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Rei pulled himself out of the pool while Kou announced his time. “That’s a new record for you!” She said, writing it down in her notebook. Despite his labored breathing, Rei smiled. He was finally starting to improve after being stuck in a rut for so long.
“Wow, congratulations, Rei-chan!” Nagisa cheered. Then he hopped up onto his toes and quickly pecked Rei on the lips.
Rei froze. He distantly heard a giggle and a splash as Nagisa jumped into the pool to check his time. Had Nagisa really just kissed him? Maybe it was a dream. Maybe it was a mistake. It was meant to be a congratulatory hug but he had misjudged their height difference and bumped faces. That makes sense, right? Or, shit, maybe it was meant to be a kiss and Rei had fucked it up by just standing there.
“Rei-kun? Are you ok?” Rei snapped out of his daze. Makoto was looking at him with a worried expression. Rei looked around at everyone else at their informal practice. Nagisa was just reaching his turn. Aiichiro was staring, but immediately turned his interest to a faraway tree when Rei noticed. Kou concentrated on Nagisa and her stopwatch and didn’t bother hiding her grin, while her brother grinned as well and looked at Rei. Haru, ignoring everyone else, got on the block, staring longingly at the water as if he couldn’t wait for Nagisa to finish his lap so he could dive in.
“Yeah, fine,” Rei muttered. Makoto smiled but still looked concerned.
Nagisa hit the wall and Kou announced his time before Haru dove in. “Aw, no improvement,” Nagisa complained. “Hey, Rei-chan, what’s wrong?” Nagisa asked, brow furrowing while he placed a hand Rei’s shoulder.
“Bathroom!” Rei yelped and sprinted to the club room. He could hear Rin laughing behind him.
“Makoto-senpai?” Rei pulled Makoto aside in the changing room after practice.
“Is something wrong, Rei?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s just…” Rei swallowed. “Was that weird?”
“What?” Makoto’s look of concern turned into confusion.
“Nagisa kissed me,” Rei said.
“Oh, right,” Makoto smiled. “He does that sometimes.”
“What?!”
“Although I guess he hasn’t been doing it as much lately…”
“He—has he kissed you?”
“Yeah, after we won that medley as kids.”
“Hey, Rei-chan, Mako-chan!” Nagisa called, buttoning up his shirt. “Are you guys going to change or what?”
“Coming!” Rei responded and rushed over, and Makoto followed.
“Haru?” Rei walked next to Haru as everyone made their way to the station after practice.
“…” Haru glanced at Rei as recognition that he had heard.
“Has… Has Nagisa ever kissed you?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” Rei responded. He did not sound disappointed. Why would he? He was just curious. Nothing to feel sad about.
Haru looked at Rei for a moment, then added, “On the cheek.” Rei could’ve sworn Haru smirked as he slowed down to walk next to Makoto and Rin.
As usual, Nagisa had no interest in his homework. He pretended to work for fifteen minutes before complaining, but when he looked over at Rei, he saw Rei looking at his phone and biting his lip. That was odd. Nagisa decided to just observe Rei for a minute.
Rei put down his phone without typing anything. He looked back at his book, which Nagisa noticed was still open to the first page of the chapter. His notebook was blank. After a moment he picked up his phone again, acted like he was about to type something, but instead put it back down and continued to stare at his textbook for almost a minute before grabbing his phone again.
“Waiting for a text, Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked. Startled, Rei dropped his phone, and Nagisa picked it up.
“No, I…”
“A call then?” Nagisa interrupted. “You keep checking your phone. Who are you waiting for?” Nagisa opened Rei’s phone and noticed that it was set to send a text to Rin. Rei snatched it back. “Were you texting Rin-chan?”
“No, I…”
“Why didn’t you just say so?”
“I needed to…”
“You were keeping it a secret?”
“No, it’s just…”
“You and Rin have secrets? Do you two… like each other?”
“What?! No, I…” Rei paused, half expecting Nagisa to interrupt him again, but Nagisa just waited, lips threatening to turn into a frown. “I needed to ask him something.” When Nagisa still didn’t say anything, Rei elaborated. “I needed to know if you kissed him.”
Nagisa laughed. “What? Why would I kiss him?”
“You kissed me today, and then I talked to Makoto and found out you kissed him, and Haruka, and I just needed to know if—if it meant anything…” Rei trailed off.
“Why didn’t you just ask me?” Nagisa cocked his head to the side. “Yeah, I've kissed him.”
“Oh.” Rei looked down at his hands.
“But this did mean something!” Nagisa quickly added.
Rei sighed. “Yeah, it means we’re friends. You kiss your friends.”
“Rei-chan…”
Rei turned back to his homework. “Just pretend I didn’t say anything.”
“Rei-chan, look at me.” Nagisa placed his hands on both sides of Rei’s face, forcing him to look him in the eye. “This was different.”
Rei stared at him. “How?” he challenged.
“Well, I kissed them on the cheek,” Nagisa explain, then smiled slyly—the smile that always made Rei nervous. “And they didn’t kiss me back.”
“But I didn’t kiss you back, either.”
“And is that my fault?” Nagisa raised his eyebrows, hoping Rei would take the hint.
Rei closed the distance between their faces, bringing their lips together. Neither of them were going to settle for a quick peck this time.