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Rei Ryugazaki is an angel and no one can tell Makoto otherwise.
Makoto loves it when Rei does his best to care for everyone, especially to the ever mischievous Nagisa. Often when Makoto sees the two first years interact with each other, Makoto could see (and imagine) Rei being the little angel on Nagisa’s shoulder (in an adorable white toga and halo) to tell him that his idea was outrageous and farfetched, and would offer more sensible suggestions for the energetic blond. And while sometimes, Nagisa would relent and listen to his friend’s advice, most of the time the blond would go through with his silly little schemes, dragging Rei along with him and often for the bespectacled male to do damage control and often succeeding.
It warms Makoto’s heart that Rei could keep up with Nagisa’s bountiful energy because on some days Nagisa could wear out everyone, including himself with his antics (and he had younger siblings who were often more energetic than Nagisa was!) Because while Nagisa was the youngest out of the four of childhood friends, Makoto often felt that that the blond would feel a little left behind. With Rei around, Makoto felt comfortable knowing that Nagisa was in good hands.
Another reason that Makoto knows Rei is an angel is because as his boyfriend, Rei is adorably hard working in trying to be romantic. Like earlier today when, after everyone had finished swimming practice, Rei gifted him some Valentine’s day chocolate. Hand-made ones too to boot!
Looking at the little round cat figurines were neatly stacked on top of one another on his table, Makoto smiled warmly, as he fondly recalled what had happened earlier on the day.
-Earlier that day-
It was Valentine’s Day at Iwatobi High. And the day was bustling from the excited chatter of students everywhere as female students chattered excitedly in hushed whispers and giggles as they told their friends their plans on how and when they were giving their chocolaty sweet gifts to their crushes and for the bolder confess their love to said crushes. The males too where excited as they talked, guessed and even made bets on who would receive the most chocolate out of their circle of friends, some even teasing that some of the others would get obligation chocolate.
The teachers were sighing at the noise but all in all, were bemused at such displays of youth. Some enforced the no PDA rule but didn’t outright ban the romance of the day as it was to be expected from a romantic holiday. Some even began to reminisce about the days of their own youth where love was plentiful and oh so fleeting.
At least that how it was for Amakata-sensei, who decided to supervise the swimming club today. If not to witness the boys being showered with love and/or admiration from their female peers.
Kou had already given her chocolate to the boys and had asked Haruka to see if he could give Rin his when they meet next time they meet up and was going to open the clubroom for activities until she saw some female students there waiting.
It was to be expected, given how handsome and cute the boys of the Iwatobi Swim Club were, it would’ve been more surprising if they didn’t receive any! So it wasn’t surprising that after club activities finished, the boys were met with sweet gifts from their admirers. With some female students actually waiting for them to confess to the boys! Well… mostly for Makoto and Haruka. And of course, as it was to be expected, some of them had to be let down gently, much to their disappointment.
Makoto held the most tact, telling his admirers that he was already with someone but felt flattered that they went through the trouble to make something for him and commended them for their bravery. He gave them a smile before wishing them good luck with their future romantic interests. And while the girls were disappointed, they weren’t angry at the male for complimenting them and outright rejecting their gifts.
Haruka struggled a bit, being a little more reserved, but managed to politely decline his admirer’s confession saying that he wasn’t really ready for that type of relationship nor he was looking for one, with the help from his friends. His admirer, quite the shy type and also a little reserved, took the rejection well and even stated that she respected Haruka for being so mature about the subject.
Both Nagisa and Rei had dealt with their share of admirers prior to club practice, with Nagisa happily munching on some sugar cookies he had received and Rei was enjoying a small sample for himself to snack on.
But that wasn’t what was the big thing that had happened for the Iwatobi swim team. Oh no. It was what happened afterwards. And one Rei would soon kind of regret deciding to go through with his decision, as Nagisa would never let him live it down.
Everyone in the team knew about Makoto’s and Rei’s relationship, and were fully supportive of the relationship, with Nagisa often teasing Rei about various romantic things and often giving him silly advice on kissing.
‘Make sure to blow air into the kiss so that both of you can have puffy cheeks, Rei-chan! It’d be cute!’
‘N-Na-… Nagisa-kun, NO!’
So when the bespectacled male had given Makoto a neatly wrapped box after club practice and clean-up was done for the day. Everyone, including Makoto, was curious as to what the blue-haired male had given him and was urging him to open it. Well for the most part it was Kou, Amakata-sensei and Nagisa who were being insistent at the behest of their blue haired male, Haruka was only curious but not stopping the three and Rei was embarrassed that his friends and their teacher were being so insistent and his senior not helping in the slightest!
Of course, giving in to the peer pressure as well as his own curiosity, Makoto opened it to see what his boyfriend had given him for Valentine’s Day. To his surprise, there were six chocolates with happy, sleepy cat faces. The three insistent busy bodies were amazed at the cute looking chocolates, and each reacted uniquely to the sweets.
Amakata-sensei cooed at how cute the chocolates looked, complimenting Rei being so sweet. Nagisa also said that they were cute, and asked if his friend could make him penguin looking sweets next time. Kou instantly recognised the sleepy looking cats and asked Rei,
“Did you make these Nemuneko chocolates, Rei-kun?”
Smiling, Rei answered proudly, “Yes, I did make them! It was difficult at first but research helped me a lot to make these perfect!” Adjusting his glasses Rei continued, “I also learnt a lot too which was a really enjoyable and exhilarating experience!”
Makoto all the while, admired how cute the sweets were and picked up the round brown tabby cat with a red bow on it, but on the inside his heart was in the process of being melted at how cute the cats came out, and was happy at the fact that Rei had remembered his disappointment at not being able to buy one of the cats from the toyline. Just as he was about to thank the bespectacled male, Haruka noticed something that Makoto hadn’t.
“Makoto, I think there’s something inside these.” Haruka stated, picking one up and shaking it a little and hearing a muffled tapping sound before putting it back in its place.
“Oh?” Makoto shook the one he was holding and also heard a muffled tapping noise. “I wonder what inside these?”
Placing box on his lap, Makoto slipped the bow off the one he was holding and saw that a faint seam along the centre of the sweet. Twisting the sphere a little, the top half popped off cleanly and what was inside was a miniature toy version of the chocolate shell encasing it.
“Um… I noticed that you were a little down that you couldn’t buy those initially, Makoto-senpai…” Rei began feeling a little shy all of a sudden, his proud moment and feelings disappearing slowly now that it had come and went.
“I had to get my older brother’s girlfriend help me get the ones you liked. She’s really good at those ufo catching games. And I know they are not as big or soft as the plush toy you wanted when we went on the weekend but-”
Rei couldn’t get to finish his sentence as he was cut off by a sudden big hug from the brunet, and a big kiss to the cheek.
“Thank you Rei.” Makoto whispered into his ear. “I love it.”
This caused Rei’s face flush suddenly go bright red as all the embarrassment that had been building up from him giving the present in front of his friends to now finally caught up with him, cuasing him to hug his boyfriend back and hide his rather red (and totally not beautiful!) face from his friends.
But that didn’t stop Nagisa.
“Awww! Rei-chan is so cute when he’s hiding his feelings!” Nagisa teased, causing the bespectacled male hide his face deeper into the broad shoulder.
“That is so sweet of Rei-kun to get these for Makoto-senpai!” Kou exclaimed, happy and touched by the blue-haired male’s thoughtfulness.
“Ahh to be in love again! It is such a beautiful sight to behold! And as an Indian proverb goes…” Amakata said before starting with her serious English Literature tone, “Where love reigns the impossible may be attained.”
Haruka who was earlier amused at his close friend’s shocked reaction, knew that Makoto would like some alone time right now. And so did Nagisa, surprisingly enough, who despite wanting to stay longer to tease his taller friend, knew that both Makoto and Rei would like to be alone for the moment. So both Haruka and Nagisa did their best to get the others to leave.
“Amakata-sensei, aren’t you late for a teacher’s conference?” Haruka asked politely, picking up his bag.
Surrpised, the brunette looked down to the watch on her wrist and exclaimed loudly, looking rather distressed. “Oh no! I’m going to be late for the teacher’s conference! Thank you for reminding me, Nanase-kun! Everyone please excuse me!” To which the brunette left in a hurry, trying to make up for lost time dilly dallying around. This resulted in Rei and Makoto to let go of each other, both embarrassed, with Makoto being a little bashful and Rei looking down to hide his face.
“Ne, Gou-chan I think we should leave these love birds alone for a while…” Nagisa picked up his own bag and slung it on his shoulder. “Besides, Mako-chan is captain so he should be the one to lock up and I think Rin-chan wants to know about how your Valentine’s Day went!” Nagisa said giggling a bit conspiratorially. “And I want to see your text messages to him!”
“Nagisa-kun! That’s none of your business!” Kou stated sternly, chiding the blond. “But I do agree with you, we should leave these two alone for bit.” Picking up her things, and leaving the club room keys on top of the cubbyhole, she then pushed both Haruka and Nagisa towards the door.
“Makoto-senpai, please lock up after you’re done okay? Bye bye!”
Calling out over his shoulder Nagisa added for Rei. “Don’t do anything naughty now Rei-chan!”
This snapped Rei out of it. “Nagisa-kun! That’s inappropriate!”
But his exclamation fell on deaf ears as giggles could be heard from behind the closed door of the clubroom. Both boys looked at each other in awkward silence for a moment before laughing to themselves at how embarrassing they were in front of their friends with their rather… grand display of affection. Makoto once again was sitting down on the benches to open the rest of them, ushering Rei to join him (which he did), all while munching on plain half of the chocolate shells. The brunet offered to share some with Rei since he couldn’t possibly eat it all (well… he could but he didn’t want to get a stomach ache.) But Rei politely declined saying that he wanted Makoto to save them for himself or if he wanted to share them with Ran and Ren when he got home.
Smiling warmly, Makoto leaned over to kiss Rei on the forehead, feeling warm and happy when he felt Rei respond back in kind with a kiss on the cheek. There was only one thought on his mind.
Rei Ryugazaki was an angel. And no one could tell him otherwise.
And Makoto got his new Nemuneko toy to kiss Rei’s nose with a small ‘chu!’ making Rei looking rather shocked at the unexpected action.