He's Mine

Pairing: Nagisa/Rei

A/N: Episode 5 left me dysfunctional, so I decided to write a little to let off some steam. Hopefully I didn't make Nagisa seem so OOC.

Disclaimer: This is a fan fiction of Free!, a light novel originally written by Kouji Ouji. I'm only a fan who watches the anime for the plot. Fufufu~ Who am I kidding, I just love half-naked boys all over each other.

Hazuki Nagisa has a secret trait that no one else knew about.

He is possessive, and sometimes exceedingly so.

He had first become aware of this quirky dark side of his usually cheerful, bubbly and jovial personality when he was in 5th grade. Standing at only 135cm, the 11 years old Nagisa was one of the shortest boys of his class, if not of the whole school. With a lithe frame and brilliant dark pink irises, his silky blonde locks accentuated his girlish features, making him look even more vulnerable and helpless. Add in an equally feminine name and voila, a perfect target of bullying and harassment.

It was not like Nagisa was too weak to fight back. After all, he was a member of the school's swim team, and a breaststroke swimmer at that, so his upper torso was unquestionably more built and defined than most. He could fight back if he wanted to (and if he did, he might've won), but he had things of far greater importance to accomplish in his life -like training harder for their upcoming relay event- so he always paid the bullies no heed when they whistled at him, called him names (nothing too nasty, just plain 'sissy' or 'loser') or whisper behind his back. In any case, the bullies were a minority; all the other kids loved being around him as his joyful aura was contagious.

They could go on and make fun of his name, jeer at him, taunt or mock him all they want, and Nagisa would simply smile merrily, not one bit miffed or bothered.

But no one, no one, messes with his things.

"Hey, prissy-pants. Mind sharing your lunch with us?"

Nagisa looked up to see four boys towering above him, evil intentions clearly portrayed on their faces. These were the boys who had continuously teased him, but always from far. God knows what made them want to approach him this time around. Maybe luck was just not in his favour.

"Waiting for your swimming seniors again? Hah! You and your girly-named friends must be pretty chummy with each other, huh?

The tallest one snatched away the lunch box from his left hand. Tiny grains of rice fell onto the ground, along with the octopus-shaped sausages, egg rolls and carrot slices his mother had painstakingly carved into little petals of flowers. Nagisa winced involuntarily.

"A girly bentou for a girly boy! Ohhhh, and what's this? A photograph?"

Another boy –lightly freckled and a bit tanned- grabbed his left hand and pried the photograph he had been looking at a few minutes ago away from his grasps. It was the memorial photo of their swimming quartet right after winning the relay, in which Haru-chan looked downright reluctant (but he was quite sure the tsundere freestyle swimmer was happy inside) while Rin-chan and Mako-chan grinned toothily; a sight he would surely come to miss once the three graduates elementary, leaving him lagging behind. Rin-chan would be leaving Japan for Australia soon, so the picture might as well be one of the last he could have of the wine-haired teammate. It was the last event they entered as a relay team too, seeing that Haru-chan had rejected any future plans of relay competitions.

The photograph held many pleasant memories. It was his treasure.

'This boy is going to tear it apart. I know he's going to.'

In that instant, his heartbeat steadily increased rapidly, anger and irritation contorting his facial muscles that were so accustomed to smiles into making an expression so filled with fury and hatred it felt foreign on his face; almost as if he was a different person altogether. All Nagisa could think of doing was to protect the things he loved, to retrieve what was rightfully his.

"Hey. That's mine."

The leader of the group of boys who tried to extort him ended up with 3 broken ribs, a dislocated kneecap and numerous dark violet bruises on his face, and two of his faithful followers suffered from cuts in the mouth, a few missing teeth and arms bent in ways human anatomy would normally never allow. The sole survivor of that fateful encounter in the school backyard –a boy who was just a tad bit taller than him, but with a face like that of a thug- escaped Nagisa's wrath unscathed, but the terror that was etched deep in his memories was more than enough to teach him a lesson.

Never mess with Hazuki Nagisa's possessions.

As he grew older, Nagisa's extreme sense of protectiveness towards his properties gradually lessened -mainly because he had moved to new vicinity quite a distance from his previous home, away from those imbeciles who provoked him in the first place- but that clenching tightness in his chest and that dull throbbing ache along with the sensation of heated blood rushing to his head every single time he sees someone laying their hands on his things were still there, just not as severe as before.

Moving away also meant getting separated from his dearest friends; Haru-chan, Mako-chan and Rin-chan. Without the friends he had cherished so much, his middle school life was pretty much mundane and mediocre; just fitting in (which he had no problem of doing, thanks to his convivial nature), hitting puberty, growing taller (albeit too little, making him still the shortest boy, much to his dismay) and falling in and out of love. Naturally, the blonde did manage to look less feminine than he used to be, and his nickname morphed from 'sissy' into 'shota' instead. He was quite popular among shota-loving schoolmates, but the relationships he had were nevertheless short-lived.

"Nagisa-kun, I'm sorry… I do think that being selfish and possessive is cute, but you're just... you're just overdoing it."

"What are you saying? I thought we were doing great!"

"I'm really sorry! I just can't keep up with you."

'Ah… I've done it again. She thinks I was being clingy and overprotective.' Nagisa looked away for a brief moment, grappling with the smashing reality of being dumped for the 3rd time this month. 'That's a pity. And she is so cute, too.' Recollecting his lost composure, he calmly turned back to the petite brunette in front of him.

"It's okay. I understand." Always, he would always repeat the same parting words accompanied with the same template patented 'Nagisa' smile in a pathetic attempt to ease her guilt. The brunette was taken aback by the dazzling smile, almost as if successfully seeing through his little façade and thinking what a shame it was to let go of him. But then she sighed in relief and turned around to leave him after reciprocating the smile, her light blue skirt fluttering in the wind, unknowingly carrying a piece of Nagisa's shattered heart with her.

"Too possessive, huh? Well, I can't change that. It's just the way I am."

Nagisa never allowed himself to fall in love again after that, that was until he entered high school and met Ryugazaki Rei.

A/N: This is inspired by the scene where Rei wore Nagisa's speedo, making all hormonal fangirls think that Nagisa is openly marking Rei as his :3 It will be a multi-chapter, hopefully reaching up to 10 chapters. It'll mainly comprise of Nagisa yearning for Rei's love, chasing after the megane with undeterred passion and getting all possessive over him. Any comments? Requests on what you would like to see? Reviews are welcomed.