Title: Lobster
Universe: xxxHOLiC
Theme/Topic: Sunburn
Rating: G
Character/Pairing/s: Doumeki, Watanuki
Warnings/Spoilers: This is mostly a 'protection' fic, but once again can be seen as something more if you look.
Summary: Someone forgot to put on sunscreen…
Dedication: You. :]
A/N: Didn't come out as smoothly as I planned, ah well.
Disclaimer: Don't own.
Distribution: Don't do it.

Poke.

"Stop."

Poke.

"Stop it."

Poke.

"I'm serious, stop it."

Poke.

"That hurts. Stop."

A pause. Then, poke.

"Dammit Doumeki! Stop freaking poking me!"

"You're red."

"I can both see and feel that, Captain Obvious."

Doumeki poked him again, watching as his finger turned the skin a pure white then faded back to red. "You need aloe vera."

"Ow! Yes, I know, that's why I'm here," he swung his arm in an arc, indicating Doumeki's room. "Although I could've just went and bought some of the stuff."

"Why buy it when I have some?" he asked.

Watanuki glared at him, not really having a complaint ready. Doumeki stood up and walked to the bathroom, leaving Watanuki sitting in his room. "Don't just leave when someone's talking!" he heard from his room. No one was talking, idiot.

He returned, tossing the bottle of bright green aloe vera at him. Watanuki barely caught it, trying to keep it from touching his sunburned skin. "Ah, finally," he sighed in relief. Doumeki walked behind him and sat down, leaning his back against a wall. He watched in amazement as Watanuki simply pulled his shirt off in front of him, with no yelling for Doumeki to leave the room. He gazed at Watanuki's back. Previously snow pale skin was now an angry red. Although it looked like it really hurt, he resisted the urge to poke him; he wanted to see the white dots appear on his skin.

Watanuki popped open the bottle with a loud 'click' and squirted some of the green slime onto an arm. He started mumbling to himself, "'Let's go to the pool' she says. 'It'll be fun' she says…" He moved onto the next arm, rubbing the slime into his skin. He sighed loudly, feeling the cooling effects of the aloe on his sunburned skin.

Doumeki's eyes ghosted over the seer's lean back, noticing old scars scattered around. He felt a pang of sadness. What he had to go through for so long… He wanted to touch them, to heal them…

About this time, Doumeki noticed Watanuki trying to reach his back. With his arm extended over his shoulder, he only managed to get the back of his neck. "Do you need me to get your back?" Doumeki asked.

Watanuki froze and turned his head, "No, thank you. I can get it myself," he said with a frown. He turned back around and kept trying to get his back, not getting anywhere.

Doumeki sighed and rolled his eyes. He stood up quietly and sat behind Watanuki. He slicked some aloe onto his fingers and rubbed it onto the seer's back.

"Wah! I don't need any— aahh," he relaxed as the coolness seeped into his skin. He was quiet for awhile as Doumeki massaged the aloe into his back, embarrassed that Doumeki was doing such a thing. "Y'know, I bet Yuuko knew this was going to happen," he said at last.

"It's not her fault you forgot to put sun screen on," Doumeki commented, rubbing tiny circles on Watanuki's shoulder blades.

"She could've reminded me!"

"Does that sound like something she'd do?"

Watanuki sighed, "No, and even if I confront her about it, she'll say something about it being hitsuzen."

"Probably."

Silence again. Doumeki couldn't stop touching Watanuki, so he kept applying more and more aloe to his back. His eyes fell onto a particularly large scar across the seer's shoulder. He felt sadness again. He also felt the strong urge to protect. "You have a lot of scars," he said quietly as he ran his thumb across the large one.

Watanuki stiffened; he had forgotten about his many scars. "Ah, yeah…" he turned his head a little, "Spirits," he chuckled nervously.

Doumeki grew irritated. Watanuki acted like it was nothing, but he had so many scars… "Have you gotten any scars since I began protecting you?"

"…no, I haven't," he replied in a whisper, looking down.

"Good," Doumeki lightly ran his fingers over a few scars, feeling Watanuki shudder under his touch. "I'll prevent any more scars from getting onto your body," his fingers stopped over the largest scar. "So…" He pressed and twisted his fingers as hard as he could, watching the white circles appear and disappear. This made Watanuki arch away from him, letting out a strangled cry.

Doumeki stood up and went to leave the room. He stopped in the doorway and looked back at Watanuki. "Don't worry." He left.

With tears in his eyes, Watanuki grabbed his shoulder and sat up, having fallen over from the pain. Looking at the doorway where Doumeki stood and remembering his words, he turned his head and flushed, "Stupid Doumeki… I'm never worried when you're around."

Well, I feel that everyone is a little evil. Whenever you see sunburn, don't you just want to touch it? I know I do. Maybe that just makes me a little evil. Whenever I have sunburn, I swear by that green aloe stuff. It saves lives, I tell you.