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All his life, Nagisa has wanted friends.
Having spent his early years subject to much teasing, both from his sisters and from some of his classmates, he didn’t really have anyone to call a friend until he met Haru, Makoto and Rin at the Iwatobi Swimming Club. Even then, though, it felt different - Haru and Makoto went off to middle school without him, maintaining their ever-present duo, while Rin made his way to Australia, eventually forgetting even to write to him anymore.
He’s not picky, honest. As long as he can get along with someone, he will. Still, he longs to have someone to call his own best friend, someone who cares as much about him as he does about them.
Rei is more than he bargained for, in every sense of the phrase.
Massively nerdy and intelligent, productive and organised, not to mention a total goof when it comes down to it; Rei complements all of Nagisa’s weaknesses and strengths. Of course, Rei is also attractive - as are all the members of the swim team, but not so much in Nagisa’s eyes as the blue haired beauty whose lilac eyes feel like they’re analysing his soul at times. But it’s his personality which is the most attractive part of him. He is honest and loyal and hardworking to a fault. Whenever Nagisa has fallen down, Rei’s been there to pick him up.
Nagisa couldn’t have asked for a better friend than Rei.
And yet, here he is. Ruining his long-sought friendship.
On a spring day, cherry blossoms dancing around them, tiptoes aching from pressure.
Nagisa kisses Rei.
It wasn’t planned or premeditated. Though he’s thought of how he might tell Rei his feelings ever since he realised them in his second year, he’s never been serious about going through with his plans, if only because he doesn’t know if Rei’s feelings match his own. He values their friendship too highly to throw it all away.
And yet, here he is.
The kiss is only the softest brush of their lips, a shock running through him as he realises what he’s done, accidentally increasing the pressure of the kiss for a moment as he tries to back away. When he does fall back, he barely notices Rei’s expression, too caught up in his own shame and embarrassment.
“I’m sorry, Rei-chan,” he says, putting his hands over his lips, which refuse to stop tingling, the feeling of Rei’s lips still fresh upon them. “I didn’t mean to just do something like that without asking, I just-”
He halts his own words as he registers the red spreading across Rei’s ears, camouflaging his glasses on his face. Rei pushes his glasses up with a shaking hand. When he moves his hand, his eyes are still full of the vibrance which had so enthralled Nagisa in the first place.
Rei coughs into his hand, eyes looking to the side as he speaks. “I believe you are meant to wait until the second date to try anything like that, Nagisa-kun.”
Nagisa freezes, his heart pounding in his chest. “Does that mean…?”
“I did not dislike it,” Rei says, glancing over at Nagisa for a moment before looking away again, clearly embarrassed. “I do not think I would mind if it happened again, though perhaps with more prior warning.”
His heart filling up with a warm bubbly feeling, Nagisa takes a step closer to Rei, unable to keep the grin from forming on his lips. “I know it’s not the second date, but can I kiss you? Again?”
Rei’s eyes meet his again, bright with surprise before melting into fondness. He lowers his hand away from his face, revealing the smile which he’d hidden beneath it. “Yes, I would like that.”
This time, when Nagisa leans up to kiss Rei, the action is reciprocated, and their love blossoms in full view of the cherry blossom trees.
When Nagisa first met Rei, he knew he was more than he’d bargained for. And yet, somehow Rei has become both the best friend, and the best something more that Nagisa could ever have dreamed of.
And the thought that he might be able to spend more time with Rei from now on, learning even more about him and discovering all new things together with him…
All of this - all of Rei - was worth waiting for.