Work Text:
Nagi and Mitsuki were running. Tsumugi had work at the office, so she couldn’t drive them home, and the streets were too busy to call a taxi and get home before it was too dark, so they were running. They had just finished up a job together and were on their way home, exchanging quick “hello”s, “thank you”s, and “sorry”s with any fan who had managed to catch them. Nagi was practically dragging Mitsuki by the arm so they wouldn’t get separated, and despite how gentle Nagi normally was with his gestures, his grip was tight enough that his knuckles were turning white.
“Oi, Nagi, you can let go of me! That hurts…” Mitsuki said. Upon hearing this, Nagi slowed his pace to a walk and loosened his grip enough for Mitsuki to free his arm. The blond then stopped and turned around to face Mitsuki.
“Sorry, Mitsuki! I wasn’t trying to hurt you…” He said. Mitsuki rubbed his arm and sighed heavily, but the apologetic look on Nagi’s face made it very hard to get mad. Instead, he just smiled gently up at the taller man and spoke.
“It’s okay, Nagi. I know you didn’t mean it. C’mon, let’s keep going, we don’t wanna be late getting home,” he said. Nagi nodded, but hesitated and looked up, which puzzled Mitsuki a bit. “Hm? Nagi, what is it?” It was then that Mitsuki began to notice the small drops dotting the sidewalk below them, and the single drop that had fallen onto his own cheek.
It had started to rain. The rain started lightly, but began to fall harder at a rather fast pace.
Mitsuki cursed and started to search his bag for the umbrella he had brought with him. He pulled it out and opened it up.
“Oh… Sorry, Mitsuki, I forgot mine, are you okay with sharing?” Nagi said quietly after searching his own bag. Mitsuki sighed.
“Okay, but this one’s small, so we’ll be a bit close,” He said. He then decided that due to their difference in height it would be better for Nagi to hold the umbrella, so he handed it to him and they both got under.
“Oh… this is pretty close isn’t it…” Nagi said as they began to continue their walk. They were practically shoulder to shoulder, and being in this close proximity to Nagi made Mitsuki blush a bit. Of course Mitsuki was used to being close to his friend--Nagi was obviously very affectionate with everyone in their group and didn’t hesitate to give them hugs any chance he got--but there was something that felt different about being this close to Nagi this time. It was just the two of them, and it felt more intimate, as cliché as the act of sharing an umbrella was. Though, Mitsuki wasn’t quite sure why he was feeling this way. Him and Nagi had exchanged “I love you”s before, but they were always platonic, right?
...Right?
Wrong. Falling in love with his best friend certainly wasn’t on Mitsuki’s to-do list, but it seemed that he’d fallen harder than the raindrops hammering down around them.
“Ah, it’s kind of embarrassing isn’t it? Sorry, Nagi…” Mitsuki said quietly. Nagi only chuckled a bit in response.
Mitsuki covered his face with his scarf and spared a glance at the taller man. The raindrops that had unfortunately caught Nagi before he got underneath the umbrella lingered on his face, his ocean blue eyes focused on the streets in front of them. His expression was serious, yet calm, and there was something about it that Mitsuki found extremely attractive. He felt his face heat up more, and he decided that if he didn’t let his scarf fall, he may have just overheated. He brought his scarf back down below his chin and prayed that Nagi wouldn’t notice the redness of his cheeks.
Unfortunately, Mitsuki’s prayers weren’t answered, and Nagi stopped walking and looked down at him with concern.
“Mitsuki? Are you alright? Your face is really red, do you have a fever?” Nagi asked, lightly caressing Mitsuki’s cheek with the back of his hand. And despite how hot he felt, the gentleness of the gesture sent a shiver through Mitsuki’s whole body. Mitsuki cursed under his breath, and kicked himself as punishment for ever being stupid enough to fall in love with an idol such as Rokuya Nagi. He looked up at Nagi and smiled weakly.
“I-I’m fine! Please, don’t worry about it…” Mitsuki stuttered. He cursed to himself once again; where the hell had his usual confidence gone? Talking in front of audiences was supposed to be something he was good at, so why couldn’t he bring himself to properly say two words to his friend?
Nagi searched Mitsuki’s blushing face for some sort of answer, leaning forward so that their faces were barely 10 centimeters apart.
“Are you sure?” Nagi asked, cupping Mitsuki’s cheek with his hand. The gap between them that Mitsuki could so easily close, for some reason felt painfully large, despite them being close enough for Mitsuki to feel Nagi’s breath on his face. Nagi’s breath was hot, but it was a comforting kind of hot, not like the uncomfortable heat quickly rising in Mitsuki’s cheeks for every second Nagi remained this close to him.
It was then that Nagi sighed and leaned back away from Mitsuki, and as much as every part of Mitsuki was screaming, “please get away from me!”, as soon as the gap between the two of them had widened, every part of Mitsuki was now screaming, “no, please come back!”.
But the moment was over.
They continued on their walk, and silence, save for the gentle pitter-patter of the rain, had fallen between the two of them, and Mitsuki felt his heart ache with every second that passed without a word. He tried to focus on the sound of the rain, the sound of their footsteps, the voices of passersby, anything to keep him from focusing on the crushing silence that fell between him and the man next to him. He cursed to himself. Nagi was always so talkative, so why wouldn’t he fill the silence when Mitsuki needed him to? Instead, Mitsuki decided to break the silence. Or at least, it definitely wasn’t his own decision, and it definitely was his heart acting on its own, but regardless, the silence was broken.
“Nagi, I--” Mitsuki began, but shut his mouth. “No, nevermind…” Nagi stopped walking again and raised an eyebrow at Mitsuki.
“If you have something to say, you should say it, Mitsuki,” Nagi said flatly. Mitsuki shook his head.
“No, no, really! It’s nothing!” he spat out, maybe a bit too quickly. Nagi’s expression was full of concern as he looked down at Mitsuki.
“Mitsuki, if there’s something you want to say, you can tell me. It’s okay,” Nagi said, placing a hand on Mitsuki’s cheek.
Mitsuki wasn’t sure what to do here. Of course, there was plenty he wanted to say: “You’re super important to me” or “I’m in love with you” or “I would do anything to be able to kiss those beautiful soft lips of yours right now”, but Mitsuki obviously hadn’t planned for his confession to go like this, cold and slightly wet from the rain, sharing an umbrella, and in public , to boot. Not that he had planned his confession yet at all, but this was wildly different from what he would’ve had in mind if the damn blond in front of him had just given him time to sort out his feelings. Mitsuki knew how perceptive Nagi was, though, and knew he would persist in getting the words out of him, so there really wasn’t a way out of this one. And even if he really really didn’t want to confess right now, the concern in Nagi’s face was enough for Mitsuki to want to spill all the words of love he had for Nagi right that very second. He wasn’t going to, though, because he didn’t want to embarrass himself anymore than he would with a simple “I love you”. Mitsuki breathed in and out, and in and out again, although it was a bit fruitless in helping him calm down.
“Mitsuki,” Nagi said quietly. He leaned forward towards Mitsuki again, the umbrella low enough to obscure both their faces. The gap between their faces was small, maybe about 5 centimeters, and Mitsuki simply couldn’t help himself. By now, Mitsuki’s heart was calling all the shots, rather than his brain, which was usually smart about this sort of thing. So, purely on impulse, he closed the gap.
He kissed Nagi. He didn’t know why he did, and every sensible thought in his mind was screaming at him to stop, but he couldn’t.
Mitsuki’s sensible thoughts had stopped screaming at him, however, when he realized that Nagi hadn’t pulled away yet. Mitsuki broke the kiss and turned away, refusing to meet Nagi’s gaze. Nagi placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke.
“Mitsuki…” Nagi’s voice was soft and gentle, and it made Mitsuki shiver.
“I… I’m sorry…” Mitsuki said quietly.
“Mitsuki,” Nagi repeated his name again, this time more firm. Mitsuki buried his face into his scarf in embarrassment, but he felt that even that wasn’t enough to hide the redness of his cheeks.
“Will you tell me what you wanted to say now, Mitsuki?” Nagi asked, and though Mitsuki wouldn’t face him, he was sure there was a smile on Nagi’s face as he spoke.
“... I’d say it’s pretty obvious what I wanted to tell you by now, isn’t it?” Mitsuki said, trying his best to add some of his usual light-hearted sarcasm to his tone, but to no avail, because he couldn’t keep his voice from shaking.
“I don’t care, I want to hear it anyways,” Nagi said, placing a hand on Mitsuki’s cheek. “Please look at me. Say it.”
Mitsuki did as directed and faced Nagi, as much as every single thought in his mind screamed in protest. There was a gentle smile on Nagi’s face, though his eyes were riddled with concern as he searched Mitsuki’s face for some sort of reason.
“You’re really gonna make me say it? This is embarrassing, you know…” Mitsuki said softly. Nagi didn’t answer, nor did he nod. He just simply waited. Mitsuki sighed heavily.
“Fine… If I have to say it out loud, I will. Though I think I’ve made it obvious enough,” Mitsuki took a deep breath, in and out.
“I love you, Nagi. It’s the truth,” Mitsuki finally said. “And not like, our usual ‘I love you’s either! This is different! I like, love love you! Y’know?” He added on the last part frantically and cursed at himself in his mind for every second that he didn’t shut the hell up. Nagi chuckled, and that chuckle turned into a laugh.
“Oi, Nagi, what’s so funny? I’ve just confessed my undying love to you, y’know? Say something at least…” Mitsuki said, trailing off at the end. Nagi’s laughter was calming down a bit now, but he still didn’t say anything.
“Nagi, would you please--” Nagi shut Mitsuki up with a kiss. A kiss that ended far too quickly as Nagi pulled back after only a few seconds. Mitsuki pouted, and Nagi chuckled again.
“So I’m assuming… You feel the same…?” Mitsuki said, scratching the back of his neck.
“Of course, Mitsuki. Do you want me to say it?” Nagi said, taking one of Mitsuki’s hands. Mitsuki blushed a bit.
“I mean… It’d feel nice to hear…” he said quietly.
“Okay, then. I’ll say it. I love you, too, Mitsuki,” Nagi said in a whisper, brushing a gentle kiss onto Mitsuki’s forehead. The tenderness of the act sent a shiver up Mitsuki’s spine as he let himself fall into Nagi’s arms. He rested his head on Nagi’s chest and sighed, listening to Nagi’s heartbeat. It was steady, much unlike his own, which felt like it was racing 1,000 kilometers a minute. Mitsuki chuckled, despite himself, and pulled away from Nagi’s embrace.
“Come on, Nagi, It’ll be dark soon. The others might start to get worried,” Mitsuki said, and Nagi gave a nod, and they continued walking.
The gentle sound of the rain falling around them was calming, in a way, and Mitsuki couldn’t help but smile as he leaned into Nagi’s shoulder. They walked in silence, but the silence wasn’t painful or crushing. There wasn’t much else left to say, as it was. Sure, Mitsuki had plenty of words of love he wanted to share with Nagi, but in that moment, silence felt right. Mitsuki could spill all those words he wanted to say to Nagi as soon as they got home.
The closeness that him and Nagi were forced to deal with due to the lack of a second umbrella felt comforting now. Mitsuki didn’t feel embarrassed, and the closeness didn’t feel forced anymore.