Good evening, everyone!
It's another late night update because my sleep schedule's been weird the last few days. I thought it was just from finally starting Attack on Titan after my friends telling me to watch it for years, but it turns out there's something funny going on astrologically so everyone's having a hard time. Sad, yet strangely comforting! So I was napping when I had originally planned on editing and posting this. My bad!
Anyway, this another chapter I really, really love. Anyone who's read my work knows I'm a sucker for beach scenes, especially at night, especially when they're romantic, ahh~ Also I think poor Doumeki needed to blow off some steam after the craziness of the last chapter, and it never fails to make me laugh.
I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!
Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to xxxHolic and I'm making no money off of this.
Doumeki hurried to pick up the charred remains of the necklace, then both couples walked back down the path towards the ocean. The forest was now content and sleepy rather than dark and forbidding, the lanterns comforting rather than ominous. They reached the end of the path where they'd have to part ways for the night, and all four of them faced each other.
"We'll see you in the morning," Doumeki told Yuriko and Renjiro.
"You will," agreed Yuriko, "I'd like to hear more about this shop that grants wishes, if you're allowed to talk about it." She looked exhausted, but positively euphoric, squeezing Renjiro's hand.
"Definitely, we've got some good stories," said Watanuki, smiling back at her.
"Have a good rest of your night, then," said Renjiro, and he and Yuriko headed back around the inn's main building while Doumeki and Watanuki made for the beach. They walked side by side in silence, the crashing waves and other night sounds filling the space. A soft breeze blew up around them, carrying on it the smells of the saltwater and pine trees and the optimism that came with solving their case, but there was something else, too. Something they'd found without looking for that they couldn't quite name yet.
"Hey," said Doumeki, when they were back in front of their suite.
"My name's not 'hey!'" snapped Watanuki as usual. Doumeki just took a step closer to him. "What?" Watanuki demanded, his heart speeding up and eyes widening as he stared into Doumeki's face, his eyes sharp and purposeful and lips slightly parted. He carefully lay his bow and the remains of the necklace down on the porch steps, then reached forward and gently removed Watanuki's glasses, folded them and set them down beside them. Watanuki balled his hands into fists. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" However, to his surprise and embarrassment, his protest came out in a choked whisper. Apparently unwilling to explain himself, Doumeki took hold of Watanuki's wrist, and his fist unbound at once as he felt the touch all the way up his arm. "Why…?" Doumeki leaned in closer…
…then used Watanuki's arm as leverage to lift him over his shoulder into a fireman's carry.
"HEY! PUT ME DOWN!" Watanuki screamed, outraged, but Doumeki just turned and headed towards the ocean. "PUT ME DOWN, YOU CREEP!" Watanuki struggled and thrashed like a caught fish as Doumeki actually stepped into the water. "NO!" But it was no good. Doumeki paused when he was waist deep in the crashing waves.
"This is for going out to find Yuriko without waking me up right after telling me to keep you safe." And he threw Watanuki into the ocean.
"AH!" Watanuki fell with a loud splash and was immediately bowled over by a wave. Disoriented, he managed to find the sea floor and clamber to his feet again, gasping and shuddering and buffeted by more waves. "WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!"
"I just told you," replied Doumeki, simply.
"You-" Clumsy in his soaked through yukata, Watanuki lunged at Doumeki, jumped into his arms and knocked him into the water too. If Doumeki cried out, Watanuki didn't hear it as they both fell under the waves, entangled with each other and their clothes and the water, until they emerged above the surface again, up to their chests now. "That's what you get!" gasped Watanuki, brushing his wet hair out of his eyes with one hand and jabbing Doumeki sharply in the breastbone with the index finger of the other. However, Doumeki took hold of Watanuki's wrist, and just like last time, his frustrated fist unbound at once. He pressed Watanuki's now open palm flush up against his chest, and he gasped, looking between his hand and Doumeki's face and once more feeling the touch up his arm. Doumeki's expression was almost forcefully serious in the star strewn darkness, and Watanuki could feel his pounding heart and shallow breath under his palm.
"Don't ever do anything like that again," he said, his voice so low that Watanuki barely heard it over the crashing waves. "I know you only asked me to keep you safe as a joke, but it's still my choice what I do. I'm not asking you to be grateful, but I think it would be good for both of us if you started valuing your life a little." The ocean continued to lap against them, but somehow they remained grounded on the sandy sea floor.
"I," Watanuki started to say, though with no real plan for how to continue the sentence, and then,
"Maybe rather than questioning Shizuka's motives or getting frustrated by his actions, you might start to look at why you don't think someone would care about you or look after you without hoping to gain something."
Watanuki's breath caught in his chest, and as he looked into Doumeki's face, still forcefully serious, he felt like he'd had the wind knocked out of him by Dr. Sakurai's words yet again. He swallowed, the waves gently pushing him back and forth, but still he and Doumeki remained grounded. "I, I'm sorry I worried you," he said, eventually. He thought of Yuriko's apology to Renjiro and his face burned. However, Doumeki nodded, then turned and dragged Watanuki from the water by the wrist he was still gripping tightly. "Hey! What are you doing now?! Let go of me!"
"Did you want me to just leave you there?" asked Doumeki in his usual tone without bothering to turn around. As the water got shallower and shallower, more and more of Doumeki's back became visible. Illuminated by the moon, stars and distant porch light, Watanuki could see every contour under the wet cotton, his shoulders, his back, his hips and his- Watanuki flushed and turned away, then yanked his hand out of Doumeki's grip the moment they were back on dry land.
"I get to rinse off first," he informed him in a dignified voice, rushing to pick up his glasses and uncomfortably aware of how clearly he could still see Doumeki's body under the thin, soaked through cotton. "Since you threw me into the ocean!" He knew Doumeki was watching him, knew his own body was just as visible under his own wet yukata, and his already flushed face burned even hotter. However, before Doumeki could actually say anything, Watanuki hurried back inside, careful not to track sand into the room.
A half hour later, they were both rinsed off, dressed in fresh nightclothes and back in bed, on their sides facing away from each other and exhausted from the night's events. Watanuki had the impression Doumeki was waiting for him to fall asleep first, just like last night, and knew a sudden burning in his chest.
"Don't you think you deserve to be cared about and looked after?"
Sighing irritably, Watanuki inched closer and allowed their backs to touch. Almost at once, he fell asleep.
That big tsunami is still drawing back, I'd say. Let's watch it crash next chapter!
I think of reviews when I summon my kekkai, leave me some!