"No, it didn't. He thought you had a job for us, that that's why I was acting differently towards Himawari-chan." Watanuki said bitterly, dusting off a bookshelf that seemed a dust magnet.
She sighed, though it was anything but sad or disappointed. More like she thought it was cute. "At least he noticed the difference. That's something of a step in the right direction."
"I guess." Bookshelf now dust free, he turned to face his lounging boss. "So what's your next plan?"
"Hmmm." She pressed a finger to her lips, looking up unconsciously in thought. Even for Yuuko, Doumeki must be a tough one to crack. Suddenly she laughed, sitting up straight and clapping her hands together. "I think I have just the thing."
He already didn't like where this was going.
Admittedly, the idea of the plan was good, but Watanuki was terrified he wouldn't be able to go through with it. He swallowed and had spent all night tossing and turning and dreaming about it. Some dreams had a very happy ending that made him smile and his groin tighten; some made his heart ache and tears threaten; and most were left completely in limbo, with no solid conclusion.
If he had dark circles under his eyes, he mentally blamed Doumeki for completely ruining his sleeping habits. For once, their bento were not the same. He had a little extra something uncommon that had taken him all night to make in his own. His hand shook a little as he wrapped the boxes up. If he didn't have a heart attack by lunch, it would be a miracle.
Doumeki was waiting for him as usual to walk him to school, and Watanuki could never admit how much he looked forward to it. It was one of the few times that he knew without a doubt would be just the two of them.
There was always a little talking or constant yelling. Today was a day when there was little talk, as he felt as if there were squirming snakes in his stomach and Doumeki obviously still felt there was something wrong with him from yesterday.
Class was torturous haze of nervousness and when lunch rolled around, he was ready to just give up and hide in a corner. He stood and was grabbing the bento when Himawari came trotting up to him with her usual, big smile. Inwardly, he groaned. This was not happening. There was no way on this earth that he'd be able to go through with Yuuko's plan if Himawari was there. Never!
"Watanuki-kun!"
"Hello, Himawari-chan." He smiled politely, even while he came close to crying inside.
"Will you be eating lunch with Doumeki-kun today?"
"I guess so. Why?"
She dug into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Could you give this to him? It's a memo from the student council. I can't make it today at lunch, so I wondered if you could pass it on for me."
His stomach loosened and he let out a breath of silent relief. Smiling, he took it and nodded. "I'll try to remember."
When the last of her pigtails had vanished around a corner, he finally sought out their usual lunch location. Doumeki wasn't there yet, so he had an opportunity to sit down and do some breathing exercises. His stomach was knotting up something awful right then.
"Oi."
"My name is not 'Oi'!" It was the one thing that truly got under Watanuki's skin. He wanted desperately for Doumeki to call him by his name, to hear it drop from those stoic, thin lips. And every time he heard that damn "oi", it made his blood boil with irritation since Doumeki never listened.
The archer dropped down to sit across from him and his eyes hungrily glanced at the bento boxes. Watanuki gritted his teeth, wishing that Doumeki would look at him that way. Okay, so maybe he was a little sexually frustrated when he thought of just tossing the lunch aside and ravishing the taller boy right in the middle of the schoolyard.
"You bring what I asked for?"
"Yes, you jerk!"
As he pulled off the top of his own bento, he kept a very careful eye on the archer. At first, Doumeki didn't seem the least bit interested and never raised his eyes from the food in front of him. Watanuki wanted to strangle him or kiss him to death. Either worked for him at this point.
"What is that?"
Watanuki feigned surprise and lifted his head. "What is what?"
Doumeki pointed with his chopsticks at the new food that he'd spent the whole night before making and was only in his bento. He glanced down at the shrimp, cooked slowly in a simmer with an entirely new sauce that he was pretty sure Doumeki had never tried before.
"Spicy shrimp," he snapped, as if it was none of the archer's business.
When Doumeki's eyes lifted to his own, he was inwardly tempted to smile, but he didn't. This was it. The really hard part. He stuck his chopsticks into his lunch, grabbed one of the shrimp, and held it out to the taller boy, all the while feigning annoyance.
For a moment, Doumeki didn't move and he saw a flicker of surprise in the faint widening of his eyes. As the seconds crawled by, Watanuki thought he might not take it. What would he do then? Would Yuuko's plan actually work?
But the archer leaned forward to take the shrimp almost delicately from the chopsticks. His heart actually stopped beating, he swore, and his eyes became riveted on the thin lips. Time seemed to slow down until seconds became years. Luscious lips, ones that could taste so good. He bit his tongue almost too hard and suddenly the way those lips pulled the shrimp from his chopsticks became seductive. His sexually starved brain could only imagine those lips kissing lower on his body…
"Pretty good."
The comment drew him from his lusty haze to realize it was over and that he was hard in the middle of school at lunch with Doumeki. The only reason the other boy couldn't see it was because of the bento box sitting on his lap. A blush threatened and he stuck his chopsticks down blindly to grab another shrimp and hold it out. Doumeki seemed surprised, but not inclined to argue, and without hesitation, he leaned forward to take it. Time slowed down once again as he stared at those lips and imagined.
By the time lunch ended, he was fervently glad it did. It would be extremely embarrassing to explain to the archer why he suddenly had to go to the bathroom to clean up a little "mess" in his trousers…