Black, White, & Red All Over

A Free! oneshot

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The Free! characters belong to Oji Koji-sensei, not to me. Time for a bit of Reigisa… ;) Read, review, and enjoy!

- ^-^3

"Well, that's that, I guess," Makoto said after Sasabe pulled away and Amakata-sensei and Kou had already left. He looked at the others. "Shall we celebrate?"

Haruka, of course, said nothing, but Nagisa perked up. "We should, we should!" the blond exclaimed. "After all our hard work, and after getting Rin back in the picture, we should definitely celebrate!"

Makoto laughed at Nagisa's enthusiasm. "Sounds like a plan."

"Yeah! And it's your treat, Mako-chan."

"Eh?!"

Rei tried to smile at the normalcy of things, but he couldn't quite find it in himself to be genuine. He knew today had changed things for them, and he was happy for his friends. But, if he was being logical, he would acknowledge that a small part of him existed that wished Rin had turned him down, had not taken his place, and had let them be. Maybe then Rei could've been a part of the winning relay team… The bespectacled boy glanced at the trio, though. No, they only won because they got Rin back for a few seconds.

"Rei," Haruka said while the other two debated who would pay. "Preferences?"

"Ah…" Rei shrugged. "Not really sure… To be honest, I forgot to read the next chapter of my history text, and I believe we have a quiz in class, so I thought I might head home."

That shut up Nagisa and Makoto. "What? Already?" Nagisa whined. "It's not the same without all of us."

"By that logic, we should see if Samezuka hasn't left already, and ask Rin to come," Makoto added.

Rei stiffened. It wasn't Makoto's fault, mentioning Rin so casually, because he just wanted to include everyone. But Rin was exactly the topic Rei wanted to escape right now.

"No, it's all right. I think I promised my parents I'd come home right after the relay, even," Rei fibbed. He flipped open his black and white cell phone for added effect, acting as though oh yes there was indeed a text from his mother demanding he get home.

Makoto and Haruka exchanged a look before Makoto sighed. "All right. But next time for sure we'll all go out for some treat. Sound good?"

Haruka nodded, Rei smiled, and Nagisa grunted, but in the end the quartet split in half, and Haruka and Makoto headed home. Rei went to leave since it seemed that Nagisa was trying to decide if he'd crash at Haruka's instead when Nagisa called out to him.

"Rei-chan…"

With his back to Nagisa, Rei flinched. He didn't want to be lectured again. It had taken weeks and weeks of nagging from all three of them to convince him that he wasn't just a substitute for Rin, even though he knew that wasn't entirely true. But he really didn't need Nagisa's spiel again. Nevertheless, he caved and at least turned towards his classmate and friend.

Nagisa had his arms crossed in front of his chest, his cheeks puffed out a bit. He wasn't very angry, but he was annoyed. "We totally could've bummed a meal off Mako-chan," he said, catching up to Rei.

"Uh, yes, well… Studying…"

"And if it's history, you know I can help you with that. It's the one thing I can help you with."

Rei forced another partial smile. "Right, right…"

Nagisa sighed. "Rei-chan—lying isn't beautiful."

The blue-haired teen froze two steps ahead of his shorter friend. His face grew warm. Go figure that Nagisa would say something like that. "I—I wasn't lying."

"You've got bad form with lying, too."

"Hey!" Rei glared at him, and then turned the same shade of red as his frames. Obviously Nagisa had been counting on bothering Rei enough to get him to look him in the eye.

Nagisa grinned. "Well, you do. But I'm not trying to be mean. What's with you, though? You've been funny the whole day long."

Rei opened his mouth to reply, but his words caught in his throat. He was a bit stunned. He'd always thought that having close friends meant it was easier to talk to the other. It turned out he was wrong; the closer he was to someone, the harder the words were to say. With Nagisa, the words didn't even budge.

"I knew it." Nagisa's face was a blank slate. "We never should've let you switch with Rin-chan."

Ah, of course Nagisa would hit the nail on the head.

"Really…" The blond ran a hand through his hair. "Rei-chan, we only went along with it because you insisted. Well, I did because Mako-chan said we should… I didn't want to, though."

Rei wasn't sure what to say. "No, it's on me, Nagisa-kun. I… I wanted you guys to be happy, and that wasn't going to happen without being in a relay with Rin-san. I'm not as bothered as you think I am. In fact, I'm better knowing that I managed to help you guys enjoy the relay to the fullest."

Nagisa gave him a look.

"Honestly!" But if he were being honest, then why was he fumbling for his words? "I mean it. You guys are my friends, and I just want to see you guys be happy."

Nagisa closed his magenta eyes and shook his head. "Clichés also aren't beautiful, Rei-chan."

"So I can't use my own words right now—it doesn't mean that I don't mean any of it."

The shorter boy took a step closer and stared up at Rei. He reached up and…patted Rei on the head. "It's all right to do what you want, but don't make yourself sad, Rei-chan."

Rei frowned, but somehow his heart felt lighter. He nodded and Nagisa smiled. The night did seem a little cheerier now.

Nagisa nudged him onward, laughing. "You really are a terrible liar, though, Rei-chan. You, forgetting to study? It would never happen! And we don't have a history quiz coming up. Geez, you're too easy to figure out."

The taller boy laughed at himself a bit, and he rather enjoyed the train ride home. Neither of them said much when they walked after, until Rei realized Nagisa was still with him and yet he was almost home. "Nagisa-kun—"

"Rei-kun."

Hmm. That was a first. And yet "Rei-kun" sounded so nice coming from Nagisa. It made Rei stand at attention.

Nagisa plucked the other's mobile from his hands and smirked as he flipped it open. "If not to study, then you were to hurry home because your mom demanded it, right? Then how come no one's home?" he asked sweetly.

"Ah…" Rei grew flustered as Nagisa let himself inside. "What are you doing?"

The blond kicked off his shoes, and Rei could hear the smirk in his voice even though Nagisa's back was too him. "Obviously you don't need to be cheered up. So I'm just here to help you study for our non-existent history quiz." Nagisa glanced over his shoulder. "Rei."

Hearing "Rei"… Just how obvious about things had Rei been this whole time?

- ^-^3

REIGISA. It actually became slash right there in the end, but the set-up had to happen. Ah, all the lovely thoughts hinted at there… -w- I get the feeling that Nagisa's more devious than he lets on—he's deffo the seme. ;P Hence my need to write a Reigisa from Nagisa's POV…

Thanks for reading, and please review!

-mew-tsubaki B)