"Reiiii-chan! Do you want to come over to my house today after practice?" Nagisa asked, bubbling around Rei. "We could watch some TV, or you could read aloud…I'll even let you help me study, if you really want to." After about a minute of awkward silence as they walked, Nagisa waved his hands in front of Rei's glasses. "Earth to Rei, Earth to Rei. Are you there, Rei-chan?"

"Huh?" Rei took a step backwards, surprised by the flailing limbs in front of his face. He fixed his glasses and looked down at the short blond. "Sorry…I heard you. I was distracted. I'll go with you after swim practice; we should study since finals are coming up soon."

"Okay!" Nagisa quickened his pace and practically ran the rest of the way to the pool. I wonder what's distracting Rei-chan~?

He wouldn't stop running, even after changing into his swimming trunks, and headed for the pool. Gou raised an eyebrow as Nagisa nyoomed past her and faltered as he ran in front of Rei. She let out a laugh as Rei got a splash of water in the face when Nagisa belly-flopped into the pool.

"Gotcha, Rei-chan!" Nagisa shook his mop of blond hair and wagged his tongue out to taunt Rei.

His face turned pink with hints of anger as he scrunched his eyebrows. Rei made his way into the pool as well, hoping to sneak up to Nagisa as he was swimming. If I aim to surprise him at a position 6.3 meters from the north side of the pool, and according to his speed- approximately 2.1 meters per second- it is necessary to hold my breath for 9.3 seconds until I can come into contact with him while he is traveling towards the target.

Nagisa's eyes shifted downwards as he moved through the water. He could have sworn he saw a dark blue color out of the corner of his eye. He flip turned and pushed himself hard off the wall.

All of a sudden a pair of hands were in front of him, just as his hands had defiled the space in front of Rei's glasses earlier, and he went straight up for air. "Rei-chan, you scared meeeee!"

-

"'m studyin' flav'r," he said while chewing. "There's nothing wrong with having a snack." Chocolate slowly disappeared from his fingers as he licked them clean. His stomach gurgled and let out a moan. "Oops, maybe I did eat too much."

"Mhm, maybe." Rei dripped sarcasm while rolling his eyes.

"Rei-chan, are you okay? You've been strange all throughout school today." Nagisa cocked his head to the side, his red eyes turning into big spheres of curiosity.

"Tch, of course I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" His glasses glared from the sunshine hitting him from the window. I should have known that he'd notice.

"Weeeeell... we saw you talking to Sera-senpai." Rei sighed and opened his mouth to explain. "I- you can't leave the swim club, Rei-chan! It wouldn't be the same without you. We'd miss you. ...I'd miss you." He started to sniffle, looking down at his hands.

"Yes, he asked me to consider going back to track. I'm good at it, Nagisa. Better than I am at swimming. I've been trying so hard; I've been seeing Rin and he's been helping me learn other strokes. I'm still not good enough." Rei looked away- he couldn't bear to see him cry. "We'd still be friends, that will never change."

Nagisa hit his fist against the table and stood up. "You can't leave me, Rei." You'd break my heart in half. Tearsslowly dripped down his cheeks as he looked down in anger. At the heart of Nagisa's ire was inconsolable sadness. He felt as though everyone was abandoning him that year- he was slowly but surely being left behind. "Mako-chan and Haru-chan are leaving next year for college- we'll barely see them as it is! You can't ditch me, too." His voice cracked into a high octave. "We might not even have enough members to keep the swim club running..." His arms stayed at his side shaking in frustration.

"...Nagisa-kun." He rose and moved to stand in front of Nagisa. His cheeks were a light pink as he removed his glasses in shock. "I would never leave you." His arms tentatively wrapped around Nagisa's smaller frame; sobs and hiccups ran throughout both of their bodies as they sunk to the floor together.