Took You Long Enough

Three

When Reo got up in the morning, Nagi was already awake, playing phone games. Reo had his head on Nagi's shoulder, his one leg bent and pulled up over Nagi's leg closest to him. Nagi didn't seem to mind, or like he'd made any efforts to move him.

"Oh," Nagi said, offering him a side glance once he'd noticed. "Morning Reo."

"Have you been up long?" Reo asked, lifting his head and rubbing his eyes. He felt a little groggy, but once he'd rubbed it out of his eyes, he felt as if it was the most restful he'd slept in weeks.

"About an hour," Nagi answered casually.

"You could have woken me up, you know," Reo told him.

"Yeah," Nagi said. "But I didn't want to bother you."

Reo smiled. He cared so much about Nagi, and it always made him happy in these moments to know those sentiments were, on some level at least, shared.

The Mikages, Reo included, had never known going without, and this showered onto Nagi the morning after their impromptu sleepover. Reo had extra clothes and towels and toothbrushes and plenty to food, so they moved without the morning comfortably and without issue. Once they were both showered and fed, Reo was lingering, nursing the last of his grapefruit juice, waiting for Nagi to say he needed to leave, not wanting to be the one to offer.

But he didn't. After Ba-Ya had cleared the plates, he looked up at Reo. "What should we do now?"

Reo beamed with excitement. This was turning out to be one of the best weekends he'd had in a while. He'd talked Nagi into going down to the Mikage family gym to run a few laps and soccer drills, but Nagi was even lazier than usual, so Reo didn't push it for long. They showered again, ate some lunch, and Nagi asked if they could go back to the media room. Reo was not one to tell him no, and didn't.

They watched a couple more movies, and Ba-Ya brought them dinner on trays to eat on their laps. Followed by dessert. As the minutes pressed on, Reo started to wonder about Nagi's family, and if they were worried about him. He'd been gone for more than an entire day.

"Do you need to get home, Nagi?" Reo asked. He hadn't wanted to, and genuinely hoped it didn't sound like he was pushing him out. But he just wanted to be mindful and considerate.

"Nah," Nagi answered.

"Your parents don't worry?" Reo found himself asking.

"Not really," Nagi said. "I told them where I am."

"Oh," Reo said. He didn't know that. He didn't know to what extend Nagi told his parents about him. They'd never talked about it.

"I think they're just happy," the white haired boy started, something like shame coming into his voice. It made Reo fall silent and still. "That I finally have a friend."

Reo couldn't help but look at him again, overcome with thoughts about how beautiful he was, how much he cared about him. He wondered how nobody had ever wanted to be friends with Nagi before, but then selfishly banished them. He was happy they hadn't, because now he could fill that gap.

"Well, you do," Reo said. "And you can stay here as long as you want. My parents don't care, and neither do I."

And so, Nagi stayed another night, the two of them curled up under a single blanket, sharing a single pillow, on the joined recliner chairs in the Mikage's dark media room, and Reo was sure he had never felt a peace quite like it.

Never once did Reo realize that he'd completely forgotten about Miki.

"Reo?" He heard again, right before lunch on Monday.

He froze. He knew the voice, and how very different the tone was. There was a chill that ran down the back of his neck, and he got the distinct feeling that he was in trouble. He turned, trying to put a kind smile on his face.

"Hey, Miki," he said.

"I didn't hear from you," she said. There was no smile on her face or lightness to her voice. It was cold and sharp.

"Yeah, well," Reo said, all but stammering. "I did say maybe. I ended up being busy. Sorry."

"With what?" She asked.

"I beg your pardon?" Reo asked, surprised.

"What were you so busy with?" She clarified.

Reo paused. He knew it didn't sound good that he was busy with Nagi all weekend, especially when he'd first blamed soccer and they had barely touched a ball the entire time. But he figured he didn't owe Miki all that much. He had said maybe, after all. They weren't dating. They weren't even that good of friends. He didn't feel any type of way about lying.

"Soccer practice," he answered.

Her eyebrows raised. "All weekend?"

"Yeah," Reo lied. "Pretty much."

"You know," she said, her voice not softening in the slightest. "If you don't want to go out with me, all you have to do is say so."

Again, Reo paused. He knew this tactic. This was an effort to get him to say no, I really did want to, I swear, I just was really busy. But I'll make it up to you! How about... But Reo didn't know if any of that was true. In fact, he was sure it wasn't. He decided not to lie anymore.

"I don't know if I want to," he told her honestly, forcing himself to meet her eye.

Her face morphed from anger to disappointment, and about this, he really did feel bad. Miki crossed her arms and pursed her lips, rolling those words over in her mind. Finally, her lips parted, and she spoke.

"Is that because you don't like me?" She asked him, and Reo thought it an odd question until she continued with, "Or is it because you're gay?"

"What?" Reo asked, feeling something jolt through his chest. He was taken aback by the question. Where the hell had she gotten that idea?

"I mean, that white haired guy," she continued, flicking her hand down the hallway. Reo's insides felt like they were freezing. "You like him, right?"

"What?" Reo repeated, shaking his head. "Nagi's just my friend."

"Oh, come on." Miki rolled her eyes. "You're always together. You carry him around everywhere. You feed him. It's weird, Reo."

"No, it's not," Reo said. Because it wasn't, right? Friends cared about each other, did things for each other. There was nothing weird about that.

"Yes, it is," she fought back. "Friends don't act like that."

Reo was about to say more, but found he didn't know what to say. She seemed so certain, and now he was questioning himself.

"Boyfriends do," she snapped, turning on her heels and walking down the hall, leaving Reo alone with his thoughts on the conversation, which were, admittedly, panicked.

So panicked that he couldn't bring himself to go to lunch. He'd suddenly lost his appetite.

After spending lunch in the library, he went to class, and tried to make it through the rest of the day. But his thoughts were still tormenting him and his head was still spinning. He thought about Miki's words, her accusations, but he thought more about the weekend him and Nagi had just spent together, their sleepovers, and started to wonder if there was something weird about it.

He cared about Nagi. A lot. He wanted to take care of him and make sure he was fed and well rested and he wanted to spend time with him. He liked looking at him, sure, but that was just out of appreciation, right? He liked being with him, being close to him, curling up against him and falling asleep that way. It was comforting, and more than that, comfortable. Was there something weird about that? It's not like he wanted to sleep with him.

Or, he didn't think so, anyways.