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When Rei first found out he had a photographic memory, he was eight.
His teacher had held up a jar of enticing, cavity-inducing chocolates, each with a different color wrapper. ‘We’re going to play a guessing game’ she had said and whoever guessed the number of yellow smiley faced wrappers in the jar would get to take the whole jar home.
Rei wasn’t very interested in the chocolate, all he wanted to do was give them to his poor mom who worked long shifts at the hospital and maybe give one to Hikari in class—what no it wasn’t like he liked her or anything—just so she would give him her bright smile that made him feel all warm inside.
“Does anybody have any guesses? Oh Ryugazaki-kun, your hand shot up like a rocket! Do you have a guess?”
It had not occurred to him just yet what the meaning of snobbish was nor what the tone of his voice could mean and so when he answered, it was with a great (slightly condescending) confident voice.
“Obviously there’s 23 smiley faces!” Rei had said with a beaming smile. It faltered when he saw the shocked look on his teacher’s face. “I-is that not right Sensei?”
A brief look passed over his teacher’s face—was that irritation?—before she gave a weak smile. “Y-yes of course you’re right Ryugazaki-kun. How did you ever figure that out after seeing the jar for five seconds?”
Rei frowned. “I just looked. I mean it shouldn’t take that long, should it?” He had meant it as an innocent question but it appeared as if Sensei did not see it that way. And now that he looked around at his school mates, they didn’t either. They were all frowning at him and when he chanced a glance at Hikari, she looked away and whispered something to her friend, something along the lines of “show off megane.”
Immediately Rei’s face burned up in shame and when he was home he threw the treacherous jar into the trash. He never spoke about it to his mother even when she did find a broken jar full of newly wrapped chocolates in the trash.
Later, when Rei was tucked into his (secretly favorite) butterfly bed sheets, he thought about the possibility of having a photographic memory but easily dismissed the idea as something out of a crazy TV show his classmates watched. But the idea slowly grew more true to Rei as he kept correctly guessing the amount of smiley faced chocolates each day.
His trash can quickly became filled with broken jars.
Rei decided to keep quiet about his memory for obvious reasons as he grew up. There was no need to talk about such a cursed thing and lose the small amount of friends he had in high school. Nobody would like him if he boasted about his ability to remember each and every single test score he had had since elementary school (though it wasn’t hard since they never dropped below a 97). In all actuality, it was kind of like a lame superpower and everybody who knew about it agreed.
And then came Nagisa-kun.
Came was a weak word. More like destroyed every single protective wall Rei had nailed in with his annoyingly positive way of thinking, disastrous planning, and bright smile. His bright smile, which if Rei was being utterly honest with himself, did some medical worthy things to his stomach and heart (but it wasn’t like he liked him).
It was during a train ride in their 3rd year that Rei made a fatal mistake.
The thing was, Nagisa was sloppy. Not in an irritating ‘you look and smell like trash’ sort of sloppy, although Nagisa was sure to almost cross the line sometimes, but more of a ‘your tie’s not straight again and god all I want to do is kiss that small bit of cream on your cheek away (in a completely best friend way)’ type of sloppy. And okay, maybe sometimes Rei’s mind would wander when it came to Nagisa and notice the small things that Nagisa managed to miss while putting on his uniform.
Like how at least a quarter of his underwear could be seen at all times of the day.
And it’s not like Rei spent an enormous time staring at Nagisa’s ass. It was just, at random parts of the day, Nagisa would bend over in class and expose exactly what brand, color, and size underwear he wore and Rei’s eyes would magnetically connect with his butt.
Rei was 95.4% sure he could go to a store and buy Nagisa’s whole collection of underwear by now.
He was fairly certain that Nagisa’s underwear exposure was some sort of plan to throw Rei off his guard and make him flustered to bring him down to ‘human level’ because he apparently “showed as many emotions as a softened Haru-chan.” He was pleased to say that none of Nagisa’s endless amount of underwear managed to make him lose his peace of mind.
Even if he did drop his whole backpack at the sight of Nagisa’s butterfly underwear one morning.
But other than that there were no immense slip ups and Rei kept his whole “hey I memorized all the underwear you own because I keep looking at your fantastic ass and you’re probably wondering how I’m doing that well it’s this freaky photographic memory haha” problem under lock and key. And then the train ride back from swim practice came.
“Hey, Rei-chan. If you could choose one member of Iwatobi to kiss, who would it be?” Nagisa had asked, magenta eyes sparkling deviously as he licked his strawberry ice cream.
Rei let out a very undignified squeak. “N-n-Nagisa-kun! What are you asking?”
Nagisa rolled his eyes. “I just told you what I was asking. Besides, it should be fine shouldn’t it? It’s not like you’re straight.”
Rei faintly heard someone choking. It might have been him.
Nagisa’s eyes widened. “You’re not straight, right?”
“…No. I’m not.”
“Then it’s fine then isn’t it!”
“That’s not the point here! Regardless of if I’m gay, I would not want to kiss anyone.” From the corner of his eye, Rei saw an old lady stare disapprovingly at them.
Something flashed in Nagisa’s eyes and his usual cheerful composure dropped but it was gone in an instant and was replaced with a more stubborn and almost suffocating glee. “Yeah yeah I know that, but that’s why it’s an if question. If you could choose one member of Iwatobi to kiss, who would it be? Mako-chan?”
Makoto-senpai briefly flashed in Rei’s mind. It was gone in an instant along with a clear image of Makoto and Haruka-senpai smiling at each before Nationals. Ah, the wonders of a photographic memory. “Makoto-senpai? No not him.”
Nagisa frowned. “Ehhh? Why not? Is he not smart enough for you? I bet he would make a great husband even if he does burn rice.”
Rei felt his cheeks burn. What were they talking about? “Makoto-senpai is very smart but I feel like he has his sights set out for other…people” and maybe it was because he was feeling particularly brave or stupid, he muttered “Besides, he’s not my type.”
Nagisa’s eyes lit up. He pounced on Rei so they were both sent tumbling onto a nearby seat. “Rei-chan has a type?!? What type??”
Rei was positively on fire. Were there loud drums nearby? Oh no, that was just his heart almost exploding. Think fast, think fast. What would be the most logical and appropriate thing to say in this situation to avoid cardiac arrest. “I-It’s not anything important.”
Nagisa’s eyes narrowed but he was quiet for a second. “Neh Rei-chan. I thought you said you didn’t want to kiss anyone.”
He froze, heart racing.
“If you don’t want to kiss someone that means you don’t like anyone right? So then why are you blushing?”
Rei really really wanted to be home right now. “I-it must be because of the summer heat,” he said, avoiding eye contact and fiddled with the collar of his shirt. He could feel the other’s eyes on him but no words came from him. But there was a sigh and then:
“Well whatever. I don’t really see big deal. It’s not like I’m asking you what boxers you thought I wore last month.”
And against his better judgement, his mind procured the image of Nagisa bending over to grab a pencil showing off his highly fashionable boxers on the exact day of June 10th at 9:03 AM, exactly a month from the current day. And then, because he apparently felt the need to share his deep knowledge on the fascinating subject of ‘Nagisa’s Underwear’, he responded with, “yellow boxers with white stars.”
Nagisa perked up from where he had been moodily picking at the material of the train seat. “What?”
Rei refused to make eye contact.
“Rei-san, are you saying you remember my underwear from a month ago?”
He nodded, face burning.
“Rei-san, how do you remember my underwear from a month ago?”
Rei looked down at the ground. “Photographic memory,” he mumbled.
“Sorry? Couldn’t hear that.”
Rei turned to glare at him only to find him inches away from his face. Nagisa smiling up at him and Rei could almost see his internal wheels coming to a halt. All brain movement stopping because of one person just smiling at him. Somehow he managed to find the words to say, “Photographic memory” and then braced himself for what would inevitably come next.
He was expecting annoyance, anger, and thinly veiled judgment behind cold eyes. The same things he distinctly remembered seeing in the faces of his fellow classmates and teacher when he was eight. He did not expect arms thrown around him with enough force to make him fall back in his seat (which ultimately led to knocking his glasses off his face) and slightly blurry eyes full of amazement.
“Photographic memory? Really? Does that mean you can remember conversations and can hear super well? Is that why you’re so good at school?” Nagisa’s eyes lit up as he moved so he was lying directly above Rei, eyes holding a strange sort of connection.
Rei felt himself frowning. “No, that’s an eidetic memory. I can only remember things I see and that’s after a very short amount of time. For example, I can remember whole pages of books, magazines or newspapers, and important numeri—”
“So you have to be looking at it to remember it?”
“Um, essentially, yes.”
A smirk slowly slid onto Nagisa’s face. “So then Rei-chan. Doesn’t that mean that you’d have to be staring at my underwear to remember it?”
Rei felt his mouth go dry.
“Rei-san, have you been staring at my ass every day?”
He blushed and looked away. “Y-you need to pull up your pants,” he said defensively.
He heard a giggle and then suddenly Nagisa was extremely close and oh god what is he doing and he felt him peck Rei on the cheek.
In the back of his mind, Rei mentally reminded himself to have a checkup with his doctor. His heart rate was not normal. “N-n-n-n-Nagisa-kun?” Nagisa chuckled and laid his head on Rei’s chest.
“Neh Rei-chan,” he felt Nagisa whisper against his chest. “I like you."
Silence. Then:
“I-I like you too.”
“Then, do you want to get something before we go home? As like a ‘newly dating’ sort of gift?” He could feel Nagisa’s gaze on him and even though he was still slightly emotionally strained, he smiled. An image of the smiley face wrapper flitted before him.
“How about some chocolate?”