Nagisa blinked. "You want me to speak English with you?"

Yuuji nodded. "Just for practice," he explained. "I mean, 'cause I know you're good at that stuff."

It was just the two of them inside the room. Nagisa was turned halfway around in his seat, torso facing Yuuji with one hand braced against the back of the chair as he stared upwards, blue eyes lightly curious. A laptop lay closed on top of the desk in front of him. Yuuji met his gaze, fighting off a light blush. Dammit, why the sudden prickle of nerves? Yuuji cursed inwardly. It wasn't like he was asking him out on a date or anything. Wait, did something even count as a date if it was in your own house?

Still, Yuuji kept his gaze steady. If he had wanted to, he could have made an excuse that it was for work, that his bosses had asked him to put in a little practice in order to better communicate with their foreigner correspondents, but that wasn't quite true. And Yuuji had promised himself that he would never deceive himself when it came to things about Nagisa ever again. Whether it was calling something a date, or deciding what to think of his feelings—Yuuji had messed up far too often in the past to keep pretending now. That only brought hurt. So, like all others from now on, this offer was from the heart.

At last, Nagisa nodded. "Sure," said the young man. "I don't see why not."

Yuuji didn't even attempt to hide the happiness he felt at his acceptance, but he did at least try to play it a bit cool.

Later that evening they sat down at the low-lying table.

"Okay," Nagisa said, giving Yuuji a gentle smile as he flopped a small folder onto the tabletop beside them. "This might be kind of fun, actually. It's been a while since I got to sit down and go over this with someone."

Yuuji nodded, sitting casually and leaning back on both arms. He cast an inquisitive glance around the room. "Where's Karma?"

"He's doing something." Nagisa shrugged. "The stock market doesn't watch itself."

Then his attention turned back to Yuuji. "So how much do you know?" Nagisa asked, his tone curious rather than judging.

Yuuji frowned. "Hmm. That's kind of a hard question to answer. I don't really know how you'd go about measuring something like that… Though I did get through high school language classes, so I guess I've got the basics down, at least."

He scratched his head self-consciously. "I mean, I have to know a little English for work anyway. I've even made interviews in English before—questions from both the asking and receiving side. Conducting stuff entirely in a foreign language was…super tough, but I managed to pull it off that time. But even then, I could always get somebody else in the office to check my script before we began."

Nagisa's face brightened. "Oh, alright! That sounds great, actually. So we can start from that base…"

The young man began readying their study materials. As Yuuji watched, Nagisa sorted through a small pencil bag, fishing out writing implements and flashcards along with a few erasers. Nagisa's face positively glowed with excitement, a rare shimmer coming to the man's eyes. His arms and hands flashed over the table with deft, energetic movements.

Heh. Yuuji found himself giving a fond smile at the sight. "That's right. English used to be your specialty back in middle school, wasn't it?"

"And high school," Nagisa said. He gave a small smirk. "And beyond."

Yuuji felt a playful spark zip through the center of his stomach at the man's words. Ah. So the young man could be sassy at times. How alluring.

At the same time, another thought struck Yuuji. He cleared his throat and decided to ask before he could lose his nerve: "Hey," Yuuji began. "Uh…how many languages do you know, anyway?"

Nagisa glanced over at him. "That's a good question," the young man sighed, losing himself in thought for a moment. "Well, language-learning ability is an essential tool in an assassin's repertoire. Not only the skills needed to speak a different language, but to speak naturally, are hugely important in order to communicate best with an employer and eliminate one's accent so as not to alert a possible target. So most of what I know comes from being put in that environment."

He gave an embarrassed chuckle. "So uh, that's both my excuse and my explanation for this." Then Nagisa took a breath and listed: "Japanese and English, fluent in both. Also, a lot of Russian, and Arabic. Maybe some Chinese. Uh, you know, all the ones that are important in many current crisis zones of the world."

"As for others…hmm," he said. "Maybe some French and Spanish. B-but I'm far from confident in those, really!" Nagisa said, waving his hands frantically while his face took on a look of bashful self-consciousness. "Honestly I only know enough to string together basic sentences, and even then I wouldn't trust myself to speak…"

Yuuji nodded, feeling genuine awe dawn across his heart. That was much more knowledge than anybody else he knew. Much more than he would have even thought of. Yuuji didn't know how all of that could fit inside a person's brain, and his gaze caught on Nagisa's hair for a second—what was it like inside of that head? "Are you kidding me? You know way more than me at the very least," Yuuji said, trying to compliment the other man. "That's honestly on a whole 'nother level."

"Not at all." Nagisa gave a little laugh. "One of my old teachers could apparently speak ten different languages. And she kept up with them fluently!"

Yuuji's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Wow. No kidding? That's amazing!" he said. "Is this kind of stuff easy for you superhumans?" That was right, Yuuji remembered, it had been a while since he had been reminded of this. The people who hung out with Nagisa really were incredible.

Nagisa just shrugged. "Honestly, it gets easier after a while," Nagisa said, his kind tone never wavering. "Once you get used to it, expanding your mind is actually pretty fun."

In response, Yuuji nodded. But a question from before still tickled at the back of his brain. He shifted in his seat, taking a quick breath before speaking again. "And where…have you had to use all of these before?" he asked.

Silently, Yuuji bit his lip. Not so deep beneath those words lurked a different question—one that had been lingering quietly all this time. Maybe for longer than Yuuji would have been willing to admit. He almost felt stupid for bringing it up again, but something in Yuuji's chest hurt whenever he tried to put it away, so he figured he might as well get it out now. Where have you been all these years?

Of course, Nagisa picked up on the hidden meaning. That was no surprise. The young man slowed in tapping a sheaf of paper gently against the tabletop. "I've been…many places," he started slowly.

"I know you spent the last few years abroad," Yuuji snorted, cutting the other man off before he could redirect the conversation. "Or something like that. But what you never told me was specifically where."

"Hmm. Yes. Well, telling you specifically where would have been a security issue. But I've been to many countries: the United States, the UK, Taiwan, a brief stint in the Middle East. Russia, lots of places within Japan, Korea." Nagisa gave the list with a smile. "Honestly, I feel like I've been centered on Asia, but the Western world has it's own…intrigue, I must admit."

Yuuji took this in with wide eyes, the words entering his ears and sinking down into his thoughts. It felt almost as if a thin curtain had just been drawn back from somewhere. Putting words to where Nagisa had been was fascinating. And damn if it didn't also make Yuuji feel kind of bad in comparison.

Yuuji's jaw set. What was the tally on his side? Oh yeah, knowing only one language and a little bit of textbook-level English! God, did he expect the world to revolve around him or something? No, Yuuji admitted, calming himself down, that wasn't it. It was just that this level of language was all he needed to know for his daily life. Still, he resolved to try harder.

Quietly, Yuuji hid a grin. Dammit, Nagisa always made him want to become better.

"Anyway," Nagisa said, holding up a thin notebook with English lettering on the front. "Shall we start?"

They dabbled around for a while, going over grammar and exploring different points until they found something to work with. Whenever they did find something to focus on, the two of them would remain there for a bit, Nagisa explaining and Yuuji concentrating hard on learning. The blue-haired man would say something, and Yuuji would repeat it back. Nagisa would give him a prompt. Yuuji would hesitate, sweating in nervousness for a moment before stuttering out something that resembled a sentence. All become sound, wrapped in the unfamiliar flow of language and fine-tuning of grammar. Yuuji's brain began to hurt from getting a workout on such concepts for the first time in years.

Meanwhile, Yuuji concentrated on Nagisa's face. The man taught with an air of confidence, his movements enthusiastic yet controlled. Every once in a while he would gesture when explaining an idea, his movements guiding them both through. His expression seemed to have the ability to remain pleasantly calm even when going over the most confusing of concepts. Occasionally, when they were right in the middle of something, Nagisa's speech would pick up pace, voice becoming excited as if it were he himself learning the material for the first time and not Yuuji.

He really must have enjoyed being a tutor back in middle school, Yuuji reflected. Or at least, must have been good at it. Nagisa had even brought a drawing pad and thick markers for them to use, handy for writing up conjugation charts or doodling explanations. Yuuji smiled as the young man launched into yet another strange, military-themed metaphor. Bright and engaged, Nagisa always kept it interesting.

But accents. Accents were hard. No matter how much Yuuji struggled, he just couldn't seem to get the right sounds to roll off his tongue. And the hot sting of embarrassment soon made it hard to even want to try. In contrast, Nagisa seemed to have the harsh sounds of American English down. The cacophonous sounds sounded so smooth once they were wrapped in his voice, approaching something almost like a melody.

"-the difference between the L and R sound is vital," Nagisa continued explaining. "In our language there's just one sound stationed kind of in-between the two, but to the native English speaker these two sounds are incredibly distinct. I know you already know this from school, but it's really worth going over. Misusing one in place of the other can lead to all sorts of strange miscommunications."

"Oh yeah, how so?" Yuuji grunted, trying to hide his frustration. L, R, whatever, he had a 50-50 chance of getting it right and that's what he had been using so far.

A funny look came to Nagisa's face, as if resisting a painful memory. "Uhh, well. To tell the truth, swapping them often ends up creating an entirely different word." He cleared his throat. "For instance, if you were to say 'The children are outside playing on the glass', that would have a very different effect on people than 'The children are outside playing on the grass'."

Yuuji blinked as the meanings slowly hit him. "Oh."

"Yeah." Nagisa smiled. "Also, 'playing' versus 'praying', 'lice' versus 'rice, 'clown' versus 'crown'."

"This language is crazy."

Nagisa laughed. "No, it's just different. Japanese is pretty crazy too, honestly."

After they had worked for a bit, Nagisa moved on. "Another important pronunciation point is 'w' and 'v'," Nagisa said. He emphasized the two sounds, pursing his lips together. "Really, if you ask me, most schools don't teach it very well over here. I was always told to 'bite your bottom lip', but in reality it's more like a light tap on the inner edge with your teeth…"

Yuuji concentrated as best he could. Dutifully, he repeated the sounds after Nagisa, struggling to change how his mouth shaped them. It wasn't easy to break old habits. As Nagisa demonstrated, Yuuji found himself following along, his eyes entranced by the movement of Nagisa's lips and tongue. Yuuji told himself it was just for language-learning purposes, but he had to admit, it was starting to become a good excuse to let his gaze wander.

Of course, the other man's instincts were sharp enough to catch him whenever his gaze lingered, so Yuuji kept those wanderings brief.

"Alright, that's good enough for now," Nagisa said, signaling the end of their pronunciation unit after Yuuji stuttered through yet another mangled series of words. "Well done, Yuuji."

Yuuji grimaced and looked away. "You don't need to pretend," he mumbled.

"Pretend? I'm not faking anything," said Nagisa. "Honestly, I think I hear some great improvement."

Yuuji hesitated. Had he actually gotten better at speaking over the course of their practice drills? Yuuji reflected on it. He didn't think he had. "No way."

"Now, now," Nagisa chided, putting away the notebook and bringing out a fresh eraser. "Don't be so hard on yourself. Making sounds in English is a lot harder than in Japanese. Did you know? A lot of sounds exist in English that don't exist in Japanese. So when we go from our language to theirs, we literally have to invent sounds that we've never spoken before. Our muscles don't have the experience for it yet. That's why it's so difficult." He gave another kind smile. "So, you're not stupid."

"Oh," said Yuuji, a sudden lightbulb going off in his head—the kind that, once he had been made aware, made him wonder why he hadn't seen it there all along. "That makes a lot of sense."

Nagisa nodded. "See? So you're not dumb for having to struggle through it at first. When we enter into something new, we all have to make adjustments, doing our best with what we have and concentrating on reaching the places we want to be."

Nagisa blinked, as if realizing that his phrasing actually held more implications related to their lives. The man blushed and glanced to the side. "Um. Anyway."

They continued on for a bit more, Yuuji following along, doing exercises and participating in practice conversations, sometimes asking a few questions just to watch as the young man's face would light up during a particularly fascinating answer. After a while, things quieted down. The atmosphere inside the room seemed to enter a dreamy state.

Yuuji stared over at Nagisa, not even knowing what he was thinking about. His mind felt like it was coated in a light fog.

Of course, Nagisa noticed. He glanced over at him. "What's up?"

Yuuji remained quiet for a moment. Then he opened his mouth and spoke. "I want to learn how to say 'I love you'."

The other man's face flushed bright red.

"You should already know that," Nagisa mumbled, looking down in order to hide the pink on his cheeks.

"Well, yeah," said Yuuji. "Kinda. We went over it in school and stuff, but…it's not the same. Like you said, it's not the same as how people really say it, right? Plus, since you're able to get rid of your accent, it sounds more real coming from you." Following the bit of jittery courage in his stomach, Yuuji summoned up a wink. "Besides, I like how you say it."

Nagisa had rarely looked so flustered. At least, not in Yuuji's wealth of experience. But still, the young man put down his pencil and nodded, blue bangs falling in front of his eyes for a moment. He shook them away and sighed. Turning to Yuuji, he sat up and placed one hand over his own chest, where his heart would be.

"Ai-looove-yuu," he sounded out. "It goes like that. 'I love you'," Nagisa said again, blushing as he looked at Yuuji, but still managing it.

Yuuji nodded. He repeated the words, lips curling around the unfamiliar syllables. He stuttered, stopped. Tried again. It was tricky, with both of those L and V sounds being right in the middle.

Finally, after a couple of tries, he got it.

"I lllllove, you," Yuuji said, making sure to get the tongue flicks just right. "I love you," he repeated.

Taking a deep breath, he gazed directly into Nagisa's ocean-blue eyes and said it again, with more feeling. "I love you."

Nagisa nodded. The man didn't say a word, but he looked complimented, as if Yuuji's intentions had still managed to reach him.

Somehow, the sounds said aloud had set off an amusing realization in the back of Yuuji's mind. Yuuji gave a cheeky grin. He sidled up to Nagisa and pointed toward himself. "Hey," he said in English. "Can you say, 'I love Yuu-ji'?"

Nagisa stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"C'mon," Yuuji said, still grinning. "Give it a try. It's so similar anyways. I wanna hear you say it."

Nagisa continued to double over, his face bright with amusement. His laugh was as soaring and clear as a bell. He waved one hand toward Yuuji, both setting up a barrier and as if to say no way. Yuuji drifted closer, soon bringing them less than a dozen centimeters apart.

Finally, Nagisa broke. He brought his head up, giving Yuuji a brief peck on the cheek before pulling away and smiling up at him. "I love you, Yuuji!" he said.

Yuuji frowned. "Hey, c'mon, that's not quite right."

"That's how they say it overseas," Nagisa insisted, still hiding a grin. "The 'you' has to be in there."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. It would be weird to say 'I love Yuuji' to you, since you're Yuuji, but…" Nagisa shook his head to dispel the half-attempted explanation. "Nevermind. That's fine. You did well."

Yuuji nodded. He thought for a moment, another idea just occurring to him. "Are there any other ways to say the same thing?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Like…" Yuuji struggled. "There's multiple levels to everything, isn't there? Like, 'I like you' versus 'I love you'…"

Nagisa watched him. "W-well," the other man stuttered after a moment of thought. "There are plenty."

"Like?" Yuuji asked again with an open gaze. He was honestly curious.

Nagisa shifted. The man took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then, he began to speak.

"Hey, How are you doing, I missed you, Are you okay, This made me think of you, Sorry I'm late, Let me help, Can I get you anything, I'll be thinking of you, Do you like this, Be safe, You can call me anytime, We'll figure it out, I got something you might like, What do you think about this, You were on my mind today, Everything will be alright, I admire you, Stay with me for a while, I was just thinking about you, I care, You are important to me, You can do it, I believe in you…"

Yuuji remained silent. He listened to each and every word, savoring how they fell from Nagisa's lips like drops of soothing rain. He didn't understand all of them. But at the same time, he felt that he understood something much more important.

After a moment of quietness, Nagisa suddenly sat up. "However, there are even more ways than that, you know?"

"Hm?"

"Nonverbal communication counts, too. A glance, a kiss, a hug, asking about the other person, making sure they're okay, offering and then giving help when they need it, just being there for them, those sorts of things." Then the man gave Yuuji a gentle smile. "Or like sharing your house with someone even though they didn't ask you to."

Yuuji fell silent, his face burning. But not in an altogether unpleasant way.

"All of those are ways to say 'I love you'." Nagisa shrugged to end his statement. His eyes wandered back over to Yuuji. "As long as you get the universal language right, all others are secondary. And if I must say, Yuuji… I think that you already speak that language quite well."

Yuuji sat there, unmoving. But at the same time, it felt as if he was moving at two hundred kilometers per hour. Nagisa's words dropped slowly onto him, passing through his mind like a glow and leaving nothing but a soft stirring behind. Yuuji's hands gripped his knees. Dammit, how did this man do it? How did he always know just what to say?

Suddenly Nagisa moved to pack up, a dusting of pink still on his cheeks. "Well, I think that's enough learning for tonight," he said, scooting pens and pencils back into their case. "Good job."

As Yuuji watched, he felt another smile come to his face. It never failed to fascinate him how easily embarrassed the other man could become. One would think that an assassin could keep their composure. But man, was it fun to know that he of all people on the planet could break through a pro-assassin's walls.

Also—Yuuji thought to himself—it was a touching reminder of how human Nagisa still was.

"Okay," Yuuji said in English. "I will- uh, well, thank you and this is…was…" He cut himself off, making a face as he stopped speaking. Yuuji rested there in embarrassed silence for a moment. God, Nagisa's lessons had brought so much to his attention that he doubted he'd ever be able to attempt another language again without wishing the other man was there.

But when Nagisa looked up and smiled at him, Yuuji felt as if all his mistakes were forgiven.

"Um."

Nagisa looked back at Yuuji, his attention caught by the man's interruption. "Yes?" he asked, teaching materials held in his arms.

Yuuji tried to ignore the jumping sensation in his heart. He shifted on his feet and glanced away. The carpet was soft beneath them, the hallway corridor surrounding it colored white. The time had changed from early evening to early night, everything beyond the windows now draped in the velvet shade of darkness. A soothing chill would surely be settling in across the rooftop.

"N-not to be weird or anything," Yuuji began. "But…would you maybe want to spend the night with me?"

Nagisa tilted his head as if in confusion. But Yuuji could sense that there was something else in the air. It pulled at their limbs, drawing them toward each other and slowing down their breathing whenever their eyes would meet. Some bits of their conversation from before still lingered on them, it seemed.

Nagisa's mouth twitched up in a coy smirk. "Are you suggesting something?"

"Not at all!" Yuuji's face colored. "I-I mean, that wasn't what I meant, actually. I just…" He smiled softly. "I know it might sound silly, but…I don't want us to part just yet."

Nagisa let the silence stretch on for a few moments. "You know I have my own room, right? The guest rooms you set up for us are perfectly nice."

Yuuji nodded. "I know. But…"

He moved one arm behind himself, hand pushing open the door to his room slightly. Leaning on the doorway frame, Yuuji shrugged. "Offer still stands."

Nagisa shifted there on his feet. For a moment, the young man looked conflicted. "Would this…count as sleeping together?" he asked at last.

"No," Yuuji denied, definitely not blushing again. "Well, I mean, technically yes. Uh. God, if you ask me, people really should invent a new term for that." He cleared his throat. "I meant just literally share my bed. Sleep next to me. That's all I was picturing. I thought that…might be nice."

In the resulting quiet, Yuuji gazed over at Nagisa. A sudden wave of fondness welled up within him. Yuuji smiled, wishing for all of his honesty to shine through his eyes. "Hey," he whispered. "Stay with me? Don't go just yet?"

Nagisa appeared to be in thought for a moment. He looked down the hallway. Then, he looked back. Brushing his hair away from his face, the young man shyly glanced up at Yuuji. In his eyes was a mix of timidity, amusement, and some other kind of glow. It looked like how the atmosphere from before had felt. He didn't need to say that he accepted. Yuuji could already read the answer.

He brushed past Yuuji and softly entered the room. Yuuji paused for a moment in the doorway, casting one last glace out into space and cherishing the oh-so-lucky feeling in his heart before drawing the door closed behind them.

Afterword: Hurray for shameless fluff!

Also, writing a fic in English about people learning English is…weird. 8D; Hope that wasn't too distracting. I'm actually a native English speaker learning Japanese myself, so that helped give me some ideas as to the differences between the two languages. Let me tell you that Nagisa is super-impressive for being so proficient...;;