Title: Can't You Chu?
Author:
Twelf Bell
Type of Writing:
A One-Shot Fanfic that turned amazingly LONG! O__O;
Summary:
A.K.A. Can't You Kiss? It's almost Christmas! But no matter how much Doumeki wants to kiss his lover, Watanuki won't let him. DouWata love ;3
---Pairing: Doumeki x Watanuki (OF COURSE!! 8D)
Disclaimer: I do not own xxxHolic, but I do own my feelings as a DouWata fangirl ;D

- - - - - - - - - - - - Ch1. Two Days.

//; Good Morning

There was a big mountain of snow outside when Watanuki Kimihiro opened the door of the store. Man! More work! he complained silently in his head.

He went to the room in which he put his winter clothes in – Yuuko-san lent him a room to stay that night, since she had said it was going to snow (before it actually snowed) and told him to bring warm clothing. He put on two long-sleeve shirts, one sweater, and over that – a jacket. He wore his pajama pants under another layer of pants, and boots over a heavy lump of socks. Grabbing his self-made gloves, a scarf and a self-knitted hat, he walked heavily out to the front door.

He got a shovel from a nearby closet and began shoveling from the outside of the door to the gates that stretched around the property of Yuuko-san, the store owner. When he reached the gateway, he was panting tiredly. A stoic voice turned his tired state around, and he became as hyper as a hungry dog.

"Doumeki!" called Watanuki, waving an arm – that was not holding the shovel – energetically.

The stone-faced man gave a smirk when he was close to Watanuki. "Good morning."

Doumeki Shizuka was wearing a moss green turtle-neck and a heavy, black button-down jacket over it. He wore no hat, but he had a wool scarf and the gloves that Watanuki made especially for him some while ago.

"Good morning," replied a happy Watanuki. He gave a grin but that wiped immediately off when Doumeki said, "A lot of work you have to do, huh?" What a way to ruin the moment.

Watanuki frowned. "Yeah. Look at this!" He gestured at the mountains of snow. "It's about a foot high! How does Yuuko-san expect me to shovel all this?!"

"Do you want me to help?"

The bespectacled teenager gave a smile. "Sure. That'd be great."

The two worked for an hour before sitting down on the porch for a break.

"Though I have three pairs of socks on, my toes are freezing!" whined Watanuki to the sky, who had his arms perching him up from behind.

"Hm." The composed Doumeki was sitting as he usually did; like a gentleman.

Quiet resounded between the two until Doumeki asked, "How'd you sleep?"

What an odd question. "Great, I guess. Not much spirits invaded my sleep since Yuuko-san's store barrier fends them off."

Silence again.

The morning sky was clouded with light gray silk, making lumps of upside down snow in the sky with white specks. Due to the winter weather, you couldn't really tell if it was morning still or afternoon yet. A cold breeze blew in the two's faces. Doumeki sneezed.

"You alright?" asked a concerned Watanuki, who noticed the redness in the other's nose and ears.

"Ah."

Urrg.. what should I do? I don't want him catching a cold... Watanuki slowly took off his hat and held it out to the shivering one next to him. "Here; wear this."

Doumeki stared at the bespectacled teenager. "It's okay."

"No. I insist." And that was the end of the conversation. Doumeki took the hat and put it on. To his surprise, it was very warm. He watched as Watanuki's ears turned red from the cold, in his place. He felt like apologizing but that wouldn't do anything, since he knew the outcome of it.

The door of the store opened. "Watanuki!"

"Ah, Mokona. Good morning."

"Ohayo! Doumeki, too!" said a jumpy Mokona.

Doumeki nodded.

"Watanuki, Watanuki!"

"Hm?"

"Make breakfast!"

Watanuki gasped. He totally forgot. Yuuko-san was going to be mad. "Is Yuuko-san awake already?"

"Uhuh. And she's real grouchy today, so hurry it up."

Yup. Yuuko-san was going to be very mad.

//; Good Afternoon

Sure enough, the long hair lady spat at Watanuki about forgetting things – though, as Watanuki said, it's not his fault that he's forgetting things... his memories are just disappearing on him. That made the whole dining room quiet, even the angry Yuuko-san. She then sighed and said cheerfully, "Is breakfast ready?"

It was afternoon already, though the sky didn't show it. Watanuki had made lunch for the hungry seers already. He didn't make any for Doumeki, who frowned when he heard the news.

"I'm hungry. How come you're not making anything for me?"

Watanuki sighed. "We're going to eat out for lunch today. Didn't I say so yesterday?"

The frown on Doumeki's face relaxed a little but the tone in his voice didn't – though you wouldn't really know if there was any. "And I said that I wanted to eat your food."

At that, Watanuki smiled to himself. Doumeki really did love the food he made for him everyday; he ate it all and without complains.

"And I said that we should try something new once in a while," Watanuki shot back.

Doumeki was defeated. No matter how much he wanted to eat his lover's cooking, it had to wait. Oh wait, did I say 'lover'? Oh yes I did. They started dating a little bit before winter break started. The time and place that the confessor confessed was a simple place that the couple both knew very well. Though it was not a place for romance, the scene was a scene that every girl, no, every couple would envy. (** Read A/N)

The couple left the store and headed out for their destination – wherever that was.

As they were walking, Watanuki noticed a presence behind him. When he turned around, what he saw freaked him out. It was one of those murderous spirits that followed him all day long. This one was amazingly huge; about three feet taller than himself and it was of the color... WHITE?! What was it? It looked like a snow mob with a menacing aura! Three eyes and a large mouth opened at the same time on the monster.

"Look at that yummy thing... Ah... I want to eaaat... I'm so hungry..."

Watanuki turned abruptly around and began walking so quickly that Doumeki had to run to catch up with him.

"Oi, what's wrong?"

The mob monster was drawing closer. Watanuki broke into a run. "It's following me!!" Well duh it's following you.

Doumeki looked behind him but saw nothing, as expected. He could have seen it if Watanuki hadn't turned around so quickly. He yelled to the scared teenager to slow down. Watanuki slowed down, and stopped. Doumeki caught up and said, "Where is it?"

With teary eyes, Watanuki slowly turned to face the monster. You couldn't really see it clearly since its whiteness camouflaged with the snow and sky around it – and that's what Doumeki had the problem of. He had to look a bit closer in the blurred image to see the monster. It was there all right. And sure, it was huge. Gigantic. Enormous. Humongous. Cheesus mice! Run away already!

But they didn't. Doumeki took Watanuki's hand and turned him around. They began walking down their original path as if nothing happened. Watanuki was still frantic, but the archer was calm. No, he wasn't an archer at all – he didn't have his bow with him. He was ashamed but he had no choice but to walk away.

During their walk, Watanuki's hand was still clasped in the big hands of Doumeki's. The stoic teenager's hands were very warm through the gloves. Even though Watanuki kept moaning about the stalker behind them, he felt safe next to his friend. When they neared the marketplace of stores and restaurants and such, the bespectacled boy forgot about the monster and quieted down. Well, not really. He let go of Doumeki's hand and began talking and blabbering about the things in the stores and their prices. Doumeki listened but didn't pay attention to any of the words that came out of his lover's mouth. He was busy trying to think of a way to ditch the bastard following them.

"-ki. Hey, Doumeki?"

"Mm?"

Watanuki was staring at his face; Doumeki stared back. Watanuki cocked his head to the side as if in confusion but he said, "How about that place?"

He was pointing somewhere. Doumeki looked away from the pale faced teenager and at where he was pointing. It was a small coffeehouse that didn't seem to have much customers, but it had an aura of peace and quiet. "Let's go."

A bell rang when they opened the door. A greeting came from the counter. As said, the place didn't have much customers. It was empty except for an old man at the counter – probably the master of the coffeehouse – and one girl a little younger than themselves across from the master.

The girl had short dark brown hair topped with a dark purple bucket hat and large piercing eyes that matched her hair. She wore a many-colored striped scarf that seemed too long and gray-rimmed glasses that matched the felt-grey valenky boots on her feet, in which tucked in her jeans. A pale purple pea jacket was hung over the chair she sat on and dark moss-green gloves lay on the counter. A tan-brown turtleneck was what she wore.

When she heard the bell ring, she said without looking up from her writing work, "It seems you've got customers, Suzuki-san."

What a high-pitched voice... thought Watanuki.

"Seems so," the old man, Suzuki-san, smiled. He was wearing a waiter uniform; white dress-shirt with black vest buttoned all the way through, black pants and dress shoes. A bow tie was tied around the collar of the dress-shirt. The old man welcomed the couple. "Welcome to our coffeehouse; I am Suzuki-san, the master here." He bowed.

Watanuki hurriedly bowed in respect. "I-I'm... um.. should I say my name?"

Suzuki-san chuckled. "Only if you want to."

The old man seemed like a nice guy so Watanuki introduced himself. "I'm Watanuki, and this is" - he gestured at his partner, "Doumeki." At his name, the stoic teenager nodded. "We'll be in your care this afternoon."

Suzuki-san nodded and then said, "How about the one behind you? He's part of your group?"

Behind? We didn't bring anyone but ourselves... Watanuki turned around. His eyes turned wide when three eyes stared him in the face with a large drooling mouth. He shrieked and hid behind Doumeki.

"Hahahaha, I guess not then?" said the coffee master, with a smile. He turned around in his counter space and took something from a wall cabinet. He walked to where Doumeki stood with Watanuki behind him. He opened whatever the 'something' was and then threw it at monster. The spirit got hit and gagged. It backed up but before it could step back, Suzuki-san threw a handful of the 'something' at it and it disappeared completely into thin air.

"S-Suzuki-san... y-y-y-y-y-you...!" exclaimed a surprised Watanuki. Doumeki was quite surprised himself too. The girl on the counter wasn't though, since she did not look up a bit.

"Hm?" The coffee master was smiling. "What's wrong?"

"Wh-What did you use to make it go away?"

Suzuki-san held up what was in his hand. It was salt. SALT?! Why?? The old man explained. "That monster was a snow spirit, right? Well, to make snow go away, what do you use?"

"Salt..." Doumeki said, quietly.

The old man winked, making more wrinkles appear on his face. "Exactly."

The couple sat down on the counter table, next to the working girl, when Suzuki-san beckoned them over.

"You can see spirits too?" asked a curious Watanuki.

"Mm. Since I was a little kid."

"Really? Me too!"

As the conversation between the old man and the bespectacled teenager grew in topic, Doumeki thought about what just happened. It felt like his second defeat that day. He had forgotten that salt could make snow melt. Actually, he never really even knew that the monster was a snow spirit.. or that there were different kinds of spirits other than the human-type and blobs! He watched as Watanuki laughed and joked with the master. He felt sorry that he couldn't protect his love.

His eyes then averted to the working girl who sat next to Watanuki. She didn't seem to be paying attention to what was going on. She was in her own world. Suddenly, her pen stopped moving and her eyes stared back at the one that was looking at her. Doumeki didn't seem to know what expression to put on.

The old man suddenly said, "She's the granddaughter of my deceased friend, Sasaki Jun. Her name is Rei."

Sasaki Rei was still staring at Doumeki. She then asked, "How long have you two been going out?"

Watanuki blushed bright red, while Doumeki kept his straight face. Without any words coming out of anyone's mouth, Rei got an answer. "Ah, I see. Before winter break, hm?"

The bespectacled teenager's eyes grew wide behind his glasses. "H-How..?!"

The girl smiled before going back to her work. The old man was chuckling. He explained for the confused couple; "Rei can read minds. Jun read minds too; she probably inherited the skill."

Watanuki didn't know how to react to this. Or rather, he had met so many people with different skills that it was normal to him. Himself as a spirit magnet, Doumeki as a spirit handler, Yuuko-san as a physic, and now: Suzuki-san as a spirit handler like Doumeki (but can see spirits), and Rei-san as a mind-reader. What a small world!

Rei smirked at her work, though it was really for Watanuki – since she read what he was thinking.

Suzuki-san asked, "So, what's your order?"

"Huh?"

The old man chuckled for the third time. "This is a coffeehouse! We serve coffee, as well as other drinks, and we have menus for both breakfast and lunch. So what's your order?"

Watanuki totally forgot about lunch. A loud growl was heard. Watanuki looked up. Rei was giggling (she knew who did that), Suzuki-san was surprised, and Doumeki was stone-faced as ever.

"Th-That wasn't me!" exclaimed Watanuki. He hadn't felt his stomach rumble, so it was definitely not him. Rei was laughing, so it was not her. Suzuki-san...

"Hurry up and order. I'm hungry."

Watanuki turned to Doumeki. Staring at the stoic teenager's face, he noticed a little pink blush on his cheeks. He laughed at the sight. It was Doumeki who's stomach growled. Of course. Since breakfast was about two hours ago, Doumeki was already hungry.

A smile turned up on the bespectacled teenager's face and then said, "Then we'll have something on the lunch menu, Suzuki-san."

The old man grinned and said, "Coming right up."

//; Good Evening

"The food back at Suzuki-san's place was great, wasn't it Doumeki?"

"Ah." Doumeki agreed. It was so good that he couldn't compare it to Watanuki's own cooking. To be honest, it was a bit better than his lover's. He wondered why.

Watanuki was very happy for some reason. He kept grinning and laughing at whatever. As he talked on and on about Suzuki-san and Rei and the store and the food, Doumeki thought about their plans for tomorrow.

Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. He had noticed many Christmas decorations in and on store windows, doors, etc. Christmas lights hung from streetlight to streetlight down every street they passed, too. A man in a Santa costume was giving out free coupons for a store that he worked at. A little boy in an Elf costume was giving out free tissues outside a store in which was probably his parents.

Christmas was drawing near and the love between Doumeki and Watanuki did not go further down the road. They were stuck in the "friend" part. Even though they started dating, they never did anything lovey-dovey.

After buying some random gifts and souvenirs or so, they headed home. As usual, Doumeki was quiet and Watanuki... well, he was quiet the whole way home, too. He was probably all tired out.

They were already outside of Yuuko-san's store when Doumeki had something to talk about. Watanuki turned and faced Doumeki. He smiled before saying, "Thanks for today, Doumeki."

"Yeah."

The two were quiet for three seconds after Doumeki's response. He then said, "So. Tomorrow, I'm going to pick you up."

"Why?"

"It's almost Christmas. We should go out on a date somewhere."

Watanuki blushed. "A-Alright then."

Before Watanuki could speak any further, Doumeki drew close to his face. The shorter teenager could feel the breath of his lover on his face. The stoic face drew closer and closer, and before the lips of the two touched, Watanuki backed up.

"Wh-What're you doing?!"

Doumeki was in an odd position, he was bent forward – as if bowing. "I wanted to kiss you."

The spirit magnet turned completely red. "Wh-Why?" What a stupid question, Watanuki. How dare you ruin the moment between you and Doumeki. (Sigh).

"Isn't that what lovers do?"

Watanuki took in a deep breath and letting it all out in one breath, he said, "I'msorryIhavetogoI'llseeyoutomorrow... Goodbye!"

He ran toward the doors of the shop. He was panting very hard when he closed the door on the confused Doumeki. For god's sake Watanuki! Why didn't you let Doumeki kiss you?! WHYYY??!

Outside, Doumeki sighed. He walked in the direction of his house/temple, thinking all the way of why Watanuki ran away from him.

//; Good Night

Doumeki was already sleeping soundly – though not really (he had nightmares of Watanuki running away from him), when Watanuki got in bed. He took off his glasses and put them on the floor next to his futon. As he lay in the warmth of the futon, he thought about what he did.

Running away from your lover is a sad thing when they're about to share their love with you. Poor Doumeki.

Watanuki couldn't sleep that night. He got headaches thinking about what to do tomorrow; should he apologize or should he pretend that nothing happened? From the headaches, he turned sweaty. From being sweaty, he lay upon his quilts. From sleeping over his quilts in the middle of winter...

Watanuki caught a cold.


A/N: Lols. Some of the sentences are my feelings. You may notice easily which they are xD Well... hope you enjoyed it so far! There will be three chapters for this fanfic – all very long ones, as this one.

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL ANY OF THE NAMES USED IN THIS FANFIC – except the ones that are credited to CLAMP (Watanuki, Doumeki, Yuuko, Mokona). Sasaki Rei is a fictional character, but a friend of mine also. No stealing her name!

And so, do hope you enjoyed. Please review! ;D

//;SEi

P.S. I looked up stuff about coffee and my gosh, the coffee art is so AMAZING! Though I don't drink coffee at all, I still think it's cool 8D

Also, I loved doing this chapter because there is so much descriptions to write. I did research for Rei's clothes, Suzuki-san's waiter clothes, and such. Heh. Well, that's all! Remember to review!

Listening To: Ikenai Taiyou (Orange Range) – from drama: Hana Kimi
a must watch drama, AS WELL AS manga, and the Taiwan version is good too ;3