Chapter Text
“And…sold.”
The sound of a squeaky toy gavel rings out as Ego hits it against the podium without any sign of enthusiasm, voice bored, and not even attempting to suppress a loud yawn. The man doesn’t even cover his mouth prompting a rather rude onslaught of comments from those in the chat.
Jerks.
If Ego was 6’3, had white hair and stupid bug-like eyes, they’d probably all fall over themselves talking about how “cute” he is or whatever. Well, Ego’s eyes are a bit bug-like, but he’s certainly in no way “cute.” Whatever.
Looking at the clock on the wall somewhere off screen Ego’s eye begins to twitch. They’ve been at this for much longer than he’d like but these things, as Ego has come to learn, take a much longer time than expected because fans (stalkers, Ego thinks is the better descriptor for some of them) get into pretty heated arguments throughout the entire process.
“For– yikes, ” Ego says under his breath as he finally takes a moment to consider the number, “for 800,000 yen.”
The chat erupts instantly, a barrage of messages coming in rapid succession. Ones that Ego neither wants to nor does he care to read. It’s the same things as usual, a few curse words here, a couple of death threats there, a message or two from people that are clearly only here to judge what others spend their money on and, hey, Ego can’t say he doesn’t agree. There’s the occasional comment expressing happiness and congratulating the winner of the auction, but to Ego, those mostly read as backhanded “it should’ve been me,” types of messages.
Mentally Ego considers letting Anri in on this secret of his. At the very least, telling her so that she has no choice but to either out him and put the program at jeopardy or join him in a morally dubious business venture. What can he say? He’s in desperate need of a moderator and lord knows that that prissy business partner of his won’t do it unless he gets a pay raise. Fat chance of that.
Truth be told, the auction could go on a lot longer. Ego is more than certain that some of these people would be completely fine going bankrupt over, Ego looks at the small pedestal displaying the product, illuminated by a spot light as if its a gift from God Himself with nothing but judgment and a slight curling or his lips in disgust, a pair of stupid gloves with mysterious white stains.
Gross.
Ego surmises that he’d have a high probability of racking up much closer to one million yen at this rate. But he’s tired as fuck and annoyed and getting a headache, any longer now and he’ll just end up curling into a ball and taking a nap while live on camera.
There’s only so long that he can stand to be in the presence of that lazy “genius” and Mikage in the first place, having to see them through the screens in his office is already more than enough. Being essentially held hostage by their fans as he tries to sell his wares leads to the onset of a migraine.
Some might argue that it’s not being held hostage if Ego is doing all of this willingly. To that Ego can only say a big and loud fuck you, because, sure, he’s facilitating this auction. That doesn’t mean he likes being in the same vicinity as Nagi's anything, much less the latest pair of gloves Reo had given him as a consultation gift for “losing” the old ones not even a few hours ago that already look like they’ve been through hell and back.
If anything, Ego is doing those poor gloves a favor. If you really think about it, it’s really Mikage’s fault for continuing to coddle Nagi by continuously providing him with new gloves every damn time something happens to them thus also providing Ego with an endless stream of things to sell.
NagiReo5Ever@reomysavior
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I can do 1,000,000
Pls
I’m begging
Did Ego Mention how much he cannot stand their fans?
Rolling his eyes, Ego says a quick and disingenuous “Better luck next time,” before promptly ending the stream.
A notification pops up on his phone and this time, Ego can’t suppress his smile. Good, it looks like the money has transferred without issue. Looking at all those zeros almost makes all of this worth it.
Almost. Because the money transferring successfully means that he has to now package the goods and ship them off to who knows what weirdo to do who knows what with.
Hopefully not anything too bad or, you know, illegal. Though, Ego finds it hard to think of anything they can do that’s worse than what that white haired sloth hasn’t already done. Who knows, maybe they’ll try sacrificing him to the devil or something. It wouldn’t be the first time.
So the question is this:
Is it right to be selling items that belong to the players to fans without their knowledge?
To that Ego thinks maybe.
But do those things really belong to them? Ego thinks not.
Most all of it is property of Blue Lock which in extension means it’s technically property of Ego. Kind of. In a way. He supposes that it also sort of also belongs to the big sponsors which, yes, includes Mikage Corp now, but what they don’t know won’t hurt them. Ego is sure they have their fair share of illicit operations as well, giant conglomerate that they are and all.
The gloves that a certain white haired genius received as an olive branch from Mikage and has subsequently become some kind of “relationship artifact” for the two of them and is highly obsessed over by their fans is included. Hell, they basically belong to him since in a way, he’s the catalyst for all of the events that lead up to that moment.
In a way, this could be considered charity. Money going to a person in need (Ego) with some of it also going towards supplies for the facility (toilet paper. The cheap, one-ply kind to be more specific). The government should be grateful that Ego isn’t trying to write this off on his taxes.
Going into his banking app, Ego does some quick calculations, prepares the transfer and sends it. Best to do it now before he forgets, his supplier gets uppity if the money takes too long to get to him. Worst comes to worst and the kid will be knocking on his door with his hand out and asking for a late fee or something. Well if this whole football thing doesn’t work out, the brat can always consider becoming a loan shark.
To be completely transparent, it’s not like Ego went into this whole thing with the intention of making it some sort of money making scheme, not at all. His intentions were purely for a quick cash grab, a nice and easy one and done. Money, however, is a powerful temptress and Ego like many is but a puppet to capitalism at the end of the day.
In terms of actually getting his hands on Nagi’s gloves, Ego would do it himself but he’d never subject himself to that again. It takes a lot to make Ego feel weird, but selling things like this is one of them. He’d also much rather not be the one getting caught sifting through Nagi’s dirty laundry to obtain what he needs. For multiple reasons, the biggest being that the kid is probably filthy, Ego is sure of it.
Less so now that he has someone playing mommy for him again, but damn Ego could practically smell him through the screen after they divorced or whatever.
So though he doesn’t like the sharing money aspect, it’s not like Ego has much of a choice if he wants a continuous stream of products to sell.
Putting on a pair of vinyl gloves (Ego has learned to do this part too) he takes a small box, fills it with some packing peanuts and haphazardly throws the other pair of gloves into it. Sealing it shut so he can finally be rid of it.
This is his life now. How the mighty have fallen truly.
Oh well, another day, another dollar.
They’re missing again.
How are they missing again? The new pair of gloves that Reo gave him to replace the previous ones are again unaccounted for in the pile of clean laundry that Reo had so considerately and gently placed beside Nagi’s because his partner knows he likes to lie on the warm pile while playing his first person shooter games.
With all the elegance in the world Reo hadn’t so much as jostled the bed even as he himself climbed onto it, a large basket of freshly washed and dried laundry to his side.
Those gloves are the first thing Nagi looks for whenever Reo comes back with the clean clothes. Luckily for him, Reo always sorts his pile first, but after going through every single piece, even using up the energy to shake some of the sweats in case the gloves ended up inside of them, he’s come up empty handed.
With his frustration building, Nagi is now overheating, tired, and the clothes that Reo so nicely folded for him is in disarray. All of Reo’s hard work gone just like that, it pisses Nagi off.
“Reooooo,”
“Yes, treasure?”
“My gloves,”
On the outside, Nagi pouts in a way he knows Reo finds cute.
On the inside, Nagi puts together a string of profanity that would put any sailor to shame, along with a curse on the asshole that took the gloves that his Reo gave him. Again.
He wishes a curse on their whole family while he’s at it.
“What about them?” Reo asks.
Reo’s attention, much to Nagi’s frustration, is split between Nagi and the piles of clean laundry he has yet to finish folding. It’s a mixture of Chigiri’s and Zantetsu’s and if it was just Zantetsu’s then maybe Nagi would understand, he’s like their pet or second child or something, but Chigiri? The princess has hands, he can fold his own damn clothes. Doesn’t that guy know that the time it takes for Reo to fold all of it could be better spent laying in bed and cuddling with Nagi.
Reo’s ever expanding circle of friends has brought with it a few frightening changes. Reo’s lack of attention on Nagi is one of them but there’s an overall trend of Reo sharing his maternal affection for randoms.
That shark kid is one of the worst offenders. That weeb with the forehead insecurities too. They think that just because they’re smaller and younger than Nagi, they can have all of Reo’s babying to themselves? Fuck that.
Nagi makes a mental note to accidentally bump into them a little too hard later, what are they gonna do? Tell him to Reo? It’s not like they’re tall enough for Nagi to even notice that they’re there.
Anyway,
“I think I lost them again, they’re not here anymore.”
“You’re so silly treasure,” Reo sighs, pausing what he’s doing to run a hand through Nagi’s hair, gently pulling apart some of the knots.
It’s almost enough to fully placate Nagi, putting him in a brief state of bliss as he takes in the feeling of Reo’s hand and the gentle scent that emanates from his partner. Reo smells so good that Nagi just wants to bite him sometimes.
Reo’s touch doesn’t fully distract Nagi from his crisis.
“I think someone stole them,” Nagi huffs, leaning closer, “Assholes. They’ve better have washed them at least,” Nagi mumbles under his breath. It’d be pretty gross if they didn’t considering how much he, uh, uses them.
“What was that?” Reo asks.
Nagi looks up at Reo, head tilted to one side and staring at Nagi with those big, bright, innocent eyes. Reo can’t know what he does to those gloves.
“Can Reo get me another pair,” he says instead, in full baby mode, softening his voice, making it pitch up just a bit higher.
“Sure thing, treasure!”
Nagi hopes these ones don’t go missing this time. Or else he might actually end up in a straight jacket.
To preface this, Ego didn’t go in with the intention of starting a somewhat illegal auction.
In fact, Ego finds himself questioning his life often these days, looking back to how he got here specifically and by here he means ending yet another stream and putting yet another pair of gloves into a shipping box and sending it on its merry way.
Reo is giving Nagi gloves more frequently it seems. Ego would be more concerned about the little asshole figuring things out if he didn’t also know that the kid wouldn't complain about it too much so long as Reo keeps indulging him.
Or so Ego thinks.
Regardless of what the white haired fucker thinks about the whole thing is irrelevant. Mostly because Ego doesn’t care about the kid’s feelings at the best of times, knowing that he’s upset would only have the opposite effect and actually encourage Ego to do it even more often because, again, seeing Nagi fail is one of the only good things about keeping him around.
Although Ego questions it, he’s never actually been a stranger to capitalizing on pairing the players off to sell merchandise. Selling their miscellaneous items, in a way, can be considered an extension of that.
He’d say that he’s surprised with what people will spend their money on but he’s really not.
Ego isn’t stupid.
Not to toot his own horn, but he thinks it’s quite the opposite really. Afterall, who else but a guy with a galaxy brain to come up with such a great idea as putting a bunch of hormonal teen boys into a football hunger games, crush their spirits, and give them semi-irreprobal mental health damage all in the name of possibly, maybe, recreating his ex-rival?
Granted, the whole wild card thing proved to be a bust but oh well, them’s the breaks or whatever it is that people say.
A voice that sounds annoyingly like Anri’s reminds him that this was technically her idea, but like usual, Ego has no problem ignoring it.
What does she know? Her version of Blue Lock would undoubtedly have been too soft. If Japanese football wants to play on the world stage and actually stand a chance against the big dogs, they’re going to need more than some ragtag group of buddies singing kumbaya and talking about persevering through the power of friendship or love or whatever.
Only idiots believe in something like that. Idiots like that white haired kid and his delusions that have, much to Ego’s chagrin, gotten him pretty far up to this point. He honestly doesn’t know what Anri was thinking when she chose the two of them to invite.
Mikage is alright. He’d be better if he cut that dead weight if you ask Ego, but that’s just something he'd have to figure out on his own, or rather, it’s something that he’s figured out but is too afraid to let go just yet.
Although begrudgingly Ego can admit that Nagi has potential, getting him to reach that when the kid won’t take even a second for critical thought or self reflection will be more trouble than it’s worth.
Oh well, that kid can daydream all he wants about winning the World Cup and proposing to Mikage or whatever it is that he does, but he’s gonna have to face the facts eventually. Ego has his money on a third divorce, one that he’s really praying on being initiated by the love of Nagi’s life because, one, it would be nice revenge, and two, Ego thinks it’d be really funny to watch Nagi’s world implode.
The closest Ego has ever gotten to that kind of joy was when Reo scared the shit out of Nagi with the whole “we need to talk” schpiel. One that Nagi, in all his desperation, was quick to silence.
Having been involved in the ins and outs of football for the better part of his life and his, let’s face it, neet status until recently, Ego is well versed in the realm of shipping.
People will ship anything, even inanimate objects. Fans of a ship, conversely, will throw their hard earned money at anything that has the image of their “faves” on it too.
Hell, looking at the trending topics on the Blue Lock app these days and Ego can see people shipping himself and Noel Noa of all people.
As if.
Ego chalks up the slight sting in his chest as heartburn.
The fan girls, as annoying as Ego can find them at times, are a crucial demographic to keep on their side, a very vital part of any hobby ecosystem.
It’s why he slaps that lazy bum and his keeper on most of the merch together side by side. The photographers don’t even need to give them directions, said white haired “genius” would stare his big bug eyes at that purple haired copycat regardless of whether the photographer told him to “look here” or snap at him like a dog to get his attention.
Where was he? Oh right, the beginning, Ego’s revelation. Whatever you’d like to call it.
It went a little something like this…
As much as Ego wishes he could ignore the nausea-inducing yearning that Nagi and Reo have towards each other, he bears with it for the sake of the program.
It’s all about enduring, you see. Afterall, that is what marks the difference between a good striker and a great one. The cards that Ego has been dealt essentially make him the overseer of a bunch of angsty, emotionally underdeveloped, and overall cringe teenagers, a lot of which are gay. Now, Ego is only homophobic on occasion and towards certain people, but in hindsight, trapping a bunch of young boys in a space that is fueled by high stress and competition.. Yeah, he supposes that a couple of romances were bound to happen.
And then there’s whatever the fuck Nagi and Reo have going on because they came into the facility with pride flags already raised.
The point is that Ego is not above exploiting their relationship to viewers for some extra cash.
So now the de facto guardian of— how many of them are left? Ego can remember maybe five of them at a time and two of them, never for any good reasons, are Blue Lock’s resident love birds. Anyway, Ego is responsible for them to a degree but he’s also responsible for keeping the facility afloat within the meager budget allotted to them by the JFU.
It’s not a rare occurrence to find Ego cross-legged in his rolly chair mindlessly scrolling through his phone.
“Slacking off,” is what Anri calls it.
Ego calls it “studying.”
Because while, yes, on occasion Ego has been known to get side tracked and completely not observe the players’ progress in favor of playing some random rhythm game or binging a whole series, he still does his best to scroll through whatever garbage posts there are to see what cash grab they can do next.
Scrolling through the top posts of the Blue Lock app, Ego thinks he can physically feel his brain cells begin to rot and die one by one. The user base is within the parameters of expectation but Ego won’t lie and say he isn’t more than a little peeved that the majority of the people on the app are there not for the football, but for the players.
Which, okay, but seriously, they act like these kids are kpop idols or something.
Sure, there’s a bit of a survival show aspect to the program especially now that it’s being filmed but really? A bunch of stupid teen boys? Ego knows for a fact that a lot of them are not hygienic enough for these strangers on the internet to be making “what Nagi Seishirou smells like,” threads.
You wanna know what Nagi Seishiro smells like? Ego doesn’t actually, and never actually wants to know, but he’d bargain that it’s the stench of laziness, unwashed ass, and a bit of Mikage’s eu de “gifted child syndrome” perfume that rubs off on him because the white haired loser can’t keep his damn hands to himself.
Especially now that, at least from Ego’s perspective, it looks like they’re officially together. Damn, that white haired lump of lard is really gonna crash out when Reo tells him that their football partnership isn’t working out, huh? Ego is manifesting it.
At some point, he’s going to need to start censoring their interactions. Until it comes to that, the NagiReo cam will stay purely for the fact that it brings in a bunch of views. More clicks equals more cash or whatever that purple haired brat told him once.
So Ego tries to conjure up some ideas. And by conjuring up ideas Ego of course means taking some fan’s delusional post and making it a reality for a quick cash grab like they’ve done many times in the past. That Mikage support can only get them so far after all.
All those photo shoots they do are done for the purpose of supplementing the program's income. Supplemental income that is very much needed in the wake of the shit show that has been the Neo Egoist League.
Lets see what the masses of the Blue Lock app have to say today:
Chigiri’s hair routine? No. Blue lock rigged? Not that one either because it’s not. Even if Ego definitely has favorites.
It’s like no one has good, plagiarism worthy ideas anymore.
When he’s just about to give up, Ego sees it. For a brief moment Ego spots this week's million dollar idea in the form of some fangirl posting about how ready and willing she’d be to sell a kidney to get the “NagiReo gloves.”
NagiReo’s_number1_fan
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The way I’d sell my kidney for those gloves
Excuse me?
The first thing that comes to mind is if Ego’s poor vision and piss poor diet are finally manifesting themselves in the form of hallucinations.
The second thing that comes to mind upon realizing that the post is, in fact, real is “How can I take advantage of this?”
Just as quickly as the post crosses Ego's eyes, his timeline refreshes.
Fuck.
Oh well, the details are irrelevant. Ego has a (stolen) idea now and if the interaction on the post were anything to go off of, this will make just enough to make ends meet for this month.
Thus, Ego’s million dollar idea is born.
Like he said, it was supposed to be a one time thing.
Really, after that very first stream ended, Ego had no intention of making it a whole business. His great idea, which wasn’t even really his idea, had done its job.
Indeed, some very deranged, very obsessed fan of Nagi and Reo had purchased the original “NagiReo gloves” for the price Ego doesn’t doubt they could have paid to obtain a kidney on, lets say, the black market.
Certainly, the first look at that number being transferred into his bank account almost left him winded. Admittedly there is a bit of taste for wanting more but being greedy outside of the football field isn’t really Ego’s strong suit.
Even so, Ego tested the waters for a few days after shipping off the gloves. Inconsequential things belong to a few of the other more popular participants but, as expected, none of them bring in the same amount of money.
He doesn’t know why their fans go so crazy over them.
Yes, he went back and watched the footage of when Reo gave them to Nagi but it didn’t seem like such a big deal to him. He supposes that when your faves are in the midst of a tense relationship situation, any interaction that’s positive would make you freak out. He goes down a rabbit hole of “proof” that he doesn’t really need to see because as much as some fans who are actually interested in football swear up and down that there’s nothing going on between the two players, Ego can see through the screen that something is definitely going on.
At the very least, there is something so delusional beyond human comprehension going on in Nagi Seishiro’s otherwise empty head any time he looks at Reo.
Just a few more days is all it takes before Ego is ready to call this one quits. Nagi and Reo are without a doubt his biggest cash cow, but it’s not like he has an endless stream of gloves to be selling off to people.
Until he does.
It’s when Ego considers retiring the underground auction that a solution arrives to him in the form of a note being passed underneath the door to his office simply reading “Reo gave Nagi new gloves.”
He blinked. Once, twice, and then quints at the piece of paper like it had personally offended him because who the hell would have even known? The auction is held through some dark web type of shit on the back end of the Blue Lock app where only people who were able to decipher Ego’s cryptic messages would even have access to.
Ego was also exceedingly careful in making sure no one would be able to see him sneak into the laundry room. “Exceedingly careful,” being Ego going under the cover of darkness in a full hazmat suit because there’s no way in hell he’d go through Nagi’s laundry without protection.
When Ego turned the camera outside of his office on, the person standing there was none other than Chirigi.
Great, the guy is probably gonna threaten to blackmail him or something. Unfortunately for Ego, althout he does his best to turn the camera off soon after, the little fucker noticed immediately.
Ego didn’t even have a chance to tell the little fucker to get out of his sight and threaten to kick him out if he told anyone before he began speaking.
“I can get them for you for a cut of the profit.”
“Go to hell.”
“You first,” Chigiri says, looking at his nails completely unphased.
Clicking his tongue, Ego spins around in his chair. He half expects the kid to just leave but much to his annoyance, Chigiri remains planted in front of his door, using the now darkened screen as a mirror while he fixes his hair.
Ego considers it for a bit. And then shakes his head with how bad and stupid the idea is before once again thinking about it. The guy is close to the pair and if memory serves Ego correct, Chigiri shares a room with them.
For a moment, Ego even feels bad for him. Having to spend time with Nagi is enough of a punishment, having to spend time with both of them? What a fucking nightmare.
Turning on the camera again, Ego speaks seriously, “I’ll consider it if you’re able to get me those gloves.”
“How much are you paying me?” Chigiri asks.
“‘Nothing until you bring them.”
“I want 50% of the total profit and a down payment of 500 right now,” Chigiri says.
“Fuck off.”
“No deal, no gloves,” Chigiri says, tuning to walk away, “Oh, and I’ll be telling Reo about this.”
“Like he would believe you,” Ego scoffs.
“Then I’ll tell Nagi,” Chigiri shrugs, “He was more pissed than I’d ever seen him when he couldn’t find them. You should’ve seen him when Reo walked out of the room, he looked ready to punch a hole through the wall.”
Pausing, Ego almost says something about reporting Chigiri for threatening violence against him, but in the end, the fact that he went digging through the clothes of an underage boy that is technically under his care and who’s future football career relies on whether or not Ego makes the decision to kick him out… yeah, Ego doesn’t want to go to jail.
“No gloves, no deal,” Ego says in return through gritted teeth.
It’s Chigiri who clicks his tongue this time, “Fine,” he says, “But I’m raising the down payment to 1,000,”
Ego opens his mouth to protest.
“Don’t even think about arguing! I saw what you sold them for, I should be asking for a lot more. 1,000. Cough it up or you’ll be back to eating the cheap cup noodles instead of the name brand.”
There’s a ping.
Chigiri checks his phone and smirks.
“I’ll be back by the end of the day.”
Not for the first time that day, Ego questions the course his life has taken.
Whatever, you would do it too for a check.
Later that same day, Ego receives another knock on his door. And by later he means only about half an hour after Chigiri leaves. He hadn’t even finished his cup noodles.
Stupidly, he admits, he presses the button to allow entry. In his defense, he thought it was his new business associate.
“That red head sure works fast,” he mumbles under his breath.
Only instead of Blue Lock’s resident red panther, it’s Blue Lock's so-called “genius.” What a joke, sure by definition the kid is a genius but there’s just something about him that pisses Ego off.
Anyway, before he has a chance to aim and a Blue Lock man to get this kid out of here, Nagi steps in.
Wearing an expression that makes Ego want to punch him in the face. A face that only Mikage could possibly find appealing.
“Have you seen my gloves?”
For a moment, Ego’s mind goes blank. Did that little priss tell this guy after all? Ego wouldn’t put it past him, not when he’s friends with Mikage and lord knows that kid would look at 1,000 dollars and ask something like “what am I supposed to buy with that? A banana?” or whatever a rich person would say.
Ego knows that people find his appearance creepy and uncanny, but Ego personally thinks the creep is Nagi. The way he stands, an imposing physique ominously back lit by the fluorescent lights of the hallway behind him, only to have the intimidation points sink to the negative when Ego takes a look at his stupid face.
That face like he’s some dumb little insect looking at Ego after he’s had the rock lifted from above it, makes all of Ego’s worries go away right then and there.
“No.” Ego responds, “Get out.”
“But—”
Chigiri, Ego decides, wouldn’t sell him out like that. Not unless Nagi or Reo did something egregiously reprehensible to him. The red head has some degree of integrity, enough that as much as he jokes about it, wouldn’t actually go around asking Reo to give him money. Not like a certain white haired sloth. Chigiri, however, would see no issue in swindling Ego out of some extra cash.
What he even needs it for is beyond him, isn’t the fancy imported shampoo and conditioner that Reo has his attendant smuggle into this place enough?
“It’s not my job to keep track of your fucking laundry, I’m not your mother,” Ego says, “Go ask Mikage.”
“I already asked Reo the first time,” Nagi says. Ego doesn’t even have to look at him to know he’s pouting, “So he gave me a new pair and now those are gone too.”
“That’s my issue, how?”
“Let me look through your security cams,” Nagi says.
Demands is a better word, shamelessly taking a step forward trying to take a look at all of the screens. How the hell does Mikage do it? It’s like dealing with a petulant child that won’t take no for an answer. This is the result of shitty parenting, Reo needs to teach this kid boundaries instead of sucking face with him in the hallways when they think no one is watching.
Seriously, Ego has that camera permanently covered by a thick piece of construction paper with how often they’re there.
Ego has two words. Football practice.
Maybe if they did more of that and less of practicing for their future lives in domestic bliss, their bids wouldn’t be so fucking low.
Pressing a button, a Blue Lock man materializes as Ego spins his chair around so as to not have to see Nagi’s annoying face.
“I’m telling Reo,” Nagi threatened as his voice slowly dissipated into the background.
“I don’t care if you tell Santa, kid. It’s your damn fault for not taking care of your shit,” Ego says, “You love Mikage but you lose his gift like it’s nothing? Keep that up and you’ll probably lose him…”
This time, Ego does turn and boy, is he having a lot of fun. That last line really looks to have pissed Nagi off, what with the way his jaw tightens.
“Again,” Ego ends.
The door opens and closes before Nagi has the chance to hurl some half-baked insults at him. The boy is out of sight but stays banging on the door for a few more minutes until he must give up.
Lazy.
Good riddance.
Chigiri arrives shortly after, wearing a mask, vinyl gloves, and what looks to be a swim cap to cover his hair. In his hand, or rather, held carefully and as far away from his body as his arms will allow, and pinched between his pointer and thumb is a plastic bag.
“50 percent,” Chigiri says, quickly getting out of Ego’s way before the man can grab it.
“20 percent,” Ego says.
“40,” Chigiri replies, rolling his eyes, “Do you know how gross it was getting these? Not to mention dangerous. If Nagi learns I stole a gift from his precious Reo, he’ll probably snap my good leg.”
To be honest, Ego doesn’t want to have to pay this kid at all, but he’s not wrong. Even the thought of having to sift through any of Nagi’s clothes makes the noodles he just ate try coming back up his throat.
“Fine,” he says, “We’ve got a deal.”
Steady supply of merchandise weird fans can go into debt over? Acquired.
And now to sit back and profit.
Nagi won’t lie, he’s more than a little upset.
Because for the past couple of weeks, yes, weeks, his things have been going missing. Sure, he can chalk some of it up to his general forgetfulness at times, but even so, Nagi isn’t as scatter-brained or empty-headed as some of the other participants might believe. You see, Nagi is a genius of many things. Source: Reo tells him all the time!
One of the things he’s really good at is tuning out all the shit he doesn’t want to hear and focusing on what really matters like Reo.
If he’s forgetting things then they must’ve not been that big a deal in the first place, right? So he doesn’t care too much about those.
Which is also why when things he does care about go missing, he has his full attention on it.
Things like the little trinkets and gifts that Reo gives to him.
Now, Nagi would consider himself to be a pacifist but… let’s just say that all of his soft and lazy exterior goes out the window the moment Reo is involved. The things that Reo gives to him are precious, extensions of his partner in Nagi’s mind, things that need to be loved and cherished.
In fact, when he catches the asshole that’s been stealing all of the gifts Reo gives him, it’s all over for them. But Nagi loves Reo’s smile the most, and the way his partner lights up whenever Nagi comes waddling over to him with big sad eyes asking for a new pair of gloves, that fond exasperation, the teasing lilt to his voice as he playfully chastises Nagi for losing yet another pair, the sight alone is enough to quell his thoughts of beating up some faceless bastard.
It keeps him from beating himself up too much too.
With all of that said, whoever keeps taking his shit, their mom is probably a hoe and also, they can’t keep getting away with this.
At this point, though, there’s not much Nagi knows what to do. He’s already gone and complained to Ego multiple times but those stupid four-eyes won’t even let him through the door of his office anymore. Won’t let Nagi near his office period. All of his complaints must be hand written and handed to Miss Anri who at the very least seems somewhat sympathetic to Nagi’s plight.
That makes one person.
Reo, bless his soul, seems completely unphased by the whole thing.
“You lost your gloves again, well, here’s a new pair! And with the latest insulation technology developed by Mikage corp to keep my treasures hands warm!”
The responses are typically some kind of variation of that. Nagi won’t lie, he loves getting new gloves from Reo because he loves being spoiled by Reo. Maybe it is also partially his fault, afterall, his go-to explanation is that he himself is the one losing them. But he can’t help it, the way Reo coos at him like Nagi’s forgetfulness is the cutest thing in the world is what fuels Nagi. It feels nice to be cared for.
Maybe another mistake was never having sat down with Reo to have a proper conversation about… well, everything. They’re been through so much and their relationship suffered for it, but in Nagi’s opinion, it’s gotten stronger. They’re on the same page again so who really needs communication, it’s not like that’ll come to bite him in the ass eventually.
Those first gloves… Nagi has been searching for all of his lost things, but those original gloves will haunt him until his dying day if he doesn’t get them back in his possession. Among the things Reo has given him, they’re special. Even more so because it solidified that despite everything, they were still in their dream together, Reo would watch him and Nagi, in turn, would do the same.
They’re gone now. All of those feelings, all of those memories he poured into them, vanished without a trace! They were more or less like a good luck charm too, a piece of Reo to keep him encouraged on the field even if Reo got subbed out or something.
What’s worse is that he can’t even relish too much in any of the new pairs Reo gets for him, much less does he have the time with them to form any particularly strong attachments or memories, which in itself makes Nagi sad to think of what could’ve been. Because as soon as Reo gets him a new pair they seem to vanish overnight.
“You ready to go, treasure?”
Reo’s voice is exactly what Nagi needs at that moment. It’s enough to have him getting out of his head and for that he wraps his arms around his partner, leaning his head against Reo’s shoulder in a silent thanks.
Nagi hates thinking. If it were up to him, he’d have nothing but Reo for brain, but alas he is a human and thus cursed with human feelings but his rather isolated childhood has left him somewhat emotionally stunted and unable to compartmentalize his emotions into anything more complex beyond sad.
But also happy, extremely happy, and love when he’s with Reo.
“Everything okay?”
“Hm,”
Although Nagi can feel Reo’s concerned gaze on him, he says nothing more. Instead, he places a shy kiss onto Reo’s cheek that has his partner blushing beautifully, suddenly like some kind of helpless maiden.
“Let’s get going,” Nagi says.
It’s good that his cool-guy act works on Reo. Even better that no one else is here to witness it because while Reo might find it cool, Nagi’s words replay to himself and he can’t help but cringe a little.
“Okay!”
“Okay, wait right here and I’ll go get our food, okay?” Reo says, “Come on, Kurona, come with me.”
Nagi has no time to complain before that little gremlin is hopping out of his seat and running up to his partner. Nagi would go. But that would require getting up and using his own two legs now that Reo has seriously been cutting down on Nagi’s piggy back ride time. Still, Nagi watches Reo and the shrimp closely to make sure the guy isn’t trying anything with his Reo.
What can Nagi say, he’s basically in the throes of depression right now. He can’t do much but put his head down on the table and tune out Zantetsu’s voice.
“So basically, I have to make an appearance for the gnomes.”
Sometimes, Zantetsu says things that are just so difficult for Nagi to understand that he physically can’t tune them out. Now is one such time, because truly, what the hell.
“Gnomes?” Nagi asks, “Those aren’t real,” He’s quick to shut it down.
Someone is probably just playing a cruel prank on poor, stupid, oblivious little Zantetsu and that’s something only Nagi and Reo are allowed to do. He has his money on that kid with the bangs.
“They are!” Zantetsu says, pouding both of his fists on the table.
“Nuh uh,” Nagi says, “Why would you have to make an appearance in front of them anyway?”
“I need to ask for forgiveness,” Zantetsu proclaims, “Otherwise they won’t return my stolen items,” he says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
Stolen items.
Stolen.
Nagi lifts his head from the table and looks Zantetsu directly in the eyes.
“First of all, you mean appease, stupid Zantetsu,” Nagi says, “Second, you’ve been getting things stolen too?”
Zantetsu gasps, “Nagi, are you a victim of the gnomes? I keep trying to warn everyone, but they won’t believe me!”
“I don’t believe you,” Nagi shuts him down quickly, “But someone has been stealing my shit and I need answers.”
“Have you tried asking Ego?”
“Tch,” Nagi’s annoyance is returning, “Like that guy would be any help, he doesn’t even let me get near his office anymore.”
“Ego told me that it’s the gnomes.”
“He did, did he?” Nagi says.
Suspicious if you ask Nagi. Offering an excuse to poor gullible Zantetsu but turning away a genius (according to Reo so it must be true) like Nagi? The man must know something otherwise he wouldn’t be turning him away like that.
Whatever the case may be, this whole thing is fishy and it’s starting to look like Nagi’s forgetful mind is to blame.
He won’t allow himself to be gaslit anymore, Nagi will endeavor to search for the truth!
“Here you go, treasure,” Reo says, sliding the food tray next to Nagi.
Nagi will endeavor to search for the truth… after lunch!