Work Text:
Reo was always the best at everything he did. He knew that, everyone else knew it too. School? First of the class. Music concert? Best singer AND best musician. Languages? He was fluent in several of them. Sports? Just give him a week and he would be a pro. He grew up used to be the best. Most of the time it also came without too much effort, he was just that good. He took pride in it, of course, but he also made sure to not flex against the others, he could see they were trying hard and he admired their dedication. However, he had to admit that he got used to it, it was natural for him to look at whatever competition's results and see his name at the top of the list.
That’s why, when the exam results came out and the first name of the list was ‘Seishiro Nagi’ he was confused. His first reaction was to check if it was the correct results he was looking at, sometimes they messed up the pages, it even happened that they published on accident old results instead of the new ones. It was an honest mistake that could happen to everyone. He double checked but no, it was his course, correct eligible, correct teacher, correct date of the exam. And yet his name wasn’t the first. For the first time in his life, he had to scroll his eyes down, just a bit, and there it was :‘Reo Mikage’. 100 points for the first one, a guy never heard before. 99 points for the second, himself.
He was confused, and so were the people around him too. He could head their whispers, mean words already running around from mouth to mouth, both towards him and towards this new mysterious person. Some of them were probably hoping, even praying, for him to have a meltdown and cry about his stolen first place. But he was not going to give them that satisfaction, and if he had to be honest, a part of him was feeling the opposite. He never got this fired up, he never got to feel burning desire to get back his place… finally someone could try to challenge him and his adrenaline raised at the thought. A worthy opponent. He was determined to fight to get back his first place, but despite what the others were already thinking it was not because of some fake stolen medal, it was for the desire to overcome this challenge, that never happened before. He couldn't stop himself from imagining his opponent. From the name it appeared to be a man, what was he like? He must have studied hard to be able to beat Reo. He had so many questions he wanted to ask this person, his mind was running wild.
“Eeeh, I got first. Yaaay…”
Reo, just like everyone else in the corridor too, immediately turned to the person that spoke, everyone needed to see the face of the new first of the class. Reo stared bluntly at him, trying to remember if he ever saw that guy in class or anywhere around the campus. He always sat at the front raw of seats, so he was confident this one was never there with him, or he would have noticed him. His looks was also weird, while everyone else tried to look as professional or elegant as possible, this one looked like he just wore the first thing that was present in the wardrobe. Reo couldn’t help but notice that the hoodie did look good on him thought, it made him look less scary since he was taller than Reo.
“So you are Nagi-kun, right? Congrats on the first place! Will you celebrate the victory by offering drinks?” he tried to joke around, hoping to not be greeted by hostility. After all, he wanted a challenge, not a mortal enemy.
“Eh? No thanks, why would I?” well, maybe his plan failed. The guy didn’t seem like the type to joke around. The whispering were back once more, capturing every second of their interaction, ready to twist every details however it most fitted their narrative.
“It doesn’t happen very often that someone beats me as first of the class, so I thought you may want to celebrate. But you are right, better to save it for a more important situation. Anyway, just so you know, I won’t be beaten again!” could he still save the situation? He sure was trying to, but the other guy didn’t seem to want to cooperate, too busy looking at his phone.
“Sure… do your best. Bye.” Well, at least this time he didn’t oppose Reo’s words. He should take what he could from the interaction. He hoped to chat a bit more with this Nagi, but with so many people still around them, waiting for blood to be spilled, it wasn’t the right moment. So Reo decided to delay his plan to get to know his new rival to a future moment. After all, they were already shared a course, they probably shared others? How hard could it be to find him again?
Now that he knew who to look out for, it was easy to spot Nagi in the crowd of students. He was also helped by the fact that Nagi was taller than most of them despite his posture, that's how he discovered that in class he preferred to stay in the back. It was only after some days of careful observation that Reo discovered that he was so far away just to be able to keep playing his games easily. It turned out, the guy didn’t really need to study, as far as rumors reported it, everyone was calling him a genius, as he could get high marks without even trying. He only went to the mandatory classes because his presence was required to pass the exam, otherwise he would not have bothered to go. Due to his unique behavior, rumors about him started to spread quickly, but it didn't take long to Reo to realize there was no truth in them, he just turned out to be another victim of them, Reo could sympathize with him on that.
In his defense, Reo was also a genius, just of a completely different type, it didn’t take much effort but he did have to work around stuff to be able to get the best mark, so he was fascinated by this different type of talent. However, this genius appeared to not be social… at all. He appeared out of nowhere when the classes started and just as quickly disappeared when it finished, no matter where Reo waited for him, Nagi always found a way to avoid him. During the pauses he kept playing games and didn’t give space for social interactions and at the same time people crowded Reo's, the price of being popular. As such, despite Reo's wishes, it appeared that talking to Nagi was an impossible task.
His chasing, or rather his attempts at it, continued for the whole timing of three more exams, where Reo found himself always at the second place… despite his best intent, it was becoming irritating. The ugly voice inside his brain started to appear more frequently than he liked to admit.
'Surely Nagi couldn’t just be a flawless genius, he definitely had to be working hard behind the scene, he just pretended that it was easy for him to mock Reo and make it look like Reo was just too stupid to be better than him.'
What annoyed Reo the most was that Nagi himself just… didn’t do anything. There was no mocking, no insults, no side eyes. Nothing. It was everyone else that rode that wave and tried to out down Reo. The only thing that Nagi did after going to the wall with the results on was look at his place, say a little “yay” to celebrate and leave. He didn’t even bother to look at Reo who now basically lived next to the wall whenever the results had to be posted, just to be the first to see the outcomes. Even some professors started to worry about him and asked him if he needed to talk. Yes, he needed to talk. Not to them though, to Nagi.
His chance to talk finally happened at the ‘Mathematical Olympics’, as the students unofficially called them, an yearly challenge that they held at school between different departments, anyone was welcome to participate, as long as they were part of a team. Of course, Reo was asked to be part of the team on the same day the students were confirmed that they were held one again, and happily accepted, mostly because the questions were usually challenging and he enjoyed solving the puzzles with his classmates. It wasn’t until a couple of days before they had to start that the news that Nagi was joining the opposite team reached him. Of course, now it was personal, he threw himself soul and body into studying any possible theorem that may appear, just for the sake of getting back his first place.
Sure he neglected his healthy for a couple of days and he arrived at the hall where the challenge was planned high on energy drinks and with just a couple hours of sleep on his back… but that didn't matter. He had to win this one, his honor was on the line. The only thing that he could do was trying to still look his best, thankfully no one seemed to notice his sorry state as they cheerfully greeted him. No one, of course, except for the object of his obsession. He saw the way Nagi was looking at him: a mixture of pity and confusion, probably due to his poor state. How could Nagi guess that something was wrong, was beyond Reo’s current cognitive abilities.
For the first time he saw Nagi trying to look for him, but this time Reo made sure to be the unapproachable one. His revenge started nicely, as he was able to avoid him until the games started, however his worried glaze was becoming harder and harder to ignore, especially since it didn't stop when the game began.
Despite his exhaustion, Reo’s team was going toe to toe with Nagi’s and he was proud of that. They arrived at the final question in perfect parity, that was the decisive moment where the winner would be decided. And yet, for the fifth time, Reo was still lacking that something that would make him arrive first. Nagi stole the spotlight. And again, there was no pride in that, he just looked bored of everything. Maybe the only glimpse of emotion on his face was the worried gaze that kept on lingering on Reo… he couldn’t stand it any longer, he got up from his place and left the hall. Reo did not utter a single word because he was afraid he may just start crying if he were to open his mouth. Accepting defeat was already hard enough, but on top of that, Nagi didn’t even gave him the satisfaction of being an asshole and bask in the joy of surpassing him. He was just satisfied with his result, uncaring of the others, he did not gave Reo any reason to hate him, other than the fact that he was just better than Reo. Now, on top of that he had the audacity of being worried for him? That hurt more than he wanted to admit.
He didn’t know where he was going, he just tried to get away from the hall, from the people, from Nagi's worried look… his feet automatically brought him to one specific bathroom, the one farthest from the classroom and barely used, if not for secret lovers meeting. Good, he thought that he could calm down there, the place was barely used so it should have been peaceful. Yes, should have, because the door opened soon behind him, showing the figure of the person he least wanted to see now. Reo clung desperately at the sink, his knuckles turning white due to the strength.
“Are you ok?” asked Nagi, keeping distance from him, probably to not pressure him further.
Of course, he had to follow him to fucking check on him. Not to mock or deride him. Not to flaunt another victory. But for concern. It was infuriating.
Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Maybe it was the effect of the energy drink still active. Maybe it was the pain of the past few months that he was no longer able to hide. But Reo found himself replying with the truth, even if he wanted to to reassure the boy, as the perfect Mikage Reo should do.
“No. Nothing is okay, not since you arrived here and got my place. It’s atrocious. Everyone is always waiting for a single slip of the heir of the Mikage corporation, and ever since you arrived I only fail. Everyone speaks with such pity and contempt, hoping to see me going apeshit over being second place, they push and push and push, waiting for me to fall of their imaginary cliff where they put me, just for the opportunity to come at me like vulture immediately after. I am tired of living on the edge because ever since you appeared they are just waiting for the perfect Mikage Reo to fall into dirt and bring shame to the family, just so they could have an excuse to tear apart everything we built with their insulting and awful words. And I can’t even put the blame on you, because you know nothing of this and I have seen you worrying about me, so I can't even call you an asshole without being one myself, I am pushing all this on you, but all you do is stare at me like I am some kind of abandoned puppy on the road and it… pains me.”
Ok, maybe sharing everything was good for his mental and physical health. He was finally feeling a little less tired and some of the accumulated tension finally left his body. However, that was the only thing sustaining him so strength did abandon him… thankfully Nagi was, of course, there to save the day and save him from a very embarrassing fall. But well, after the earlier vent, it’s not like Reo had any dignity left to care about, he would have happily hid himself into a hole and died there to avoid meeting Nagi's eyes.
“That… must have been hard. Sorry” wonderful, now he was the villain for making the good innocent guy apologize. It couldn't get any worst.
“No, don’t-" as he said, blaming Nagi would be the easy way out, but he was just another victim of the situation, he couldn't allow Nagi to blame himself "- It’s not your fault people are trash.”
“No I meant… well yes, for that too. But I meant that I actually admire you a lot… I should have probably said it sooner. Being able to maintain such a high scoring while managing all those people around you? I would just kill myself” Nagi's eyes were nice and Reo almost lost himself into that little honest truth.
“I am second place, nothing to brag about…” at those words, Nagi strengthened his grip around Reo’s arm, as if he was trying to make Reo feel the depth of his words.
“Have you looked at the points of the third person?”
Why was he bringing up a random nobody now? However, since he was a bit more sane now, Reo was able to filter his words a bit.
“What? Why would I care?”
“Because you are only second for, at worst, a couple of points, but there are always at least 15 points between you and the third best score. You are already a league above them, that’s why they were desperate to find someone better. But I am not better than you. We don’t share all our courses, I bet if you were in math class with me I would lose and by several points too, I can't get around that.”
“I mean, you just won this competition…”
“No, I didn’t win anything, I know you weren’t really focused on us, I was staring at you. I didn’t do anything, all the work was done by those two math geniuses in the team, I was there just to reach the minimum number. You, on the other hand, carried your own team, you should be prouder of yourself.” Nagi’s words felt like they were healing Reo’s hurt soul. It was the first time someone was talking to him with such sincerity, his eyes were clear of any doubt or malice as he spoke those words, and Reo held onto them as if they were his sole salvation.
He had no idea for how long he was stuck in Nagi’s embrace, but for some reason he wasn’t minding it too much. But as his heart calmed down, he slowly started to realize their proximity, which caused his cheeks to turn pink. It would be embarrassing to be found, still exhausted and in such sorry state, in the lovers’ bathroom with his ‘enemy’. He tried to take a step back, but then he was forced to accept that his body was completely giving up on him after the previous days of neglecting his health. It was only thanks to Nagi’s quick reflex that, again, he didn’t fall embarrassing to the ground.
“You need to rest. I guess the infirmary is to be excluded. I live nearby, do you want to go there?” maybe Nagi had more common sense that Reo gave him credit to.
“Yes please” Reo said as he nodded, then he tried to use what little remain of his strength to slowly walk with Nagi to the unknown destination. Thankfully they did not meet anyone that could know them, or Reo would have had a hard time explaining everything. If he had to be honest, he barely remembered anything on how they arrived at the apartment as he was too focused on not falling, he only remembered that the bed was not as comfortable as his own, but he was so tired that it did not mattered and he fell asleep as soon as he laid down.
Once he finally woke up, he felt like a whole new person. After a couple of seconds of initial confusion, Reo decided to look for Nagi, the least he could do was thank him for the help and apologize for everything.
“You passed out for 16 hours, if you didn’t wake up in a couple of hours I was going to call an ambulance” was how he was greeted when he started to explore the little apartment. Well, there wasn’t much to explore anyway, it was just a couple of rooms and he quickly found Nagi on the sofa.
“Sorry… I must have overworked myself” being scolded by someone his age was definitely a new experience for Reo, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to react.
“You don’t say…” Nagi limited himself to the dry reply, his eyes still fixed on a game on his phone. Reo wanted to continue the conversation, but he was stopped by the growling of his stomach.
“Can I trouble you for some food too? I am starving…” Was he ever going to not make a horrible impression on Nagi? Seriously, if he was in Nagi's place, he would have probably already kicked Reo out of the house.
Nagi lifted his eyes from the video-game just to side eye him, before commenting “I mean, it’s not a problem for me… but I’m not sure you will like them”
Since he was given permission, Reo went to the fridge looking for anything to help him survive for a while longer. However, the sight in front of him left him speechless, and he lost most of his hopes for survival: “Why are there only jellies in this fridge…?”
“They are tasty” this time Nagi didn't bother to raise his eyes from the phone.
“They can’t be the only food here” he stared at Nagi, waiting for him to say it was all a prank towards Reo. Maybe that was his way of getting revenge on Reo.
“They are” the confirmation felt more like a curse than the apparent permanent second place Reo was stuck in.
“How am I losing to someone that could die any moment…" Reo massaged his head, trying to maintain his composure. Thankfully, this was a problem easy to solve. "Tell me your address, I’m ordering take out, and a full stock for your fridge.”
They were happily eating real food instead of jellies, when Reo had an idea, and broke the comfortable silence they were in.
“How about… we study together? Maybe I can understand how to improve my own technique”
Nagi finished chewing his bite, under the expectant eyes of Reo, before dropping the bad news.
“I hate to say it but… I just have a photographic memory, I don’t really have a technique. Which is good for me, because memorizing stuff is a pain. Most of it it's useless anyway.”
Reo felt both relieved and depressed at the news. That was not something he could develop or work on, it was an unfair advantage.
“So you can just… look at a page and you know it?”
“Pretty much” replied Nagi as he shrugged his shoulders.
“Forever?” he was not more curious about how it worked rather than learn the skill. It was quite rare to meet someone with that kind of ability, so Reo's interest was now winning over the rage.
“No, usually after some months I forget it, unless I really study it or I am interested in it. It is good for these exams, most of them are mandatory but I will not need this knowledge, so I don’t care of remembering all that stuff permanently.” while Reo wanted to object the last part, he didn't know Nagi will enough to start being annoying about these kind of stuff.
“Then… can you give me an example of what would you remember even later in time?” the food was now forgotten, as Reo wanted to learn more about the ability.
“On the first day at the campus you were wearing a white shirt, with a chamaeleon pin on your left side. The trousers were dark blue. You were next to a guy with orange glasses and chatting about something that made you blush”
Nagi's reply was quick and precise, though it was followed only by silence. Reo was surprised of the accurate description, but at the same time he couldn't neither confirm nor deny it, he had no memory of what he was wearing on that specific day, he was even surprised Nagi would remember it.
Maybe uncomfortable due to Reo's long silence, Nagi tried to further explain the situation “…I… also have good eyesight.”
“Ok, then how about this, I study while you do your stuff, and after I finish you question me to see if I remember correctly. This way it will be faster for me to review, and you may actually memorize something since you will have to listen to my reply” Ok, maybe it was not Reo's best idea, but it could work out. It wasn't nothing too complicated for either of them. And he could also use these study meeting as an excuse to avoid the request of other students to study with him.
“Uugh, it sounds like a hassle…”
Reo didn't have to think long of a way to convince the man in front of him, after all looking at the situation of the apartment was enough of a hint. “I’ll pay you”
Nagi lighted up at the news, and immediately replied: “Yes boss”
Despite it being a hassle, Nagi was true to his words and helped Reo improve in his studies. Most of the time it was Reo studying while Nagi just played games, but they both seemed to enjoy the time and the company of the other. Reo could take breaks while chatting with Nagi and would also force him to finally eat and live like a normal human being. Reo was definitely proud of himself and his wonderful idea, he was almost grateful for the breakdown he had in the bathroom, without it, they wouldn’t be in this situation. He slowly found out that Nagi’s company was extremely comfortable. He didn’t talk much but his comments were nice, and when he was interrogating Reo, he would help Reo trying to connect the few dots he was missing to achieve the perfect answer, rather than straight up telling him what was the correct one.
Reo was loving every second of it, before he knew it, their study meetings were what he most looked forward to in the week. There was something in their routine that made him melt in happiness whenever he thought about it. Before either of them could realize it, signs of Reo's presence started to appear all around the house: one more coffee cup in the board, one more controller for ‘player 2’ for their break times, Reo’s favorite highlighter on Nagi’s desk, some of his notes all around the house, a new cushion on the sofa (“It’s too uncomfortable to sit on it all day, how can you even do it?”) a new photo of them together framed next to the door. Whenever Reo saw his traces in the apartment, he felt something too similar to what people called 'love' warming his body and making him all giggly. He didn’t know what they were, they didn’t really talk about it, but there was no need to be a genius for Reo to understand that he had caught feeling for the rival.
Whether or not he felt the same way was unfortunately another matter, Nagi wasn’t exactly the most expressive person of the planet, and he talked even less. But, he seemed to really enjoy Reo’s touch, he didn’t have any problem letting Reo taking care of him, most of the time Nagi looked a lot like a cat, a very spoiled one. He also allowed Reo to move anything as he preferred in the house, thing that Reo noticed was not true for all of his friends. He felt quite satisfied in the privilege and made sure to abuse it as much as he could.
The first time that Reo and Nagi had to share the first place in the classroom, he couldn’t help but jump in Nagi’s arms for happiness, he didn’t mind sharing the title with his crush. What surprised him the most was how steady Nagi was able to hold him, but the euphoria of the moment took better of him and he didn’t pay it too much attention. If only there wasn’t the usual crowd of people around them, he would have just as easily dragged Nagi into a kiss to celebrate, since he was growing more confident each day that the other felt the same way. He just needed the right moment to confess and make it official.
Luck was smiling at him, as that opportunity soon passed by: a photography competition open for all departments. The objective was easy enough, ‘take a photo of the most breathtaking view you can see’.
Of course, he immediately signed both Nagi and himself up for it. Neither of them had any experience in photography so they had to start from scratch, it was an even ground. And Nagi’s photographic memory was not going to help him this time. The plan was perfect, he couldn't wait to win and be praised by Nagi for his talent.
Now he just had to convince Nagi to accept a little bet: whoever lost had to fulfill a wish of the other person. Reo smiled wickedly as he already knew what to write as his wish: he was going to force Nagi to confess himself. He was tired of waiting, and this would be the best possible outcome. He would also ease Nagi in not fearing a rejection. He studied the plan down to every detail, he even had already reserved an helicopter to go and take a picture of the skyline of their city, after all what could top that? It was a perfect plan that would make everyone happy. Victory was assured.
Surprisingly, it didn’t take long to convince Nagi, as soon as he mentioned the wish, Nagi was already writing his own. He went as far as to lock it with wax from a candle, a gift from Reo, in the house. It was such a nice addition to the wish thing, that Reo decided to do the same and also lock his own wish with wax, after neatly writing ‘Nagi has to confess his feelings to Reo’.
When he finally submitted the photo, he already saw in the reaction of the judges that it was going to be an easy win. The only thing that worried him was that he did not see Nagi go anywhere to take his picture. Reo thought that Nagi was too into the challenge to go and let someone else do it, but it seemed like he was not going to live the university campus anytime soon and the deadline was fast approaching. He was dying of curiosity, could Nagi have found a wonderful scenery inside the campus? Reo had visited every corner of it, and never saw anything particularly stunning or worth of a prize. Well, that was just going to be an easy win then!
And yet, when the time to declare the winner came, he was forced to see his name coming once more in second place. He was fuming, how was that possible? Sure, he loved Nagi, that much he accepted, but did Nagi even submitted anything? It wasn't fair! He didn’t bother to go anywhere, how could he have taken a better picture than an aerial skyline view? When he went to question the judges, they just told him to go and see for himself.
Thank you very much, I was going to do it anyway.
He marched by the different submissions, mostly lakes, cherry blossom, or sunsets, to end up at finally at his gorgeous skyline and right after that, it was Nagi’s submission. Any anger Reo had felt just seconds earlier was gone as soon as his eyes focused on the work.
Oh.
Nagi went for a wildly different approach from the others. ‘The only view I need’ was the title of the submission, which caused Reo to be overwhelmed by his own emotions.
Nagi opted for a different ‘view’ compared to everyone else. Instead of a beautiful scenery, he took a picture of a person, specifically of Reo. He had no idea when Nagi could have taken it, it was way earlier than the announcement of the contest, that was for sure., since he lost that hoodie several months ago. He had the suspicious that Nagi stole it, but technically he didn't have any proof of it.
He focused once more on the photo and he could hardly recognize himself: he was facing someone, most likely Nagi, with his back turned to the window, the different shadows and light made him look like he was some kind of sculpture left for the viewer. But what shocked him the most was seeing his own expression, he didn’t know he could make a face like that… it was so soft, without hard lines or wrinkles. He had a faint smile and he was holding his coffee cup while looking outside. It was such a casual moment… was that how Nagi saw him?
“Ah… now that I think about it, maybe I should have asked for your consent” Nagi’s voice surprised him. He didn’t hear him arrive, Reo was forced to quickly hide his tearful eyes, just to try and not be caught crying while observing his own picture.
“Guess I won tho. Someone owns me a wish…” such a eager little bastard he turned out to be.
“I guess I don’t mind losing if it’s to you… and especially not like this…" did it sound like he was crying? Hopefully Nagi couldn't notice it. "Come on, show me my punishment”
Nagi handled him the paper still sealed in wax as a proof that it was never opened, with his instruction. Reo was ready for anything, he fully expected to see something for his lazy ass like ‘Reo has to buy me all the lemon tea I want for a year’ or ‘I’ll use Reo’s limousine as a taxi’.
His eyes widened in shock for the second time during that morning when he read Nagi’s handwritten note, just to end up laughing like he never did before. Nagi began to pout as Reo didn’t stop laughing, and crossed his arms in protest. At the sight, Reo tried his best to stop laughing, but a single tear of joy was still trying to fall from his left eye. He got close to Nagi, who was now completely ignoring him out of pettiness, and after carefully folding the piece of paper safely in his pocket, he grabbed Nagi by the collar.
“You know, there was no need for the bet, you could have just asked” he said before forcing the taller boy to lower himself at Reo’s level, making their lips meet. He could hear, far away, the people around them screaming encouraging words and whistling at the scene. Reo did not want to let go of Nagi, but unfortunately the need of oxygen became too big to ignore. He was pleasantly surprised when Nagi’s reaction was to try and lock their lips together again, to which Reo definitely permitted access.
The paper ‘Reo has to give Nagi a kiss’ was pressed between their chest, as Reo accepted his punishment several times more than what was necessary.