A/N: Yo guys, wassup. I'm sorry for the ridiculously long wait: I started a new job recently and it's taken me a while to adjust and for a while I had all the inspiration sucked out of me. This was basically my least-planned chapter though, so the next two shouldn't take nearly as long! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 3

"So how's Uni going?" Nagisa asks, watching idly as Rei scans and packs his purchases one-by-one. He's gotten a lot more comfortable in the store over the past few months, thank god - trying not to come in more often than is deemed acceptable. He doesn't think he passes at that, though. He never was one for restraining himself - so now of course he can enjoy Rei's company to the fullest, even if it means sometimes spending half of his wages on sex toys. Even if it means what he really does while Rei packs his things is watch the assistants hands and maybe possibly imagine them in certain places. He's probably a little too comfortable, he'll admit, but this beauty is definitely gonna be mine.

He had been right before, too: Rei is a Physics major. He is all maths and science, hands down.

Rei graces him with a smile, though it's strained. "Stressful," he replies. "Exam season is coming up."

"Oh, of course! Man, I always hated exams." Nagisa's so-called gap year had accidentally extended into two years, so he'd all but lost the concept of when and why exams even existed; besides when Haru and Mako couldn't swim because of them. "Best of luck, Rei!"

This time when Rei smiles it's a fond smile, and Nagisa feels his heart do that little somersault in his chest that he's become accustomed to feeling around Rei. Progress, he thinks. The two of them have practically switched place; Rei is now the one getting flustered the more questions Nasgisa asks, and the blond just finds it to be so goddamn cute that he doesn't feel guilty for instigating it each time. Nagisa puts it down to the fact that he's probably one of the friendliest customers he has ever had.

He suspects he's developing a kink purely for that little glasses thing that Rei does, too.

"Thank you," Rei says, pushing up his glasses. Nagisa sucks in a breath. Every time he thinks about it, the assistant goddamn does it. It's like he knows. Nagisa wonders if he is cursed. Cursed forever by this bespectacled beauty who doesn't seem to notice his plight.

Rei slides the two petite bags across the counter, thumbs brushing the countertop. "Is that everything for you?"

"Yep!" Nagisa chirps, thankful for an excuse to distract him from his thoughts. He fishes his wallet out of his back pocket and is counting out money when he notices Rei fidget from behind the desk. "What's up?"

"I-if I may ask, is there anything wrong with your current products?" the assistant asks hesitantly. Well, there isn't anything wrong that he knows of and that is an oddly out-of-the-blue specific question. His face must be a blank slate because Rei continues with a hurried explanation.

"Not to overstep any lines with customer confidentiality," Rei begins, and Nagisa steels himself for the far-more-than-likely ramble that this question will turn into. (Not that he minds, it's usually pretty entertaining.) The assistant pushes his glasses awkwardly up his nose before deeming it safe to continue, "But, do you not already have a number of these toys?"

He does, it's true. He has a perfectly reasonable explanation, too, but before he can say anything Rei's waffling begins.

"O-of course, I completely understand that some toys need replenishing after a while when they grow old - or sometimes it is simply nice to have a new version of an old favourite - um, but some of these... Well, you seem to have, er, moved on from beginner type items and it just seems like a strange purchase because it is so many beginner toys?"

The blond opens his mouth to speak. Rei flushes and flusters over himself, and Nagisa finds it so cute he momentarily forgets what words are. Anxious, Rei continues the only way Nagisa has seen him handle awkward situations: going off a on a tanged by continuing to churn out words and theories. "B-but of course, it's none of my business! I realise from experience, that some toys—"

God fricken' dammit. Tangent-Rei is one of his favourite kinds of Rei, but there he goes talking about his own masturbation habits again. Okay, not habits, but 'personally' and 'from experience' sentences usually get Nagisa that little bit… roused. It's weird, right, because he only seems to talk about things when he's rambling about something that Nagisa should be paying a little bit more attention to than he does; yet, if Nagisa asks anything or even dares to flirt the teeniest tiniest bit, Rei's face turns into a tomato and he clams up. Maybe he just realises that Nagisa is a little-bit-more than a customer now (wink wink, nudge nudge—he can hope, okay?) Maybe he just comes off too strong.

Note to self: turn it down. The sex shop assistant clearly isn't used to actual sexual-type encounters. (Or maybe he's just normal, says a small voice in the back of his head, because you're trying to flirt with him in a sex shop!)

Besides finding Rei's basically-word-vomit-rambles unbearably cute and a wonderful source of fuzzy of feelings in his chest, the personal additions in basically any topic from this store (it really had to be a sex store that he meets the hot guy in, didn't it?) tend to make him sexually frustrated. He's not even gonna lie. He's had more than a few dirty dreams about Rei by now and—they haven't even been the kind of dream he would usually have, either. The assistant's comments seem to have snuck their way into his unconscious and most of the time Nagisa is just watching him... do things. And—God. Yeah. Those are some good dreams.

Crap, what were they talking about again?

Rei seems to have just finished his rant. He's breathing is a little laboured too, which is amongst the worst things for Nagisa to set his eyes upon while desperately trying not to recall some of his more vivid of fantasies.

"Sorry!" the blond starts off (always a safe bet), "My stuff is fine; I'm just buying for someone else!"

Rei's eyebrows quirk up a fraction and for a second Nagisa is worried that he may just have to explain why exactly he is buying sex toys for two of his friends that he maybe suspects are dating in secret. It's not that weird to buy toys as a gift, is it? (Okay, it is but he's pretty sure he's running out of products at this point. It was all he had to go by.) Then he realises the look in Rei's eyes might just be sadness and the warmth in his chest runs cold. No, nononono, this is not what I wanted!

"For friends!" he throws out, a little too late for it to make sense in context of what he said previously. Rei masks his what-looks-like-disappointment well and simply gives Nagisa a knowing smile. Nooo, Rei, I'm not trying to cover anyone, Nagisa whines internally, I'm not dating anyone! Sopleasedateme.

Before Nagisa can spill out those words without thinking, Gou nudges past Rei to the other side of the counter and humphs, "God, you two, stop flirting and finish the transaction so I can get on the computer." She either just saved him or ruined one of the few chances he has had to work up the courage to accidentally as Rei out. He's not sure how to 's cheeks redden at the redhead's comment and he frantically presses a few buttons on the till before retelling the total to Nagisa. Well, at least one thing good came of this: Rei's cute lil' blush.

Once paid, Nagisa doesn't budge from the counter as the two assistants switch places so and Kou begins managing orders. He's about to start up a topic of conversation (maybe something not sex related this time – movies?) when Kou suddenly stops what she's doing and gives an almighty shiver. Um…

"It's still haunting you, I see," Rei comments, the hint of a smug smile on his lips. Ugh, he really wants to be that familiar with Rei.

"Of course it is!" Gou snaps, angrily poking her finger at several places on the screen.

Nagisa can't help himself, and asks, "Um… what is?"

"It doesn't matt—"

"Her brother came into the store last week."

Gou's eyes turn to fire on Rei and damn Nagisa would be terrified if that last comment hadn't left him feeling some weird combination of bewildered and fascinated. Rin-Rin, visiting a sex shop? Oh my god. Was he with someone? Did he see Kou? Did he buy anything? Did Kou serve him—no, there would be carnage if he had seen her working here. But she had clearly seen him!

Nagisa may have been holding back from chattering away too much about these shop visits to Haru and Mako (he has to talk to at least someone about his crush) but, boy, was this definitely going to make it into the next update!

"I need details!" he exclaims, bouncing up onto his tip toes to gain some height against the platform the assistants stand on behind the counter. His eyes are sparkling, and from his peripheral vision he can see Rei trying hard to contain a delightful little smile.

"No!" Gou wails, "I don't wanna relive it!"

Nagisa opens his mouth to ask again and she points a finger accusingly in his direction. "Don't you dare! I'm leaving to go stock the shelves!"

With that she stalks off, abandoning the cash register to Rei, who is still making that face like he wants to laugh so badly but knows he may face the brunt of Gou's anger if he dares. Nagisa pouts. He did really want to know more about Rin. Really, really wanted to know. This was one of those one-time only deals, he had to get the details while they were still fresh in someone's mind before it became just another urban legend about hey, remember that time Rin was in a sex shop? Yeah, good times.

"Perhaps we should change topic," Rei offers, attempting a smile that won't give way to a smirk. The blond can't help but grin back. He isn't sure what to bring up to talk about, though. Maybe he was wrong before. He's such a chatterbox but when he actually has to instigate a conversation, particularly with this assistant, his mind decides to play hide and seek with him. Which especially sucks because he wants to get to know Rei so so much better.

Rei picks this up and says, "Well, I hope your partner enjoys what you bought."

And of course now Nagisa's mind is buzzing with thoughts.

"You were right to buy fresh toys," Rei continues, nudging his glasses up his nose, and Nagisa can't help but wonder if it's to hide that maybe-possibly-disappointed look he seemed to have before. "Even with cleaning, it's the best course of action to save spreading bacteria or anything else that may—"

Nagisa waves his hands frantically, words tumbling out of his mouth before he can properly form them into anything. As consequence of course, he sounds stupid. "No nonono! You're wrong!"

Rei looks the picture of mystified. "I… can assure you that it is safer to have separate toys," he attempts, though he's eying Nagisa oddly. I am in physical pain, the blond thinks. He can't tell Rei he wants to get into his pants yet – he hasn't gotten to know him yet and he wants to want much more than that!

Again, his struggle goes unnoticed. So begins another rant, àla Rei. "Unless you meant that you have already shared the toys, which isn't unsafe, really, but—"

"I haven't used them with anyone!" Nagisa all but shouts. He doesn't feel guilty for interrupting but damn his cheeks are burning. He presses his hands to them – yep, definitely on fire – to cool them down, hoping his hands are cold enough (plot twist: they're not). This seems to have given entirely the wrong impression to Rei, who looks mortified beyond belief to have embarrassed Nagisa.

Are people even looking at them? He hasn't noticed.

"Rei," he states quickly, and Rei composes himself from his hurried, messy bow. "I don't have a partner." He pauses intentionally, watching to gauge the other's reaction. The assistant's eyes widen as his face relaxes, and Nagisa notices the unmistakable hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Perfect, excellent, but that sweet expression is warming his heart a little too much at the moment and he's too nervous to venture down that path, so he continues with, "I'm buying these on behalf of friends I thought might want to try them out."

From behind the counter, Rei smooth's out his shirt while he thinks of a reply. Nagisa wouldn't know what to reply to that either, to be honest. Bless Rei for trying. "That is very… generous of you. And expensive."

Nagisa chuckles sheepishly. "Yeah, maybe… I'll just see how it—"

And that would be his phone violently vibrating in his back pocket, blaring out that one European song that he loves despite the annoyance it spreads to everyone around him.

"Oh, sorry!" He turns the alarm off (pausing for just a few seconds to enjoy the song beforehand) finally picking up his purchases from the counter and ambling a few steps back from the counter. The assistant looks unfazed for the most part by his silly song choice. Nagisa finds himself wondering vaguely if Rei would come to hate the song if he heard it often enough, should they date. "I forgot about that appointment. Gotta go or I'll be date—late! I mean late!"

He panics, and prompts the loveliest of chuckles from the assistant. "Enjoy your not-date," he teases as Nagisa propels himself backwards out of the store.

Nagisa's face remains red the entire way to his swimming class. Haru and Mako don't even question it once they see the bag clenched in his grip.

A/N: I also maybe wrote a little something regarding Rin's visit to the store titled 'The Downside of Working in a Sex Shop...' from Kou's POV. If my ideas don't shrivel up, there'll be chapters from both Aiichirou and Rin's POVs too.

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