Proposition

"What? For... what? How long?"

"Two weeks. Well, two and a half." Doumeki turned his eyes skyward and thought for a moment. "Almost. Two weeks and three days."

"Okay, okay. I get it, jeez." The cold was beginning to seep through even the thick material of Watanuki's winter coat and the skinny teen started to shiver. He dug slightly numb hands into his pockets in an attempt to keep some rapidly dissipating body heat in. Why couldn't Doumeki have stopped him inside the building to talk? Further proof of what a complete sadist the ass was.

"So you're leaving for two and a half weeks. What does that have to do with me?"

"Just my parents."

The shivering had turned into a teeth chattering, so Watanuki wasn't sure if he had missed part of the sentence.

"Huh?"

"My parents, they're the ones leaving. Well, they already left, really. Yesterday."

"What?! They left you by yourself?"

A shrug. "The temple is closed while they're gone, so I don't have much to worry about with that. And they trust me."

Watanuki let out an eloquent snort. "They shouldn't. With all the trouble you find."

"Well, actually that would be mostly your fault, since you're the one who-"

"But anyway, that's not the point! Who leaves their kid alone for that long? And during holidays too?" Now the nose was going numb and Watanuki brought a hand out to quickly rub some life back to it before returning his fingers to their semi-warm haven. And Doumeki didn't even look like he knew it was under 80 degrees, much less the under 40-degree weather Watanuki was currently freezing his butt off in.

Did the guy not have workable nerve endings?

Without warning, the archer began to walk away from the school building they had been loitering next to, heading down the walkway to the gates.

"Hey!" Watanuki untucked one hand again to grab his bag from the ground and caught up the taller boy, keeping pace to Doumeki's longer stride with only minimal annoyance. "You still haven't told me why I should care about this."

"Come stay with me."

"…Wh- what?" Watanuki stumbled to a stop and stared at the back of his still walking companion.

"At the temple." Seeing Watanuki wasn't beside him anymore, the archer stopped and looked over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow until the shorter boy started moving again.

"Well, obviously at the temple- no! I mean, w-what the hell do you mean by... by 'come stay with me?'" Watanuki felt decidedly awkward saying something like that out loud.

"At the-"

"You said that already!" He threw his hands up in exasperation. Honestly, no human being could be this dim.

"Why though? What I want to know is why you're asking me to… to …" Watanuki stuttered around the embarrassing phrase again.

"Come stay with me?" Golden eyes looked straight at him, not even blinking.

"Stop saying that!" To his complete mortification, Watanuki felt a rise of heat in his cheeks. He hoped it could be passed off as the beginnings of frostbite.

"Why?"

"'Cause it sounds..." Skinny arms waved about in a gesture that could have meant either 'something out there' or 'bats are chasing me.' "It's just weird okay."

"It's weird?" If Doumeki actually had expressions, Watanuki supposed this one would have been curiosity. "Why is it weird to invite a friend over?"

"It is! We aren't ten for God's sake. You're too old for a sleepover."

"Adults sleep over each other's houses all the time," Doumeki pointed out.

The statement was dismissed with a wave of Watanuki's school bag. "Yeah but that's different."

"It is?"

"Well because they're... you know..." Frostbite struck again. He really had to get out of this cold weather before he started losing limbs.

"Ah." Doumeki paused for a moment as if in serious thought before continuing. "So, then, if we were doing the adult sleepover, would be o-" The rest of his sentence was abruptly cut off by the combination of being shaken violently back and forth by his coat and the mortified cries of his companion.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, you bastard!"

It was several minutes of angry stomping on Watanuki's part before the subject was raised once more.

"So."

Watanuki glared over his shoulder without bothering to slow down. "So what?"

"Will you be coming?"

Of all the pushy, relentless, simple-minded... "No, I'm not coming! What is your deal?! I don't get you." The stomping ceased and Watanuki turned around to face the archer directly. "Why not ask me before your parents left. Why are you here by yourself anyway?"

"I thought if you knew I was alone, you would be less likely to say no and might stay with me for at least a little while. Are you cold? Your cheeks are all red."

'Must he be so bluntly honest all the time?'

The puffs of warm white air that rose upwards were suddenly terribly fascinating. "Of course I'm cold. We're standing around in near freezing weather."

"You were the one who stopped."

"Because you were taking too long!" As if to prove his point of only waiting for Doumeki to catch up, the smaller boy whirled around and resumed a purposeful stride, but allowed the archer to walk beside him.

"Ah," was the only response.

"You should have gone with you parents, idiot." Watanuki pursed his lips and shot a look to his side with narrowed eyes.

Doumeki met his look for a second before looking ahead again. "I guess."

It was almost imperceptible, but Watanuki thought he heard a trace of disappointment in the taller boy's voice, though Doumeki's outer appearance gave nothing away, as usual.

A minute more passed as Watanuki debated with himself, gritted his teeth in annoyance, and generally cursed himself for even considering such a stupid request.

"It's not for you!" The exclamation came so unexpectedly that Doumeki actually stumbled a step, causing Watanuki to inwardly smirk at the other boy's momentary loss of composure.

Both eyebrows were raised at the abrupt announcement. "What-"

Watanuki stopped for the third time and pointed a finger at his companion, drawing himself up to his full height. "It's not for you. It's for you your parents."

It seems that this added piece of information didn't clear anything up, and Doumeki only stared, apparently waiting for more.

"I'll come over." The finger stopped its pointing and retreated to a less chilly location.

It took several blinks before realization dawned in the archer's eyes. A tiny smile tugged at the corner of Doumeki's mouth. "My parents thank you."

Watanuki hmphed and resumed his earlier pace. "I would just hate to have them come home to a burnt down house if you attempted to cook something. That's all. I mean, it's not their fault they have such an idiotic son."

"True."

"And you'll just keep pestering me anyway, so I'm saving us both a huge headache."

"Good thinking."

The cold wind whipping at his cheeks was doing very little to alleviate the burn.

"Should I... get my stuff now?"

"I'll help you."

"...Alright."

A pause.

"Your cheeks are really red."

"It's frostbite! Frostbite!"

AN- Why yes, it was completely pointless. Heh.

Thanks for reading!