Work Text:
“Hey Rei-chan, you must be great at maths! Will you please tutor me? I don’t get geometry at all!”
Rei was approximately 87.4% sure that this was a bad idea. In fact, he had originally refused, claiming that Nagisa would not take the beauty of the equations and parabolas and sharp, crisp lines of polygons seriously, nor would he grasp why they were so beautiful to begin with. But immediately after his refusal, the pestering began. It was like something out of a horror movie. Around every corner was Nagisa, begging for Rei to tutor him. And if he wasn’t around the corner, he was directly behind him, still begging and pleading. He even went as far to follow him to his house, running with him as he made his way home while he listed off reasons why Rei should tutor him, ranging anywhere from because he desperately needs help to simply the fact that he is “too cute” to not help in his time of need.
Rei had asked Makoto-sempai if this was a common occurrence, and apparently Nagisa is incredibly persistent when he really wants something. “He’s been like that since we were kids,” Makoto had said, a warm smile on his face as he reminisced, “Whenever Haru or I had got a new toy or a new swimsuit, he wouldn’t leave us alone until we told him where we got it or simply gave whatever we had to him. Honestly, it’s better to just give him what he wants.”
So now here he is, sitting in Nagisa’s room, attempting to keep the blonde on track as he went over how to find the volume of a cone. Needless to say, it’s a challenge. At the moment, he’s not even doing anything particularly annoying. He’s just... staring at Rei’s face.
“Nagisa-kun, could you please focus on the problem at hand? Why are you staring at me when you can barely understand a simple formula?” Rei turns to give him a stern look, but is still met with a smile and a laugh.
“Ah, sorry, sorry! It’s just that you really cute when you’re talking about math! Your eyebrows stop creasing and you have a itty bitty smile whenever you talk about numbers in that... um... that number thing that sounds like a pasta!” He smiles and looks back down at his own math notes and practise problems, still with a goofy smile on his face.
Rei blushes but will later on deny that he did any such thing. “I’m not cute, Nagisa-kun,” he adjusts his glasses, “And I think you’re talking about the Fibonacci sequence.” He casts a sideways glance at Nagisa, only to watch the boy jump as he remembered the name. It’s... certainly something.
As Nagisa works on the problems in what Rei knows will be a short lived silence, Rei takes advantage of the situation to do some proper thinking. Namely about how he feels about his classmate and teammate. It’s... strange to say the least. Clearly he likes him, there’s no doubt about that. His brain secretes dopamine whenever he’s nearby, he enjoys himself around him, he finds Nagisa humorous and fun. The real question is, in what WAY does he like him. He’s done a lot of research, anything ranging from actual scientific studies on human emotions and love, to shojou mangas (provided by Kou, of course), to Makoto (he is rather wise and mature for his age). All come up with a relatively similar response: Love should be, you know, happy. Love should give you the pretty pink, rosy perspective on life. You should constantly want to be around the person you love, that you and your loved one should like to embrace and kiss and talk.
That love should be beautiful.
BUT HOW COULD SOMEONE LIKE NAGISA BE BEAUTIFUL?
He’s all over the place! He can’t stay still and is always, always talking about something that is usually pointless, unrelated, or completely random! He’s pushy and persistent to the point where Rei thinks he should see a mental health specialist, and half the time Rei wants to drown him in his precious pool rather than have him teach Rei how to swim. He gives him that he is certainly physically beautiful, anyone could see that. And it’s not like he’s without good qualities as well, like how he never half-asses anything, and is very cheerful and bright, and is a kind person, and cares greatly for his friends, and... he’s nice. Just nice.
Rei begins to run calculations and pros & cons in his head, all the while not noticing Nagisa as he begins to doodle on his finished worksheet.
‘The percentage of me liking him as just a friend is approximately 43%, with thinking of him as a potential romantic relationship partner totals out to about 65%, with about 2% remaining that I unconditionally love him. Rule out love, improbable. Going with friend option allows me to remain as I am wit Nagisa while forming a deeper bond of friendship with him over time and through swimming and as classmates. Fine. Going with relationship means that he may not, in fact, feel that way about me, and therefore reject my advances and ruin our current friendship or at least make it incredibly awkward for the majority of our school life. But should he... accept my advances... it would be... insufficient data. Unable to determine outcome. I can’t make an informed decision without sufficient data! Experiment required. Perhaps if I can’t see how maybe he’d react to a romantic advance, I could better choose an option. But how? Simple ways of showing affection... Hugs and kisses are too personal and uncomfortable... I have nothing to give as a present, nor do I have flowers... handholding, perhaps? It seems to be my only option as of now...’
“Rei-chan? I can hear the gears turning in your head, Rei-chan. What are you thinking about, huh? Rei-chan? Reeeiii-chan,” Rei heard as he began to feel the eraser of Nagisa’s pencil poking his cheek. He snaps out of his thoughtfulness, and turns to give Nagisa a very calculating stare, still without a word. “Rei-chan? Are you okay? Why are you looking so seriously at me? Ah, are you thinking about ways to praise me for my good work! Because I’d like snacks! Or sweets!” Nagisa smiles up at Rei and continues to yammer on about sweets and snacks.
Until Rei puts his hand down on his.
Finally, for once in his life, Nagisa has been rendered speechless. At first he tries to move his hand away, probably assuming this was just a simple misplacement of his hand. But his eyes go a bit wide when the hand follows and even interlocks their fingers. Nagisa blushes a little bit, but Rei’s face is as straight as ever. “So how does this interaction make you feel? In general or about me specifically, either will do,” Rei asks as though this was an average occurrence between them.
Nagisa blushes a little more and thinks for a minute, “I-I think it’s nice. I mean, I think Rei-chan’s hand fits well in mine. Plus his hand is, um, warm,” Nagisa stammers out, looking everywhere but at Rei’s serious face. “W-Why do you want to know?”
“I’m trying to guess the probability of you reacting positively to romantic advances by me, and then attempting to use that data to judge which direction to take our relationship,” Rei adjusts his glasses and takes out a notepad from his nearby bag, writing down ratios and calculations whilst oblivious to Nagisa’s floundering.
“R-Rei-chan! Do you even understand what you’re s-saying to me?”
“Of course! I just explained it to you, idiot.” The scribble of the pencil continues as Rei keeps his eyes glued to his equations.
“...So Rei-chan likes me? Like, in a romantic way?”
The pencil stops and Rei pauses for only a minute before going absolutely bright red, before scribbling even more furiously at his notepad. This was not part of the plan.
Nagisa’s face lit up like Christmas. As improbable as Rei knows it is, he could swear that for a second that Nagisa was actually luminescent. He spent a few seconds to giggle at Rei’s utter embarrassment before taking away the notepad and forcing Rei to look him in the eyes. The other boy’s face was positively crimson without his notepad to hide behind.
“You know Rei-chan, you’re really cute sometimes. Would you like to go on a date with me?”
Rei is a bit too dumbstruck to formulate a proper response, so rather than embarrassing himself further by attempting to make a verbal response, he simply nods, which earns him a hug from the smaller boy. A big hug. The squeezy kind that knocks Rei back and ends up with Nagisa on his stomach. “Wonderful! I was thinking that maybe you’d never realize you liked me. Or that I liked you. Why do you think I wanted you to tutor me so badly? Either way, you’re really thick when it comes to other people’s emotions, Rei-chan! But I don’t mind, I think it makes you even cuter! So where will you take me, Rei-chan? You can pick pur date location! Rei-chan? Rei-chan, are you okay?”
No. No he was not. He was not prepared for this. He’s not prepared for Nagisa at all. He’s not sure he can do this. The hands around his midsection loosen and come up to pillow Nagisa’s head. “...Or maybe we could just start with coming back to my house after school. I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed, after all, since you’re my responsibility,” Nagisa yawns out, letting his eyes close shut as he rests on Rei’s torso. Silently, Rei lifts up his head to look at the other boy, and then brings up a hand to run through the silky, blonde locks.
Maybe, just maybe, this could work. Rei’s heart rate has already accelerated and Nagisa looks... well, maybe not beautiful, but pretty damn cute. The odds are seemingly in their favor, so... why not?