He's Mine
Pairing: Nagisa/Rei
A/N: Sorry for the wait! Here's chapter 2, slightly longer than the previous and focusing more on their early interactions.
Disclaimer: This is a fan fiction of Free!, a light novel originally written by Kouji Ouji. I own nothing: I'm just a fan sharing my mediocre stories with others ;)
The arrival of the anticipated spring had finally brought along the first day of his high school years, and Nagisa was thrilled to be able to meet his long-lost childhood friends again. He had sneakily kept his enrollment into Iwatobi High School a secret from Haru-chan and Mako-chan in hopes of surprising them, and although the feeling of not being able to share his excitement with someone was frustrating, it was definitely going to be worth it once he got to see the perplexed look on their faces. When his parents broke the news that they were going to move back to their old house, Nagisa had already set his eyes on entering the same school with his ex-teammates, and the entrance examination results enabled him to do so, much to his delight.
With one last look at the mirror (in truth, Nagisa was also a closet narcisscist), he left his house to make his way to the train station, humming softly to himself and skipping in joy. The curious looks given by passers-by were replied with the chipper blonde's own signature smile, and the strangers almost automatically smiled back. After all, one could not possibly hate someone with a smile often described as rivaling the brightness of the sunshine.
The first period was homeroom, and although Nagisa had prayed extremely hard for his name to not be misinterpreted as that of a girl, his homeroom teacher -who apparently doubled as their counselor- regrettably did just that.
"Hazuki Nagisa-san?"
Nagisa sighed in exasperation. 'The suffix was supposed to be –kun instead of –san…' Nevertheless, he pushed any remnants of negative thinking aside and flashed the brightest smile he could deliver, raising his right hand in feigned enthusiasm.
"I'm here, sensei! And despite having a girl's name, I am actually a boy!"
As expected, a majority of the class erupted in a full-blown collective laughter, gleeful eyes casting sympathizing looks (some with hints of disbelief) at him as the flustered teacher apologized profusely at her mistake. Nagisa could only hope that he wouldn't end up being the butt of jokes just like he had been in elementary school. The teacher continued reading out the names on the list, until she reached the last few.
"Ryugazaki Rei-san?"
Nagisa was twirling his golden locks in idleness, staring blankly at the blackboard, almost lost in his train of thoughts (mostly comprising of how he desperately wanted to meet Mako-chan and Haru-chan already) and he barely noticed the baritone voice answering the teacher's call.
"That's me. And it's Ryugazaki Rei–kun…"
Snapping his head to the left towards the source of that deep voice, Nagisa widened his magenta eyes at the sight of an obviously-not-female, broad-chested bespectacled boy frowning and grimacing. The said boy was certainly not amused after being mistaken for a girl. On the other hand, Nagisa could not have been any happier to find another person who shared the same fate as him.
Rei ignored the laughters around him, but then he noticed someone staring at him at the far corner of his eyes. It was that other boy with a girly name. Rei huffed and turned away, breaking the brief eye contact they had in favour of listening to what the teacher had to say next. Nonetheless, he couldn't help thinking that the blonde boy did look slightly androgynous anyway and that 'Nagisa' (which meant beach) did somehow fit in the picture, unlike in his case.
When the recess bell rang, Nagisa wasted no time and immediately went on a search for Makoto and Haruka around the unfamiliar school compound. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom as it was mid-April, and the light pink petals falling ever so gracefully to cover the grounds, accompanied with the gentle spring breeze, completed the enchanting scenery. His other classmates had begun forming cliques and utilizing the time to make new friends as well as enjoying the beautiful panorama, but he figured that he could do that later.
In his clumsy haste, he had accidentally bumped into a few people but he managed to find the duo walking side by side (like they always did ever since they were little, really, those sweethearts) in the school corridor, possibly heading towards the canteen.
"Haru-chaaaan! Mako-chaaaaan!"
It was probably unwise of him to glomp the pair right in the middle of a busy hallway because the flow of students was momentarily disrupted by the act, but Nagisa could not contain the joy at seeing his childhood friends after so long. He was never one to think before he act, anyway.
Makoto -the most sensible of the three- brought them to a less crowded place (which was of course the rooftop), and they had a lot of catching up done. Haruka was constantly changing the topic when the subject of Rin was brought up, though, so not much was said about the claret-haired boy.
"Wait, what do you mean there's no swimming club in Iwatobi High?!"
"It means what it means. That pool had been abandoned for god knows how long." There was a tinge of disappointment and sorrow in Haruka's reply, and both Makoto and Nagisa knew better than to provoke him further. Haruka must have had been utterly saddened by the fact that he could not swim freely like he did back then, even more so than Nagisa, whose purpose of coming to Iwatobi was to swim with his friends again.
"How about… we create a swimming club? It will be fun! The three of us together again!"
"It's troublesome."
"But Haru-chaaaaannn~~"
Makoto chuckled at his two friends' banter. 'It feels like the old times again.'
"Hmmm, that sounds great to me… Don't worry, I'll bring this up to the teacher in charge."
They were disillusioned though, when Makoto found out from the teacher that the club needed 4 members before being acknowledged by the school.
Dejected and upset, Nagisa felt the ray of hope getting dimmer with each passing day as he tried (and failed) countless times to persuade his fellow first years to join the currently non-existent swim club. None of them was interested, not even one, and Nagisa wondered how one could possibly detest a sport so exciting and entertaining as swimming. Swimming was one of the few things he enjoyed wholeheartedly as each stroke he took, each kick he made, actually helped him to forget all the woes and miseries of this world. When he was swimming, the water became his stage, his playground and his alone, and Nagisa loved that; he could be possessive as much as he wants.
A week passed and his attempts were still to no avail. Makoto and Haruka could not do much to help as the other second years were already associated with their own respective clubs, so it was up to Nagisa to find a fourth member.
On a particular day, Nagisa was on his hunt again when he spotted a familiar silhouette running laps around the school track before leaving the training grounds and heading towards the school gate.
"Ah, it's Rei-chan. He's practicing again, huh…" Nagisa's eyes trailed the azure-haired boy's every step. "What an interesting guy! He seems like a good candidate~" With renewed determination and curiousity, Nagisa ran at full speed to catch up with the other. Rei was already about 100m away from the school vicinity when the golden haired boy managed to approach him.
"Do you need something from me?" Rei stopped abruptly in his track and asked with a puzzled look, feeling a bit annoyed at having his evening physical training session interrupted.
"I just want to run with you, Rei-chan! We're heading in the same direction, right? I saw you taking the same train this morning!" The beaming smile directed at him did not do anything to compensate Rei's shock at hearing the sickeningly cute (and unbearably girlish) nickname.
"I beg your pardon, what did you just call me?"
"Rei-chan!"
"And why, pray tell, are you calling me that?"
"Well, I think it fits you!"
Something is wrong with this kid. Rei could not pinpoint what, but his intelligent mind was screaming "get the heck away from him!" However, Nagisa's dazzling smile was captivating in a confuzzling, mysterious way, and minutes later, Rei found himself running along the course of the streets with a bubbly companion right beside him. Rei reluctantly admitted inwardly that the chatters (mostly one-sided) did somehow make the journey feel much less taxing and tiring.
On the other hand, Nagisa was slowly regretting his decision to run in his complete school attire. He had taken his blazer off, but unlike Rei-chan (who was clad in a more comfortable white and red jersey and wearing suitable running shoes), the weight of his clothes and the constricting school shoes were slowing him down significantly. He did not stop talking though; he couldn't stop once he opened his mouth.
"And guess what, Rei-chan, I ate four pizzas on my own, can you belie-oof!"
The inevitable happened. Nagisa tripped and fell down in his clumsy dash while trying to avoid getting left behind. The certainly not graceful fall earned him a scratched knee, scraped palms and a red face from embarrassment.
'Falling so pathetically… Ahhhh Rei-chan must think I'm so weak!' Nagisa had his pride –he was a boy, after all- and it was wounded considerably from the incident. He was only getting to know Rei, and that undoubtedly did not leave a good impression.
He was just about to stand on his own when he heard scuffles of shoes and saw a large hand extended to him. Rei was offering help, violet eyes glaring and handsome face scowling in anger and irritation, but Nagisa did not miss the slight hint of worry in his expression.
"See? Didn't I tell you that there's ultimately a higher than 95% chance that you'll slow me down, especially with that attire?"
Hearing no reply, Rei looked down to see the dark pink orbs usually shining with excitement now glazed in guilt and shame. 'This kid was so cheerful back then, and now he's giving me this look…' Sighing softly, he pulled Nagisa up, causing the other to stagger to find his balance.
"It can't be helped… Let's walk instead."
"Rei-chan… I'm sorr-"
"Save it. It's no big deal."
The calloused hand that held onto his much smaller one tugged them forward, and the two walked the last stretch to the train station in silence. Nagisa knew that Rei was just being nice to him and trying to prevent him from weighing him down, but the grip felt so natural, almost as if Rei's hand belonged right there. At times like these, the blonde would have disturbed the calming silence with another endless string of words, but Nagisa could not come up with anything worth saying; the warmth spreading from his left hand -slowly inching upwards and covering his whole person in an unidentified feeling of bliss he could not quite fathom- was far too distracting. In fact, the pulsing heartbeats, the lump forming in his throat and the giddiness he felt were so distracting (and amplified tenfold when he had to sit next to Rei in the train for the lack of other seats, the occasional brushes of their shoulders making it worse), that by time they reached the fork that separated their paths, he still did not realize that he had yet to ask Rei-chan about the swim club.
"I'll see you tomorrow, then. Take care... N-nagisa-kun." And with that the tall figure disappeared behind the rows of houses, leaving behind a confused Nagisa still clutching his hand as if holding onto that fading warmth.
Nagisa didn't understand how such a simple gesture (and from another boy, no less) had rendered him so stunned and entranced. All he knew was that the emotion he had thought he would never experience again was slowly but surely returning.
'Ah... Maybe I'm falling in love.'
A/N: I like to think that Nagisa is one who easily falls in love, but once he's in love, it's not easy for him to fall out of it. It's that feeling of "Ah.. He's the one." I personally have never felt that before, though. :P This chapter lacks action but it's building the story (or so I think~). Hope you liked it! Reviews/comments/criticisms are welcomed!