Last night, Nagisa had a dream among the stars; he dreamt of a boy, mouth all fuzzy, lips parted, chlorine on his skin.
A boy with deep blue hair, and violet eyes; he holds the universe in those eyes.
The vast expanse. The sheer terror. The beauty.
When Nagisa awakens from his dream, he is in the sand.
He'd never seen sand before yesterday. Family holidays are always in the far, far north, atop snow-covered mountains. Pure white, white pure, as far as the eye could see.
His stubby little toes are cold; they escaped the blanket overnight.
The boy - no longer a boy; a man - sits beside Nagisa. Cold fingers. Enamel mug.
Mouth fuzzy, lips parted, chlorine on his skin.
He drinks his tea, steeped.
"It's raining in the middle of summer," he says, and covers Nagisa's legs with the blanket.
"And a good morning to you too."
Nagisa smiles.
The waves roll and crash, roll and crash. Seafoam tickling his toes. Salt spray.
He gives Nagisa little kisses; one hand on the mug, another on Nagisa.
Ice cold.
Nagisa drowns in them.
In his dream, the man floats in space, floats up, up, up.
Bubbles streaming up to the surface.
Nagisa doesn't know where he goes.
"Can't swim today," the man - Rei - says.
The current is too strong, too dangerous: no swimming allowed.
Swimming is why they had come here - why they always come here; with all those rows, rows of wetsuits slung over wooden posts -
And to get away from the north.
But it's just as slate-grey and bitter.
"What about the aquarium?" he asks, bumping their knees together.
"Good idea."
And off they go; only a bus ride away.
"Look, Rei- penguins!"
So many of them; flapping their wings, preening themselves, waddling about the makeshift rockpools.
"You're a rockhopper." Rei says; and ruffles those golden locks.
Nagisa's chest blooms, because there were penguins - of all sizes and shapes - in his dream; swimming high up above the clouds.
Without a care in the world.
They get ice cream after. And the wind chimes.
Nagisa threads their fingers together. Leans into him; smells salt spray and chlorine on his skin.
There's melted ice cream on their fingers.
Rei doesn't mind though.
He never minds.
In his dream Rei says nothing; only floats among the stars.
He watches Nagisa though; through those violet eyes that contain the universe in them.
The bus jolts on the way home. Nagisa jumps.
"Woke you up, huh?"
Nagisa can hear his smile.
Up he leans, to meet chapstick-sweet lips.
Nagisa sees stars behind Rei's eyes.
Nagisa can do this so easily here.
Where no one knows him. Them.
In Nagisa's dream Rei floats up, up, up to him.
A hand - smooth and strong - clutching his own.
Bright smile, against Nagisa's lips; mouth all fuzzy, lips parted, chlorine on his skin.
And for now-
They are free.