(This is turning into mostly a collection of onehots that function as a story. Figures I can't write just once :P)

"Haruka-san, please stop laughing!" Watanuki whined, glaring plaintively at the man next to him dressed in his habitual kimono. The man was almost convulsing in mirth. It was quiet, like most of him, not loud guffaws, but it was still annoying. A blush was still faintly on his cheeks and he twisted his lips in a pout at the spirit.

It took several more minutes before Haruka had composed himself enough to speak, wiping tears from his eyes. "So?" he said after a minute, gesturing for him to continue. "What happened then?"

"That's… Well, that was it. He said that it was best to let me think and he left."

"You sound disappointed," he commented, resting his chin on his knee.

Watanuki flushed and crossed his arms. "I'm not. I just… I didn't expect this at all. I also didn't expect him to accuse you of…of…flirting with me!"

"I have been told I'm quite charismatic," Haruka teased with a soft smile. "You see me often and we are identical in appearance. Of course Shizuka would be concerned."

"Haruka-san," he whispered, ignoring the entire tease as he felt the concern still weighing on his mind. "This isn't…going to be any different now than then. Doumeki's reasons a hundred years ago remain as valid and fresh now as they did then. He's a man and so am I…and it's only through a wish that I could…lengthen his life and I don't think he can pay the price for what that would entail."

There was a long moment of silence before that soothing voice hit his ears again, eyes staring in the distance but not seeming to really seeing anything. "To gain great happiness, there was must be an equal amount of risk involved, not unlike how a wish requires a certain level of payment." Those eyes turned to him. "Shizuka didn't need your store when he was a teenager because he was determined to find a solution on his own even if she told him it was impossible. He was only able to enter after because you needed him before, when you couldn't leave. I have no doubt now that he will not limit his search for a solution to the problem just to your store, Watanuki."

"That's what I'm afraid of," he muttered, sighing. When he opened his eyes again, he was in his bed, seeing the sunlight streaming in through the window. "That's what I'm really afraid of, Haruka-san."

-0-0-0-0-0-

Watanuki was lounging in his habitual sofa, pipe perched delicately against his lips and staring at the smoke above him, when the doors opened. He flicked his gaze over, noting a young man that seemed highly nervous to be there. His black hair lightly brushed his neck and for a brief moment it was almost like looking back in time at himself. Then he noticed that the eyes that darted around, as if ready to run, were dark brown instead of blue, and he was not built quite as thin as himself.

"Welcome to my shop," he murmured, sitting up a bit. What he wore was not a school uniform, but jeans and a jacket. Yet looking closely at him, Watanuki could only see 'university student' stamped on his forehead. "You are?"

"Takagi Seishu," he muttered, risking a glance up at the sorcerer and then away almost instantly.

"Pleasure to meet you, Takagi-kun," he said with a soft smile. Where Yuuko had appeared mysterious and frightening to those that met her, Watanuki's smile had always been welcoming and gentle, inviting people in. It was why often those that came underestimated his power because of that. It wasn't immediately noticeable.

There was a heavy silence before cautious eyes looked at him again. "You said this was a shop. What kind of shop?"

"I grant wishes, for a fair and equal price," he replied serenely. "You have one."

"I do?"

"You were able to enter. That means you were meant to be here." He sat up, resting his chin against his hand. "What is it you wish for?"

"I…" Those fingers tightened into a fist, and he bit his lip before boldly stating, "Can you resurrect someone?"

That…was not what he was expecting. It was not every day that he heard someone ask him to bring someone back to life. His gaze grew serious. "Takagi-kun, everything dies eventually."

"It wasn't his time!" Takagi argued heatedly. "It was that drunk driver! It wasn't his time to go! My brother—he wasn't supposed to die!"

Watanuki could see the grief that wracked the young man and he felt sympathy flood him. He wanted to help so badly…but he couldn't give him what he wanted. Disregarding the fact that he wasn't entirely sure if he could bring someone back from the dead, Takagi could definitely not afford the price. "I can't."

"You said you'd grant my wish!"

"If you could pay the price. You can't afford it," he added more gently.

Takagi broke down, dropping to his knees and Watanuki couldn't help but move over to him, resting a hand on his head to comfort him. "Bringing him back…isn't what you really wish for, is it?" He studied the sobbing person in front of him. "What do you want most?"

"I wish it had never happened! I wish I had convinced him to stay home! To let someone else go in to work that day!"

Could he grant that wish? It would be a very hefty price, to rewrite the last two weeks. He couldn't just change the past, rewrite it willy-nilly…but perhaps he could give something to Takagi that would allow him to change the course of events so that it would be successful? Watanuki stood up and left the room, only to return a moment later with a small, smoky glass ball. "Takagi-kun." He waited until brown eyes met his. "To fulfill your wish, I can give you this. If you place it under your pillow at night when you sleep it will give you, just once, the chance to save your brother's life. Will you take it?"

"Yes!" There was a pause. "But what's the price?"

His mismatched eyes remained fixed on Takagi's. "You will never walk again once you use this. Will you still take it?"

The silence that fell between them was oppressive and seemed to last forever…but finally Takagi stood up and took the ball. "…I will."

"Maru, Moro. Escort Takagi-kun out."

"Yes, Master!" they chimed and took the boy's hands, leading him out of the shop.

"Seems a low price for what he asked for. Are you going to get hurt again?"

Watanuki looked at the shadows near the door and saw Doumeki's large frame. "Takagi-kun is a track star. He's also at his university on a full scholarship. If he loses his ability to walk, much less run…his whole future is changed. The life that he would have had is gone completely. He gave up his future for his brother."

"How do you know that?"

He just gave Doumeki a mysterious smile.

"You're getting as bad as Yuuko with that smile," his friend muttered, stepping into the room and sitting down as if he owned the place.

"And? What are you doing here? You've been gone for two weeks. I began to think you weren't coming back."

"Did you miss me?"

"Why would you think that?"

"…Intuition."

"Now who's cryptic?"

Doumeki snorted in amusement as Watanuki returned to his sofa and stretched out. He blinked as he felt hands touching his ankles and calves, looking at the former priest in surprise. A faint bit of red splashed on his cheeks, but Doumeki did nothing more than idly touch. "Found your answers?"

"No…but I've got time," was the calm reply as lips joined the fray, touching his ankle in a caress. Golden eyes looked at him with the same intensity of his teenage days, completely at odds with the gentleness being displayed with his hands and lips.

"Doumeki…" he muttered, trying to put a warning tone in his voice that was completely ignored. "Do you have an ankle fetish?"

"…It's more like a Watanuki-fetish."

He groaned and dropped his hand over his eyes, muttering, "I can't believe you just said that," only to squeak when a small kiss was placed on his toes. When he considered pulling his feet and legs away, Doumeki's hands just slightly squeezed, telling him to stay put. As embarrassing as it was, Watanuki had to admit that what he was doing felt…good and he couldn't bring himself to disobey. "What are you doing, Doumeki?" he murmured, eyes alternating from staring at the ceiling to the man that was assaulting his ankles, toes, and calves.

The truth was, Watanuki no longer understood where they were. Their feelings were in the open. They were both very aware of how they felt in the past, and the problems. He just didn't know what to do about it now. It was clearly not going to go back to how it was; the tension between them couldn't just remain. Doumeki wasn't going to let it remain untouched. Even more than that, Watanuki was no longer the teenage boy in high school that overdramatized everything. He felt no need to yell and flail. Long ago he had come to terms with what he felt and he had grown. Yet he felt like a teenager again as he wondered how adults handled relationships.

"Seducing you," interrupted his mental introspection.

"You're…what?!"

"Little by little, Watanuki, I'll make you mine. I know what you feel…but you're not mine yet." A thumb dug into the arch of his foot and he gasped at the short massage that followed. "I'll break down those barriers one by one…until you belong to me. It's only fair."

"Wh-Why?!"

Their eyes met again as Doumeki went as high as to kiss his knee before moving back down to his calf. "Because I've been yours for so long already."