Yellow eyes intently watched a blue eyed student as his pencil scribbled across his homework. Watanuki's forehead was scrunched just slightly as he worked through the long and complicated chemistry equations. Their class was working on stoichiometry that week and it was their third assignment to deal with such math. Watanuki hated this work much more than the empirical formulas they'd been learning just a few weeks ago and his frustration was apparent on his face. Doumeki thought he looked rather cute as he worked.

Doumeki ignored his own homework in study hall that day as he mused over what his grandfather had told him. Apparently he was in love. How had that happened so quickly? He didn't think he was one to ignore what he was feeling. Rather the opposite, actually. Watanuki scolded him frequently for being so blunt and honest all the time. He must have simply accepted the fact that Watanuki needed him and was going to be a part of his life from now on without the need to question it.

The taller male pictured in his mind how he'd react if something terrible happened to his partner. If Watanuki was ever hurt, killed, or taken away... it left a sour taste in his mouth just imagining it. He wanted more than anything just for Watanuki to be happy. He didn't care what it took, even if the boy had to insult him for the rest of their lives, as long as he was alive enough to smile it was worth it.

If that was love, then Doumeki was fine with it. Maybe someday Watanuki would be fine with it, too.

When classes were released for the day Doumeki resisted the urge to rest his hand on the small of Watanuki's back as he came up behind him at his locker. There were still a lot of students milling around in the halls and it would upset the shorter male should someone see contact. "Come on, we're going home."

Watanuki spun around in front of his locker. "What! Why? What about your archery practice?" His eyes widened in worry. "Wait, is this because you were called out of class? What happened?"

Doumeki felt a little bubble of happiness in his chest that Watanuki would openly worry about something as small as missing archery practice. "My grandfather came home early. He asked me to skip practice tonight and bring you over."

The blood drained from Watanuki's already naturally pale face. "Y-your house? We're supposed to go to your house and meet your grandfather?"

"And my mom," Doumeki added, unaffected by the shorter male's sudden panic.

"But-!"

"It's fine," Doumeki insisted. He closed Watanuki's locker and ushered them towards the door. "I've already explained everything to grandfather."

If a jaw could have literally fallen to the floor in shock Watanuki's would have. "What? You told him? Just how much of it?"

Doumeki blinked at him as they walked down the steps of the school's front door. "Everything." The blood that had left Watanuki's face returned in a rush. It was such a violent blush Doumeki thought it nearly looked like a sunburn. "Oh god," Watanuki moaned. He covered his eyes with his hand.

Doumeki smirked, amused. "There's nothing to worry about."

"Don't say that so easily! How can you be sure? What if..!"

The taller teenager raised an eyebrow at the unfinished question. "What?"

"Your family!" Watanuki finally burst out. "What if they change their mind about... us? About everything?"

They rounded a corner and left view of the school. "Why would they?"

"You won't have a real family if you stay with me. No wife or children or anything! What if they want you to..." What if they push me aside, his unvoiced concern lingered after his question.

Doumeki tugged Watanuki into the shadow of a nearby alley and pushed him into the wall of a building. The shorter male felt pinned under those intense gold eyes that were suddenly locked on his own. "They won't." Arms wrapped around Watanuki tightly and Doumeki's chest was ridiculously solid and warm under his pale hands. "I won't let anyone push you aside. You are family now, Kimihiro."

Watanuki blushed. "Family?" He squeaked. "But family..."

"I love you."

Watanuki went from blushing to scowling in anger. "Don't say that so suddenly! It's only been less than two weeks! Don't say that just because you think it's what I want to hear! You insufferable-!"

"Kimihiro!" Doumeki said loudly over the yelling and sudden physical struggling. "I wouldn't!" He cupped Watanuki's jaw with his thumb and forefinger and held his gaze. "Intimacy with me would do nothing to protect you from spirits if I didn't love you." Watanuki's face was a picture of shock. "Grandfather explained that to me when we spoke earlier. I didn't know it either."

Ocean blue eyes searched his face earnestly for something, but whether it was honesty or insanity Doumeki didn't know. "How could you not know your own feelings before?"

He shrugged. "I never questioned the desire to protect you, I just did it. I only want you safe and happy."

Watanuki closed his eyes and pressed his palm against his forehead like he had a headache. "You really are crazy."

"Yeah," Doumeki agreed. "Come on. Let's go home." He released his hold on his partner and they started walking again.

A few steps down the sidewalk and Watanuki frowned and looked at the boy next to him. "You better not try to be romantic or anything. You're no good at it."

"Hm?" Doumeki replied.

"Tch!"

The temple was actually a little closer to their school than Watanuki's apartment was. They reached it much sooner than Watanuki's stomach could handle. The stress was surely going to make him vomit if he thought about it anymore, yet how could he not? It was going to happen in just a minute!

Watanuki's knees locked up and he dug his feet into the sidewalk when Doumeki moved to enter the gates of a huge Shinto temple. Watanuki had been on the temple grounds before, of course, because the public was always welcome to come during normal business hours and he had purchased the handmade paper spirit wards on multiple occasions.

It didn't mean that he wanted to go in now, though, since he knew there were parents in there waiting to meet him and pass initial judgment on him and he had no idea what he was going to say or do...!

"Come on," Doumeki tugged on his arm. "You can't stand here at the gate all night."

"W-Wait!" Watanuki tried to stall. "I... what about..."

Doumeki gave him that look again, the one that said are you sure you're not an idiot? "What?"

"You know!" Watanuki blushed hotly.

Doumeki paused his insistent tugging for a moment. "Oh, that." He blinked, then shrugged. "We've got a few hours till six. We'll figure it out."

"But-!"

"Shizuka-kun!"

Watanuki and Doumeki turned to look and saw a woman rush towards them on the long pathway from the temple's main building. She was a pretty woman with long black hair that was tied up in a traditional fashion. Her elegant kimono was white and pink and patterned with blossoming sakura branches. She had the same yellow colored eyes that Doumeki did. A much older man with black hair streaked with white walked up to them at a rather sedate pace.

The woman ran up to Doumeki and threw her arms around his shoulders. "Oh, Shizuka-kun! I've been so worried!"

"Hello, mom," he replied, as usual with very little detectible emotion.

"Your grandfather told me you would be coming back today. I'm so glad you're home!"

Watanuki's hands wrung themselves nearly raw on the handle of his briefcase. He could see the woman's eyes were wet with unshed tears.

The woman moved away from Doumeki with one last beaming smile and looked to Watanuki. She grinned. "And there's your friend I was told about." Watanuki thought he'd have a heart attack when she grabbed his arms and leaned toward him. "Shizuka-kun never has friends visit. I am so glad to have you over."

"Eh?" Watanuki gaped.

Haruka finally made it up to them and smiled as well. He held a rolled cigarette in his right hand. "Kimihiro-kun, Shizuka-kun, welcome back." Doumeki's mother released Watanuki and stepped back to stand next to her father. Haruka gestured to himself and the woman next to him. "Kimihiro-kun, we're pleased to finally meet you. I am Haruka, Shizuka's grandfather, and this is his mother Akane."

Watanuki blushed and bowed deeply as he remembered his manners. "Pleased to meet you," he managed to get out without his voice shaking too much.

Haruka brought his cigarette up to his lips and took a drag from it. "You'll be staying for dinner, Kimihiro-kun?"

"He's cooking," Doumeki informed them.

Big blue eyes whipped around to stare at him. "I am?"

"I want gyoza and yakitori."

"Oh, that sounds lovely," Akane clapped her hands together even as Watanuki's jaw hung open and his body literally vibrated with his displeasure. "Please come with me, Kimihiro-kun, I will show you to the kitchen. I've already put cut watermelon in the refrigerator to chill." She grabbed an arm and started to escort him down the long path.

"Ah, y-yes, thank you, Doumeki-san."

"Oh please, just Akane, Kimihiro-kun!"

Doumeki looked at their retreating forms before turning his gaze on his grandfather. "You haven't told her yet?" He asked once they were out of ear shot.

Haruka smiled pleasantly. "Not yet. She knows that you've been gone for an important reason and that we would explain it later. She trusts my judgment concerning you. Your mother, however much she trusts me in these matters, will need visible proof regarding Kimihiro-kun's unique condition."

The grip he had on his briefcase tightened. "This won't be easy."

Haruka gestured toward the house and they started walking. "Nothing worth fighting for ever is." He took another drag from his cigarette. The smoke he blew out billowed up into the air in slow and lazy curls. "He's lit up like a roman candle, Shizuka-kun."

Doumeki watched the smoke as it spread thinner and thinner in the air. "What do you mean?"

"You can't see it clearly yet because that ability will take time for you to develop. In time you will see it, too. Your new partner's aura is the single brightest thing I have ever encountered. It is no wonder that every spirit is after him. He is likely the brightest soul the spirit world has ever seen." They finally entered the shrine proper and started making their way up the stairs. "Tell me, how well does he see the spirits after him?"

"He's mistaken human spirits for being alive on many occasions. He can touch them and interact with them as if they were normal people."

Haruka frowned and put his cigarette out in the ashtray next to the door. "It is a miracle then that you've been powerful enough to protect him. I'll need to refortify the wards on the temple's grounds, but they'll be strong enough until then."

Doumeki kicked off his shoes once he was in the entryway. "He's terrified."

Haruka slipped his shoes off as well. "Of the spirits?"

"Of everything. He's afraid you and mom will end up hating him. He's afraid of depending on me, he's afraid of what the bullies at school will do once they find out about us, he's afraid he'll end up dying all alone."

"He's told you all of this?"

"Most of it. It's easy enough to tell."

Haruka patted his grandson's back. "Don't worry, Shizuka-kun. We will protect him." Doumeki frowned despite the assurance. "You mustn't have fear as well, Shizuka-kun. Trust yourself and the decisions you make. You will require all of your strength to keep him safe."

"I will have faith," he affirmed, "And I will protect him. Thank you grandfather."

"Shizuka-kun!" His mother called from the kitchen. "Will you set the table please?"

"Coming," he called back.