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“Nagi looks down today, right?”
Chigiri glances at Nagi, sitting a few feet away staring at his phone. He glances back to Isagi.
”He looks the same as he always does.”
Isagi hums. “No, I feel like there’s something off with him. You know, his passes today during practice were kind of weak.”
Chigiri rolls his eyes. “Of course that’s what you were worried about.” Isagi frowns at him.
“I’m sure Nagicchi’s fine,” Bachira says, swinging an arm around Isagi’s shoulder. Isagi has no idea where he came from. He swore he had seen the other waltz out of the room entirely just a few moments ago, but Isagi has long since grown accustomed to his surprise reappearances. “But if you think there’s something wrong, why don’t you ask?”
Mostly because he can predict Nagi’s response, if Nagi deigns to respond at all. Still, with Bachira and Chigiri both now staring at him expectantly, Isagi feels the need to do something, so he clears his throat.
“Alright. Err, Nagi?”
Nagi doesn’t look up. Isagi isn’t surprised.
”Nagi, are you okay? You seem… upset.”
Nagi finally tears his eyes away from his phone. He blinks at Isagi. Now that he’s looking up, Isagi can see that Nagi really does seem upset. Not wildly so, that would be too uncharacteristic of him, but there’s definitely a crease to his brows that usually isn’t there. Isagi expects Nagi to dismiss his question with a noncommittal response, but to Isagi’s surprise, something else comes out of Nagi’s mouth.
”I miss my boyfriend.”
There’s a lot to unpack there. To think that Nagi would miss someone at all, enough to mope and stare at his phone is a bit surprising on its own, but a bit more pressing than that is the fact that—
“You have a boyfriend?” Bachira blurts out incredulously. Chigiri’s mouth is fully hanging open.
“Oh,” Nagi says. “Yeah, I do.”
If Nagi was anyone else, Isagi would think he was making a joke. But this is Nagi, so Isagi knows for a fact that he isn’t. His mouth flaps open and closed a few times.
“You’re—seriously?” Chigiri gets out. “You’ve never talked about anyone, we haven’t seen anyone, you…?”
”We’re long-distance,” Nagi says, and Isagi watches with a sort of morbid curiosity as something almost like melancholy flickers across Nagi’s face. “So we don’t see each other that often.”
Bachira, Chigiri, and Isagi share a glance.
”He’s… real, right?”
Nagi stares at Chigiri. “Yes?”
“Just making sure,” Chigiri mutters under his breath.
”Oh,” Nagi says, ignoring Chigiri. “Our relationship’s supposed to be a secret, though. So…” He trails off.
Bachira gives him a thumbs up. “Don’t worry, Nagicchi! Your secret’s safe with us.”
Approximately 12 hours later, approximately everyone on the Manshine City team knows about Nagi’s not-so-secret secret relationship.
Barou almost chokes on his breakfast when he finds out.
“That asshole? Someone actually wants to date that asshole? Seriously?”
”I’m right here,” Nagi says from where he sits next to Barou. He seems fairly unconcerned that the news of his dating life has spread like wildfire. Isagi supposes he should count himself lucky, although he hadn’t actually contributed much to the gossip. The only person he’d told was Rin, honest.
”Are you sure you’re not getting dogfished?” Zantetsu asks, pushing his glasses up with a finger.
“I’m not getting catfished,” Nagi mutters. “He’s real.”
Everyone at the table shares a skeptical glance. Nagi either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.
“Then tell us about him,” Bachira says, somehow spawning into the seat between Nagi and Barou. He leans forward with his head in his hands. “What does he look like?”
”I don’t want you guys imagining him,” Nagi says bluntly. Bachira raises his eyebrows.
”Fine, fine,” he says with a snicker. “Then, how’d you guys meet?”
Nagi’s gaze turns wistful. It’s a bit sickening to watch.
”He’s the one who made me interested in soccer,” Nagi murmurs. “He told me I should join the soccer team with him in high school, and…” He shrugs. “He seemed interesting, so I said yes. And then I realized he isn’t just interesting, but also really pretty, and super talented, and—“
”Some of us are trying to eat here,” Barou interrupts snappishly. Isagi is a bit too busy marveling at the fact that Nagi is capable of saying more than one sentence at a time to notice the way the two glare at each other.
“But you guys are long-distance,” Bachira says with a mournful sigh. “That’s so sad, Nagicchi.”
Nagi stops glaring at Barou long enough to respond. “Yeah. I miss him a lot.”
”Next time he comes here, you should bring him to see the team,” Isagi suggests. He can’t deny he has a certain curiosity about this boyfriend of Nagi’s. In Manshine City, Nagi had a hard enough time making friends. That he’s been dating someone this whole time… well, Isagi wouldn’t call it unbelievable, but he certainly has his doubts.
Nagi’s face kind of sours at the suggestion, but after another moment of pondering, his expression turns contemplative.
”Maybe…”
The day comes around sooner rather than later. Less than a week after Nagi drops the news about his definitely real boyfriend, said boyfriend shows up at their door. Unfortunately, Isagi does not immediately figure this out.
When he shows up to the practice ground, early as usual, he’s surprised to find a lone figure tapping at his phone and waiting at the side. Their field isn’t public, so it’s rare to find strangers wandering in.
Isagi clears his throat. “Sorry,” he says in English. “Can I help you?”
The man turns. Isagi’s eyes widen.
”You’re… you’re Reo Mikage?”
Mikage—because it is, in fact, the Mikage corporation heir standing in front of Isagi now—tilts his head to the side and smiles. “Oh, hello. Sorry, I’m here a bit early.”
Isagi manages to stop gaping long enough to stammer out a response.
”Uh—sorry, Mikage-san? Um, what are you—what are you doing here?”
”Just Reo is fine,” he says with a wave of his hand. He checks his phone again. “Ah, I’m here to meet my boyfriend.”
Once could be coincidence, but for two members of the team to have boyfriends that Isagi had no clue about is a bit startling. He mentally runs through the remaining team members, trying to imagine who could possibly be dating the Reo Mikage. It was a household name, after all.
”Right,” Isagi eventually responds. “Err, well, everyone else should be here soon.” He clears his throat. “Who… who exactly are you waiting for, again?”
Reo blinks at him. “Oh, did Seishiro not tell you about me?”
Who the hell is Seishiro?, Isagi thinks. The name rings faint recognition in his mind—very faint.
”Uh—“
“Reo!”
Isagi almost doesn’t recognize the voice—after all, he’s virtually never heard that particular voice excited about anything, but—
Nagi barrels past him to sweep Reo into an embrace. Isagi’s mouth falls open. What was Nagi doing? Did he mistake Reo for his own boyfriend or something?
He half-expects Reo to shove Nagi away, but instead, his arms come to circle around Nagi. When Nagi buries his face in the crook of Reo’s shoulder, a fond smile traces his lips. One of his hands comes to rest on Nagi’s hair.
”Hi, Seishiro.”
Seishiro.
Seishiro… Nagi.
Isagi stares at them for one, two, three moments.
”Your boyfriend is Reo Mikage?”
Nagi lifts his head up to glare at Isagi. Isagi instinctively takes a step back. His mind is reeling.
“You’re,” he starts. “You’re dating Reo Mikage.”
”Yup,” Nagi says, sounding much too pleased with himself.
There are a lot of facts Isagi cannot reconcile with each other right now. For some reason, his mind decides to fixate on what is probably the most inconsequential one.
”…Reo, aren’t you studying at Oxford right now?”
Reo nods, still playing with Nagi’s hair. “You’ve read up on me, huh?”
Nagi’s eyes narrow. Isagi lets out a weak laugh.
”Just… just whatever shows up on the daily news.”
Nagi seems mildly satiated by this. He returns to staring dopily at Reo.
”Um,” Isagi continues when he’s sure Nagi won’t try to murder him in his sleep. “But I thought… you two were long-distance?”
”We are,” Nagi says obstinately.
“Oxford’s just like… a three hour drive away, though?” Isagi points out hesitantly. “That’s not really—“
”Yes it is.”
Isagi stares at Nagi. Nagi stares back.
This, Isagi is realizing, is not an argument he particularly cares to have.
”…never mind.”
The three of them stand there for a while. Well, Isagi stands there, feeling terribly awkward, while Nagi and Reo somehow cuddle standing up.
”You know what,” Isagi says when their affection grows unbearable to watch. “I think I, uh… forgot something in the locker room.” He starts backing away. “We’ll, ah, talk later, Reo?”
”Sure—“
”No.”
Reo and Isagi both pause to stare at Nagi, who’s gone back to glaring at Isagi.
Reo shrugs. “If my treasure says so.” He doesn’t seem particularly upset by the development. Isagi wonders if he should feel offended. “Bye, Isagi.”
”…bye, Reo.”
If Isagi’s lucky, this is the last time he’ll have to see them act gross with each other. But based on the way they immediately go back to cooing at each other…
Isagi is pretty sure he has his work cut out for him.