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Nagisa had always liked flowers. He was never really sure why. They were pretty, yes, but it was more than that. Maybe it was because he'd grown up in an otherwise girl-only household. He didn't know. Maybe it was just because he was gay.
But his sexuality aside, he truly did like them. He liked being around them. He never told Rei that, so he had to wonder why he'd chosen to take him to a botanical garden. Was it possible that he…?
"Rei?" Nagisa asked, looking up.
"Yes?" he said, adjusting his glasses and almost hitting himself in the face in the process. Walking and looking around and adjusting eyewear was not something Rei was good at.
Nagisa giggled, but tried to pretend he didn't see. "Do you like flowers?"
The question was the most innocent thing Rei had ever heard come out of Nagisa's mouth. His eyes were all happy and sparkly in the sunlight. It made his heart beat a little faster. "I- of course I do," he mumbled. “They’re… beautiful.” He wanted to hold Nagisa's hand. He'd done it before, but not this casually. His fingers twitched. Nagisa beat him to it, reaching to the side and not only grabbing his hand, but tangling their fingers together shamelessly. Like it was something they did all the time. Hell, Nagisa wanted it to be something they did all the time. Maybe it would become a regular thing faster if he did it more often. "Do you?" Rei asked quietly, worrying that Nagisa wouldn't like being brought to a place like this.
"I love them!" he replied earnestly, smiling. "I always have. And I love places like this."
Rei smiled. “That’s good,” he said, adjusting his glasses a little more carefully.
They walked for a little while longer in comfortable silence. Nagisa suggested that they find a bench before dragging Rei over to one. They sat, and Nagisa immediately leaned most of his weight against Rei's shoulder.
"N-Nagisa-" he stammered. He was warm and heavy, but not unpleasantly so. Rei’s cheeks were burning. His heart was pounding and his hands were getting all sweaty. Eugh. Not beautiful. Not beautiful at all. Nagisa, on the other hand… His hair smelled nice. Even with the hint of chlorine. His hand was warm and dry, and slightly smaller than Rei's. Even the way he put his weight against Rei's side… Beautiful. His heart jumped when he noticed that Nagisa was looking at him.
"Rei," he said, smiling. His voice was a little lower. A little softer. They both knew what was coming. They'd done it once or twice before, but it had been rushed and awkward and restrained. Nagisa stretched up as much as he could, his eyes half-closed, that tiny, perfect smile still hinting at the corners of his mouth. "You have to lean, too, silly," he said quietly. Rei leaned down, nervous. What if he did it wrong? He’d never seen a formula for kissing. Did that mean it was so difficult that nobody had figured it out yet? He stopped with his mouth about an inch away from Nagisa's. He was frozen and blushing and his eyes were squeezed shut and he was too anxious to open them. Nagisa shifted and carefully pressed their lips together. Rei immediately relaxed and leaned in the rest of the way. Okay. This wasn’t hard. In fact, it was nice. More enjoyable than Rei had predicted it would be. The kiss lasted for a few seconds. Nagisa was the one to break it. He'd been trying not to smile, and he didn't want to knock their teeth together.
"Nagisa…" Rei's cheeks were crimson. He was embarrassed, but very happy.
Nagisa looked at his smile with a devilish glint in his eyes.
"Th-there are people," Rei whispered.
Nagisa breathed a careless "mhm" and kissed him again. This time, Rei didn't feel clueless. He shifted a little and shyly rubbed his thumb against the back of Nagisa's hand. Nagisa sighed and put his hand on Rei's waist. Rei tensed. Too fast. He promptly moved his hand up to Rei's shoulder, giving it a gentle, apologetic squeeze. Rei's hand hovered in the air for a moment before landing on Nagisa's shoulder. Shoulders seemed safe. They both pulled away smiling. The look on Rei's face took Nagisa's breath away. His eyes had never looked that soft and gentle before. Nagisa's heart was stuttering and doing weird little flips that told him they should kiss again. It wasn't his place to object. He pulled Rei forwards and kissed him again. Rei startled when he heard the crunch of gravel under a pair of feet. But he didn't move away. He just pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and kept going. Nagisa didn't seem to notice anything besides their activities, so he reached back and carefully did the same thing with the hood of his sweatshirt for him. Nagisa, as some form of response, opened his mouth slightly. Rei made a nervous little sound, but followed. Everything from there was a blur of rapidly pounding hearts and breathing stomachs doing acrobatics. Finally, resentfully, Rei broke away. "You're going to get us kicked out," he breathed.
"You know what that felt like?" Nagisa said, ignoring Rei and taking his hood off with a grin. He pointed to a nearby butterfly bush, where several butterflies were flitting around the flowers and each other. "That."