Chapter Text
Reo didn't particularly want to train right now, he just couldn't sleep— training seemed like a far more productive way to use his time rather than staring at the roof, or dismantling toothbrushes again.
He pushed the door to the training room open, the fluorescent lights practically blinding him. The sight of a ball hitting the net in a flurry caught his gaze. Reo's gazed moved to his left to be greeted with blue hair, the same blue hair with the irritating sprout on top of it— Isagi. Before Reo could leave without being noticed, unfortunately Isagi spoke.
"Reo! I've been meaning to talk to you." The blue haired boy jogged over and Reo forced a tight lipped smile.
"Great! What about? If it's about nag-"
"Nagi! It's about Nagi, and me, and you!"
Being cut off isn't Reo's favourite thing, especially when it's done by Isagi. Was Reo still a bit spiteful about the whole selection thing? Yes. Did he care? No.
"Listen, I didn't mean to make you and Nagi fight, it was just business— just soccer related business!" Reo felt his smile get tighter, business, ruining his entire friendship, taking away his treasure, it was all 'game business'?
He really should try and give Isagi the benefit of the doubt, I mean, he knows how Isagi gets when he's on the field, how competitive he gets, but that’s him, not Nagi! Reo took a deep breath, in for 5, out for 4, just like Ba-ta used to say.
"It's fine, really. I'm not jealous. In fact, I'm sorry if I'm ruining you and his friendship with my avoidance, It's just kind of between us and you're associated with him so it’s a whole thing." Reo come off more passive-aggressive then intended, but he wasn't going to apologies for it.
"No, no, no, you don't get it— me and Nagi really aren't like that, he literally grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled it, I swore I almost lost a chunk!"
He didn't really understand why Isagi was trying so hard to explain everything, and getting his hair pulled by Nagi seemed like more of a good thing rather than a bad thing— wait, no it didn’t! Reo getting his hair tugged on by Nagi would hurt…and be weird! Reo would not like that!
"Listen, I get that you're trying to explain everything which is quite nice but—"
"Im not doing it to be nice!" interrupted, again. Was this Isagi's thing or something?
"I don't wanna come off as rude, but I don't really care too much about mending stuff with you! It's just…Nagi is so annoying about you!" Isagi sighed as if he was trying to run a marathon with all of the blue lock boys on his back.
How could Nagi be 'annoying' about him? Nagi doesn't show emotion half the time and when Reo thinks of annoying he thinks of being pestered by his father about the business, or stupid evacuation drills seriously, who came up with those? Anyways, the point of this all is that Nagi is far to nonchalant to be considered 'annoying' especially about him of all people, which leads Reo to his great question;
"How is Nagi annoying?"
The sprouted boy looked at him dumbfounded as if he was just asked what colour the sky was.
"You seriously don't know? Are you joking?", Reo thought Isagi was being sarcastic, but the expression on his face said otherwise.
"All Nagi does is pester and whine! He can't do anything for himself without your helping—"
"So that’s what this is about? He misses his maid?" Reo knew that came off a tad bit rude, but it was true. If this was simply about Nagi missing being Reo's pampering, he didn't want to hear it. Sure, Reo enjoyed feeding and bathing and helping Nagi with pretty much anything, but he didn't enjoy being used. After he seeing Nagi could replace him without a second thought, Reo rethought everything, Nagi was obviously using him.
"I, well, kind of? It's not just that, all he talks about is how much he misses—"
The door to the training room opened, Reo didn't bother asking Isagi to finish, he figured him getting a taste of his interrupting nature would be nice. He spun on his heels to pretty much thank the person, only to be met with the same white hair that had been haunting him lately. Nagi's eyes widened a fraction, or Reo thinks they did, maybe he was just hallucinating again— the previous lack of sleep on top of the talk show coming up (whenever that would be) wasn't a great help to his mental health.
"Reo, hi." Nagi said, almost mindlessly before his eyes landed on Isagi. Was this some planned hangout / training session Reo had accidently intruded on? Maybe he should've just took the extra few steps to reach a different training room, this really wasn't what he was anticipating when he thought of training. And what kind of greeting was 'hi'? Seriously Nagi got on his nerves sometimes, was this what Isagi meant by annoying?
"Hey. I didn't intend on crashing this little training thing, so I'll uhh…skedaddle" SKEDDADLE? Who on earth says skedaddle! This is what the un-nutritional blue lock food did to his brain, made it into mush! Reo felt his face heat with embarrassment, of course he said something stupid in front of them both, Nagi's lack of reaction really wasn't helping either.
"Wait, Reo, can we talk?" Nagi asking to talk? Shocker considering all he did was complain about doing it!...Reo's temper issues were starting to become a small issue. In for 5, out for 4.
"I was just leaving actually, lots of training, I'm tired! Honestly, let's just talk tomorrow, yeah?" that was Reo's cue to 'skedaddle' and get out of there, little did Nagi know he had no plans of talking to him tomorrow! Hah, how does it feel to get your promise broken!
------
"Nagi, Mikage, to my office— now." The speakers were an unwelcome crackle. All Reo wanted to do was eat his daily slop for breakfast, not go see Nagi! He wanted to not talk to him, key word, not! But now, as usual, luck wasn't on his side and he was being dragged to Ego's two minute noodle flavoured surveillance den!
Nagi was already sitting down when Reo arrived. He decided to stand this time to ensure that he could escape as quickly as possible when this ended.
"Looking at training footage, it appears you two aren't interacting as much. I don't care what happened between you both, but it needs to be made up, even falsely before the interview. Today you will take a few photos together, for thumbnails, teasers and whatever else the show requires. The show is scheduled for two days from now, tomorrow you will both fly to Kyoto and stay in a hotel, the next day the show will take place."
Reo felt like the roof just fell on him. Dramatic? Sure, but it wasn’t even because of Nagi this time! Reo had always hated photos, a stupid little thing considering all he did was be around cameras in blue lock, but he just disliked them! The click of the camera, the way they could end up anywhere, edited or not— maybe media training at such a young age wasn't the best thing for him, or maybe it's just the fact that he grew up taking fake photos for 'family albums' (publicly published albums to keep the his fathers corporation with a good reputation), or the way his mouth always strained after taking them from practicing the smiles for so long.
Not only that, he was meant to fly to Kyoto? An isolated plane flight with Nagi, to the stay in some random hotel (likely not even a good one considering blue locks budget being spent purely on training equipment), and stay there with Nagi to then have to go on a show! This was all a nightmare wrapped with a bow, whose idea was it to make it him and Nagi again?
"Reo, are you paying attention? Get out, the photographers are waiting in the room— you know what? Just follow the sloth." Ego was particularly mean today, his kettle must've broke.
Reo quietly followed Nagi down the seemingly never ended hall, his palms sweaty. He was fine with the blue lock cameras, so why be all shaky now? Maybe because Ego would never use the videos maliciously, he just used them for training purposes, yet these photos would be to the public eye— his father would probably see them, maybe distant relatives too. He could already envision the speech he would get on the monitored phone calls, "Now you're on shows? Your idiotic game is already out of hand, this is utterly embarrassing and reflects on the whole family, the company, not just you. Quit your games and come back already."
Reo's train of thought was stopped with a warm brick wall. When he looked up, the warm brick wall was indeed not a brick wall, it was Nagi's chest. When had he even turned around? Reo stumbled backwards, feeling his face heat up, he seriously needed to watch where he was going— he never did this kind of thing.
"It's fine, Reo. They can't use the photos for other stuff, Ego made them sign something, he didn't want it to look weird for blue lock."
Reo blinked. Was Nagi a mind reader?
"you know that how…?"
"I asked him."
Last time Reo checked Nagi didn't have the same weird overthinker fears as he did— so why would he ask? He probably should've paid attention while they were talking, it must've just came up, Nagi doesn't ask things that don't matter to him, he doesn't even talk half the time so this was odd to say the least. It likely just came up while talking about flights…and stuff.
Nagi sensing the conversation was done (shocking considering his lack of understanding social cues), opened the door to his right. The room had a large green screen that was practically blinding with the various massive, bright, box lights paired with the brightness of everything else. Reo squinted his eyes before his hands were grabbed by a girl, she was shorter than him and smiling so wide it was scary.
"Mikage!! I'm Kitagawa Saki, but call me Saki! I'm a huge fan, it’s like a dream meeting you!" She had both her hands clasping his whilst she shook aggressively, Reo was getting dizzy.
"Saki, just call me Reo. I presume you’re the photographer?" She halted the aggressive hand shaking and smiled even wider (yes, somehow that was possible). She released his hand and confidently put her hands on her hips, she was a character that’s for sure…
Reo glanced at Nagi to try and gauge his reaction, he was glaring? Well, Nagi's glare was a slight narrow of his eyes that Reo recognized, the same look he had when he would lose at a game way too many times (yes, he did feel things on occasion). Reo assumed Nagi was just weirded out or something.
The photographer instructed them both to stand next to each other on the large green backgrounded stage. It was awkward to say the least.
Saki frowned, looking at them both, specifically the distance between the both of them.
"No, maybe…Reo, put your arm around Nagi's shoulder, like you usually do!" Reo felt embarrassed to say the least, was this all people saw in his public games? Him holding onto Nagi?
Reo moved as instructed and shuffled closer to Nagi, staged photo's weren't anything Reo weren't used to but this felt particularly weird since it was Nagi with him. He raised his arm and put it over the length of his shoulders, resting his hand on Nagi's furthest shoulder. Saki took a few photos, playing around with the camera before frowning again.
"You look stiff, Reo— how about we swap, Nagi put your hand on Reo's shoulder, and Reo, lean into it this time" she said with a smile that was frightening to say the least. Reo took his hand off Nagi's shoulder, the distance a nice momentary break that was unfortunately shortly lived.
The taller boy mimicked Reo's earlier position, he was quite warm— Nagi then ever so slightly pulled Reo closer, causing Reo to lean into him. He knew his face was bright red, he could feel the warmth in his cheeks, the tingling feeling in his stomach, but can you blame him? Nagi rarely touched Reo, usually it was Reo carrying him around or initiating touch with him, so this was an un(welcome) change. Reo put on his best smile, trying to mimic his genuine one that she was probably looking for from all of Nagi and Reo's past games.
"you're tense, Reo." Nagi's breath tickled his ear as he said that. Reo felt himself flush further, his smile growing wider as he tried to hide whatever stupid expression he would've made, since when was Nagi some kind of photo perfectionist anyways?!
Saki beamed, instantly snapping photos from various angels, she certainly enjoyed what she did. Reo stood as still as possible, feeling incredibly warm, not just from how the boy beside him generally ran quite warm. Was Reo seriously not hating this?
Saki gestured for them to come over, gushing about how the photos would be perfect and how she could already imagine them on covers. Nagi held onto Reo for a second longer then needed to be unintentional, before releasing Reo. They both walked up to the camera to see Saki frowning again. Reo hoped he didn't make a stupid face, he didn't know if he could handle taking anymore photos.
"These are good, but Nagi's not looking at the camera in any of these." She said as she flicked through various photos, Reo leaned over to try and see what she meant, slightly hoping to see Nagi blinking half way through some of the photos but to his surprise, Nagi really wasn't looking at the camera in any of these, but not because he was blinking half way through the pictures, or he was glancing at the lights.
It was because he was always looking at Reo.
Reo felt his face heat again as she continued to flick through the photos, Nagi was staring at him in everyone. He was honestly going to get heat stroke at this point, someone might think he has a fever! He prayed nobody would point it out.
"Do we have to redo the photos?" The purple haired boy asked, still feeling slightly nervous, Saki shook her head.
"No, it might seem bad but it could be a good thing, really shows off your relationship to the audience, they're good photos— although you do look a little feverish in some." She teased with a grin. Great, now it is being pointed out. Honestly, nothing was going his way, and why'd she say the word 'relationship' so weirdly?
Reo felt stiff, not for no reason, but because he could feel Nagi staring at him. He could feel the heat radiating off of his body— why was he standing so close anyway?
"We're done now then! You both can be on your way, expect to see these photos out soon." Saki's voice cut through the silence. Reo nodded, giving her a thank you, Nagi did the same.
Reo walked out of the room, the door shutting behind Nagi who closely followed. Reo paused, turning to face the taller boy.
"Why were you looking at me in all of those? I didn't have anything on my face…did i?" Reo wasn't one for confrontation, but it would be nice to know if he looked weird up close while taking photos, for future reference of course, this wasn't just because a small part of him wondered if Nagi still cared about him.
"Reo looked nice."
. . . ?!
Reo hands were sweaty enough to fill a glass or five.
"T-thanks." The stammer escaped before he could stop it, was he seriously folding over a barley compliment? He's been called far better things then 'nice', yet it was different— it was from Nagi, Nagi who rarely had the energy to like things, let alone compliment them, yet here he was, complimenting Reo.
"I'll see you tomorrow, don't forget to pack all your stuff", before Reo could run away like always, he was stopped by Nagi's warm, larger than he remembered hand on his shoulder.
"Can Reo help me pack? You know I forget stuff." Reo felt his heart sputtering— he was getting angry earlier about the idea of pampering Nagi again, of doing things for him again. Yet here he was standing there, with the boys warm hand grounding him as he struggled to decide if he should or not.
"Okay…but this is a onetime thing"
"Yes, Reo. Onetime thing."
------
Reo didn’t know how he made it to Nagi's room, on the floor with his suitcase open in front of him, folding clothes as Nagi stared. The staring wasn't entirely uncomfortable, just something Reo was no longer used to.
He could recall all the times the bug-eyed boy would have a staring 'problem'. Whenever Reo would ramble about things, Nagi would never respond, just stare— or when Reo would do chores for him, such as things like this, or even bathing him, Nagi would just stare, the way he could stare without wavering was scary at times.
Chigiri would probably kill Reo if he knew that he was sat on the floor, packing for the boy he swore he hated days ago…who he still did hate! Probably? He needed to resist the temptations! He always was weak when Nagi asked for things, he struggled to say no as Nagi rarely asked for anything, and overall Reo was never really asked for unmaterialistic things such as feeding someone, usually people wanted things of cost from Reo, Nagi never did (apart from the occasional video game currency.)
Reo reached into one of Nagi's draws, grabbing a hoodie he hadn't seen in a while,
"Re—"
When lifting the hoodie to fold it into his suitcase, various printed photos of Reo fell out, a few with Nagi and Reo both, but clearly cropped to show more of Reo. Reo could've sworn he hadn't even sent Nagi some of these, and if he did— it would've all been online, did he get these printed? Reo felt his stomach do a flip, this was weird, he certainly didn't like the idea of Nagi holding onto printed photos of him, even after their argument (where Reo had regretfully ripped up all their photos the next day).
"I didn't think Reo would find those." Nagi murmured, not exactly looking guilty, but having an almost flustered expression, his cheeks a shade pinker than usual, almost unnoticeably.
He finished folding the hoodie, the photos set to the side, he stood up, dusting himself off.
"it's…fine. I'll go now." Reo quickly walked out of the room, worried he'd say something stupid at the thought of Nagi missing him. On his way out, he clutched a photo, one with a little more of Nagi then him, he took it. He doubted Nagi would notice, and if he did— its fair game, he has plenty of Reo anyway.
This didn't mean they were 'friends; again, it just…it all made things more complicated. Gosh, did he know anything about Nagi?