Comfortable Contradictions (a story of the confessions to Ryugazaki Rei)
"Rei-chan, what does this word mean?"
Nagisa is sprawled out on the soft rug in the middle of Reiās room, yellow jacket crawling up his stomach as his toes tap against the green chair of the nearby desk. It is one of their SundaysāNagisa loves all his Sundays, because Sundays mean time with Rei even if that time is supposed to be spent getting his grades up and studyingāand Nagisa is finding most of his pleasure procrastinating, distracting Rei while he attempts to study by interjecting his thoughts into the empty air.
"Iām not sure, Nagisa-kun," Rei mumbles, pushing his red frames further up the bridge of his nose. He knows this is the safest answer, given Nagisaās pension for getting him wildly distracted with what seems to be the most innocent of questions. The last thing Nagisa spoke up about before this one was his inability to understand the foil method in this weeks set of algebraic problems, which lead to a heated 30 minute conversation about the mathematics behind the beauty of the butterfly stroke that Rei couldnāt even remember having started.
Of course, Nagisa remains undeterred.
"Itās this one!" he says with a start, jumping up suddenly behind Rei quickly enough to startle him out of his thought. The breeze of pages sweeping in front of his face are all Rei feels before hundreds of unfamiliar letters fly before his eyes, too close to read clearly. "The one here in English!"
Rei blinks three quick winks before he furrows his brows in discontent, a quiet sigh as he looks over the word. Technically he recognizes the letters, M-I-S-T-L-T-O-E, all separately (even with their distinct sounds), but heās only heard the word his mind internally pronounces in passing before, and heās not sure what to tell the bubbly blonde in front of him.
"It means something to do with American holidays, I suppose," he begins, voice rising only a little. "I think itās something to do with Christmas, butā¦to be honest Iām not really sure."
Nagisa seems a little disappointed at this (why did he seem disappointed that he couldnāt answer the question? Does this prove that there are things that Rei doesnāt know that Nagisa expects him to?) but his mood picks up in a split second, a smile falling across his face as he leans close and pats Rei on the shoulder.
"Itās ok, Rei-chan! I just thought I would ask."
And with this, he drops the subject, falling dramatically back to his place on the floor and returning to silence. Rei, despite his willingness to drop the subject, is still a unnerved though.
Rei makes sure to look up everything there is to know about mistletoe that night (even if what he learns makes him a little embarrassed).
Three days later, Nagisa is sprawled out in the middle of Reiās floor again, gold school sweater falling too big over his palms as he holds a book up to his nose and blinks fast at the characters on the page. Since school started again, Nagisa has noticed a strange change in the demeanor of his friend; he is more high strung, more easily embarrassed, and turns red at any mention of kissingāwhich (thanks to some finely tuned posturing on Nagisaās part) has come up in conversations much more frequently than usual.
It didnāt hurt that Makoto and Haruka were fully aware of his hopeful make-Rei-realize-Nagisa-liked-him plan, either.
But here they were, Rei sitting at his regular perch on his single-legged green chair and Nagisa lying on a tatami with a cushion on the floor, books in hand in their so-comfortable silence with Nagisa wondering just how much longer it would take to move things forward.
Heād tried spending more time massaging Reiās shoulders at swim practice beforeākneading the muscles expertly even as his captain eyed him with knowing, slightly incredulous mother-looks and Haruka sported a stoic stare only slightly more amused than it had been a moment before.
Heād tried whispering things in Reiās ear from a paper funnel in class, hoping to infiltrate his napping best friends classroom dozing with a flirtatious rendezvous but only scaring him out of his seat again (much to the amusement of the entire class).
Heād even tried going about it in the most direct way possible, mentioning to Rei in a soft and honest voice that heād āadmired him since theyād metā during a train ride out to Samezuka to thank Rin for finishing all his swimming lessons (heād gotten a blush and great smile in return, āI am grateful for your acknowledgement of all my efforts, Nagisa-kun!ā the only acceptance of feelings heād been given in return)ā
āwhich made him realize that, unless he got more creative with his crushing measures, these feelings were not going to get him anywhere.
It was only a joke, that thing about the mistletoe. By now, that little comment has probably been buried under loads of unnecessary information about mathematics, knowing Rei.
"Nagisa-kun," Rei begins tentatively, voice stilled only by the fact that heās practiced this interaction multiple times in his head. "Did you ever find out what you wanted to aboutā¦the meaning of āmistletoe?ā"
Nagisa nearly drops his book on his face trying to sit up to see the expression in Reiās eyes, the implications of the question immediately triggering hopeful alarms in his head. Of course, all Nagisa sees from his uprightness is the wavy blue tendrils on the back of Reiās head. Thus, in a moment of brilliant slyness, he wills himself to feign innocence about his true intentions once again.
"Ahhh, no Rei-chan! Did you ever look up the word like you said?"
That was not what he had expected.
Rei feels his face heat up at this implication; he had expected Nagisa to say no, but not to push the question back onto himself. Itās been damn near impossible to keep up his crumbling stoic facade about his best friend since he realized his true feelings that stupid night Nagisa went searching for him after last years regionalsābeen hard to lie when his friends asked him about his love life even, the way Gou had even implied (wrongly in the instance, but correctly in the scheme of things) that Rei mightāve been acting strangely not because of anything like learning his swimming, but because he had been falling in love.
Of course, he hadnāt the slightest intention of revealing these wavering feelings to Nagisa. He was sure, without anticipating any such series of events in his own life, that being in love with your best friend, boy or girl, was a recipe for a disaster, and it was the kind of disaster that he had every intention to avoid.
As thus, despite the fiery blush willing itself onto his neck, Rei wills himself to continue on.
"Yes," he says, chair swiveling to face Nagisa. He can feel his thoughts bubbling
out of him, even as he wills himself to keep them hidden. āI donāt quite know why anyone would need mistletoe to kiss someone if the original purpose was just to wish them good luck and marriage. And why would you even want to get stuck standing under one of those unless you hadāā
Nagisa stops him, sitting upright with a hand in front of him to pull Rei down onto the tatami by the maroon school-tie still loosed around his neck. The loud āoomphā Rei makes as he falls next to Nagisa is nearly as comical as the look on his faces as he falls, and despite himself, Nagisa laughs even as Reiās face lands a mere inches from his own.
(Rei looks like heās two seconds from screamingāeven as the red on his face spreads down to his neck as he slowly processes the new proximity. Nagisa canāt help but notice).
"What was that even for?" Rei nearly yells, trying hard to scramble away even as Nagisa remains cool and collected, putting his hand on Reiās arm and laughing as he pulls himself from under the weight of his taller friend. "Why did you pull me, Nagisa-kun?!"
Nagisa is scooting to the edge of the tatami now, hand reaching into his nearby backpack to pull out the same purple book with red roses heād asked Rei about mistletoe from before. Rei, who has slowly stopped fidgeting to watch Nagisa slide across the ground, looks up to meet magenta eyes in the hopes of an explanation. Nagisa looks up with a smile and begins to oblige.
"Mistletoeāa plant from European traditions representing long lasting relationship through shared kisses between two parties," Nagisa begins reading, meeting Reiās eyes with facetious raised eyebrows, "a mistletoe kiss could mean a lasting friendship and goodwill, orā¦a deep romance."
Rei only blinks, hands settling in a loose grip on his now wrinkled red tie. Nagisa, resolve only slightly wavering, continues.
"Itās just a sign of a close relationship," he says a little less enthusiastically, his voice changing to infer a smallā¦implication. "Mako-chan and Haru-chan told me it wasnāt that big a deal, considering the kiss doesnāt have to be a romantic thing! Even we could share one under a mistletoe, and it wouldnāt be a big thing, Rei-chan!"
Rei meets his eyes plainly at this point, unable to fathom why Nagisa could possibly be bringing Makoto and Haruka into the conversation at a time like this. His mind, short circuiting slightly as he tries to find context for this conversation, begins turning in an attempt to respond to him, but he is quickly stopped by a small blond boy scooting closer to him, bright eyes now looking squarely into his own. Rei just sputters.
"Nagisa-kun! We donāt even have any mistletoe here! There is no reason for us to shareā"
Heās stopped when Nagisa kisses him hard on the mouth, pursed lips so fierce against him that he nearly passed out with how quickly he stops breathing.
Of course, Nagisa, too immediately aware of what heās just done, pulls away just as quickly, eyes open nearly as wide as the blushing butterfly sitting cross legged before him.
"I guess I just really wanted an excuse to kiss you then."
The silence between them is deafening.
At least, it is until Rei releases a breath he hadnāt realized heād been holding, mind still shut off as he smiles close to Nagisaās face and releases a thought he would never before admit to holding.
"I guess thatās a good enough reason as any, Nagisa-kun."
Reiās eyes are nearly shut as he feels Nagisaās lips once again fall squarely into his own, the soft warmth triggering an immediate sagging of his shoulders and a soft sigh. Nagisaās hands find their way to Reiās face slowly, crawling up under the line of his jaw to settle gently in the short hair between Reiās neck and ear while heās smiling, deepening this kiss only slightly before he pulls away, satisfied and content.
"I donāt see why itās such a big deal," Nagisa says as he feels Rei pull back from where their noses are touching. The heat in Reiās face is obvious, and Nagisa smiles openly as he realizes Reiās glasses are a little crooked from the contact. "Itās just kissing your best friend."
The next thirty kisses they share are each sweeter than the last ones, murmured confessions between the two made simple only because Nagisa allows them softly and openly, and without any of the logical hesitance Rei had so plainly expected of himself.
That next Christmas, however, the blush on Reiās face at Nagisa holding out mistletoe was one even Gou couldnāt find the ability to ignore.
Honestly I have not written fic in like 10 years and Reigisa is not a pair I am very familiar with but I tried and I hope you appreciate it (this is just straight pointless fluff too lmao omg) Merry Christmas?
