To Meledea, From Isegrim-chan ♥
Title: A pretty normal "picnic"
Author: isegrim_chan
Recipient: meledea
Series: xxxHOLIC
Characters/Pairing: Doumeki/Watanuki
Rating: PG
Author Notes/Warnings: None
"How about a picnic?" Yuuko asked cheeringly as she stepped into the kitchen, where Watanuki was carefully preparing the bento for school.
"In this cold? It's winter!" He answered, eyes still fixed at the task in hand.
"Nooo, you little moron. Here. And we invite Doumeki as well." She grinned that unique grin of hers.
"Sake!!" Mokona chanted.
"It's gonna be fun." Yuuko waved an empty bottle of sake.
"At any rate!" Mokona agreed loudly. And then they laughed like little kids on Christmas.
"That’s no picnic, that’s called drinking spree." Watanuki snorted, still not looking up.
"So? Anyway, don't forget to invite him. Understood, Watanuki?" She leaned over the counter, inspecting his features as he mumbled in a half-angry tone his okay while he neatly stored sushi rolls in the bento box in front of him.
"Is this for Doumeki?" Yuuko asked in an almost overly curious voice after an all too long pause.
"That guy is an eating machine." He retorted. "I don't even know why I'm doing this! He swallows it like nothing."
Another roll was put in the right place. It was all a question of space. He had tried to find a way to put more into the box to make it enough for the archer. It wasn't like he had the urge to make food for Doumeki; it was more the ambition to make him well-fed. That and nothing else. It was just a duty. Okay, it was nice to hear that his food was tasty and wonderful and okay, he was indeed flattered, but still... it wasn't like Doumeki's opinion was the most important one, so... Who cares about Doumeki?
"Hm. Looks great." Yuuko said admiringly before she left with a singing Mokona in her arms. He still noticed the look she shot him from over her shoulder.
He closed the box, trying like hell to ignore the fact that his face felt a little bit too hot. He always tried to make every bento look wonderful. When food looks good, it tastes better. Not that the taste would matter to Doumeki considering the fact how fast an eater he was, but still...
It had to look good for the sake of good-looking. Full stop. Who cares about Doumeki? That guy probably even didn't acknowledge the work he had with the bento every morning. He stood up early every day just to prepare it and then... that stupid idiot ate it in like five minutes.
It just wasn't worth it. Really. Himawari-chan was. She didn't swallow it like a pill or something like that. And then his wishes! God, that guy was unnerving.
He stored the box carefully in his bag and left.
***
This was bad.
Very bad.
Yuuko and Mokona and Doumeki and himself and a few bottles of sake.
After the third glass, he began to feel a little bit sick. He wasn't used to drinking much alcohol, plus, he never could hold much drink.
Yuuko and Mokona were having fun, singing stupid songs and dancing through the hall and trying to involve him in their party, although he'd rather just sit and try to not feel sick. It was awful.
But the worst was something different.
The name of this worst was Doumeki. He was leaning at the wall, wearing a kimono that was way too loose for Watanuki's liking. And then the way he sipped at the stupid sake!
It slowly drove him kinda crazy. It was horrible. That guy was just sitting and drinking, but at the same time, Watanuki got more and more nervous watching him.
It wasn't the fact that the kimono had slipped off his shoulder nor was it the way his hands tenderly held the small cup and it was never ever the way his lips touched the porcelain or the mesmerizing movements of his muscles beneath the skin whenever he grabbed the bottle.
"What is it?" Doumeki asked suddenly.
Watanuki blushed and quickly turned his head, silently wanting to kick himself for doing so.
"N... Nothing." He flashed his best smile at the other guy, trying really hard to ignore the heat in his body.
Doumeki just stared at him. Very Doumeki-like, but this time, there was a strange glint in his eyes. Watanuki gulped his sake and grabbed the bottle to pour another cup.
“Hey.”
As Doumeki pried the bottle out of his hands, Watanuki’s fingers seemed to burn. Heat crept up his body, warming his heart in a very strange yet comforting way.
“What are you doing?” He snapped, in order to make it all go away. It didn’t work.
“You’ll pass out if you drink more.”
“I don’t care.” He pulled the bottle but Doumeki’s grip was iron-like.
“I do.”
The heat increased. And the way Doumeki was looking at him. God. His body began feeling too hot, it was almost unbearable. When he was smaller, he had burnt his hand while he cooked. It had hurt. A lot. Still, it was nothing compared to this.
“I’ll go for a walk.” He stood up and walked out as fast as he could, hearing laughter and Yuuko shouting teasing phrases after him.
He walked a few steps until he noticed that he had forgotten his jacket. The cold felt good, though. For now, he didn’t care if he might catch a cold. As long as this terrible heat vanished. And it took his mind off of this… whatever ‘this’ was.
He stopped beneath a streetlight. His breath was foggy before his eyes. Everything was silent. It was wonderful. He closed his eyes for a second, to just enjoy the loneliness right now. Not thinking about Doumeki and alcohol or the singing voices of Yuuko and Mokona or whatever just happened back there. It felt dangerous to think more about it. He didn’t want to know where it might lead. It was far easier to concentrate on the coolness on his skin, slowly creeping underneath, making him shiver of cold or feeling that something grabbed his foot…
Wait. His foot?
He instantly jumped back but since his foot was being hold in place, he fell face down on the street.
He managed to sit up and looked at his feet. His shadow had captured his right foot in an iron like grip.
The well-known fear and annoyance returned. How he loved it. It hadn’t happened for a long time. And he hadn’t exactly wished for it to happen right now.
He kicked for the shadow, rolled around and shouted nasty insults but nothing worked.
The shadow started to move up his leg, which slowly made Watanuki panic. This was bad. He didn’t intend to die here. And all just because of that stupid Doumeki-bastard. Couldn’t he just have said no when he presented Yuuko’s idea? Or couldn’t he just wear his kimono normally?
A pair of shoes appeared in his vision. As he looked up, Doumeki was standing there. How did he always know where to look for him? That guy was just… too much, as he resignedly decided.
The grip on his foot vanished. Thank God! A wave of relief washed through him.
Watanuki rose from the ground, beating possible dirt from his clothes.
"Why are you here? I was perfectly in control of the situation!" Such a lie. But he couldn't help it. Actually, he was relieved. That shadow would’ve eaten him, he was sure.
"..."
For a moment, they just looked at each other. He was angry. Angry at himself for not having been in control at all and angry at Doumeki too, for being there to help him. He wasn't sure how to think about it. Part of him was annoyed but another part was happy about it. And somewhere in between he felt sad and desperate and helplessly confused.
"Let's go." Doumeki said, making Watanuki realize that they were still standing in the cold. He watched Doumeki turning around and walking a few steps, before he finally followed.
He didn't dare to walk next to the taller guy, so he stayed close behind, looking at his feet. He didn’t know why but he felt horrible. It wasn’t because of the monster or the alcohol in his system. It was because of the tall guy walking ahead of him. His guts wrenched uncomfortingly.
He almost stopped breathing as he heard Doumeki sigh. It wasn't loud, but still audible in the silence between them.
It wasn't an angry or frustrated sigh, it sounded faintly bitter and sad.
Watanuki was kinda shocked. This was Doumeki, Mr. I-never-show-emotions!
For a brief moment, he wondered why. Doumeki had always been there to give a helping hand and he had saved his ass on many occasions. So why? Was he angry? For what reason then? Did he think that he, Watanuki, took it all for granted? Did he think he didn't appreciate it when he came for help?
He felt miserable as he thought about that. Wasn’t this gratefulness the reason why he always made a bento? He even made whatever Doumeki wanted to have. Wasn’t it his way to say ‘Thank you.’? “Hand-made food is precious, too.” Wasn’t that what the old Sybil had said? Wasn’t it enough? Couldn’t Doumeki see it?
“Thank you. If you really need to hear it.” He said as silent as he could as he increase his pace and passed the other boy.
He didn’t even mind if Doumeki followed.
This was a give-and-take relationship, like any other. He didn’t just take; he gave as well. Why couldn’t Doumeki understand? Wasn’t he, too, better with deeds than words? How come that he out of all did not understand?
***
“Watanuki! Did the cold made you want some more sake?” Yuuko chanted enthusiastically as he stepped into the room again.
“NO!”
“No reason to shout, little boy.” Yuuko grinned while pouring more sake into her cup.
"That’s not nice.” Mokona agreed, jumping on Watanuki’s shoulder.
“Did anything happen?” There it was again, this knowing smile. And she knew! Actually, she knew even more than you could tell her, but… this was some sort of an emergency.
Since she always knew everything, she was able to give good advice.
So, he sat down and poured sake in his cup. “Doumeki is such an IDIOT! That guy is too stupid for his own sake! Plus, he’s blinder than a mole! I mean, what was so difficult to understand? I make a bento everyday and he doesn’t even notice! Nooo, he rather sighs and gets angry and JUST IGNORES IT! I! HATE! HIM!”
He was out of breath afterwards, but he didn’t care.
He was angry. Really angry. That kind of angry where you’d like to kick a big punching ball or a waste basket or Doumeki (in this case).
At the same time, in a corner of his heart he chose to ignore, he was rather disappointed and sad. He’d never thought that Doumeki fully understood him or anything; he didn’t have to. Still, he had thought that he knew at least how to read his behavior.
Fighting with Doumeki was fun. It was pretty refreshing to have someone that sober, so different from him to talk to, to talk with. It was communicating on another base than with Himawari-chan or Yuuko, although Yuuko wasn’t that different from Doumeki.
It was more likefeeling understood. Doumeki always seemed to know, seemed to accept, seemed to understand, at least as far as he was able to.
And now?
“Well, well. I see you two have some communicating problems. Don’t worry, Doumeki is clever.” Yuuko reassured.
“He isn’t.”
“Ah, you are too pessimistic.” She reached for the bottle. “Here, drink some more.”
He obeyed and drank, refilled, drank, refilled again…
And somewhere in between he found himself staring at the door. Just to see if no ghost was coming, he told himself, being broad-minded enough to disregard the fact that this was Yuuko’s house.
Minutes passed by and still the door didn’t move except for him to grab more sake.
Doumeki stayed lost.
The alcohol was really giving him odd feelings, Watanuki decided, as he got more and more nervous and slightly excited with every breath he took, every glance he clandestinely shot towards the door or the clock.
“Oh! Doumeki-kun! Where are you coming from?” Yuuko greeted smiling as Doumeki finally entered.
Watanuki let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, but quickly gulped more sake as he became aware of it.
He watched almost anxious as Doumeki peeled off his jacket and sat down next to him.
On purpose, he was sure. And then this face. On the other hand, Doumeki always wore a poker face on his features but still… This seemed to be different.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“…”
And then something happened that Watanuki had never ever expected: Doumeki leaned forward and kissed him. On the lips. Fully. He was so shocked, he couldn’t react. He even forgot to breathe. All the blood in his system stopped in an instant.
As Doumeki retreated he gasped like a fish on dry land, trying to remember how to inhale and exhale.
“You taste like alcohol.”
“W…What???” Slightly embarrassing. Especially concerning your first kiss. His first kiss! And it was Doumeki who had kissed him. Months ago, he would’ve laughed and strangled the person who dared to predict this. Now that he thought about it, he had never really thought about his “first kiss”. Never. Not with Himawari-chan nor with anyone else.
Funny, how some things turned out in the end.
“Nothing.”
With that, he leaned in and captured Watanuki’s lips once again. This time, Watanuki reciprocated. It felt funny, though, that tingling everywhere.
“I want melon in my next bento.” Doumeki said suddenly, with a small grin playing at the corner of his mouth.
“What? It’s WINTER! Can’t you think of anything else you bastard??”
Typical. Was he the ultimate food retriever or what?
“Melon.”
“NO WAY! I won’t take the effort to get you a stupid melon in winter!”
“Spring rolls.”
“Are you insane??”
But secretly, he knew that he’d get up earlier just to make Doumeki’s bento. And he knew that he’d try to get whatever Doumeki wished for.
Not just to say ‘Thank you.’ for helping or chasing away ghosts, but also for being there and for caring so much.
And maybe, for always having a reason to think about him in the morning. But that’s a secret.
Author: isegrim_chan
Recipient: meledea
Series: xxxHOLIC
Characters/Pairing: Doumeki/Watanuki
Rating: PG
Author Notes/Warnings: None
"How about a picnic?" Yuuko asked cheeringly as she stepped into the kitchen, where Watanuki was carefully preparing the bento for school.
"In this cold? It's winter!" He answered, eyes still fixed at the task in hand.
"Nooo, you little moron. Here. And we invite Doumeki as well." She grinned that unique grin of hers.
"Sake!!" Mokona chanted.
"It's gonna be fun." Yuuko waved an empty bottle of sake.
"At any rate!" Mokona agreed loudly. And then they laughed like little kids on Christmas.
"That’s no picnic, that’s called drinking spree." Watanuki snorted, still not looking up.
"So? Anyway, don't forget to invite him. Understood, Watanuki?" She leaned over the counter, inspecting his features as he mumbled in a half-angry tone his okay while he neatly stored sushi rolls in the bento box in front of him.
"Is this for Doumeki?" Yuuko asked in an almost overly curious voice after an all too long pause.
"That guy is an eating machine." He retorted. "I don't even know why I'm doing this! He swallows it like nothing."
Another roll was put in the right place. It was all a question of space. He had tried to find a way to put more into the box to make it enough for the archer. It wasn't like he had the urge to make food for Doumeki; it was more the ambition to make him well-fed. That and nothing else. It was just a duty. Okay, it was nice to hear that his food was tasty and wonderful and okay, he was indeed flattered, but still... it wasn't like Doumeki's opinion was the most important one, so... Who cares about Doumeki?
"Hm. Looks great." Yuuko said admiringly before she left with a singing Mokona in her arms. He still noticed the look she shot him from over her shoulder.
He closed the box, trying like hell to ignore the fact that his face felt a little bit too hot. He always tried to make every bento look wonderful. When food looks good, it tastes better. Not that the taste would matter to Doumeki considering the fact how fast an eater he was, but still...
It had to look good for the sake of good-looking. Full stop. Who cares about Doumeki? That guy probably even didn't acknowledge the work he had with the bento every morning. He stood up early every day just to prepare it and then... that stupid idiot ate it in like five minutes.
It just wasn't worth it. Really. Himawari-chan was. She didn't swallow it like a pill or something like that. And then his wishes! God, that guy was unnerving.
He stored the box carefully in his bag and left.
***
This was bad.
Very bad.
Yuuko and Mokona and Doumeki and himself and a few bottles of sake.
After the third glass, he began to feel a little bit sick. He wasn't used to drinking much alcohol, plus, he never could hold much drink.
Yuuko and Mokona were having fun, singing stupid songs and dancing through the hall and trying to involve him in their party, although he'd rather just sit and try to not feel sick. It was awful.
But the worst was something different.
The name of this worst was Doumeki. He was leaning at the wall, wearing a kimono that was way too loose for Watanuki's liking. And then the way he sipped at the stupid sake!
It slowly drove him kinda crazy. It was horrible. That guy was just sitting and drinking, but at the same time, Watanuki got more and more nervous watching him.
It wasn't the fact that the kimono had slipped off his shoulder nor was it the way his hands tenderly held the small cup and it was never ever the way his lips touched the porcelain or the mesmerizing movements of his muscles beneath the skin whenever he grabbed the bottle.
"What is it?" Doumeki asked suddenly.
Watanuki blushed and quickly turned his head, silently wanting to kick himself for doing so.
"N... Nothing." He flashed his best smile at the other guy, trying really hard to ignore the heat in his body.
Doumeki just stared at him. Very Doumeki-like, but this time, there was a strange glint in his eyes. Watanuki gulped his sake and grabbed the bottle to pour another cup.
“Hey.”
As Doumeki pried the bottle out of his hands, Watanuki’s fingers seemed to burn. Heat crept up his body, warming his heart in a very strange yet comforting way.
“What are you doing?” He snapped, in order to make it all go away. It didn’t work.
“You’ll pass out if you drink more.”
“I don’t care.” He pulled the bottle but Doumeki’s grip was iron-like.
“I do.”
The heat increased. And the way Doumeki was looking at him. God. His body began feeling too hot, it was almost unbearable. When he was smaller, he had burnt his hand while he cooked. It had hurt. A lot. Still, it was nothing compared to this.
“I’ll go for a walk.” He stood up and walked out as fast as he could, hearing laughter and Yuuko shouting teasing phrases after him.
He walked a few steps until he noticed that he had forgotten his jacket. The cold felt good, though. For now, he didn’t care if he might catch a cold. As long as this terrible heat vanished. And it took his mind off of this… whatever ‘this’ was.
He stopped beneath a streetlight. His breath was foggy before his eyes. Everything was silent. It was wonderful. He closed his eyes for a second, to just enjoy the loneliness right now. Not thinking about Doumeki and alcohol or the singing voices of Yuuko and Mokona or whatever just happened back there. It felt dangerous to think more about it. He didn’t want to know where it might lead. It was far easier to concentrate on the coolness on his skin, slowly creeping underneath, making him shiver of cold or feeling that something grabbed his foot…
Wait. His foot?
He instantly jumped back but since his foot was being hold in place, he fell face down on the street.
He managed to sit up and looked at his feet. His shadow had captured his right foot in an iron like grip.
The well-known fear and annoyance returned. How he loved it. It hadn’t happened for a long time. And he hadn’t exactly wished for it to happen right now.
He kicked for the shadow, rolled around and shouted nasty insults but nothing worked.
The shadow started to move up his leg, which slowly made Watanuki panic. This was bad. He didn’t intend to die here. And all just because of that stupid Doumeki-bastard. Couldn’t he just have said no when he presented Yuuko’s idea? Or couldn’t he just wear his kimono normally?
A pair of shoes appeared in his vision. As he looked up, Doumeki was standing there. How did he always know where to look for him? That guy was just… too much, as he resignedly decided.
The grip on his foot vanished. Thank God! A wave of relief washed through him.
Watanuki rose from the ground, beating possible dirt from his clothes.
"Why are you here? I was perfectly in control of the situation!" Such a lie. But he couldn't help it. Actually, he was relieved. That shadow would’ve eaten him, he was sure.
"..."
For a moment, they just looked at each other. He was angry. Angry at himself for not having been in control at all and angry at Doumeki too, for being there to help him. He wasn't sure how to think about it. Part of him was annoyed but another part was happy about it. And somewhere in between he felt sad and desperate and helplessly confused.
"Let's go." Doumeki said, making Watanuki realize that they were still standing in the cold. He watched Doumeki turning around and walking a few steps, before he finally followed.
He didn't dare to walk next to the taller guy, so he stayed close behind, looking at his feet. He didn’t know why but he felt horrible. It wasn’t because of the monster or the alcohol in his system. It was because of the tall guy walking ahead of him. His guts wrenched uncomfortingly.
He almost stopped breathing as he heard Doumeki sigh. It wasn't loud, but still audible in the silence between them.
It wasn't an angry or frustrated sigh, it sounded faintly bitter and sad.
Watanuki was kinda shocked. This was Doumeki, Mr. I-never-show-emotions!
For a brief moment, he wondered why. Doumeki had always been there to give a helping hand and he had saved his ass on many occasions. So why? Was he angry? For what reason then? Did he think that he, Watanuki, took it all for granted? Did he think he didn't appreciate it when he came for help?
He felt miserable as he thought about that. Wasn’t this gratefulness the reason why he always made a bento? He even made whatever Doumeki wanted to have. Wasn’t it his way to say ‘Thank you.’? “Hand-made food is precious, too.” Wasn’t that what the old Sybil had said? Wasn’t it enough? Couldn’t Doumeki see it?
“Thank you. If you really need to hear it.” He said as silent as he could as he increase his pace and passed the other boy.
He didn’t even mind if Doumeki followed.
This was a give-and-take relationship, like any other. He didn’t just take; he gave as well. Why couldn’t Doumeki understand? Wasn’t he, too, better with deeds than words? How come that he out of all did not understand?
***
“Watanuki! Did the cold made you want some more sake?” Yuuko chanted enthusiastically as he stepped into the room again.
“NO!”
“No reason to shout, little boy.” Yuuko grinned while pouring more sake into her cup.
"That’s not nice.” Mokona agreed, jumping on Watanuki’s shoulder.
“Did anything happen?” There it was again, this knowing smile. And she knew! Actually, she knew even more than you could tell her, but… this was some sort of an emergency.
Since she always knew everything, she was able to give good advice.
So, he sat down and poured sake in his cup. “Doumeki is such an IDIOT! That guy is too stupid for his own sake! Plus, he’s blinder than a mole! I mean, what was so difficult to understand? I make a bento everyday and he doesn’t even notice! Nooo, he rather sighs and gets angry and JUST IGNORES IT! I! HATE! HIM!”
He was out of breath afterwards, but he didn’t care.
He was angry. Really angry. That kind of angry where you’d like to kick a big punching ball or a waste basket or Doumeki (in this case).
At the same time, in a corner of his heart he chose to ignore, he was rather disappointed and sad. He’d never thought that Doumeki fully understood him or anything; he didn’t have to. Still, he had thought that he knew at least how to read his behavior.
Fighting with Doumeki was fun. It was pretty refreshing to have someone that sober, so different from him to talk to, to talk with. It was communicating on another base than with Himawari-chan or Yuuko, although Yuuko wasn’t that different from Doumeki.
It was more likefeeling understood. Doumeki always seemed to know, seemed to accept, seemed to understand, at least as far as he was able to.
And now?
“Well, well. I see you two have some communicating problems. Don’t worry, Doumeki is clever.” Yuuko reassured.
“He isn’t.”
“Ah, you are too pessimistic.” She reached for the bottle. “Here, drink some more.”
He obeyed and drank, refilled, drank, refilled again…
And somewhere in between he found himself staring at the door. Just to see if no ghost was coming, he told himself, being broad-minded enough to disregard the fact that this was Yuuko’s house.
Minutes passed by and still the door didn’t move except for him to grab more sake.
Doumeki stayed lost.
The alcohol was really giving him odd feelings, Watanuki decided, as he got more and more nervous and slightly excited with every breath he took, every glance he clandestinely shot towards the door or the clock.
“Oh! Doumeki-kun! Where are you coming from?” Yuuko greeted smiling as Doumeki finally entered.
Watanuki let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, but quickly gulped more sake as he became aware of it.
He watched almost anxious as Doumeki peeled off his jacket and sat down next to him.
On purpose, he was sure. And then this face. On the other hand, Doumeki always wore a poker face on his features but still… This seemed to be different.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“…”
And then something happened that Watanuki had never ever expected: Doumeki leaned forward and kissed him. On the lips. Fully. He was so shocked, he couldn’t react. He even forgot to breathe. All the blood in his system stopped in an instant.
As Doumeki retreated he gasped like a fish on dry land, trying to remember how to inhale and exhale.
“You taste like alcohol.”
“W…What???” Slightly embarrassing. Especially concerning your first kiss. His first kiss! And it was Doumeki who had kissed him. Months ago, he would’ve laughed and strangled the person who dared to predict this. Now that he thought about it, he had never really thought about his “first kiss”. Never. Not with Himawari-chan nor with anyone else.
Funny, how some things turned out in the end.
“Nothing.”
With that, he leaned in and captured Watanuki’s lips once again. This time, Watanuki reciprocated. It felt funny, though, that tingling everywhere.
“I want melon in my next bento.” Doumeki said suddenly, with a small grin playing at the corner of his mouth.
“What? It’s WINTER! Can’t you think of anything else you bastard??”
Typical. Was he the ultimate food retriever or what?
“Melon.”
“NO WAY! I won’t take the effort to get you a stupid melon in winter!”
“Spring rolls.”
“Are you insane??”
But secretly, he knew that he’d get up earlier just to make Doumeki’s bento. And he knew that he’d try to get whatever Doumeki wished for.
Not just to say ‘Thank you.’ for helping or chasing away ghosts, but also for being there and for caring so much.
And maybe, for always having a reason to think about him in the morning. But that’s a secret.