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Chapter twelve

Already down the sidewalk, Yuui raised a hand and chuckled to himself. He had an idea that brother and Kurogane were sleeping in bed but he wanted to make sure. After all, Fai needed a day off too. Wiping the smirk off his face, he casually made his way around the city; taking his time before going into the cafe.

It was sunny out even this early in the morning and was a typical day in Piffle. Syaoron hadn't called him yet this morning, probably running late.

While he didn't mind the lack of text or a phone call, Yuui wouldn't help but feel bad for Syaoron. The sweet young man must be working very hard to make ends meet even with his brother being in the city's library. Feeling a bit lonely, he sent the young man a text, telling him 'good' morning' and all.

He didn't get a reply until later. It seemed Syaoron had been running behind, having went straight to work to help finish up an order.

When he got the text, Yuui was already opening the front door of the cafe with a worried look.

Watanuki poked his head out of the kitchen, spotting him. "You're in late."

"Yeah, sorry." Yuui idly stated as he took off his messenger bag and started to put on his apron.

"No problem, but a call would be nice." He countered, before ducking back inside. The restaurant was already packed, breakfast rush well underway.

Nodding, Yuui got to work quickly; making sure no orders was backed up. He was moving as fast as he usually went but he didn't have a smile on his face.

Watanuki noticed, but they were both busy so he waited until there was a break.

The hours between then and lunch went by so slowly for the blonde but by the time lunch break came, he was sitting on a small table near the window with a solemn look on his face as he stared at his cell phone.

"Alright, what's wrong with you?" Watanuki stood hands on his hips.

"Hmm?" Yuui looked over at his young protégé.

"You've been moping."

"I'm not moping." Yuui refrained himself from pouting. "I'm just...thinking."

"Syaoron or your brother?" Watanuki asked as he took a seat.

Yuui wondered if Watanuki was more perceptive then he looked. "It's...Syaoron."

"Fight?" He asked, wanting to help his friend.

"No, I'm just being a worry wart as usual. But I think we were almost in one but being the smarter man, I suppose, Syaoron didn't say anything."

"Is it because he wasn't in for breakfast?"

"Oh no." Yuui chuckled a bit. "If that was the case, I wouldn't be a better person."

"So you think he skipped because of a fight?" Watanuki said trying to figure it out.

"Nah, I..." Yuui tired to say it. "He's busy today and for some reason, I feel guilty."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know." Yuui shook his head. "I think I'm just having too many thoughts and emotions going around. This...this never happened before in my previous relationships."

"That's because you really like him." He grinned just as one of the waiters brought them over some drinks.

"...N-No..." Yuui chuckled. "That...That can't be it...I've liked people before..." He blushed a bit.

"Most of the others were jerks. Syaoron seems pretty nice."

Gulping, Yuui nodded. Watanuki had seen his past boyfriends and a couple girlfriends. They weren't...the nicest people to be with. "They weren't...I mean...Syaoron's just..." He sighed.

"See? And I know jerks Yuui."

"..." Yuui closed his cell phone up as he sighed. "I just don't understand..."

"You just don't want to mess up something good." He suggested.

"I don't want to mess Syaoron up." Yuui's voice started to break. "He's everything that I want in someone but why? Why can't I be happy with that? He's...amazing, sweet, wonderful, everything." He rubbed his eyes. "But I still have doubts and while last night helped; it doesn't solve much either."

"That's just because you're still tied up on your exes. You didn't really have closure."

That really torn Yuui up inside. "Am I messed up, Watanuki? Is that why I was with those jerks before?"

"No, they were nice at first, but no one can hide themselves for very long." He reasoned.

"...I'm scared..." Yuui confessed. "I'm scared of what's going to happen or might happen." He hugged himself as his body shook. "After that bastard and what he had done to me, I'm scared...Syaoron's so sweet and loving but...everyone has a dark side. I-I'm not sure I can handle that again..."

"I think you're over thinking. Sure people have bad sides, but some are worse than others."

"I was emotionally ripped apart, Watanuki!" Yuui cried. "How can I not think that?"

A few people stared, but quickly ignored them. "I know you were...but it doesn't change now. Syaoron likes you, none of your other relationships came here twice a day just to talk with you."

Letting a few tears hit the table, Yuui let out a shaky breath. "...I-I suppose not..."

Pulling out a handkerchief he gave it to the blonde. "Trust me."

Taking it, Yuui muttered thanks before wiping his eyes. "I do trust you. It's myself that I don't trust anymore..."

"Just be yourself." He tried to tell Yuui. "Syaoron is not one of your exes. So you shouldn't think of him the same."

Gripping the handkerchief, Yuui fiddled with his clothed fingers. "Does it work? I mean, at this point in my own life...will it?"

"You just have to let it work. You're the only one holding yourself back."

Nodding, Yuui patted Watanuki's shoulder. "Sometimes I wonder who is really the older one here." He lightly joked.

"I went through something similar before, so I understand how it is." He explained with an embarrassed smile.

"..." Yuui almost forgot about that. It was rare to see that young man being so down when it happened. He barely came to the cafe when it happened and that's when they were starting to work together. "Right. Sorry."

"It's alright, I'm better now. I know I'm not alone anymore." Watanuki grinned.

"That's a good thing you're not." Yuui ruffled the young man's hair a bit. "You're a very great person and a decent chef." He chuckled.

Watanuki flushed then. "Now you're just trying to embarrass me..."

"Good, that makes two of us." Yuui laughed softly. "But it's true."

"I guess." Watanuki looked away.

"Come on, Watanuki. Have I ever lied to you before about something like this?" Yuui teased.

"No." He swatted at the blonde.

"Aw~! Watanuki's getting mad~!" Yuui teased some more. "Quick! Someone get Doumeki! Stat!" He laughed while he said that.

"No! Don't call that lummox; I'll have to feed him!" He grumbled, his face flushed. (1)

Yuui just laughed as he held his sides. Though it wasn't exactly nice for him to put Watanuki on the spot; he was feeling better. "O-Okay! You win!" He snickered.

Watanuki gave an angry pout in return.

"Give me that look and I might change my mind." Yuui smirked.

"Yeah and then he'll eat all of our food and then you'll go bankrupt."

"Well more time to spend Syaoron or even help him with his stuff." Yuui commented happily. "Or maybe go back to being an artist."

"That's true. Maybe I should have him visit."

"Sounds good." Yuui checked the time. "We still have about a half hour before we go back. Um...want to go to come with me and get some take out?"

"Sure, I haven't eaten today." He finished off his drink before getting up.

Downing his own in one gulp, Yuui sighed happily. "Okay then, let's go."

With that the left things in charge to the rest of the staff and headed out for lunch.

The day was very warm but just so as Yuui rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"So where to?" Watanuki asked as he walked beside Yuui.

"I don't know. I normally don't eat out anyway." Yuui shrugged. He then looked over and spotted something. "Huh. We can try that Chinese place across the street."

"Sounds good. We can check out the competition." he joked as they bypassed a few vendors. "You know I need to go to the farmer's market this weekend. We're running low on a few things."

"Ah, yes. That's true." Yuui nodded with a smile. "Want me to join you so you have some help carrying bags and such?"

"You can, but I use Doumeki for a pack mule. He has to be useful for something." He argued.

Yuui had to chuckle. "Okay then. I'll just see if Syaoron is up for anything. Though I did ask him to go to the movies on Sunday." He pondered to himself.

"Then go on your date." Watanuki countered as they walked into the place.

"You sound just like brother." Yuui huffed. "I do have a life, you know."

"I know, but you shouldn't bring him along for chores. That's a like a sixth date thing."

"I can't believe anyone who would count on the number of dates before they use the other as a packed mule." Yuui joked as he opened the door for Watanuki to enter to the restaurant.

"Well I don't really count. Doumeki's always been good for carrying heavy things." He shrugged as they were taken to a seat. It was a rather large dining area with high welted walls to accommodate their larger patrons.

"I don't know though. Syaoron and I are just going slow I guess." Yuui sighed as the two were looking at the menus.

"How many dates have you been on?" He asked, sliding into a small booth.

"Just...a couple..." Yuui muttered.

"That's not slow. Going slow would be...actually I don't know how you could go any slower unless you weren't calling them dates."

"Well...considering my past relationships, I think it is." Yuui shrugged.

"Then that's good. It's normal." Yuui was thinking way too much about this.

"Normal. Right." Yuui sighed.

"Just because you're not..." Watanuki glanced around blushing a little. "Having sex, doesn't mean you're going too slow."

"It's not the...that." Yuui blushed in return. "But thank you for reminding me regardless..."

"Then I don't get it. You're not your brother. You like doing things at your own pace and well he does too, but yours is more even paced."

"I don't know..." Yuui sighed. "I guess I'm expecting too much once again..."

"Maybe. Yuuko-san is always telling me to relax, even though she has no right to tell me that." He bristled.

Smiling a bit, Yuui nodded. "Well I guess I should just...let things flow naturally then..."

"Definitely." Watanuki grabbed a menu scanning over it.

It didn't take long for them to their orders to come after they talked to a waiter. As they ate, Yuui's phone started vibrating. Taking out his phone, he checked as saw that Syaoron sent him a text. He blushed.

Watanuki shook his head and took the opportunity to grab one of Yuui's dumplings to try and giving the blonde some of his shrimp.

Idly taking a bit of shrimp, Yuui texted back; not at all looking away from his phone.

Watanuki thought his boss was hopeless and almost felt the urge to text Doumeki, but quickly stamped out that idea as being terrible.

Now with a smile on his face, Yuui closed his phone.

"Good news?"

"Y-Yeah." Yuui blushed as he nodded. "Syaoron texted me, asking if I want to have some dinner with him later and I said I have to tell brother first but after I go to the library later to return some books." He chuckled. "Sorry, I just rambled, didn't I?"

"A little, but it's fine." Watanuki was at least glad Yuui wasn't moping now.

"Oh, that reminds me, I'll be leaving after a few hours of being the cafe to do so." Yuui told the young man. "I have some books very overdue and I rather not pay too much for them."

"That's fine. I can handle things." He wondered why the blonde kept bringing it up, but didn't think too hard on it.

"Just making sure that I'm not dumping you all of the work for the rest of the day." Yuui smiled sheepishly.

"No, you helped work on the main dishes for tonight so there's nothing overwhelming to handle when you leave."

"Good. That's good." Yuui nodded.

"And before you leave you can help make some pies." Watanuki smiled, not letting him off that easily. "With fall around the corner, we need to put out a few fall flavors along with the summer ones."

"Of course." Yuui laughed. "People do love their pies in the fall season."

"How goes baking for Fai? He mentioned something about cupcakes the other day."

Making a bit of a face, Yuui chuckled. "A bit better each day."

"That's good." Paying for their meals they got up and left.

Walking back, Yuui and Watanuki chatted about the pies and what to do the next day. However out of the corner of his eye, Yuui caught sight of a cloaked figure walking down across the street. It soon blended into the crowd; disappearing. He blinked. What was that?

"Yuui?" He asked looking in the same direction.

Blinking again, Yuui shook his head. "Sorry. Got distracted by something. It's gone now I think." He smiled.

"What was it?"

"I don't know..." Yuui stated as they were near the cafe. "But it was black, like...very deep black."

"A person?" He asked curious now. It wasn't very unusual, but still a little odd.

"...I think so. It was hard to tell." Yuui shrugged. "But it was gone before I can get a better look."

"Anyways, let's head back. We still need to bake." Watanuki began walking again.

"Sure." Cracking his fingers, Yuui smirked. "Pies, here we come~!"

Laughing they headed back to the restaurant.

A few hours went by before Yuui went back out of the cafe. He waved to everyone a farewell before going to the library to return books. He texted Fai that he was not going to be back for dinner as he was going with Syaoron to eat.

Fai replied back that it was alright and how he hadn't started dinner yet while wishing him luck. The trip to Piffle's library, which lay in near the heart of the city, wasn't too long for Yuui, but it took him out of his usual route between home and work.

Once at the entrance, Yuui pushed the door open as he went inside. The Piffle library was huge and grand in itself but it doesn't get too much traffic on the weekdays which Yuui was grateful for from time to time. Walking up to the main desk, he saw that the person had the back turned as he coughed. "Um, hi." He started. "I like to return these books and pay whatever fee of the overdue it is." He got a few books out of his bag and placed it on the desk.

Turning he was met with shaggy brown hair and deep brown eyes along with a smile. "Sure, do you have your card?"

Blinking, Yuui looked away. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him...yeah that's it. "Uh, yeah. L-Let me get it for you." He reached into his pocket and took out the card. "Here."

"Thanks." With the card in hand the brunette typed in a few lines on the computer in front of him and swiped Yuui's card. "Here you go. It's five dollars exactly."

Well thank god for that. "Sure." Yuui took out his wallet but in the process the paper that held Syaoron's number slipped out as he gave the bill to the young man.

The younger man smiled before grabbing the papers his eyes scanning over it in reflex. "You know my brother?"

Yuui's head snapped up just as he was putting his wallet away. He saw the paper and blushed. "H-Huh?"

"My brother; Syaoron?" He asked again.

It took three seconds for the blonde's mind to click before pointing at the other. "Are you his brother?"

"Well yes, we're twins." He chuckled. "You can't tell?"

"I'm sorry." Yuui nervously chuckled. "I was just...making sure I wasn't in another dimension since I saw you but thought that...I'll shut up now." He looked away.

"We get that a lot. It's not a big deal. You must be Yuui right?" He grinned, handing Yuui back his paper.

Taking the paper, he nodded. "Yes, Yuui Fluorite." He lend out a hand to Syaoran. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"You too, brother talks about you a lot." They shook hands.

"Oh he does?" Yuui blushed. "That can't be good."

"It is. Always telling me about how good your cooking is and how're you're cool and everything. He's a bit of a dork." He smiled sheepishly, blushing a little.

Now with his face all red, Yuui covered it with both of his hands. "He didn't really say cool, right?" He mumbled through his hands.

"I'm pretty sure he slipped it in once or twice." Syaoran gave the other a rather sheepish smile.

"Oh lord, I'm so sorry." Yuui smiled nervously. "I didn't think he'll be talking about me a lot. It's...not something I'm used to hearing from others."

"Well you two are dating." He shrugged.

Yuui held back from talking more than needed on the subject. Syaoron already knew so there was no reason to repeat it to his brother. Syaoron might be okay with it but he wasn't sure on his twin brother. Clearing his throat, his smile got tight. "Right. Um...he texted me that he wanted to have dinner with me and I wanted to return the books before then so..."

"Yeah, he told me earlier and I'll be sure to put these up before I leave tonight." Syaoran grinned. "Oh! Before I forget, I'm Syaoran, brother probably forgot to mention it."

"Nice to meet you, Syaoran." Yuui chuckled. "And thanks. I'm sometimes forgetful too what with being in the cafe and doing chores."

"It's understandable." He replied smiling.

"Uh, well...is it okay to wait for him here then?" Yuui asked; feeling more nervous than he was before.

"Sure thing, the library's at your disposal." He explained. "You've obviously been here before so uh you don't have to hang around watching me be boring if you don't want to."

"Oh no. I've been through worse while waiting." Yuui chuckled. "And while I do, maybe you can be up for some small chat if you're as bored as I may be."

"I can talk." He said before getting up and moving out from his desk. "We can sit at one of the tables, the other aides can help people for now."

"Okay then." Yuui wanted to have Syaoran's approval of him despite him and Syaoron dating already. After all family comes first.

They took a seat at one of several tables scattered on every floor of the library. "So brother's already told me a lot about you."

"Really?" Yuui smiled as he laced his own fingers together. "Well, I doubt there's much about me that he told you about. I'm not exactly a fun person to be around."

"I doubt that." He argued.

"How so?" Yuui asked.

"He said you were a cook and an artist. Sounds pretty interesting to me."

"Oh, that's nothing." Yuui waved it off. "I'm not a very good artist and I'm not the only cook in the city."

"Still better than a lot of people." Syaoran grinned.

"...D-Did Syaoron tell you about that exhibit in some art gallery?" Yuui asked with a blush.

"Yeah, said you were popular."

"..." Yuui looked away. "I'm not popular. The gallery needed some paintings and I volunteered."

"He said he had your sketchbook, but wouldn't show me any. Though I'll take his word on it."

That made Yuui's face a bit red. "Oh, I-I just gave it to him since he seems to like my work and all." At least Syaoron had /some/ tact.

"You're just modest." He replied, already liking his brother's new boyfriend,

"I'm not modest." Yuui denied. "I'm just...honest..."

He shrugged. "Either way."

"Um...well, I do paint a lot." Yuui shrugged. "I'm just not doing that much of it anymore."

"Understandable, you run a restaurant." When his brother had told him at first he had been surprised, but Yuui seemed nice enough.

"Yes but I do some sketching when I have the time." By then Yuui was running his mouth. "But I love cooking too..."

"It's good to be passionate about something. I like history and reading and researching. Brother teases me about it, even though he liked them too."

"History, huh? That's an interesting subject." Yuui smiled. "I do like reading as well but almost never got time to do so."

"Our dad was a history professor at the university in Koryu." He explained smiling bright.

"Ooh~! That's amazing." Yuui grinned brightly. "He must have been a very intelligent man."

"Definitely. He had his doctorate and went out on trips around the world during the summer when we were younger."

"Sounds like a wonderful father." Yuui had his smile but his eyes were filled with a bit of sadness.

"He was. Brother will have to show you our place sometime, we have lots of souvenirs."

"If he's up for it, then okay." Yuui smiled.

"I'm sure he's just working up the nerve." Syaoron grinned.

Chuckling, Yuui continued to talk to Syaoran for over an hour; feeling better already.

TBC

(1)- *Laughs uncontrollably*