Warnings: slash, crude language, aimless

Disclaimers: I do not own xxxHOLiC or the associated characters; they belong to the ever-so-wonder CLAMP and associates, of which I am not one (sadly). Written for violet-phoenix-rose's Calendar Challenge on HPFC.

Yayoi: New Life

It had escalated, somewhat, since that first incident. Doumeki hadn't really noticed anything spectacular in March, after helping Watanuki move things; it had just been another moment. Looking back, he could see how that might no longer be true.

Since then, he had helped Watanuki with work for Yuuko five times, walking him just about everywhere – not that that was unusual – and had lunches of good quality.

And, really, it was the lunches that made him notice anything was going on at all.

Watanuki, who always made cute little animals or something that was really quite girly out of Kunogi's lunch, had made him little octopus sausages. They weren't the best, certainly not as cute as the squid-like things in Kunogi's lunch, but it was an effort that he had not come to expect from Watanuki. The taste was always top notch, and things always looked just so, but Watanuki didn't go out of his way to make cute food for Doumeki.

So when he saw the little octopuses that weren't quite right sitting in his lunch, Doumeki blinked. Had he been given the wrong lunch? But no, Kunogi had her over-the-top food and Watanuki's was normal.

So Doumeki blinked again, trying to convince himself that it wasn't so.

"Don't think I did it for you," Watanuki snapped after his regular session of fawning over Kunogi. "I started making them for Himawari-chan and messed up. Food shouldn't be wasted. You should be worshipping the ground I sit on!"

That statement, more than anything, nailed it into Doumeki's head that Watanuki had done it on purpose. Because whenever he said something like that – such as in the case of the hand-knit moss green gloves – it meant that Watanuki had done it of his own free will and intentionally for Doumeki. It was one of the many peculiarities of his friend that Doumeki had come to understand intimately.

And he had no idea why any such effort should be made to give him cute food that day.

When it happened again the next day, Doumeki was even more confused, but ate the bunny-shaped onigiri in his customary silence.

After a full week of such treatment – even if the treats were never quite as cute as Himawari's – Doumeki tried to think of why Watanuki would do so at all. It couldn't be the cookbook that Doumeki had given him for his birthday. He recalled that Watanuki had become highly adept at ignoring him and glaring all at once, and he always took special care to keep his eyes on Doumeki's face whenever he absolutely had to look at him.

Doumeki had his suspicions, but he wouldn't be voicing them anytime soon.

The weekend heralded Yuuko calling Doumeki in to help Watanuki with an assignment, though the bunny suit that she tossed at them when she kicked them out of the door was confounding to say the least.

After a moment, Doumeki held up the pink thing before frowning. "It's too small for me; you'll have to wear it," he declared after another moment.

Watanuki, meanwhile, scowled. "Yes, I'm short. Why don't you tell me something I don't know?"

"You have a crush on me." And with that parting shot, Doumeki left the room for Watanuki to change. The April Fool didn't deny it, and when he exited the room he had changed in, he said nothing and ignored Doumeki completely.

Author's Note: Sorry it's late! I totally forgot about this until... well, yesterday (May 1). I feel like such a doof :(