"It's not that I don't want to accompany you, Nagisa-kun," Rei insisted, not for the first time since stumbling out his door tonight, practically dragged by the energetic ball of beaming neon and permanent bedhead that was currently standing beside him in line for the club. A line he didn't really fancy being in, which he repeatedly confirmed to himself as he scrutinized the people queued in front and behind him, dressed in garish, almost alien garments that couldn't possibly pass for fashionable to anyone with functional eyes; some sipping from cans and laughing loudly with their companions, others expelling alarming amounts of thick white smoke from various orifices, produced by apparatus that looked rather like ordinary fountain pens.
Rei was fairly convinced that Nagisa had somehow transported him to another planet.
"It's just that…" he went on haltingly, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose and clearing his throat, "This place, these...this particular group of individuals, you can't expect me... I couldn't possibly..."
"But Rei-chaaaan," Nagisa whined, fixing him with enormous, round eyes that trembled pleadingly, rather reminiscent of a certain Bambi. Rei found the strength of will to look away. "It's gonna be so much fun, don't you trust me?"
I do, Rei hesitated, studying the featureless cement wall beside him as if it might have held the answer to the mysteries of the universe, It's myself I don't trust, under these circumstances. "Being surrounded by blinding strobe lights, deafening ambience and crowds of cavorting, inebriated people does not sound like 'so much fun'," he argued, doing his best breathy, high-pitched imitation of Nagisa's voice, "It sounds hazardous to my well being. Not to mention yours."
"Me? I'll be fine! And you will be too, just try to enjoy it!"" Nagisa exclaimed, grinning ear to ear as he bounced once or twice on the toes of his sparkling magenta light-up sneakers. Rei had mentioned to him earlier that night that he didn't quite comprehend the purpose of the embedded LEDs that illuminated every step he took, nor did he believe that footwear consisting of such things was marketed toward even the youngest at heart of adults. Nagisa had just shook his head and beamed, extolling the brightly flashing shoes as the height of cutting-edge fashion, "and comfortable too!" Rei still wasn't sold, even when Nagisa had wheedled that he was almost positive he could find a pair in his size, emblazoned with only the most flattering of color tones and the most sophisticated of butterfly patterns.
"Nagisa-kun," Rei said, going for calm and businesslike, but he couldn't quite stamp out the persistent undercurrent of nerves, "I'm...grateful for your many ventures to try and enlighten me with new and engaging experiences, but…"
"But?" Nagisa prompted, watching him attentively, when he trailed off.
Rei looked at him, in all his vibrant, exuberant glory, practically glowing with excitement and adventure, and sighed. "I wouldn't want to put a damper on your enjoyment of this evening. By being...poorly-suited to this field of entertainment."
"You're not poorly-suited, Rei-chan," Nagisa protested, seeming distraught by the very idea of Rei doubting his own capabilities, "You don't even have to do anything, okay? Just...relax, and stay next to me." He held out his hand, a pleased smile lighting his features when Rei tentatively placed his own in it, "If it's really that awful, we can leave. Okay?"
Rei swallowed as those warm, slender fingers laced together with his own, the repeated jabs of his own inhibitions seeming to melt away for a moment. "Okay."
He thought he might have glimpsed that look - that look - flash across Nagisa's face; a look usually followed almost immediately by pulling Rei down to kiss him hard, but he just swung their intertwined hands between them rhythmlessly, watching him with tangible delight and giggling like a child.
Rei had hardly realized that during this time, the line had moved, edging them slowly toward the entrance to the drab gray building and the stone-faced man standing, arms crossed, in front of it. A rather vital component to the success of their endeavor occurred to him, all of the sudden.
"How exactly do you plan to get us inside? Neither of us meets the appropriate age requirements and that gentleman there -"
"Ah! I almost forgot!" Nagisa cried, letting go of Rei's hand to dig around in the pockets of his sequined yellow jeans, producing two laminated cards with flourish and a triumphant smirk, "One for me, and one for you!" He sang, pressing one of the cards into Rei's hand, looking entirely too pleased with himself.
Rei inspected the card, front and back, and frowned, "Nagisa-kun, are these...counterfeit identification cards?" There might have been just a hint of mounting hysteria in his voice, but surely, he thought, this was a perfectly appropriate moment to be hysterical.
"Shh!" Nagisa hissed, waving his hands in front of Rei's face like an enormous and very flamboyant spastic moth, "I got my sister to make them. For a fee."
"A fee," Rei echoed numbly, turning the fake I.D. over in his hands again.
Nagisa averted his gaze briefly, and was that a flush creeping up his face? He nodded twice and mumbled something about eye-candy and guys in swimsuits out of the side of his mouth. Rei felt decidedly ill, making a mental note to warn Makoto-senpai and Haruka-senpai about the possibility of being objectified by hidden cameras around the pool area in the near future.
He wrestled with himself throughout the entire rest of the wait, debating whether or not he should come clean and expose the ruse as soon as they reached the security guard, and whether vaulting over the stanchion ropes and hightailing it home would be worth the shame of retreating, not to mention the endless guilt Nagisa would be sure to bombard him with later for abandoning him.
Unfortunately, before he could make a decision one way or the other, they had reached the front of the line, and the gruff man at the door was holding out a hand for identification, a thick notepad scrawled with names clutched in the other. The false I.D. card shook in Rei's hand as he presented it to the man, and Nagisa handed over his own with much more assurance.
He could feel his heart hammering somewhere in the region of his Adam's apple as the man flipped several pages on the notepad and fixed them with a steely glare, "You two aren't on the list."
Rei almost cringed at the hard, imposing voice, certain that he was trembling from head to toe and considering the real possibility that he might projectile vomit onto the man's pristine shirt from sheer animal terror. He looked desperately to Nagisa, who stood (relatively) tall and undaunted before the man who could likely break him in half with his thumbs, and watched a surprisingly convincing mixture of disbelief and personal offense cross his face.
"Not on the list?" He whipped around, the perfect picture of outrage, to Rei, who reflexively stumbled back a step, "Can you believe that? We're not on the list! That prick Mikoshiba works up the balls to invite us and he can't even be bothered to get our names down? Unbelievable!"
Rei floundered, torn between being stunned that Nagisa was that good of an actor, and terrified, because Nagisa was that good of an actor; at last managing to squeak out a strangled, "Yes. Quite."
The security guard, meanwhile, had paused on one page and was skimming down with one frighteningly muscular finger, "Hm. Mikoshiba Seijuro is on this list. A friend of yours?"
"Yes and he was supposed to put in a word for us too," Nagisa scoffed, looking more terse than Rei had ever seen him, even when denied sweets before swimming practice, "Of course we've invited him to every party he's ever been to in his life, but it looks like he's too damn busy to return the favor and this is how we're -"
The security guard, apparently not having the patience to listen to Nagisa go off on a full-scale rant and make a scene - a sentiment Rei rather understood - simply handed them their cards back in a brisk motion and gestured to the door. "Please. Go on in."
Feeling shell-shocked, Rei managed a rather butchered "thank you" before Nagisa dragged him inside impatiently, only skipping with glee once they were out of the guard's sight.
"It worked! It worked, Rei-chan!" he cheered, as soon as they were inside, "I owe Mikoshiba-san one; next time he's at Samezuka I'm bringing him four Iwatobi cream breads! Remind me, okay?"
"O-okay…" Rei breathed, but he was fairly certain Nagisa hadn't heard him.
It was difficult to hear anything at all, with the throbbing, enormous presence of bass rippling through the walls, the floor, through the soles of Rei's shoes to his sinuses and chest, and once he'd overcome his shock at the fact that he had just paid witness to - been part of - something so reckless, so more than likely illegal or at least immoral, it had occurred to him to take in the scene he was presented with. While the outside of the building had been plain, square, and such an ugly shade of dull, bleak gray, the inside was alive, the entire, enormous room cast in a dynamic blue-violet glow emanating from the glass-paneled ceiling above, soft lights flowing and pulsating like a gigantic lava lamp, as though the surface of the ocean might have been rolling and crashing overhead. A mass of people was packed together on the open, gridded floor of one side of the room, like hundreds of undulating black paper cut-outs, hands and heads raised and swaying to the thudding beat that caused everything to tremble and hum with energy. The other side of the room was considerably more still, shrouded in deep shadows, the black light illuminating several wide white couches arranged around low, glossy tables, and unless he was mistaken, one wall was entirely taken up by a fully faceted bar, lit up with electric blue neon and multiple reflective surfaces. When Nagisa had showed up that evening announcing that he was taking him out to a nightclub at the recommendation of a certain charismatic former swim team captain, Rei hadn't pictured anything like this.
Something sharp nudged him in the ribs, and, affronted, he glanced down at Nagisa, who had just elbowed his side, standing on tiptoe in order to reach.
"Soooo?" he prompted, having to raise his voice to be heard over the pounding music, "What do you think? It's nice, isn't it?"
"Beautiful," slipped out before Rei could catch himself, and he cleared his throat and tried again in a louder voice, "I suppose I may have underestimated your proposition on the outset; this establishment does appear to be….adequate."
"What?" Nagisa shouted, not catching the end of the tapered off sentence.
"It's nice!" Rei shouted back, to an amused grin and another bounce from his altitudinally-challenged companion.
"Do you want to dance?" Nagisa asked excitedly, eyes wide and shining.
"I - what?" Rei blinked, taken aback.
"Come on Rei-chan, it'll be fun!"
"You keep saying that." Rei muttered, crossing his arms to display how unmoved he was, "And I recall you also saying that I didn't have to do anything. Remember?"
"Rei-chaaaan," Nagisa pleaded, clinging onto the sleeve of his jacket as he sunk to his knees melodramatically, looking up at him with tears in his eyes as his jutted out lower lip quaked pitifully.
"Th-that's not going to work on me, Nagisa-kun," Rei stammered, trying in vain to shake him off and retain his dignity, "Besides, th-the volume and tempo of this music is not ideal for even professionally choreographed routines -"
"It's not supposed to be choreographed," Nagisa pouted, "You're just supposed to feel it."
"That is...completely illogical, Nagisa-kun; not to mention the result of such unrehearsed movement is anything but beautiful."
"Not everything needs to be logical…" Nagisa grumbled, letting go of Rei's sleeve reluctantly. It only took approximately two seconds to wipe the disappointment off his face, however, and he shot to his feet, "Okay! Then let me buy you a drink instead!"
Rei shot a furtive glance at the bar across the room, pushing his glasses up uneasily, "You are aware that at our age it's hardly appropriate for us to consume alcohol..."
"Yeah yeah," Nagisa said, waving him off before latching onto his arm again, tugging him exuberantly in the direction of the bar. Sighing, Rei acknowledged that at this point, he had little choice but to go along.
TBC