Disclaimer: The characters within this story all belong to CLAMP.
Warnings: Mentions of Yuko-based plots and a paranoid Watanuki.
Summary: Watanuki thinks about how he cooks for Doumeki everyday.
Completed: January 30, 2010
AN: Sorry this is late, guys. I was having some issues uploading. D: Fortunately, it looks like FF.N managed to get it all sorted out so please look forward to the daily pieces once more. :D

Bento
by: Kagome-reincarnation

"Doesn't he have any restraint?!" Watanuki ranted as he stirred that he'd put together for the cinnamon scones. "Always making requests, never taking 'no' for an answer!" He slammed the mixing bowl down onto the counter as he checked the oven's temperature.

Yuko watched from the doorway, Mokona on her shoulder. The two wore identically sly grins as they observed the oblivious male before them.

"Doumeki-kun asks," Yuko said in a rather liquid tone, "This is true." She moved towards Watanuki, her stride careful so as to prevent any part of her extravagant outfit from catching on any drawer handles.

Leaning close to Watanuki, she grinned almost evilly into his blushing face. "But it's Watanuki who always goes along with it, is it not?"

There was a brief pause, in which Yuko got a close up view of the quickly darkening color on the boy's face. His blush, she noted, had reached his ears and neck.

"Wha–?!" Watanuki's voice rose in the single syllable before becoming an unintelligible cry of something they couldn't identify.

Yuko had eased back just in time, saving her eardrums from the supersonic burst of energy that had appeared in Watanuki. He was entirely frazzled.

"I'm not going along with it!" he protested, his arms before him waving to and fro quickly before him to shoo the idea out of his vicinity. There was a pause. Yuko's amused smirk grew as she watched her helper transition from pure denial to frozen shock within the space of a second.

"Is that so?" she prompted. Her smirk, she knew, was absolutely evil.

Watanuki flushed deeper before looking away. "G-g-go do something else! It's not that I'm going along with it, I'm just keeping him from complaining every single day!"

"Oh?" Yuko put on a thoughtful expression, pressing a single finger against her lips. "Is that so? Then why is it that Watanuki is always complaining about Doumeki's complaints when he comes here?"

"It's because Doumeki complains anyways!" Mokona chimed in from his spot near the batter. A single hand was reaching for it and Watanuki snatched it away.

Mokona clucked as he was prevented from getting the taste he'd been seeking. "Foiled!"

"No tasting the batter!" Watanuki scolded, overreacting to the offense simply because it was an escape from the unavoidable thoughts that Yuko and her devilish partner in crime were putting into his head. "Out, out! Both of you get out!"

When neither of the two showed any signs of moving, he set the batter down and grabbed Mokona, shoving both Mokona and Yuko out of the kitchen. He was sure that Mokona wouldn't fall, even if he released him – Yuko was there, after all, and it was Mokona.

He could hear the two of them getting up to their usual antics outside, but they were blessedly retreating from the door. They were, he decided, probably going back to the lounge to drink and carouse, and who knew how much alcohol Yuko had stashed away?

"Geez," he muttered as he went back to the batter, checking on its consistency. After he doled it out and set the mixture into the refrigerator, he sat at the table in the kitchen. He poured himself a cup of tea and simply stared at the wall for a while, doing his absolute best to not think about all that Yuko and Mokona had said.

As would anyone else in such a situation, he failed at it most admirably.

It was an irritable Watanuki that served Yuko and Mokona and Maru and Moro their treats that night, and it was an annoyed Watanuki that went home afterwards. In the morning, however, it was a greatly incensed Watanuki that packed the lunches for himself and the archer that he so often unwillingly relied on.

During lunch, he'd placed the bento before Doumeki with the usual flourish and had demanded the boy worship him for it… Something he hadn't done in quite a while.

It was when the archer had finished over half of the bento that he finally spoke. "Oi," he called.

Watanuki ignored him, irked. The least Doumeki could do for his provider was remember his name!

"Oi." Doumeki called out to him again, and again, Watanuki ignored him.

"Oi!" Doumeki said the word sharply this time, and Watanuki snapped in the typical Watanuki fashion.

He immediately leapt to his feet – his bento miraculously safe on the steps – and began ranting at the exorcist.

"My name is NOT 'OI'!" he began his tirade, "AT LEAST LEARN MY NAME!" His arms gesturing wildly, he pointed at Doumeki. "AT LEAST RESPECT ME THAT MUCH!!"

He glared at him, before continuing onwards: "This is all your fault! Even Himawari-chan couldn't take it anymore so she went to hang out with her other friends! Why must I make you food every day and deal with your inconsiderate name-calling and insults and why can't you ever be considerate?!"

Watanuki went on for several moments and it was only as he stopped that he realized Doumeki had been protecting his ears from his rant. Having spent his energy ranting in the first place, the wilting Watanuki returned to his seat.

"I want nameko soba tomorrow."

Watanuki didn't even bother with the usual outburst. He was, to be entirely honest, far too perturbed by yesterday's conversation with the devil duo to care.

"It's out of season." His only protest was weak and held no conviction behind it. Then, he added an afterthought: "You bastard."

"Hn."

The finished their meal in relative quiet and went through the rest of their classes fairly peacefully. It wasn't until Watanuki had already purchased the ingredients he'd need for the soba that Doumeki had requested that he'd realized that he had already paid off his debt to the other boy. Three or four days ago, were he to try to pin the date.

Standing in his apartment, feeling like an idiot, he couldn't help but wonder why Doumeki hadn't said anything. The archer had been fairly honest about all other things – surely his cooking wasn't that great? Perhaps Doumeki was just being lazy.

Then Watanuki considered another option: Perhaps Doumeki just wanted things to stay the same.

He shook his head, laughing the idea off. All the same, he got to work preparing the dish so he could heat it up in the home economics room the next day. That couldn't possibly be it. Doumeki was probably just being a glutton.

Still, he truly thought that was okay. He didn't really mind cooking for Doumeki anyways.

AN: For those that don't know I've listed a word below.

nameko soba - basically soba topped with one more more nameko mushrooms