It had taken far too long for him to confess to Nagisa.

When Rei first realized he had feelings for the energetic blonde boy, he had distanced himself from Nagisa as much as possible. He wasn't trying to push him away, but he honestly hadn't known what to do; as he often did with problems he did not understand, he panicked, and spent far too many nights researching everything he could about homosexuality, the dos and don'ts, trying to prepare himself as much as he could for whatever he intended to do about it. Although he still had no idea what he did intend to do.

He strongly believed that Nagisa did not share his affections. After all, the blonde was open and loving with all of his friends, and for that matter, everyone he met. There was no reason to believe that Nagisa grabbing his hand tightly or the way he endearingly pulled Rei along to go do something absurd was romantic. He did those same things with Haru and Makoto. It was just how he was.

More than anything, Rei didn't want to ruin his friendship with Nagisa. If he was honest with himself, he had never had real friends before now… It wasn't something he felt like he should risk for something as frivolous as romantic feelings. He hoped it was a passing fancy, something he could ignore and then forget, and everything could go back to the way it was. But every time Nagisa accidentally brushed against his shoulder, swam over to him during practice, or flashed him that cheeky smile, Rei could feel his heart tightening into something like a stranglehold.

Things weren't getting any easier, and so the distancing began. Rei started avoiding Nagisa after school, in the hallways, and he even kept his practices short, leaving suddenly before everyone else would. He hated that he was doing it, and he felt terrible that he appeared to be avoiding his new friends, but there was no other choice. He didn't know the answer. Until he did, there was no way he could take action. That just wasn't how it was done.

It was only when running head-long into Nagisa in the locker room after the others had gone home that Rei had opened his mouth to apologize and a confession tumbled out instead.

Nagisa's face had lit up with a smile, huge and comforting, and he told Rei that he had suspected it all along. And before Rei could spend too much time being embarrassed, Nagisa had grabbed his arm and exclaimed in his carefree way, "Let's go out!"

And so here Rei was, two days later, sitting on a bench, glancing at his watch anxiously.

It wasn't long before a blonde head bobbed through a small crowd of people, looking around; Rei's heart was in his throat in an instant, and he stood up, hesitantly offering a small wave in Nagisa's direction. The boy's face lit up when they locked eyes, and he waved back, half-walking, half-skipping over to Rei.

"Whoaaa~ You look great!" Nagisa said with a bright smile, and Rei laughed nervously. "I'm just wearing my normal clothes," he said, and in response Nagisa grabbed his arm. "That's what people are supposed to say on a date, Rei-chan. 'You look nice this evening!' Right?" Nagisa reminded with a playful smirk.

A date. So this really was a date, then.

Rei's face must have reflected his realization, because Nagisa's smile became even warmer.

"Let's go do something!" he suggested, pointing ahead of them to no where in specific. Rei felt his face and ears burning, and it was much harder to think than he would have expected. It usually wasn't difficult to hang out with Nagisa, but this was so different, they were… They were on a date.

"Yes," Rei sounded as if he were writing out a difficult equation, "I researched this extensively. We should go to a movie, and then dinner. I'll pay for both. After, we should walk along the ocean, since it's so nice this time of yea-"

"Whoa, Rei-chan, did you really research how to go on a date?" Nagisa laughed, and Rei reddened and adjusted his glasses. "Of course! I had to be prepared," he said seriously, and Nagisa released another peal of giggles. "And how come you're paying?" he asked Rei, to which Rei put a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Because I'm the one who confessed first. Isn't that how it's done?"

Nagisa's laughter faded, and he smiled at Rei in that cheeky way that usually made Rei's neck and jaw tingle. "But I'm the one who asked you out, technically," he pointed out, and Rei made to counter the blonde, but couldn't think of anything to say and shut his mouth instead. Nagisa laughed through his nose, and started pulling Rei along the street.

"How about," he said, walking backwards while hanging onto Rei's hand, "we just see where the day goes? I just wanted to spend time with Rei-chan. We don't have to do things 'by the book' today."

Rei wasn't sure if he could do that. But Nagisa was pulling his hand, gripping it tightly in his own, and he was grinning in that way, and Rei smiled. Things were just like they always were.

For close to two hours, Rei and Nagisa had traversed much of the town's shopping district, not looking for anything in particular, but having a fun time regardless. While Nagisa was distracted trying on ridiculous hats, Rei had very nearly bought him a small plush bear, but decided against it, for various reasons. It wasn't nearly beautiful enough to consider giving as a gift, but there was also a lingering worry that Nagisa would hate it. He just wanted to make him happy today, if he could. Not that making Nagisa happy was an incredibly difficult task.

The sun was low in the sky as Rei and Nagisa ate the snacks they had bought. Something had been preying on Rei's mind as he munched on his chocolate biscuit, and he finally glanced over at Nagisa who was swinging his legs on the stone wall they were seated on, looking at the sky. He remained silent, wondering how to word the things he was feeling when Nagisa noticed him and flashed him a boyish smile.

"Rei-chan, have you ever been on a date before?" Nagisa asked, leaning forward.

Dammit. Nagisa was so good at that, it was eerie.

Rei pushed his glasses further up his nose. "Well, no. I was always too busy with everything else. I thought they were silly." he said. Nagisa looked back at the sky, smiling. "I knew you would say that," he chuckled. Rei stared at Nagisa again. "Have you? Ever… You know, been on a date before?" Rei asked.

"Oh, yeah," Nagisa tossed carelessly, legs still swinging. "I've been on a lot of them."

Rei practically felt his heart fall into his stomach. He looked away, busying himself with eating the rest of his biscuit. "I see," he said, his mouth partially full of food, which was not beautiful at all, but he was too flustered to take notice. Nagisa noticed, however, around the same time that he realized how tactless he had just been.

Nagisa waved his hands in front of him as if to wipe away his previous statement. "None of them were serious, though. It was only one date each time, none of them were important or anything."

Rei felt a cold stab of realization. Was this date going to be the same? Just one? Unimportant?

Rei quelled the emotion rising in his throat, and merely nodded, unable to think of anything constructive to say in return. Nagisa resigned to silence, realizing that for once, he may have said the wrong thing at the wrong moment.

They had decided to see a movie after all. They had walked past the movie theater and the one movie Nagisa had been wanting to see was just beginning, so they hurried into the theater. Rei was glad, to be honest; he didn't much feel like talking, and ever since their earlier discussion, conversations had been awkward.

Rei didn't enjoy the movie very much, although Nagisa seemed incredibly into it. The highlight of the movie, for Rei at least, was when something particularly exciting happened, and Nagisa groped around in the darkness of the theater for Rei's hand and gripped it tight. Even after the scene had ended, Nagisa's hand remained, and although Rei could hardly remember when because of how fuzzy his mind was, at some point their fingers had interlinked.

The sun had long gone down, and the streets were bright and still densely populated, so the couple (could they even be called that? Rei wondered,) walked along one of the more deserted side roads that did, in fact, have a great view of the ocean.

"Did you like the movie?" Nagisa asked with that smile of his, leaning forward to seek a reaction from Rei before he could utter one, as usual.

I liked holding your hand. Rei wanted to say, but the words wouldn't come. He merely nodded, his usual desire to admit his displeasure with the film and outline all of the issues he had with its plot completely gone. Nagisa bit his bottom lip, and then suddenly stepped ahead of Rei and turned on him, grabbing his shoulders firmly.

"Hold on, Rei-chan," Nagisa said seriously, effectively causing Rei to stop and flush at the same time. It was rare to see such a contemplative look on the blonde's face, and Rei would be lying if he said it didn't unnerve him.

"I'm sorry about what I said before. I didn't word it right," he said, lowering his hands. Rei forced a smile and shook his head. "It's okay, it's not a big deal."

"But it is!" Nagisa said, his expression forming into a pout. "I made it sound like I'm going on dates all the time. I used to go on a date with whoever asked me to, whether I liked them or not. I just thought that dates were fun, and I wanted to have fun with new people." He looked down then, a much more subdued smile taking the place of his usual carefree variety. "It wasn't fair of me, because those people really liked me. And I guess they got the hint when I never showed interest in anything other than friendship."

Rei's eyes were wide as he listened to Nagisa, and he felt like a fool for taking what he had said earlier so personally. He cleared his throat, eyes darting away from Nagisa's form out of awkwardness. "So… This date-" his mouth fumbled with the word, as it was still so foreign to him, "-is… Different than the others?"

"Yes!" came Nagisa's unfaltering reply. Rei felt his face heat up again, and he nearly felt so relieved that he could cry. But of course, he wouldn't. Nothing about crying was beautiful.

"I asked you out anyway, remember? You're the first person I've ever asked out. Well, asked out like that." Nagisa said with a playful smile tugging at his lips again. Rei smiled too.

"I'm sorry I ruined the mood," Rei apologized, but Nagisa shook his head and twirled a finger in the air with authority. "The night is not over yet! We've barely done anything! FIGHT! Besides, this is only our first date." he said, winking. Rei couldn't help but utter a laugh of relief. "Nagisa…"

"Say, Rei-chan," Nagisa said, and now their faces were much closer, when did that happen?

"Y-Yes,"

"If this is your first date, then have you ever kissed anyone?" Nagisa asked, pressing a finger to his own lips to really get the point across. Rei's face was on fire, he was positive.

"If I thought dates were silly, what makes you think I wouldn't feel the same about kissing?" Rei managed to say, trying hard to make his voice sound as exacerbated as usual. Nagisa grinned impishly and gently removed Rei's glasses, slipping them into his pants pocket; Rei barely noticed anything had changed, save for the fact that Nagisa's form was suddenly blurrier than it was before.

"I haven't either," Nagisa said softly, and his hands grabbed fistfuls of Rei's shirt and dragged him down just enough to push his head against the taller boy's, mouth closing over mouth.

Rei was too surprised to think of closing his eyes for the briefest of moments, but finally he remembered that he had studied this, and that closing your eyes and remembering to breathe were very important. But then Nagisa whimpered ever-so-softly into his mouth and every shred of research he had ever done about anything was flung away, leaving only the warmth of Nagisa's mouth and the sweet taste of the boy's tongue.

It almost felt like diving into that pool for the first time, except much more beautiful. He was floundering, drowning in the kiss, inexperienced and directionless, but Nagisa was here guiding him, and he was also inexperienced but it felt so good that it didn't matter.

All that mattered was Nagisa's arms moving to wrap around his neck and pull him closer, and his own hands boldly sliding to Nagisa's waist in order to anchor himself before he could spiral down any deeper than he felt he already was.

They had simultaneously discovered a rhythm now, lips moving together in a new and interesting way, Nagisa's tongue darting in between teeth to taste the other, and Rei learning to respond with his own tongue. When the two finally pulled away, Rei's breath was caught in his throat and his heart was beating savagely in his ears.

Nagisa was pink-faced but smiling, his arms still draped around Rei's neck.

"Your expression is beautiful," Nagisa sighed, and although Rei couldn't see himself, he certainly didn't feel beautiful, he felt like a mess. A happy, giddy mess.

"Nagisa," Rei said, his hands still gripping the boy's sides with purpose.

"Mm?"

"I want to have a second kiss with you." Rei said seriously. He had meant to say 'date', of course, but that didn't matter. Nagisa had already pulled him in anyway.