Strawberry Love

(FREE! Nagisa Hazuki x Rei Ryugazaki)

"Rei-chan," Nagisa yelled, "wait for me"! Rei Ryugazaki slowed his pace to allow the blond to regain speed, though he did not halt completely. They were in a hurry to catch the train, which was about to leave the station at any moment. Just as the train was almost full, Rei and Nagisa squeezed inside. Due to the tight fit, Nagisa saw the perfect chance to make a move on Rei.

"Ah! Rei-chan, catch me"! Nagisa blurted, purposely stumbling onto him as soon as Rei took a seat. Rei hastily caught the "damsel in distress," Nagisa, and frowned.

"Nagisa-kun, you really should be more cautious," Rei lectured, "You could end up getting hurt with such a bad sense of balance."

Nagisa released a small, frustrated sigh and continued to his Plan B. He giggled, putting his arm around Rei's shoulders. He then proceeded to pull bread out of seemingly nowhere, begging, "Hey, Rei! You should really try this. I know Haru didn't like it, but he only really eats mackerel, so he doesn't count." Nagisa attempted to feed the reluctant Rei his bred, but to no avail.

"I really don't like sweets, due to the imbalance of nutrition it causes. Besides...WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU KEEPING IT? It couldn't have just materialized in your hand"!

"Oh, c'mon, Rei-chan! I'll give you this if you try it," Nagisa coaxed, pulling out an Iwatobi-chan doll.

"Wh-where...WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?" Rei exclaimed as Nagisa chuckled uncontrollably.

After his multiple failed attempts to win Rei's heart over with bread and playful teasing, Nagisa arrived home and collapsed on his bed, tossing his school supplies aside. How was he supposed to gain the affection of the oblivious Rei? He had tried everything he could think of in the past. Suddenly, Nagisa sprung up in the light of an epiphany.

"I know! I'll ask for advice from someone with experience," he shouted as a smug grin spread across his face.

"GOU-CHAAN~" Nagisa screamed after swimming practice the next day.

"It's Kou...oh, forget it. What is it?"

In a hushed voice, Nagisa replied, "I need your help with..erm...winning someone over. I decided to come to you because of how you seem to use sex appeal to get what you want anyways."

Kou was speechless for a few stunned seconds, and then scowled at Nagisa.

"What do you mean I use sex appeal to get what I want?! That's not true"! Kou retorted, "But I'll answer your question anyways, so consider yourself lucky. Now go ahead and ask before I change my mind."

Nagisa grabbed Kou by the arms tightly and looked her dead in the eyes.

"How do you capture someone's heart if you can't get them to be interested in what you say?"

Kou blushed, and softy responded, "Well...the most important thing is to be yourself, of course. However, maybe you can get their interest by talking about a passion of theirs."

Promptly, Miho Amakata and Coach Goro approached the two teens, to give their own advice. Kou and Nagisa looked at each other as to say, " Were they really eavesdropping?"

but listened patiently.

"That's very wise, Kou-chan"! Ama-chan praised, "I have a quote for that as well: 'Words build bridges into unexplored regions.' I don't remember who said it, but it's a very nice quote, don't you think?"

Goro stood tall and declared, "Don't worry Nagisa. Any girl would be willing to date someone on the swim team"! Nagisa became embarrassed, yet thanked his coach for the uplifting statement anyways.

"Alrighty, everyone! Thanks for the advice," squealed Nagisa. He knew exactly how he was going to spark Rei's interest, and it would be the hardest thing he had ever done.

The next morning, Nagisa scanned the interior of the train for Rei. He finally spotted him and pushed through the people to sit with him. Rei blushed, shuffling his school supplies to the side.

"I saved this seat for you," muttered Rei, smiling obliviously. Nagisa plopped down and prepared himself to finally get Rei's attention. They were silent the whole train ride, occasionally exchanging awkward glances. When Rei exited the train to make his daily run from the last block to school, Nagisa followed him.

"Rei," Nagisa murmured, "I have something I want to tell you, and I mean this seriously."

"That's new," Rei chuckled, unable to believe that Nagisa was going to actually say something serious for a change, still jogging a few feet in front of the younger teen .

Nagisa groaned, "No, I mean it! Okay, here goes...My love for you is like an exponential curve-it's unbounded." Rei tripped over his own feet, falling face-first onto the ground. "Rei? Rei, are you okay? I'm so sorryyyy," blabbered Nagisa, while helping Rei to his feet.

"I-I'm okay," stated Rei, returning to an upright position, "Where did you...I thought you hated math.."

"Oh, I do, but I learned that to get you to be interested in what I have to say. I memorized more of those because you use math and theories to do everything. That's why you fail at lots of stuff, right, Rei-chan?" Nagisa snickered. Rei, though slightly offended by that last comment, blushed, flattered. Nagisa continued, "I really like you, Rei-chan. It's just hard to get you to not focus on theories and to focus more on the affection and passion that comes with everything. So what do you day? Will you let me integrate our curves so I can increase our volume?"

Rei blushed hard once more, thinking Does he even realize what he is saying?

He sighed, pushing his glasses up. "I'll think about it," he replied while turning his nose up. Then, he continued his final stretch to school, with an impatient Nagisa trailing behind him.

When the strenuous school day ended, Nagisa excitedly entered the train. However, the train seemed to be absent of Rei. Crap, I hope i didn't deter him, Nagisa worried. Though he was upset, he tried to remain optimistic. He pulled out his pink cell phone and frantically texted Rei.

"Hey, Rei-chan! I'm sorry if I scared you earlier. I hope you are alright and aren't mad. Text back when you get the chance," he wrote. Nagisa spent the majority of his afternoon waiting for a response that never arrived. However, just as he was about to give up hope, he received this text:

"Nagisa, come over immediately.

-Rei Ryugazaki"

Nagisa immediately jumped up and prepared to go to Rei's house. Due to the vagueness of the text, he could not determine if it was positive or negative, so he grabbed a stick from the ground on the way for protection. As soon as he arrived, he heard a scream from inside. Nagisa swiftly opened the door, raising the stick to attack. However, he was surprised to see Rei on the floor covered in strawberry frosting.

"W-what's going on, Rei-chan? It sounded like you were being attacked"! Nagisa inquired as

he exhaled a relieved sigh.

"Oh, um..well I baked you sweets," Rei stated, pointing to the table, "But as I went to put the used dishes away, I accidentally tripped and spilled all this frosting. I guess my balance isn't so beautiful either.." Nagisa-kun's eyes widened as he surveyed the table, which was decorated with

the sweetest assortments, most of which were composed of strawberry flavors, such as strawberry shortcake, miniature cakes with strawberry frosting, and even boxes of strawberry Pocky. "There is also strawberry ice cream, but I needed to keep that at a freezing temperature, of course," Rei explained, pushing his glasses up once again.

Nagisa's heart raced with happiness and affection for Rei.

"You did all this for me? Ah, Rei-chan this is so wonderful"! Nagisa blurted, pouncing on Rei. He tenderly kissed Rei's cheek and hugged him. Rei blushed, and completely reddened when Nagisa took some of the frosting from Rei's face with his finger and gratefully sucked it up. He couldn't wait to get started on not only the sweets, but on his budding relationship with Rei as well.