A/N: I've been wanting to write an xxxHOLiC piece for a while, but while I love the Dou/Wata pairing, I'm not huge on slash.
Still, as Oddballs (and homework) has worked mutually to crash my brain, this little fic popped out, as I had to write and yet don't have the time to finish the newest Odd chapter.
I also don't think anyone has addressed this point before…
Power Struggles: The Power of Names
Names have power, Yuuko liked to tell Watanuki, but the boy with the important (no crucial, essential, life-giving) name never seemed to pay enough attention to what she said.
Doumeki, though, understood.
Watanuki was a name that didn't often cross his lips. Yo, though...
And that was because Doumeki knew: that where his face never failed him, his voice would. And Watanuki, unfortunately for him, cared less about their relationship than he did – much less than he did, though he didn't doubt the other boy's capacity to care.
Doumeki just cared a whole lot more.
And this meant that Watanuki would always have something to control Doumeki with that Doumeki had no defense against.
You have to give people power over you, Shizuka, his grandfather had told him. They can't just take it.
He had learned that this was certainly true when pertaining to Watanuki, and was terrified (as terrified as Doumeki Shizuka could be) of someday stumbling out a 'Kimihiro,' and watching those mismatched eyes widen in shock and horror.
So he didn't say his name whenever possible, because there was always the danger that Watanuki would stop yelling at that precise moment, and hear something Doumeki wasn't ready for him to hear.
Perhaps he was giving him too much credit, though. Watanuki could be incredibly dense when it came to his hated 'enemy.'
But it probably didn't help matters that watching a riled up Watanuki was one of Doumeki's silent, secret pleasures.