Titolo: Airport Impressions
Fandom: Free!
Personaggi: Rei/Nagisa
Genere: tooth-rotting fluff
Avvertimento: pwp, un po' di angst ma proprio poco poco, future fic, in inglese
Parole: 2231
Note: Questa è per la M1 della seconda settimana del COW-T, con tutti e quattro i prompt (viaggio, incertezza, progetti e attesa). E le voglio abbastanza bì. <3 Non ho la minima idea di come funzionino gli aeroporti e i campus in America quindi se qualcuno legge: non farci caso ok? "XD


He woke up indecently early, today. He looked outside at the quaint yet lively view of campus that always offered a snapshot on students' life, wondering just how much he would like it. There was no doubt on whether he would or not - Nagisa had always absolutely loved places with lots of people to talk to and befriend, so he would certainly love this.
Rei found himself worrying for a moment about the practical side of bringing Nagisa to his dorm room - not only because the place was already as messy and crowded as it was and there was definitely no need to bring more chaos to it - but because... they had no way to be subtle. About anything. And Rei had avoided the issue the whole time, not wanting to talk about such private matters to people who were barely anything more than acquaintances. Yes, he'd seen them dating and holding hands with their girlfriends, he'd seen them even kissing while out in the open, and those were the moments he fully realized how different this place was from home. Nagisa would probably love how much open people here were to touching and being intimate in that way, but something in the middle of Rei's stomach tightened. He thought that, in a way, America was all about love. On the other hand, he'd also seen enough to realize there often was only one kind of love that nobody would question, and the love he had for Nagisa was not it. And it was one thing when they were teenagers and anyone who knew about them probably thought they were just experimenting, but many times it felt as if his thoughts about Nagisa were still alien. Not fitting. Not beautiful. Not perfect.
But they were fitting and beautiful and perfect to him. Which was why eventually he'd told Nagisa, "come here for a while." He was not entirely certain Nagisa would, eventually, accept to stay. Rei hadn't asked. As far as Nagisa knew, probably, this was just a vacation, a moment of relief from having to live on opposite sides of the ocean, from looking at the sea stretching far and imagining Rei's life somewhere beyond it.

Nagisa was in between jobs now, but he'd spared enough during the last three years to afford a round ticket for Massachussetts, where Rei had earnt himself a scholarship in History. Which was ironic, since he'd only started studying the subject as a way to support Nagisa's own academic career, and then found out history tied into so many other disciplines, so many other views of the world, and the more he learnt from it the more his views widened, the more the colors he saw gained nuances and shades. And by the time Nagisa dropped his university courses and brough enough disappointment to his family, Rei was entirely enamoured of the subject.

Anyway, he trotted down the numerous stairs in the building, with a haste in his step that was different from the hurry moving him whenever he would run to class with the constant terror of being late. He was going to grab a taxi, he was going to the airport. Finally, after three years of waiting, he was going to see Nagisa again.
He'd never understood the expression of 'butterflies in one's stomach', before Nagisa. He remembered getting its meaning the moment Nagisa looked up at him, with sunlight beaming from his face, and called him 'beautiful'. And now, those pesky bugs were truly causing a ruckus in his bowels. He held his hands over his stomach, rubbing gently as if to calm the buzz down, but it proved useless every time the image of Nagisa flashed before his eyes.
He did not know how their story would go on, but he had ideas. Projects. He'd asked around about housing and jobs and so far the most worrying thing was that Nagisa's head seemed to reject English almost categorically, and... maybe he would not want to stay here. Maybe he would prefer to stay home. Maybe whatever they had told each other in the form of enthusiastic promises would fade with fear and difficulties. Not that Nagisa would give up in front of anything. But was he even willing to fight?
His mouth twitched and his eyebrows knit with worry, and in the pit of his stomach a heavy weigh seemed to occupy all space until there was no room left for even one of those mint candies on a space between the driver's and the passenger's seats.
And unfortunately enough, this driver was not a chatty one - it would help not focusing on so many anxiety-inducing thoughts -, and even though it would be good for his English, Rei really did not felt like speaking it, this morning. He simply sat there, mulling this new worry in his head, but if he became anxious his driver could not notice - his expression was tense, yes, but not any different from any other passenger's.

While waiting at the exit gate, those worries only doubled, even tripled. He'd briefed Nagisa about how he should behave at the airport and not do anything silly - he did not think anything would get him detained, but it would probably slow his entrance down - but still... this was Nagisa. Nagisa could become a synonim for 'unpredictable'.
So when the arrival from Tokyo was announced, Rei's eyes lifted from his phone as he quickly walked over to the gate, and lifted on his toes looking wide-eyed left and right for the incoming crowd of passengers coming in.
They started arriving, meeting with their families or friends, parading away, all smiles and relief and warmth, but the longer he observed those happy scenes, the more that knot in his bowels tightened. Nagisa was nowhere in sight, there was no trace of his chirpy voice calling out, 'Rei-chan!', there was not any ruffled mop of blond curls bouncing around among the people who had arrived, and eventually the last tourist walked away from the gate squinting down at her cellphone for directions.
Which was Rei's cue that he was now officially allowed to panic.
They'd planned this. They'd carefully made sure everything was in check, Rei had asked Nagisa a billion times about every single detail and the etiquette and the rules and the tickets and Nagisa had confirmed every single time, so what the hell had happened?
Had Nagisa forfeited him at the end? Had he missed his flight? That could have happened, given his constant Nagisa-ing. Maybe it was his way of saying goodbye. Maybe he hadn't woken up and was stuck back in Tokyo, crying that he'd missed his flight.
Rei only realized his breath had began accelerating to the point of getting out of control when someone touched his shoulder, asking whether everything was alright.
"A-ah... uh, yes," he replied to the woman who'd asked him, and he stretched his lips in a pale smile which failed to look in any way reassuring.
"Are you sure?" She insisted, patting his back. "Here, breathe in this bag."
"N-no, really, I'm fine, thank you," Rei hummed, fixing his glasses on top of his nose as his cheeks turned completely red with embarrassment. "It's just... my- my lover was supposed to be here and..."
The woman tilted her head and clicked her tongue, with a sorry look.
"Aw, I see, honey. Maybe she's still back at customs? You'll see she'll be here in no time!" She replied, patting his back again with a soft smile.
"Yeah..." he replied, not really caring for correcting her, and took a long breath with the smallest smile. "Thank you."
She left after a couple of minutes, after making sure he'd gone back to breathing regularly, and then Rei was left there in front of the hurdles, once more filling his head up with worrisome thoughts.

He was sitting in the waiting area, a few long minutes later, before the voice he'd been wanting to hear tweeted, loudly, "Rei-chan!"
His chest tightened once more, really hard, as if a hand was squeezing it, and then that hold melted the moment his eyes flashed to look onwards as Nagisa ran towards him at full speed despite the fact that he was dragging at least two trolley bags with him. He'd Nagisa-ed. Again.
"Nagisa-kun, I told you a billion of times not to do anything stupid!" He yelled, making a few heads turn. Nagisa stopped in his tracks, with one of the trolleys bumping into him.
"What did I do?" He protested, with a pout.
"Did you get held back at customs? Why are you so late? Why do you always have to make me worry?" Rei insisted, with a long sigh.
"Rei-chan, calm down. I forgot to fill in that form they gave me at customs, but now it's all alright," Nagisa explained, quietly, before looking down with a tiny smile.
"What matters is that I'm here, right?" He added, low, before glancing up with a small blush on his cheeks.
Rei wanted to yell at him some more, he really did - who the hell forgets to fill a form they basically wave in your face? How the hell does anyone get further through without filling it? - but then his body moved on his own, and his hands pulled Nagisa in before his arms wrapped around him to hold him in the most relieved and happy hug of his life.
"Yes. I missed you," he replied, inhaling a sweet scent of vanilla and strawberries.
Of course Nagisa was here. Of course he hadn't missed the flight. Of course he would not just break up like that. Stupid anxiety.
"Missed you too, Rei-chan," Nagisa hummed with the warmest voice, rolling the name on his tongue as if it was candy, after the first moment of surprise from being hugged at all. In public. And he had not been the one to initiate it.
A rumble resounded between their stomachs, and Nagisa looked down before giggling and rubbing on his tummy.
"Oops. I was so excited I didn't eat anything on the flight... and now I'm so hungry, Rei-chan! I'm starving," he lamented, and looked around. "Can I get something to eat before we go?" He asked. "I wanna eat American food!"
"Well... alright," Rei conceded, and grabbed the handle of one of the trolley bags. "You'll have to explain me why two bags, by the way."
"I filled one with food from home and gifts, because you made lots of friends, right? And the other with clothes and other stuff I need," Nagisa chirped, grinning.
Rei blinked, and then scoffed, and rubbed his eyes.
"No wonder they held you back so long. I told you a billion times not to bring food..." He commented, and only saw Nagisa roll his eyes from the corner of his own.
"Well, I'm past customs so it's okay. Let's go to eat!" He chirped again, and slid his hand into Rei's. "This is allowed here, right?"
Rei's heart stuttered, while his fingers tightened around Nagisa's smaller - but not too much - hand.
"Yeah. Yeah, it is," he replied, looking around, but nobody was staring. So, quickly, he pulled Nagisa back for a moment, and grabbed his chin to press a kiss on his lips which, the next moment, left Nagisa looking up at Rei, wide-eyed and blushing and a mischievous look appearing on his face.
"You'll get the rest when we get to campus," Rei whispered, delighted with Nagisa's sputters and embarrassed chirps the moment he realized what that meant. But then he gave Rei a smile, and an eager nod.
"I don't want to eat then."
Rei snickered, giving the hand he was holding a gentle squeeze.
"Where has all your hunger gone now?" He teased, and kept following Nagisa for the first joint with anything edible in it.
"I want to try that!" He announced, pointing his fingers to a Currito joint.
"Burritos?" Rei hummed. "I though you'd want to eat more than a burrito."
"Who says I'll only eat one?" Nagisa asked, completely serious, frowning. "I was actually planning on four or five different ones."
Rei blinked, and finally smirked. If anything, this reassured him that Nagisa really hadn't changed.
"And then," Nagisa continued, "I want to meet all of your friends! And also, do they have pets? Because I wanna meet them too! I wanna know everything about this city!" He added, putting himself in line for the joint.
"Of course," Rei said, with another smile. Nagisa's enthusiasm was encouraging. Maybe he would really decide to move here, with Rei. Then again, the choice was up to him, all Rei could do was hope for them to finally live together.

"I hant to live hewe foheber," Nagisa announced after two burritos, with his mouth full like that of a hamster and his eyes glistening with pure, unadulterated joy.
Rei laughed softly, gazing at him with a dreamy look.
"I'm so happy you're here," he murmured.
Nagisa blinked a couple of times, before swallowing the entire mouthful and smiling with his face gloriously smeared with chili.
"Me too," he replied, tender.
Rei realized how silly all of his worries were. Nagisa loved traveling. Nagisa loved seeing new things. Nagisa loved being faced with challenges.
Nagisa loves me.