The next two weeks went by in a whirlwind for Rei. Nagisa got used to university amazingly fast, so fast that the weeks seemed short yet long at the same time. It was like the blond had fallen right into place at the school as well as living with Rei. Most of the time, Nagisa's energy would wind down earlier than Rei and the blond would go to bed while Rei was still doing homework.
Though it was true that the blond begged Rei to do his work for him and complained about it ad nauseam, when Nagisa actually stopped complaining, he got his work done quicker than Rei.
Swim practice was nearly every day of the week, and, if it was a good day in terms of weather, it would overlap into weekend practices. Nagisa was accepted into the team almost immediately after the other members got over his overly excitable personality. Rei had heard two of them talking about Nagisa animatedly in the hallway at school one day and he had been surprised how easily they had befriended him.
But, then again, it was Nagisa after all. The blond could make anyone like him, even those put off by his loudness.
Rei couldn't help the jealousy growing inside him. Nagisa spent his afternoons swimming with the team while Rei spent his on the track team, where, though he was liked, he wasn't as friendly with everyone like Nagisa was on his own team. In addition, Nagisa was exceedingly popular with the girls in their classes. Twice now he had abandoned Rei in class to work with the tittering girls instead. Rei tried not to show it, but he had been fuming when that happened.
He had started thinking once about if Nagisa hadn't come back, but he was horrified and ashamed at his thoughts immediately after the fact. Nagisa's mere existence was a blessing in his life, and he knew he shouldn't be feeling jealous or acting so selfish.
But he just couldn't help it. Remembering their private, secret relationship before made Rei's heart swell with happiness, and then crash down a moment later when he remembered how it was now. Nagisa hadn't mentioned them being together, perhaps he didn't even remember it, and Rei didn't have the guts to kiss him like before, to hug him, to even ask him if he wanted to be together. He was a coward, and far too afraid of the possibility of rejection.
Nagisa hadn't even tried to recover his memories, seemingly too content in the life he was living to bother remembering the past; the past that Rei desperately wanted him to remember.
It was finally Friday, and it was the first day that week that both Rei and Nagisa's schedules had let them walk home together. The train ride was quiet, and the walk up the sidewalk home was too. Rei knew something was off; Nagisa was never this quiet, especially after a day of school and swim practice. Rei was worried; he had been trying to be annoyed at Nagisa as punishment for the blond ignoring him, but that was incredibly childish and Rei cursed himself mentally for even thinking of doing something like that.
He jumped, startled from his thoughts when a hand grabbed his forearm, tugging him back slightly, "Na-Nagisa?" he sputtered, stumbling slightly on the side walk before he righted himself, staring down at the blond. Nagisa had a weird look on his face, some unreadable emotion swimming in his coral eyes. The blond didn't answer his questioning tone, instead moving to stand in front of him.
"Nagisa, really... What are you-"
Rei's words were lost as Nagisa's lips were suddenly pressed against his own, the blond pulling him down by his school tie into the kiss. Nagisa's lips were just as he remembered, soft and supple, gentle yet possessive as they caressed his own.
Rei was confused. Elated, but confused.
But he'd learned long ago that questioning himself while Nagisa was currently kissing him wasn't the best course of action.
He melted against Nagisa, pulling the blond to his chest, one arm wrapping around his smaller waist, his hand cradling the back of the blond's head, his fingers threading into soft golden waves. Everything was as he remembered, but it felt different, more passionate, and more eager. In the past, Nagisa was typically sweet and gentle with his kisses, but now he seemed desperate for the contact.
Rei wasn't complaining. He was just as desperate. He let his eyes fall shut, his lips moving with Nagisa's, breathing hard through his nose. A soft sound escaped Nagisa throat, which only made Rei tighten his hold on the blond. Nagisa arms came up to wrap around his shoulders, pulling him ever closer, his lips not relinquishing their movements for a second.
Nagisa was the one who finally pulled back, breaking the kiss with a gasp. His face was a sight to see; flushing cheeks, parted lips, slightly red from the kiss, his coral eyes half-lidded and slightly glazed. Neither of them spoke, the only sound around them being the wind blowing through the area and labored breathing.
Rei swallowed hard, getting his breathing back under control as he gazed over Nagisa's face. His hand was still cupping Nagisa's cheek, his thumb absently stroking over his cheekbone, feeling the heated skin there. Nagisa finally blinked out of his stupor, his eyes becoming clear again as his own breathing evened out.
"Will you stop pouting now, Rei-chan?" Nagisa spoke first, a teasing tone to his voice, though he was apparently too dazed to give Rei any sort of smirk.
"Pouting?" Rei echoed. Nagisa huffed out a laugh, poking Rei in the stomach, causing him to flinch slightly.
"Yes, you big dumbie," he huffed, finally smiling up at Rei, "Pouting. You've been doing it for like a week now."
"I have not."
"Have to!" Nagisa said almost instantly after, as if he had predicted what Rei was going to say, "You have, and you can't deny that, Rei-chan," he said, reaching to press a finger to Rei's lips, "I thought I had... dreamt up us being... together," he said softly, his voice becoming serious, a rare sound from the blond, "I didn't know if it was from my memories or not, and you were too stupid to bother letting me know," he said, giving Rei a half-hearted glare, "But, I guess this is proof enough then," he sighed, giving Rei a shrug and a small, cheeky smile.
"I... I didn't know if you'd want to anymore," Rei stammered out. Nagisa laughed at that, rolling his eyes.
"And what made you think that?" he snorted, "Really, Rei-chan. You need to stop with all this introspection stuff. It probably kills brain cells or something like that," he teased.
Rei made an indigent sound, but he didn't argue. Perhaps Nagisa was right; he did tend to think on things too much, "I'm sorry then," he finally muttered, his cheeks flushed in embarrassment, "I was... being stupid... and jealous. I didn't like how all the people at school were all over you, and I guess I was too stupid to tell you have I felt," he mumbled, "Will you forgive me, Nagisa?"
Nagisa looked a little surprised at Rei apology to him, but he smiled easily once he got over the shock, "Of course I forgive you, Rei-chan," he said softly, his eyes taking on a tender look. He pulled Rei close into a hug, pressing his face to Rei's chest. Rei smiled softly and held him close, his fingers gently playing with Nagisa's soft locks.
With a soft sigh, he pulled away out of Nagisa's arms but moved to clasp their hands together, "Come on. Let's go home, okay?" Nagisa smiled brightly and nodded, squeezing Rei's hand as they started to walk.
It was after dinner that night when Nagisa sprung a question to Rei with no preamble.
"Hey, Rei-chan?"
"Yeah? What is it, Nagisa?" Rei mumbled from his desk where he was getting a head start on homework.
"Take me on a date this weekend, okay?"
"Wh-what?" Rei sputtered, taken by surprise at Nagisa's question. He put down his pencil and turned in his seat to look at Nagisa who was lounging on his back on the bed, a calm smile on his face.
"Yeah! A date!" he said with a nod, flipping onto his stomach, resting his head on his arms, "Take me to the aquarium! I hear they have penguins! And fish and stuff too, but Miyu-chan was telling me that you can even pet the penguins there!" he said excitedly, his eyes shining with giddiness, "Doesn't that sound amazing? Please take me, Rei-chan!"
Rei sighed, watching Nagisa's eager expression. A date... The idea of it was annoying to Rei. He had heard if couples going out and doing sickly sweet things with one another for the sake of fun, but Rei never saw the point. Then again, he hadn't liked festivals until he went to one with Nagisa. With another sigh, he gave Nagisa a small nod. Nagisa's eyes widened before he let out a loud cheer, jumping up off the bed to nearly tackle Rei across the room.
"Thank you, Rei-chan! Thank you, thank you!" he squealed happily, squeezing Rei tightly in a hug. Rei laughed softly and gave in, hugging him back before he let go an went back to him homework.
After a few more minutes, Rei looked up again to Nagisa, who was once more lounging on the bed, "Nagisa?" he called, getting the blond's attention, "Have you... Have you given up trying to remember anything?" he asked carefully, watching the blond's reaction. Nagisa's expression changed from confused to unsure and he gave a shrug.
"I don't know," he said quietly, so quiet that Rei had to strain to hear him, "I just... I don't know," he sighed, "I haven't really thought about it. This all seems so natural... Going to school, living with you, swimming, everything. I haven't put much thought in it and then when I did, I thought 'why bother?'"
Rei's heart sank at his words. That was certainly not what he wanted to hear, "Why bother? Don't you want to know what your life was like before a few weeks ago?" he asked, maybe a little too defensively.
"I don't really- Well, no, I do care," Nagisa sighed, "I do... It's just- I guess I'm too busy to bother worrying about it. I'm happy right now anyway," he said, giving Rei a smile. Rei clenched his fists under the desk. How could Nagisa think like that? He couldn't possibly be completely content with not knowing a single thing about his life before a few weeks. That was completely ludicrous, and Rei refused to believe it. Whatever it took, he wanted to make sure Nagisa remembered.
"Well, I'm going to sleep, Rei-chan," Nagisa said, his words followed by a long yawn, "Don't stay up all night doing your homework. There's fun to be had tomorrow," he giggled, crawling under the blankets and curling up under them. Within minutes, regardless of the lights still being on, Nagisa was fast asleep on Rei's pillow.
Rei awoke the next morning to the late morning sunlight filtering in through the window and the warm press of Nagisa's body curled into his side. He sat up with some struggle as Nagisa's arms were securing around his torso. He smiled down at Nagisa still sleeping, his fingers absently tracing the blond's relaxed face, running alone his cheekbones, feeling the brushing of golden eyelashes and the steady puffs of air that escaped Nagisa lips. With a soft sigh, he settled back into the bed, realizing there was no rush to get up just yet.
Nagisa eventually started to come into wakefulness half an hour later. He shifted slightly in Rei's arms, making a low sound deep in his throat as his eyes fluttered open, blinking several times to clear the sleepiness from his vision. Rei was met with a sleepy smile from the blond, which he returned immediately.
"Morning, Nagisa," he murmured, his fingers gently stroking through the blond's hair, "Sleep well?"
"Mhm," Nagisa hummed in response, shifting more in the bed so he was hugging Rei tightly, nuzzling his neck with a happy sigh, "Do I get a morning kiss?" he asked innocently, peering up at Rei with bright eyes. Rei chuckled slightly and leaned down to press a soft kiss to his lips, his hand cupping his cheek gently. Nagisa returned the kiss, sighing against Rei's lips in contentment.
"We better get up," Rei said, pulling back slightly, "We have an aquarium to get to, right?" Nagisa entire face lit up in delight at Rei's word and he nodded quickly, sitting up and throwing back the blankets.
"Right! I call the bath!" he said excitedly and, before Rei could protest, the blond had escaped into the bathroom. Rei sighed and flopped back into the bed, knowing he'd have to wait for Nagisa to get out of the bathroom before he could use it, which was going to be quite a while considering the length of time Nagisa usually took in the bath. With nothing better to do than to mull of his thoughts, Rei thought back on the conversation he had the previous night with Nagisa about his lost memories.
How could he not want to remember them? That irritated Rei more than anything. He wanted Nagisa to remember mostly because he wasn't sure if he liked this or not. He wasn't sure if Nagisa coming to school with him and living with him was bringing them closer or just pushing them apart. Rei felt irritated a lot lately, not to mention jealous of the people at school, jealous of Nagisa too.
He had to stop himself from thinking on all of that when Nagisa exited the bathroom, dressed and ready to leave when Rei was. Rei got up and quickly showered and dressed. He made them both a quick breakfast, mostly because he didn't trust Nagisa with cooking much and he knew that being around the blond when he was hungry was miserable.
With that, they left the house and walked to the train station. Several stops later, they got to the aquarium and Rei had to stop Nagisa from running ahead inside. The building was large and brightly colored with cartoon styles fish on the outside. Rei thought it was incredibly childish, but Nagisa was already chattering away about how cool it was and they hadn't even gotten inside yet.
The first part of their day consisted of Nagisa practically dragging Rei around to look at differently colored fish and sharks and an assortment of different sea creatures. Though it was a bit exhaustive, Rei found himself enjoying the date. Seeing Nagisa so alive and happy made Rei happy.
After a few hours, Nagisa declared he was hungry and Rei agreed. Breakfast seemed so long ago and he was starving. They found a restaurant inside of the aquarium that – of course – served fish. Nagisa didn't seem too disappointed that they didn't have pizza and quickly decided that he wanted.
"This has been so fun and we haven't even gotten to the penguins yet, Rei-chan!" Nagisa gushed as he sipped from the soda he had gotten, "Thank you for coming on this date with me," he said, his voice quieting down to an almost shy tone, "I mean, I kinda sprung it on you at random and all," he said, averting his gaze, a light blush of embarrassment on his cheeks. Rei sighed softly, disliking that guilty look on Nagisa's face. It was completely uncalled of since they were both having a good time.
"Hey now," Rei said softly, reaching across the table to take Nagisa's hand halfway, threading their fingers together and giving his palm a gentle squeeze, "I'm having a great time with you, Nagisa," he said genuinely, smiling at the blond. Nagisa looked up at that, his eyes meeting Rei's smile.
"Really?" he asked, squeezing Rei's hand in return, "I'm glad then, Rei-chan," he said, giving Rei a sweet smile, "You're such a good boyfriend," he sighed. Rei smiled and resisted rolling his eyes at Nagisa's cheesy comment.
"Only for you, Nagisa," he said, giving Nagisa's hand a final squeeze before he pulled away, the awkwardly position leaning across the table beginning to make his shoulder ache, "And it'll only get better when we see the penguins, right?" he asked, knowing Nagisa's eyes would light up at that.
"Mhm!" the blond hummed excitedly, his lips back around his drink straw, "It will! Penguins are so cute, Rei-chan! I wonder if I can own one some day, like as a pet! I mean, the stuffed animal you won me is great, but just imagine a real Rei-chan the penguin!"
"You can't have one if you're going to name it that," Rei huffed good-naturedly, rolling his eyes.
After lunch, the rest of the day went by in a flash. Despite waiting in line for quite a while, Nagisa finally got to see the penguins he so desired. After, Nagisa decided he wanted to see the show with the orcas and he conveniently used Rei as a splash shield since they sat so far up front. Much to his chagrin, Rei got completely soaked, and Nagisa couldn't stop laughing for ten minutes at how silly he looked.
Rei decided that it'd probably be for the best that they go home then, since he was currently soaked to the skin.
"What about this one, Rei-chan?" They were in th gift shop before leaving, mostly because Rei wanted to buy a towel to at least dry off, and Nagisa wanted to look at stuffed animals... again. He was currently holding up a mermaid stuffed animal with bright blue hair, "See? It looks like you!" Nagisa said, looking at Rei with a devious glint in his eyes.
"No it does not," Rei huffed, toweling off his hair with the brightly color towel Nagisa had picked for him to buy, "Mermaids don't even look like that anyway," he muttered. Nagisa gave a peculiar look, an eyebrow raised in his direction before he laughed.
"That's funny, Rei-chan," he giggled, putting the stuffed toy back, turning his gaze to the penguin stuffed animals, "Mermaids aren't real. Even I know that," he said. The sheer irony of the situation was staggering, and Rei didn't know whether he should've laughed of just stayed quiet. He opted for staying quiet rather than laughing and having to explain to Nagisa exactly why he was laughing. That would certainly be a mess.
The train ride home was much quieter than the ride to the aquarium. Rei could tell Nagisa was tired by the way he started to nod off several times, holding his new penguin plush tight to his chest.
After dinner and washing the dishes, Rei found Nagisa fast asleep on the couch, curled up with his new stuffed animal. The blond looked so calm, his blond hair splayed out over the couch cushions and his lips slightly parted as soft breaths left his mouth. Rei didn't have the heart to wake him and make him go upstairs. He gently slid his arms underneath Nagisa, easily heaving the smaller boy into his arms, Nagisa's head resting lightly on his arm.
With only mild difficulty, Rei carried the sleeping blond up the stairs and laid him in bed. He set about unbuttoning Nagisa's sweater and folding it neatly to the side before he pulled the blankets over Nagisa's sleeping form, smiling softly to himself.
As Rei got ready for bed as well, he suddenly remembered that he was going to try and jog Nagisa's memory during the day, but he completely forgot his purpose while they were enjoying themselves. He sighed heavily, deciding to maybe consider the fact that Nagisa was happy with his life now and didn't need to remember the past, despite how much he wanted him to. It was probably better that way. As long as Nagisa was happy, he was happy.
Notes:
Okay wow. I am so super sorry for the ultra long wait on this. School and the holidays got the best of me.
Unedited again because I'm tired and I just wanted to post this for you guys. If you see any mistakes, by all means, point 'em out and I'll set about fixing them!
What do you think? I'm thinking of stopping this fic here. I have some other stuff planned, but upon reviewing it, it feels really repetitive and forced. I suppose I could revise it and write some more, but the question is: do I want to and do you guys want me to write me? Please let me know! Otherwise, I'll just write an epilogue and end it.
Thank you so much as always for reading/commenting!
Stay tuned~