It's Nagi's birthday today, so here's a bonus chapter to celebrate + thank you all for the love on this fic.

Ignoring current events, this takes place somewhere between chapters 5 and 6 and is referenced in chapter 10- and also has nothing to do with Nagi's birthday, but still. Just enjoy the content.

-

"I can't do this anymore," Nagi huffs as he flops down onto the grass of the football pitch, slinging an arm over his eyes to shield them from the blazing sun. "I'm tired."

"Oh, come on, Nagi!" Reo protests immediately, resting his foot over the ball and wiping at his face with the hem of his shirt. "We've barely even started."

"But it's so hot." Nagi whines, writhing around the ground, and you feel inclined to agree, the sun beating down incessantly over the three of you.

"Yeah, but you'll feel hotter if you lie down on the grass like that!" Reo throws his hands up in exasperation. "You can be so difficult, dude."

"Could you please tell Reo to go away?" Nagi peers up at you from under his arm with a pout. "He'll listen to you, so-"

"Well, could you please tell Nagi to get up off his lazy ass and practice?" Reo shoots back, more at Nagi then at you, and Nagi blows a raspberry at him.

"You two are acting like babies," You comment, and they both turn to you with a frown. "Why don't you just compromise?"

"No."

It's the first time today that they've been in sync with each other, so you decide to count it as a win either way.

"Okay, I'm bored of hearing you two cry, and I don't feel like wasting my summer break babysitting," You cross your arms over your chest sternly. "So I think I'll leave you guys to it and return to my lovely, air-conditioned home."

Silence.

You take one step, and then another, grabbing your bag from where it's been discarded alongside Nagi and Reo's things and sling it over your shoulder.

You only manage to take a few more steps, walking past Nagi's sprawled out body before he pipes up from his resting place on the grass, stretching out one of his stupidly long legs in an attempt to trip you over.

"Don't be like that," He says, and you hop over his shin, unbothered. "What if I die? What if Reo actually kills me?"

You stop at that, holding in your laughter as Reo's jaw drops open comically and he points an accusing finger at Nagi's face.

"Don't give her that!" Reo squawks indignantly in protest, his tiny ponytail sticking upwards at the back of his head. "You're going to be the death of me, Nagi, seriously. Quit crying and get up already, or I'll have to-"

"Woah, chill out, Mr purple angry bird, don't start catapulting at me." Nagi retorts as he swats Reo's hand away from his face, and you lose whatever control you had over yourself and burst out laughing, only fuelling the fire of Reo's rage and leading Nagi to smirk smugly at him.

"That's not even funny!" Reo complains, but he can't stay mad for long- his eyes meet yours and then he starts laughing too, clutching his stomach as Nagi mimics the face he'd been making, and soon all three of you are in hysterics on the ground, gasping for air.

"Oh, man," Reo wipes the tears away from his eyes, still chuckling slightly. "I don't even know why we started dying like that, because that was something a year five kid would say."

"Nah, I'm just hilarious." Nagi replies, blankly as ever, and Reo scoffs.

"Yeah, right." You tease, pushing his shoulder slightly. "Just go back to sleep on the grass, Nagi, before Reo gets Ba-ya to behead you for insulting him like that."

"You're right, you're right." Nagi pulls you towards him, hiding his face behind your back. "You'll protect me, right?"

"Oh, shut up, you two," Reo says, but it lacks bite. He gets to his feet with his trademark smile, retrieving his discarded football and kicking it at Nagi's feet. "Get up, you lazy prodigy. Those legs aren't going to move themselves."

"I told you, it's too hot for that. Let's play video games instead."

"But video games won't make us the best strikers in Japan, Nagi."

Nagi sighs, leaning his face against your back, cheek squashed against your spine, and you bolt upright. "Nobody ever gives me a break around here, man."

You're grateful that he can't see your face- your eyes snap wide open with his movement, and you feel your cheeks heating up as blood rushes upwards to your face, and all of a sudden it's far, far too hot and you really, really need to cool down.

Okay, calm down, you tell yourself desperately. It's not that big of a deal. Cool down.

The cogs in your head are still turning frantically when Reo shoots you a knowing look, eyebrows raised, and he opens his mouth to say something when you blurt out "Ice cream!"

There's a momentary stunned silence, but Reo laughs.

"What are you talking about?" He asks, and Nagi lifts his head curiously, peeking up at you from behind.

"Ice cream," You repeat, nodding determinedly, a lightbulb switching on in your head. "We should get it. Ice cream, I mean. Because- it's hot."

You wince at how flustered you sound, but either Nagi doesn't seem to notice or he mercifully ignores it as he sits up straight, stretching his arms above his head.

"Yeah," He agrees with a nod of his head. "That's a good plan. Possibly the smartest thing you've ever said, ever."

"Okay, well that was just rude." You get to your feet, eager to get away from Nagi and hopefully calm down your racing heart, and Reo snickers besides you. You shoot him a glare and he holds up his hands in surrender, but he can't seem to wipe the smug look off his face.

"I agree with Nagi," He says, kicking the football off to the side of the pitch and digging around in his discarded jacket's pocket for his wallet. "It's on me, guys, so don't hold back, okay?"

Nagi seems to be fine with that, but you shake your head at Reo, feeling slightly uneasy, You've been friends with him for a while now, but you still can't get used to his willingness to treat you- sure, he's got a lot of money to burn, but you don't want him to start feeling like you're only his friend because he pays for things.

"Sorry, but no," You counter dramatically, whipping out your own wallet. "I'm afraid you're going to have to put that away, Reo, because it's on me today."

Nagi tilts his head before lazily reaching into the pocket of his shorts and fishing his out as well, brandishing it proudly. Reo's eyes practically bulge out of his head.

"Nagi?" He asks incredulously. "Put that thing away right now. You don't usually have a problem when I pay for things, so what's up with you now?"

"I don't. But I can't let her pay." He gestures at you, and you roll your eyes.

"Oh, please," You snatch his wallet out of his hand and stuff it back into his pocket. "Spare me the chivalry. I'm paying, whether you pretentious dummies like it or not, so put yours away too, Reo."

Reo does as he's told, but he sticks his tongue out at you in that infuriating way of his.

"We'll see about that." He trills in a singsong way, and you barge him with your shoulder, determined not to lose to him.

-

"We lost, Reo" You say mournfully, ice cream in one hand and your useless wallet in the other, letting Nagi steer you out of the shop with one hand. "We're no match for Nagi Seishirou."

"I know," He sighs, looking absolutely defeated. "I can't believe they only took cash."

You take a pitiful lick of your ice cream. "I know! The one day I wasn't carrying cash, too. Still can't believe Nagi was."

Nagi shrugs. "Too much of a hassle to transfer it into my bank account."

"I can't believe Nagi's laziness actually came in clutch this time," Reo shakes his head. "Who would've thought."

The three of you head back to the pitch, and you sit down heavily onto the grass, Nagi and Reo following suit.

You take note of the way Nagi's positioned himself besides you; he's so close, your knees are almost touching, his thigh a hairs' breadth away from your own, his shoulder brushing your ear.

You don't move, and neither does he.

You're focussing so hard on the proximity between yourself and Nagi that you don't realise that the ice cream has started to melt until it's too late. It drips down the side of the cone, trickling down over your fingers, and you grimace, reaching out for your bag to get a tissue.

"Ew, gross," Reo wrinkles his nose. "You're gonna have sticky hands now."

"I can't find my tissues," You grumble, digging around in the abyss of your handbag, the fingers of your clean hand knocking against everything except what you're looking for, and you toss it upside down in frustration. "Where are they, for crying out loud-"

You find the packet eventually, tearing it open and hurriedly wiping down your hand and the sides of the cone with a frown. Reo laughs at your discomfort, so you throw your ice cream tissue at him in retaliation, and it lands on his arm.

He yells in disgust and shakes it off, and both you and Nagi laugh at him.

"You're mean." Reo says, and you stick out your tongue.

"You're meaner,"  You say, nudging Nagi with your elbow. "I'm right, aren't I? Tell him, Nagi."

"She's right, Reo." He says dutifully, tossing the rest of his cone into his mouth, and you yell triumphantly, raising your hands into the air-

And screaming shortly after when half of your ice cream plops into your lap and soaks into the fabric of your pants, much to Reo and Nagi's amusement.

Nagi grabs the packet of tissues and passes you one, and you hand him your ice cream to hold whilst you wipe yourself down. You get up to throw the dirty tissues away, mumbling darkly under your breath, before coming back to see the mess you've made, your belongings scattered everywhere.

You pick up your now-empty bag and quickly shove everything back inside; Reo is no help at all, kicking your things about to make it harder for you to gather them, laughing all the while, and you nearly punch him in irritation.

"Nah, Reo, you should probably stop that," Nagi warns from behind you. "She might just hit you, you know. Hard."

Reo laughs but does as he's told, and you're just about to throw your phone into your bag when you turn and see Nagi, sitting there, your ice cream in hand.

He tilts his head in confusion as you stare at him. "What?"

He's eating it.

He's eating your ice cream, and it's melted so much that it's left smears of ice cream around his mouth, but he licks away at it anyways, and you just stare, pocketing your phone.

He starts to get really uncomfortable. "Why're you looking at me like that?"

"Because you've gone and polished off her ice cream as well as yours, duh," Reo snorts. "Way to go."

"I can't believe you're eating it," You say, more intrigued than annoyed when you go to sit besides him again. "I've never seen you eat anything that fast."

"I actually quite like ice cream," He supplies, still licking it- the fact that he's so unaware of what he's doing wrong doesn't really surprise you, but you thought he might have figured it out by now. "Don't have to chew and it's easy to eat. It's great."

"You're... still eating it," You say, looking at him with a mix of horror and fascination. "You like it that much?"

"Do you want it back?" He asks, as if it's only just crossed his mind. He tries to pass you the cone, but you decline with a polite shake of your head.

"Nagi... you do realise I licked that?"

He pauses. "So?"

Reo sighs. "Man, you're so dense."

"Nagi," Your face is all flushed again, and you grip the strap of your handbag. "I licked it. With my tongue."

"I know that. So do you want it back or not?"

You assure him that no, you don't want it, and he happily finishes it, blissfully unaware of the way your heart is hammering away in your chest and the small ice cream moustache that's developing on his face.

"Okay, so," Reo, once again, retrieves his football once Nagi's done. "Practice."

"Absolutely not," Nagi replies immediately, and points at you. "She needs to go home and change or she'll be uncomfortable."

Reo frowns, and you're about to step in and say that you'll be fine as you are for the rest of the day, but then you remember the way Reo had been annoying you earlier and change your mind instantly.

You give him a sickly sweet smile, one that doesn't quite meet your eyes, before turning to Nagi.

"How considerate, Nagi!" You grab his hand and haul him to his feet, looping your arm around his. "That's a wonderful idea! Let's go, now, preferably. Reo, you can just... kick that ball around by yourself."

"I've said this before, but you're mean." Reo says, but he smiles good-naturedly either way. "Well, I guess it can't be helped- if Nagi wants to play boyfriend, then I shouldn't stop him."

It's an offhand comment, but Nagi freezes.

"Shut up, Reo," He grumbles, but the tips of his ears have turned pink. "You don't know what you're on about."

Reo beams, unfazed. He takes your bag and hands it to Nagi who instinctually slings it over his shoulder. "There, now you look the part, too. Mr. Nagi Seishirou, the gentleman."

You take a good look at him- he still hasn't wiped his face, and he looks so stupidly adorable that you fish your phone out of your pocket.

"Smile, Nagi!"

He startles, grey eyes widening, as the shutter of your camera goes off. You giggle, showing him the photo you've taken of him, and he wipes his face with the back of his hand.

"Delete that." He says, with a slight pout. "I look dumb."

"Nope," You gleefully change his photo in your contacts to this new one, and he protests weakly, though you have a sneaking suspicion he doesn't really mind. "This is my favourite photo ever."

You and Nagi walk away from Reo, hand in hand, and you wave him goodbye. You feel slightly guilty for leaving him behind, but it's not as if he'll be alone for long; knowing him, he'll be phoning Nagi in no time, pestering him to come and practice.

Besides, you're far too busy relishing in the feeling of Nagi's long, slender fingers interlaced with yours to care much about anything else.