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Isagi noticed early on that Nagi and Reo never have any boundaries with each other.
Nagi stared at the food that Reo was munching on, and Reo stopped short when he noticed. “Nagi, do you want some?” he asked, casually giving his food to Nagi with his fork. Nagi opened his mouth, telling Reo, “Feed me,” and to everyone’s surprise, Reo scooped up more of his curry rice to feed Nagi while patting his head.
Nagi was a tough and intimidating competitor in Blue Lock, but seeing Reo feed him now made him look more like…a puppy. A sleeping lion. Reo is amazing.
Isagi thinks he’s going to lose his mind if he witnesses any more of these two like this. Their teammate Zantetsu isn’t fazed in the least by their dynamic. “They are always like this,” he tells Isagi as if he’s talking about the weather while munching on his sukonbu. Reo goes and makes fun of Zantetsu for another quote he says incorrectly and laughs at his face, patting Nagi on the back and telling him “He’s so funny, isn't he Nagi?” Nagi briefly nods back and savagely adds, “Zantetsu is better off playing soccer without his glasses on. It wouldn’t make a difference,” Reo bursts out laughing while pointing his finger mockingly, the two of them being absolute menaces at their poor teammate.
Isagi supposes that it's fine. He and Bachira also are close, so he understands the comfort of close familiarity with someone else at Blue Lock. Isagi is caught off guard when Nagi looks in his direction to ask, “Isagi, do you want that?” he points at his lemon tea, eyeing it curiously. Isagi gives him an eager smile and is about to tell him “Yes, go ahead,” but he stops short when he sees Reo staring at him with some kind of uncomfortable tension in the air, almost as if giving off daggers in his direction. Nagi seems oblivious to everything. Uh oh.
Without uttering a single word, Reo moves his entire food tray to Nagi. “Here Nagi, you can have mine.” Nagi doesn’t think twice before taking Reo’s lemon tea instead and proceeds to drink it in peace, with Reo smiling back at him fondly. Isagi isn’t sure if he saw correctly but he thinks he feels Reo’s smugly gazing at him, almost like he won some kind of game between them. Okay, that was weird. Maybe Reo was the jealous type more so than he thought.
One thing is certain: Nagi and Reo have a pretty weird relationship. Guess there is no shortage of weirdos in Blue Lock.
—
Nagi decides one day that he likes Reo’s physical touch.
He’s not sure why, to be honest. Maybe it's because he’s grown used to Reo’s touch. He’s accustomed to Reo’s presence and just being near him already makes him relaxed. Nagi loves to lean on Reo’s body just for the familiarity, the warmth on Reo’s body is firm and comforting, his back is the perfect stature for Nagi to droop his body on top of, the perfect back to lean on when he’s tired and wants to be carried by Reo. Reo always indulges him which makes everything easier. Nagi likes being the only one spoiled by Reo.
Today is another day where Nagi drapes himself all over Reo’s body with his head tucked in the croak of Reo’s neck, while Reo is busy doing paperwork, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he reads. The moment Reo feels Nagi’s presence he looks in Nagi’s direction and softens. Nagi doesn’t think Reo ever looks at anyone the way he gazes at Nagi, with such genuine fondness to his lavender eyes. Nagi never has to guess with Reo, he always feels wanted because Reo wears his heart on his sleeve when it comes to Nagi, lavishing him with affection.
“Tired?” Reo asks Nagi as he continues to read. Nagi nuzzles his face a bit on Reo’s shoulder, recharging his batteries after playing several hours of soccer and games. Playing both is taxing on Nagi’s stamina. He needs Reo. Reo never minded Nagi’s presence, it put him at ease and made him happy that he was Nagi’s comfort space.
“Mhm,” Nagi affirms, slowly wrapping his arms around Reo’s torso and breathing in his pleasant cotton scent. Right now, Nagi felt at complete peace. This is what he needed after a long day of practice. Nagi could feel Reo’s muscles flexing underneath his clothes, and distantly Nagi wonders how Reo would react if he tried to slide his hands inside Reo’s shirt. Reo’s muscles were noticeably getting more defined from their training. The thought is tempting.
Out of curiosity, Nagi does just that. He slides his hands underneath Reo’s shirt and instantly feels Reo flinching before looking back at Nagi with his eyes widened, his face turning a pretty shade of red. Interesting. Reo looks more flustered than usual by Nagi’s advances, questioning, “Nagi, what are you doing?” Nagi concentrates on the way Reo’s lips move, a more dangerous part of his brain thinks of wanting to kiss him.
“I want to touch you, is that ok?” Nagi asks him innocently as he leans closer, despite the way his hands are already prodding on the edges of Reo’s shirt, eager for more physical contact.
“What…” Reo was flustered, to say that he was surprised by Nagi’s sudden advances was an understatement. His heart is hammering in his chest, beating hard and fast as he stares at Nagi’s gray eyes. He's confused about how he can read a newfound desire in Nagi’s silver eyes, making him unable to think properly. He tries to lighten the situation a bit by joking, “What, are you getting horny right now? Is that what this is?” If Nagi tells him it's because he was in one of his horny moods, Reo could understand that. He can handle it.
What Reo didn’t expect was Nagi leaning closer, close to the point of their lips almost touching each other, only centimeters apart. Nagi’s eyes are hooded and darkened, staring intensely at Reo’s lilac-purple eyes. Reo feels like his heart is going to burst from the sudden change of mood, the air around them charged, getting harder to breathe. “I want to kiss you,” is what Nagi says instead, and somehow those words shatter Reo's world apart.
Nagi wants to kiss me? Stomach churning with heat and butterflies, Reo feels like his tongue is tied for once, unable to articulate or know how to react. Reo was afraid to know what Nagi meant by those words, he could not help but feel his hope rising from it, a dangerous feeling.
Nagi seemed to understand Reo was too flustered to respond properly. This is an unexpectedly cute side from Reo, who was usually always the more talkative one between them. It was rare he ever gets shy like this. “If you can’t talk, then touch me,” is what Nagi whispers.
That's all he had to say before Reo wrapped his arms around Nagi's shoulders in response, meeting him halfway in a light peck on the lips, the moment too fast and too short. “There,” is what Reo says breathlessly in an almost cheeky manner before Nagi responds in kind with a much heavier, heated kiss to Reo. Nagi kisses selfishly and takes, prodding his tongue into Reo’s mouth leaving Reo moaning, the intensity of their kiss lasting longer than intended, lips craving more of each other. They only pulled away when they had to breathe.
Reo somehow ended up being the one lying on the bed, looking up into Nagi’s beautiful silver eyes on top of him. Nagi looked flush on the face and it was breathtaking. He couldn’t help smiling at the way things escalated between them as he carded his hands into Nagi’s white locks, knowing that Nagi would love the gesture. Reo was satisfied when he was proven right, Nagi leaning into Reo’s touch by sheer instinct shortly after, like a lion purring. This man is mine, Reo thinks to himself selfishly, possessively.
Nagi leans down to bite Reo’s neck, catching Reo off guard and causing him to yelp in surprise. “Wait, you didn’t tell me you were going to leave hickeys on my skin,” Reo impudently tells him, but there is no bite to it.
Nagi only glances back plainly before he asks, “Do you not want me to?”
“It's not that I don’t want it…” Reo tries, but he doesn't really know what he wants at this point, too hung up over the fact that Nagi wants to kiss him. This was already a lot for him to process and he was getting swept away by the moment. He knew he was fighting a losing battle. “...just don’t leave it in places that others will be able to see.”
“Okay,” is all Nagi says before they proceed to make out for another few hours. (In the end, the hickeys were shown anyway, because Reo didn’t care that much if they showed or not if they were from Nagi).
Nagi truly was Reo’s Achilles heel.
—
Chigiri scrunches his face when he notices the marks on Reo’s skin near his collarbone and neck. “I don’t want to hear where those came from,” was all he said when Reo went to sit beside him. “So, are you guys official now?”
Reo blinks. He never thought twice about what he and Nagi had, even after their makeout sessions. He already assumed they were dating based on their conservation earlier. After all, wasn’t it obvious? Nagi wouldn’t just tell anyone that he wanted to kiss them, would he? An uncertain feeling was starting to reside in Reo’s stomach, slowly churning uncomfortably.
As if right on cue, Nagi came along and sat next to Reo, casually putting his head on Reo’s shoulder while playing his new game. Chigiri seemed to sense something was amiss by Reo’s reaction so he decided not to push it, he easily changed the topic and the flow of their conversation elsewhere. Reo ignored the elephant in the room as well, chatting with Chigiri for a bit before he eventually peeked into Nagi’s game and offered his input on the game, orbiting back into Nagi’s bubble naturally.
It was fine. Whatever he and Nagi have is special, Reo was confident that Nagi was his and that he belonged with Nagi. Reo was ok about not addressing this new development yet. At least not right now.
—
Nagi asked Reo for a piggyback after the victory of another big match. Because Nagi did so well, Reo gladly rewarded him. Reo’s heart swelled with pride every time he noticed how Nagi was improving in each match, even if he still lacked the motivation to play without an incentive (Reo had to lure it out of the slacker and get creative with his ideas on how to coax Nagi, but he didn’t mind that. He could easily fish out Nagi the perfect bait, and it was a hit-line sinker every time).
It was like any other day of Reo indulging Nagi until Nagi kissed the nape of his neck out of nowhere, making Reo flush furiously to his ears and neck in surprise. Lately, Nagi has been initiating a lot more physical contact with him than usual, which is saying a lot because Nagi has always been touchy with Reo. Namely…he kisses him, something that always caught Reo by surprise. He wasn’t used to it. His heart doesn’t think it can handle any more of these sudden jumpscares from Nagi, it was bad for his heart.
Reo was getting addicted to Nagi’s newfound displays of affection. He knew Nagi was normally a man of action but he never kissed Reo before like this until recently. Reo couldn’t help but feel equal parts nervous and happy at receiving all of Nagi’s attention, too used to being the one paying attention to Nagi. It made his stomach queasy, his hands itching with warmth, and his heart pounding wildly through his ears with each new small gesture. Reo felt like he wasn’t himself, his heart in a chokehold as he was caught completely in Nagi’s orbit.
Nagi quickly fell asleep on Reo’s back, his relaxed breathing gradually turning into a gentle lull. Nagi would inevitably drift asleep when he was tired, it only took him a few seconds for him to get comfortable which often resulted in Reo carrying him back home. Reo chuckled at Nagi’s simplistic one-track mind, completely endeared by him. A wave of fondness and affection washes over Reo at that moment, heart soaring as he caught a glimpse of Nagi’s pretty eyelashes in the afternoon sun, his soft white hair bathing in its angelic warmth. He is my treasure. He pecks Nagi on the nose with a sweet kiss and nuzzles him, knowing Nagi was sound asleep. He was proud of his Nagi doing exceptionally well today, and that was that.
Reo just wants to keep Nagi close to him, keeping his treasure with him forever.
—
“Reo, who are these guys?” Nagi asks him one day when he notices a group of unpleasant people coming up to Reo in a challenging manner. Unbothered by the tense atmosphere, Nagi casually droops his arms around Reo’s shoulders, staring back at them. Reo glances back at Nagi, nonchalantly answering with his eyebrow raised, “Ah, Nagi, don’t worry about it. It's just some losers throwing a tantrum because they lost to us,”
Nagi glanced back at the team that lost to them in disinterest. “Do they not have anything better to do? That's such a pain,” Nagi glances at Reo while completely ignoring the other team.
“Shut up! It's not fair how we lost. I demand a rematch,” the guy with brown hair laments, clenching his teeth with his fists shaking in anger. What was even his name? Nagi can barely remember him. He supposes it doesn’t matter.
“We won fair and square in the last match, if you have a problem with it that’s not our problem,” Reo tells him in an apathetic manner, his eyes glaring at the other team. “Let's go, Nagi.”
Reo is just about to turn in the opposite direction and saunter his way out, but all of a sudden he feels something ominous coming as if someone is about to grab him. The next thing he sees before he can turn around is Nagi coming close to him, reaching his arm out behind Reo to stop the other guy’s arm from grabbing the back of Reo’s shirt on reflex. “If you touch him, I’ll make sure you regret it,” Nagi darkly warns, his voice in a much lower octave and his entire aura emitting something dangerous. Reo's eyes widened, he had never heard that tone used by Nagi.
Reo’s heart is suddenly pounding, not from the guy that was about to grab him but from Nagi’s sudden shift in composure, his silver eyes turning deadly and looking ready to kill. Reo has never seen Nagi like this, so…menacing. His heart skips a beat.
The guy behind him swears profusely before he grins wickedly back at them. “What, are you afraid I will lay a hand on your pretty boyfriend? Looks like he can’t do anything without his dog,” he taunts viciously, his pupils blown.
Something in Reo snaps at the remark. Okay, now he chose violence. Reo doesn’t feel the least bad for him when he uses all of his arm strength to shove him off with his elbow, the force of the blow aiming for the lower part of his stomach so it will hurt. Serves you right. As the man behind him howls in pain, Reo turns around and grabs the front of the guy’s collar, leaning down to look directly into his eyes in a crazed, furious manner. If looks can kill, he’d be dead on the floor by now. “Say that one more time and I will fucking kill you,” Reo narrows his eyes darkly, his voice calm but his purple eyes blazing in fury.
He lets go of the guy’s collar just as fast, once again he had to teach a proper lesson for these guys to finally get the message. Looks like amicably solving things just can’t happen. Sighing, he stands up again before ordering Nagi, “Let's go,” and Nagi follows him without another word, neither of them looking back at the mess.
“Seriously, what a hassle. Does this always happen?” Nagi asks him while rubbing the back of his neck. They walked side by side together back to the common rooms, where everyone else resided.
Hearing Nagi's voice seems to calm Reo down a bit as Reo quickly regains his composure. “Unfortunately, it happens more often than I’d like,” he admits. There will always be people unsatisfied with the outcome of their matches, and they won’t go down without a fight even with the results shown to them. Reo doesn’t care that much because he can handle his own, but it's still annoying to deal with.
He doesn’t expect Nagi to lean closer and grip Reo’s shoulder, staring at him fiercely as he says, “Next time something like this happens, tell me. I won’t let them lay a finger on you,” Reo's eyes widened, he is surprised that Nagi cares. The thought of Nagi looking out for Reo as much as Reo looks out for him sends something fluttering in his heart. Nagi cares about me. Suddenly, he already feels lighter as he simply ruffles Nagi’s hair, the familiar action comforting.
Reo manages a small smile. “Okay. I will.”
—
Winter is fast approaching and Reo has been wearing warmer clothes. He recently gave mittens to Nagi because he was sure Nagi would forget to put them on if he didn’t remind him. Blue Lock currently has a day off break interval so Nagi and Reo decided to go outside to hang out and check out the streets of Tokyo again (Reo tried not to think of it as a date).
Witnessing snow with Nagi is a different kind of memory that neither of them has experienced together, and it put a smile on Reo’s face when he noticed how Nagi’s eyes shined brightly when he looked at snow in interest, despite his perpetually stoic face. Reo grabbed hold of his hand to build a snowman together, and they eventually gave up in favor of making snow angels instead. Reo playfully buried Nagi in the snow while laughing and taking pictures, but when Nagi started sneezing Reo easily gave away his scarf and beanie he had on for Nagi to stay warm. He looked like a shivering puppy and Reo couldn’t resist cooing.
After sightseeing for a while, they eventually went back to Reo’s home to get some hot chocolate cocoa from Ba-ya, sitting near each other comfortably by the fireplace as they leaned on each other for body warmth. Reo thinks that this has been one of the best days of his life, it's been a while since he and Nagi have gotten time away from Blue Lock to relax for themselves. It was a nice change of pace.
Reo sips on his hot cocoa in bliss before noticing Nagi staring at him, both of their cheeks bright pink from the cold. Nagi has been doing that a lot, staring at him for longer intervals than normal. It sends some kind of electrifying feeling in Reo’s gut, making him giddy and nervous at the same time. Reo tries to joke around to ease the tension with a grin on his face, “Do you want some of my hot cocoa, Nagi? It's too bad, I’m keeping this for myself,”
Nagi surprises Reo once again by boldly leaning forward to kiss his lips, licking into his mouth which leaves Reo moaning in want. They have been kissing a lot more often lately and Reo is starting to get used to Nagi initiating his kisses. Nagi pulls away after a while as he licks his lips in satisfaction. “It’s sweet,” is all he says, his cheeks a bit red from their kiss, and Reo’s body feels like complete mush, his legs feeling like jelly as he stares, still in a daze from Nagi’s heated kiss. He must look pretty flushed as well, he can feel his skin and body burning. It occurs to Reo that this might be how Nagi expresses his affections, clumsy as they are.
Nagi is about to go back to playing his video game but he gets interrupted by Reo kissing him back, wrapping his arms tightly around Nagi’s shoulders in a desperate manner. Nagi responds in kind, unable to get enough of Reo’s touch, scent, and lips on his skin. Nagi was quickly becoming obsessed with the way Reo tastes on his lips.
Every time they kiss, Reo always tastes sweet.
—
“Hey Reo,” Nagi says in between kisses, his lips still touching Reo’s as he opens his eyes to look at him, “Earlier today, I saw some guys hitting on you while I was away,”
“Yeah?” Reo breathed through Nagi’s lips, smirking as he raised one of his eyebrows in interest, cupping his face. “Why are you bringing this up now?”
There was a few seconds of silence and if Reo didn’t know any better, he’d have thought that Nagi was sulking. “I didn’t like seeing those guys hitting on you,” is what he says, causing Reo’s heart to malfunction.
“Why?” Reo held his breath, his heart beating fast at the implication of Nagi’s words. Nagi seemed like he was hesitating a bit on voicing out his thoughts before he eventually gave in and looked back to his lavender eyes, purple meeting gray. “You’re mine,” is what he tells him plainly, his eyes half-lidded.
You’re mine.
There is a darker, possessive nature within Nagi that Reo is starting to notice, lying underneath his calm and laid-back exterior. And he thought he was the possessive one. Why haven’t I realized this sooner?
Suddenly everything made sense, the realization making Reo’s heart pound and flutter. Reo couldn’t help but laugh at the irony, here he was always wondering how Nagi feels for him, but Nagi’s feelings showed clear as day if he paid attention and looked at him properly. It was all there, these sides of Nagi were only shown to Reo. His sleeping lion, his treasure.
“So we’re just going to jump to that and not talk about the fact we never even established what we are yet?” Reo asked. Nagi looked at him in confusion. “Aren’t we already together? I don’t just kiss anyone,” Nagi drawls out. “Well, we need to work on communicating better,” Reo rebuttals. “I almost thought we weren’t dating because of how casual you were,”
Nagi eyed him curiously. “We were dating?”
Reo’s heart dropped to his stomach, halting his movement from Nagi’s words. Oh.
He could feel the sound of his heart cracking. Now that broke Reo’s heart. Why did he expect anything out of this?
“Nevermind, forget I said anything,” Reo glares at him and swiftly avoids the subject, the mood between them instantly souring. He moves away, losing all of his motivation to continue making out with Nagi.
“Wait, Reo,” Nagi tries to grab Reo's hands but Reo swats them away, his expression unreadable as he avoids eye contact with Nagi. “Don’t touch me,” Nagi flinches at the coldness in Reo’s voice, his expression icy as he begins to walk away. Reo has never used that kind of tone on him before.
Nagi knew that he screwed up this time, for the first time his heart was gripped with fear. He acted on his own, standing up to catch Reo’s arm and grab him. Reo instantly hissed, about to elbow Nagi in retaliation but Nagi was stronger as he gripped firmly on Reo’s arms, preventing both of them from moving.
“Reo, please, listen to me,” he breathes out, his voice coming out strained for the first time in his life. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize we were already dating but I-,” Reo doesn’t want to hear it. He’s done with Nagi. He doesn’t want to be given false hope again after everything. It's too cruel for him. Reo’s heart is always hanging by a thread, at the mercy of Nagi’s careless hands, ready to crush him.
Nagi doesn’t know how to convey what Reo means to him, they were close friends but also something else. What is it? Nagi likes Reo…but those aren't exactly the right words to convey what Reo means to him. Nagi is bad with words, so he tries with what he knows best, conveying what he feels through physical contact. With Reo’s back facing him he grips Reo’s torso, wrapping his arms around his waist and placing his head on Reo’s shoulder, hoping Reo understands what he feels. “Believe me,” he tries, clutching to Reo’s fabric firmly but gently enough so that if Reo tried to pull away, he could.
Reo is Nagi’s comfort, his caretaker, and his best friend. Nagi is appreciative and grateful for Reo, more than he lets on. Reo never left him all this time even when Nagi was never good at properly expressing himself. He always understood him when Nagi struggled with words, always pushed his way into Nagi’s world, and stayed by his side.
They’ve been together for so long that Nagi doesn’t know a world without Reo anymore.
“I…Reo, you’re special to me. If there was anyone I would choose to be with, it would be you. Please, give me a chance.” Nagi tries his best, hoping to convey his sincerity.
That's what it was, wasn’t it? At the end of the day, Nagi would ultimately choose Reo. Saying empty words has never suited Nagi. This was him being completely honest, his truest answer.
Nagi has left himself bare in the hands of Reo’s judgment. There's a beat of deafening silence, the only sounds made by Nagi’s breathing and Reo’s. The emotions are running high inside Reo right now, he needs time to think for himself. “Is what you said true? Or are you only saying that in the moment?”
Nagi could practically feel the gears working inside Reo’s brain before he eventually felt his body going lax, Reo’s body gradually shaking a bit, little by little. Nagi can’t see Reo’s face from this angle, but he could instinctively sense that Reo was slowly giving in. Reo really couldn’t stay mad at Nagi forever, despite everything.
He was surprised when he caught sight of Reo wiping something wet in his eyes, are those tears? “Then do better, idiot. I thought we were dating,” Reo scolded with his voice cracked, vulnerable.
Nagi turned Reo around to meet him face to face. Reo’s lilac eyes were glistening with tears up to his eyelashes and his cheeks were flushed. A part of Nagi found Reo pretty like this. He wasn’t great at comforting people, and it usually never ended well when he tried. But for Reo, he wanted to try. Nagi decided to follow his gut, moving forward to kiss Reo’s eyelids, engulfing him in a tight hug. He wanted to kiss Reo’s tears away.
Reo seemed to flinch, caught off guard by Nagi’s sudden act of comfort. He momentarily lost his train of thought as Nagi observed him closely and asked, “Did that make you feel better?” Reo stared at Nagi for a few seconds before he nodded, unable to hide his blush. There was no use fighting against Nagi.
“Let's date then, Reo,” Nagi tells him straight to his face, looking determined. Reo feels like he’s getting swept away by Nagi’s pace again, as Nagi continues to kiss his tears away. Reo is unable to pull away, weak to Nagi’s affections.
“You can’t back out, once you’re in a relationship with me. I hold nasty grudges,” Reo warns him because he’s serious.
Nagi stares back at Reo with the same level of intensity, his gray eyes changing color into something darker. “I think it's the other way around.”
Reo likes that response, gripping Nagi’s collar to pull him closer for another kiss. “Good.”