Title: Antennae
Universe: xxxHOLiC
Theme/Topic: Butterflies
Rating: PG
Character/Pairing/s: DoumekixWatanuki, Yuko
Warnings/Spoilers: Nothing you shouldn't already know… OCness and crappy writing?
Summary: "Damn you, stupid butterflies!"
Dedication: You. :]
A/N: It took me a while to write this. Why? I don't really know. I wanted to write shorter things but voila, this one is rather long.
Disclaimer: I don't own it, sadly. If I did, DoumekixWatanuki would be canon by now.
Distribution: Don't do it.

"The best Friday I have ever had, ever!" Watanuki shouted as he spun ballerina-style in the middle of the street. He stopped and started walking quickly, with a slight bounce in his step. He remembered all the good signs and listed them out loud, all while sparkling. "The upright tea leaf while I was eating breakfast! Himawari talking to me three times as much today! Passing all my tests! Having Himawari at lunch while that jerk Doumeki was nowhere in sight!" His smile quickly flipped upside down and sparkles dissipated. "But," he quickly spun around and pointed his thin finger at the expressionless buffoon following him. "Why are you here now?!" His whole body bristled like some cat.

"Walking you to work," Doumeki stated blatantly, still as expressionless as ever. Subconsciously, he wondered if Watanuki had a psychological problem, with all those sudden mood swings. Maybe he was on hormones or something. He'd only seen pregnant women change moods that quickly. As far as he knew, Watanuki wasn't pregnant. Doumeki mentally snorted.

"I know that," Watanuki said sarcastically and rolled his eyes. He crossed his arms and stood so that his hips were thrown slightly to the side. "I meant—"

"Then why did you ask?" Doumeki interrupted. As far as the world went, only girls stood like that. An image of Watanuki in a tacky dress that seemed way-too-short popped into Doumeki's mind, and his eyebrow shot up in hysterical laughter. Being Watanuki, he thought that eyebrow was directed at him. (Well, it was, but not really.)

"Shut up!" He yelled. Doumeki's eyebrow laughter fell back into its normal place. "I meant," he pointed at Doumeki, "Why did you have to show up and ruin my perfect day?!" He threw his arms up and resumed his previous standing position. This time, Watanuki's foot was tapping.

Doumeki's eyebrow rose just a little. "You should've realized you'd see me," he said, "Or are you that stupid?" He didn't mean to add that last part, it's just habit. Watanuki knows that he walks him to work every day. He looked into Watanuki's furious, bicolored eyes, one as bright and fluorescent like a freshly cut sapphire; the other as vivid and golden as the shining sun. He could see his own expressionless face being reflected in Watanuki's glasses.

"I'm not stupid!" He screamed and pointed at Doumeki, for the third time during that argument. "You just… completely ruined my day!" He turned and resumed walking to work. Doumeki silently rolled his eyes, and followed that damn spirit-magnet.

Doumeki let Watanuki do his stay-ten-feet-behind-me-or-I-swear-I'll-punch-you-in-the-face thing, and followed him silently. He glanced around nonchalantly and happened to look into a nearby park. He noticed what looked like a cloud, hovering near a lamp in the park. Upon squinting, he noticed it was a flutter (If Doumeki remembered correctly) of butterflies. Doumeki glanced at Watanuki, who was still walking in the direction of the shop. "Hey," he said loud enough to Watanuki to hear him. Watanuki obviously ignored the call. Doumeki called him again, loud enough that Watanuki couldn't ignore him.

As predicted, Watanuki spun around with an annoyed look on his face. "I told you, it's not 'hey'!" He noticed Doumeki standing at the entrance to a park. He cocked his head to the side a little bit. "What are you—"

"Look," Doumeki pointed into the park, at something Watanuki couldn't see. Doumeki knew him well enough to know that his curiosity would take him into the park. To tell the truth, Doumeki was interested in the butterflies as well.

Watanuki made a face and backtracked to where Doumeki was standing. "What are you pointing at—oh," He stared at the mass of orange butterflies, watching them flutter around each other. He was mesmerized; his curiously propelled his feet into the park to get a closer look. "Look at all the butterflies," he said. Doumeki smirked a little at Watanuki's obvious excitement. He followed him into the park.

Doumeki disliked bugs and insects just as much as the next person, but all these butterflies got him curious. He noticed a bench directly parallel to the butterflies; he walked to it and sat down. Watanuki unconsciously sat next to him, his eyes not leaving the butterflies. He leaned over to rest his elbows on his thighs, his head in his hands, still watching the butterflies. Doumeki glanced at him; he didn't recognize the emotion he saw in Watanuki's eyes. He made a mental note that he liked Watanuki this way. Doumeki was startled slightly when Watanuki spoke. "Look at that. It's amazing," he whispered. Doumeki looked back at the butterflies and 'hm'ed an agreement. There was a pause where both of them just stared at the butterflies for a moment. It was Watanuki who broke the silence. "Do you think… they dream?" He asked quietly while looking at Doumeki.

He shrugged, "What do you think?" Doumeki stared into those jewels of Watanuki's that society calls eyes. He started getting a familiar, yet not familiar feeling in his chest. It was similar to the feeling he got when he was away from Watanuki; when he could get attacked by spirits. But this feeling… it was warm. A lot more comforting than the cold chill he usually had. He enjoyed it. He continued staring into those thoughtful pools; shielded from him by Watanuki's glasses.

Watanuki smiled slightly before he spoke, "Yeah, I think they do dream," he turned his head back to the butterflies. There was a pause again. Doumeki filled it with an 'ah' of approval. They both sat there and watched the butterflies swirl and pass each other, almost like people passing on the street.

Doumeki could almost hear their chatter:

'Hey, how's it goin'?'
'Not bad, you?'
'I'm okay, just flying around.'
'Oh yeah? Me too.'
'Cool.'

He mentally facepalmed. After tuning out the butterflies making conversations in his brain, he wondered what Watanuki was thinking. What he thought of him. Did Watanuki really think of him as a rival? Rival for what? Watanuki doesn't hate him, does he? What about what's happening now? What's going through his head? Usually, he could tell what was going through the boy's head just by looking at him, deciphering his actions and words. He couldn't do that when the boy was just sitting there, staring. As a matter of fact, what is Watanuki's relationship to him? Rival? Friend? Classmate? What?

Watanuki stood up suddenly, making Doumeki's eyes shoot up to meet his. He noticed the look of determination in his eyes. His eyes moved to Watanuki's lips when he murmured, "I want to catch one," Doumeki smirked. Watanuki didn't notice and walked to stand underneath the butterflies.

Doumeki watched as Watanuki stood underneath the butterflies; no doubt he was thinking of a way to catch one. The thoughtful look on his face easily proved that. Doumeki was glad he chose the easy way, holding his arm up and waiting patiently. A butterfly fluttered close to Watanuki's pale finger but then quickly danced away. The look of disappointment was evident on his face, but Watanuki did not pull his arm down.

It was at that moment that Doumeki realized something about the situation. Being underneath the street lamp gave Watanuki an ethereal glow. Accompanied with the butterflies above him gave him a regal look that was forbidden to get near. With his arm extended to the butterflies, it seemed that Watanuki was beckoning the butterflies to come to him; to land on his slim finger so that he could admire them closer. Doumeki had only heard about scenes like this from his grandfather. It was strangely alluring, especially since Watanuki was a part of it.

Doumeki could tell that Watanuki was getting impatient with the butterflies taunting him. The crease in his brow signaled that he was close to flailing and acting like an idiot. Doumeki stood and walked over to Watanuki, making sure to stay far enough away as to not be smacked by flailing Watanuki-hands. He said nothing as he waited patiently for the inevitable.

Finally, Watanuki snapped. "Damn you stupid butterflies!" He screamed and flailed, almost hitting a few of the low flying butterflies. The butterflies took his flailing almost as a cue and started swarming around him and Doumeki. They spun around them, weaving between arms and legs and in between their bodies. Watanuki was yelling something intelligible while trying to bat the butterflies away. Doumeki did nothing but stare in the direction Watanuki's voice was coming from.

When the butterflies cleared and resumed their flying overhead, Doumeki looked at the boy a few feet away. He was frozen in place, his arms in mid-flail over his head. His variegated eyes were wide with shock and his mouth was pulled into a thin line. Settled on the center of his glasses was a stunningly bright gold and blue butterfly. Doumeki looked at the mass of bright marigold butterflies then back at the one on Watanuki. With every small movement of the butterfly's wings, Watanuki flinched. His eyes slid into Doumeki's and he gave him a pleading look. Doumeki understood but looked back with no emotion in his own eyes.

The symmetry of Watanuki's radiant eyes and the butterfly's wings was captivating. Doumeki related it to a painting of perfection. His eyes traveled down to his mouth, which he noticed was trying to talk through stretched lips. "Dou… meki. Gititoff!" He said quickly while still looking into his eyes with a pleading look.

Doumeki's golden eyes traveled back to Watanuki's frantic blue-golden ones. "Hn?" He said automatically. Damn habit. Watanuki rolled his eyes and pointed down to the butterfly and repeated what he said, only firmer. Doumeki walked over and stood in front of him. Watanuki stared into his eyes, searching for any sign that he'll help him. Doumeki bent down a little to get eye level with Watanuki and the butterfly. He pretended to think about how to get the butterfly off, but in reality he was deep inside Watanuki's overly-expressive eyes. He rolled a thought around in his head for a bit, allowing Watanuki to squirm under his gaze. He pulled a dark finger next to the butterfly and waited. Within a few seconds, he felt the ticklish feet of the butterfly climbing onto his finger. He glanced at Watanuki's now closed eyes and pulled his finger away. "Hey, it's off now," he mumbled to Watanuki, who opened his eyes slowly. He sighed audibly and dropped his arms to his side, slumping a little.

Doumeki used his unoccupied hand to cup Watanuki's pale face and pull their lips together. Their lips touched for a mere moment in a modest kiss before Doumeki broke it. He smirked and 'hm'ed his appreciation and turned to stroll away, noticing that the strange butterfly had flown away as soon as their lips met.

Watanuki was rooted to the spot, stupefied by Doumeki's sudden and loving actions. He shook off his stupor and buried his flushed face into his hands. He lifted his hot face to a Doumeki that was a good distance away. "Doumeki! DOUMEKI! Get back here!"

A luminous gold and blue butterfly perched on a slim and well-manicured finger of a beautiful woman. Her scarlet eyes held her smile as she let the butterfly fly off. She bid farewell to an old friend.


Tell me if I suck, okay?