He's Mine
Pairing: Nagisa/Rei
A/N: Here's chapter 3 for ya! A tad bit fluffier than the previous ones~
Disclaimer: This is a fan fiction of Free!, a light novel originally written by Kouji Ouji. I'm just a fujoshi doing what fujoshis do best: SHIPPING.
"No."
"Awwww, why not, Rei-chan?" The blonde nudged Rei's shoulder with his head repeatedly, making a whiny sound that piqued the interests of a few other students in the cafeteria.
"It's a hideous sport. There's no beauty in it! Don't you ever see those monstrous faces swimmers make when they're desperate for a taste of oxygen?! " Rei's arms flail in an exaggerated gesture, while Nagisa pouted slightly. For the past few days, he had been loyally following Rei around (much like a little puppy would), trying to convince the other to join the swim club. He was almost at his limit, though. Usually he would always get what he wanted with a couple of cute expressions and annoying whines, but remarkably, none of his tactics was working on Rei.
"But Rei-chaaaaannn~ you'll get to see me in sexy swimming trunks!"
Rei choked, coughing out bits of half-chewed sandwich and grabbing the nearest cup of water to drink down the huge lump in his throat. The observant side of Nagisa noted that Rei had accidentally taken his orange juice and he squealed inwardly, thrilled at the idea of stealing an indirect kiss from his current crush. The bespectacled boy gulped the whole cup down and struggled to breathe normally before finally turning back to Nagisa.
"That's all the more reason not to join your swim club, Nagisa-kun."
"But you like beautiful things right? Don't you think I'm beautiful, hmmm, Rei-chan?"
It was meant to be a teasing statement, like all of the other flirtatious remarks he often said to him, and Nagisa thought that Rei was aware of that too, but apparently the blue-haired boy took that question seriously. Rei's violet eyes scanned Nagisa from top to bottom, scrutinizing every detail and landing upon his own pinkish orbs, as if staring right into his soul. Nagisa felt his heartbeat quicken and his face heating up. He wanted to look away and brush the question off as another silly joke of his but he couldn't, not when those mesmerizing pair of lilacs was watching him with such intense gaze. Rei finally broke the eye contact after a few moments, pushing up his red-rimmed glasses in that elegant and sophisticated way, like he always did when he came to a conclusion after much thinking.
"I can't deny that you are beautiful in a way… well, maybe not exactly fitting my criteria of beautiful but I suppose you are, in a strangely cute way."
Nagisa felt his fragile heart do a backflip and a couple of somersault twists upon hearing Rei's reply, and it turned out that Rei had just came to his senses as well because his eyes widened considerably and he covered his mouth and half of his face, trying to grasp the reality of his own words. Looking at anything but Nagisa's face, he stuttered while attempting to cover up his embarrassing half-confession.
"I-I-I'm sorry, I didn't… W-we should get back to class."
Both of them shared the same blush, though Rei's was more obvious; spreading a lovely crimson hue up till the tip of his ears. Nagisa stole a glance at Rei before nodding and rising from his seat, silently hoping no one else was watching them because that extremely cute expression of Rei's should only be seen by him.
Just on cue, the school bell rang, signaling the end of their break and the other students scurried back to their respective classrooms. The pair joined the crowd, but Rei grabbed Nagisa's hand and tugged on it a bit to catch the other's attention.
"Nagisa-kun?"
"Hmm?"
"Forget what I said, okay?"
Nagisa smiled sweetly and did not answer.
'Silly Rei-chan… How could I ever forget that?'
Rei thought that things would be awfully awkward after his weird blurt out, but thankfully, Nagisa was back to his usual self in no time. Regrettably, that meant that the cheerful swimmer was back on track in his 'Recruiting Rei-chan' quest and Rei had wished that he owned a pair of earplugs just so he could barely keep his sanity intact.
"Care to explain why are you walking with me right now, Nagisa-kun?"
"We always go back together, Rei-chan!"
"That applies to the path from school to the train station and then the train ride, which normally take approximately 21 minutes. You, on the other hand, have been walking beside me for an extra 5 minutes."
"Hmmm… So what's so strange about that, Rei-chan?"
"What I'm implying is that your house," Rei pointed one slender finger at the other side of the road, "is that way, if my memory recalled correctly."
It was common knowledge that Rei's memory was superb (judging from the astounding number of formulas he used on daily basis, really, he calculates everything) and he never stored any incorrect input in his mind. Every day, the two of them would separate at the fork just a stone's throw away from the station they got off from, and now even that junction was already far behind them. He could also easily see through Nagisa's sly ways of talking non-stop to prevent Rei from suspecting that something was wrong, so there was no mistaking it; Nagisa was following him home.
"Well… I thought I could have a sleepover at your house!"
Rei halted abruptly, eyes throwing a shocked and incredulous look. The methods through which Nagisa's simplistic thinking was downright mind-boggling, so much so that Rei had the sudden urge to slice the boy's brain open and observe the cerebrum cells under a microscope to unravel the mysteries behind how absurd and preposterous he could ever get.
"And when exactly did I agree to this proposition of yours?"
"You never did, but fret no more, Rei-chan! I phoned home and told my mom that I'll be spending the night at a friend's house! Besides, tomorrow is a Saturday."
And Nagisa used his ultimate weapon – that irresistible, devilish yet charming smile of his. Rei was dead sure that the petite blonde had planned this all along.
A severe headache was coming on; Rei could already feel the veins in his temples throbbing and threatening to pop out. 'I really stand no chance against this guy…' Accepting the inevitable, he opted to stalk off to his house in irritation, secretly hoping that Nagisa would somehow trip on his way and fall down like the other day, this time only to never get up again.
After much bickering and squabbling, Rei dejectedly found himself stuck in a room with a very loud and talkative Nagisa, and he was more infuriated when he recalled how enthusiastic his mother was when he introduced Nagisa and explained the circumstances of his unexpected visit.
"Ohhh, this is wonderful! It is the first time Rei has brought someone home. Not to mention an adorable one at that!"
Rei's mother ruffled Nagisa's pale hair (with hands as warm as Rei's, Nagisa thought absent-mindedly), and her violet eyes sparkled in delight. Her smile was sincere and earnest, and Nagisa couldn't help but to imagine how Rei-chan would look like with that same smile replacing his scowl.
"Mom, you're making me sound so unsociable and introverted."
"But you are, my dear child! And your friend here will take good care of you and change that, right, Nagisa-kun?"
The cheery boy chimed in an overly eager "Yes, don't worry, leave it to me!" and nodded vigorously. Rei sighed and proceeded to climb the wooden stairs leading to his room, wanting nothing more than to sleep in the comfort of his bed.
Alas, it was a task which, of course, proved rather impossible when you have a temporary roommate as boisterous and bouncy as Nagisa.
Taking a glance at the silver wall clock (its digital LED digits flashing a glaring 1.46 A.M), Rei finally rolled around to face Nagisa, who was, goddamnit, still talking in the wee hours in the morning. Ryugazaki Rei rarely curses, but when he does, it is because of an unwanted Hazuki Nagisa intruding his personal space.
"And then, Rin-chan made the final turn and he was soooo fast we were screami—"
"Nagisa-kun."
"Yes, Rei-chan?"
"Why are you casually wearing my pajamas? Why are you hogging the blanket and sleeping next to me in my bed? And why are you still babbling when it's already almost 2 freaking AM?!"
Rei's screeching voice was raised in a tone reserved for nagging at Nagisa, and the latter smiled sheepishly and snuggled closer. Rei desperately brushed off the thought of how much of a perfect fit was Nagisa's head in the crook of his neck, wanting to focus on his anger instead.
"I didn't bring spare clothes... You don't have extra guest futon either. And I'm trying to describe the joys of swimming, so you'll be interested in joining the swim club!"
At that very moment, the azure-haired boy didn't know whether to laugh at blonde' ridiculously childish persuasive ways or cry at his stolen bed, blanket and privacy, but he let out a sound that was a mix of the two and gritted his teeth. 'So he really won't stop until I agree…'
"Fine."
"Fine what, Rei-chan?"
Nagisa gazed up at Rei -glittering pink eyes, fluttering eyelashes, soft plump lips and round cheeks only dimly illuminated by the light coming from the table lamp- and Rei looked away, flustered as the words he had said in the morning crossed his minds once again.
"Fine, I'll enter this swim club of yours." Rei's left hand tried to shift non-existent glasses on his nose.
The bundle of warmth next to him shifted and the next thing he knew, Nagisa had thrown his arms around him in a suffocating hug, burying his face in his chest.
"Rei-chan, are you serious? I'm so so soooooooo happy thank you so much!"
In a lumbering, amateurish and half-hearted attempt of reciprocating an affectionate body language he rarely took part in, Rei lifted a trembling arm and placed his palm on the small back of Nagisa's, patting awkwardly (later he was sure that the patting was unnecessary, because Nagisa let out a small chuckle at that) and feeling oddly calm in the sudden embrace. They stayed like that for a few breaths; just enough for Nagisa to snap out of his jubilant state and for Rei to stop thinking of what kind of mess was he signing up for.
Finally, Nagisa released his tight hold and returned to his previous position; his head resting in the crook of Rei's neck, little puffs of air tickling the other boy slightly. The ambience of the room was definitely changing into something Rei couldn't quite catch -but their perfectly timed heartbeat resounded in sync and the relaxing warmth engulfing him was slowly lulling him to sleep- and Rei almost ran out of things to complain about; until Nagisa decided to open his mouth again.
"Hey, can you follow me tomorrow, Rei-chan? I want you to meet Haru-chan and Mako-chan."
That made Rei rolled his eyes. 'Oh great. Just great. God forbid that there will be more weirdos. I've already got my hands full with this one.'
And so that night Nagisa fell asleep with a satisfied smile etched onto his face (the kind of goofy smile you have when you get something you've always wanted) while Rei shivered, tossed and turned the whole time after unsuccessfully struggling to wrestle the blanket out of Nagisa's strong grasps. He was also violently awoken by a clawing swipe to his face and a swift kick to his torso just minutes after dozing off, courtesy of the breaststroke swimmer's aggressive sleeping habits.
'Oh god I'll never let this kid sleep over,' Rei grudgingly swore. 'Never again'.
A/N: I've never had a sleepover before, so I don't really know what people do when sleeping at a friend's house (lol). Next few chapters will finally elaborate more on Nagisa's possessiveness and jealousy. Thank you for the follows, favs and reviews! I'll try my best to update this as often as I can. Reviews/comments/criticisms/suggestions are welcomed with open arms! ;)