A/n: How Watanuki deals with the repercussions of his actions.

Watanuki was currently running. Running very fast. Anyone who knew Watanuki's unique situation, upon witnessing his running, would have immediately come to the conclusion that Watanuki was being either a. chased by a ghost(s) or b. carrying out one of Yuko's missions, which usually just ended up back at a. with him being chased by ghost(s). They would have never guessed that a new category had just opened up—a special, scarier category in which he was running not from ghosts or towards a helpless soul whom he wanted to save, but away from someone. A human someone. A Doumeki-someone.

Watanuki turned the corner for Yuko's house at break-neck speeds, flying through the gate and then the garden like he had wings. He threw every screen-door open in the house, threw every obstacle out of his way—every singing midget girl, even one bouncing Mokona, until finally he reached his target. He threw the last screen door open with a mighty heave and then stood in the doorway, tall as a tower and with hands resolutely on his hips.

"Oh, so you're back," Yuko said as she inspected her nails on her plush couch.

"Oh god I'm doomed!" Watanuki cried, and threw himself down at her feet like a violated geisha, fresh tears spewing from his eyes. "Something terrible happened, Yuko-san. So terrible I don't want to say."

"Then don't," Yuko said, holding her nails up to the light. She began to blow on them.

"Oh god!" Watanuki cried again, holding his head in his hands. "It's awful. I don't know how I can go on living now. Oh Yuko-san, you have to help me. I don't know who else to turn to."

"Let me guess, you were nice to Doumeki and now he's under the impression that you've returned his feelings."

Watanuki immediately stopped crying. He raised his head from the carpet, straightened his back, tucked his knees under him, placed his hands demurely in his lap, and then stared at his employer. "Returned his feelings?" Watanuki asked with a slow tick in his eye. "What do you mean 'returned his feelings'? How long has this been going on for?!"

"Well…" Yuko turned her head away and shared a smirk with the imaginary person to her left, who also seemed to share her twisted sense of humor. She lifted an elegant hand and laid it to one side of her mouth, like her and this imaginary person were now having a good titter. "It started after you had that little run-in with the lady in the park, but it only truly got out of hand after that spider incident—"

"Why didn't anyone TELL ME?!!"

"Well, we were all too busying laughing at your antics, that's why. It's all quite hilarious in an ironic sense, if I do say so myself."

"What the—what the hell!" Watanuki stomped his foot in an impotent rage. "You knew about this and you didn't have the decency to tell me?!"

"No, but I did have the decency to stay out of Doumeki's business. It is his business, after all. If he does not come to me seeking help then what reasons would I have to meddle in his affairs? Plus Doumeki has shown me nothing but respect. I only have the highest regard for him."

"You traitor," Watanuki seethed. "TRAITOR!" he shouted at the top of his lungs whilst pointing an accusatory finger. "You'd take his side before you took mine—your employee who slaves away in the kitchen all day so you can have a hot meal every night."

"I'm not taking anyone's side," Yuko said calmly. "I'm simply sharing my opinion, which I normally do not do. I would think you would be more appreciative. I'm giving you my blessing."

"You can keep your blessings!" Watanuki dismissed with one sharp gesture from his hand. "I want actual help this time. Remember I was following the advice you gave me when this happened," Watanuki reminded her, in an attempt to appeal to Yuko's 'give and take' mentality. "You can't just give me bad advice when I come to your seriously, bearing ohagi no less."

Raising up from the couch in one smooth motion, the folds of her night-gown swishing around her, Yuko walked up to him with a serious look on her face. She put a hand on his shoulder. "I simply gave advice. Now how you chose to use the advice determines whether it is good or bad. My involvement does not determine these things." Yuko then brushed past him without a single word. Watanuki waited for the other shoe to drop and for her to slap him in the back with a squeal of laughter, but when he turned around he found she had really vacated the room.

"Yuko-san," he called after her weakly. He opened his mouth to call her again, but stopped himself with a frown.

The fact that Yuko-san had left him high and dry was not so much of a shock to Watanuki. Certainly the woman had a history of it. But why Watanuki had expected anything less this time around was possibly the thing that shocked him the most. He had thought that if he came to her and showed her how freaked out he was (because Doumeki truthfully had freaked him out), she would at least give him some more advice. At least that much. But he should have known better.

Sighing heavily that morning, Watanuki belatedly realized that he would not be able to avoid Doumeki for the entire day when he was carrying around a bento box for him. The bottomless-pit would eventually want food, and that want would cause him to make a beeline for Watanuki, the provider of that food.

Watanuki chastised himself under his breath as he lugged around the two bento-boxes on his walk to school. Why hadn't he abstained from making a lunch for Doumeki today of all days? Why couldn't he have done the smart, convenient thing and not made lunch for Doumeki? It would be one less reason for Doumeki to visit him—hell, it would be the only reason why Doumeki ever visited him.

Watanuki frowned at that thought and the conflicting emotions it stirred up inside him. Now that wasn't right. After yesterday's confession, it seemed Doumeki did have another reason for visiting him.

Watanuki instantly went beet red as he thought about the other reason and batted at the air like there was a fly buzzing around his head. "I hope that's not true," Watanuki said aloud to himself.

"You hope what's not true?"

"Oh, that Doumeki has feelings for me."

"I do have feelings for you."

"You would say th—" Watanuki stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widening. He slowly turned around and found Doumeki Shizuka standing right behind him, not even two inches away, his own blue eyes dead level with the bridge of Doumeki's nose.

Watanuki blinked as two moss-colored irises came into focus and stared nonchalantly down at him.

"Hey."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Doumeki tilted his head and put a finger in her ear. "Loud," he said as soon as Watanuki had run out of breath.

"You—what the hell." Watanuki jumped back like he was part frog. It was an impressive jump for the amount of ground it covered. "Y-y-you," Watanuki stuttered. He was unable to come to a complete stop from his earlier leap and was still taking some clumsy steps backwards, until he finally lost his balance altogether and fell ungracefully on his backside. Fortunately the boxed lunches landed in his lap.

"What the hell are you doing sneaking up on innocent people this early in the morning?" Watanuki exploded. After getting that out of his system, he took a deep relaxing breath and felt around the front of his uniform, grateful when he found that his heart had not leapt out off his chest in his surprise. He cast a fiery look in Doumeki's direction.

The archer, who was standing over him with his always expressionless face, made no move to defend himself. He glanced at the bento boxes in Watanuki's lap.

Upon seeing where his line of sight was aimed, Watanuki placed a protective hand over the lunches, as if he were a mother who was protecting her babies from a large hungry bear. Why a mother would run into a large hungry bear in the streets of urban Japan was of no consequence to Watanuki's simile.

Doumeki held out a hand to him.

Watanuki gave the hand a wary look. "What?" he said suspiciously.

Doumeki didn't say anything, only waited for him with an outstretched hand.

"You want it now?" Watanuki said in disbelief, as he clung to the boxed-lunches he had made with the utmost care this morning. It hadn't even been an hour since their birth. Doumeki could be such a beast.

"No way," Watanuki said and carefully set the boxes aside, out of the gluttonous reach of the bear standing in front of him. He slapped his hand into Doumeki's outstretched palm, thinking with the stagnant mentality he had tackled life and Doumeki with for the past year that this was not what the archer wanted, which was revealed to be entirely false when Doumeki pulled him up from the ground, into his arms, and flush against his chest.

They stared at each other.

"Oh, I get it now," Watanuki said after a long, stupid pause. He then slapped Doumeki away with both hands. "Fresh bastard," he hissed like a cat.

Doumeki didn't look particularly offended at the name calling, for he was already stooping down and collecting the boxed-lunches. He stood up with his spoils under his arm and didn't move an inch from his spot, seemingly waiting for him to make the next move. There was an intensity to his gaze that made Watanuki think that the archer was waiting for him to confront him on yesterday's events.

Watanuki sighed.

Well, he had brought this upon himself.

It would have been nice if he could avoid this subject and pretend that everything was okay, but the issue had been shoved to the forefront when he'd unwittingly responded to Doumeki's question, and he couldn't go back now. He would also hate to have this hanging around the air all day. It would be best if he just owned up to his mistake, explained to Doumeki that he did not share the same feelings, and hoped that this didn't strain their already tense relationship. Hopefully, Doumeki could be a mature adult about this. Hopefully, Watanuki didn't kill him by the end of this so he could be a mature adult about this.

"Uh…" Watanuki began hesitantly. He swallowed loudly to clear the lump in his throat. He then sighed loudly, thinking that he was just being stupid and delaying the inevitable. "We need to talk," he finally said.

"We do," Doumeki agreed.

Watanuki hadn't expected him to actually vocally agree and so he was a bit thrown off by the strangeness of it. "We do," he echoed, giving himself time to think. "We really need to talk."

"So talk," Doumeki said.

"Why do I have to start?!" Watanuki said defensively, feeling his hackles rise. Then he took another one of those calming deep breaths that were essential in dealing with Doumeki. "I mean, yeah, I will go first." There was some challenge in his voice and Watanuki thought that the last thing he should do was treat this like a competitive endeavor between them. He should let Doumeki down gently, and then, if he still needed that competitive edge, he could run away at the end of blowing off Doumeki.

"I'm flattered, I guess, that you think of me that way, but I can't return your feelings because you're a —" Watanuki had been very close to throwing out an expletive. He stopped himself, thought of a nice word for Doumeki, and drew a long blank. "You're a boy and I'm a boy," he began in another train of thought, abandoning his previous logic when it began to sink like a ship and take him with it. "I like Himawari-chan, and I'm destined to be with Himawari-chan because she's a princess and I want to be her prince, and why are you so intent on getting between Himawari-chan and my love of Himawari-chan."

Doumeki stared at him with a blank stare. Then he smirked. Watanuki didn't appreciate people smirking at him when he was trying to be nice and let them down easy, AND WHAT THE HELL DID HE HAVE TO SMIRK FOR?!

"I never said you had to choose between us," Doumeki said.

"Huh? What're you—" Watanuki gave him a horrified look. "That would make me a dishonorable pig," Watanuki shouted, offended that Doumeki would even suggest such a thing. "You can't like someone and then begin dating someone else. Is that how you are? I thought you were different."

"No," Doumeki said and the smirk had vanished from his face completely. "But you're not going out with Kunogi and she wouldn't mind if you began to."

"But I want to go out with her," Watanuki said in defense. "If I start dating someone, I send her the wrong signals. It's completely out of the question."

"Then ask her out," Doumeki said simply, and Watanuki was surprised at how such an impossible thing could be uttered so bluntly.

"Ask her out? But it's too soon?!" he shouted in panic, like he was being held at gun-point to confess to the girl he liked.

"It's been a year," Doumeki said.

"Well, that's—" Watanuki felt his argument fall through his hands. "Maybe you can move so fast, but I need more time."

There was a tick in Doumeki's eye and Watanuki was surprised to catch it. Surprisingly, the archer looked a little peeved. What did he have to be mad about? If anyone here should be angry, it should be the person who wasn't being listened to. He had told him that he wasn't interested and yet Doumeki wasn't getting the hint to back off. Even worse, he was silently demanding with that monotonous voice of his that Watanuki provide a reason for not wanting to date him. He should just accept it and leave him alone. Why did he have to make this difficult?

"It doesn't matter," Watanuki said. "I said 'no' so you're just going to have to accept that."

"Without good reason... do you hate me?" Doumeki asked after a pause, and Watanuki didn't know what to say.

"Do I—" Watanuki glanced away. "Well, no, I dislike you extremely, but it's not hate or anything, or I don't think it is anyway. If it was hate I would… I don't know what I would do, but I don't hate anyone."

"Do you even like me?"

That was the million dollar question, wasn't it?

"Sometimes," Watanuki said, truthfully, because at this point he owed it to Doumeki to clear up a misconception that had plagued their relationship since they had started hanging around each other. "When you're not being ass, I think I like you. I mean, what do I mean?" Watanuki asked himself and didn't hear anything echo back. "I really couldn't stand you at the beginning of all this, but I…" He stared at Doumeki, really stared at him. "Why do you have to make things so difficult between us now? This is so stupid," Watanuki said, giving up before he could get anything definite out. He tried to brush past Doumeki, but the archer grabbed him by the upper arm and stopped his retreat.

"We're not done talking."

Watanuki bowed his head and his bangs fell over his eyes, masking their emotion. "You're being a jerk," he said softly. "'No' doesn't need a reason. It just is. Take it or leave it."

"I don't think that's fair," Doumeki countered, releasing him. "As long as I've know you, you've never lacked a reason for the choices you make. If you won't go out with me, I won't force you, but I think I deserve a proper explanation as to what exactly you don't like about me."

"Well I can't give you one, so there!" Watanuki said immaturely. "I don't know why we're so incompatible, or why I get so angry when I see your stupid face."

Then something came to Watanuki. It was like a bolt out of the blue. He really had no idea why he disliked Doumeki. Sure he could cite reasons like his stupid-face or his blank stares or his monotonous voice, but all those were reactions to his physical self.

Watanuki's first reaction had been to Doumeki's physical self and not his personality.

Afterwards he had found reasons to dislike Doumeki on a personal level, but the first time Watanuki had met Doumeki it had been a purely physical reaction that had set him off--a purely physical reaction that ended up with a flying kick to his head. He remembered the sensation had been so overwhelming when their eyes had met in the stairway that he'd felt the ground actually shift under him. But when one felt these intense emotions towards someone of the same sex, it was obvious to assume they had a negative basis, one of jealousy or rivalry. And in that split second that their eyes had met, Watanuki had made up his mind that that was what it was.

Then ensued the flying kick.

He truthfully lacked a concrete reason to dislike Doumeki. In fact, he had many more reasons to… like him.

Watanuki shuddered at the horror that revelation brought on. Never. He would sooner be mauled by hungry ghosts than admit to liking that no-face, know-it-all bastard.

He just needed better reasons to dislike Doumeki, and he was sure if he went on a date with a guy like him, those reasons would not be long in coming. "So fine," Watanuki said, thinking out loud, "let's go on your stupid date so I can have a solid reason to dislike you. After school sound fine with you."

"I guess," Doumeki said hesitantly. "I don't want a first date that's sole purpose is to give you reasons to hate me."

"Well too bad," Watanuki cut in and started again towards school.

Doumeki followed behind him. "Where are we going?"

"You're going to hell. I'm going to school," Watanuki snapped.

"I meant our date," and because he couldn't help it he tacked on an "idiot."

"Oh that," Watanuki said, forgetting his ire in favor of thinking his plan through. He was planning to be as bossy and demanding as possible, so that by the end of the date, Doumeki would lose his temper and give him a good bunch of reasons to be angry himself.

It wasn't that Watanuki wanted Doumeki to hate him. He hadn't lied when he'd said it was flattering to be liked by the other boy. It was extremely flattering, especially when he knew Doumeki had the emotional aptitude of a rock. It was sort of a big deal for him to show any interest in anyone. But as flattering as it was, Watanuki could not lose sight of the bigger picture, which was he and Doumeki… they were never meant to be. It just couldn't work out between them.

Watanuki had always pictured his first romance as one that would be… well romantic being the key word here. And he and Doumeki couldn't stop fighting for one second to have that. It was supposed to be all roses and smiling and holding hands, not curses and glaring and attempts to strangle each other. Watanuki was sorry but his boy's heart was not set on those things. And Doumeki would have to learn that the hard way because he had not wanted to drop it. Only the reality of what he was asking for would knock him back to his senses.

"I want to go to that cake-shop near the station," Watanuki announced. "The blue and white one."

"Okay," Doumeki nodded.

"And if you're even a second late, I'm leaving and this date-business is completely over." He'd have his reason to dislike the archer plenty if he stood him up.

Doumeki turned to look at him. "I thought we could walk there together."

"Well, we can't," Watanuki snapped for no other reason than to be troublesome. "I have to tell Yuko-san I'm taking the evening off. You probably have to make up some excuse to not attend archery practice today."

"The coach won't say anything if I don't show. He allows me days off."

"Oh," Watanuki said and had nothing more to say to that.

Doumeki smirked at him. "I won't be late, but you might be."

"Then you'll just have to wait for me. And I might be really late if Yuko-san doesn't think I deserve the day off," Watanuki said, back-tracking. He was starting to think this date with Doumeki was not such a good idea. It certainly wouldn't hurt to give himself a loophole if the need arose to bail. It had suddenly started to sink in that he was really going on a date, his first ever one. He was sixteen now. He thought he was ready to start hanging out with other human beings in this capacity. People dated at his age, but then again some people chose not to and waited until they were really ready. Should he wait longer? You didn't usually rush into these things. Watanuki made another attempt to back out. "I won't hold it against you if you don't want to wait. I might not even show up if I have too much work to do."

"I'll wait," Doumeki said simply.

"But you never know what will happen. Yuko-san is really—"

"I'll wait," Doumeki said, this time firmer.

Embarrassingly, they ended up walking to the cake-shop together.

While Yuko-san could be very unreasonable when she put her mind to it, his employer was usually fair about giving him days off. She would work him like a dog the next day, but she never stood in his way when he had his own personal affairs to put in order. So he knew that if he didn't show up today, she would go about her day all the same and would not ask him any questions when he came in tomorrow. She might order him around extra, but that was all she would do, and he appreciated Yuko's tact when it came to these things.

He couldn't use Yuko-san as an excuse to bail on Doumeki. At this point he didn't even know if he wanted an excuse. When he had seen Doumeki walking out of the school gates, headed towards the cake-shop, he had found his legs running to catch up with him. It was only after he had caught up that he realized he was making this harder for himself. He was actually sabotaging his own plan!—the plan that he'd spent five minutes out of his lunch period painstakingly detailing. Okay, so not much planning was done as he'd been too busy yelling at Doumeki, but he still had a goal to work towards, and that goal was not running to catch up with Doumeki and fawn on his dumb arm.

So what, Yuko-san could be reasonable and let him have the day off, but that wouldn't stop Watanuki from acting super-unreasonable in her place. It was easy to be polite and considerate, but acting that way had gotten him in trouble with the archer in the first place. So he would be the opposite of nice and see if Doumeki still liked him. (Stupidly Watanuki didn't seem to realize that he had just completed the circuit in what was some very circular logic, for he had been the opposite of nice to Doumeki for all of last year and the archer had not stopped liking him).

"I don't want to sit there," Watanuki said when they reached the cake-shop and Doumeki began to take a seat at one of the tables.

Doumeki paused mid-sit, like he was about to accommodate Watanuki and rise out of his chair, but then he made up his mind that he liked where he was sitting just fine and parked himself right there. He took up the menu and stared down at it. "They have crème-puffs."

"I said I don't want to sit here," Watanuki said, tapping his foot impatiently on the floor.

Doumeki stared at him. Then after a good minute of staring (at this point Watanuki was glaring), the archer stood up from the table.

"Finally," Watanuki sighed and turned around to go find another seat just to be annoying. But he stopped when he heard something scraping against the floor. He turned around to see Doumeki dragging one of the chairs from the table.

"If you wanted me to pull your chair out you should have just asked."

Watanuki blinked at the archer as he stood behind his chair, waiting for him to sit down.

At that moment Watanuki felt an ungodly urge to smash the chair over Doumeki's head, but instead of doing just that, he quietly took his seat and picked up his menu, hoping their server would hurry up so he could focus on something other than the crushing embarrassment choking him, and order something that could choke him just fine on its own.

Hmm, they had crème-puffs.

Watanuki glanced around, looking for their server and noticing how busy the shop was. But that was only normal since it was right next to the station and a lot of kids from school thought it more convenient to come here on their way home. He really should have gone with somewhere more out of the way. He could have gone to the fast-food restaurant where the twins worked, but then Watanuki thought better of it, as it would have been incredibly insensitive to go on a date with Doumeki when both twins had liked him.

Watanuki frowned at that thought. What was up with this guy that girls were always lining up for him? It was just… Doumeki. Watanuki stared at him as the archer dug around in his satchel.

Was it the sports thing? Did they like the fact that he was in the archery club. But if that were the case then why weren't guys in the more athletic clubs like soccer and Judo being bombarded with girls. Watanuki put his hand under his chin speculatively. Maybe they were and he just hadn't noticed.

Or was it that Doumeki only communicated in syllables and that gave him a mysterious aura. Watanuki rolled his eyes. How absolutely retarded. He shook his head. There was no way anyone would find that attractive. It was plainly annoying how Watanuki could bring up a diatribe of complaints against his rival and Doumeki only ever had one or two words to say against it. All that grunting and hmming made him seem more like a caveman. It also didn't help that he ate like one too.

Watanuki bit his napkin, feeling the answer to Doumeki's popularity had no human explanation. Did he have some girl-magnet or something on him? Watanuki squinted at the archer as he continued to dig around in his satchel. Watanuki could see things not of this world, so maybe he had a chance of finding out what Doumeki's secret was for attracting girls, but if that mystery existed somewhere in Doumeki's satchel then he thought he might have a hard time finding it despite his other-worldly sight. Doumeki certainly wasn't having an easy time of it. He'd been digging through his satchel for about five minutes now.

"What are you doing?" Watanuki asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Doumeki said and pulled out a large book.

Was he blind? Watanuki noted the size of the book and wondered how he could have missed that. Did he need glasses? He pictured Doumeki with glasses and had to stifle a laugh.

Doumeki slid the book across the table. "It's a present."

A present? For what? Watanuki gave the archer another suspicious look. "Is this how you start out all your dates? You give presents at the beginning so you can make up for your bad personality? I don't accept bribes so take it—" Watanuki glanced down at the book. "Oh, a cookbook," he said pleased. It was a nice one too. He started flipping through the glossy pages, then he slammed it shut when he realized what he was doing. "I can't accept this. I don't have a present for you."

Doumeki shrugged. "I was thinking you could use it to make one."

A-ha! So Watanuki's present was really his own. "I should have known you were up to something," Watanuki said, fired up to catch Doumeki in the middle of his scheme.

Doumeki shrugged again. "Page 214."

Ah, he knew the exact page and everything! "Do you not get fed at your house?" Watanuki asked seriously.

"All the time, but it doesn't taste the same after eating yours."

Watanuki rubbed the back of his neck modestly. "Well I do enjoy cooking." Then he slammed his hand on the table, realizing what was going on here. "I know what you're up to."

Doumeki gave him a strange look, as if he didn't understand what he was talking about. He truly looked like he had no clue. "We can go to the grocer after and get the ingredients. I'll help you make it."

"Geez, why do I even bother?" Watanuki sighed and settled back into his chair. "You want it so badly that you'll go to all this trouble, then fine. But I'm not carrying any bags."

Doumeki nodded. "So I can come over afterwards?"

Watanuki waved his hand dismissively. "Yes, whatever, unless you don't want to eat your precious—" Watanuki turned to page 214 and his eyes bugged a little. "You expect me to make this in one night?! I do sleep, you know."

"That's why I offered to help," Doumeki said simply.

"The only thing you'll help with is eating," Watanuki grumbled, resting his chin in his hand and looking the other way to convey his indifference to Doumeki's unreasonable requests. He was more than used to it by now. When Doumeki didn't reply, Watanuki turned his head back in his direction. He thought the archer could be a little more responsive here. This date thing had been his idea in the first place, but Doumeki just continued to stare down at the table-top. Watanuki's brows scrunched together in exasperation.

"This is my first date," Doumeki said out of the blue. He was still staring down at the table, like this had been on his mind for some time now. "I've never given a gift to anyone because this is my first date."

Watanuki stopped slouching. "Well... this is my first date too," he said in a confrontational tone. "So don't mess it up."

Doumeki began to smirk.

Watanuki narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"You can be as mean as you want. It doesn't bother me. It's like background music."

"You bas—"

"Welcome to Lily's," a girl in a maid outfit cheerfully greeted, appearing to pop out of nowhere. "Sorry about the wait. What can I get for you today? Would you like to hear about our specials?"

A/n: Instead of getting too deep into an actual plot, I'd like to just concentrate on how Watanuki and Doumeki's relationship progress from here, or de-progress, as those two just write themselves.