Title: Eligible
Universe: XXXHolic
Theme/Topic: Second Place
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing/s: lightly, vaguely Doumeki+Watanuki. Mentions of Watanuki+Himawari
Warnings/Spoilers: None I can imagine. Just the usual OOC and weirdness. XD
Word Count: 1,873
Summary: Doumeki is always the best at everything. Almost everything.
Dedication: for Ann's holiday gift fic request! I had to do this one to welcome you to the fandom properly. XD
A/N: First time I've tried writing Holic fic skewed towards Watanuki's perspective more than Doumeki's. WATANUKI IS VERY DIFFICULT FOR ME TO WRITE.
Disclaimer: Not mine, though I wish constantly.
Distribution: Just lemme know.

Watanuki knew he'd never be as big or strong or popular as Doumeki was, knew that while he tried his best at everything, the other boy had a natural sort of ease that he lived his life with, one that inevitably attracted the attention of everyone else as he passed them by in the process of just being him. There was something special about Doumeki that made everybody stand up and take notice— even if he himself didn't seem to pay most of those other people any mind in return.

Doumeki had a magnetism which, to Watanuki anyway, was enough of a distraction to other people that they didn't notice the fact that he possessed both a bad personality and an overly-demanding demeanor. It was what one might call a charmed life.

Watanuki on the other hand, felt like he always had to try to stand out and be noticed, had to reach out to people first so they'd be able to see him at all. He wasn't good at sports like Doumeki was and he had to study twice as hard come exam time. He got winded much more quickly as well, and had bad vision and allergies and was often prone to colds and fevers in the winter months on top of everything else.

He'd never been kissed, either. None of the girls at school had ever written him a love letter, and Himawari-chan was definitely the only one of his classmates who ever gave him Valentine's chocolates. It didn't help that she always gave them to Doumeki too.

Even worse, Watanuki was always mentioned as "the guy Doumeki-kun hangs out with," when (on the rare occasions) he came up in conversation, and the other popular people at school looked sideways at him when they thought he wouldn't notice, all of them trying to figure out just what it was about him that made him so special, that might warrant the most popular guy in school's undivided attention.

It irritated him at first, but before long he figured they were probably well within their rights to be curious—he wasn't sure what it was about himself that provided enough amusement for Doumeki to constantly want to be close to him either.

At first he'd suspected it was because the other boy liked feeling superior all the time, but after thinking it through some, he decided that if that was really the case Doumeki simply could have spent more time at his archery practices with his adoring fans instead of padding silently after Watanuki day in and day out, unable to get a word in save for once every so often at five minute intervals, when Kimihiro was pausing to catch his breath after a particularly stinging line of complaints regarding Doumeki's overall character.

So it probably wasn't for the sense of superiority. Watanuki's next greatest fear was that it was out of some sort of rivalry for Himawari-chan's affections, and while he liked to believe he had a fair enough chance with her, he also knew that his shoulders weren't as broad as Doumeki's and (when he was feeling generous) he supposed he could even admit to the fact that Doumeki had a handsomeness to him that Watanuki himself didn't, that perhaps the other boy's generally easy-going temperament was more appealing than Watanuki's twitchiness.

Though he tried three times as hard, he wasn't sure —if it ever came down to a competition between Doumeki and himself— whether Himawari-chan would choose him.

At the prospect, he sighed and mentally cursed Doumeki's big shoulders and handsome face and calm nature. Girls really liked those types of things.

And so it just figured that the first time Watanuki was ever approached by girls from his class it wasn't because of any genuine interest in him, but instead, was due to their heavy (and probably romantically inclined) interests towards Doumeki. They cornered him behind the school in a menacing sort of way one afternoon and demanded quite indignantly, "What could he possibly see in you?"

Watanuki had listened to them, and after they were through listing all his bad traits for him, just as fervently exclaimed, "I don't know! He's very strange. Am I the only one who notices that?"

"Don't talk about him like that!" they'd raged, and told him he definitely didn't deserve Shizuka's undivided attention.

Watanuki was inclined to agree with that because as far as he knew, rivals in love usually didn't spend so much time together without the apex of said love triangle present.

But then again, a part of him still really, really hoped it wasn't because Doumeki liked Himawari-chan too.

Though it would be just his luck.

The thought made Watanuki a little bit depressed, and being depressed made him cranky and tired, so when Doumeki joined him on the way to Yuuko's after school later that day Watanuki ignored the other boy completely in lieu of going off on one of his usual diatribes.

It was enough to get Doumeki to ask him, "What's wrong?" in a tone that sounded less-uninterested than it usually did.

"Nothing," Watanuki snapped, and sped up the pace to Yuuko's. When he got there he left Doumeki at the door without a backwards glance and was glad to be rid of him.

Yuuko ended up laughing merrily at him the whole time he was there of course, and come nightfall when Doumeki came to pick him up again, Watanuki's mood had somehow managed to sour even further. He walked right past the other boy at the gate and didn't acknowledge him at all, thought that maybe if he ran he could get home without having to look the buffoon in the face and invariably be reminded of all the cute little half-Doumeki-and-half-Himawari-chan-looking-children-running-around-the-temple-someday-in-the-future type images he'd been unable to shake from his mind while working at Yuuko's all afternoon.

Except he knew running probably wasn't a good idea just because Doumeki always beat him in their track drills during physical education class and wasn't that just another great reminder that on top of being good looking and smart and easy-going and pretty nice when he wanted to be, the other boy was athletic and strong as well?

"What's wrong with you?" Doumeki asked, simply lengthening his strides a little bit to catch up with Watanuki as they walked. "Bad day?"

"Bad day," Watanuki grumped, irritably.

"We can go get ice cream if you want."

"I'M NOT FIVE."

"Suit yourself."

Watanuki sighed, and calmed himself a little. It wasn't fair to be (genuinely) cross with the doofus when he technically hadn't done anything wrong today. It was more the idea of the man annoying Kimihiro than the actual man himself (for once). "Hey," he began after a moment, and took a deep, shuddering breath while he slowed his pace back to normal again. His throat felt dry.

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering. I mean, just a little. And uh, feel free not to answer this if you don't want to, because it's clearly none of my business but ... do you um… do you… like Himawari-chan?"

"Sure, she's nice."

Watanuki slapped a hand to his forehead at the other boy's completely oblivious tone. "Oh my god, are you completely idiotic? I didn't mean in a general sense. I meant… do you, you know…like Himawari-chan."

Doumeki blinked. "You mean like how you like Kunogi?"

Kimihiro felt his face go a little red. "We're not talking about me!"

Doumeki looked at him appraisingly. "Then why bring it up if it has nothing to do with you?"

"I just want to know, okay? It's innocent! Completely innocent! It was just a question. You don't even have to answer it if you don't want to! I said that!"

After a minute, Doumeki's expression turned knowing. Watanuki hated that the big bastard was so quick on the uptake with everything too. "Oh. I get it."

Watanuki sniffed. "Don't say it like that! It's a completely legitimate inquiry! I just want to know… er, I mean… I'm curious…"

He trailed off when he glanced sideways and noticed that there was something challenging in Doumeki's eyes suddenly, something that was a little less like the Doumeki he'd come to know from the everyday.

It became even more pronounced when the other boy leaned forward then, bringing his mouth just a little bit closer to Kimihiro's face. Watanuki stared at it. "What, are you wondering if she likes you more than she likes me, or if you're stuck being second best?" Doumeki inquired, voice low, expression infuriatingly calm.

Watanuki sputtered at the implication. "I…no! This isn't… I mean…you… we're not talking about me!" he shouted. And then sighed, when he realized how weird this all sounded. "Never mind. You wouldn't understand."

Doumeki shrugged then, before rubbing his neck and stretching out those incredibly broad shoulders of his just a bit. "I think I understand."

Watanuki scoffed derisively, taking umbrage at Doumeki's casual tone regarding his very real worries. "Don't just say stuff like that like you mean it."

"But I do get it."

"You? You? You're the… the least second-place person in the world! You're good at everything! You don't let anyone forget it! Everyone likes you! They keep giving me funny looks because they don't get why you hang out with me!" he protested, and pointed accusatorily at Doumeki. "What could you possibly have to feel like that about? There's no way you could relate!"

Doumeki stared for a moment, before stepping forward and looking Watanuki right in the eye. "You… you really don't see anything, do you?" he asked, and sounded two parts irritated and maybe one part mystified.

Watanuki instinctively took a step back at the sudden change in tone, thinking that something was definitely weird about Doumeki today. More so than usual. And for once, Watanuki didn't know what to say in response. Oddly enough, his heart was suddenly beating a mile a minute in his chest.

Doumeki didn't say anything for a while after that—they just kind of… looked at each other. And then, when the moment passed and he apparently grew tired of Watanuki blinking up owlishly at him, he sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets before standing up straight again, taking a step back. He cleared his throat. "It's getting late. We should go."

Watanuki stared for a little while longer. And then frowned. "What the heck is wrong with you today?" he asked, after he'd managed to get his heart rate under control again.

"I asked you that first," Doumeki reminded him. And then maybe smiled a bit, for no apparent reason. "You really are an idiot."

Watanuki glared at the sudden insult. Really, that had come out of nowhere. "I can't believe everyone likes you so much," he muttered, before turning around and resuming the walk home.

The other boy watched him go.

"Not everyone," Doumeki murmured to himself, and then moved to catch up.

When he did— easily at that—Watanuki scowled and thought it was completely unfair for Doumeki to have such long legs on top of the broad shoulders and the good looks. It definitely skewed the competition in the big idiot's favor.

Doumeki could only hope so.

END