(almost completely copy-pasta'd from my lj. XD which, sadly, has less stories than this place of abandonment XX someone poke me to write more. seriously.)

lawl! I'm uh. actually writing this inbetween my paper. (aka, doing this inSTEAD of my research paper. hoorah!)

it'll probably suck a lot, I haven't written fic in forever. it's not beta-d, either. I'm too inconsistent to have a beta. D:

TITLE: Trading Heartbeats
FANDOM: xxxHOLiC
RATING: PG/PG-13 ish... ish. leaning more towards PG
PAIRING/CHARACTERS: Doumeki/Watanuki
SUMMARY: Watanuki twists his ankle. Doumeki, naturally, carries him.
COMMENTS: fluff, Watanuki overusing the longer b-word, Doumeki having a slight case of the hormones. also, this is actually really cute. almost sickeningly so. wth.

"Idiot."

"will you shut up already," said the irritated voice muffled into Doumeki's chest, coming from a very bony lump that almost seemed to meld with the other's body. partly because their uniform's black seemed to swallow all light and make them seem as one, and mainly because of the fact Doumeki was holding it so tight it might actually meld itself to his chest.

Doumeki's lump AKA Watanuki managed to lift his head and glare balefully at the archer. "it's all your fault anyway," he muttered darkly, "if you weren't looming over me like the stalker you are I wouldn't have run away like that and that... weird thing with too many eyes and. guh. wouldn't have chased me."

"Oh? and it only had ten eyes, if I recall your shouting correctly."

"TEN IS PLENTY."

"It could have a hundred."

"Like you."

"Oh?"

"YES, 'OH'. SHUT UP." Doumeki briefly entertained the thought of Watanuki's large mouth biting his head off. then thought of other things he'd have to preoccupy it with to keep it from doing so. "YOU'RE SUCH A BASTARD I HATE YOU. I never ASKED you to save me."

"you never do." Doumeki shifted the center of Watanuki's weight to his left arm. "I'll still do it," he said pointedly, and that wasn't supposed to be reassuring. that didn't even sound or look assuring because this was Doumeki we were talking about. besides, he just wanted to save Watanuki so he could hold it over his head for all eternity to make him inarizushi forever because he was almost practically his slave anyway. maybe even something like a terrible housewife. wait, that last comparison would mean he'd have to be married to Doumeki.

horrified at his 'new'...'revelation'... Watanuki attempted to shove the (big stupid impossibly immovable waste of space) away from him so he could stand. "GET AWAY FROM ME. CONSUMMATION WOULD JUST BE ANOTHER PERK TO YOU WOULDN'T IT. YOU FREAKING HUGE PERVERT."

Doumeki contemplated Watanuki's sudden thought-jump. I tried to reassure him, he stared at me for approximately... five seconds before his eyes widened and his eyebrows raised maybe a centimeter before looking at my mouth and then my eyes again... ah. 'oh my god, I act like I've been married to Doumeki for at least 50,000 years!'

He sort of maybe secretly grinned a little too happily on the inside while staring blankly at Watanuki on the out. "if you think I'm letting you go after that just happened, you're more of an idiot than usual."

"I WAS NEVER AN IDIOT IN THE FIRST PLACE! Let me GO." Watanuki groaned inwardly when he felt Doumeki's fingers tighten around him.

"no." one of the archer's eyebrows twitched upwards.

"I'm not going to GO anywhere far! JUST STOP CARRYING ME."

"you hurt your ankle."

"SO? I WILL HOBBLE."

"you'll make it worse."

"AARRRGH." Watanuki shouted into the general left side of the archer's face. Doumeki somehow crushed his ear against his shoulder to lessen the hearing damage.

"just shut up, will you? you're so loud."

"NEVER. THIS IS THE ONLY THING I HAVE LEFT. YOU'RE SLOWLY SAPPING MY DIGNITY THROUGH YOUR FINGERS AND CONVERTING IT INTO EGO ENERGY, YOU MONSTROUS BASTARD. would you-- augh-- LET GO!" Watanuki proceeded to flail around, even with Doumeki holding him as tightly as he was. This issued in a battle of strength.

Not that Watanuki really... had any sort of power over Doumeki. (except one, one tiny little really huge one that no one will ever mention, nope, not ever.)

Watanuki ended up in an awkward position with his head mashed against Doumeki's throat and the top of his jaw, chest almost parallel with the big buffoon and arms behind his back. and, amazingly, legs still out of jostling range. Doumeki had wrapped one impossibly long arm around his upper torso and the other supporting his legs.

"you look stupid." if anything, Doumeki sounded incredibly amused.

"you mean we look stupid, bastard." Watanuki huffed. his preservation instincts finally kicked in and he quit struggling. his face turned immensely red (he was indignant, indignant, he swears!) and he sat there, stiff and uncomfortable in Doumeki's arms with the bridge of his glasses pressed against his nose and his glasses fogging up.

"hn."

"don't 'hn' me! don't even TALK to me right now. argh." Watanuki growled into Doumeki's throat. he could have sworn he felt the other tense up for a split second before it was gone.

the rest of the walk was relatively silent. Watanuki wondered vaguely if the big oaf had actually listened to him for once. the only other noise he could hear was the beating of Doumeki's heart, thudding softly against his own.

the mere discovery had Watanuki burning. it... it was like they were trading heartbeats! that sounded incredibly... intimate. too intimate. that was definitely something that should never, ever happen between people like them ever! ever ever ever. crap, this was embarassing, this was dire.

Doumeki pretended not to notice.

instead of yelling, Watanuki merely fidgeted uncomfortably in Doumeki's arms. his arms and back were starting to get sore from their awkward position. the archer loosened his grip on the other boy's torso, freeing his arms and allowing him to turn around. once Watanuki had done so, Doumeki's hand wrapped around his back once again, gentler this time, pressing him closer to his chest. Watanuki's forehead was nestled in the crook between his neck and shoulder. he continued to carry him on the way to Watanuki's apartment.

suddenly, Watanuki felt exhausted. worn out. the adrenaline rush was most likely fading out of his system. he couldn't even find the strength to dole out one feeble punch to Doumeki's shoulder. he closed his eyes, quietly listening to the pulse of Doumeki's life at his neck. all he wanted to do now was go home and maybe finish a few pages of his homework before he went to sleep. the easy rise and fall of Doumeki's breathing didn't help his struggle to not doze off.

"are you falling asleep?" Doumeki questioned. the hand behind his back rubbed up and down hesitantly, furtively, like if Watanuki noticed his fingers would fall off.

"no," the other protested, huffing a little and tilting his head slightly upwards to huff into Doumeki's (gigantic) neck.

"can I sleep over tonight?" the archer asked. he leaned his head forward slightly so he felt nose connect with throat.

"I'm not cooking whatever the hell you want this time," came the begrudging reply muffled by his neck. Doumeki, sadly, was a sucker for that. he knew Watanuki felt him shiver slightly.

Doumeki could feel a smile creeping along his lips. "do you want me to put you down?"

"yes," Watanuki grumbled.

but one arm slid itself around Doumeki's shoulder, pressing their chests together again, heartbeats resonating.

Watanuki will blame it on the exhaustion tomorrow, but when it was about Doumeki, it was always what he did, not what he'd do.

A/N: feedback please! I know it's not great, but I'd like to know what you think of it. it's the best I can come up with inbetween playing brawl and keeping up (barely) with schoolwork... P

also please point out any grammatical errors (other than the lack of capitalization of sentences. I'm waaay too lazy to do that. xD lol.) or anything you think could be improved upon.

thanks in advance! 3