They were walking side by side on the snow-cloaked sidewalk, and although Nagisa's ears felt like they would freeze and fall off any minute, it didn't stop the blonde from grinning ear to ear as he had been for the past few hours.

It was the night of the 23rd of December, and Rei and Nagisa had just had an early Christmas celebration with their friends. Although it was two whole days before Christmas, all of them had agreed that Christmas Eve was reserved for any romantic dates any of them might be planning (well, everyone except Gou, and when Nagisa had reminded the pouting girl that a certain orange-haired swim captain would probably fly back to Japan at her call, he had just barely avoided being slugged by both Matsuoka siblings, thanks to Nitori and Makoto intervening). And of course, Christmas Day itself was reserved for spending time with their respective families. Save Samezuka's swim captain, who had left the country with his family for the holidays, everyone had been free on the 23rd, so they had decided to meet up then.

At first, it was assumed by most of them that the celebration would be held at Haru's house, more out of habit than any other reason. His parents were not due back in the country until early January, and thus Haru would remain the only occupant of the Nanase household until then, freeing the place up for group gatherings as usual. However, Rei had suggested that they hold the party at his house instead. Or rather, the offer had first been made enthusiastically by Rei's mother, who had not been able to get off work for her younger son's birthday and heard from Rei that his friends from swim club had thrown him a surprise party on the fourteenth. Not only was Mrs. Ryuugazaki grateful for them taking care of her son, but she also wanted to meet Rei's other friends as well (having only met Nagisa previously).

Nagisa had actually found it pretty sweet, although it might have been a little embarrassing if he had been in Rei's shoes, the way that Mrs. Ryuugazaki had fawned over their group and asked them questions about her son. In his opinion, she had not been too talkative or overbearing, leaving their group alone to celebrate after a few minutes of chatting. Though everyone had insisted on bringing food themselves, she had also made several dishes for the occasion with Rei's help, and her cooking had tasted delicious. It seemed that Rei had inherited his cooking skills from his mother, who had proudly declared that she had saved one of her sons from a life of survival on instant ramen (according to her, neither Rei's father nor his older brother could cook very well). Despite Rei's embarrassed protesting, Nagisa could tell how much he cared for his mother, from the affection in his lavender eyes as he watched her interacting with his friends. The blonde suspected that Rei was a mama's boy at heart, and almost considered saying so but decided that he would preserve the mother-son moment and tease Rei about it later.

After some hours of eating, chatting, playing games, and having a gift exchange, the group had helped clean up and then exchanged their farewells. With a promise to meet up for New Year's at the shrine, they parted ways, Haruka and Makoto heading for the train station while Rin, Nitori, and Gou left for the bus stop nearby. Since it was dark and Nagisa's house was close by, Rei had offered to walk the blonde home. Now, it was just the two of them, their footsteps crunching down the snowy walk, a comfortable silence between them. Which Nagisa broke with a sly grin as he turned to face Rei and said,

"Rei~chan~!" Rei stopped in his tracks, his eyes blinking in suspicion at Nagisa's drawn-out voice.

"What is it, Nagisa-kun?" the blue-haired boy asked, lifting a brow. Nagisa's mischievous grin widened.

"That color looks fabulous on you. Whoever bought you that wonderful piece of clothing?" he purred. It only took Rei a second to register what Nagisa was talking about. Feigning ignorance, the brunette turned away, trying to hide the blush spreading across his face by pushing his glasses up with his hand.

"You mean this winter coat? My mother bought it for my birthday a week ago. I do agree with you, the navy is quite rich—"

"Rei-chan!" The grin quickly disappeared from Nagisa's face and was replaced with a pout. "You've got to be kidding me—it's been less than two weeks since we've started dating and already you're so cold!" At this sudden accusation, Rei sputtered before turning back towards Nagisa indignantly.

"Wha—You were the one who—you were asking a question you already know the answer to—I know you're just trying to make me flustered on purpose!" he burst out, his cheeks becoming more crimson. Enjoying Rei's less-composed reaction while maintaining his pout, Nagisa looked at Rei with a false accusatory gaze.

"To think that you'd mention the coat from your mother instead—I knew you were a mama's boy but I didn't know it was to that extent—"

"I am NOT a mama's boy!" Rei shouted in protest, his face flushing even more in embarrassment. Nagisa couldn't hold it in anymore—pout dropping swiftly from his face, the blonde burst into laughter. Seeing that the little devil was yet again teasing him, Rei frowned and started walking briskly, brushing past Nagisa. Wiping his tears of laughter, Nagisa collected himself and ran, quickly catching up to the bespectacled boy.

"Aww, c'mon, Rei-chan~ It was just a joke!" he said. Rei snorted in response, still not facing Nagisa and continuing down the sidewalk. Despite Nagisa's wheedling, the brunette continued to ignore his boyfriend for a few more minutes, though he knew he didn't have it in his heart to remain annoyed much longer. So when Nagisa tugged at his arm, Rei turned his peeved eyes towards the blonde.

"Come on, Rei-chan. You're not going to walk your boyfriend home in silence, are you?" the shorter boy said coaxingly. His smile had changed from teasing to softly affectionate and he held out his right hand towards Rei's left. "My hand's getting cold, you know?" Rei let out a small 'hmph'.

"You're wearing gloves," he pointed out. But still, he took Nagisa's gloved hand in his. At this gesture, Nagisa's eyes sparkled and he let out a laugh of delight as he linked his fingers with Rei's and gave his hand a squeeze. Rei's own eyes softened and he matched Nagisa's pace once more, returning the squeeze gently with his own hand. For a while, they enjoyed each other's warmth in pleasant silence.

"But all jokes aside, it really does look good on you," Nagisa began again. "It matches your glasses nicely, too!" At this unexpected compliment, Rei blushed, pushing up his glasses again with his hand.

"Of course—I can confidently handle any type of fashion," he claimed, feigning confidence to mask his own bashfulness. "I have the theories perfectly memorized!" The movement he had made with his hand revealed a strip of crimson red wool that had previously been hidden beneath his coat sleeve. Catching the flash of red, Nagisa's smile widened and he clung to Rei's arm, feeling pleased with himself.

...

To be honest, Nagisa had hesitated at first when he bought the cardigan as a birthday gift for Rei. Really, he had not even been thinking in the clothing department. Therefore, it had been a matter of chance that he had, in the middle of his mulling over what to get Rei for his birthday at the mall, absent-mindedly walked into a clothing shop. It hadn't been his intention to buy anything there…he had just been letting his gaze wander around the shop, when his eyes caught a flash of red hanging on a rack.

The moment Nagisa laid eyes on the crimson red cardigan, something told him that it would be perfect for Rei. It was a little bit brighter than the color of Rei's glasses, but it wasn't garishly bright. Rather, the color had a nice, rich feel to it—and upon touching the soft material, Nagisa could tell that the quality of the wool was also quite nice. His mother had worked for the fashion industry when she was young, so he knew from what she had taught him (knowing her son's explosively colorful fashion sense, his mother had insisted that she at least teach him how to assess the quality of different fabrics). It was well woven and would not be itchy on the skin, and although the design was simple and not something he would pick to wear himself, it was beautiful.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Nagisa tried to imagine what the cardigan would look like on Rei—how the color would contrast with his rich blue hair and lavender eyes, bring out skin that had paled slightly as a result of reduced exposure to sunlight in the winter, how it would fit his broad shoulders, drape gracefully over his firm chest, curve slightly around the sculpted muscles of his arms—

And that was when Nagisa decided that maybe he was thinking too much. Squeezing his eyes shut, he slapped his flushed cheeks with his hands and snapped then open, shaking his head for good measure. He turned his attention back to the cardigan hanging in front of him. He knew Rei's size because he had borrowed something similar to a cardigan from him once. After going through the rack, he found one in Rei's size and examined it thoroughly for any tears and loose threads.

Good, there doesn't seem to be any! He took the cardigan's hanger off the rack and was about to head over to the counter when he stopped.

Should…Should I actually be buying him clothing? he wondered, cheeks coloring red once more.

Two weeks ago at this point in time, Nagisa had not been dating Rei, much less confessed his feelings for the oblivious butterfly. But by then Nagisa had already long been head-over-heels for his best friend, and perhaps it was due to those feelings that the choice seemed so intimate all of a sudden...which left him feeling hesitant.

This almost feels like I'm his girlfriend or something…and isn't this my first birthday gift for him? He had a lot of male friends in high school, and he couldn't picture any of them giving each other clothing for their birthday (well, Haruka had given Makoto a sweater once for his birthday, but even back then they had practically been dating, so they didn't really count). Even if they did, Nagisa thought that they might do so if they were really close, but—

But in the end, Nagisa realized, it all came down to his personal feelings and not such generalized excuses. What mattered was that he found this sort of intimate even for him, and that there really was no denying or avoiding his huge crush on the butterfly swimmer. He knew it was silly—it was not as if this cardigan was a love letter or anything—but still—

What if he doesn't like it…? What if he tries it on and it doesn't fit…? Or worse…what if he thinks this is creepy…? Letting out a wistful sigh, Nagisa stared down at the cardigan for a long while, half of him wanting to buy it and the other half afraid.

"What's wrong, sir?" a voice suddenly asked from behind him. Nagisa jumped, startled out of his thoughts. Turning, he found one of the saleswomen in the store, a woman who looked in her mid twenties. She was looking at Nagisa with kind violet eyes that reflected concern.

"Huh? Oh, uhm, it's nothing!" Nagisa replied quickly, caught off guard. The saleswoman didn't really look convinced, and Nagisa wondered what kind of an expression he had been making for her to ask such a question. However, she didn't pry further, but instead turned her attention to the cardigan in Nagisa's hands.

"That's a nice choice," she commented in a friendly way. "Although the size looks a little big—"

"Uhm—well, actually, it's not for me," Nagisa explained. "That is, uhm—well, I don't really know if the person will like it—and this is like the first present I'm ever giving him—so I'm not really sure that I should—" He had no idea why he was babbling. Maybe it was because the saleswoman's eyes reminded Nagisa of Rei's (although their shade was a little darker than Rei's) that he felt the urge to lay his thoughts bare.

"Oh—" The saleswoman studied Nagisa with those violet eyes before a knowing smile came onto her face. It startled Nagisa further as he found that even her smile reminded him of Rei's. The next words she said were said so casually that one would have thought she was talking about the weather.

"So I'm guessing it's for your boyfriend?"

If Nagisa had been drinking strawberry milk at that moment, he was sure he would have spat it out in shock. His eyes widening from surprise, he felt himself turning red from head to toe.

"Huh?! N-no, it's not like—he, he's just a friend!" he blurted frantically. "A, Aha, I see! So it is a bit weird to give this to just a friend! Thanks for the advi—"

"Wait!" Nagisa had been hurrying to put the cardigan back on the rack when the saleswoman stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, and it might be that you want me to just mind my business, but—I saw how your eyes lit up when you saw this cardigan, and how you looked really deep in thought for twenty minutes when you were staring at it—and how you spent the next five minutes checking for holes and everything—" There was a kind sparkle in the saleswoman's eyes as she regarded the blonde boy before her.

"Even though I don't know the guy, it's obvious even to a stranger like me how much you care about him. And I'm sure he'll be happy to know it, no matter what you give him." She patted Nagisa encouragingly on the shoulder.

"So be brave!"

...

It was strange, thinking back on the incident now, how a complete stranger had managed to give him courage. Nagisa didn't even know the name of the saleswoman, as he had been too preoccupied with his own thoughts to look at her name tag. It probably had something to do with those eyes of hers. In the end, he had decided to purchase the cardigan, and she had rung it up for him, wrapping it up nicely in purple gift wrap and tying it with a golden ribbon. Maybe it had all been just a sales ploy to get him to come back or maybe it was out of genuine kindness, but she had refused to charge Nagisa for the wrapping, saying it was on the store. Either way, Nagisa walked out of the mall that day with the package, and although it just sat hidden away in a drawer in his room until the fourteenth, he felt as if the package was psychologically burning a hole in his mind.

He was sure he must have puzzled Rei with his change in attitude around the bespectacled boy. During the days of school between Nagisa's trip to the mall and Rei's birthday, Nagisa had actively avoided eye contact with Rei, as well as any physical contact with him. He felt an irrational fear that Rei would find out his secret if he interacted with him at all, so despite his awareness that the brunette was growing confused, he continued to actively guard against his fear. It got to the extent that the others noticed his behavior, and although Makoto had taken the blonde aside to ask if anything was wrong, Nagisa only gave him vague, evasive responses. And when Rei himself finally tried to confront him after school one of those days, Nagisa had not even been able to make any half-assed excuses, blurting out a hasty good bye before turning heel and running away.

When the blonde continued to exhibit the same behavior at Rei's birthday party, he had seen the hurt in Rei's eyes, which had only become tinged with disappointment when Nagisa lied in front of the others that he had forgotten to get a present for Rei. Each time he saw that look on the brunette's face, Nagisa had felt a stab of guilt in his conscience. At the same time, the blonde was struggling with the turmoil inside him regarding the gift. It got so bad that up until the last minute he was seriously considering the option of bolting from the apartment with the package still in his backpack. But Nagisa knew that he couldn't leave Rei looking hurt on his birthday, that he owed it to his friend to set things straight. Remembering the encouragement from the saleswoman, the blonde steeled himself and purposely hung back as the others congratulated Rei again before saying their farewells and leaving. Only when the last of their friends made their way down the stairs did Nagisa turn to Rei with a forced smile.

"Ah, silly me! I think I left something inside, Rei-chan!" he lied, pushing Rei back into the apartment and shutting the door.

"Eh—Nagisa-kun?!" Rei faltered as he was steered through the living room and towards the veranda. Quickly closing the door shut, Nagisa let out a nervous sigh, squeezing the straps of his backpack and fidgeting while looking at the ground.

[Be brave!] Remembering the saleswoman's words, he took a deep breath.

"Actually, I, uhm—I have something—"

"Is this—is this about how you've been acting the past few days?" Nagisa's eyes widened slightly as he looked up at Rei. The bespectacled boy looked anxious as he stared at Nagisa with nervous lavender eyes.

"Huh?"

"I'm so sorry!" Nagisa blinked. Why was Rei bowing down 90 degrees towards him? And why was he apologizing? The brunette had his eyes squeezed shut as if he feared the worst.

"I don't know what I did to make you upset, but I must have terribly offended you," Rei said in a rush. "I mean, you've never avoided me like this before—and then for it to last so many days—" His fists clenched tightly at his sides. Nagisa's mouth fell open slightly in surprise.

"Rei-chan—"

"I was relieved that you showed up here today with the others—I mean, I know it was a surprise party, but I was so glad to see you there too—I thought maybe you had forgiven me, at least a little—" Rei smiled a little sadly. "But even during the party, you were avoiding me—so I figured you must still be mad—"

"Rei-chan—"

"I thought maybe it was because I always rebuffed your jokes—or because I was always boring you with my talk about theories—or maybe it was because I'm always nagging you about everything—or maybe because I'm someone that takes my anger out on others, like how I lashed out at you before regionals in the summer—"

"Rei-cha—"

"But whatever it is, I'll fix it—I promise!" Rei said desperately. "You're an important friend to me, and I swear I won't make you upset with me again—I'll do anything, so please—please don't avoid me—"

"REI-CHAN!" Nagisa had heard enough—he hated hearing the pain in Rei's voice. And it was all because of his misleading actions and his own stupid fears. Before he knew what he was doing, he had grabbed Rei tightly by the shoulders and pulled him down, forcing Rei to look him in the eye.

"Listen to me!" he began heatedly. "What you're assuming is completely wrong—I'm not mad at you at all! I never was—that wasn't why I was avoiding you!" Rei's eyes widened as he stared at Nagisa's fierce expression, his mouth dropping open slightly in surprise.

"You—you're not mad at me?" he repeated, confused. "Then why—" Nagisa sighed, the nervousness starting to return to his stomach.

"It's my own fault, really," he said a little shakily. "I was trying to hide something from you and I was afraid you'd find out, so I overdid it on the avoiding—" His hands were sweating as he took off his backpack and opened the zipper. Taking out the purple package wrapped in golden ribbon, he let the backpack drop to the ground and thrust the package into Rei's hands, all the while avoiding Rei's eyes.

"Nagisa-kun—" Rei's eyes widened as he looked at the package in his hands.

"Now THAT was what I was hiding," Nagisa said, feeling his cheeks flush as he stared at the ground. "I know I was being stupid about it, but I just wanted to keep it a secret until…" He couldn't bring himself to continue, his heart pounding loudly in his chest.

"May…may I open it?" Rei asked quietly. He received an abrupt nod in response. Carefully, Rei untied the ribbon and unfolded the wrapping. There was the crimson red cardigan, folded neatly and soft in his hands. The brunette's eyes widened as he took in the gift, rendered speechless for a moment.

"Nagisa-kun…"

"I—I know your favorite color's purple, not red," Nagisa said quickly; his hands were now twiddling with the hem of his own sweater. "But—well, actually, it wasn't like I was planning to get you clothing for your birthday, you know? I was just looking around the mall, and I happened to go into a clothing shop and—well, I saw this, and I thought, since your glasses are red and all it would match them and—" he babbled nervously, the tips of his ears starting to turn red.

"It's beautiful," Rei said softly, his voice genuinely touched. "Can I try it on?" At this response, Nagisa flushed even harder, though this time it was due to the rush of pleasure that had just shot through his body.

"O-Of course!" he squeaked. "It's your birthday gift after all!" Rei smiled at Nagisa and carefully unfolded the cardigan. He eased his arms into it, gently pulling the wool over his shoulders and closing a few of the buttons at the bottom.

"How—how does it look?" he asked, the light from the living room gently lighting his form. Nagisa looked up—and what he saw was breathtaking.

It was almost exactly like he had imagined how the cardigan would look on Rei. The size was perfect, fitting his build just tightly enough to accent the long neck, broad shoulders, firm chest, and sculpted arms of the butterfly swimmer, yet not so tightly that it looked uncomfortable. The crimson red wool looked warm and the vivid color made a nice contrast with his dark blue hair and slightly paled skin. It also brought out the rosy hue of his cheeks, which were flushed (from the cold, Nagisa imagined) and gave accent to the darker red glasses that framed his lavender eyes, which were glowing with a soft light. The sight made Nagisa speechless.

"Nagisa-kun?" Rei asked, his smile faltering at the silence.

"I love you." The words slipped out before he could stop himself. Nagisa froze. The smile dropped from Rei's face and was replaced by shock.

"…What?" Rei whispered. Now Nagisa's heart was threatening to leap out of his throat as the blonde realized what he had just said. The weight of the words were sinking in now, and for a moment Nagisa wished he could just disappear off the face of the earth or drop dead on the spot.

Be brave. The thought occurred to him before he could bolt from the veranda. He took a deep breath and decided to go with the flow before any more stupid thoughts could stop him.

"I love how you rebuff my jokes, because it means that you're paying attention to even the silliest things I say. I also love that even if you complain about my antics you go along with them, because I love having fun with you and even if we look like idiots we look like idiots together. I love how you go on and on about your math and science theories because I can see how passionate you are about what you love and even though it's dorky it's also adorable. I love how you nag me about even the smallest things because it makes me feel safe and cared for, like you're looking out for me all the time. Even though I hate seeing you angry, I love it that you were angry for the people you cared about and that you could be honest about your feelings—I love how straightforward you are and how you're bad at telling lies because of it. And I love how selfless you are—you more than proved it when you gave your place up for Rin-chan at the tournament. After all that you've done for us, I would never think that you were just taking your anger out on me or anyone else."

"You're nerdy and kind of serious, but you're also smart and funny, and even though you might be awkward sometimes you're always incredibly kind. No matter what you wear or what you're doing—whether you're pole-vaulting or swimming the butterfly or being ridiculous or scolding me about something—you've always looked beautiful to me." At this moment, Nagisa struggled to meet Rei's eyes, his face flushed nervously but his lips in a genuine smile. "You look beautiful in that cardigan, too. Even though I was really nervous about giving it to you, I'm really glad that I did because it suits you really well."

"…Nagisa-kun…." Throughout Nagisa's entire speech, Rei had been turning a darker shade of red with every passing second. Now he looked completely dazed, as if he didn't know whether this was a dream or reality.

"I'm really glad I met you. When I realized how warm and happy I feel around you, more than anyone else—it kind of hit me." Nagisa's voice grew quiet.

"I'm in love with you, Rei-chan," he said softly, his voice trembling slightly. "I know you might think I'm loud and annoying, and you probably just see me as a friend, but—I just wanted you to know." He let out a forced laugh. "I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable or disgusted—"

He was startled when six feet of blue-haired butterfly practically crashed into him. The next thing he knew, strong arms had circled around Nagisa's torso and was squeezing him tightly in a hug.

"You didn't," a trembling voice said in his ear, husky with emotion. "You can never make me feel disgusted with you. Ever."

"Rei…chan…?"

"I'd be a fool to think that you're just some loud and annoying friend I have to put up with," Rei continued. "It's true that you fool around a lot and always come up with the most ridiculous schemes—and I might always act put out but I've never truly hated it, if I did I wouldn't have gone along with any of it!"

"Before I met you, I was always alone. I shut myself up in my own world of logic and equations and I never tried to venture out of that small world. Whatever I couldn't apply rules and theories to, I chose to turn my back on, and back then, I didn't even realize that the real reason behind it all was because I was afraid. People always thought I was different, and even if they initially tried to approach me they would take a glimpse up close and eventually give up on me."

"That's why I thought you would give up on me too." Rei's hold around Nagisa tightened. "I mean, the reason that you gave back then sounded ridiculous—you chose me just because we both have girly names? I was sure you were just there to make fun of me, and that you'd go away when you were tired of it. But then—you told me that I was beautiful when I was pole-vaulting. Even when I told you that I was only using calculations to jump, you still called it 'amazing', that it wasn't something everyone can do and that it made me special." The brunette's eyes softened at the memory. "No one had ever told me that before. But you said it like it was the easiest thing in the world to say."

"After you learned that I couldn't swim, I thought that you would give up on recruiting me for sure. But you surprised me yet again—the day I quit the track team, you showed up at practice again. It wasn't just seeing Haruka-senpai swim that made me soar that day—I also gathered courage from the fact that you came again, that you didn't give up on me. You saw me make that jump—even though I crashed into the bar and fell, that was the freest I've ever felt jumping. And that was when I thought that maybe, if I can break out of my own small world and join you guys, I could truly become beautiful, become free." Rei smiled softly.

"Ever since you got me to join the swim team, you've opened up my world by so many levels. Being with you taught me how to have fun, taught me that theories and calculations aren't everything, and that sometimes it's okay to just be spontaneous—and that even if I mess up there are people who will accept that part of me too. Because of you, I was able to form real friendships and learn how to be a real friend, and learn things about myself that I never knew in the process. And because you were there all through the way, with your jokes, your laughter, your understanding, and your guiding hand, I was able to get this far." Rei released Nagisa from his hug and took his hand gently in his own.

"After everything you've done for me, how could I not fall in love with you?" A soft glow dusted his cheeks as he met Nagisa's wide magenta eyes head on. "The way you're always tugging on my arm and drape yourself over my shoulder, the way you always go off topic in our conversations, the way you hum and skip when you're feeling good, the way your eyes light up whenever you get some silly idea in your head, the way your forehead scrunches up when you're concentrating hard, the way your laugh bubbles all the way up from your toes to the tip of your head—even the way you drool on my shoulder when you're asleep on the train, is beautiful." Watching Nagisa's face turn redder with every sentence (while feeling his own face color as well), Rei mentally added Nagisa's blushing face to that list. It was a rare sight and he hoped he'd be seeing much more of it in the future. "And you have no idea how happy you make me when you smile—"

"Rei-chan!" Rei was startled into silence by Nagisa's sudden outburst, as well as the blonde's hands clamping over his mouth. His lavender eyes looked at Nagisa in surprise. The blonde had his eyes squeezed shut in embarrassment and what looked like panic as he pressed Rei's lips closed. "Stop it! One more word and I'll faint for sure!" During the whole time Rei had been talking, the blonde had felt his heart trying to leap out of his rib cage, his whole body on fire and his internal happiness meter just about to break in two. He really thought he might happily die from cardiac arrest if Rei continued to spout such sappy words—although to him they were not sappy at all and were actually making him fall for the butterfly swimmer all over again. Seeing Nagisa this flustered was also having the same effect on Rei, who could feel his own smile growing a mile a minute. He definitely wanted to see more of this new side of Nagisa, but for now…he had things to say and do. Gently prying Nagisa's hands off his lips, he took both of Nagisa's hands in his own, squeezing them to get the blonde to meet his eyes.

"I'm in love with you, Nagisa-kun," he said softly. "Now that you know, please take responsibility." Nagisa's mouth fell open slightly, before forming a small, shy smile.

"Is that your code word for 'Ask me out already'?" he asked, his voice sweet and teasing. Rei shot him a look that said 'You already know the answer to that', but grinned back.

"Go out with me," he said simply, his lavender eyes twinkling behind red frames.

The blonde went on tiptoe and pressed his lips to Rei's. After lingering for a while and enjoying the softness and the moment, he stepped back but without letting Rei's hands go. He watched Rei's face burst into flames and nearly match the shade of his new cardigan. He let out a giggle of delight at the flustered butterfly, quoting one of Rei's favorite phrases in response.

"Of course!"

...

"It almost made me want to brag to the others, you know?" Nagisa said cheekily. "Seeing you taking off your coat when you came back from the convenience store, and being all blushy and doing that thing with your glasses just because you were wearing it in front of everyone—you have no idea how much I wanted to tell them it was from me!" He proudly crooned the last word, knowing that it would make the taller boy blush—and he was right in his guessing. Rei sputtered in response, his face flushing at Nagisa's words.

"I was not—I was hardly being blushy and my glasses were actually falling down—" Even as he was saying this, he pushed up his glasses with the hand that wasn't holding Nagisa's. "A-and if you wanted the others to know what you got me, then you should have just given me your present in front of them!" he stuttered.

"Eh~~? But if I gave it to you then and you wore it on the spot I'm positive I still would've told you I love you in front of everyone!" Nagisa said earnestly. "I mean, I didn't know then how you felt but in any case you'd have been embarrassed with everyone watching, right?" Not that he had been planning to blurt it out even when he had managed to get Rei alone, but the blonde refrained from mentioning that point.

"Na—" Rei's cheeks just grew redder, not so much from imagining said situation with an audience involved as from the fact that Nagisa was basically confessing to him again. Stopping in his tracks, he buried his tomato of a face with one hand. "Please don't say things like that so easily, I'm begging you!" Seeing the boy this embarrassed sent both a streak of delight and a pack of butterflies through Nagisa's body. His own cheeks glowing and his magenta eyes sparkling, he tilted his head up at Rei with the most flirtatious look he could produce on his face.

"But Rei-chan, you were on a roll yourself, y'know? Saying all those sappy things to me on the veranda—" He felt his heart warm and flutter when he recalled how Rei had told him he was beautiful. "So tell me—how do you feel when I smile?"

"Na-gi-sa-kun—!" While Rei had laid bare his feelings for Nagisa during his confession, it didn't mean that the brunette wasn't feeling extremely embarrassed about it now that some time had passed since the event. At Rei's drawn-out whine of protest, the blonde giggled.

"Just to let you know, your smile has the same effect on me," he said, smiling affectionately at Rei. "All this time, I thought it was just me who felt that way." Uncovering his face, Rei looked at down at Nagisa, taken aback by the tenderness in the blonde's face.

"Actually, I—" The blue-haired boy hesitated, but cleared his throat. At first, Nagisa thought he had heard the next words wrong because the brunette had said them so quietly. When he asked Rei to repeat them, Rei looked at Nagisa with mixed embarrassment and reluctance before saying it louder.

"I had actually planned to confess to you before, on your birthday," he admitted again, cheeks flaming. For a while, all Nagisa could do was stare stupidly at the brunette. Hearing the loud exclamation that followed nearly made Rei jump out of his skin.

"WHAT?!" the blonde shouted, staring at Rei as if he'd just dropped out of a UFO. "But Rei-chan—that was MONTHS ago—I mean, that was BEFORE SUMMER BREAK and now it's WINTER BREAK and—" He stopped, remembering something important about this statement, and frowned. "But wait, Rei-chan—you never told me anything like that on my birthday—" He paused when he noticed that Rei was looking in the other direction, looking even more embarrassed if that was possible. Immediately, Nagisa knew he was trying to hide something, and brought his face closer to Rei's so that he couldn't lie.

"Rei-chan—you didn't confess to me that day—did you?" The blonde was racking his head for any memories of his birthday that might have been relevant, but so far he couldn't remember anything hugely significant. Now that he looked back on it, he remembered that Rei had been strangely fidgety when they had gone to the summer festival with Haruka and Makoto, but other than that...It seemed like forever before Rei reluctantly opened his mouth.

"Actually—I did say that I—that I had feelings for you," he said, his voice growing quiet with every word. "But when I told you—well, it just happened that the fireworks went off—so I realized that you probably didn't hear me…and I was right…"

"HUHHHH?!" Nagisa shouted. "Wait a second—" He squeezed his eyes, trying to remember the exact moment. Then it hit him.

At the festival, he had dragged Rei onto a hill on the riverbank near the festival so they could watch the fireworks better. Haru and Makoto had been away at the time because they said they had to use the bathroom. He remembered that he had been alternating between munching on a candy apple and talking about the fireworks excitedly with his mouth full. Then he had felt a hand grab him by the wrist, and turned around to see Rei looking nervous. When Nagisa had asked him what was the matter, Rei had begun to respond—

And then the fireworks had gone off. His head had snapped around excitedly, taking in the beauty of the sparks in the night sky. After the fireworks had ended and before it occurred to Nagisa to continue the conversation with Rei, he had heard the sound of party crackers snapping behind him. It turned out that Haru and Makoto had not actually gone to the bathroom, but had gone to a bakery nearby to buy a birthday cake for him. They had even returned with Rin and Gou behind them, Rin rubbing the back of his head like the tsundere he was and Gou tugging him by the arm with a smile on her face. Swept up in the moment of it all, Nagisa had not been paying close attention to Rei and—oh god. That had been the moment, hadn't it.

For the first time in his life, Nagisa cursed the existence of fireworks with all his might. His eyes snapped open in horror.

"Are you serious?!" he exclaimed in disbelief and exasperation, making Rei jump a little. "You confessed to me when the fireworks went off and I didn't hear—" He grabbed his blonde locks with both hands in frustration. "Something that cliché actually happened and I didn't even notice?!" He felt a huge urge to bang his head against a wall, but settled for furiously nuzzling his head against Rei's arm instead. After he was satisfied, he snapped his head back up to look at Rei with deep reproach. "Why didn't you try to tell me again, Rei-chan?! We walked back all the way to the train station without Haru-chan or Mako-chan there, it was totally quiet and you could've told me then!"

"I—well, I was scared!" Rei exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "It took all the courage I had to say it once—and after you didn't hear it the first time, I could hardly work up the courage to try again!" He gave Nagisa a sheepish look. "I mean, I couldn't even prepare a proper birthday gift for you because I was agonizing over what to get you until the last minute, I was sweating like crazy the whole time and probably looked ridiculous, and I couldn't even win you that penguin doll you wanted so much—and in the end, all I got you for was that penguin mask at the fair booth—I mean, my plan fell entirely to pieces and none of it was beautiful at all!"

"Rei-chan—" Nagisa pouted. "For your information, I LOVE that penguin mask. You saw how I hung it up in my room—and I even made you put the strap around my head at the fair because I love it when your hands touch my hair and I just about died when your arms looped around the back of my head to do it—" Feeling that he was kind of going off-topic now, the blonde mentally steered himself back on track. "AND, since you obviously need a reminder of what I said a few weeks ago, I SAID THAT YOU'RE ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL, plan or no plan. You could've confessed to me while you were throwing up on Goro-chan's fishing boat and you still would've looked perfect to me. I still would've said yes, just like I'd have said yes if you'd just TOLD me on my birthday!" He crossed his arms, pouting indignantly. "I mean, we could've been dating for MONTHS now—"

"You—I—you liked me all the way back then, too?" Rei stuttered, surprised.

"Of course I did!" Nagisa said without the slightest hesitation. "I liked you ever since regionals ended! Maybe even before that—but that was when I realized it!"

"I—well—it's not like I had any way of knowing!"

"Are you kidding me? I was dropping hints all around the place!"

"What hints are you—" Rei paused, sighing in exasperation. "Well, I obviously didn't pick up on them." Seeing Nagisa's pout deepen, Rei fought the urge to smile—he couldn't bring himself to feel anything but adoration after seeing that.

"If you liked me since regionals, then why didn't you try confessing to me?" he asked teasingly. "You always struck me as the bolder of us two." At this question, Nagisa started to grow pink.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" His cheeks puffed up as he said the next words grudgingly. "I was scared to tell you, too. Geez." The blonde's contradictory nature made Rei laugh good-naturedly. He ruffled Nagisa's blonde locks affectionately, the smile on his lips traveling all the way up to his eyes

"Let's just say that we're even, then." Once again, he held his hand out to Nagisa. Huffing slightly, Nagisa took Rei's hand and they started walking once more.

"Well, it was hard keeping it hidden all these months," Rei commented as they turned the corner. "But I liked how we confessed to each other on the veranda. It was a beautiful moment." Nagisa's eyes twinkled as he heard this.

"You have a point there—I probably made it your best birthday ever, huh?" The blonde's confidence was not deterred by the eye-roll that Rei gave in response. "Maybe I wouldn't've been able to give you that cardigan as a present, too, if it'd happened earlier."

"Mm," Rei murmured, as he looked down at the cardigan tucked beneath the layer of his coat. He smiled. "It is quite nice. My mother liked it as well when she saw me wearing it."

"Really?!" Nagisa smiled in delight, forgetting for the moment to bring up the 'mama's boy' joke. "I even scored points with your mom! Go me!" Rei laughed.

"When I showed it to her, she saw the brand name on the tag. Apparently, this is from the clothing company that my older cousin works for," he said. Nagisa stopped in his tracks.

"Your cousin?" Remembering the face of a certain saleswoman, the blonde turned his eyes towards Rei.

"Yes. Apparently she started working as a saleswoman at the shop in Iwatobi Mall recently." Rei smiled. "Her personality is the opposite of mine, but she works hard and she's confident in everything she does. I really respect her."

"Does she have purple eyes?" Nagisa prompted, holding his breath.

"Huh? Well, yes—although her hair color's different, people say we have similar eyes." Rei glanced at Nagisa. "But how did you—"

"Ah, well—" Nagisa remembered the flustered state he had been in when the saleswoman had seen him. Remembered the conversation they had had. Remembered the twinkle of her violet eyes, the kind smile that had reminded him of Rei's—and it all clicked. He could feel the feelings of embarrassment from that day swelling back up in him. Unlike Rei, Rei's cousin had been sharp—she'd hit close to home when she had predicted the cardigan was for his boyfriend—and Nagisa decided then that there was no way that he wanted Rei to know what his cousin knew about that visit to the clothing shop. "I, I was just guessing! Because Rei-chan has purple eyes too, so—" He waved his own words off with a vague gesture of his hand.

"Hmm—well, if you went to the store at Iwatobi Mall, maybe she might have seen you there," Rei said, unaware of the nervousness that jolted through Nagisa at this innocent observation.

"Huh? Well, I didn't see anyone with purple eyes when I went there!" the blonde said, perhaps a little too quickly. To his relief, Rei didn't seem to notice Nagisa's panic.

"I guess it wasn't her shift when you went, then," he commented. "If you happen to go there again next time and see her, you should ask her for help. I heard she's good at picking clothes out for people."

"Y-yeah! Definitely!" Nagisa tugged on Rei's hand, hoping to end that subject altogether. "Anyways, Rei-chan, remember to wear that cardigan for our date tomorrow, kay?" Rei smiled.

"I will." Nagisa grinned back at him and squeezed his hand affectionately.

Like Rei's cardigan, the remainder of their walk to the Hazuki residence was the warmest red.