A/N: I may come back and fix bits and pieces of this chapter later. Parts of it I really like, parts of it I'm kinda ehhh about. Writing for Rei is so much harder than Nagisa, is2g. On that (probably discouraging, whoops!) note, I hope you enjoy!

Also, since this site doesn't include chapter details, this fic is intended to be 5 chapters long in total.

Chapter 2

Rei is in the process of slipping out of his coat when the staff room door opens. Kou strides in, ponytail swishing behind her as she makes her way to the storage cupboard. He can feel himself blending into the background, as is the usual when she's on a mission, so he offers a polite, "Good afternoon," without expecting much notice in return.

"Oh, hey Rei!" She casts him a quick, bright smile, and then swings open the all-too-heavy stock room door with such force that still doesn't cease to amaze him. It remains held open by her foot as she proceeds to lean forward and let the darkness inside swallow her entire torso. "Someone really needs to fix this goddamn light," she mutters, despite being able to balance rather expertly on her toes.

He assumes she's trying to match her customer's order code to one of the items but it is literally an impossible task with a blown out light bulb and only the half-hearted flickering lights in their staff room to do the job.

They have both pleaded with their boss for months to hire someone to fix the issue but she seems to be under the impression that if she leaves it long enough they will eventually fix it themselves. Rei has attempted to reason with Miho, making it abundantly clear that he is a Physics major, not an electrical engineering student or something of the sort, but she simply waves her hand and says she'll get round to it. It's a miracle, really, that no one has been electrocuted by the open fuse yet. Nothing will change until one of us actually is, most likely…

Neither of them attempts to try the flashlight anymore, either. They get told off for wasting product batteries on it.

Jacket now removed and hung up, Rei takes the weight of the door with his hand and holds it as wide as possible to at least let through an inkling of light.

"Hey, you know—oh, thanks!—" Dropping back down to her two feet, Kou now looks through the boxes at closer inspection. "—Your boyfriend is here, by the way."

Rei feels a frown tug at his lips. Whomever she is speaking about, he's quite sure he has not entered into a relationship with anyone. He's not even sure they have any mutual friends out with work colleagues, so how she would even know escapes him. "What?"

"Yeah, I'm collecting something for him, actually," she continues casually, practically shoving the customer's reference card in his face when she waves it behind her. He plucks it from her fingertips and adjusts his glasses, reading the name printed in neat hand. Well, that name did sound familiar, but he had been the one to write it, after all. Was he not the one who—Oh.

His cheeks flush and he stutters out a weak, "H-he's not—we're not—"

"Oh my god, I can practically hear you blushing, Rei!" Kou returns from the depths of the room, a small parcel in her hands. One look at his all too red face has her grinning from ear to ear. He quickly adjusts his glasses, letting the door fall closed. "I'm not gonna judge you, you know, it's all cool. He's cute."

No, that's—that is not the issue here!

"Kou, he's not—"

"Rei, stop worrying!" she laughs, slapping his arm lightly. "You can like whoever you want. I mean, I did always wonder why you never looked at the girls who come into the store…"

She holds the package under her arm to keep it out of the way and Rei's stomach sinks. He knows exactly what is coming. "Rei, it's okay if you prefer this," she pauses, pushing her two index fingers against each other. He's dying inside. This is it; he's going to start his shift completely mortified by her teasing yet again and be a fumbling mess. That doesn't stop him from watching as Kou curls the fingers of one hand so that they make a small entryway, into which she inserts her index finger. She continues, "To this. It's totally okay."

He is beyond flustered now; he won't even try to hide it. She's playing with him, he knows she is (and she knows all too well how to push his buttons) but he rises to the bait regardless, every single time.

"Oh god, Kou, no, not again—that's– that could be either anyway! But—but you know why I don't!"

"Yeah yeah, 'cause you're ace or whatever, I know." She giggles, illusion broken, bangs bobbing around her face. "Sorry Rei, I'm just kidding. But you know what? I'm also hungry, so," she says, pressing the package into his hand, "I think I'll take my fifteen minute break now and you can finish serving the cutie by the till!"

She gives him a wink, then ushers him out the door.

Rei takes a moment to compose himself, willing away his red stained cheeks and heavy breathing. Kou can be lovely but sometimes he thinks she lives life to torment people just when they've began to consider her a trustworthy friend. What's more, if she hadn't gone into a spiel about, well, that, he's quite sure she could have offered him some useful advice.

When he heads towards the counter he finds the blond absently playing with one of the stores free sample packets of lubricant, leaning over the desk and twirling it between his fingers. This seems to be a habit of his. He tries not to admit to himself that it's perhaps one of the most adorable habits a person can have. Nagisa stops abruptly though when Rei slips behind the counter. The blond's eyes positively light up and he accidentally flicks the little packet across the counter as he straightens himself. It hits Rei's chest and they both watch as it slides down his shirt towards the floor.

Rei allows his lips to curve into a smirk. Under any other circumstances, this blond would irritate him to no end, but he is just too cute. Absolutely ridiculous, of course, but painfully endearing all the same. He doesn't recall ever having a customer be so consistently flustered and make so many blunders and actually return. Nothing fazes him.

He's crushing, he realises. He's crushing hard. This is terrible. He can't have a crush on a customer, especially not when I work in a store like this! It would come across as disturbing or creepy, there really was no way around it, and he couldn't—

"You okay?" the blond asks. He had been laughing previously but now his face is taking on a pout as his giggles subside. They turn into an awkward chuckle instead as he says, "Uh, sorry for hitting you…"

Gosh, he looks so sweet, with his eyebrows knitted together and his bit eyes focussed on Rei (who is hard-pressed to find an excuse not to gaze into them, they're such a strangely lovely colour…).

"Yes, yes, sorry. I was just—thinking." Rei dips down quickly to pick up the forgotten packet, and for a second to recompose and banish the offending redness in his cheeks. He pops the packet back into its stand when he returns. His eyes hover over to the computer so that he doesn't have to make eye contact. This is precisely the kind of reaction Kou had hoped he would have. He makes a mental note not to help her out next time her customer-crush, who just so unfortunately happens to be her brother's swimming coach, is in the store.

"So, Hazuki Nagisa, yes?"

"Mm-hm!" the blond hums.

Rei pulls out a bag and pops the boxed package inside, and then remembers that he forgot to explain why he is even here. He doesn't want to come across as overeager to serve the blond. Of all the workplaces to get a crush on a customer. "Oh! Kou was due a break, sorry for taking over for her so suddenly."

Nagisa's eyes widen dramatically and Rei worries that he has said something horribly wrong – or worse. Did he speak his mind there without realising?!

"Kou? As in Matsuoka Gou?" he asks frantically.

Oh, thank god. "Y-yes…?"

"Oh my god, Rinrin's sister works here? I thought she looked familiar!"

Oh. That would not do. Kou had warned him, many times and quite violently, that it was of the utmost importance that her brother did not find out she worked here. No exceptions. Here's hoping that the blond would not tattle – assuming that he didn't want to get caught making purchases from such a store. Rei wasn't quite sure Nagisa was the type to really mind about that being a secret though.

"I… believe so," Rei hedges. "I don't think Kou would like for her brother to find out, though."

Nagisa grins, nods viciously. "Of course, of course! I don't really see Rin much anyway."

Well, that was some comfort. He decides it best to finish serving the blond and steer away from this topic. Teasing from Kou was bad enough; he didn't particularly want to find out what threats were like from her.

"Have you been in to buy any lubricant since your last visit?" he questions. The blond's eyes snap open again, clearly not expecting the sudden conversion changer. It had seemed less abrupt in Rei's head. He's really not doing himself any favours today, is he?

"No," Nagisa replies, glancing curiously across the store at a particular display of lubricant. "I remember you saying something about how the toy I got needs a special type because the others will burn through the plastic, or something. Thought I'd be best juts to get it when I picked up my order!"

"Yea—no," Rei stops himself from almost saying. He had said to use water-based lubricants because they wouldn't damage the plastic not that other lubes would burn through it. That would—how would that even work? What does he think is in the lubricants? Acid? If it could burn through plastic, god knows what it would do to your skin, he was ludicrous to think that—Really? He holds his tongue to spare Nagisa a lecture on the breakdown of lubricants and their ingredients. This blond would be the end of him. Ridiculous! He is absolutely ridiculous!

But I have the biggest of crushes on him. Dear lord.

He smiles. Nagisa's… attempt at remembering is close enough. At least he was trying to heed the advice given, unlike a handful of customers Rei has served in the past. Some tales he had heard (not all lube-related adventures) would haunt his dreams for years.

Rei slides the bag across the counter, quickly checks the order as collected, then heads over towards the main stand of lubricants and aphrodisiacs. The blond follows behind him. He begins by pointing out the basics, in particular those that would not "burn through" his purchase, and then the more enhanced lubricants with differing qualities. He tries not to ramble this time but Nagisa seems eager to listen today; not off in a daze like last time.

He's about to move onto the aphrodisiacs and stimulants when Nagisa queries, "Okay, so, this warming one and this tingling one. Which one is better?" He holds one in each hand, as if physically weighing them against each other holds the answer.

"Well," Rei begins, judging how best to tackle the question. He is perfectly fine highlighting his own experiences when suitable, but doing so in front of a crush? Now that is entirely different. Unease settles in his chest.

Go for a generic answer, one half of him says. Really, it's not very clear-cut, which is why he would usually input his own experience into his answer, along with reports from customers. This is a fine way to handle the situation, yes. It seems grossly inappropriate to start telling Nagisa what he uses. But it's not as if he knows you have a crush on him, the other half reminds him. Also true. You make a compelling argument, he concedes. Treating the blond like a normal customer will help vanquish any apprehension. He hopes.

"Personally, I have found the Heat Wave one to have little effect when I've—well, yes, b-but its dependent on the person, really! Customers have told me that the Cool one is of no use to them." He takes a breath. That could have gone better but it wasn't horrible. The blond is still looking between the two with a frown, though. Nagisa's head tilts to the side, considering. His hair falls in motion with it, bangs brushing his cheeks. His hair is a mess, truly, a bit of a walking bedhead, but it suits him well.

"We have samples of the Cool Tingle, if you'd like one?" Rei offers, careful not to ramble on about what other samples they have. "I don't think we have any of the others, not at the moment anyway."

Nagisa grins. "Yeah, that'd be great!" He pops the two bottles back on the shelf and picks up the plain water-based lubricant instead; the basic one Rei had advised. "Some of these names are so good. Slide N Ride, Booty Relax…" He giggles. "You've got a great advertising campaign going on here. I wanna by them all just for their names!"

Rei smiles. He personally finds the names rather pointless – he much prefers it when lubricants simply say 'tingling lube' to 'Sexy Cool' because what does that even mean? – but he's happy to see that the manufacturer's efforts to entertain aren't going to waste, especially since they elicited such a sweet laugh from the blond. Everything about him is sweet, if he's honest with himself, which he doesn't particularly want to be at a time like this. The little ball in his chest knots. Why can't I have these revelations when I'm not giving advice on how to use sex toys?

Nagisa is talking again. He doesn't notice until the blond interrupts his own words with an eruption of "Gou!" and is suddenly out of his line of vision.

"It's Kou!" the redhead barks instinctively, then looks utterly horrified for shouting at a customer. She is half way through her second bow of apology when, wide-eyed, she suddenly cries out a confused "Nagisa?" in response.

.

Nagisa visits the store quite frequently after that. He stops by at least once a week, sometimes just to browse or pick up lube, but he has bought a few things that Rei would consider… well, let's just say he is moving up in toys faster than expected. Rei has seen frequent customers before but not quite like this.

Perhaps he has a partner he is buying for. He doesn't admit to himself that it's a sad thought, particularly with their potential budding friendship (what with the number of times he visits, it would be impossible for Rei and Kou not to be on friendly terms with him).

He doesn't ask, though. He is only there to advise on the next level or what stimulant would be of the best effect. He finds himself rather wanting to help the blond besides; he would blush to think it but he rather likes knowing that he is the one helping him have a good time.

.