thanks for reading and I hope you like this fic! :D
Strawberry Shortcakes
In which Nagisa invites Gou to have lunch with him.
"Heya, Gou-chan! Wanna join me for lunch?"
Startled by the voice behind her, Gou accidentally dropped her pencil and jumped on her seat in horror. She was too engrossed in doing her homework in advance (because she had other things to do and athletes' muscles to distract her later) that she failed to notice Nagisa sneak in her classroom.
"Oops, sorry about that, Gou-chan," Nagisa said as he picked up her pencil. Gou quickly snatched it the moment it was within her reach and glared at the blond boy.
"For the last time, it's Kou! Say it with me, Kou!" she exclaimed.
"Okay~! Gou-chan is Gou-chan!" Nagisa chimed, lips curling into a childish smile.
"Kou!"
"Gou."
"It's Kou!"
"Gou.
"Kou!"
"Kou."
"It's Gou!"
Before realizing her slip-up, Nagisa winked at her. "Got it, Gou-chan~!"
No matter how many times they had that little spat, she would end up calling herself Gou, and she would never admit how accustomed she was with the routine. It was Nagisa, after all. His level of mischief could shame every known prankster in Iwatobi combined without even trying.
"What do you want anyway, Nagisa?" she huffed, crossing her arms.
She noticed his little pout. "I already asked you if you wanted to join me for lunch, Gou-chan. Do you want me to say it again?"
Gou raised a brow. "And before you ask, Rei-chan is in the library because he wants to read up on some 'beautiful' Physics theory or something. I don't want to bother Haru-chan and Mako-chan too, since… well, you know how they get." Even Gou found herself nodding at this. "And I barely get to hang out with you, so whaddya say?"
So she was some sort of back-up plan whenever he had no one to hang out with, huh? Gou opened her mouth to decline his offer, but ended up staring at his eager eyes and sincere smile. She paused and felt the words backtrack into her head. There was no reason for her to deny Nagisa with the simple pleasure of having lunch with her, and she did feel bored with doing homework during break time. He grabbed her wrists and jumped in place excitedly as though he read her mind. "Come on, Gou-chan! I'll share my strawberry shortcakes with you if you want!"
Even she couldn't resist the offer of sweets. "Give me a large slice and you have a deal, Nagisa-kun. And it's Kou!"
...
Nagisa had dragged Gou all the way to the swimming pool just to have lunch, much to the girl's surprise. They both sat together on the ground with Nagisa spreading out a large handkerchief in front of them. The girl unwrapped the cloth around her bento lunch box and placed it on her lap.
"Oh, oh, oh! Can I have some of that?" Nagisa asked. Her mother had prepared broiled salmon and salmon sashimi (apparently, her mother bought too much salmon) with rice and vegetables. She glanced at Nagisa's lunch and scowled – he had more food than she had.
"Come on, Gou-chan! I want some sashimi," he pleaded. Gou gave in, placing three pieces on top of the rice in his lunch box, but failed to notice a thoughtful look sketch on Nagisa's face. In return, the blond boy gave her two panda-like rice balls without even offering.
"Thank you," Gou said, sending Nagisa a small grin. He nodded back with enthusiasm before drawing out strands of fried noodles to stabilize his growing appetite.
They ate in silence for a minute, making Gou wonder why Nagisa chose to have lunch with her at the poolside, of all places in this school. Her classroom was empty when he arrived, and the cafeteria seemed like a nice place to eat lunch, but Nagisa must have considered the other students possibly making too much noise that would ruin their conversation. There was also a kiosk at the school grounds with tables for friends (or couples, but Gou knew better).
"You're awfully quiet today. Is something up?" Nagisa asked.
Gou sent him a smirk. "Well, well, you were silent too."
"You were wondering why I invited you out here, right?" he added.
She stifled a giggle at Nagisa's distant look. "You probably chose this place randomly. You're so lost without Rei-chan."
"I'm not!" Nagisa exclaimed. "Lost? Seriously, Gou-chan? Did you expect Rei-chan to make an itinerary for me?"
"No," Gou replied. "And if he did make one, you'd probably throw it away."
There was a glint of mischief in his eyes. "Of course. You know me so well, Gou-chan."
"Kou."
"Do you like the rice balls? My sister made it," he said, completely ignoring Gou's attempts in starting another banter session. The annoyed expression on her face softened as she realized how excited he was to hear her comment.
"Yes, I like them," she answered. Another rice ball landed on her lunch box.
"N-Nagisa, I didn't ask for more!"
Nagisa shrugged. "Your face said otherwise, Gou-chan. And I'm getting tired of my sister's rice balls. I was supposed to eat hopping bread, but she forced me to eat her experiments for lunch."
"Shouldn't you be happy that you get food to eat anyway?" the girl snapped back. Nagisa remained unfazed and gave her another rice ball. "You're just doing this so you can start eating cakes."
"Caught me again, Gou-chan!" Nagisa snickered. "Don't worry, I am going to share."
More silence came after, but Gou decided to break it this time. "Why the pool?"
Nagisa didn't bother to swallow his food, but Gou warned him through eye contact. "It was the first place that popped in my mind. Plus, it reminds me of the Splash Fest!"
Gou's eyes lit up. Oh, that day was indeed gorgeous. Muscles galore, she thought dreamily. But of course, she was also glad that the boys had a chance to stretch their muscles (those toned arms!) against her brother, which was both practice for them and satisfaction for her brother. Seeing her brother that happy again lifted her spirits.
"…I swear that I saw Haru-chan raise a score card too," she heard Nagisa say. She sighed – she was too engrossed with the thoughts of muscles and bromances that she didn't notice Nagisa ramble on and on, oblivious to her daydreaming.
"What score?" she asked, hoping that he didn't notice her space out.
"Ehh… two hundred? Or maybe that was twenty with a decimal point," he said. "No, no, I was pretty sure there was no dot between the second and third zeroes."
Gou sighed happily. "Let's just be happy that Makoto-senpai won!"
"I am!" Nagisa insisted. "I'm also glad he was able to beat Mikoshiba-kun! I heard from Rin-chan that he's really good. But… nah, Mako-chan's still the best!"
"His back muscles work incredible magic," she added, earning a narrow-eyed glance from the boy beside her.
She was surprised Nagisa didn't reply, but he was too busy scarfing down his food to even answer her. His sweet tooth must have tempted him to start with his cakes. It slowly influenced Gou to eat faster, knowing that Nagisa might finish off his cakes without remembering he offered to share some with her. It was a good thing the rice balls were delicious, considering how Nagisa gave her four.
"What do you think of Mikoshiba-kun, by the way?" Nagisa asked. He placed his empty lunch box at the side and grabbed the other one he brought filled with cakes. Gou, finally finished with her meal as well, fixed her lunch box while Nagisa brought out two forks.
"He's fast, but he'll need practice to even achieve a small distance gap from Makoto-senpai when he swims," she stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Nagisa still looked at her with wide, seemingly hopeful eyes.
"So you're not interested in him, right?" he asked.
Gou puffed her cheeks out. "Huh? I'm not."
The hopeful expression he wore became more evident as he grinned. "That's good!" He gave her the second fork as he raised his lunchbox containing two large slices of strawberry shortcake. Gou pouted in confusion, but Nagisa responded with a toothy grin.
"What makes you think I do?" she asked, digging her fork on the first slice.
"Well, you're a Mikoshiba magnet," he replied before eating the cake portion he managed to scoop out. Gou snorted (where did Nagisa get his witty tongue?) and did the same. "Didn't you notice how weird he was, babbling how he hunts down stag beetles as a hobby?"
It was either Nagisa had supersonic hearing or a sharp memory since Gou didn't remember what Momotaro babbled about in front of her. She wasn't oblivious to how taken he was with her, but she wasn't really interested to begin with (unless his older brother's muscles were involved in the conversation, but that was just her limit with the Mikoshiba males).
"Were you listening?" she queried. Nagisa laughed, moving closer to her.
"His voice is way too loud! And geez, who says those lame stuff to impress a girl?" Nagisa added with a grin as he took out a small bottle of chocolate syrup. Gou watched him squeeze the bottle and turn it over above the cakes, slowly coating them with dark sugary cocoa saccharine.
Why was Nagisa telling her all this?
"Well, what would YOU say to impress a girl?" she asked with a smirk. "You might end up blabbing about sweets and insects, then scare her off by saying you love horror movies because you imagine yourself as the killer."
Nagisa snorted. "First off, I never ever said I imagined myself to be a horror movie killer. But it could work, since no one would suspect me!"
"I would," Gou replied, laughing afterwards. Nagisa's bottom lip tucked his upper lip, forming a childlike pout.
"Gou-chan is mean!"
"It's Kou!"
"I know, Gou-chan. Anyway, I wouldn't babble. I'm better than that. I wouldn't say how I feel. I'd show it," Nagisa continued, scooping out a piece of cake covered with chocolate syrup.
"How?" Gou looked at him with a raised brow, prompting him to answer.
"I'd bring the girl to one of my favorite spots and share my favorite food with her."
It didn't take five seconds for Gou to realize what he said… and what he was doing.
Nagisa liked the school's swimming pool. Nagisa loved strawberry shortcake.
"Hey, Gou-chan, you have some whipped cream on your cheek."
Her pink cheeks darkened to red as she felt Nagisa's thumb brush the corner of her lip tenderly, his look of concentration transforming into his trademark grin. Their eyes met, pink meeting red, before Nagisa returned his attention to their dessert. Gou decided to do the same, and they ate together in silence once again.
A minute passed and Gou felt her cheeks burn hotter than ever. Nagisa was too focused on eating that he didn't notice the girl steal glances every few seconds. He didn't notice Gou examine his solemn look (which came once in a blue moon, especially in mornings), his bright pink eyes, his messy hair, his exposed arms, his everything.
"After doing that, I'll take the girl out dancing or to an amusement park."
Gou's cheeks were still pink, but that didn't stop her from snapping out of her haze. "Are you asking me out?"
Nagisa chuckled. Their eyes met once again, and Gou saw the sincere joy in his eyes. "I'm not asking you out. I'm taking you out."
The girl smiled and shoved Nagisa playfully. Leave it to Nagisa to be straightforwardly charming. "I have to admit, you do know how to impress a girl."
"Where would you like to go first? Take your time to decide, Gou-chan."
"It's Kou!"
OMAKE:
"Haru, you haven't finished your mackerel. Is something wrong?" Makoto asked, staring at the boy standing up and leaning at the edge of the building in front of him.
"Someone's at the pool."
Makoto winced. "Eh? Who would swim at a time like this?"
"No one's swimming. Wait… that's Nagisa and Gou-chan," Haruka mumbled. Makoto quickly stood up and decided to take a look. He saw two tiny figures, one yellow and one red, both in black sitting by the pool. Makoto grinned.
"Oh, so Nagisa decided to do that today," he cheered softly. Haruka faced him with a confused look.
"Well, Nagisa likes Gou-chan, so he planned on telling her after seeing how obvious Mikoshiba-kun fell for her. Seems like he's doing a good job!"
Haruka placed a hand under his chin. "Ah, yeah. That kid you squashed in the relay." Makoto couldn't decide whether to smile at the compliment or flinch at the sadistic description. "Should we tell Rin about this?"
The taller boy's face paled. "Are you crazy? We don't want Nagisa to die!"
"You're right," Haruka sighed. "We still need him for relays."
"Don't tell me that's your only concern, Haru-chan!"
"Lay off the –chan, will you?"