"The Sleepover"

By MaturePopcorn

Description: Nagisa spends the night at Rei's house, and a simple night of video games and movies quickly turns into a confession…

WARNING: Rated T for some minor language and *spoilers* a kissing scene.

Author's note: I've… Never written a story about Free! before? I love the ship Rei x Nagisa, and I'm glad that apparently you do too! And yes, it is rather short. I just wrote it for fun and boredom, so I didn't stretch it out as much as I could have. Doesn't mean the quality dropped though!

Much love,

~Kisa Alvarez

Chapter 001

Rei looked up from his book as his doorbell rang. Though he kept his usual cool expression, he was actually very excited, because his parents weren't home and his best friend Nagisa was spending the night. He got up and opened the door, letting in the bubbly and excited Nagisa, who looked like he had already had enough sugar to last him the night.

"Rei! We haven't hung out at night like this in forever! We're gonna have so much fun, we're gonna stay up late and play Mario Kart and eat sugar and tell ghost stories…"

Rei let his mind wander as Nagisa rambled on. "He's cute when he gets excited… Then again, he's always cute..." He sighed, though Nagisa didn't notice, and his thoughts got sadder. "I wish he liked me back… No, Nagisa-kun is so childish, he probably wouldn't notice me the way I notice him…"

Nagisa gasped in the middle of talking and dropped to his knees, opening his backpack. "Rei-kun! I almost forgot! I brought a movie!"

Rei tilted his head in curiosity. "What movie?"

Nagisa blushed and giggled. "It's a naughty movie…!"

Rei blushed very lightly. "O-oh. I didn't think you were into that sort of thing…"

Nagisa waved his hand in dismissal and put the case back into his backpack. "We don't have to watch it if it makes you uncomfortable." He laughed, but inside he was mildly upset. "He didn't even look at the case! I've been dropping subliminal hints for months now… Come on, Rei! Even you should've noticed that the movie was about two guys…!"

Rei turned and walked into the kitchen, leaving the oblivious Nagisa in the living room still thinking. Eventually Nagisa realised he was alone and ran after Rei, shouting, "Wait for me, Rei! I wanna make a pizza!"

Rei chuckled. "A pizza? Okay, I guess… I think we have a frozen one in here somewhere…" and opened the freezer, pulling out a cheese pizza. Nagisa bounced up and down excitedly as he put it in the oven and set the timer for 20 minutes.

"Rei, do you have soda?"

Rei looked warily at Nagisa. Nagisa looked like he was ready to explode… Adding caffeine and sugar might mean he didn't get any sleep at all, and Rei would have to stay up all night by extension to keep him company. He sighed. "Yeah, we have Pepsi in the fridge…"

Nagisa squealed and opened the fridge, grabbing two and not giving one to Rei. He sat on the couch, popping one open as he turned Rei's WiiU on and started Mario Kart 8.

When the pizza was ready, both boys ate in between matches of Mario Kart and Nagisa slowly got more and more animated with each sip of soda. Rei's energy level stayed stagnant as he ate, and he figured that was better anyway. He didn't like the jittery feeling of caffeine, so he drank water.

Finally, when the pizza was gone, they turned off the WiiU and moved it into Rei's bedroom so they could play on his bed. Nagisa was having a lot of fun, and Rei had to admit to himself, having Nagisa around definitely made him happy. He smiled to himself as Nagisa turned on Sm4sh. Glancing at the clock, he noticed it was still only 10:12. "We have plenty of time… Maybe there will even be an opportunity to confess my love…?" he scoffed at himself, thinking, "And maybe Nagisa will be serious for ten consecutive seconds… It's fine. Being friends is just fine…" But he knew he was lying to himself.

As the night wore on, Rei could feel his nerves getting the best of him. He couldn't even concentrate on the game, and all his brain could fixate on was Nagisa. He wanted so badly just to kiss the blonde boy, but he knew he couldn't. It would be a breach of their friendship. The last thing Rei wanted was to make things awkward, or at worst, ruin their friendship completely.

As a match ended, Nagisa nonchalantly asked Rei, "So what kinda girl do you like, anyway?"

Rei gulped. "Where is this coming from?" He hesitated before settling on a safe answer. "I don't really know."

"Well, what was your last girlfriend like?"

Rei took a shaky breath. "Uh, Nagisa, I actually…" He paused, gathering all his courage to say, "I like boys."

Nagisa didn't skip a single beat. "Oh, cool! So do I, actually. Sorry if that made you uncomfortable, I was just curious." He beamed at the blue-haired boy, flashing a smile that Rei found more brilliant than the morning sun.

"W-wait, he likes boys?" Rei's mind was a swirl of emotion and thoughts, all racing around and jumbling together. "Does that mean…? I have a chance?" He fought to keep his emotions in check, though his joy was liable to burst from within his body at any moment. It took all his energy just to not scream. Nagisa was gay too!

"Hey, Nagisa…"

"Hmm?" the blonde responded, not bothering to look up from his game. He was now playing single player.

"What kind of… boy do you like?"

Nagisa blushed and paused the game. "Well, I like you Rei."

Rei couldn't believe what was happening. He knew for sure this had to be a dream. Nagisa was always straight forward with everything he said, but he had never expected him to be so… Direct. Though his approach at confession lacked subtly, Rei thought it had a certain Nagisa charm to it and found it cute. Just like Nagisa was. His mind swirled again, though this time he physically felt light headed and a little dizzy. His heart was beating like crazy in his chest; he was certain Nagisa could hear it.

"You… You like…" was all he could stammer back.

Nagisa sighed. "It's okay if you don't like me back. I don't wanna lose our friendship, and I promise not to push it anymore. I just really like you as a friend and a bit more, so don't be mad." The blonde boy rambled as Rei just sat and stared, unable to believe his luck.

"Nagisa…"

The shorter boy glanced up at Rei. "Yeah, Rei?" he asked softly.

"I like you too." With that, Rei leaned in and pressed his lips softly to Nagisa's. He was startled at how soft they were, and, parting his lips, he noticed Nagisa's mouth tasted like Pepsi. He liked the look of surprise in Nagisa's eyes as it faded to happiness and finally to contented bliss. Enjoying the kiss for over a minute, both boys broke off at the same time for air. In the moments of silence that followed, Rei was the first to speak. "I had no idea you liked me that way…"

Nagisa blushed. "I could say the same for you," he retorted gently. "I've… kinda liked you since you joined the swim team all those months ago. I just never knew how to tell you."

Rei smiled wistfully and averted his gaze to prevent further colouration of his cheeks. "I've felt the same way," he responded shortly.

Nagisa groaned and flopped down onto Rei's bed, sighing, "Well it would have been nice to know that back then!"

Rei smiled. "But we know it now, and that's enough for me," he breathed. He hesitated before adding, "Hey, Nagisa?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you like to kiss again?" the blue haired boy asked, the words tumbling out of his mouth as if in a daze.

Nagisa blushed, blinking. He sat up and responded by leaning in and pressing their lips together. Rei recoiled in surprise before consenting and kissing back. The last thing he thought was, "This is going to be a fun night…"

Author's Note II: I don't know why I can't end stories better; if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!