Chapter Text
The first thought that enters Nagi’s mind as he starts to slip back into consciousness is how fucking comfortable the bed he’s laying in is. He takes a deep breath in and lets his tired bones sink deeper into its warm embrace.
The thought that follows immediately afterwards is an internal “wha…?”
Confusion.
Nagi is confused. He furrows his brows but doesn’t open his eyes yet.
The beds in the blue lock facility weren’t known for their high quality softness. The deluxe bed that Reo had gotten with his goal points back in the first selection had been a step up, but what he was experiencing now was the same level of comfort provided by the bed Reo had in his bedroom back home. Still, He wasn’t particularly fussy about where he slept unlike Reo and Chigiri. Nagi had likened them as a couple of “princesses with the pea” once and received a football to the face from Chigiri. It hurt and had the red-head kicked it any harder, Nagi could’ve broken his nose, but it was worth it just because of the way it made Reo laugh.
Oh well.
Maybe the new training regiment Chris had given him worked him so hard that even the flimsy excuse for a bed that blue lock provided felt amazing.
Relaxing his face, Nagi lets out a content sigh.
Nagi decides to opens his eyes and— he closes them immediately.
“what?”
Hesitantly, he cracks open one eye to look around the room that was most definitely not the same one he remembers falling asleep in. Now, Nagi is capable of falling asleep most places but just because he can, doesn't mean he doesn't remember where he's fallen asleep. Nagi, obviously, would've remembered falling asleep in a place like this. The room he’s in doesn’t look like any of the ones in Blue Lock at all.
He looks around slowly and then sits up.
Floor to ceiling windows covered by long and sheer flowing curtains allow for the moonlight to illuminate things slightly and Nagi sees a cityscape, sees the twinkling lights from other buildings and figures he’s in some kind of high rise apartment, but definitely not his own and definitely not blue lock's windowless structure.
“Hmm”
Nagi freezes. “What the fuck,” he thinks.
“Sei?”
Slowly, Nagi turns towards whoever made that sound and finally notices the blanket covered lump laying next to him.
Holding his breath, the sheets next to him move around a bit, are lifted off and reveal—
“Reo?” Nagi says with wide eyes.
They widen even more as they drink in the sight. Truly, Reo is always beautiful, but the Reo in front of him is outright immaculate. He looks right out of Nagi’s fantasies, bruises littering his neck and chest accompanied by the occasional indentation of teeth, and he sees faint hand-shaped bruises on his partially exposed hip.
Nagi swallows hard.
He's dreaming.
He must be dreaming.
As much as he would love to wake up with Reo presumably naked in his bed looking like that, the person in his bed, this version of Reo looks… older? His jaw is sharper, lacking the soft baby fat that Nagi is all too familiar with, and as his eyes trail down his chest, he notices the muscles that are more defined then they seemed yesterday in the bath. But what really seals the deal is his hair; long and beautiful as it cascades just slightly past his shoulders.
If Nagi is dreaming then he doesn’t want to wake up.
“Sei… are you okay?”
Snapped out of his thoughts, he looks at the Reo in front of him, the way his cute little eyebrows knit in concern.
He’s dreaming, he must be. So Nagi just nods his head lamely and lets this dream Reo caress his face and it feels so real, nice and warm, smooth hands that hold him like he's the most precious thing in the world.
Nagi wishes it were real.
Dream Reo gives a little huff, and gently pushes Nagi back so that he’s lying down and cuddles onto his chest.
“Go back to sleep, Sei” he says.
And like it’s the most natural thing in the world, Dream Reo pecks him on the lips and Nagi feels himself implode.
Now he really doesn’t want to wake up.
When Nagi rouses for a second time, the light of the afternoon sun shining through the large windows doesn’t allow him to go back to sleep. He doesn’t think he’d be able to. Not when the room he’s in is the same one from what he thought was a dream and not the blue lock facility he expected to wake up in.
Looking around with wide eyes, Nagi inspects his environment carefully, only getting up after he spots a familiar face. Or rather, a familiar form? Sitting on a table by the large windows is Choki. He’s a bit bigger than what Nagi remembers but otherwise unchanged. Healthy and happy and Nagi can feel the corner of his mouth lift up slightly as he brings a finger to one of his spines and pricks it to wake himself up.
He definitely feels more awake now… but the room hasn’t changed.
Nagi sighs and gives Choki a good morning (afternoon?) peace and walks around the room.
It’s a decently sized space, just from the view alone, Nagi can tell that it's probably expensive, but it lacks the opulence that he typically associates with Reo's preferred types of spaces. There’s two desks across from the large canopy-style bed he was sleeping in just minutes before. One of them must be his if the messiness and multiple screens has anything to say about it. The other one is nice and neat with a few trinkets strewn around here and there.
There’s pictures too.
Actually, there’s pictures scattered throughout the room, on the stand next to the bed, nailed into the wall, on what he assumes is his desk and the desk that probably belongs to the Reo from last night.
Upon closer inspection, they’re mostly pictures of the two of them. The two of them holding up medals and trophies, the two of them in some foreign country on the beach, the two of them kissing. Choki makes an appearance in some of them as well as does Ba-ya.
The thing is: Nagi has never been in this room in his life. If he had woken up in Reo’s childhood mansion, he’d know, he’d woken up there plenty of times. This space feels different but at the same time, so familiar.
Those photos… it’s the two of them in those photos but they look older? At the very least, Reo’s hair gets progressively longer in some of the snapshots.
Nagi thinks that somehow, some way, he’s woken up in the future.
“Just my luck,” he thinks.
Of course, because of all the people in the world that this could’ve happened to, it had to be him?
"What a pain."
Nagi can’t believe that he’s been isekai-ed, at least it didn’t happen by getting hit by a truck.
With a sigh, Nagi decided that he can’t stay confined in this room forever, but he’s afraid of making contact with this “future Reo.”
This very gorgeous, incredibly stunning, future Reo.
As quietly as he can, he makes his way into the hall of the mystery apartment and it doesn’t take him long to find the kitchen. It doesn’t take long because the moment he opens the bedroom door to leave, the smell of food wafts through the air.
Surely enough, when Nagi turns the corner, there’s Reo.
Reo with long beautiful hair already dressed for the day, but wearing a cute frilly apron to keep his clothes clean.
Sensing his presence, Reo turns around, “Finally up, sleepy head?” He laughs.
Reo’s voice is teasing but gentle, his smile is as beautiful as always and even Nagi can see the way his eyes look at him with such tenderness.
When Nagi doesn’t say anything, Reo just focuses on plating up the food, a simple combination of eggs and bacon, and goes over to where Nagi stands so as to take him by the wrist and lead him to the kitchen island to have a seat. A plate is placed before Nagi’s eyes and he looks up at Reo, who smiles, leans in, and presses a soft kiss onto Nagi’s cheek and he feels his whole world freeze.
Reo kissed him.
Reo kissed him!
Nagi supposed that the pictures in their bedroom and the fact that it seems to be their bedroom should’ve given it away, but their relationship had always been a bit more intimate than most friendships that he thought, maybe kissing his homie was just the natural progression. But the way Reo looks at him right now screams love, and all Nagi wants to do is bask in him.
In front of his eyes, Reo lets out a breathy laugh and starts talking but Nagi doesn’t hear any of the words, too busy thinking about what everything means.
Reo kissed him, so that must mean they’re dating, right? Reo kissed him so that must mean that Reo loves him the way Nagi loves Reo. If they’re together, then that means, at some point, he must’ve gotten his shit together and confessed, right?
Or maybe Reo confessed… Nagi can feel himself grow warmer.
Him and Reo together, him and Reo staying with each other until the end of their lives— wait.
Nagi takes a peak at Reo’s left ring finger and then at his own.
“No rings,” Nagi thinks sadly, “Bummer.”
“Seishiro?”
Nagi’s head snaps up immediately, so fast he thinks that it might snap off.
He looks at Reo expectantly.
“Everything okay? You’re zoning out a bit,” he starts.
Reo brings a spoon to Nagi’s mouth and Nagi realizes that he’s barely eaten.
A shame, Reo’s cooking has become even more spectacular.
After coaxing a few bites into Nagi’s mouth, Reo speaks again, “If you’re still tired, you should go back to bed. You’ve worked hard this season, you deserve to rest, treasure.”
Treasure.
Reo still calls him treasure and Nagi feels his breath get taken away, all he can do to respond to Reo’s words in nod, mouth slightly agape.
Once again, Reo flashes his billion dollar smile.
“I have to get going now, okay?”
“Hmm… Don’t go,” Nagi pouts.
Reo just huffs and ruffles his bed head, hand lingering as they look at each other, “As much as I’d love to stay with you, I’ve canceled this interview, like, seven times for you already, so I can’t push it off again.”
Reo gets up from where he sits and paces about the connected kitchen and living room space, gathering the things he needs for his day. Once he’s collected everything he needs, he walks over to Nagi and kisses him on the cheek once again, bringing one of his hands to rest on Nagi’s face and lightly caressing him. Nagi takes it as an opportunity to do something he’s always wanted to do whenever Reo touches his face: he turns his head to press his own kiss into Reo’s palm, relishing in the way Reo’s face flushes.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Reo says.
“Okay.”
The hand on his face is gone and Nagi misses it, but finds satisfaction in Reo’s hesitation to remove it.
He follows Reo to the front door, watching as the man puts on a nice pair of shoes and a jacket.
“Love you, Sei,” Reo says as he steps out.
Nagi swallows hard, willing his embarrassment to go away, “Love you too, Reo.”
One last smile and Reo is gone, the door gently closed behind him and Nagi is left standing all alone. He doesn’t realize how long he’s been staring at the door, as if he were some dog waiting for his owner to come back. A couple of minutes pass of Nagi trying to will the universe to make Reo come back to him, to join him in bed and cuddle.
If they’re together, if they’re a couple, then Nagi wants to take advantage of the time he has with him.
Alas, Reo doesn’t magically appear at the door and Nagi takes it as his sign to step away and take a closer look at their apartment.
They’re not in Japan anymore, it seems. When he turns the television on, the channel it defaults to is an English news station and Nagi briefly notes how he can understand what the anchor says despite no longer wearing the in-ear translators from back in blue lock. Their apartment is littered with plants of all kinds, big ones, small ones, and a considerable number of cacti and succulents.
“Ah, are they Choki’s family? His kids maybe,” Nagi thinks as he looks all of them over. They’re small and have differently colored pots, “Does that mean me and Reo are plant grandparents now?” He feels himself cringe at his own sappy thoughts, but can’t help but feel happy about it too.
Upon closer inspection, their apartment looks very well lived-in. It’s a proper home, warm and inviting unlike the apartment Nagi was used to prior to going to blue lock. It’s tidy, as to be expected from someone like Reo, but not spotless, with various objects here and there, articles of clothing on the floor, and a big fluffy blanket on the couch that’s unfolded, as if they had been tangled up in it at some point.
If the pictures in their room weren’t enough, then there were plenty more around the rest of the apartment.
Pictures held up by magnets on their fridge, little frames on the shelves, on side tables, and random polaroids on the coffee table in the living room.
It really seems as if Nagi has transported to the future. The pictures in their bedroom were just short snapshots, but the frames on the big book shelf on either side of the television tell a more detailed history. Pictures of them as babies, as kids; there were more of Reo’s then there were of Nagi’s but he doesn’t remember ever having any pictures of himself as a child to begin with, he supposes that at some point him or Reo must’ve asked Nagi’s mother for any photos she had. Has Reo met his parents? He feels a bit anxious thinking about it. Not like they’re bad people or anything, but if he has, then it was probably awkward. Nagi met Reo’s parents a couple of times, they were okay but Nagi could tell that they were keeping their distance, that they didn’t approve of him for the fact that Nagi is like the embodiment of Reo’s football dreams. He’s met Ba-ya plenty of times though, Reo had said once that she felt more like family than his actual family. That she seems to like Nagi and approve of him for being with Reo is plenty. Nagi can safely say that she’s probably his third favorite person, after Reo and Choki, of course.
From pictures of them in their childhoods, it moves onto pictures of them in high school, where they had first met. Pictures that were probably printed from pictures they had in their camera rolls because some of them are selfies. Pictures of them during the first summer after they met, the summer that Nagi felt truly alive for the first time ever, the summer that is carved permanently into his brain.
Looking back at it now, he was probably already in love back then.
There’s pictures of them from what looks to be their time in blue lock. Mostly, of them during the U-20 match, a game that Reo had told him shortly after their reconciliation that Ba-ya had attended and photographed the both of them. True to her nature, they were all beautifully composed action-shots, Nagi scoring his goal, Reo stealing back possession, and the long pass from Reo to Nagi. They look so young in them, Nagi takes a look in the mirror and he sees the way that time has changed him. Not by a lot, Nagi doesn’t know the exact date, but it couldn’t be more than ten or so years in the future. His face is a lot more defined, his eyes a bit more tired but just as large as they've always been, and he has a bit of stubble going on. He’s gotten a bit taller too, something he didn't know was possible, a bit broader, and a considerable amount more muscular. Nagi doesn’t think too much about it. Time has been kind to him, but it’s been downright playing favorites with Reo. Reo and his beautiful long hair, Reo and his perfectly sculpted face, and his body that seemed to be chiseled by the Gods themselves. His ass and legs, Nagi could look at them all day and not get tired.
The images of them after blue lock are obviously ones that Nagi doesn’t recognize. Them in what looks to be their first professional club, them in their first foreign club, and a couple of pictures of them with various other players from blue lock.
Nagi hums, he thinks that at this point, he considers himself friends with a couple of them, so he’s glad that they eventually make it out of the metaphorical trenches as well.
Nagi sighs. All things considered, this outcome isn’t one he’d trade for the world.
Being a professional footballer sounds like a pain and if his body is proof of his training, then Nagi knows he must be complaining to Reo constantly. But at the same time, a future with Reo? That’s all Nagi’s ever wanted. He’s glad that they’re together, he wants this future to come true.
Briefly, Nagi wonders about his situation. His consciousness is in the body of his future self, so where has the consciousness of his future self gone to? Could it be that he’s somehow in the body of past-Nagi? But how would that work and isn’t he technically still past-Nagi?
“Ugh.”
Nagi’s brain feels like it’s spinning, thinking really is a pain in the ass. Nagi suddenly feels a bit dazed, what if he messed something up and causes Reo to want to leave him? What if his future-self in his past-self’s (present-self’s??) body does something that changes the entirety of the future, the butterfly effect or whatever.
“I have to be careful,” he thinks, he hopes that if his future-self really has been transported back in time, that he’ll be careful too.
He heads back to the bedroom and decides that the best way to not mess things up is by doing nothing. The solution is therefore, doing as Reo had suggested and going back to bed. He buries himself in the expensive-feeling covers and grabs what he guesses is his phone from the night stand. Maybe he should play some games?
Just as he’s about to click on an app that he’s never seen before, his phone vibrates.
Nagi perks up thinking that it’s Reo, only to feel disappointment as he reads the name.
“Chigiri?”
Curiously, Nagi decides to open the message.
MissPrincess🧚🏼♀️
Chigiri
Where the fuck are you?
Seishiro
Home :x
Chigiri
Did you fucking forget?
Seriously?
You’re the one that begged to meet up with me and Bachira
Seishiro
OxO
Chigiri
Nagi I swear to God if you don’t get here right now, I’m gonna go to your fucking condo and drag out out of there by force!!!
Seishiro
Scawwy >x<
Chigiri
I’m gonna kill you
Nagi really doesn’t want to leave the apartment. Partially out of laziness and partially out of not wanting to mess up the time-space continuum, but his curiosity gets the better of him. Chigiri said that Nagi had asked for them and Bachira to meet up.
Mulling it over in his mind, Nagi decides to go along with it.
If his future-self asked them to meet up then it must’ve been for an important reason, otherwise Nagi wouldn’t have asked. Taking a look at the date on his phone, it’s the same as it would’ve been if he had woken up in his regular timeline.
Of course, only the year reads ten years in the future.
With a sigh, Nagi opens up the chat again.
MissPrincess🧚🏼♀️
Seishiro
Send the address :x
Chigiri
[location📍]🖕🏼
When Nagi arrives at the small cafe that Chigiri had sent him the location of, he and Bachira are already there waiting and eating.
Nagi considers saying that he’s sorry for being late after being told to hurry.
But he has a great excuse! While going through his phone, Nagi had decided to open up his gallery and sure enough, much like the phone he’s used to, it’s filled to the brim with mostly pictures of Reo and Choki. There’s some photos of him and other people every now and then, but what had caused Nagi’s tardiness had been the… explicit photos of Reo he had saved.
It was like straight out of his most embarrassing fantasies.
A whole folder dedicated to photos and videos of Reo wearing literally nothing in most of them. The occasional shot of Reo in a dress or lingerie in tantalizing, tempting positions that had Nagi’s mouth watering, and the videos— God, the videos. Nagi had played one just to see if it was what he thought it was and felt himself flush at the sounds that were being made. His volume had been all the way up and he didn’t have headphones. There weren’t many people on the street as he walked by, but the ones that were there shot him some nasty and judgemental looks.
With a sigh, Nagi plops himself down on a chair across from Chigiri and Bachira.
“It’s about time,” the red-headed man says.
Next to him, Bachira giggles as he takes sips from his cavity-inducing drink, “Nagiichi probably got distracted, right?”
Nagi is once again reminded of how heavenly Reo looked in those photos and simply nods. He had to stop at a convenience store bathroom on the way here, so that definitely slowed his arrival time.
They sit in silence for a while, Nagi ordering some bread to chew on when Chigiri finally decides to speak.
“So…” he says.
“So?” Nagi says in response.
Chigiri is looking into his eyes with such ferocity that Nagi is starting to get uncomfortable, thankfully he’s saved by Bachira.
“So!” he starts, “Care to let us know what you were thinking?” a smirk appears on his face, one that would have been intimidating were it not for the crumbs on his cheeks and chocolate smeared on his lips.
“I don’t know,” Nagi says in a bored tone, “Why did you guys wanna meet up?”
It’s as if time stops, Chigiri and Bachira’s smiles immediately fall as they look at Nagi with disbelief.
“You can’t be serious,” Chigiri says.
Bachira joins in, “Bitch, you better be joking!”
When Nagi says nothing, the two of them start freaking out, turning to each other and speaking to the side, trying and failing to whisper, before getting up in Nagi’s face and interrogating him, not seeming to care that the other patrons in the store are getting fed up with them.
Internally, Nagi is panicking.
The reason that he wanted to stay at the apartment was out of fear of possibly messing up the timeline or something and it seems like he’s already made some miscalculations. He sees Chigiri and Bachira opening their mouths and saying words but all Nagi can think about is how this might affect his future-self’s life. It’s not like Nagi can just tell them that he’s got the consciousness of a 17-year-old inside of him— well, he could, but they either wouldn’t believe him or they’d tell Reo and then Reo would break up with him for being a weirdo and—
“HEY!” Bachira yells.
It’s loud enough that it pierces through Nagi’s thoughts and he looks at them.
They’ve seemed to calm down and while Bachira’s face looks slightly concerned, Chigiri still looks annoyed.
“You really forgot already, didn’t you?” Chigiri huffs, “Seriously? When you were the one talking about how important it was that we meet up with you.”
“What’s so important?” Nagi says with a quiet voice.
He doesn’t have a lot of experience being scolded, but right now, he feels like a child about to be reprimanded by their parents. Or maybe like he's about to get jumped. When those words escape his mouth, he can practically see a vein on Chigiri’s forehead pop out, his face as red as his hair, and looking like he’s about to lunge at Nagi from across the table and stab him with the butter knife. Thankfully he's stopped as Bachira wraps himself around Chigiri, giving him a tight hug but also effectively restaining and calming him down.
Chigiri is bigger now as an adult. He seems slightly taller, and while Bachira looks to be the same height that he was back then, he’s always been a lot stronger than he looks.
“Note to self: Never get into a fight with Bachira,” something tells Nagi that his height and weight probably wouldn’t help against someone who would definitely bring a gun to a fist fight.
Bachira’s face softens and he reaches a hand over to pat Nagi on the shoulder a few times, before giving him another smile, gentler this time, more sincere.
“Silly Nagiichi,” the tone is teasing, but there’s no bite, “You told us that you were planning on proposing to Reo and wanted our help!”
The world stops spinning for what seems like the thousandth time that day, Nagi’s mind goes blank for a moment and then promptly explodes.
Proposing? Him ?
Nagi Seishiro proposing to Mikage Reo?
Mikage Reo and Nagi Seishiro getting married!?
How would their names change— would Reo want to change his name at all?
Mikage Seishiro? Nagi Reo? Maybe they could hyphenate it and become Reo and Seishiro Mikage-Nagi?
There’s too many thoughts racing through his head. Obviously Nagi has thought about marrying Reo before, but wanting to marry Reo and his future-self being just a few steps from actually popping the question were two completely different things. All at once Nagi is incredibly happy and incredibly nervous.
He’s happy that after all this time his future-self is as in love with Reo as he’s always been and nervous because what if Reo says no?
Realistically, Nagi knows that Reo will always say yes to him, but that sliver of doubt is making his heart beat faster, but not in a good way.
Leave it to Reo to have Nagi experiencing things he never has before, even when he’s not in the same room.
“Cold feet?” Chigiri asks, eyebrow raised and stirring his drink absentmindedly.
Nagi swallows hard. He doesn’t know what to say to that.
Of course he wants to marry Reo, of course he wants to propose to him. It’s not so much cold feet but anxiety gnawing at his brain telling him that Reo might reject him. He thinks that it isn’t right for him to be here, having this conversation when he’s practically an intruder in the body of his future self. If his future self had put so much effort into getting help from Chigiri and Bachira and all that work went to waste because Nagi ruined it, he’d never forgive himself.
“He’s probably just nervous,” Bachira says, “Yoi-chan told me that when he was planning on proposing to me, he’d think about all the negative outcomes so much he’d almost throw up haha!”
Nagi looks at Bachira’s face, a happy smile and slight flush, he his gaze travels down to Bachira’s left hand and surely enough, a simple golden band is wrapped around it. Briefly, Nagi congratulates them in his mind, he always knew they'd end up together.
“You know how he is, his thoughts are always going a mile a minute in his cute little head. In the end, I managed to beat him and popped the question first,” Bachira sticks his tongue out.
“Leave it to you to turn it into a competition,” Chigiri says with a smile, before turning his attention back to Nagi.
“It’s okay to be nervous, you know? That’s a big step to take,” Chigiri takes a sip from his drink and thinks for a little bit, scrunching his eyes shut and then opening them again, his eyebrows furrowed slightly and cheeks painted a bit pink, “Even just thinking about it can make a guy nervous. I mean, if I wanted to propose to Rensuke, I’d…” He trails off and then shakes his head.
When nagi stays silent and Chigiri is too busy imagining his scenario, Bachira pipes up to fill the lull in conversation, “Didn’t think you were the type to get insecure over your relationship, Nagiichi!”
His words cause Nagi to look up. Nagi thinks for a second, “...It’s not really that I’m insecure, it’s just…” He trails off.
Bachira and Chigiri look at him with expectation and Chigiri makes a gesture for him to continue.
“It’s just what?” Bachira asks.
Silence fills the air and Chigiri and Bachira think that Nagi is just going to leave it at that. Nagi’s gaze falls to the table and he fidgets slightly, opening his mouth and then immediately closing it again.
Finally, “What if he says no?” Nagi’s voice comes out strangled and barely above a whisper, as if he’s afraid of speaking the words that plagued his mind.
When the other two men say nothing, Nagi chances a glance at them and they’re both looking at him as if he said the most stupid thing in the world.
“What do you mean? You and Reo are literally made for each other; I’m talking ‘written in the stars’ made for each other! Plus he’s head over heels for you, no way you’ll get rejected” Chigiri says.
Bachira chimes in, “You guys are already living the homosexual dream, what’s a little marriage gonna change?” He’s leaning forward, hands against the table, and trying to get Nagi to look him in the eyes, “If anything, it might make you guys transcend into some kind of couple heaven! That’s what I felt like when Yoichi said yes!”
“Ugh.” Nagi grumbles.
Slowly, he sinks his head onto the counter in a pathetic attempt to hide his warming face. Reo really would just say yes, wouldn’t he? But the thought of Reo saying yes is only bringing up thoughts of what they’ll be like as an actual married couple. He considers the possibilities and all of them sound fantastic. If this whole situation is actually some hyper realistic dream, then he hopes he doesn’t wake up because being married to Reo? Now that’s a fucking blessing.
Nagi supposes that his future self is one lucky bastard, and by extension, Nagi himself is lucky too.
Their conversation goes on from there, the three of them throwing out ideas and possible dates and locations for Nagi to propose.
Correction: for future Nagi to propose. As much as Nagi would love to propose to Reo, his actual 17-year-old self that is in the mind of his adult self at the moment would probably shit actual bricks if he had to get on one knee in front of future-Reo. Nagi hopes that this whole time jumping thing is a one-time deal. He never thought that he'd wish to go back to blue lock, but Nagi is here now. At the very least, he’ll wish his future self good luck.
“Hey Nagiichi,” Bachira interrupts his thoughts, “Can I be your best man?”
Chigiri interrupts, “Nagi’s best man will probably be Zantetsu, right?”
Nagi simply nods. Reo is his very best friend in the world, but he’d consider Zantetsu to be like the second actual friend he’s ever made. It takes him a while to understand some things, but he’s a good guy, not to mention, If Zantetsu’s his best man, his speech is sure to be hilarious.
At Nagi’s ascent, Bachira pouts, “Then at least ask Reo if I can be his best man!”
“As if!” Chigiri says, offense evident in his voice, “If anyone gets to be Reo’s best man, then it’s either me or Rensuke!”
“That’s not fair,” Bachira says.
“What’s not fair is me and Ren having to play therapist whenever Reo’s upset.”
With no other words to say, Bachira sticks his tongue out at the red-haired man.
After that, the evening comes to an end. The three of them say their goodbyes and go their separate ways.
As Nagi passes by a jewelry store, he thinks back to what Chigiri was telling him. About the type of ring that Reo liked, his ring size, and whether he preferred gold or silver. (Reo preferred gold because he thought it complimented him better, but wore silver because it reminded him of Nagi).
He makes a note to write down the details when he gets back home so that his future-self will have a reference.
“Huh,” he laughs internally, “Home.” He likes the sound of that. He likes how easily he thinks about it.
If home is where the heart is, then Nagi’s home will always be wherever Reo is.
Without fail, Nagi will always make his way back to him.
The sun starts to go down and Nagi realizes how long he’s been away. By the time he returns home, Reo is already there waiting for him. He sits peacefully on the couch reading a book while the television plays in the background. He’s no longer in the nice suit he wore earlier, but rather a pair of joggers and a hoodie that looked a bit too big on him, Nagi feels giddy when he realizes that it’s probably one of his own.
“Where’ve you been?” Reo asks, not taking his eyes off of the pages.
“Chigiri and Bachira forced me to go out.”
It’s not exactly a lie. Chigiri had threatened to drag Nagi out of house and home, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. Nagi decides to omit the part about receiving proposal advice because obviously he doesn’t want to ruin the surprise.
For a second, Reo doesn’t say anything, he continues reading his book and then lifts his gaze to meet Nagi’s eyes like he’s searching for something. Nagi worries that Reo’s seen through his half-truth, but in the end, Reo doesn’t press him for more information.
He’s a bit thankful.
If Reo had continued asking him, Nagi would’ve folded in an instant. The slightly dejected look that flashes in Reo’s eyes isn’t pleasant, though, and Nagi can tell that he has something he wants to say.
The other man doesn’t say another word, instead he places his book down after folding one of the corners of the page to keep his place and stretches his arms out, beckoning Nagi forward. Who is Nagi to refuse his love? He walks straight into Reo’s welcoming embrace and feels his body relax, settling into the warmth of Reo’s chest as they lie down on the couch.
After they’ve gotten comfortable, Reo manages to pull a big fluffy blanket onto them, increasing the warmth in a way that makes Nagi pleasantly sleepy. He removes himself from Reo’s hold so that he can turn himself around, his back now to Reo’s chest, allowing the other man to see his screen as he turns his phone on.
Instead of booting up a game like he normally would, Nagi decides to scroll through his gallery once again. This time with Reo adding commentary on some of the snapshots. He goes into various stories about the background of each photo, gets embarrassed whenever Nagi scrolls past one of his nudes, playfully telling him to delete them, and tells Nagi that he should take more pictures of things that aren’t himself or Choki.
As he scrolls further and further back, the pictures of them become younger and although Nagi doesn’t turn to look at Reo’s face, he can tell by the way he gives Nagi a light squeeze that those images fill him with notalgia and happiness.
Reo breaks the silence as Nagi clicks on a photo of them from when they were back in highschool. A selfie where Reo is looking as chipper as ever, with a smile on his face despite being drenched in sweat and red from exhaustion, on the ground next to him is Nagi looking like he’s about to pass out.
“Do you remember back then?” Reo asks as he huffs out a small laugh.
“Yeah,” Nagi says.
What he doesn’t tell Reo is that those memories to him are like remembering only a few months back, for the Reo that lies with him now, those memories are from years long since passed.
“I used to have such a big crush on you,” Reo says shyly.
“Used to?” Nagi says. His voice is teasing, a tone he’d only ever use with Reo, as he looks up at the other man and watches the way Reo brings his head down to kiss Nagi’s forehead, only to pull back to hover above his face.
Nagi could get lost in those eyes.
“You know what I mean.” Reo whispers.
“Hmm… I don’t think I do.”
“Seishiro…”
“Reo~”
Reo lets out a sigh, closes his eyes and then presses another kiss onto Nagi, on his lips this time and when he pulls away, Nagi finds himself chasing after him. The purple-haired man laughs.
“I love you, Seishiro,” he says.
“I love Reo too.”
Nagi thinks about what Reo said and questions him, “You liked me all the way back then?”
“Hmm,” Reo pauses to think, “Probably.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That I probably liked you back then,” he starts, “But I didn’t really realize it until after we got to blue lock. The second selection…” Reo trails off.
There’s a distant look in his eyes, something sad and Nagi reaches up to caress Reo’s face, rubbing his thumb on his cheek to comfort him.
“Back then, I experienced more losses than I ever had in my whole life and I… I felt so useless. ”
Nagi opens his mouth to say something, but Reo continues, “When you didn’t choose me, when you called me a hassle, I felt so broken. I never knew I could feel that way and that’s when I realized…” He pauses and looks at Nagi, turning his head to press a kiss into his palm, eyes glittering with unshed tears, “That I was probably in love with you, but at that point I thought it was too late. I told myself that there was no way you would ever love me back.”
Upon hearing this, Nagi starts to sit up so he can face Reo properly. He knew that Reo had been struggling with some self-confidence issue, but Nagi thought that so long as he continued lavishing him with compliments, Reo would be fine. Evidently, those insecurities from years ago are still lingering and Nagi can’t help but feel to blame for it. He takes Reo’s face in his hands.
“Look at me,” he says, “There’s no universe in existence where I’m not absolutely obsessed with you.”
Reo gasps and Nagi kisses his lips to keep him quiet so he can continue.
“Reo, I’m not joking when I tell you that the day you bumped into me in that stairwell was the day I fell in love with you, it just took me a little while to figure it out.”
Reo is silent for a while, eyes wide as he watches Nagi with wonder, the same look that he had given him back then. His eyes are still glossy, but just when Nagi is starting to think that maybe he’s said something wrong, Reo starts giggling, and then that giggling turns into outright laughter.
Tears fall from Reo’s eyes and Nagi rushes to brush them away, concerned that Reo’s laughing as a way to disguise his hurt, but when he finally gets Reo to look at him again, the man is smiling wide at him.
“You know,” He says, dabbing the wetness from his eyes, “That’s exactly the same thing you told me when you confessed to me all those years ago.”
“At the time, I was just happy to be by your side again. Back during the Neo Egoist League, well, there were bigger things to worry about, but I still found myself thinking about you, wanting to be with you.” Reo sighs, “We had just mended our friendship though, and I was worried about suffocating you so I eased up on the spoiling and you…” Reo laughs, “You ended up getting upset, telling me that you loved that I spoiled you, that you wanted me to spoil you more. You told me that you were happy to be with me and— God, that’s all I had ever wanted to hear you say. So long as you were happy, that’s all I could ever wish for, I’ve always just wanted for you to have fun and enjoy your life... even if it wasn’t with me.”
Nagi watches and listens, eyes growing bigger by the second. They shine in the dim lighting, deep and dark voids filled with glittering stars as he takes in all of Reo’s words. They feed into his soul and he eats it up like a starved man. Reo has struggled to be open with his feelings, for him to be saying all these things, sure he’s ten years older and has likely matured since their days of survival show football, but Nagi feels his heart swell at the knowledge that Reo trusts him enough to be vulnerable like this. He takes Reo’s hands into his own and gives them a tug, plants a kiss onto his lips and pulls Reo into him, melting as Reo’s hands find their way to his scalp and run his fingers through his hair.
When they pull away from each other, they remain close, gazing into each other’s eyes, their noses nearly touching. Nagi wants so badly to stay this way, he wants so badly to live this life and hold his Reo in his arms, and even though this is still his Reo, he’s not his Reo. As much as Nagi would love to stay, what he truly wants is to be back in his own time so he can experience every milestone, every important event, every smile with Reo.
He doesn’t know who initiates the kiss first, but one moment they’re looking into each other’s eyes and the next they’re hands are in each other’s hair, so much different, more heated, more passionate, than their sweet chaste kisses from before. Briefly, Nagi thinks back to that morning when he saw the bruises and bitemarks littered across Reo’s body, thoughts flashing to the many pictures that are saved on his phone and supposes that this hunger he feels for Reo shouldn’t be surprising. They breathe each other in, drown in each other. It’s only when Nagi is pushing Reo so that he’s lying down and he’s on top of him that Nagi realizes that he’s never kissed anyone before. Yes, he thinks about kissing Reo constantly, but he’s never actually done it before today. This older version, this body of his future-self and his own consciousness must be moving out of pure muscle memory and all Nagi can think about is how many times they must've done this for his body to be moving like it's the most natural thing in the world.
They’re forced to pull apart when they’ve run out of air, panting hard as if they’d just finished a match. When Nagi looks down at Reo, he can’t help but swallow hard and lick his lips. Reo looks absolutely ravishing, his hair frames his head in a delicate purple halo, his eyes are dazed and glossy, his lips are swollen red and spit-slicked, and his face is the loveliest shade of pink.
“I love you,” he thinks.
“I love you,” he says.
Words he always wants to say to Reo, words he’d say to his Reo if he didn’t get so nervous about his reaction.
“I love you too,” Reo says, a bit breathless but he says it with a smile and Nagi can tell that the man is about to doze off.
“We should get some sleep,” Nagi says.
“Hmm,” is all Reo can respond with, his eyes starting to fall shut.
As gently as he can, Nagi lifts Reo into his arms.
It’s easy, carrying Reo. He fits nicely in his hold and as much as Nagi loves it when Reo carries him, he thinks that perhaps he should carry Reo more.
They make their way to the bedroom and Nagi places Reo into the bed. He’s already dressed comfortably, so Nagi takes the opportunity to undress, take his shoes off, and then climbs into bed before pulling up the covers to blanket the both of them. He brings Reo close to him.
“You know,” Reo says, trailing off.
It comes out a bit slurred and Nagi thinks that maybe he was just talking in his sleep but Reo opens his eyes slightly to look at Nagi with a shy smile.
“It’s a bit silly to remember but… Today’s technically the anniversary of when we became a couple, hehe.”
Nagi's eyes grow wide at the revelation and he feels awake all of the sudden, but when he’s about to question Reo further, it’s too late, the man has slipped into his dream land and all Nagi can do is lay there and admire the view.
He swipes away a couple of stray hairs from Reo’s face and tucks them delicately behind his ear, kisses him on the forehead one last time as he feels sleep begin to take hold of him as well.
Nagi hopes that he’ll be back in his own body when he wakes up. There’s so much he wants to experience with Reo, especially now that he knows what their future looks like. In the back of his mind, Nagi wishes his future-self luck with his plans.
Surely enough, when Nagi begins to stir, his body feels tired and heavy and the bed he's laying in is certainly not the same one he fell asleep in.
Cracking open an eye, Nagi takes a peak around the room and— Yeah, those prison gray walls could only be that of blue lock’s. He’s back in the small three-person room and he takes a moment to consider that perhaps everything was just some elaborate dream his mind had come up with. A manifestation of all of Nagi’s desires for the future, but he feels something holding tightly around his middle and he looks down to see Reo.
His Reo.
The other boy is grabbing onto him for dear life, but instead of the long-haired man he had woken up to the morning prior, it’s the Reo he’d come to know. With shorter hair and softer features, his face is cutely round with the stubborn bit of baby fat that he knows Reo gets self-conscious about sometimes, but Nagi loves it, Nagi loves him.
As Nagi looks down at him, he’s filled with a wave of relief at being back in the time that he’s supposed to be. Happy, because this means he has years and years to look forward to with his partner, his future lover.
Wrapping his own arms around Reo, Nagi watches him a little longer, counting his long eyelashes, admiring his cute, round little eyebrows that always make his face so expressive, and bites back the urge to give him kisses.
In his arms, Reo begins to wake up slightly and Nagi holds his breath.
Mysterious gray meets majestic purple as they look at each other.
Reo’s eyes are half-lidded and sleepy, he blinks a couple of times and then smiles his perfect smile and speaks, “Go to sleep, Nagi.”
Nagi not Seishiro. It’s a bit saddening, but Nagi thinks that he has plenty of time to get Reo to call him by his name.
He nods and lets himself relax as best as he can despite the firmness of the mattress beneath them, the warmth of their combined heat is a welcomed respite that takes all of Nagi’s attention away from the bad quality bed.
As they lie down, they separate ever so slightly so they can look at each other once again.
“Another staring contest?” Chigiri would say if he was awake.
Reo looks at him and despite the darkness of the room, Nagi can tell by the way he fidgets that he’s nervous. They’ve slept in the same bed before, but since their reconciliation, though Nagi was much more quick to try and jump back into their old physical dynamic, Reo was still taking baby steps. This is their first time in bed together as new friends again.
It seems that Reo finally finds his resolve, because he levels Nagi a steady glance. Nagi doesn’t have time to question it when Reo leans in fast, pecks him on the cheek, and squeaks out a quick “Good night!”
Externally, Nagi can only stare down at Reo, but the other boy buries himself in Nagi’s chest to hide. He finds his composure after a few moments of internal celebration but by that point, Reo has long since let sleep carry him away.
Reo’s never done that before.
Nagi wants him to do it again.
Letting the warmth make him drowsy, Nagi’s mind fills with thoughts of Reo, as it usually does.
Mentally, he gives his future-self a high five for having done, what Nagi can only assume, the hard part of getting together: confessing.
Wishing his older self luck one final time, Nagi falls asleep.
The dreams he has are sweet and pleasant.
Dreams of fulfilling his promises with Reo and a lifetime by each other’s sides.
Nagi can’t wait.