"So, there's still nothing, huh?" She wrapped an arm around his shoulder in a comforting manner when he shook his head. "Don't give up."
"How can I not?" He turned to face his boss, frustration written all over his features. "Every time I think this is going somewhere, that he's finally noticing, nothing happens!"
"We will just have to keep trying is all; maybe it's time to enlist some aid." Yuuko sounded thoughtful, making it obviously that she was no longer treating this like a yaoi manga.
"Aid from who?"
"Wow, that is so cute Watanuki kun!" Himawari cooed.
Watanuki didn't think he could be a brighter shade of red if he had been stripped naked in public. Had he known this was what Yuuko had meant, he would have never agreed to the idea of 'enlisting some aid'. The last thing he wanted was for word of his efforts getting around.
"I knew you and Doumeki were good friends, but I had no idea you had a crush on him. You will make the perfect couple!" Himawari was practically bouncing in place, and Yuuko wore a self-satisfied smirk at brining another person into the battle.
"W…well, you see Himawari-chan I…" He trailed off, unsure of what to say to the girl he had pretended to be interested in for months.
"He's trying to get Doumeki to show some interest in him, but Watanuki isn't having much luck," Yuuko cut in, taking charge of the conversation. "So he was wondering if you would be willing to help push Doumeki in the right direction."
Himawari's smile brightened, if that was even possible. "I would love to help you out! Just tell me what to do!"
"That's wonderful, I knew we could count on you!" Yuuko was smiling almost as brightly.
Watanuki buried his face in his hands, trying not to die from mortification.
Yuuko was evil, and the fact that Himawari had so readily agreed to this showed him there was a lot he didn't know about women.
His illusions that Kunogi Himawari was a sweet and innocent girl were quickly swept away as her and Yuuko thought up the next plan. Though, that she was willing to do it for his sake was kind of sweet; in the same way that Yuuko pulling out her stacks of yaoi manga had been a motherly gesture of moral support.
This was to take place at lunch, everything happened at lunch; only this time food wasn't the main plot device. Watanuki wasn't really sure he wanted to go through with this. He knew it was all just part of the elaborate plan to get Doumeki to show that he had some sort of feelings for him, but flirting was one thing and this was way beyond simple flirting.
As the lunch bell rang, he grabbed the bento he had made, and went down to their usual meeting spot. He took a seat in the soft grass, and it wasn't long before the object of his affections and Himawari showed up. He greeted them both in, handing over Doumeki's bento, and then they all settled into their usual routine.
"Exams are coming up," Watanuki tossed out casually to Himawari.
"Yes, but I've been studying hard, so I'm not too worried. What about you, are you feeling confident?" she replied, throwing glances at Doumeki ever now and then, as if to make sure he was paying attention to her or as if she were nervous about something.
"Yes, actually, though knowing my luck, something will go wrong right before or during the exam." Watanuki rolled his eyes dramatically, throwing his hands into the air.
Himawari giggled, and then. "Doumeki-kun, could I speak with you for a minute? There is something I'd like to talk with you about."
Doumeki paused in eating his bento to look at the pigtailed girl, then nodded, putting the food aside and standing to go a few feet away where they could talk.
Watanuki couldn't help but bite his lip in nervousness. He knew everything Himawari was going to say, but had no idea how the conversation would end.
"Uh, well, Doumeki-kun… I've, um, admired you for a long time, and I was wondering if you would like to… well… go out with me."
Doumeki opened his mouth to speak; this was the first unknown in the situation. If all went well Doumeki would turn her down; if not, Watanuki could kiss his hopes and dreams goodbye.
Himawari lowered her eyes to the ground, her hair swinging forward.
That was a good sign. He knew what she would be saying here then. "I see, there must be some one else you like then." Here she would pause for a second. "I know this is a strange thing to ask, but is it Watanuki-kun?"
What came after that he didn't know, he could only wait and see. So he
forced himself to calmly eat his lunch and act as if his heart wasn't
in his throat. After the two had finished talking a few minutes later,
Himawari came to gather up her things as if she was too depressed to
continue eating.
She whispered to him in a low voice, so that it wouldn't carry back to Doumeki, who was once more eating his lunch. "He didn't give me an answer, I'm sorry Watanuki-kun. I tried."
Louder, so that he could be heard, Watanuki spoke. "Are you all right Himawari-chan, you look a little pale." His concern wasn't faked, though it wasn't over her 'crushed spirit' from having been turned down.
"I'm fine, I'm just not hungry is all. I'll catch you later." She smiled at him, using acting skills he hadn't been aware she had to make herself look as if she were forcing on a smile to keep from crying.
"Alright then, take care of yourself." With that she left.
Watanuki tapped his foot against the floor in class, annoyed and frustrated and fearful. What was going on in Doumeki's head? Apparently he had turned down Himawari as planned, but somehow he hadn't thought it would be that easy to find out how Doumeki felt about him, if there was anything to know at all.
"—ki. Watanuki!"
The bespectacled boy blinked and turned to find the teacher's eyes on him in annoyance. He was no the object of everyone's attention and he caught Himawari's concerned gaze from across the room. Oh, no…
"Yes, Sensei?"
He could see the thunderclouds of annoyance in the man's face. "Since you weren't paying attention, I'd like you to stay after school so we can have a chat."
Oh, this is just wonderful! What did I ever do to deserve this kind of torture! It's all Doumeki's fault! He had to force himself to pay attention the rest of the class, even though all he really wanted to think about was Doumeki, and if he should just give up on the whole thing. It had been months he'd been trying to get that stupid archer's attention. By this time, he had lost a lot of hope to keep on trying. Why should he, anyway? It wasn't as if anything would come of it.
When the bell rang and the rest of the students went about packing up their books and belongings, he could only watch mournfully as he was forced to stay in his seat. All he wanted to do was go back to his apartment, fall on his bed, and just…cry or something to let out his anger and frustration about one very specific boy that was driving him insane.
"Watanuki."
Watanuki looked up at the teacher as he leaned against the side of his desk. He knew what was coming. The entire faculty often regarded him as strange or weird, so whenever he did one thing out of the norm, he got a special talk. They walked on eggshells around him, even though it had been years since his parents had died.
"Are things going all right at home? You've seemed preoccupied lately and I hate to say it, but your grades have dipped. Some of your work has taken a downturn and at this rate, I'm not sure if you'll pass your exams coming up."
How could he have possibly known that his line at lunch could actually be real? Damn it, he did study and put all his effort into it. Not all that much lately, he did grant that, since Doumeki occupied most of his attention, but he hadn't thought that his homework and schoolwork had suffered as much as all that!
"So I'm going to have you stay after for a few hours to study on the material I presented today, since that will be on the exams coming up."
He went on about how he was only doing it for Watanuki, but the boy tuned him out. There wasn't anything new to hear. He knew it all by heart, since he always seemed to be on the receiving end of it over the last few years. When the teacher excused himself to make a quick trip to the office, he decided to get to work.
Two hours later, he was still sitting there on page one and tapping his pencil in an annoying fashion on the desk. Even the teacher had bailed on him, but he knew that there were eyes watching him until he could go home in another hour. If he tried sneaking out, he knew he'd get caught.
"Oi."
In surprise, Watanuki lifted his head and glanced to the doorway. There he was, the whole the reason he still hadn't progressed past the first page.
"What are you still doing here?" he asked in curiosity.
"I had club practice. There's a competition next week."
Watanuki made a mental note and then turned his head away to resume his chin's resting place on his palm. His eyes went unfocused after a few seconds of staring at the page. How could he even pretend to be occupied by work when the object of his affections was standing not a few feet away at the door to the classroom?
"Kunogi said you had detention."
Suddenly that handsome form was beside him and leaning over his shoulder, breath ruffling his hair and around his right ear. He swallowed silently and shivered, but it didn't appear as if the archer noticed. The warmth at his back reminded him of the last "mission" they had been on, which Yuuko had confessed had only been done to make them cuddle in the freezing cold.
"These are all easy. Why are you still stuck on them?"
"It's not any of your business!" he snapped, hoping that Doumeki didn't get a glimpse of his scrap sheet of paper beneath the book that had doodles all over it of varying things, most about his crush.
"At this rate, you'll fail your exams."
"Would you just shut up!" he yelled, annoyed since Doumeki had echoed his thought from mere hours ago. He really was worried about his exams, but finding the time amid his obsession with the archer was the real problem.
"When can you leave?"
"In an hour? Why?" he groused, his bad temper obvious to even the most obtuse.
"I'll drop by Yuuko's to let her know when you'll be coming. Tell her you can't work tomorrow." Doumeki straightened and made his way out of the classroom. Annoyed and curious, Watanuki practically jumped to his feet.
"What the hell are you talking about!"
"You want to pass the exams, right? I'll tutor you." The archer paused and looked over his shoulder. "But I want something in return."
His heart suddenly seemed to beat right out of his chest at the look on Doumeki's face and the extremely rare quirk of one side of his lip. He'd seen that smile only once before in his life and it had been after Doumeki had exorcised the spirit that had been killing him. The smile he'd seen as he had invited Doumeki to lunch as they had passed in the hall. It made his knees go weak and his stomach clench. There was no word except "sexy" to describe that smirk.
"Since you already make me bento, I want a special dessert at every lunch for the next two weeks."
"WHAT! TWO WEEKS! You ungrateful bastard!"
His words rang behind the archer's retreating back as he made his way down the hall and the image of his smile was burned into his brain.