Chapter Text
1
Reo looked at the bed in front of him.
It was already dark. They had trained quite a lot today —even Nagi had, he was so proud of him— to prepare for their next match. Surely they were gonna win this one. Reo and Nagi had shown a lot of improvement and Reo had a good feeling. Even if they didn't win, they would have good bids and they would play in the national team and they would win their world cup.
Reo could already taste the victory.
Nagi was breathing slowly, his chest rising and sinking almost in sync with Chigiri, who laid in the bed in the other corner. Funny, people tend to match their breathing when they are sleeping together; even Reo found how his breathing eventually matched their pace. Though it would be better if only Reo and Nagi were in sync, if it was something special. Only Reo knows what Nagi thinks (well, sometimes, as well as anyone can, really) and vice versa. They should be in sync with everything. If only Chigiri stopped breathing, they-
No matter how much Reo wanted to hold Nagi and sleep together like they did every night, he had requested Nagi to sleep in his own bed, because he knew that— that this would happen; Reo staying awake. And he didn't want to keep Nagi up.
Reo didn't sleep all that well during the night before matches lately. Maybe he was too excited. He played with his hair tie that he had put around his wrist. It was cutting off his blood circulation, but he needed to fidget with something and he would lose it if he didn't keep it around his wrist.
Reo looked at Nagi, but was unable to see his face in the dark. There was only a dark silhouette to be seen. A shame, because Nagi was way too cute when he was sleeping. It would calm Reo in a heartbeat; Nagi had that effect. Nagi was what grounded him and made him relax. Nobody else seemed to have quite that effect from Nagi, preferring to bounce their own energy off Nagi, or somehow even being pissed off by him. Reo smiled slightly.
He sighed and closed his eyes, trying once again to fall asleep.
2
Nagi laid in his bed. He was supposed to be asleep, but was too restless. Reo had requested for them to sleep in separate beds that night. Why? Because of the match tomorrow? Did Reo want to break up with Nagi? Was this the point where he was leaving him? Had Reo finally seen how useless Nagi was?
He looked at Reo's dark silhouette. Reo's breathing had been irregular; he was obviously still awake. If he just let Nagi, he could come in their bed and hug Reo till Reo felt better about whatever his worrywart head was worrying about and fall asleep. Nagi wanted to jump into their bed. He slept better when he was with Reo. But the boss makes the rules.
3
They had played their match against FC Barcha. It didn't go well. Nagi ranked- what? 25th place? 26th? somewhere above 23. Reo felt the urge to throw up. This couldn't be happening.
He was sitting on his bed in their room. They were supposed to be packing, but he couldn't. He hoped to see Nagi one more time, for just a minute, just a bit more time to talk, but he had already packed and was— gone. Just gone. Nagi was leaving him.
And Reo knew this would happen someday. Nagi had asked him what Reo would do if Nagi couldn't play football anymore and Reo had said that he would drop him. (Like a fucking idiot!) Because he believed that Nagi would never stop, at least not till they had achieved their goal. They were Nagi and Reo, Reo and Nagi, Seishiro and Reo, a pair, a duo.
But that wasn't their deal. Nagi had simply carried out their agreement.
But didn't they promise to stay together again?! For fuck's sake, wasn't their team-up going great?! (It wasn't, but it was better to think it was. (Reo killed Nagi's ego. It was his fault.))
Now Nagi was just leaving?! To where?! Reo was already fuming just thinking about Nagi moving on and making peace with their situation and just-- never playing football again or never needing Reo again. But, oh god, didn't he say: "I started to miss you when you weren't around"? What did that mean? Was he missing him right now?
"Reo?" Reo looked up at Chigiri, who was standing by Reo's (it used to be Nagi's and Reo's) bed with a concerned expression.
Reo nodded and wiped the pesky tears away. He wasn't one to cry in public, vulnerability and all, but when he started he couldn't stop.
"Are you okay..?.." Chigiri asked with a careful voice. He had seen Reo at his lowest all too often. To think Mikage Reo had someone who had grown so accustomed to Reo hitting rock bottom. Laughable, honestly.
"Reo, you're doing that thing again."
"Doing what?" Reo used a sharp tone. He wasn't doing shit.
"Where you switch between emotions and faces in the span of seconds. You keep crying and then looking like someone murdered your child." Well Ego technically did.
…..But Chigiri had a point.
Reo's nose was runny; he wiped the snot away with his hand. Chigiri gave a look of disgust, but still sat down next to him on Reo's bed.
Reo said something, almost as quiet as a whisper with how hoarse his voice had become.
"I have to become the best on my own now." Without Nagi. He felt his eyes preparing for another flood.
Chigiri shrugged. He put a hand on Reo's shoulder and leaned in a little bit closer.
"You'll be fine. You've got other friends and you're talented enough to play without him."
"Sure, but-"
"And you'll see him later. You guys go to the same school and you're practically inseparable. Nagi would probably rather kill himself than never see you again."
The remark was surprisingly sweet. Was it the complete truth? Eh, Reo wasn't entirely sure he was that talented, but.. He would see Nagi again.
Even if Nagi didn't want to see him. Reo could easily break into Nagi's apartment and kidnap him. He would kill anyone who stood in his way or questioned him. He would tie him up and put him in a basement where only Reo would be able to adore him and Nagi would surely love it eventually, because how could he not love it if they were together? Ba-ya could keep a secret. It was such a perfect plan.
Chigiri chuckled and added: "Besides, you don't have to worry about becoming the best on your own, because I'll become the number one in the world." He pointed to himself with his thumb.
Reo snorted. "We'll see about that, Princess."
Chigiri pushed Reo off him. "Oh, fuck off."
The two laughed.
The room was a little bit warmer and the artificial lights were a little easier to look at. He mentally thanked Chigiri for both the comfort and the idea.
4
Nagi dropped his bags on the floor next to his bed. He was so exhausted, which was a word that he used so much that it had lost its meaning, but this time Nagi could feel it; the tiredness in his bones, and wondered if there wasn't a heavier words he could use.
As soon as he had walked through the losers gate, he was told to pack his stuff and go home. The winners had to deal with other stuff before they were let go, so Nagi hadn't had the chance to talk to Reo.
He wanted to see Reo again, even if it was just for a minute. They had been together constantly and it felt like he was having withdrawal symptoms after not seeing Reo for just a few hours, because he was shaking, he couldn't think, think about anything than Reo and he could only stare at the floor, suffering the consequences of his fuck-up.
Life wasn't worth living if Reo wasn't standing next to him. He dropped down on his bed. It was dusty. He missed Reo.
He stared at the white wall, which had become mostly grey because of all the filth that had accumulated over the months he had been gone.
His eyes felt uncomfortable because of the dried up tears. Normal people wipe them away. Nagi hadn't bothered to. Nagi was useless and unmoving, not that different from a corpse.
If only he could feel Reo's embrace again. Just once.
He rolled over to his side. Maybe he could. He could reach out to Reo and ask Reo to come over-- scratch that, that was too much effort for Reo, Reo probably didn't want to see him anyway.
Because… Their agreement had ended.
Nagi didn't play football anymore —not in the national team, at least. Reo probably didn't want to see him anyway.
But Reo was crying so much. Was he sad that their agreement had ended? He had been saying such nonsense. He never forced Nagi to do anything. Nagi was happy to just be beside Reo. Reo was like the sun and no living being could truly live without bathing in his holy light. Reo…
Was everything.
Nagi buried his face in his pillow. It would be better not to see Reo again, for Reo's sake. Reo had to become the best without Nagi and Nagi shouldn't distract him or drag him down any further.
He groaned into his pillow. Living was a pain.
5
Reo pulled on the thread, closing the hood from his grey hoodie enough to hide a big portion of his face. His face mask rubbed against his skin. It was made out of a soft, expensive fabric, because Reo wasn't about to wear cheap polypropylene.
Standing outside Nagi's apartment complex, he realised the hoodie was not nearly enough to keep out the cold.
Ba-ya was waiting with the car just a few blocks away as his getaway ride. She had sighed earlier, saying: "I don't entirely approve of this idea, but if it is what young master Reo wants.."
If it really was a stupid plan, surely she would have stopped him. (proven by that time Ba-ya stopped Reo from setting aflame the house of a classmate who had started a rumour about Reo (which was so hard to get rid off and so untrue!), or that time she had stopped Reo from ruining the painting his parents had given him when they had downplayed and laughed at his dream of winning the world cup.) Surely Ba-ya co-operating meant it was a pretty okay plan.
Reo had blocked Nagi and hadn't spoken to him for the entire two days that the vacation had been going on. Who would kidnap Nagi? The guy who he had practically said goodbye to on live TV and who had then blocked Nagi, clearly intending to never have contact with him again? Reo wouldn't be suspicious in the slightest.
Reo skipped the elevator and walked on the stairs towards Nagi's apartment. (If you could even call that glorified hamster cage that. It was nowhere near suitable for human life.) There were less cameras watching the stairs.
He stood before the white door. He grabbed the key out of his hoodie's pocket.
A little before Blue Lock, Reo had insisted on making a copy of Nagi's key for Reo, just in case there would be an emergency. Reo possibly losing Nagi was surely a big emergency, so its use was completely justified.
(Nagi had a key card to Reo's floor too, but he probably lost it, judging by the way he would often just wait in front of the building when he came to Reo's house. It wouldn't surprise Reo.)
He unlocked the door as quietly as possible. It creaked, because Nagi hadn't oiled the hinges.
He immediately spotted Nagi, laying on his bed, vast asleep like nothing in this world is wrong and like all the problems weren't his. Reo almost envied the way Nagi could sleep so peacefully, but was glad Nagi had the ability to. Nagi could rest —could do anything, really— for the two of them.
Nagi hadn't closed the curtains and the moonlight was shining on his face, highlighting the plump, cute cheeks and the little dents; scars he still had from past acne. Nagi was the cutest.
His dark eyelashes contrasted beautifully with his white hair. His hair was messy, the owner having given up on taming it, and it still looked so fluffy even though Nagi had been using the cheap Blue Lock shampoo for months.
Reo stepped closer to Nagi's bed. Nagi was breathing in and out slowly. Reo tried to slow his breathing down too.
His hands trembled. He couldn't do it. Nagi was so kind and pure and truly a light the whole world had to see. Reo wanted to, but- He couldn't. He couldn't take Nagi with him and lock him up. Nagi wouldn't like it. Reo would let Nagi go his own way, because, truly, Reo was only a liability to Nagi. Nagi would be better off without Reo. And don't you truly want the best for the person you love?
Love. Reo loved Nagi. He didn't know if Nagi loved him, never asked.
Reo sighed. What he wanted was so close, up for grabs, but he couldn't bring himself to grab it.
He turned around. The door and the dark hall behind it greeted him and begged him to walk towards them. It was better like this.
Nagi's apartment was cold. He probably hadn't turned the heater on even once, even though he runs cold. Reo felt a warm tear streaming down his face.
He texted Ba-ya that he wasn't going through with the plan and that she had to start the engine so they could ride away. He turned his head, taking one last look at Nagi, the love of his life, the first and probably last.
He had to let go. Reo walked through the door, closing it and locking it behind him, and walked down the stairs. He was so tired and honestly desired to just let himself fall off the stairs like a ragdoll. He smiled softly. Nagi had rubbed off on him.
Later, while he was in the car, he ordered a bunch of easy to warm up soups to be delivered to Nagi's house.
6
Nagi had opened the door to find a bunch of packs of soup. He looked around. Didn't see someone, didn't see a camera, deduced it wasn't a prank.
Had it been delivered by a fan? No, Ego surely hadn't given them the players' addresses.
There was only one person who knew where Nagi lived. Who had even visited the place.
Reo.
Nagi felt his heartbeat go faster. Reo had been thinking about him and had even taken time out of his busy schedule to take care of Nagi. He probably didn't want Nagi to consume his jellies. (Which was good, all the ones in his fridge were way past their date.)
He grabbed the packs and placed them on the table, closing the door behind him with his foot.
Reo had bought these for him. Reo wanted contact, surely. Nagi had to fulfill the boss' wishes. It wasn't good for Reo, Nagi had to distance himself from Reo, but, how could Nagi not? Nagi didn't want a lot. He was okay with the bare minimum. He just didn't know when being next to Reo 24/7 had become included in that bare minimum. He had to see him, or his heart would explode.
Nagi grabbed his phone —which had been plugged into the charger— to check for messages from Reo. He hadn't been on his phone for days, instead opting to sleep all the time in hopes of forgetting everything.
He unlocked his phone with the face recognition. (A wonder his phone recognized him while Nagi had been struggling to recognize himself.) And he opened the app.
'This account is not accepting messages from you.'
His breathing stocked. He checked the other contacts to see if maybe it was a mistake, but Reo had blocked him. Had Reo decided to never see him again? Had he finally realized that he was better off without Nagi?
But what did the soup mean, then? Was it someone else? If so, he didn't want it. He only wanted to eat Reo's soup, till the day he died.
But Reo couldn't abandon him. Reo shouldn't. He should, but-
Just this one time, Nagi wanted just one thing. He could be selfish.
What if he saw Reo without Reo knowing? They wouldn't be friends anymore, so Nagi wouldn't drag Reo down, but Nagi wouldn't have to miss Reo. The plan was more genius than everyone claimed his 'magical' goals to be.
That night, Nagi stood inside the elevator towards Reo's floor. He had a key card that Reo had given him some time ago. He normally didn't step in, opting to stand in front of the building instead, because it was simply a bother to bring the key card every time and to let himself in. But this time he decided it was worth the effort. It was the only way to see Reo, after all. If Nagi just showed up at Reo's door, he would be sent away.
The elevator stopped and a ping sounded. The doors opened to reveal Reo's massive living room.
In the middle, there was a couch with Reo laying on it. Reo was snoring and the moonlight reflected in the drool on his cheek. His hair was messy. He looked like he hadn't been taking care of himself.
Still, even though he looked like he had fallen asleep out of exhaustion, rather than planning to take a nap on the couch, there was a blanket draped over him.
Nagi looked around.
Ba-ya was standing in the corner left to him, simply staring at him with her witch-like smile.
He liked Ba-ya, but if she was to report Nagi, he had no choice but to murder her. He could run to the kitchen and grab a knife, or give her a rough kick to the head. No, Ba-ya would overpower him.
Ba-ya simply nodded. She walked closer to Nagi and whispered to him: "The Young master missed you too."
She walked past him, into the elevator, and clicked on the button for one floor higher. Green light from Ba-ya, Nagi guessed.
Nagi could feel his heart going crazy again. Reo had missed him? Had he sent the soup because he missed Nagi? Nagi clutched at his black hoodie —he preferred his grey one, but he had lost it a few months ago— and made an effort not to die from a heart attack. Reo had missed him. Nagi was there. He could wake Reo up, tell him that he didn't have to miss Nagi, that Nagi would be his forever and ever for all time.
But he shouldn't. Nagi was a burden.
Nagi stood there, just for a few more minutes, bathing in Reo's light. Reo hadn't been taking care of himself, that was bad. He hoped Ba-ya or maybe their friends would help Reo remind him to do so. (Or maybe Nagi had to leave a note sometime.)
He heard the ping of the elevator behind him. It opened, revealing Ba-ya.
She was holding Choki. Of course, Nagi was so busy with trying to not exist that he had forgotten to pick him up from daycare.
Ba-ya handed Choki to Nagi, who accepted it eagerly. The two looked at each other and nodded, understanding each other.
Nagi looked behind him. He would check up on Reo again next week. He stepped into the elevator while Ba-ya stepped out of it and pressed the button for the bottom floor.
7
Reo woke up feeling like shit, which was a feeling he had been all too familiar with lately.
He noticed he had awoken on his couch.
Of course, he remembered, he had spent almost the whole day yesterday watching the tapes Ego had sent him and analysing him. The pen and paper still laid on the little extension of the couch. He read it a little, noticing that the further down the page he went, the more nonsensical it became because of his sleepiness. At some point he had just collapsed. Ba-ya had probably put a blanket on him. How kind.
Speaking about her, he texted her that he was awake so she could bring breakfast. Just a minute or so later, she came walking out of the elevator with a tray of his usual breakfast.
She placed the tray along with some cutlery on the glass table behind the couch and Reo sat down and got to eating. Ba-ya grabbed his phone where she had put it to charge overnight and gave it to him so he could check the news and stocks.
He saw the time; it was about ten in the morning. Pretty late, but he didn't have all that much planned for that day anyway, apart from training.
"young master Reo." Ba-ya started. Reo hummed to let her know to continue.
"Young master Nagi visited tonight."
Reo stopped eating. He almost choked on his egg benedict. Ba-ya got ready to pat his back, but he quickly got it out of his throat and stuck his thumb up.
"He what did huh what now what huh?" Reo has learned a new language, everyone!
He closed the news app on his phone to— right, he had blocked Nagi.
He scraped his throat and tried again. "And… Did he do anything? Did he need anything?" Like Reo?
"I think he simply missed you. I gave him Choki." Well there goes Reo's blackmail plan to kidnap Nagi.
Reo nodded. "I see…."
This was great news! Nagi wanted to see him! Oh, but he was probably to shy to say anything to Reo. (Or maybe it was a bit hard to contact him with his phone number blogged.) And to have Nagi even break into his apartment to see him…
Reo could feel his face flush. It was so romantic!
He and Nagi were just friends, but— That! Was! So! Romantic!
Nagi was visiting Reo in his sleep!
Reo would make sure to stay up next night to see Nagi. It would be like staying up to see Santa Claus as a kid.
But that night Nagi didn't come. The next one, he didn't come either. He had stayed up the whole night, hadn't done any studying or practicing during the day so he could catch up on sleep. On the third night, he deduced Nagi wouldn't be coming again.
Reo was sitting on the couch. One of the tapes was playing, but he had long stopped paying attention to it. He was aggravated. Why wasn't Nagi visiting him? Was it just a one time thing to confirm Reo was still alive? Or worse, was it only to get Choki, because he didn't care about Reo anymore? Did Nagi really want to abandon Reo?
Reo laid down on his back. His heart ached; he longed to see Nagi.
He has had interest in him since the moment they met. Nagi had been everything: the sun, the moon, the sky and the stars. Spending time with Nagi was like breathing and at some Reo couldn't imagine a life without Nagi. That's when he realised he had fucked up and had fallen for Nagi. It started as just a small crush but at some point Reo couldn't deny anymore that Nagi had become the one that kept his heart beating; that it was love.
Of course, Nagi wasn't interested in such things, so Reo had never confessed. He didn't want to ruin their friendship and was happy with what they had; it was the closest to a relationship Reo would ever have with Nagi. How stupid he was for that.
He should unblock Nagi. But what was he gonna text?
'Hey I heard from Ba-ya that you came into my apartment to stalk me haha'
'Hey Nagi, sorry I blocked you for no actual reason that you know of haha how are you doing'
Reo groaned. Maybe Nagi would visit him again that night.
A week later, Reo wasn't feeling like he wanted to die anymore, since he was already close to death, if not already a walking skeleton.
Living without Nagi was hell.
He couldn't stop thinking about the other and had been watching more Nagi moments on YouTube than the actual tapes that he had to analyze.
Maybe Nagi's visits weren't intended to be daily but weekly. (if they were monthly Reo would either try to kidnap Nagi again or murder the fella.) It had been a week since Nagi's visit, so there was a big chance he was going to show up again.
It was already dark out. Reo was laying on the couch, pretending to be asleep. (Thinking about it, when was the last time he had slept in his bed?) The curtains were shut, the lights were off and Reo was wrapped in a warm blanket; all clear signs for Nagi that it was safe for him to come in.
Though a teeny tiny detail was that Reo also had Ba-ya stationed right next to the door to the elevator so that when Nagi stepped in, he would never step out again.
Reo had been waiting for two hours at that point and was growing impatient. When was Nagi finally gonna show up? Not? Never again? Had Nagi intended to leave Reo after all? Was Nagi dead? Was Reo doomed to be alone forever? Was-
A sharp ping sounded. Reo's breath hitched. This was the moment.
He had been right; Nagi was coming in again.
Reo slowed down his breathing and tried not to move. (Truly, Oscar worthy acting.)
Reo heard Nagi taking a few steps towards the couch, when- bamn! his body fell to the ground.
Reo couldn't help the giddy smile appearing on his face as he sat up and opened his eyes to gaze upon Nagi's unconscious body. Luckily, he was unharmed.
Reo whispered, even though they were the only awake ones on the whole floor: "How did you knock him out?"
"Everyone has their secrets, young master Reo." Oh well.
Reo stood up and made his way over to Nagi. He crouched down by the body. Nagi was vast asleep. He was going to wake up in a few minutes, so they had to move him quickly. Ba-ya dragged Nagi by the ankles into the elevator.
Reo grabbed the key card from his pocket and scanned it on the elevator's panel, going down towards the basement.
8
Time for the second weekly check-up, whoo-hoo.
Nagi stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for Reo's floor.
This time, Nagi was wearing a white T-shirt, because it was warm that night —Nagi didn't want to sweat his ass off in Reo's room— and because he was already discovered without being reported, so he didn't really have to hide his identity anymore.
Maybe Ba-ya had told Reo the next morning after Nagi's first check-up. Maybe Reo was even awake at the moment and waiting for Nagi. Nagi's cheeks heated up daydreaming about it.
Finally, the elevator arrived and the doors opened. Reo was asleep on the couch, just like last time. This time, however, it looked like he had chosen to do so, seeing how he was in his pajamas and looked somewhat properly groomed for the night. Maybe he had been too tired to move to his bed. Reo was so hardworking, after all. Nagi sighed. Reo really needed to take a break sometimes….
Nagi stepped further into the room, when suddenly, he felt a sharp pain and everything went dark.
Almost like he had just blinked, after what felt like a millisecond, he opened his eyes to see he was in a different room. The walls and ceiling were made out of a greyish cement and the floor was wooden.
Nagi's hands, no, his whole body was tied to a wooden chair with thick rope. The chair's legs were screwed to the floor. No chance of moving. (Not that Nagi was really planning to; his head felt heavy and his limbs felt like they had gone to mush.)
A bright light shone into his eye. He looked towards the source, which seemed to be a phone Reo was holding.
"Ah." Reo smiled when their gazes met. Nagi looked around. They were alone. Probably.
Reo was the first to say actual words. "You're awake, my treasure. Look at the cute photo I took."
He turned his phone to show Nagi a photo of Nagi looking down at the ground to inspect the chair. It was admittedly cute, but would've been better if it wasn't Nagi tied up on the chair. Of course, if it had been Reo-
Reo said: "You don't mind, do you?" Nagi cocked his head to the side to let Reo know he didn't know what the other was talking about.
"Me kidnapping you." Reo clarified.
Of course not. After Reo had said the K-word and had made Nagi realise that, yes, Nagi had been kidnapped and was being kept in the basement of the one and only Mikage Reo, Nagi's heart started thumping. It was so romantic and sweet, Nagi didn't know what to do with himself. His limbs were still jelly, but he could feel his body melting even more.
Reo continued: "You broke into my apartment to see me, after all. Twice. So you don't mind, do you? Do you?" Nagi shook his head.
Nagi looked around again.
"Is Choki here?" The question seemed to catch Reo off guard, who started laughing.
He mumbled something about Nagi thinking about his houseplant after being kidnapped, before answering that Ba-ya was still on her way to get Choki and Nagi's other stuff from Nagi's apartment, adding a quiet "don't worry, I have a spare key."
The rest of Nagi's stuff. So Reo was planning to keep Nagi in his basement for a long time. It was so kind of him.
Nagi could already see the dream-like life, with people taking care of him 24/7 so he wouldn't have to do anything and even better: living in the same house as Reo and Reo taking care of him and Reo spending time with him and everything Reo Reo Reo.
"Reo, I love you." Reo's face turned a deep shade of red. Cute.
"You can't just say that, idiot." Yep, the two were so in love.
9
Reo had invited Chigiri over for some tea and chatting.
He hadn't seen any of his friends during the time outside because he was —cough cough— busy with stuff and the others were busy with training. Luckily, Chigiri had found a gap somewhere in his busy schedule to come over to Reo's. Plus, the redhead was pretty close to Kanagawa —closer than Kagoshima anyway— because Ego had apparently rented a pool in Tokyo for Chigiri to use.
And Reo was a teeny tiny bit nervous.
Because, sure, it was far from the first time that Reo had someone come to his house. He had held tons of study clubs in his living room and more than enough acquaintances whom he had invited sometimes.
But it was his first time having someone come over while someone who he kidnapped resides in that same building.
Reo was stressing out, standing before the elevator and waiting for Chigiri to be escorted in by Ba-ya. He had planned the visit before he had a man in the basement and, honestly, he should have called it off. But Mikage Reo doesn't back down! Haha! Haha. Ha.. Ha….
Nagi had been given strict instructions to not come to Reo's floor but that fucker Reo's dear treasure never remembered shit, especially when he was told about it five minutes after he had woken up because Reo had completely forgotten, because he had kidnapped someone just a day ago.
Finally, the elevator sound went off and Chigiri stepped out. Ba-ya went down with the elevator, hopefully to check up on Nagi.
"Yo, Reo." Chigiri waved. Reo greeted him back.
They chatted a bit, as usual. Chigiri told Reo about how his training had been going, Reo told Chigiri about the tapes he had been analyzing, it was fun to see a friend. They moved further into the living room and sat down behind the glass table. Reo had prepared a water boiler, two cups and a box with some tea bags on the table.
He unlocked the small box with the silver lock and revealed the teabags.
"What do you want? We've got Jasmine, rooibos, green tea…"
Chigiri look around the room they were sitting in with awe in his expression.
"You live in a fancy place."
Reo couldn't suppress the chuckle that came up. "I've been told that before."
"Where's your parents' room?"
"Oh, the second highest floor." Reo shrugged.
Chigiri's breath hitched as he seemed to be shocked. Reo smiled in amusement. His old acquaintances had always tried to act like they were all living like that, because they wanted to seem rich and impressive to Reo. But he had been making friends that didn't hide their emotions around him; he had been doing better.
The water in the water boiler started to bubble and boil and it was time to pour it into their cups. Reo grabbed it and poured it into the porcelain, white cups. His mother had once bought them for him in hopes of maybe him developing interest in fancy porcelain.
Chigiri grabbed a tea bag —lavender— out of the box and soaked it in the hot water, before pulling it out. Reo chose Jasmine tea.
Reo asked: "Have you talked to any other blue lockers?"
Chigiri shook his head. "Nope. You?"
Reo answered the same.
A smirk started growing on Chigir's face as he took a sip from his piping hot tea.
"Oh? Then what about Nagi? Have you two rekindled yet?"
How much could Reo tell? Surely not the kidnapping part. But he could talk about some parts of the story. Chigiri was a trusted friend, surely he wouldn't-
"I blocked him." Reo said with a bashful expression.
Chigiri nearly choked on his tea. He coughed it up and his pupils shrunk as he looked at Reo like he had just told him that he was running away to join a circus in Europe, which, at this point— why not?
Chigiri started laughing.
"Oh god, really?!"
Reo breathed out through gritted teeth. "Yes."
"Weren't you breaking down at the thought of not seeing him?" Chigiri's words were hard to decipher, being drowned out by his own laughter.
"Yes."
When, finally, Chigiri's laughter started to die out and his breathing got to a regular level, he put a hand on Reo's shoulder.
"Well, why did you do it?"
Reo looked at the wall behind Chigiri —namely the tv that decorated it— and found an answer that felt like the truth.
"I shouldn't see him."
Chigiri nodded in what appeared to be agreement.
"At least you're making a healthy choice. Maybe you two indeed need some time apart…" Reo would rather burn off his own skin.
Then, a 'ping!' from the elevator sounded. Ah, Ba-ya had come back-
A yawn sounded. "Re-o~. I'm hungry, can you get me breakfast?"
Nagi stood there, scratching his stomach under his pajamas, still clearly drowsy and with his eyes still half closed. He peeled them open to take in his surroundings some more.
"Oh, hey Chigiri."
Chigiri looked at Reo with his pupils somehow even smaller than a minute ago.
"Reo. What is this?"
Reo felt heat rise to his neck and his face colour a dusty red. "It's not like that,- I-!"
"Then why's he here? In his pajamas?" Chigiri matched Reo's colour as he slapped a hand on his mouth. "Did Nagi sleep here tonight? Did you-"
"No!" The loud shout was followed by mumbling. "Well, not like that.. He did sleep here.."
Reo's head was going overdrive. Oh god, everything was going wrong. Was Chigiri going to report them to the police? Was this it? His whole career was going to be over. He would go to jail and would never be able to see Nagi again. He had to kill Chigiri, surely, that was the only way out now. His hand hovered towards the water boiler.
"I see you two are still figuring it out." Chigiri's calm tone contrasted heavily with the panicked feeling that hung in the room.
Reo meekly nodded.
Chigiri continued: "It's nice of you to let him stay at your place."
Reo —and Nagi, coincidentally— brightened up. All was good.
Reo half heartedly scolded Nagi, pointing a finger at him: "You should've stayed downstairs. I told you this morning that I didn't want you to come to my floor."
"Oh, sorry boss." Nagi looked genuinely remorseful as he looked down at the ground with those sad eyes. Oh, it was like kicking a puppy. Reo couldn't possibly stay mad at that, right?
Chigiri coughed into his hand. "Reo, you're making that love sick face again." right. Oops.
10
Nagi was admittedly bored.
The first day in the basement had been okay; he wasn't allowed to get off his chair unless it was to pee or sleep. (Both of which he did in the basement). He was fine just sitting around and playing games all day. But at some point, Reo had found it rather inhumane for Nagi to stay in the prison-like room and had hired some people to make Nagi's room more 'homey.' (It was already a home to Nagi if it had Reo in it.)
So, Nagi wasn't allowed in his room due to it being renovated and he had been granted the permission to wander around the flat, even after his fuck-up from yesterday.
His phone was still charging in the room.
He was standing in the elevator, alone, with nothing to do and with Reo and Ba-ya busy.
He looked at the panel with buttons.
The upper floor —Reo's parents' work place or something—, the second highest floor —Reo's parents' floor—, and Reo's floor required a key card. (Nagi only had the key card to Reo's and he wasn't allowed there, because the other was busy with training.)
Reo had given him some paper with all the floors and their uses written on it that morning. Nagi grabbed the crumpled up paper out of his sweatpants. (Yes, Nagi was in his sleeping clothes. He was technically home, so he wasn't going to get dressed.)
It had a ton of floors. Nagi sighed; he didn't have the energy to discover all of them. Some were also filled with apartments rented out to other rich people, so while Nagi was allowed to walk around there, there wasn't anything interesting to find.
The first one that caught his attention was one just above the basement he resided in; electronics storage. Maybe he could find a phone there, or even better, a gaming computer.
He pressed the button and waited for the elevator to go down. He crumpled the paper up again and put it back into his pocket.
When he arrived at the correct floor, he was rather disappointed. It really was a storage room. It was just a bunch of shelves stacked with boxes upon boxes. Grabbing one of the boxes would be like playing Jenga and everything would collapse. Nagi only had four limbs and one head to catch stuff with. Nagi sighed again and slouched.
He grabbed the paper again. Maybe the kitchen would be interesting? He was pretty hungry…..
Nagi pressed the button and waited once more.
This floor was a little bit nicer. It was pretty warm there, but also very busy.
The writing on the paper specified that there were multiple kitchens on that floor: one for the Mikage family and some more for the residents and workers that came to the building and the restaurant that was on the third floor. It smelled nice there.
Lots of people were running around, cooking fancy food Nagi didn't even know the name of.
He walked up to one of the cooks who was busy doing their job in the back.
After a minute, she was snapped out of her focus by the looming giant standing behind here.
She scoffed. "What do you want-"
Her face paled. She tried again. "Oh, young master Nagi. Can we help you with anything?"
She forced a smile on her face, trying to hide the obvious irritation. Nagi couldn't imagine putting in that much effort for a job. What a hassle it must be.
"Can I have some food?" Nagi's voice came out hoarse. It was his first time talking that day. The woman's face scrunched up- right, he hadn't brushed his teeth yet.
The cook nodded. "Of course, what do you wish for?"
Nagi turned around his brain for food they served in restaurants. (He never went to those; too much money and too much of a bother.) Fries. They always had fries. He said so much.
She grabbed a little basket and ordered a shy looking boy to put some fries in it. He asked Nagi if he wanted any sauces, Nagi shook his head. The boy handed Nagi his fries. They were steaming hot and looked so soft. It would be more work to eat these than his jellies, but they looked like they compensated for it with their taste. (And he wasn't allowed any jellies anymore by Reo.)
The boy bowed as Nagi tasted a fry.
"Hope it's to your liking, young master Nagi." Nagi nodded.
Hmmm, it was nicely warm there. The buzzing around him acted as white noise. He could take a nice nap there. Hmmm…..
A finger pressed against his shoulder and his head shot up. Ah, he had accidentally closed his eyes.
"Young master Nagi..?.. Excuse me for asking, but could you please exit the kitchen..?.." The meek boy added in a whisper: "Or I'll be in trouble.."
Nagi looked at the corner in the kitchen, where the woman from before was giving the boy a nasty death glare —it reminded him of Barou— and he decided to leave. He wasn't going to cause the poor guy trouble.
He gave his brief thanks and stepped into the elevator.
He pressed the button to his basement. He just needed a calm spot to eat his fries and an elevator metres deep in the ground sounded like just that. He sat down with his legs crossed and his basket on his lap.
They were still hot, but Nagi didn't want to wait. He tasted his second fry. Salty.
The elevator reached the bottom and stood there for a second, before suddenly, it went up. Was someone else using the elevator?
The elevator stopped at the tenth floor —Nagi remembered it was one that rented out apartments— and the doors opened.
A blonde, rather young woman stumbled in, giggling. "Oh, sir, I couldn't possibly." She talked with a weird accent.
An old man in a rich people suit followed after her and hooked his arm into hers. "Come on, Elodie. Won't you keep a lonely man like me company?"
She giggled again. "But your wife-" She looked down at where Nagi was sitting and the smile on her face was replaced by an expression of pure shock and fear as she shouted: "Rat!"
The man anxiously looked around. "Where?! Where?!"
Nagi sighed and just ate another fry.
The foreign woman recovered. "Oh… Nevermind. Sorry." She looked at Nagi with a pitiful expression.
"'s fine." Nagi mumbled.
The old man sighed and ran a hand through his face as he cursed. He said some stuff about Yamada conglomerate's owner being caught with a mistress and how he had to make Nagi shut up about it to the media, blah blah blah. The fries were tasty.
The man crouched down next to Nagi and held out some bills to him. "Here, young man. Will this be enough for you to stay quiet?"
Nagi shrugged. "I don't need that money."
"Oh, you need more? Just say so…" The man searched through his black suit jacket.
Nagi shook his head. "I've got enough money."
"You're a tough one, eh? What about this, then." He held out an even bigger stack.
The guy just wouldn't give up…. So bothersome.. Nagi mentally groaned. How to get him to stop bothering him…
"My boyfriend owns this building."
The man's expression matched the one the woman was wearing when she discovered Nagi.
"Mikage..?.."
Nagi nodded. "So I've got enough."
The man scraped his throat and stood up. "Allright then… That explains it.."
The elevator doors opened as they reached the ground floor. The woman tugged at the man's sleeve and he followed her outside.
Nagi deduced that staying in the elevator wasn't an option, if he didn't want something like this to happen again. He mentally searched through the list of floors. There was one with a garden… He would probably be left alone there.
Nagi stood up and pressed the button to the twentieth floor. Ah, it required a key card. Reo hadn't mentioned that. Luckily, Nagi's key card worked.
He waited a minute till the doors opened. There was indeed a very big indoor garden behind the doors. It was mostly all green, with a bunch of other colours buried in it; like red, yellow, blue and white. There was a path with gravel that forked into three other paths five meters away from Nagi. Next to the paths were big bushes and behind the bushes were flower fields with trees, along with some shrubs cut into shapes. Two shrubs on opposite sides were cut into the shape of a chameleon. It reminded Nagi of Reo. Cute.
Nagi walked down the path in the middle. It led him to a tiled square that was about as big as a penalty box. Medium hight bushes surrounded the area and there was a bench on the edge of it. Nice.
Nagi sat down on the wooden bench. There was a pleasant, natural feeling light coming from the lamps on the ceiling and the temperature was nice, probably artificially modified for the plants. The spot was even nicer than the kitchen. Hmm, Nagi felt the urge to doze off again.
He ate a fry.
"Good morning, young master Nagi." Nagi recognized the witch-like, but gentle voice that sounded behind him. He turned his upper body to look.
Ba-ya was standing behind him, cutting some bushes with big shears. She was dressed in her usual suit and was somehow not sweating from the high temperature.
"Hello, Ba-ya." Nagi responded. See, he had manners.
She glanced at his basket.
"Ah, did you get those fries from the kitchen on the fifth floor?" Nagi hummed, confirming her theory.
Her smile grew, her eyes looking fond.
"I see," she said, "young master Reo ordered the staff of this building to treat you as if you were him. I'm happy to see you're making use of the treatment." Ah, how nice of Reo.
She put the shears down on the floor. "You know, I have something for you.."
She walked down the gravel path further into the garden, leaving Nagi alone.
Nagi looked at the ceiling. It was a baby blue, probably to mimic the feeling of the sky. It seemed stupid to Nagi; if you want an outside garden, why not just put the garden outside? Nagi didn't understand rich people.
A moment later, Ba-ya came back, carrying a shiny football. Nagi felt something, he wasn't sure what, nor if it was pleasant or not.
She threw it towards him —he trapped it on instinct.
Maybe he could have fun with it… If he couldn't have his phone… He ate the last fry, leaving the basket empty and putting it aside. He kicked the ball into the air and stood up. The ball rolled away from him and he jogged to catch it. He could have fun.
11
Reo breathed in and out. This was hard, but it was so worth it. Reo had faced many challenges, this was nothing.
The room he was sitting in was dimly lit with a big, bright lamp pointed at his hand, which was positioned on a little table attached to the surgical chair Reo was sitting on.
The group of doctors surrounding him didn't really help with the nerves. They had masks on for hygiene and honestly, it felt like a horror movie.
The guy who was cleaning Reo's pinky finally stopped with the towel and stepped aside.
The Anesthesia has long kicked and Reo had lost all feeling there. It might as well have already been gone. The head surgeon asked him, one last time, just to be completely sure: "you sure you don't want to be put to sleep?"
Reo shook his head. "I want to experience this. It's…." he struggled finding the words.
A doctor next to him helped fill in the gap: "magical."
Reo smiled, agreeing. "Yeah, magical."
The woman nodded in understanding. She showed him her hand and pinched the pinky of her glove with her other hand. It was empty. "Me and my husband got it done too. It's so romantic. Even better than our wedding."
Reo's smile grew as he started feeling giddy. She talked about her husband with such adoration in her eyes. That would be him someday. It helped somewhat relief the stress of the procedure.
The head surgeon got a sign that they were done with all the tests.
He stood by the small table. The rest of the crew stood around, ready to help with anything the surgeon might need.
The surgeon raised the knife. "Asking for the last time, are you sure you want your finger cut off?"
Reo nodded. He was completely sure about this.
He grit his teeth, subconsciously preparing for pain that wouldn't come. He shut his eyes in reflex but quickly opened them as the surgeon lowered the knife.
Just an hour later, Reo was sitting in the car, riding home.
He looked at the little jar in his lap. The pinky had been put in formaldehyde, to preserve it.
It felt weird, seeing his own finger floating around in liquid. He still had to fully realise it. He looked at his hand, opened it, closed it, to get used to this new feeling.
The doctors —If Reo could even call them that; they were some people he hired illegally through connections (Was it safe? was it hygienic? it was better than chopping the thing off himself)— said that he would lose most of his grip. It was his left hand, anyway, he didn't use it often. He could always get a prosthetic. (He would probably be forced to by his parents.)
Later, he was standing before his parents, getting the scolding off his life.
Reo and Ba-ya had concocted the cover-up story that Reo was cooking for fun in his private kitchen and accidentally cut it off and Ba-ya had treated his finger.
His mother looked at him with a worried look. His father had his back turned to him.
"Reo.." His mother whispered with disappointment lacing her words in a way only mothers could.
"We have Cooks, Reo," his father huffed.
"I know." Reo spoke as quietly as his mother.
"You don't have to cook for yourself."
"I know."
"Yet you still did AND you cut yourself."
It remained quiet, the words hanging heavy in the air.
His father turned around and pinched the bridge of his nose as he grumbled: "Do you know how this will make us look?"
"I can always get a prosthetic to hide it."
"Oh you better. And if this affects your football career-"
"It won't."
Was his dad seriously trying to get Reo to quit or doubt his football career during such an important discussion?
"And wasn't Ba-ya around?" His father asked.
Reo shook his head. "I did while she was out in the garden so she wouldn't help me. I wanted to learn it myself."
It remained quiet once again.
Reo asked: "Can I throw away the finger?"
"Yes, yes," his father said, dismissively, "the less evidence of the screw up, the better."
His father continued: "You're dismissed."
Reo took his leave.
Reo rode the elevator to the ground floor and stepped into the lobby, where Ba-ya was waiting for him.
"How did it go, young master?"
"They don't suspect anything."
Outside, he stepped into the limousine. They rode to the jeweler.
It was one of the better ones in the city and, even better, one of the few that didn't have any friendly connections whatsoever with Mikage corporation. One day, Reo would buy his engagement rings and wedding rings there. A beautiful, white gold one, with a purple stone decorating it and-
Right. The chain.
He entered the store while Ba-ya waited inside the car. He immediately knew where to go.
He went to the section with chains.
He chose a white gold chain that wasn't too thick, nor too thin, just right.
He walked with it to the check-out, already grabbing his card.
As Reo laid it on the table, the owner of the shop, who stood behind the counter, inspected the chain.
"Ah, good choice, Mikage. For yourself or a friend?"
The man was already old and most would deem him unfit to work, but he had started the store himself years ago and refused to quit while he could still work. He loved his shop dearly.
"It's for a friend, but you don't have to wrap it. I'm going to hang a charm on it."
"I see. May I interest you in some charms, then?"
"No, I've already got one, thanks."
"Hmm, no, I think you'll like this." The man shook his finger and didn't take Reo's 'no' for an answer. He went into the back and came back with a little, carton box. He opened it to reveal a very thin, white gold chain.
The man explained: "Maybe it'd be an idea to hang a thin chain around or near the charm. To be fashionable." He shrugged, already knowing he had convinced Reo.
A few hours later, the gift was completely done.
He rode the elevator to the basement. His heart was pounding as he held a little, wooden box close to it. What if Nagi didn't like the gift? Reo would probably kill himself. What if he found it creepy? Reo could only pray.
He opened the little box to peak inside to check if, you know, it didn't suddenly get lost or get replaced by a mouse or something. Like a normal person does.
Ba-ya had put the thicker chain through the cork on the bottle and had wrapped the thin chain around the bottle with a white coffee coloured gem keeping the chain in place where it crossed.
The doors opened. Nagi was sitting on his bed, playing some shooter game on his phone and when he noticed Reo, he immediately sat up.
"Ah, Reo, I-" "Nagi, I-"
They started at each other.
"You go first." Reo tried.
"No, Reo can."
"Seishirou."
Nagi pouted. He turned off his phone.
"Reo, do you want to go on a date with me?"
Reo cheeks turned pink like he was a highschool girl who just got confessed to. (And in a sense, he was.) (Surely Nagi meant 'date' in a different way.)
"But won't people see us..?.. Where? How did you plan this?" Reo's head was spinning with not only love, but also worry.
Nagi sighed, mumbling about how 'Reo worried too much' and answered: "I asked Ba-ya to set up a picnic for us in the garden."
"On the twentieth floor," he specified.
Aaaaah, now it made sense.
Reo's eyes scanned over Nagi. He was wearing a white T-shirt with baggy jeans and a linen black jacket. He had actually put in effort in getting dressed, even though they weren't technically leaving the house. He had even combed his hair! Nagi was putting in so much effort for this date. Gosh, it was like a dream come true.
They entered the elevator and went to twentieth floor. The garden was a little bit different from how Reo remembered it. Then again, he hadn't been there for.. Five years? So maybe his memories were faulty.
Last time, the shrubs weren't cut into shapes. Now, they were pentagons, diamonds and chameleons. The flowers seemed more bright and fragrant and the ceiling had become blue, where it had been white before.
He vaguely knew Ba-ya sometimes went into the garden for her rest and fixed some things up here and there as a hobby, but it was clear that she had tended to the garden well.
They walked down the gravel path to a square. A pink and white checkered picnic blanket laid on it, decorated with a picnic basket and articulery.
Nagi sat down on it and Reo quickly followed.
"Did you come up with this?" Reo asked with awe in his voice.
Nagi hummed. "Reo needs to rest sometimes. I thought he might like the garden."
Reo's lips twisted into a smile. Where normally his heart would thump like crazy, it instead melted. He didn't feel the craziness of a fresh, new crush, but a gentle and kind love. It felt domestic. It felt like they belonged there, right on that spot, together. Forever.
Reo remembered the box. He handed it over to Nagi.
"I made —bought— this for you."
Nagi lazily glanced at the box as he took it. Oh god, the nervousness was back. Why couldn't Reo just stay feeling the same for one goddamn millisecond?! Thank God he had already handed the box over or it would've been dirty by his sweaty hands.
Nagi opened the box and his eyes shimmered, his mouth agape. He looked as happy as a Nagi could be. Reo mentally high-fived himself.
Nagi took the necklace out of the box and held it high to admire it.
"Do you like it?" Reo asked, meekly.
Nagi nodded. "Reo is amazing. Is this your..?.."
Reo surpresed the urge to laugh. He showed his hand. "Yup, had it amputated. Just for you."
Nagi's mouth closed to form a pout. "Not fair… Reo shouldn't hurt himself.."
Reo couldn't hold it back anymore and giggled. "It didn't hurt, I'm fine.."
Nagi shook his head and wrapped his arms around Reo for a clumsy hug so he could bury his face in Reo's neck, probably to hide the embarrassment. Reo patted Nagi's head, all too familiar with Nagi's hugs that were simply him just draping himself over Reo.
"Next time I'll cut it off." Nagi mumbled.
"No, my treasure… You need it.."
"So do you." Good point.
A comforting silence hung in the air. Neither really wanted to say anything, comfortable with just bathing in each other's presence, but there was something that Reo had to say.
He pushed Nagi off him, the other looking into his eyes for an explanation.
"My treasure.. I give you permission to go outside."
"Oh.. I wasn't allowed to?"
Reo huffed. "Of course not. I kidnapped you. I technically shouldn't even allow you to go out of your room."
"Wasn't planning to anyway." Nagi said with a deadpan face. Awww, his treasure wasn't leaving him.
"That is," Reo said, "you're allowed to go out if you're with a chaperone. I don't want you to be seen by other people. You have to be absolutely invisible to the public. Can you do that?"
Nagi nodded as a simple response. "Of course, boss."
"Good boy. And whenever you're outside, wear your necklace so you'll think of me."
Reo held the bottle, where it was hanging from the chain in Nagi's hand and twisted it between his thumb and middle finger. Nagi repeated his earlier words in confirmation.
They spent the rest of the evening at the picnic, eating fresh bread Nagi had prepared and drinking Reo's favourite tea, till Nagi fell asleep on Reo's lap and Reo eventually fell asleep too. They were probably half asleep and drowsily escorted to their beds by Ba-ya, as Reo woke up in his own bed the next morning.
12
Breakfast….. Nagi yawned as he rode the elevator to Reo's floor. During the first days, he had breakfast delivered to his room, but he preferred eating breakfast with Reo. It took a bit more effort but in exchange he would usually be fed by Reo instead of having to feed himself.
This morning, however, Reo seemed to be distraught. He looked irritated as he poured himself coffee by the glass table in the living room.
"'Morning, Reo."
"Oh," Reo's head shot up, "good morning, treasure."
Nagi glanced at the overflowing mug. "Isn't that too much..?.."
"I- uh- yeah…" Reo acted like he hadn't even noticed himself. He grabbed a towel from a chair —it was wet, presumably from something he had spilled earlier.
Reo sighed and dried the table and mug. He sighed as he put the rag down.
"Do you remember Taro?"
Nagi sat down behind the table. Loading, loading, loading… "Nope."
"He was on the Hakuho high football team and he's been constantly pestering me about 'putting in a good word for him with the football officials.'" He highlighted his last words by making quotation marks with his fingers.
Reo continued on his angry rant: "Does this guy seriously think that that's it? I just put in a good word and —bamn!— he's a football star? Does he not see all the effort that goes into training? There isn't some cheat code to this and-." He inhaled and exhaled through his nose.
He resumed: "So anyways, he's been following me constantly every time I go outside because he thinks we're friends or whatever. I drive somewhere, he's driving behind me. I stand somewhere, he's standing behind me. It's so- and I can't be rude to him because his parents are business partners with mine! So I'm just stuck here hearing the guy zoom like some annoying ass mosquito-!"
Nagi nodded. It indeed sounded like a big bother. He would've squished the bug if he was Reo.
Then again, he probably should do it for Reo. Reo wasn't able to; reputation and all. Nagi, however….
He grabbed his plate of egg benedict stationed next to Reo's. Nagi liked the building's kitchen; their food was always the same and tasted good. Nagi even found himself liking the taste instead of simply eating it for the nutrients.
Nagi finished his breakfast as quickly as he could without choking on it —as he wasn't used to eating quickly— and left for the basement, mumbling some excuse about having forgotten his game streak; an excuse that Reo would probably buy because he was Reo.
Down in his room, Nagi crashed down on the bed and grabbed his phone from where it was charging on his bedside.
He immediately got to work.
Maekawa Taro.
Has an Instagram with 50 posts and a Twitter with 200 posts. Pretty public guy.
He was in his third year of highschool, 18 years old, son of the owner of a rather successful tech company that often worked together with the Mikage corporation. His mother was dead.
And, best information Nagi could find, he had a girlfriend.
Kumagai Tomiko was a sixteen year old girl, also a student at Hakuho high and the daughter of the owners of a chain of karaoke cafes. A deep dive quickly got him her phone number. Nagi had a perfect plan.
A few hours later, he stood alone in the cold outside. He had waited till Reo and Ba-ya were busy so he could sneak out, hiding his face from the building's security cameras with his grey hoodie and his new necklace under it. If Reo rewatched the tapes later, he would immediately see it was Nagi walking there, but at least the people surveiling the building at the moment wouldn't immediately be alarmed and that was what he needed.
He stood before the school behind the wall surrounding it, just next to the gate. He wore his Hakuho jacket over his hoodie in order not to alarm anyone. Tomiko's classes had ended five minutes ago. Just as Nagi planned, she walked out of the school gate with her brown haired boyfriend hanging from her arm.
Nagi called her with his phone.
She raised an eyebrow in confusion as her phone rang. "Wait, a minute, darling. Someone's calling me." She grabbed it out of her bag and looked even more confused as she saw it was an unknown number.
Nagi stepped away from the wall, in her direction and bumped against her. The phone fell out of her hand and shattered.
"Hey, you punk!" She angrily shouted at Nagi. Taro joined in, yelling: "Watch out where you're going! Hey! Hey! Come back here!" He swung around his fist to look intimidating. Nagi wasn't looking to get beaten up and calmly continued walking.
Tomiko inspected her phone. "Shit… I can't use this anymore."
Nagi didn't have to hear the rest of the conversation. She would probably order a new phone and have it delivered the same day —or at least the next— so she would be phone-less for as short as possible. He already made his way to her house to be ready for when the package came.
And he was right. A few hours later, a courier arrived with the package. He stepped off his bike and looked at the house with a puzzled expression.
Logical. Tomiko's mansion was surrounded by a giant gate without a mailbox and the doorbell was painted the same colour as the door and put in a remote location, making it hard for couriers to deliver packages. A lot of posts on Tomiko's Instagram were her complaining about it.
Nagi approached the guy. "Oh, is that Tomiko's package?"
The courier inspected the package. The sticker indeed said 'Tomiko.' "Yup. You her brother?"
"I'm a friend of hers. I could give the package to her if you want to."
The guy seemed to be weighing the pros and cons down. Nagi was wearing the uniform of a prestigious school —it surprisingly held a lot of power—, but Nagi was also aware of how sloppy he looked.
Finally, the guy decided to trust Nagi. He handed the package over.
"Sure. Tell her to give the courier some clear instructions on how to deliver her stuff next time."
Nagi nodded. "I will."
As soon as the other was gone, Nagi unpacked it.
He started the phone up. He skipped most of the settings and introduction stuff; he only needed the phone to have her phone number.
He started walking down the streets, away from the scene of the crime.
As soon as he was done skipping all preference settings, he downloaded LINE using her phone number.
He scrolled through her contacts, scanning for one called 'Taro.' Eventually he had to accept that it was probably the contact called 'poobear 🫶'. Nagi slightly cringed. It felt weird to see people being so lovey dovey when it wasn't him and Reo. (Especially after having spent months at the loveless Blue lock.)
He sent a quick and simple text.
'Haiii honey!❤I've got a new phoneee✨ plz come to the phone shop at banchi 3 at 16:00 I wanna shop for a cute phone case'
He almost instantly got a response.
'On my way🫡'
Nagi calmly walked to the spot where the guy would be waiting for him. Reo had once told him that banchi 3 was the shopping area where all the fashionistas in their area went and had even dragged him there once.
Taro was indeed waiting for Tomiko at the store, even though Nagi was 20 minutes late. He looked irritated and kept checking his phone, hoping to get something from her. Nagi released him from his suffering, texting: 'sorry baeee my parents won't let me out ☹ next time?'
'next time👍 dw abt it'
In real life, Taro looked about one second away from murdering someone. Impatient guy.
Nagi approached him.
"Hey, taro."
The brown haired boy almost jumped up in surprise.
"Oh, Nagi? What's good, man? What're you doing here?"
"Shopping for new cleats with Reo."
When Nagi had said the magic word, Taro's eyes glistened.
"Reo's here too? Say, we're best buddies, could you bring me to him?"
"Of course."
Nagi spun on his heels and started walking. Taro took it as his sign to follow Nagi.
After ten minutes walking, Taro grew impatient.
"Uhm, Nagi? where is Reo exactly?" he tested.
"At the sportswear store. he couldn't decide so I went to the arcade to kill time." Taro bought the excuse.
After thirty minutes, however, they had already left the busy part of town, instead walking in a seemingly empty neighborhood, taro started to doubt Nagi.
"Nagi? Are you sure we're walking the right way? This isn't where the-"
"Shut up." Nagi punched taro in the face with his fist. The other immediately fell down to the ground. Why were normal people so weak?
"N-Nagi? What're you doing?"
Nagi didn't bother responding. He gave taro another hit to knock him out.
He grabbed him and slung him over his shoulder to carry him. He had little time to get to the apartment before Taro would wake up. (That is, if he wasn't dead already.)
The only other person on the street was someone walking her dog while completely immersed in her phone.
No~thing sus~pic~iousssss.
It all went pretty smoothly. The rich people in the building knew better than to say anything about seemingly one of their kind carrying an unconscious person and luckily no one was in Nagi's basement. He had found some left over rope and tape that Reo had used when kidnapping Nagi in the basement. (Nagi's heart beat a little bit faster at the notion that Reo hadn't used the tape)
He was just on time too, as Taro awoke just when Nagi was tying his limbs.
"Nagi! What is this-" His protesting got muffled by the taperoll Nagi had shoved into his mouth.
Once he had finished tying the arms together and tying the legs together, he ripped off a piece of tape to put it properly over his mouth.
He didn't tie him to the chair. That was Nagi's chair. If the guy moved and knocked some stuff over, so be it.
Nagi used the elevator to go to Reo's floor.
"Reo.." he whined to his beloved.
"What is it, my treasure?"
Reo was sitting on the couch and watching tapes as usual. He had said something about it being the last few that morning, so he was he was pushing through hard. He was completely focused on it, sometimes writing things down on his notepad.
"can I have a knife?"
"Sure. You know where everything is."
Nagi could aswell have asked for a bomb and Reo would have had no idea what he was consenting to. Nagi loved how Reo looked when he was fully concentrated on something.
He loved it even more to break that focus. But it wasn't the moment.
He walked to the kitchen —why Reo had both a kitchen with cooks and a private one, Nagi didn't know nor care enough to ask. Rich people things— and carefully selected a knife.
One of those bread knives would be inconvenient to cut with… The chef's knife would be too big…. Maybe a boning knife would do the job… Hmm, he definitely needed a meat cleaver too…
He glanced around the kitchen. Various kitchen appliances stood there.
Salt always did the job. He had an idea for the pliers too and… He opened a drawer, he swore Reo had grabbed some of those skewers out of it. He wanted to try something out with them.
There was a bucket in the corner too —presumably for cleaning— which was great; he could put his stuff in it.
With his suplies, he made his way towards the elevator.
"Thank you, Reo."
"Of course, Sei."
He went downstairs. Taro had tried to wriggle himself loose and had probably bumped his head against the dresser or something, as his head was bleeding.
Nagi groaned as he got closer and emptied the bucket on the dresser. He put his necklace next to it so it wouldn't get dirty.
He crouched down. He pushed Taro's head away and inspected the dresser. A bit of his blood had stained it. It would be a bother to ask Ba-ya to clean it but even worse to clean it himself. Oh well, if he had to clean up blood anyway, he wouldn't have to worry about keeping the room clean anymore.
Nagi pushed Taro away —a little too hard— and Taro doubled over.
The other looked at Nagi with what Nagi could only describe as pure fear. He had never been that good at reading expression, but even he could see Taro's fight-flight-or-freeze instincts going off. Good. It was the least he deserved for what he did to Reo.
Nagi planned in his head what he would do.
He ripped the tape off Taro, who let out a yelp in pain. What a whimp.
Nagi asked: "Do you know why you're here?" Because, come on, Nagi wasn't a monster. He didn't like hurting people, going even as far as calling himself a pacifist, so even though the guy had committed the grave crime of bothering Reo, Nagi hoped for a chance to lessen his sentence.
But alas, the boy had no clue, shaking his head furiously like he hadn't yet figured out that the tape was off his mouth.
Nagi sighed. He grabbed the pliers from the dresser and Taro's left hand.
He put one of Taro's finger nails in between the pliers, resting it for a moment, before pulling the index finger's nail off. It took some effort, but luckily Nagi had been working out in Blue lock.
The brunette screamed in agony. He probably wasn't used to pain.
"Do you know it now?" Nagi tried. The other once again shook his head.
This time, Nagi grabbed the middle finger's nail with the pliers, waiting for a second, before ripping it off. Taro let out another scream that was indistinguishable from the other.
"Do you know what you've done to Reo?" Why was Nagi the only one talking..?.. Sigh…
"What do you mean?!" Taro finally answered.
Nagi grabbed the ringfinger's nail, but Taro was quick to continue. "I only asked him for some favours! You know, because we're friends!"
The last statement made Nagi's blood boil just a little bit too much and he ripped out the nail without thinking about it. Oops.
The brunette started crying as he was probably completely overwhelmed by the pain.
Still, Nagi couldn't suppress the anger as it bubbled up, out of his throat before he had realised it. "You're not Reo's friend."
The other shook his head. "No, of course not, no! I'm sorry! I was mistaken!"
Nagi nodded in satisfaction. at least he acknowledged his fault.
Nagi said: "You've been bothering Reo a lot. He was very stressed during breakfast this morning." Nagi held the pliers still with the pinky's nail in between.
"I'm so sorry!" Taro cried out. "I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean to! I was just… Hoping for a favour. I thought that a guy who had it all could at least give some crumbs to us peasants."
"Well you thought wrong." Nagi ripped out the pinky's nail.
The guy's screams were getting annoying, so Nagi grabbed the tape and put some over taro's mouth to muffle them.
He put the pliers back on the dresser and grabbed the boning knife.
"Pull off your upper clothes."
The boy immediately obliged. He was so obedient and weak; he would've died in a second in Blue lock.
Once the clothes were off, Nagi grabbed the left arm and put the boning knife in it, slowly skinning the arm. It was like peeling a potato, except the potato was moving and squirming, making it harder. Nagi let go off the knife, leaving it in Taro's flesh to grab the salt.
He put some on taro's arm. "Don't move again." He massaged it in like Reo had done with those fancy oils for Nagi. God, Reo was the perfect husband—no, scratch that, he was the perfect human. He didn't deserve to be surrounded by pesticides like Taro.
Like a good puppy, the tortured boy stopped moving as much as he could, still involuntarily flinching sometimes.
Once he decided it was enough, Nagi took the bone knife out of the flesh.
the brunette was still crying. Nagi briefly wondered if the other would die from dehydration.
Out of pure curiosity and nothing else, Nagi dragged the knife along the collarbone.
Little beads of blood carefully stuck onto the blade and blended in with the rest of the blood that was already starting to dry up.
The white haired boy put the knife on his tongue, just for a taste.
Hmm, it tasted like chicken soup. Which brought him an idea; just torturing the guy woudln't be enough of a gift to Reo, no, what if he utilised his body parts to create food for Reo? The blood was quite nice —maybe he could use it to make a cake? He could already imagine a happy Reo, taking a bite from the delicious cake and complimenting Nagi. His cheeks heat up a little thinking about it.
He inspected the rest of Taro's face and wondered if there was anything else that could be of use.
He used the bone knife to couge out Taro's eyeball.
It looked squishing and wet like a lychee. The empty eyesockets was a little less pleasant to look at.
The tape on his mouth looked red and soaked and eventually fell off because of it. It turned out that Taro had bitten through his lip because of the pain.
Nagi didn't understand giving yourself more pain to distract yourself from worse pain or to do something as useless as muffle your screams. It was just more suffering. But then again, humans were irrational beings.
Oh well, now that the tape was off anyway….
Nagi put the eyeball in Taro's mouth.
"Eat it," he commanded. Taro had seemingly lost his free will and chewed down.
Nagi patiently waited for Taro to swallow the whole thing, before he asked: "And? is it tasty?"
"Yes! Very tasty!" He barked out like a beaten down dog.
That answered it for Nagi.
He gouged out the other eyeball and put it on the dresser for later consumption.
Maybe it tasted like lychee too…. Or, no, it was part of the body, so more savoury? Like pork?
Nagi laid down the pliers and grabbed a skewer.
He was practically already done, but there was just one more thing he had to do.
The guy's eyes were out; he wouldn't be able to see Reo again. He didn't deserve to hear Reo's voice either.
Nagi put the knife on the ground and grabbed the packet of skewers, randomly choosing one to use.
He put the skewer in Taro's ear, feeling around a little, before pressing down hard in hopes of reaching the correct spot. From the way Taro cried out, Nagi assumed that he had. He had punctured his eardrum. Putting the skewer in Taro's other ear, he repeated the same process.
It was time to finish his business. He pushed Taro down by the shoulders, forcing the other to lay down on the ground.
He grabbed the meat cleaver and swung it once, twice, thrice —trying to hit the correct spot— and cut through the flesh in his arm. Sadly, his bone was blocking the knife from fully cutting through. Blood spewed out of the wound like a fountain. The boy screamed some more, so annoying.
Nagi had to act quickly, before all the blood got onto the ground and he'd have to cut something else off and lifted the knife and tried again a few times till he heard a satisfying crack and finally cut into the ground with his knife.
When Taro processed the fact that the couldn't feel his arm anymore after the agonizing pain and concluded that it had been cut off, threw up on the floor next to him, most of the puke getting on his face. Nagi groaned. Blood was already a pain to clean up, but puke smelled so bad… Nagi wasn't looking forward to living with that stank.
He decided to finish the job while he was at it. He swung his knife again, having gotten a feeling for it now and hit Taro's neck to shut the other up. His head rolled. (Literally. Lol.)
It didn't quite cut through the bone but it was enough for him to choke and die.
He pulled the corpse up and propped it up against the dresser so that he could put the arm in the bucket and catch all the blood with the bucket. He would use that later for his baking.
The cleanup was rather okay; he cleaned the puke up with a wet rag from his bathroom and after a quick Google search, he had borrowed some Coca-cola from Reo's kitchen to clean the blood stain on the floor and dresser. The stain on the dresser was still a little bit noticeable but, oh well, Nagi wasn't a Goldilocks that needed everything perfect. The body was cut up, dried with toilet paper from his bathroom —Surely no one would bat an eye at Nagi suddenly needing a toilet paper refill after he had been given a ton just the day before— and put into some trash bags; Nagi would figure out later how to get rid of it.
He waited till it was night and he was sure Reo was asleep. To pass the time, he laid on his bed and played a few rounds of project sekai. (He needed to increase his Tsukasa friendship rank anyway. (Tsukasa was the only character in the game that Nagi felt he cared about just a little. He didn't know why, but he felt familiar..))
He checked the time to see that it was one past midnight. Either Reo was already asleep or he was pulling an all nighter and Nagi had to try again the next day.
He grabbed the bucket and eyeball and rode the elevator to Reo's floor. Thankfully, the other was asleep, evident by the snoring coming from his bedroom.
Nagi sneaked into the kitchen and quickly got to work. He pulled up the recipe and ingredients on his phone: oil, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder, salt and buttermilk. He would use the blood to substitute the eggs.
He carefully measured 260 grams, converted to 260 milliliters of blood.
It only took an hour before he could put the cake batter into the oven. He slumped down next to the oven and scrolled down the recipe and— wait, had he oiled the cake form?
…..He groaned loudly. What a pain…
Another half an hour later —Nagi had taken the 'oil' bit a bit too literally, only to find out later he had to do it with butter— he slumped down next to the oven again and opened call of duty for some mindless shooting while he waited.
Oh, wait. He had forgotten the frosting.
He gathered the ingredients: butter, salt, powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla extract and, of course; a drop of blood for a nice, red colour.
About an hour later or so —probably longer, since Nagi had been too distracted by his game to notice the Oven's alarm that had been going on for a few minutes—, he pulled out the cake.
Then, he had to let it cool down too before he could decorate it.
Sigh, baking a cake took so much time… He didn't know how a baker managed to make so many every day.
He searched for a frosting pipe in the drawers —wow, Reo had even that— and filled it with the frosting to nicely decorate the cake. He held his hands as still as humanely possible; Reo deserved only the best, after all. Even if it was all this work, he would have to do it all again if he messed it up. Reo should never have to eat a mess-up.
He decorated the edge of the cake with little dots of frosting and made a heart in the middle, in which he placed the eyeball neatly in the middle. He didn't know if the eyeball would taste nice with the sweet cake, but he would have to find out. It sure looked tasty.
Before he went to bed, he hid the cake in the kitchen cabinet, because he wanted it to be a surprise. He could already imagine Reo's radiant smile and couldn't wait for it. Oh, what if he woke up Reo so he could-- no.. Reo had worked hard, he needed the rest. Nagi could bear to wait for just a little longer…
The next morning was indeed one of the best ones in Nagi's life. He had entered Reo's floor early in the morning for breakfast, as they had been doing lately.
Reo was sitting half asleep behind the breakfast table and was simply looking at his breakfast without eating it. His eyes looked fuzzy, like he hadn't fully realised he was awake just yet.
Nagi yawned. "'Morning, Reo." He stumbled towards the same table and stood next to Reo.
"Good morning, treasure. Have you slept well?" Reo yawned too and stretched his limbs. He seemed a little more awake after.
"Good. I always sleep well here."
"That's nice."
It was time for Nagi's surprise! He went into the kitchen to grab it, only to find that it was gone.
Nagi got worried. Had Reo already discovered it? But then the surprise was gone! Did he not like it?
He frantically —or, as frantically as a Nagi who just woken up could, really— he searched through the kitchen. He found a little note on the fridge.
'Young master Nagi, cakes are to be kept in fridges. - Ba-ya.'
Nagi sighed in relief. Of course, Ba-ya had helped him. Thank the gods.
He opened the fridge to reveal the cake he had poured blood sweat and tears in.
"Re~o!" He called out to his beloved. "Close your eyes! I have a surprise for you!"
He grabbed the cake and carried it to the table.
"You can open your eyes now," he let the other know.
A soon as Reo's eyes opened, they widened in surprise.
A small smile played on Nagi's lips. He explainded: "I got rid of that guy that was bothering you. Ta-something." The name was already gone out of his head to make room for the sight of Reo's future bright smile.
Reo didn't immediately get it and stumbled confused over his words.
"Got rid of..?… Nagi.. Is this.." The purple haired boy grabbed the eyeball and pinched it in between his index finger and thumb. It look soft and chewy like a grape.
Nagi nodded, confirming his suspicions. "I put him into a cake. For Reo."
Reo's head became redder than the cake and he bit on his lip like he had to put in effort in order not to explode right there and then. Had Nagi done right? Was Reo mad?
Reo mumbled: "Oh, Seishiro…" He grabbed Nagi's hand, which was calloused and dry, unlike Reo's smooth and carefully taken care of hands, and he rubbed his thumb over it, maybe to comfort Nagi or himself.
After a minute or so, Reo managed to say a proper sentence: "This is the most ro- the kindest thing someone has even done for me. Thank you."
"Of course." Nagi pressed a kiss against Reo's temple. "Anything for Reo."
Reo looked close to tears and Nagi mentally high-fived himself. A job well done!
As the gears turned in his head, Reo asked: "How did you do this?"
"Oh, I used his girlfriend's phone to kidnap him and then-"
He was cut off by a fuming Reo. "You went outside?"
Nagi nodded. "Alone?" Nagi nodded again. Shit.
13
Reo could never get mad at Nagi, of course he couldn't. He was his perfect treasure, after all.
Even if he needed a lot of coercion to go to training, even if he went days without taking care of himself, even if he didn't have any manners, even if this, that or that, because Nagi couldn't do any wrong.
Still, Reo was still a human. (One that got angry quite a lot, even if it was never directed at his best friend.) He had his limits.
And Nagi being clearly instructed not to go outside without a chaperone and still going outside and even being seen by people —oh god— Reo was boiling over.
Nagi sulked. "I'm sorry, boss…"
He was sorry, sure, but then he shouldn't have done it in the first place! His heartbeat and breathing went faster and faster.
And it wasn't just Nagi. Reo was angry at Ba-ya that she had let him go and even more so, he was disappointed in himself. He had let Nagi escape. What if he escaped for real? What if Nagi left and never returned? Reo would never be able to forgive himself. He would rather kill himself. (Being without Nagi was the same as death anyway.)
Thankfully, Nagi noticed his distress and placed his hands on Reo's, trying to calm him down.
Reo grit his teeth. His stomach felt like he was in the world's craziets roller coaster.
"What if you were caught by someone and— and they discovered I kidnapped you? Would you be able to take responsibility for that?" He was breathless as he said it, the words sounding hollow and like someone's last whisper before they accepted death with open arms.
Nagi rubbed his thumb over Reo's hand. "I wouldn't get caught."
"You don't know!" Reo's words felt like poison.
He echoed: "You don't fucking know! I- I won't lose you again!"
Nagi laid his head on Reo's hand and he had never looked more like a beaten up puppy.
"I'm sorry, Reo. I'll accept any punishment you give me."
Punishment..?…
Right. When a puppy misbehaves, you punish it.
He commanded: "Go to the basement and tie yourself to your chair."
Nagi nodded and immediately took off, saying a quick 'yes boss.'
Meanwhile, Reo made his way towards the kitchen.
He opened the drawer filled with cutlery. He could see exactly which knives Nagi had used, as they had been recently cleaned and were still wet. (Nagi probably hadn't dried them correctly.)
The meat cleaver would be too big, so he grabbed the boning knife.
He rode the elevator downstairs.
Nagi only belonged to Reo and wasn't supposed to be seen by other people —people Reo didn't approve of. He was Reo's. Reo's treasure. He would show that on his flesh with the knife.
When the doors opened, he saw that Nagi had obeyed him and had tied himself as well as he could to the chair. Of course, Reo had to step in and finish it, as Nagi could only go so far without restraining his arms and hands.
In the corner of the room were a few stinking trash bags that Reo chose to ignore.
Nagi looked so pretty like this: Completely at Reo's mercy.
Reo never had to work much to get what he wanted and for the longest time (and still) he hated it. He wanted to put in effort for something; to grab it with his own, two, eventually calloused hands.
Football was that for him. The world cup was something that he had to achieve himself and something that defied everyone's expectations for him.
Nagi, however, was also part of the challenge. He was easy to drag everywhere, but, especially in the beginning, it was hard to get him to work. But Reo never gave up and they had become best friends and Nagi entered blue lock and got fired up and- (We don't go there. We don't talk about his elimination.)
Nagi going out alone was simply part of the challenge but him sitting on that chair, looking at Reo with hazy eyes felt like part of the reward.
Reo put the knife in between his index finger and ring finger so he had his hand free and took Nagi's white shirt off. It stank a little, as he had been sleeping in that thing for God knows how long and didn't wash it often, if ever at all. Reo tossed the shit somewhere on the floor.
Nagi was rather toned, as he had been working out a lot in Blue lock. Reo admired it for just a second before he got to work. (Sure, everyone in Blue lock had a body that fit, if not fitter, but with Nagi it felt different. It was proof of their hard work; of them working towards their dream together.)
"Nagi…" Reo drew out the letters and circled with the tip of the knife on Nagi's chest.
Nagi hummed in respponse.
"You're my property, right?"
Nagi made the same noise again.
"And shouldn't you write your name on your belongings, so you won't lose it?"
Nagi didn't respond.
Reo propped his knee on the chair, in between Nagi's legs, put his hand on Nagi's shoulder for balance and leaned in close.
"This may hurt," he warned before he started.
He carefully put the blade on Nagi's chest, on the spot where his heart probably was —if he pushed down too hard, would Nagi die?— and quickly slashed it.
A dark red stripe appeared, contrasting nicely with Nagi's pale skin that hadn't been exposed to sunlight for way too long to be healthy.
Blood heaped up and dripped down. It had only been the first stroke.
Reo cut again and again and again. It formed a character. 御. Honorable.
影. Shadow.
玲. The tinkling sound of jewels.
王. King.
御影玲王. Mikage Reo.
Reo tossed the knife aside once he was finished. He had been completely focused on writing and time had passed before he knew it.
Nagi was simply looking at him without saying a word. He looked tired, but there was also something in his eyes that Reo just couldn't place, just couldn't figure out. Admiration?
Reo put his hand on the fresh wound. Nagi's heart was beating like crazy.
It drew a small smile out of Reo, who asked: "Do you like it, my treasure?"
"I love it."
Reo turned his gaze towards Nagi's face.
Nagi's face was wet from the tears that he had quietly let out as he had endured the pain.
Reo took Nagi's cheek in his hand and ran his thumb over it to dry it. Nagi looked so cute like this. The white haired boy let out a shiver.
Breathless, Nagi followed up on his earlier statement: "I love you."
Reo took it as permission to press his lips on Nagi's.
This had happened before, just once.
It was before Blue Lock, they had won a game with a score of 10-0 and Reo was filled with adrenaline and blinding love for Nagi.
They had gone to Reo's apartment and sat on Reo's couch to play a game to tire themselves out and in the heat of the moment, Reo had pressed Nagi against the side of the couch and kissed him. It had lasted longer than Reo liked to admit.
Reo later realised what he had done and vowed to himself to never do it again in order not to ruin their friendship. Fortunately —or maybe unfortunately— Nagi had never talked about it again either and they had left it at that.
They had always been pretty physical with each other, getting eye rolls from various Blue lockers, but that was a line that Reo wasn't willing to cross again.
But at that moment, in the basement, Reo was indulging himself.
Nagi opened his mouth and Reo stuck his tongue in, painting the walls of Nagi's mouth with his saliva.
The first time they had done this, Nagi's lips were dry and raw. He hadn't been properly taking care of them or himself and they had cracked in the cold temperatures.
The second time, however, they felt much softer.
Blue lock was a warmer environment and Nagi's lips had gotten the opportunity to heal—only to be torn by Reo again.
The purple haired boy bit down on Nagi's under lip and drew just a little bit of blood, which he quickly licked up. It tasted like Nagi.
The other boy put his hand on the back of Reo's head, tangling his fingers with the short hair.
Eventually, they both needed to breathe and they broke apart.
Reo laid his head on Nagi's chest, next to the wound. He needed to patch it up soon before it would get infected.
He looked up to analyze Nagi's gaze. The latter seemed to have enjoyed it just as much as Reo.
Reo smiled softly in satisfaction. Maybe his feelings were reciprocated after all…
He slid his hands from where they were resting on Nagi's shoulders down, over his back, linking them together and raised himself to look Nagi directly in the eyes. He had to ask.
"Nagi, will you be my boyfriend?"
For a moment, Nagi looked confused and his eyes unfocused.
It stayed quiet for a moment.
Oh god, had Reo guessed wrong? Was Nagi having doubts? Was he disgusted?
Just in time before Reo got the overwhelming urge to kill himself, Nagi nodded.
"Of course. I will be Reo's."
Reo sighed in relief. Of course.
He kissed Nagi on the cheek as a reward. "Good boy."
He slid off and untied Nagi.
They made their way to Nagi's bed and laid down together.
Reo deserved a nice, cozy nap with his new boyfriend.
They dozed away together with their limbs intertwined like they had always done. Maybe Reo had to consider moving Nagi to his own bedroom.
The next morning, Reo woke up feeling content.
Nagi was still sleeping next to him and clinging to him like a koala.
Reo reached out to Nagi's face and brushed his hair aside to take a better look.
Nagi was always gorgeous, even if—no, even more so when he was asleep. He looked so at peace.
Still, as much as he wished to stay like that forever, Reo had to wake up and start his day.
He carefully pried Nagi's arms off him and detangled their legs so he could slip out of bed.
He was still in his pajamas from yesterday morning.
After Nagi's surprise, they had laid in bed, sleeping a bit, playing a game on Nagi's phone, talking some, you know, usual lazy day behaviour.
Sadly, Reo couldn't live like that forever.
He stepped into the elevator and went to his floor.
Ba-ya had prepared clean clothes for him on the table with his phone and some tapes he had to analyze that day.
He checked the time on his phone —it was pretty early; only 06:00 in the morning— and texted Ba-ya to get rid of the stinking trash bag in Nagi's room that probably contained Taro.
Strangely enough, he also had a text from his dad, asking him to come to his parents' floor at nine o' clock.
Reo didn't often get texts from his parents. (They preferred to call for him to see them in person or relay messages via the staff.)
He put on the clothes Ba-ya had prepared for him; A white blouse with a dark purple vest and black dress pants. He grabbed some black suede shoes to go with it. Judging by how formal the clothes were, it was probably not just going to be a friendly how-are-you-doing talk with his parents.
The rest of the morning was simple.
Ba-ya brought him breakfast after getting rid of the bags, then he reviewed some tapes and edited his earlier notes , tried out some moves in the garden —he had to get into his sports clothes and then get dressed again after, but he simply HAD to try them out after seeing them— and when it was time, he went to his parents' office.
His father was sitting behind his desk with his mother standing next to him.
"Reo, dear," his mother began, "we've been worried about you."
Reo sat down on a chair that was placed in front of the desk. It was just a little too low.
His father added: "You haven't had a single girlfriend yet. Never even expressed interest in the opposite sex aside from potential business partners."
Reo nodded. They were technically correct; he had never had a girlfriend. He started to realize where the conversation was going and didn't like it.
His father continued: "And we're worried that you won't produce an heir, so we've set you up with a nice girl as your fiancee. You can get to know each other now, marry once you're an adult and then get a kid around maybe twenty-five or thirty."
Reo's face twisted in disgust. He had been abundantly clear that he wanted to pave his own path and his path does not include a fiancee that was chosen by his parents.
"I won't date her."
His parents seemed to have already foreseen his response.
His mother sighed like she was already done with it all, but still forced a soothing smile.
"Reo.. We're already very lenient with you, you know? You can take some time to get to know her and even if it doesn't work out we can find a different fiancee for you. Besides, she's nice and-"
"I already have a boyfriend." The words slipped out of his mouth before he had even realised it, but they sounded so right that he had trouble regretting it as the air in the room tensed up.
"So?" his father retorted.
Reo scoffed. "What do you mean, 'so'?"
The man shook his head in disappointment and explained: "We don't care if you have a little sidepiece or hobby. It's allowed to mess around a little, but you also need to have a real partner."
Reo retaliated: "Nagi isn't a sidepiece! He's the love of my life!"
He grabbed the sides of the chair and held himself back from standing up and giving his old man the punch of his life to make his face as ugly as his words.
His dad didn't return the same level of anger and simply looked annoyed, clicking his tongue.
"Nagi, huh? I knew that there was something with that boy when you two started hanging out so often. Still, I let you."
His mother walked over to Reo and put her hands on his shoulder.
"It's for your own good, dear. Please, at least meet her."
Reo didn't have much of a choice. He grumbled and begrudgingly agreed to meet with her, setting up a date just a few days before he would go back to Blue lock to meet on the family's yacht.
He was told that she was the daughter of the owner of a successful jewelery company that had been in her family for ages. She was also the local piano champion and had won plenty of beauty pageants. She could cook, clean and she was —ugh— fertile. She was the perfect wife.
But she wasn't Nagi.
After the whole ordeal, he went down stairs to his floor, where Nagi was waiting on the couch for him in his sleeping clothes.
When the elevator's sound went off, Nagi immediately paused the COD complications that he was watching on the TV and looked at Reo with a confusing look.
"Where were you?" he asked. He sounded worried, yet also tired. He had probably just woken up.
Reo was utterly exhausted, the meeting having sucked all emotional energy out of him.
He slumped down next to Nagi and sighed so hard that he might as well have been a deflating balloon.
"What's wrong?" Nagi tried again.
"My parents are marrying me off to a girl." He spit out the words as fast as he could so he could pretend they didn't exist.
Nagi froze next to him.
When the boy's brain had finally caught up, he grabbed Reo's hand and leaned into him with his head on Reo's shoulder. It always felt nice to have Nagi slump his whole weight on Reo, like a weighted blanket. He found comfort in it.
"Can I kill her?" Nagi proposed it like he was asking a stranger on the bus if he could have the seat, like he wasn't suggesting murder.
But, thinking about it, it seemed like a good idea to Reo. If she was dead he couldn't marry her and nothing would come in between his love for Nagi.
It would take some time before his parents would find someone new and he could get rid of her too. He could take out every fiancee for as long as he needed to until his parents gave up.
"No, my treasure, you don't need to go outside. I will kill her."
"But you need to heal from your injury." Nagi released Reo's hand to only hold his little finger that was still a stomp that Reo needed to get a prosthetic for. He had been struggling with grabbing stuff lately, but it had been worth it.
It got Reo to chuckle softly. It wasn't even an injury or a wound anymore and in no way affected his way of, well, murdering someone.
"No, don't worry, I will do it."
"Please, Reo. Let me do this for you. I want to help you."
Nagi looked at him with those glistening puppy eyes and— oh, how could anyone say no to that face? It was simply so adorable that every negative word just disappeared out of Reo's vocabulary. He immediately caved in.
"Fine…. But I will help you prepare."
14
Nagi walked through the dark, on his way to the Nishiyama mansion.
He was clad in black trousers with a black hoodie and hid his face in the hood like Reo had asked.
As much as the other wanted to, Nagi couldn't get a chaperone for this mission. He needed to do it himself.
He was prepared well.
In his pocket was a pistol that they could borrow from Ba-ya; a simple Glock 17. Nishiyama Hoshi was a girl just one year younger than Reo that had been home schooled, only being allowed to go outside for her beauty pageants, piano contests and business meetings to keep contact.
Reo had gotten her number from his parents and had texted her that he wanted to meet with her in private before their actual date, so that they could get to know each other without being watched by their parents and having to perform, and had asked her for a way for him to get into her house, since she probably couldn't it.
She had responded almost immediately with the code to the gate and a path he could take to get into her room through her window without being seen by the staff.
Nagi thought she acted too eagerly, but then again, it was Reo she was talking to. Who wouldn't?
He finally arrived at the giant gate that surrounded the mansion. Did all rich people need a gate around their house? It was far from as modern as Reo's building with apartments.
He found a little panel and when he pressed the code into it, the gate opened up before him.
Thank God it worked and she hadn't led them on; that would've been a giant pain.
He walked over the path and searched for a grass patch with apple trees that she had described in the text. He followed her instructions.
Go through the trees, then turn right and go past the building, walking as closely to the building as possible to avoid the cameras and then climing up the wall towards the second highest window on the far left.
The window was made up of two windows that opened to the outside and were covered on the inside of the building with dark blue curtains. He stood behind the left window while knocking on the right one so she would open it.
The window flew open and he entered through it, walking into her room and leaving dirty footprints behind on the glistering tile floor.
She walked in front of him towards her bed and sat down on it, facing him.
She had long, black hair with black eyes and a mole under each of them. She looked at him rather unimpressed.
"You're not Mikage."
"Nope."
She sprawled out on the bed. It was probably thrice as big as her with dark blue, linen bedsheets. Almost everything in the room was a dark, cold colour, with a few white accessories scattered here and there.
Nagi never was one for decorating to make a place seem more lively but the room that was decorated to make it more depressing wasn't his taste either.
She drew out a long and tired sigh.
"You look like a sketchy person. Does my fiancee hate me so much that he sent an assassin after me?"
"It's nothing personal," Nagi loaded the pistol and pointed it at her, "you're just in the way of our love."
"Fine, then. Just get it over with quickly."
She sat up, sloping and not at all with the posture of the perfect wife she was described to be.
Nagi hesitated as his finger hovered over the trigger. Just like that? She wasn't going to struggle?
He was probably standing unmoving there for too long, as she started quietly crying.
"What're you waiting for? shoot away." Her voice cracked.
"Why?"
"Why? Don't you want to get rid of me for your perfect love story-"
"Why do you want to die?"
Her right eye had a dark circle on it, the left eye's eyebags being covered by makeup that she hadn't properly washed off. She was tired and unmotivated, not caring if she lived or died.
Nagi had once been like that too. The days simply went by on auto pilot. He went to school, played games, slept and repeat.
But Reo got him out of the slope.
Reo showed him how beautiful life could be, because he was life, he was light, and Nagi found himself anticipating the next day every day.
It stayed quiet for a few minutes again. Nagi waited for her answer and she had to convince herself to give it.
Finally, she said: "Every day is the same. Why should I wait for this monotonous life to end in eighty years? There's nothing here for me."
Nagi lowered his pistol.
He didn't like that part of himself. To see it in another person in front of him made him feel what he could only describe as disgust. It made his stomach churn.
And it wasn't just himself that he saw standing before him; under the imaginary white hairs were purple eyes too.
Because Reo often lamented how terribly bored he was before he had found football.
Nagi had often heard about or even seen Reo's parents talking down to him and pressuring him into being what they wanted him to be.
He saw a little Reo and a premature Nagi; he saw the darkest parts of the two of them, the parts that they had abandoned, mixed together into someone that was in agony but was too tired to even realize it.
He didn't particularly care all that much for her. She was simply an obstacle.
But he knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep much in the following days if he killed her right then and there. He knew her eyes would haunt him and be worn by his and Reo's future children.
He couldn't leave her there.
"I could help you escape."
She raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Nagi elaborated: "Reo can get you to a safe place. You'll have a better life."
"How can I know I can trust you?" She asked, skeptically.
"I haven't killed you yet, right?"
She mumbled in agreement : "That's right…"
"But," she said, "can you also kill my dad?"
"Why?"
"I'll never be free if my dad's still here. He'll definitely find me and send me to double hell." She shrugged.
"Sure, I can." He had to bear the fruits of the labour that it cost to convince Ba-ya to let them borrow the Glock anyway.
She stood up and walked towards her closet.
She explained: "I don't want to go on my journey in these clothes; way too cold."
She grabbed a ratty green sweater from the back of her closet and put it on, along with black sweatpants and some socks. She grabbed a black cap to hide her face and hair with.
They made their way to her parent's room.
Nagi thought that he had seen it all with rich people homes, but he was still surprised to see just how long a walk it was to their rooms.
Maybe Reo's parents were actually smart for living on a separate floor with an elevator…..
At some point they had to take a short break because they were both starting to see the wall move in ways it shouldn't.
As quietly as one can, Hoshi opened the door to the bedroom.
Inside was only a queen sized bed and a few doors that probably led to closets and bathrooms.
The only one sleeping in the bed, however, was Hoshi's father, who looked stern even in his sleep.
Nagi whispered: "Where's your mum?"
"She's been sleeping on the couch lately…. I want her to live."
M'kay. Nagi didn't need to ask any other questions.
He got closer to the bed and pointed the pistol at the man's head.
Thinking about it, it was his second murder ever. Maybe he should have celebrated the first one or something, Reo liked celebrating stuff like that. It would be pretty romantic.
He pulled the trigger.
He shot once to start, twice because Reo said he needed to, and thrice to make sure.
The only thing left was a cold body with a mush of brain, blood and bone and a cold scream that carried away like a ghost in the hallway.
"Quick, let's run now!"
Hoshi grabbed his wrist and ran through the hallway, towards the exit.
Nagi didn't really see why she rushed so much; he had a feeling no one was going to report the gunshot that soon.
They ran over the polished, tile floor and down the big staircase in the middle of the hallway that led to a big, open room that acted as an… entryway? He didn't know what else to call it.
Hoshi grabbed the door handle, but it didn't move in the slightest.
"Shit." Her words were barely audible over her panting. "It's locked."
Nagi considered shooting the lock with his pistol; that always worked in movies.
He raised his glock but just before he could try it out, a raspy voice behind them could be heard.
"Are you leaving, young lady?"
Nagi groaned. He started weighing if it would be more of a pain to live with the guilt or to stand there for another round of dialogue.
He turned around along with Hoshi, who didn't seem nearly as apathetic as she did when she had a pistol pointed to her head. Neither uttered a word.
The old man who the voice belonged to walked towards them. He was probably a butler or personal assistant, judging by his suit. Just like Ba-ya.
He drew out a long sigh. "I see. You're finally leaving the nest."
He grabbed Hoshi's hands and though she flinched, she stood still and let his gloved fingers pry her fingers apart to plant a golden key in her hand.
He pushed her hand closed again. "I won't tell anyone anything. Flee while you can."
A tear rolled down the noirette's face and she bit her lip to hold in her sobs in order not to alert anyone. She couldn't say anything to him, not even a thank you or a goodbye.
The old man turned around and he walked away from them like there had never been anything in the first place.
Shakily, she used the key to unlock the door.
Nagi was wondering what he would have for dinner. Something with fish? They did eat meat yesterday. Ah, but he hated fish bones….
The morning arrived and Nagi stood in the living room bashful Hoshi and a furious Reo.
Reo crossed his arms and looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his eyesockets. Nagi didn't like it when Reo got like this because he looked like he was suffering mentally and physically. He didn't like it when Reo felt unpleasant at all. But maybe he'd have to worry about himself first……
"Can you explain this, Nagi?" His voice had a sharp edge to it.
"Sorry, boss….."
"Why?"
Nagi looked away, out of the window and watched the clouds float by in the sky.
He bit on his cheek and shrugged. "I wanted to help her."
"Why..?…"
Nagi moved closer to Reo and grabbed his hands, locking eyes with the love of his life. He moved his head downwards slightly to get the effect of those big puppy eyes he knew Reo could never resist.
"Because Reo helped me and it inspired me to do the same. I wanted to spread his kindness."
Reo looked over at Hoshi behind Nagi and her dishevelled state.
Finally, he sighed as he caved.
"Fine…. We'll help her start a new life somewhere."
Score!
Reo freed his hands and grabbed his phone to contact some people on the Mikage payroll. He needed people who were loyal and could keep their mouth shut, especially to his parents. If they found out they had helped the Nishiyama daughter escape…..
Hoshi appeared in front of Reo and bowed for him to show her gratitude.
"Thank you, Mikage." She didn't sound like the girl who Nagi had first seen in that bedroom, her voice sounding like an automated, scripted message.
"It's Reo. And don't worry, it's nothing." He read something on his phone, before asking: "Is the Philippines something?"
"Anything will do, really. As long as I'm away from here." Her voice got a little more raspy and he shoulders relaxed after Reo's words.
The rest was handled quickly. Reo bought a new identity and an apartment for her and got her a job at a company whose owner's son owed him a favour.
A few days later, they were standing at the harbor.
It was early in the morning, way too early for your average Nagi. The sun had barely even set.
It was chilly outside and a harsh wind was blowing. They had to make a stop at a store at Reo's command to buy a sweater for Nagi because he wasn't dressed for the harsh weather, causing them to almost be late.
They had only arrived on time because Reo could afford a speeding ticket or two.
Now, they had a few more minutes before Hoshi's ferry would take off.
Nagi looked at Reo. He was smiling, seemingly relieved.
Nagi slumped against him, placing his head on Reo's shoulder. Reo instinctively pet his emotional support animal's head.
Hoshi stood before them in her green sweater and new black pants with her duffel bag that was mostly just filled with food for the trip and some cash. The wind blew through her long hair.
Nagi wanted to say something to her, but he didn't quite remember what.
The ferry's horn went off, signaling that it was time to board it.
Hoshi smiled and waved at Nagi and Reo. Her face looked more tired than when Nagi had encountered her first, as it didn't have any makeup on any more.
"Thank you, Nagi, Reo."
Reo nodded. "Don't mention it. Send us a post card, okay? I'm sure I gave you enough cash to do so."
Nagi also wanted to say something. It was on the tip of his tongue…
Hoshi hummed. "of course."
She said: "I'll see you guys. Let's keep in touch, yeah?"
Reo responded in agreement.
"Ah." Nagi snapped his fingers as he finally remembered what he wanted to say.
He put his hands on Hoshi's shoulder as he told her: "Don't die before I do, okay?"
The girl hesitantly looked at the ferry behind her, before looking back Nagi and relaxing her face.
"Of course not. As long as you two don't die either."
"ppfsht, never. I won't let Reo."
Reo laughed at Nagi's remark and pushed his head off his shoulder.
They were done with their goodbyes and Hoshi boarded the ferry. On the deck, she waved at them one more time before the ferry took off and Nagi and Reo took it as their sign to walk towards the car, where Ba-ya was waiting for them.
Taking Hoshi with him was a spur in the moment decision, something done without thinking, but Nagi was glad that he had done so.
Because if he hadn't, he probably wouldn't see Reo laughing so radiantly in the sunlight, this time for real. He wouldn't have seen the relief on Reo's face for having done the right thing.
Maybe he could invite Hoshi to their wedding… as the flower girl or something. Oh, but Choki was already gonna be that. Oh well.
15
Every fairytale has an end.
And living with Nagi and just those 50 days over all had really felt like a fairytale, like a dream. Reo couldn't imagine a more perfect life.
Still, when those days came to an end, Reo had to leave and go to Blue Lock to play in the world cup.
Temporarily, he reminded himself. He would be back soon and he would hold Nagi in his arms again before he even knew it, this time with a beautiful trophy in his hands.
Reo packed his duffle bag in his bedroom that morning with trembling hands and tears streaming down his face. He didn't want to leave Nagi or the wonderful life of bliss that the two had been living.
He heard a knock on the door; probably Ba-ya who, even though he had insisted on wanting to pack the suitcase himself, wanted to check up on him and attempt to help a little.
(He felt kind of thankful for it; his back was starting to hurt from crouching down by his duffle bag on the ground for so long.)
Instead of his assistant, it was his boyfriend who appeared in the doorway after Reo had said it was okay to come in.
Reo quickly wiped away his tears. He didn't want to worry Nagi.
Nagi walked into the room and without a word, lay down on Reo's bed.
He grabbed his phone from his sweatpant's pocket and started up some ridiculous rhythm game that Nagi had once requested Reo to 'please not play' after Reo had shown interest. At the time he had taken it as a hint that Nagi didn't want Reo to have any hobbies in common with him and had gone spiraling, but looking back, Nagi probably just had one of those Nagi reasons where he didn't think too much about it.
Reo laughed a little.
Look at him, almost breaking down while Nagi was simply laying there like there were no problems in the whole world and the next morning would just be as fun as the one from yesterday.
Reo shuffled towards the bed from where he was sitting on the ground and put his head on the soft duvet.
"Will you miss me while I'm off playing football, my treasure?"
Nagi hummed.
"I miss Reo every minute that he's not with me."
Reo softly smiled as his heart melted at those words. Nagi never really knew the emotions his words could cause and sometimes it was a positive.
Nagi turned off his phone and put it away, turning on his side to look at Reo.
Reo reached out his left hand to Nagi, who met him halfway to interlock their fingers.
Reo tested with a voice laced with sweet honey: "Maybe I should just not go to Blue Lock and call it off."
Nagi shook his head. "No, Reo should chase his dream."
"But you won't be there with me."
Nagi stayed quiet for a moment as his brain thought of what to say. To be expected, Reo wouldn't know what to answer to that statement either.
Finally, Nagi said: "Someday. Someday I will be."
"Yes, that's right." It felt comforting, to know that it wouldn't be forever and that Reo would eventually return to Nagi's side.
"Reo needs to pack his suitcase." Reo snorted at the silly remark.
He let go off Nagi's hand and made his way back to the duffle back to check if everything was in it. They couldn't take a lot to the facility, only the absolute necessities.
(A necklace with a locket with a photo of Nagi was a necessity. If Shidou was allowed to bring all his hair gel and eyeliner, Reo was allowed to bring the necklace.)
He closed the zipper and stood up, slumping the bag over his shoulder.
He would have to leave in a few minutes and take the train to their meeting point, where they would take the bus up that god forsaken hill to the facility.
He walked out of his room, into the living room with Nagi automatically following him.
He stood by the elevator. He had to say goodbye to Nagi.
He turned around to take one last look at him that would have to fuel Reo for the upcoming weeks.
They weren't allowed phones, so there wasn't any way of contacting Nagi. It felt like being told that he wasn't allowed to breathe or bathe in the sun. Nagi had only been part of his daily routine for a little over a year, ever since they started playing football, but by God had Reo forgotten how to ever do it all without his love by his side.
He leaned in and pressed a kiss to Nagi's cheek. Nagi was running hot.
"Goodbye, Seishiro. I will see you later."
Nagi nodded. "I will see you later, Reo."
"Will you at least watch me during my matches?" They had already bought tickets for Nagi for every game that Japan would play.
"Of course."
Reo would scan the crowd every match, trying to find Nagi.
Reo stepped into the elevator and turned around, facing the wall. He couldn't bear to look at Nagi any longer, because he knew that if he did, he would run back and never go to the train station.
He pressed the button to the ground floor.
He inhaled through his nose and exhaled through his mouth.
This wasn't a goodbye.
This was a new start. One that was ten times better than the first, as he loved Nagi and knew Nagi loved him back.
Chapter Text
16
The time spent apart from Reo was agonizing.
Nagi missed Reo terribly, but he had promised him not to break into Blue lock and to let Reo win the U-20 world cup by himself. With his team.
Every time Nagi went to Japan's games to watch his boyfriend play, he felt his heart ache.
Because he wasn't there, playing with Reo. Their dream wasn't theirs anymore.
Still, he had his contract at Brightneon and he decided to make the most of it. |
Because he needed to stand there on that field and play football again. He needed to feel fired up.
His heart ached for football.
While waiting in the house for the world cup to end, Nagi trained in the garden. Sometimes with Ba-ya, sometimes with a personal trainer that Ba-ya had hired and that always seemed to get angry at Nagi for no reason.
He wasn't allowed to go outside, of course, as his parents had finally caught on to him missing after some time, with him not picking up their calls and not playing for the team and all, and they had gone to the police to file him as missing. Ba-ya had quickly convinced the police to drop it, but there was always the risk of someone recognizing Nagi and telling his parents.
He had also gotten a weird phonecall from the JFU, bruta-something, but Ba-ya had told him he wasn't allowed any contact with the outside world.
The times were agonizing, but it slowly got better.
He moved to England with Reo after the world cup, which was already a blessing in and of itself. He could be together with him every day again, even if they had to work with strict schedules and had to leave early in the morning to take the tube to their clubs.
Nagi formed his own ego and got fired up a thousand times and got offered a contract at the same club as Reo and they won the premier league and eventually, after many, many complaints from both he public and the players and a lot of legal work from lawyers, Nagi was put on the Japanese team to play in the actual world cup.
And, well, they were Blue Lock.
They had lost once before at the world cup —a defeat that would get anyone who mentioned it a good punch from either Barou or Isagi— and they would rather die than lose again, so this time, they brought the trophy home.
After the exhilarating match against France, Nagi had stood behind Reo as Anri ran towards him with a little box.
He had spent weeks choosing the perfect ring and gem for Reo and had even flown to the jeweler in Japan that Reo always liked.
Opening the box, he had gotten on his knees in front of Reo and of course, since their love was eternal and their bond was unbreakable, the other had said yes.
Nagi checked himself in the body-length mirror in front of him.
He was wearing a shirt —he hated stuffy collars, so Reo spared him from the misery of one— with matching white dress pants and a long, white coat. On his coat, there was a boutonniere made with Oleanders attached.
And to top it all off, he wore a necklace with a little bottle containing Reo's finger. Even when they were physically apart, this whole day, they would be together and connected.
Chigiri accidentally burned Nagi's ear with the heat curler.
Nagi flinched and backed away from him.
Chigiri sighed. "Sorry. Let me try again." He reached out for Nagi again, but Nagi took a step back again to avoid him.
Barou groaned from the chair where he was sitting in the back of the dressing room.
"You won't die from that little boo-boo, you big baby. Just get it over with." He seemed bored out of his mind and Nagi himself didn't even really know why Barou was sitting there.
Isagi tried and failed to hide his chuckling. He sat in the chair opposite of Barou, at the tiny table that they used to store the money Nagi might get from his family. (He had lost contact with his only family, his parents, years ago, but you never know, right?)
"Seishiro…" Chigiri held the curler like it might've been a murder weapon and slowly approached Nagi, who shaked his head in defiance.
Chigiri yelled out a command: "Shoei!"
It was returned with a "for fuck's sake!" and a Barou running towards Nagi, tackling him.
Nagi sighed like a deflating balloon at his defeat. He was forced to sit upright and sit still as Chigiri finished styling his hair.
After a few minutes, Barou let go of him and both him and Chigiri stepped back to look at their work.
They looked at each other and nodded, satisfied. Isagi let out a 'nice' from his place.
Suddenly, the door burst open and behind it was Zantestu.
"Seishiro! The ritual is about to start!"
"It's a ceremony, zantetstupid."
"Well, I suppose a ceremony also counts as a form of a ritual for our personal believes and culture, no?"
Hmmmmmmmmmmm…………………….
Anyhow, Nagi had to walk to the hall where the rest gathered for the ceremony. The other four followed him and eventually left for other people they knew.
It was a pretty normal hall, not too extravagant, as they didn't have a lot of people to invite aside from their friends.
There were chairs for their friends placed at the sides of the room with a path with a white rug in the middle, leading to the spot where Reo would wait for him. As they couldn't really have the wedding in a spot where paparazzi could disturb them and Reo was set on not marrying in the forest, they had to do it inside, but at least the roof was made out of glass.
Reo wanted a more western style wedding —therefore the suits— and they held it in England, because, you know why. And because the country had become precious to them during all those years of playing there. Plus, apparently Chris prince —who they had contacted some time before the engagement to get back into contact with their old coach— had a license to officiate people's weddings, because he thought he could get a lot of money from people hiring him for weddings or something, so that was a bonus.
Everyone sat down in their chairs in the chairs and the room began to quiet down.
Chris Prince took his place in the front of the room. In Nagi's honest opinion, he looked ridiculous in those robes, but he had insisted on it.
Finally, Nagi's fiancee stepped next to Prince.
He was wearing a white suit with the top adorned with pearls, ruffles and a boutonniere made out of aquielegias. He wore a necklace that matched Nagi's and contained Nagi's finger. His head was adorned with a wedding veil that reached the floor.
And he had never looked so gorgeous.
Nagi's heart skipped a beat as he looked at his soon to be husband.
He was so radiant. He looked like an angel coming to tell Nagi that the holiest human on earth had been born and had that happened, Nagi would've simply said no and chosen to stay with Reo, because nothing in the whole universe could beat Reo. No one was as kind or as beautiful.
Bachira, who was sitting right next to the entrance, elbowed Nagi against the shins and whispered: "Dude, your mouth is open." Nagi quickly closed it.
Logically, the whole room had heard the Bachira-esque "whispering" and Reo was laughing, trying to hide it behind a fist. When he looked at Nagi and they locked eyes, he blew a kiss over to his love.
Nagi refound his strength.
The whole room got quiet as the flower girl entered the room and the music started playing.
Hoshi was carrying a basket with purple and red flowers out of which she threw little bits towards the audience as she walked towards the front of the room.
At the end, she dumped the basket on Isagi's head, before sitting down in the front row next to Chigiri.
Isagi looked confused and angry and moved to chuck the basket at Hoshi, before realizing that he was in a wedding hall and quickly composing himself.
Weird, they hadn't told her to do that… Oh well, maybe a last minute edit by Reo.
Then, it was time for Nagi to walk towards Reo.
He walked slowly —he wanted to savour the moment— towards the groom.
It was like a near-death experience with how all their moments together were flashing before Nagi. Their meeting on the staircase, their first games, all those hours of training, their rough time in Blue lock, their goodbye in Blue lock, their reunion in Nagi's basement, the world cup and all those moments where Nagi fell in love all over again.
Except, instead of a near-death experience, it was a near-life experience.
Because he had never truly lived before he had met Reo and Reo had made him feel alive more and more and Nagi knew that his new, even better life, would start once they were married.
He held Reo's hands. Reo's face was barely visible through the veil. A shame.
Chris prince said his words, bla, bla, not important. Reo's finger nails were painted white for the occasion.
Ba-ya walked in, carrying Choki on a beautiful velvet cushion, his favourite one.
The two rings were placed on the biggest bulb.
Nagi grabbed the one with the purple gem and slid it over Reo's ring finger.
Reo wasn't wearing his prosthetic that day and neither was Nagi.
Reo moved to grab the other ring, but accidentally stung his finger on Choki's needle.
He tried again and slid the ring over Nagi's ring finger with the blood coating the white gem.
Chris Prince said some more words.
Reo's lips moved beautifully as they said the sweetest blessing known to mankind.
"Yes. I swear it."
"And do you, Nagi Seishiro, swear to love this man till the day you die?
Nagi nodded. "Yes. I swear it."
"Then I declare you husband and husband. Now, you may kiss the groom."
Seishiro opened Reo's veil in the middle and pushed it aside, while Reo got closer and wrapped his arms around Seishiro's waist to pull him in for a kiss.
When their lips touched, a roaring applause sounded from the audience as everyone stood up and clapped and cheered.
Bachira yelled: "throw the bouquet!"
Uhhhh…. Seishiro looked around. They didn't have a bouquet, didn't think they'd need one.
Reo leaned in close and detached the boutonniere from Seishiro's jacket and handed it to Seishiro.
He whispered to him: "this'll do too."
Seishirou threw the boutonniere into the crowd and oh, so, coincidentally, it was caught by Bachira, who immediately ran to Rin.
"Look! Rin! Rin! They say it's a good sign!" He practically jumped on the tall man who was actively trying to avoid him.
"Look out, you idiot, you're gonna stab someone with that."
As Bachira's hand holding it got too close to Rin, Rin slapped it away.
It landed on the back of Chigiri's head. He turned around and picked it up while rubbing the back of his head.
"For fuck's sake-"
The redhead suddenly locked eyes with Kunigami, who was set two rows behind Chigiri on purpose by Reo. They looked awkward and quickly looked away. Though Seishiro did notice how Chigiri put the flowers in his pocket.
Life was never boring when Seishiro had friends who had more than enough energy for him too and when he was standing next to the most perfect angel in the whole world.
Later, they stepped into the dining room for a feast to celebrate the newly wed couple.
Seishirou and Reo sat at the head of the white clothed table and occasionally received some money or a gift from the guests.
Eventually, Hoshi approached them and handed Reo an envelope.
She smiled. "Congrats on the marriage, you two." Her smile reminded Seishiro of Reo's in a way he couldn't put his finger on.
"Thank you, Hoshi. We're happy you're able to be here." He elbowed Seishiro, who got shocked out of his thoughts and mumbled a 'thank you' to their guest.
Rin walked by and handed Hoshi a 10,000 yen bill, saying: "For the basket," before quickly moving on.
Reo raised an eyebrow in confusion, having heard that. "For the basket..?.."
"Oh, let's just say I did Itoshi a favour." She dismissively waved it away and walked away to continue dinner.
Another guest approached them by placing his hands on Seishiro's shoulders and jumping up, almost making Seishiro fall on the ground. bachira quickly stabalized Seishiro's chair.
"Yo! Seishiro and Reo! Congrats on the marriage!"
He moved to Seishiro's and Reo's left, where it was easier to look at him. Isagi was standing next to him and wore a simple, blue suit that matched Bachira's and Rin's.
Seishiro nodded with a satisfied smile on his face.
"Thank you." Reo echoed the same.
"Sooo," Bachira drew out, "when's the baby coming?"
"The WHAT?!" Reo's face turned a deep shade of red like a cherry and he bashfully looked away at the floor. Cute.
Isagi scolded Bachira, bumping his fist against the other's shoulder. "That's not possible, Meg. They're both men."
Bachira simply shrugged innocently. "I don't know, I figured Mikage corp tech would invent something to make it possible."
While it was probably not a possibility, the idea did sound quite nice to Seishiro. A little baby with white hair and purple eyes. Ah, he hoped their baby would inherit Reo's smarts and looks.
Reo seemed to notice the way Seishiro started to glow and said: "Don't go agreeing with him!"
He coughed in his fist and steadied his tone, clarifying: "No, Meguru, that's not possible. We do plan on a kid, but we'll just adopt."
Bachira's smile somehow grew even bigger, almost splitting his face in half as he placed his hands on the table.
"Then can I be the godfather? Or the uncle?"
Seishiro and Reo shared a look and telepathically agreed that, no way—no— no— never— was Bachira going to be the godfather.
The kid would probably be babysat by a bunch of their football friends anyway, so Bachira would have his fun when the time was ripe, but the person closest to being a godfather would probably be Chigiri.
Speaking about the devil.
"Yooooo."
Chigiri approached them from behind with Kunigami following him. Kunigami looked disinterested and simply looked around, though Seishiro had learned to not trust whatever Kunigami showed on his face, just like with himself.
Chigiri extended his hand and Reo shook it first, Seishiro shaking it after.
"Congrats on the marriage." They both thanked him.
Kunigami stopped looking around, focusing on Reo and Seishiro as he said: "By the way, Reo, where are your parents? I didn't expect you to be the type not to invite his parents to his wedding."
"Oh, so about that." Reo seemed to think it over, before continuing: "Remember when I took over Mikage corp? The transfer didn't exactly go peacefully and I had my parents declared crazy and sent them off to a remote island."
Kunigami knew better than to continue asking after that. Seishiro, however, wished he did as he was quite proud of the scheme he had pulled off with Reo. His parents were crazy, anyway, cause only an insane person would treat Reo badly.
Chigiri said: "Oh yeah. I was quite surprised when you told us you took over the company. I thought you hated business."
"I don't necessarily hate it. And I let a kouhai who's gonna be my heir do most of the work, anyway, so I can focus on football."
Chigiri said: "Makes sense. So, do you-"
He was quickly cut off by Shidou bumping against him. Reo quickly stood up to support Chigiri in order to not let him fall over the table.
Shidou turned around with a lazy smile on his face.
"Oh, sorry, man. Didn't see ya there." His attention shifted to Reo, who detached himself from Chigiri. "Purple bun! Congrats!"
He got close to Reo and wrapped his arm around Reo's shoulder, ruffling his hand through his hair.
"Not the hair! Not the hair!" Reo pushed Shidou off him, laughing.
Meanwhile, Bachira and Isagi had made their way to the bar and Chigiri had dragged Kunigami off before the ginger was gonna commit a murder.
Honestly, Seishiro didn't know why Shidou was invited. He was such a nuisance and always got too close to Reo. Maybe he should murder the blonde. The world would be better off without him.
"Congrats to you too. Treat him well, ey?"
Seishiro huffed out a 'thanks', leaving out the part of him punching Shidou because, what the fuck, like he knows how to treat someone well. His bitch was sitting at the table on his phone.
Shidou walked away and Reo got a chance to sit back down at the table, next to Seishiro.
He giggled. "Don't make that face, treasure. Cheer up." He kissed Seishiro and all the frustration quickly left his body.
After Shidou, Niko started walking towards them.
He worldlessly handed Reo an envelope with a gift in it.
"You can open it later, when you're home."
"Aw, thanks, niko."
Reo lifted himself up from his chair a little and ruffled through Niko's hair, who started glowing.
"No problem." He glanced at Seishiro. "Congrats."
"Thanks." Seishiro nodded in approval.
The noirette walked away.
Seishiro sighed. Reo sure was popular…."
The rest of dinner continued quite peacefully, with people chatting with each other while the dishes Reo had chosen were served. Seishiro didn't eat most of it, as he didn't have a stomach that big, but the fact that the rest liked it was enough for him.
At some point, dinner ended and it was time for the party.
The dining hall was more than big enough for some dancing too, with the table only making up half of it. Reo and Seishiro had planned to have a band play some music, to do the first dance together and then all dance and chat some before the night ended and everyone would go to their hotel.
The band, however, didn't arrive.
Ten minutes after they were supposed to arrive, Reo started to look antsy and grabbed his phone to text them about it.
Reo scoffed. "They responded that we called it off. What kind of bullshit-"
Seishiro was just as confused, though a little less frustrated. He didn't see the point in live music; they could also just play something from the speakers in the room.
Reo's frustration left and made room for even more confusion when a funky looking guy in a suit who definitely had a weird relationship with weed walked in.
Reo put his phone in his pocket. His eyebrows furrowed. "Sei, did you invite him? Who is that?"
Otoya was sitting near them and looked up when he heard Reo's words.
"That," he pointed to the weird guy, "Is our wedding gift to you two."
"Wedding gift…?…" Reo just looked even more confused.
Karasu, who sat next to Otoya clarified: "yeah, we figured that that band you hired would be way too boring so we hired a DJ to have a real party." From the way his lips were quivering, he was obviously trying hard to not have his grin turn into full blown laughter.
Reo looked at Yukimiya, who sat opposite of the two, with an exasperated look, searching for at least one hint of common sense.
The brunette held his hands in the air as he pleaded innocence. "I have nothing to do with this."
Otoya nodded in agreement. "The surprise was mostly handled by me, Bachi 'n Shidou. Plus, we got permission from your best man Chigiri."
Yup, Seishiro should strangle Shidou. And Chigiri too, while he was at it.
Reo sighed, looking at the DJ who was setting up behind them.
"Fine, then. Guess there's nothing we can do about it now."
When the DJ finished setting up, he spoke into the microphone that was connected to the speakers.
"Yo, this DJ Makoko, I'll guide you guys through a fun night. Can I get a round of applause for the newly wed couple?" He spammed a button that let the sound of an air horn come out of the speakers.
Everyone clapped and cheered. Reo didn't seem fully on board with the idea yet, but seemed to like the attention somewhat.
The speakers blared again. "Alright, then everyone get off their chair to the dance floor, cos it's time for the first dance!"
Chairs creaked and everyone stood up and made their way to the dance floor.
Reo stood up first, extending his hand to Seishiro.
"May I have this dance?"
Seishiro got all gooey from the inside. He loved seeing Reo so confident and comfortable. If Reo was happy, then Seishiro was happy.
He grabbed Reo's hand and stood up, letting himself be led to the big hole that had been created in the crowd for them to dance in.
Seishiro looked around the room to see Chris Prince near the door, ready to leave. He stuck up his thumb, before turning the lights off.
Right, Reo and Seishiro had Asked Chris if he wanted to turn off the lights when he left. (He was supposed to leave after the ceremony, but had insisted on staying for the banquet, so if he left later than intended, might as well help them out a bit.) They had originally planned to turn off the lights and have some atmospheric, dim lights on, but that part had probably been changed by their friends as well.
Seishiro was proven right when the disco lights turned on.
Reo laughed as he and Seishiro got in a proper pose for their dance; Seishiro's hand on Reo's lower back, Reo's hand on Seishiro's back and their other hands intertwined.
Seishiro cocked his head to the side, confused as to why Reo was laughing. "What's funny?"
Reo stopped his laughing to properly respond. He shook his head.
"Nothing, it's just- it's so silly. Our plan for the party got kind of ruined but I don't even mind it that much."
"Me neither. As long as I'm with Reo, everything's alright."
Reo agreed. "As long as I'm with you."
Luckily, the song they had chosen hadn't been changed, as 'Until I found you' started playing from the speakers.
It was almost muscle memory the way their feet moved. They had practiced their dance a thousand times. They had the time to do so, after all, with it being the off season.
It had gotten to the point where their schedule was almost entirely filled with preparing the wedding and practicing the dance and Ba-ya had to ask Chigiri, Isagi and Zantetsu to kidnap the pair from time to time to give them some time to rest.
Seishiro twirled Reo around. He looked magical in the disco lightning, his beautiful features highlighted; his purple eyes, his sharp jawline, the sparkle that he got when he was enjoying himself. Seishiro couldn't imagine a more perfect person or a more perfect day.
They danced gracefully to the music, like curtains dancing in the wind.
When the song ended, both stood still, out of breath. The world was quiet for just a moment.
Then, everyone started cheering and clapping for them. Reo smiled in the same way he had done during all those summer days when they had hung out as teenagers.
Makoko yelled through the microphone: "Well, that was beautiful! Now let's get the party st-st-started!"
'小さな恋のうた' started playing, shifting the mood drastically.
The hole in the middle was closed as people danced together, some singing along to the karaoke classic.
Reo was snatched away by Chigiri and since Seishiro wasn't really a dancer, as soon as it started to turn into a full-on party, he quietly made his way towards the corner of the room, where the other introverted people had gathered.
He stationed himself next to Kurona, who handed him a drink from the bar. Seishiro nodded in quiet thanking.
Next to Kurona stood Sae and Rin, which was to be expected, but in between the two brothers stood Hiori, who Seishiro had noted down some time ago as a more outgoing person.
When Hiori noticed his confused look, he answered: "Oh, I'm keeping the peace between these two." Yeah, that was all the info Seishiro needed.
He had expected Barou to stand there too, but from what he could hear from the crowd, the king was dancing in a heated dance competition against Kiyora.
Eventually, bachira appeared out of the crowd, appearing shitfaced.
"Rin! Come with me, iz fun!" He wore a drowsy smile and handed a cup to Rin.
Rin took a look at Sae, who was on his phone, before chucking the whole beverage.
After a lot of 'yes's and 'no's had been exchanged between the two, Bachira finally convinced Rin to let himself be dragged to the dance floor, Hiori following them as his duty had been fulfilled.
Seishiro grabbed his phone, mimicking Sae and planning to just play games till the night was over.
His activities were disturbed a few minutes later when Aryu approached him.
He sighed as the 'wasted' death screen appeared on his screen. He pocketed his phone and looked at the tall man, who immediately started talking as soon as he noticed that he had Seishiro's attention.
"Seishiro, congratulations on the holy matrimony, I'm so happy for you two. Your outfit was simply 'osha', if I may say so. It exuded elegance and I can see that you two have put great effort into your outfits. Do tell me, what do the flowers in your boutonniere symbolize?"
"Uh…..." The cogs in Seishiro's head were turning and trying to generate a response.
"Well, I'm guessing that you went for Oleanders because it's the dessert rose and-"
"Ask Reo."
Seishiro quickly used his athlete muscles to get out of that. Such a pain… How was he supposed to know all that? Reo had chosen some outfits together with someone he hired and Chigiri and Seishiro had simply approved them. That was all.
The situation he stumbled into, however, wasn't more pleasant than the one before.
Nanase was sitting behind the dinner table, looking completely flushed and shitfaced. He was crying.
"C'mon, country boy, you can take some more."
Shidou was standing behind him, pestering him with some alcohol bottles in his hands.
Karasu helped him in the teasing. "Yeah. Yer strong, right?"
Otoya was lazily laying on the table while staring at his phone.
"Yeah, you're no fun, man."
Nanase blabbered a bunch of nonsense. Seishiro didn't know if they had pushed him to drink a lot or if Nanase was just an incredible light weight. He took a look at the two cups standing on the table and made up his mind.
"Oi, what're you doin'?" Karasu asked Otoya, looking irritated.
"Chatting with a girl I recently met. She's nice, ey?" He showed his friend a photo of the girl.
Karasu didn't seem impressed in the slightest and punched Otoya's shoulder, scolding him. "Don't go fixin' chicks during a wedding. That's disrespectful."
Seishiro didn't care in the slightest.
Seishiro's ears suddenly felt like they were bleeding when the DJ's microphone got hijacked by Zantetsu.
The man had done something wrong and a sharp peep echoed through the room. At least it got everyone's attention…..
Zantetsu held the microphone close to his mouth, held a paper in front of him and scraped his throat before he started his speech.
"Dear ladies and gentlemen. We have gathered here today to witness the sacred union, the holy matrimony between Seishiro and Reo. May this be a testament to their faulty-"
He got punched by someone nearby.
He continued: "To their fealty. As their loyal friend, I have watched the relationship between Seishiro and Reo blossom ever since we had met in Blue lock. They have always had something special and from the moment Seishiro spilled his heart-"
Another punch.
"Spilled his guts to me about how he felt about Reo and from the moment I saw how much adoration Reo held in his eyes when he looked at Seishiro, I knew these two were meant to be. Furthermore, I……"
He went quiet for a moment.
"I wa- wi- wo-"
He pushed his index finger against his glasses.
"Excuse me. I'm afraid I can't quite figure out what exactly is written here."
He held the little paper on which his speech was written out in front of him and cocked his head to the side in hopes of it becoming more clear. Seishiro sighed, knowing it was going to be a long night.
"Ah, I think these are music notes, actually." He scraped his throat, before hesitantly singing: "Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre. Señors, señors, car avec les soldats."
The DJ apparently knew what song he was singing and put on the music to make it complete.
The backing from Makoko gave Zantetsu the confidence he needed and he sang with his whole heart: "Oui, les toreros peuvent s'entendre; Pour plaisirs, ils ont les combats!"
After five minutes, the song faded out and Zantetsu bowed down, getting applauded by the crowd that had been listening to his every word for the past two hundred ninety five seconds, even people like Bachira and Shidou.
It was quite impressive, actually. Seishiro never knew Zantestu had a talent for singing.
The noirette spoke into the microphone again. "No, nevermind. The paper was simply upside down." He turned the paper upside down. "I want to wish these two a prosperous and happy future."
Oh.
When Zantetsu took his leave and some Eurobeat song started playing, Seishiro was finally at peace for just a little, before someone bumped into him.
He turned around to see Gagamaru with…. a bear?
"Seishiro. This is Kumataro, your wedding gift."
Gagamaru vagued at the bear, who waved, before the man continued: "Where can I leave him for the time being? He's not really a party animal."
"Uh……" Seishiro.exe had crashed. Where do you store a bear?
"Ask Reo."
Seishiro once again got bumped into —seriously, there was more than enough space there, people did not have to do this— and got the air knocked out of him by the heavy statue.
The heavy statue in question was Tokimitsu, Aryu's plus one, who reeked of alcohol and looked like a panicking guinea pig on steroids.
"Nag- Seishiro! Thank God! I can't find Jyubei anywhere and the ground is spinning and this all so scary!"
"Uh…"
"Oh my god a bear!"
Tokimitsu's screaming got the bear panicking, who started growling, which scared Tokimitsu even more. Gagamaru tried to calm the bear down by whispering "it's okay Kumataro" like he was a toddler. Then Tokimitsu started running away and even Seishiro, who had never even been in a forest, knew what happens when you try to run away from a bear. Luckily, Gagamaru ran after Kumataro, tackled him and softly put him to sleep.
Seishiro let out an earth shattering groan. Why couldn't people just leave him alone? He was tired. This was all such a hassle……
He looked at the spot where Nanase was left alone with the alcohol while his bullies had gone off somewhere.
Seishiro walked towards the table. Before Nanse could register it —which took a long time, honestly— Seishiro opened one of the bottles and started chucking it. Surely that would put him to sleep and get him some peace.
After the party, Reo and Seishiro arrived completely exhausted in their hotel room.
Their excessive work, hours of entertaining guests and Seishiro's alcohol consumption had come back to bite them in the ass.
The rest of the night had been a blur to Seishiro. Good. According to Reo, he had spent most of it just sitting in the corner and staring into space, sometimes taking a nap. It had all pretty much passed in a second to Seishiro.
Seishiro dropped down on their bed. He couldn't move a single muscle anymore and planned to sleep till at least next week, when they would go on their honeymoon. His head hurt immensely now that he had somewhat sobered up.
He groaned loudly, letting all the air escape his body.
Reo snorted. "Yeah, same. I'm so tired."
The staff of the hotel had —probably as a request from their friends— decorated the room with flower petals and red heart balloons. It was all a little excessive to Seishiro's taste, but he was just simply not a person who liked decorating; didn't care all that much for it.
Reo, however, cringed when he looked at the bed.
"Do we really have to sleep on that?"
"I'm not cleaning it." Seishiro shrugged.
"Maybe I should call the hotel staff…."
"Re~o….." Seishiro whined. He just wanted to sleep with his amazing husband in his arms.
Reo sighed and gave in. "Fine. But if I wake up tonight from those petals creeping into my pajamas, I'm calling the staff anyway."
Reo got fully undressed and then grabbed his pajamas and put them on. Seishiro simply took off his jacket and threw it next to the bed.
Reo sat down at the end of the bed and tutted as he said: "You can't sleep with your shoes on, Sei."
He got to untying the shoes' laces.
"I'm terribly sorry, mister Nagi." The words felt like the holiest prayer and the sweetest desert on Seishiro's tongue. He was Nagi and Reo was Nagi, they were one. Their child would be Nagi. They were a set, never to be separated. Every official document would show that Reo was his and that their love was eternal.
"Oh, are we doing this?" A cheeky smile played on Reo's lips.
Seishiro casually shrugged.
Reo crawled over the bed towards Seishiro.
"Well, you're forgiven, mister Nagi."
His face got close to Seishiro's to the point where their noses were touching. Seishiro looked into Reo's beautiful eyes. They were a time travelling machine in the way that Seishiro could see their past, present and future in them. He could stare at them for hours, didn't even need a phone if Reo was with him.
Finally, Reo pressed down, their lips softly greeting each other.
Reo lifted himself up and detached his mouth from Seishiro's. His lips quivered and his cheeks flushed. It was almost like their first kiss all over again.
"Let me untie your shoes-"
Before Reo could crawl to the foot of the bed to get back to his earlier task, Seishiro trapped him by wrapping his arms around Reo.
"Sei."
Seishiro turned them around so they were both laying on their side.
"No, Reo needs to sleep."
Reo was a little more allowing with Seishiro that day, probably because it was such a special occasion, so he gave in and kissed Seishiro on the nose.
"I love you."
Seishiro hummed. "I love you too."
Notes:
aaaaaand that's a wrap. This is the longest fic I've ever written :D and it was written in just short of a month, which is really fast for me. (this was ofc achieved with countless sleepless nights and autism.) My Tumblr is @discozwemmen if you ever wanna talk about Blue lock :)
Heli_OWN on Chapter 1 Sun 07 Sep 2025 12:15AM UTC
Comment Actions
Begaydodrugshailsatan on Chapter 1 Sun 07 Sep 2025 09:48AM UTC
Comment Actions
Choki_the_cactus on Chapter 1 Sun 07 Sep 2025 08:01AM UTC
Comment Actions
Begaydodrugshailsatan on Chapter 1 Sun 07 Sep 2025 09:52AM UTC
Comment Actions
Choki_the_cactus on Chapter 2 Mon 08 Sep 2025 07:00AM UTC
Comment Actions
Begaydodrugshailsatan on Chapter 2 Mon 08 Sep 2025 11:36AM UTC
Comment Actions
Choki_the_cactus on Chapter 2 Mon 08 Sep 2025 04:54PM UTC
Comment Actions