Chapter Text
Watanuki picked up Yuko’s kimono and carefully draped it over his shoulders. He knew what he had to do.
To have a wish granted, all you needed was a wish and the payment. To grant a wish, you needed to receive payment and line up the variables to make the wish come true. To do both for yourself was a significantly more complicated venture than Watanuki wanted to admit to.
He slid on his glasses, even though he didn’t need them anymore and wrapped the kimono around his shoulders.
“...Domeki.”
“What?” Domeki asked, his eyes never leaving Watanuki.
“I’m taking ownership of this shop. I’ll use that power and run this shop, granting the wishes of all kinds of people and those beings who aren’t people. I will preserve this shop, and I will always be waiting. Until I know that Yuko has continued on in this world.”
She may have disappeared from the world, she may have died long before he was born, but his love for her was true and deep. It would carry them forward. His heart insisted that it would work. It had to.
“So, you’ll go to school and run the shop?” Domeki asked. There was something in his eyes. Something pitying but also something very tender and gentle.
“No, I won’t be able to leave this shop. I have to stay here in it until my wish is granted. For however long it takes. I’ve given my time as the price. I won’t age, and I can’t leave.”
“You won’t die?” Domeki asked, his tone level.
“Everything dies. No matter what we do. It’ll just take longer for me than for other people. Although...” his voice trailed off. “I am responsible for this shop now,” he told Domeki.
As they passed, their eyes met, and Watanuki’s yellow found its other half. Then, he headed for the back porch.
Watanuki inspected the beautiful pipe with a keen eye. He picked it up and took a little puff, just as he had watched her do a thousand times. He blew out a breath of smoke, coughed, and then tried again.
The first few wishes that Watanuki tried to grant were disasters. His instincts and power led him to what would be the right price. But his heart wouldn’t let him force someone to pay something so steep.
In return, he paid the prices instead. With deep gouging wounds. With exhaustion and pain. With the never-ending feelings that he was forgetting something important.
As Domeki cleaned the wound on his neck, Watanuki could hear the censure he didn’t even have to say.
“I’ll do better next time. I swear it,” he promised Domeki.
Domeki rinsed the bloody rag in a bowl of pink-tinged water and looked sideways at him. “I know. You don’t need to promise. You do better each time. You just need to decide that their wishes aren’t worth your pain.”
“I’m getting there,” Watanuki pointed out.
Domeki glanced at him. “I know. Himewari is coming for a visit tonight, let’s get you cleaned up before she gets here.”
“She doesn’t love me,” Watanuki said softly.
Domeki turned his face toward him with a damp hand. “Yes, she does. That’s why she pulls away. It’s agony to grow up and watch as you never change. Himewari in particular is sensitive because you are so vulnerable. A single touch on your shoulder, and you threw yourself out of a two-story window. What it took to save you...can’t be repeated. And she never wants to risk hurting you like that again.”
“You could have her,” Watanuki muttered. “You could be together and just leave me here.”
Domeki sat back on his heels. They were approaching something. Moving toward something so slowly, a centimeter at a time. Sometimes he wanted to just throw himself at Watanuki and sort the rest out later. But he wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t risk the careful, fragile thing between them. Not when they’d both done so much work already.
But sometimes, Watanuki did this. Backed away shyly from what was building. Tried to get Domeki to choose someone else whom he thought could make him happier. Tried to reverse the choice that he was always going to make.
“Every time you wake from one of your dreams with Grandfather, I seriously consider learning how to dream walk.”
“Why?” Watanuki asked.
“So, I can punch him in the face for daring to get to be with you in a time when I can’t be.”
“Shizuka!” Watanuki exclaimed, sitting up. The motion was too quick after being reclined for so long, and he leaned heavily to one side.
“I don’t want to be with Himewari. I like her as a friend. I always have. I want her to be happy, but I don’t have those feelings for her. And I’m certain that she doesn’t have those feelings for me. What I want is to be here with you.” Domeki leaned forward, forcing Watanuki to maintain eye contact.
Watanuki’s eyes drifted to his lips, and Domeki could see the indecision there. The want, the desperation, but also the insecurity.
“We don’t have to. You have all the time in the world, and I will be with you for as much as possible.”
“I’m sorry, I’m just not ready quite yet.”
Domeki tilted his head and gave one of those rare, cherished smiles. “You’ll be ready when you accept that my decision is to support yours. It’s just a kiss.”
Watanuki closed his eyes while smoking the pipe, warmth surrounding him, and good food filling him. A wonderful evening with almost everyone he cared about. When he reopened them, Haruka was standing by the tree smoking his cigarette.
“I’d win.”
“What?” Watanuki asked him.
“If he came here to punch me in the face, I’d win.”
Watanuki rolled his eyes.
“I would. And then, that would mean I win you.”
“No, it wouldn’t,” Watanuki told him.
Haruka grinned mischievously. “Yes, it would. You’d be mine! But I love my grandson, so I’d share with him. He can have the days, and I can have the nights. I’m kidding. It’s cute that he’s jealous, though.”
“I wish I felt more ready,” he said, taking a deep pull of his dream pipe.
“You’re only seventeen. Give it some time.”
Watanuki snorted and let out a long, elegant exhale of his pipe. “I’ll be seventeen forever.”
“Maybe. But even if you are, you won’t be seventeen in your mind, only in body.”
Watanuki thought about that and smiled. “Yeah, that’s true. I guess I’m impatient now that I know things are different. I have all the time in the world, but he doesn’t.” It was easy for Watanuki to talk about these things with Haruka. The only person to know the whole story besides Watanuki and Domeki themselves.
If Yuko had still been around, he still might have sought Haruka’s advice first. It came with a lot less teasing and usually wasn’t layered in twenty riddles. Watanuki realized that it was a benefit of him being in the spiritual world. He wasn’t bound to the exact same rules that she had been.
Haruka laughed. “When you’re young, even if it isn’t true, you still think you have all the time in the world. Your circumstances have changed less than you think.”
Watanuki turned to ask what the hell that meant and realized that he was staring at the younger Domeki.
“You dozed off for a second. Was he there?”
Himewari hid a smile behind a sip of her drink.
Watanuki snorted, annoyed that he’d dozed off during this time with his friends. He loved it when all of them were in the shop, and he didn’t usually waste it like this. “He was just speaking riddles at me. Sometimes he’s as bad as Yuko was. I’m sorry, normally I try to stay awake for these get-togethers.”
“It’s alright, Watanuki. I understand,” Himewari told him with a smile.
Watanuki stared at her longingly. Maybe, if she hadn’t been inflicted with bad luck, they could’ve shared him. They could have taken turns being with him. The three of them could all have come together to look after him.
Since his swan-dive, though, she had made sure not to touch him at all, not even by accident. Surely, she must’ve been lonely, unable to touch anyone but Domeki. Fearing that people would get hurt or killed just by knowing her. But her smile was as bright as her name.
Watanuki hoped that Tampopo made it easier to endure the loneliness. And in the back of his mind, a sunflower seed was planted. He wanted to help her in some way. Maybe there was someone else who had a wish.
Himewari stayed the night in her own bedroom in the shop, the way she always did on these nights. Domeki tucked her in and checked to make sure she didn’t need anything. Maru and Moro could help if she did, but she wasn’t as comfortable wandering around the shop in the middle of the night.
Watanuki’s bedroom wasn’t the one Yuko had used. She had slept in a large, western-style bed, and Watanuki still preferred traditional bedding. Which also made it easier to put out another futon when Domeki stayed the night. Sometimes it made Watanuki laugh. He couldn’t give Domeki a kiss, but he could share a bedroom with him.
“Is she alright?” Watanuki asked, having changed into his pajamas already.
A wish, that’s all he needed.
Domeki nodded, and Watanuki realized he was carrying a bottle of sake and three glasses. Mokona lit up and immediately hopped down from the dresser where he usually slept at night.
Domeki poured the sake for each of them, and Watanuki took it. He was haunted by Himewari. His heart still cried out at the sight of her. He loved her so much, and she didn’t deserve what she’d been afflicted with. Domeki was immune, though. So were her parents. Maybe they weren’t the only ones.
“Do you have a wish about Himewari?” Watanuki asked Domeki.
Domeki sipped his sake and gave Watanuki a side eye. This was a game they played sometimes. Watanuki couldn’t grant his own wishes. They had to come from someone else. So, when he wanted something, Domeki had to wish for it and hope that he wished for the right thing.
“Yes, I wish there was someone in the world to make her happy who wouldn’t be affected by her luck.”
Watanuki felt the fizzle and pop of a wish and his power drawing up around them. He felt compelled to grant the wishes brought to him. Watanuki smiled in delight.
“You understood!”
Domeki splashed more sake into Watanuki’s glass and nudged it back toward his lips. He wasn’t a heavy drinker, but with Domeki and Mokona, he was finding himself doing a lot more of it.
“I always understand you. I always have.”
Color filled his cheeks, and Watanuki stuttered into his sake. “Don’t...don’t say things like that.”
“It’s the truth, though. Tell me the price to find her someone who will love and care for her the way she deserves.”
Watanuki curled closer, letting their proximity soothe him. He liked these late nights they had together.
“You can’t make someone fall in love!” Mokona’s voice rang out. “But you can introduce them! And you can let her know that he’s safe!”
Watanuki nodded. “No love potions. Very simple. Find someone who could be a good match and introduce them. No different than any other matchmaker in the city.”
“And the price?”
Power flared in Watanuki’s chest. What would it cost?
“If you can introduce them, it lowers the price. I just have to find someone...” Watanuki hesitated. Wishes like these were so complicated. He needed something valuable and personal to be able to find a person. “Give me something of yours that you cherish. Give me something you were...planning on giving me as a gift?” Watanuki’s voice rose in a question.
Domeki didn’t even hesitate. He reached into his pocket and removed something small. A hairpin, more masculine than any that lived in the shop, but still with a butterfly etched in it.
“Oh,” Watanuki said softly. “It’s a shame it’ll have to go into the treasure room as a payment. It’s lovely.”
“Then this is a price we both pay. I would’ve liked to see you with it on.”
Watanuki nodded. “It’s perfect.” He hesitated for a second. Then, in a quick motion, he leaned forward and kissed Domeki’s lips.
Domeki was so surprised by the sudden action that he didn’t even have time to kiss back.
“Thank you for everything,” Watanuki told him.
“I’ve decided that I’m going to major in Folklore.”
Watanuki looked up from his pipe in surprise. He was dressed as he usually was during the day, in nothing but a loosely tied kimono. Allowing him to effortlessly fall asleep in any place, he felt like it. So much of his power originated in dreams, and so much of what he did could only be accomplished there.
“You are? I thought you were better with the sciences.”
“I am. However, after all our time together and everything Grandfather left behind, I’m more interested in it. Besides, once I’m finished with school, I’ll come here to work. I might as well make myself useful to you.”
Watanuki flushed deeply. They had only recently set their plans so that Domeki would come and live in the shop. Watanuki had had to bend his power to allow it, but Domeki wouldn’t budge on the issue. Not when Watanuki still couldn’t set foot outside the lot’s premises.
Mugetsu peeked his head up out of Watanuki’s kimono and slithered up to sit at his throat. Still so enamored even years later. Watanuki petted him gently, and Mugetsu chirped delightedly.
“If that’s...if that’s what you want.”
Domeki gave him a firm look. “Yes, it is. You were able to stay here in the shop with Yuko. It made you happy to be here. I am going to stay here in the shop. It will make me happy.”
“If you weren’t, would you say something? Would you tell me that you were unhappy with what was happening? I’m never going to change. I’m going to be this age forever. Maybe you want someone who can grow and change with you.”
“I don’t want that. I only want you. Just you, that’s all. You’re perfect. You’ve convinced yourself you’re undeserving of love, of companionship. But I know that you deserve all of it and more. This is my choice, and it is one that will make me happy.”
Watanuki hid his tears, swallowing against the lump in his throat. Domeki drew him closer. Their height difference had started to become more pronounced over the last year. Watanuki would stay in the half-grown stage of his youth forever. Small for eternity.
He kissed Watanuki, not letting him hide. Not letting him retreat into himself. Watanuki attempted to pull away and then gave in, the way he always did.
Domeki traced a hand up the inside of Watanuki’s kimono and rested it firmly on his thigh. They hadn’t gone all the way yet, but they continued their slow inch forward. In this case, their roles were swapped. Domeki was the hesitant one when it came to having sex. Watanuki had felt ready for a while, but he wasn’t going to pressure his partner into something he didn’t want.
When they pulled back, Watanuki was breathing heavily. “Did you talk to Himewari today?”
Domeki nodded. “Yes, she and Engawa-San are headed out to a festival today.”
Watanuki closed his eyes and thought about Engawa Taisuke. Taisuke means calm and peaceful. A balance to the chaos Himewari brought. Egawa, a stream or a river. Water for a sunflower.
Perfectly matched in so many ways. Engawa supported and cared for Himewari. Around him, her bad luck seemed to lessen and have less power over others. In turn, her cheerful nature levied his very serious nature.
“How’s his temple?”
Domeki brushed a kiss into Watanuki’s hair. “Mm, I didn’t come here to talk about Himewari or Engawa-San.”
Mugetsu made a huffing noise as his soft kisses started working their way towards Watanuki’s neck, and he was about to be displaced.
“Why did you come here then?” Watanuki asked his eyes, slitting open to look at his partner. Their shared sight connected for a moment, and he saw himself through Domeki’s eye.
Half-dressed, sleep soft, warm and ripe for the taking.
Helpless. Desperate. Wanton.
“Oh,” he said softly. “Well then.”
“No more words, Kimihiro,” and then Domeki was devouring him.
At some point, Mugetsu slithered away to make his way back to his pipe. Maru, Moro and Mokona had all been mysteriously absent. But if this is what Domeki had come to do, there was no mystery.
Watanuki moaned as teeth scraped lightly at his neck. He was so sensitive all over. A side effect from his dreaming keeping him out of the real world too much. But this was more real than anything he had ever experienced.
It seemed that their inching forward was going to bear some fruit.
“So, you came here just to seduce me?”
“Mm, yes. I’m ready. Are you?”
“You know I am.”
“Good, then shut up and make love to me.”
Domeki laid Watanuki out on the floor of their bedroom, slotting in between his legs. His hands traced the miles of unblemished skin. Surprising considering how many times he’d almost lost his life. How many times had he nearly thrown it away to help someone else?
The kimono fell open, covering only Watanuki’s most intimate parts. Domeki kissed down his chest, stopping to tongue at his naval, before encountering the obi still wrapped around his waist.
One of his dexterous hands undid it, and Watanuki was completely bare for Domeki. His body was that of a boy, rather than a man, but Domeki wasn’t that bothered by it. For the time being, he was still mostly a boy himself.
Perhaps there would come a day when he would feel strangely about making love to someone who looked so young. But this wasn’t that day.
Domeki stripped off his school uniform, and then his underwear quickly followed. Domeki had presumed that when Watanuki dressed traditionally, he would wear traditional undergarments, but that turned out not to be the case. Instead, it seemed he never wore anything at all.
He was beautiful. Long, gorgeous legs. Lovely, light skin. His two-tone eyes. All of which conspired to make him beautiful.
Domeki dug around in the bedding, removing a bottle of lubricant. He’d done some reading, and he wanted this to be as good for his partner as it was for him.
“Oh, you are prepared. And here I was with a bottle hidden in the dresser.”
“Mm, I’m going to take good care of you. Legs apart, let me open you up.”
Domeki had watched several instructional videos on how to loosen a man up. You started with one finger to gently stretch your partner open and then worked your way up to three or four, until it was no longer painful. Done correctly, and it wouldn’t hurt much when Domeki replaced them with his cock.
No one had told Watanuki the first part was supposed to be uncomfortable. He moaned and wriggled into Domeki’s stretching. Perhaps his magic was accommodating them again, or he was born to take a cock.
Domeki worked up to four fingers, just to be safe, pressing and fucking them into Watanuki smoothly. He knew he’d found that magic placed inside when Watanuki shouted, and his body tensed. Domeki let off the boy’s prostate and inspected him with a keen eye.
He was thoroughly debauched. His glasses were askew, his hair was mussed, and his skin was covered in a light sheen of sweat. Domeki had dreamed about this moment for so long. Had waited for so long until he began to feel more ready. Now he was.
“Are you ready, Kimihiro?”
Watanuki nodded and reached for Domeki. “Shizuka, please. Please take me.”
“No need to beg, unless you want to. I’ll give you what you need.”
Domeki slicked up his cock, giving himself a few strokes while he knew he had Watanuki’s attention. Then he positioned himself at Watanuki’s hole, feeling the excitement start to get to him. But he fought it back. Slow and steady, that was the answer. Enjoyment and pleasure for both of them.
Domeki pressed his cock gently against Watanuki’s entrance, pressing forward carefully. Watanuki whimpered at the first touch of cock against his hole. It turned into a low groan as Domeki pushed forward.
At no place did he tell Domeki to stop, so he never did. Just kept pressing and filling Watanuki. Joining them a little at a time. Watanuki panted through it, and his pleasure and discomfort were painted across his face.
Finally, after an eternity for both of them, Domeki was all the way in. His cock bottomed out and filled Watanuki up to the brim.
“Oh, Shizuka, that’s so nice,” Watanuki tilted his head back. “Please, move, I can take it.”
Domeki started with very gentle movements, just the barest push and pull. Watanuki growled, apparently getting frustrated and shifted their position. Putting his left leg around Domeki’s waist, and encouraging his movements with an aggressive heel to the back.
“I should’ve known you’d be demanding.”
“And I should’ve known you’d do everything in your power to tease and torment me,” Watanuki shot back.
“Don’t worry, I haven’t even gotten started on the teasing yet. That’s for another day. I’ve done a lot of reading.”
“Oh~” Watanuki said softly. “I can’t wait.”
“Well, if you’re that ready,” Domeki said and then snapped his hips forward.
Watanuki squeaked but continued to encourage the movements with his own. Domeki changed the angle a little, and Watanuki shouted as it pressed his cock up against his prostate.
“There, there, there!”
“Shh, let me take care of you, Kimihiro.”
Watanuki wasn’t sure why it always got him going when Domeki would say his name, but he couldn’t deny that it did.
They fucked in the way that only youth could. Alternating between intense hammering thrusts, driven by their desperation and carried by their energy. And the soft, slow fucking of someone that wasn’t quite sure what they were doing. The entire thing was pleasurable, but it was hard for either of them to keep up either pace.
Finally, Watanuki found himself starting to draw up to his orgasm. He’d masturbated, of course, but that was nothing compared to this. Nothing compared to the feeling of having the boy he loved in his arms.
Watanuki cried out as he came, painting both of them with his cum. Domeki cracked a smile and continued to fuck into him, slowing his pace to a satisfying but less intense glide.
“Come on, Shizuka, fill me up,” Watanuki begged softly.
Domeki was much quieter when he came. Just a low groan, along with burying his face in Watanuki’s neck. They breathed heavily for a few moments, not moving, just reveling in their time together. Then Domeki sat back and gave his little half smile.
“My perfect boy,” he told Watanuki.
Watanuki blushed deeply, hiding his face in Domeki’s neck.
Kohane visited once in a great while. She had continued to live with the elderly fortune teller and under the care of a woman that understood and looked after her properly, she blossomed. She had, just as Yuko said, maintained her ability to see ghosts. However, she was no longer beholden to a borrowed power of being able to exercise them.
Watanuki smoked his pipe and looked between her and Domeki.
She was more like Watanuki himself than Domeki. The ability to exercise was a rare one, even in the spirit world. It was difficult and required a lot of power. So much so that until they shared an eye, Domeki hadn’t been able to see spirits at all. Even Engawa, who had also grown up in a temple and was strong enough to resist Himewari’s bad luck, didn’t have that ability.
It was unnatural, and she had suffered intensely because of it. A scared little girl desperate for her mother to love and care for her. That girl was gone. And in her place was a young woman, growing and growing.
“Do you remember when you took boiling water to the face, just to come and see me?” She asked him sweetly.
Watanuki glanced at Domeki, who gave him a subtle nod. Their signal for when Domeki wasn’t sure he would remember something that had happened.
“I’m sorry, I don’t. I remember going to see you though and then your mother and then...not much really. Everything from those weeks is hazy.”
Kohane nodded. “Yes, she was angry about you feeding and touching me. She tossed the kettle right into your eyes. Domeki-San took you upstairs to rinse your eyes with cold water. I was very scared she’d blinded you.”
“She didn’t. Anyway, it wouldn’t have been your fault even if she had. None of that was your fault.” Watanuki glanced at the clock and blinked in surprise. “You’ve better get going, or you’ll be late to dinner. Give her my best.”
Kohane nodded and then was out the door. She was still very quiet, but there was energy and pep in her step. She was light and free, unburdened now that she wasn’t expected to find and exorcise ghosts.
“Did you feel it when it hit our shared eye?”
Domeki glanced at him. “Yes, a little. Like an echo of a feeling. You didn’t even react.”
Watanuki nodded. “Can you keep a secret?”
“One of yours? A thousand years wouldn’t pry my lips open when you entrust me with knowledge.”
Watanuk shot him an amused look. “Who talks like that?”
Domeki kissed him, drawing him up and close. “Only me and only to you. Your secret?”
“Kohane was the reason that I was slipping into the dream world so much. One of them at least. Her power was resonating with mine. It’s why I always seem to drift off when she visits. Her power is magnifying my dreaming.”
“And what does my power do to you?”
Watanuki laughed breathily. “You know very well your power protects me.”
Watanuki had a bad habit of falling asleep whenever and wherever he felt like it. A habit that was slowly and steadily ruining his back. Eventually, he’d been forced to purchase a firm, western-style bed for when he slept in a bed. A way to offset routinely falling asleep while sitting on the back porch.
That morning, when Maru and Moro attempted to scare him awake, he’d already been woken by someone.
Domeki had kissed his temple and slipped out of bed. At first, he’d been hesitant to do anything that might make Watanuki wake up. His reservations came from being around quiet people living quiet lives. The kind of people who didn’t want to be woken up just because someone had to go to work or school.
That was before he’d come to live in the shop. Before he’d understood just how many hours Watanuki slept. How deeply his sleep could pull him in. Now, regardless of whether or not Watanuki was awake, he’d kiss him goodbye and wish him a good day. Often, it didn’t even wake him up.
This time it had.
Something had changed, something...someone was coming. Watanuki smiled. It had been a while since he’d had a customer. When Yuko had run the shop, it had seemed every day they had a customer. With him in charge, only those people who had a wish he could grant could make their way into his shop.
Maru and Moro had entered his room, doing their best to be sneaky, and then he’d scared them instead. They had gotten excited and hugged him. His words whisked up a whole bunch of movement.
“We have a customer coming. Come now, come help me dress.”
Yuko had always dressed very traditionally Japanese when meeting with customers in the shop. Complicated kimonos with incredibly detailed and elaborate patterns. When she wasn’t wearing those, she wore very modern, western clothing.
Watanuki enjoyed many of the complicated patterns and beautiful pieces she left behind. However, he couldn’t live forever in hand-me-downs. He’d needed to get some clothing that actually fit. For him, even with the twins’ help, they were too much work to do for every customer.
So, he’d settled on a form of changshan, the male equivalent of the qipao. Drawing from their Chinese neighbors for something more comfortable and easy to move and live in.
Today’s changshan was black, belying its intricate nature. The slits and the edges were tapered, and the bottom fell a little higher than a traditional garment. It was perfectly tailored to his body and designed to make him seem taller than he actually was. Watanuki often dressed in a way he hoped made him look older and taller. If he couldn’t be either of those, then at the very least, professional.
Image was everything in this business after all.
It was his elaborate jewelry that drew most of the attention, though. Today’s piece was ridiculous and intricate in a way that made his throat feel tight. Something Yuko would’ve loved. A series of chains connected a large crescent moon to his collar. It lightly tinkled as he walked. The pieces of metal bumped into each other softly. It was so lovely that Watanuki could hardly believe that it had been in his wardrobe.
He could use his power to draw certain pieces into existence, the way he did with his changshan and kimono. But once in a while, the shop would just provide him with something it thought he needed, like this piece.
Maru and Moro helped him dress, and then he set off to the kitchen for some breakfast. Mokona was already helping himself to what had been set out the night before, so Watanuki joined him.
“Domeki already ate and then went to class!” Mokona announced. “Mokona kept him company.”
“Yes, I know he left. He kissed me goodbye.”
Mokona took a break from his breakfast to look at him. “A customer today?”
Watanuki snorted and reclined, sipping at his tea. “Why do you ask that? You already know there will be one. Don’t play dumb, Mokona.”
The air shifted, and Watanuki smiled. There was his customer.
Later, after she had come, left the shamisen, and gone, Domeki had come to him for his dinner. Watanuki got up too late to have breakfast together, and his schedule often kept Domeki out of the shop during lunch. So, usually, they did their best to have dinner together.
Watanuki had exchanged the business attire for a kimono decorated with grass and bats. He loved the way his customers’ clothes made him look, but they weren’t ideal for falling asleep randomly. Not that it turned out to matter. He could’ve worn nothing, and it wouldn’t have mattered to anyone except himself. And maybe Domeki.
The two of them took their dinner in the main room. Domeki sat on a cushion, upright, very properly. Sipping his wine and looking every inch the future folklore expert. Watanuki lay on his stomach on his cushion, sipping wine and smoking his pipe.
Originally, he’d thought that Yuko’s bad posture and habit of sprawling were just one of choice. Now he knew. At any moment, he might enter a dream accidentally and fall while falling asleep. His power seemed to sap the energy out of him, leaving him always looking for a place to rest.
“So, what does it mean?” Domeki asked lightly.
Watanuki looked up at him. He seemed to grow taller and broader every day. Looking more and more like his grandfather. He made Watanuki feel so small when compared to him. He’d forever be Domeki Shizuka’s boyfriend. Never his husband or partner. Never someone who could support him in life. Just his boyfriend.
They talked for a moment about what a cat might wish for. Talked about what it could be.
“I’ll ask it. In a dream,” Watanuki said with a charismatic smile.
Domeki glanced at him, used to this routine by now. Yuko hadn’t been a dream walker the way Watanuki was. She hadn’t been able to push so much of her power into the dream world. Only Watanuki had that power. And it was the only way he could leave the boundaries of the shop.
“If you see my grandfather, do me a favor and take a swing at him?”
“Shizuka! How many times do I have to tell you? There’s nothing between us. I’m not sure I could even call us friends.”
Domeki drank his wine and didn’t look at Watanuki. “You know what I want, will you grant it, shopkeeper?”
“Gah! You make me so frustrated! I probably won’t even see him!”
“Good, then I won’t have to pay a price.”
“Nobody smacked you when you were young, that’s why you’re like this. Here, hold this,” Watanuki handed him his glass of wine. He set his pipe back down on the pipe holder and reclined back onto his cushion.
“Ironically, Grandfather used to be in charge of disciplining me. So, it’s his fault.”
Watanuki snorted, and then he was off to the land of dreams.
“A bachi?” Domeki asked.
Watanuki nodded, pushing his glasses back up on his face. “Yes. I’m certain that there’s one in the treasure room. I reorganized in there last month. If she were able to come here, it has to be a wish that I could grant. It has to be one I already have, and there’s only one in there.”
“Well, let’s go look for it,” Domeki told him, clearing away their dinner items.
“I can do it,” Watanuki told him.
“Is it up high?” Domeki asked plainly.
“Yes, but,” Watanuki started.
“Then you will direct, and I will get it down. We don’t need a repeat of what happened last time. One fall is more than enough.”
“Mokona will come too!”
Domeki led the way, determined to get the bachi and not let Watanuki up on a ladder again. Which was...fair. While looking for a specific item in the shop he had drifted into the dream world, just a little, and fallen off the top rung.
Maru and Moro had called Domeki in desperation, unable to wake him from the concussion he’d given himself. It didn’t seem to happen when he was just reorganizing or tidying, only when he was searching for something. The draw of his power as the shopkeeper was just too much.
“Which shelf?” Domeki asked, getting out the ladder.
Watanuki pointed and watched as he confidently ascended. Truthfully, he hadn’t been looking forward to getting up there again anyway.
The shamisen was technically added to the treasure room as payment. It would never be struck with a bachi again, but there were a few songs that didn’t require it. Watanuki resolved himself to learning how to play them.
He was practicing when Domeki joined him on the back porch. He still wore the pretty kimono from earlier. The one with the decorated sleeves. Formal enough to meet with a customer, but he hadn’t worried about looking older. He could wear something pretty as they finished their transaction.
The loss of the bachi fascinated him. Often, even he didn’t know why these things happened.
“You’re pretty good at that. Hold still,” Domeki told him. Domeki used one of the wide array of hairpins he had purchase to pin back his hair out of his face. “There, continue.”
Watanuki thanked him with a nod and continued to pluck at the strings. It felt as though he already knew this instrument. And in a way, he supposed he did.
Halfway through his degree and Domeki was already dreaming of what it would be like to graduate. All he could think about were the days that he’d be able to spend all day in the shop, protecting Watanuki from his accidents and the spirits that seemed to view him as a buffet.
Right now, he was stuck. Studying folklore was helping him with the work that Watanuki did. He was able to find out the origins of items in the shop and talk about all of the legends he had learned in school.
But the actual school work part of it was cutting into his time with Watanuki. There was nothing worse than coming home after hours away, only to spend hours plugging away at his homework. Watanuki attended to him like a housewife. Bringing him snacks and tea, making sure his dinner was hot at the end of a long day. But Domeki couldn’t help but think that Watanuki was doing more than his fair share.
His power was growing by the day. Stretching and arching its wings. More and more, customers came by the shop with harder and harder to grant wishes. The power of the shop only allowed for wishes that could be granted by him in. As his abilities grew, so did his customer base.
He was almost as busy as Yuko had been and he didn’t even have a part-timer to help him out. Maru and Moro did their best to assist, but they weren’t real people and they never grew past their childlike states.
Watanuki wandered in, dressed in his customer clothing, and looking particularly handsome. This one was red and covered in embroidery. Another of his outfits designed to make him look older.
He flopped down on a cushion next to Domeki and put his head in Domeki’s lap. Domeki allowed a single hand to stroke through his hair, taking a break from his studying.
“I wish I could do more for you,” he told Watanuki.
Watanuki cracked open his blue eye and then opened the yellow as well. “Do more? You do plenty already.”
Domeki snorted. “Do I? You do all of the cooking and cleaning. You make every meal, look after me every day, send me with lunches to eat, make sure I have clean clothes. Then you spend all of your time dreaming or working, sometimes both at once. What do I ever do for you?”
Watanuki realized that this was a serious conversation. “You really feel this way? Shizuka, come on.”
Domeki glanced at him at of the corner of his eye. “Why do you say it like that?”
“You do all of the shopping, all of it, because I can’t leave. You protect me if spirits get in, you catch me when I fall asleep standing up, you look after me every single day. You lend your knowledge and mind to my customers’ wishes. After all of that, you go on loving me even though I’ll never be anything but your boyfriend. We can’t get married or have a real home together because I’m stuck in this shop. God, you’re so stupid to fall in love with someone stuck in time.” Watanuki turned his face away, trying to hide his tears. “Do more? How could you possibly do more than love me despite what I’ve become.”
“Kimihiro,” Domeki said softly, reaching out for him. He coaxed him into sliding into his lap. “My perfect boy. I guess we both think the other is doing too much.”
Watanuki buried his face in Domeki’s strong neck. “I love you so much I can’t stand it. I think of you, deserving so much better, so much more. I bound us both to this shop, because I didn’t realize how much I loved you. How much you loved me. If I only I had, maybe I could’ve chosen differently.”
“Don’t apologize. I’m happy. I’m happy being with you, here, every day. In fact, I’m frustrated when I’m not. I go away for hours and then come home and you attend to me while I do my studies. It just doesn’t seem fair to you.”
Watanuki curled closer and wondered if time hadn’t stopped, would he have been able to keep doing this? He hadn’t hit his last growth spurt when he’d stopped his own time, but maybe he would’ve gotten tall enough he couldn’t curl up in his boyfriend’s lap anymore.
“I love taking care of you. If I confess something, will you promise not to mock me for it?”
“Never,” he assured Watanuki.
“I love taking care of people. I loved looking after Yuko and the shop. It felt like, because I was a boy, that I wasn’t supposed to. That I wasn’t supposed to like looking after you, and Yuko. And even Mokona. I grumbled so much, but I loved doing it.”
Domeki cradled him close. Watanuki had no examples of the way life was supposed to work. He had grown up, living alone in his own apartment, separated from good examples. He didn’t know that it was fine if men preferred to cook and women preferred to work. That those enforced gender roles he saw out in public weren’t the only way to live.
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to care for the people in your life. Watanuki, Kimihiro, can I ask you something?”
“Yeah,” he said softly.
Domeki looked down into his two-tone eyes. “Marry me? I know we can’t go out in the world and have a wedding, so let’s have one here. Just a little food, us, Mokona, the twins, Himewari and Engawa, just the people closest to you. Maybe a few of the spirits you’ve helped. Just because we can’t have one out there, doesn’t mean we can’t have one together.”
“I’d-I’d love that,” Watanuki said, tears filling his eyes. “Next year?” he asked. “When your schedule is not so crazy and we can take all the time we want planning. We’ll have outfits made. Oh, flowers, the Ame Warashi and Zashiki Warashi.”
Domeki shushed him. “All in the future, let me enjoy my fiancé now.”
“What about your studies?” Watanuki asked, breathless. He didn’t really care at that moment but the little bit of blood left in his brain said that he should.
“Later,” Domeki informed him.
Watanuki was woken by a gentle nudging from Mokona. A rarity. Mokona didn’t care about him actually sleeping, but when he was dream walking it could be dangerous to wake him. It could be tough to tell from the outside which it was.
Watanuki opened his eyes to find Maru and Moro looking down at him, holding hands.
“Visitors! Visitors!” They announced excitedly together.
Watanuki raised an eyebrow. Domeki was a resident and they hadn’t said a customer. There wasn’t a long list of people besides them that came to the shop.
Watanuki glanced down at his current outfit and decided that for someone he knew, it was probably fine. A plain kimono in light blue. The sleeves and hem had been decorated with little clouds. The obi was the same yellow as Domeki’s eyes. Watanuki did quickly retie it to make up for it tugging out of place.
He followed the twins one of the sitting rooms.
“Himewari, Engawa-San,” Watanuki said, surprised. It wasn’t unusual for them to visit, but it was unusual for them to visit unannounced. Usually they would call the shop first and see if he was up.
Himewari gave her customary warm wave. Even with Engawa here, Watanuki was brutally vulnerable to her bad luck.
“I hope you don’t mind us coming by, Domeki said you had something to tell us, and we have something to tell you as well,” Himewari said. She was bright and cheerful and perfect.
Watanuki still remembered how intense his crush on her had been. It had faded some, but it would never really go away. Grief is the scar of love that’s been lost. He would always grieve what they could never be. But that was a road they couldn’t take and he had resolved himself to letting her and himself be happy.
“Go ahead,” Watanuki offered.
Himewari beamed. “Engawa asked me to marry him, and I’ve said yes!”
Watanuki smiled at that. Domeki’s wish had worked all those years ago. They had come together to make a perfect match.
“I’m so happy for you! You’re going to make a beautiful bride,” he told her with genuine care.
Himewari beamed. Watanuki wondered if she’d been worried about his reaction.
“Now, what’s this news you and Domeki have?” She asked.
Watanuki smiled a little ruefully. “Well, the same as yours actually. Domeki asked me to marry him, and I've said yes. We can’t go out in the world, but we can have a little wedding ceremony here.”
Himewari lit up. She shrieked in delight and reached for Watanuki on autopilot.
Engawa stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. Watanuki despised the way her mood immediately dampened. And it seemed he wasn’t the only one.
“Why don’t you wait until Domeki’s back? Then you can hug him,” Engawa suggested.
Her mood lifted. Watanuki was as safe as he could be with Domeki at his side and while in the shop. If there was ever a chance where he could be safe while she touched him, it was then and only then.
“Good idea, that way I can congratulate him too! That’s so exciting. I mean, it’s a given considering you’ve been living together since we graduated, but still!”
Watanuki smiled back at her. “Tell me all of your wedding plans.”
Domeki returned home to the sound of laughter. He followed the voices to one of the less formal sitting rooms where Watanuki, Himewari and Engawa were looking at wedding venues.
“I see you’ve exchanged your individual surprises,” he said while entering the room. Domeki leaned forward, kissing Watanuki gently on the mouth. Watanuki beamed at him. He was in a particularly good mood with his visitors and that made Domeki smile. He deserved a thousand afternoons just like this one.
“It’s so exciting!” Himewari told him. She stood, pulling him into a familiar hug. Domeki gently hugged back, wondering at the action. It was soon explained when she turned to Watanuki and held out her arms.
Watanuki hugged her tight and Domeki understood. Her visiting regularly was tempting fate a little but manageable. Contact like this was downright dangerous to Watanuki’s health. Still, if there was ever a time where they should risk it, it was then.
They held each other for a few minutes, and then pulled away. Watanuki immediately went to Domeki’s side, sitting with him on a sofa, close enough to touch. It would be a few hours before they knew for sure if there were going to be consequences, but for the time being, Watanuki would seek shelter at his side.
“So, have you guys picked a date,” Domeki asked lightly. This was presumably the kind of talk that most engaged couples took part in. Not that he would know, but still.
“Yes, we’re thinking the year after next. So many of the venues book so far out. We need plenty of time to make decisions,” Himewari said. “What about you guys?”
Watanuki glanced at Domeki who raised an eyebrow back. They hadn’t had time to talk about any of that yet. They’d been more concerned with enjoying their new time as an engaged couple.
“Next year,” Domeki told them. “May 15th, during the Kanda Matsuri.”
Watanuki’s eyebrows shot up, but he didn’t say anything in response. Because, for whatever reason, that sounded right. That sounded like the perfect time for the two of them to get married. Something about that assertion made him believe that Domeki hadn’t said it at random.
“Oh, how exciting! You two really are eager!”
Domeki caught Watanuki’s eye and for a moment he saw the truth. Both of them had been waiting for this day for a long time and neither of them was willing to wait any longer than they would have to.
“So, my grandson is finally doing the right thing,” Haruka puffed a few times on his cigarette and smiled.
Watanuki smiled into his pipe, smoking along with him.
“It’s good. You’re well matched. Not just because of your powers. You take good care of each other.”
Watanuki snorted, “You mean he takes good care of me.”
Haruka sat next to him on the floor of the porch. “No, I mean you take good care of each other. Do you think that just anyone would endlessly cater to his never-ending stomach? Do you think that anyone would bring him his snacks and liquor while he studies? Do you think anyone would turn all of their ridiculous attention to him?”
Watanuki sighed softly. “I worry he feels the same way. It feels like no matter how much we talk, we’re always missing the point.”
Haruka laughed. It was warm and rich. Watanuki never saw Domeki laugh unless they were in private and he had just made an absolute fool of himself. Haruka was a lot freer with his laughs.
“You are still so damn young. You can’t see the forest for the trees. There is always miscommunications. You’ll keep having them for about, oh, no more than twenty to thirty years of marriage. I’m afraid that’s just part of being in a relationship. Are you ready?” Haruka asked him.
Watanuki didn’t even need to think about it. He nodded, “yes, of course. I want to be part of his life forever.”
“Then, that’s all that matters. When you get a chance, bring Shizuka to me in a dream. I’d like to see him together with his husband.”
Watanuki blushed, still unused to hearing that, but agreed.
Watanuki opened his eyes and knew that today was going to be one of the best of his life. His marriage.
“Get up Watanuki! Time for a wedding!” Mokona announced the second that he opened his eyes.
“Yes, I know what day it is Mokona. Be quiet.”
“Mokona’s excited! Mokona wants to watch Watanuki and Domeki get married and be happy! Mokona has waited a long time for the shopkeeper to get to be happy.”
Watanuki felt a pang. “Was she horribly unhappy?”
Mokona was quiet. “No, Yuko had moments where she was happy. More when Watanuki came. But she was alone a long time. It’s hard to live that long and be alone that long.”
Watanuki winced. Yuko had been forced into that by someone who’d wanted to keep her alive. Watanuki had put himself back in that position in an attempt to save her. It was beginning to grow clearer that he might not ever see her again. That maybe all he had sacrificed was for nothing.
Mokona put one of his arms on Watanuki’s face. “Don’t be sad Watanuki. Today’s a happy day! Let all your troubles wait until tomorrow. Today is for you and Domeki. It’s time to be happy!”
Watanuki smiled a little ruefully. Yes, it was a happy day. First, breakfast.
“Maru, Moro, please come help me get dressed,” he called out for the twins. Watanuki slid out of bed, surprised at how easy it felt. Often, the dream world sucked him right back in and he had a hard time getting out of bed. Today, he felt like he could climb a mountain and not fall back asleep.
The twins came running excitedly and Watanuki opened up the drawer he felt drawn to that day.
He had expected a traditional black haori and a striped hakama. Instead he found a pure white kimono, a shiromuku, decorated with golden embroidery. Instead of the traditional design of bamboo, cranes or flowers, it had been embroidered with Watanuki’s moonlight birds and what looked like bows and arrows.
Watanuki’s hands slid over the fine silk and golden embroidery realizing that not a single arrow was ever pointed towards one of the birds. They were all pointed away, in defense, not in attack.
Watanuki spared a thought for whether or not Domeki would be upset that he was essentially cross-dressing for his wedding and then shook it away. He had never been bothered when Watanuki had worn feminine style kimono’s before, he doubted that he would be today either.
Maru and Moro helped him dress, but it was a slow and tedious process. There were so many layers to a shiromuku, and Watanuki wanted to look perfect. He got to the bottom of the drawer, expecting for the last piece to be a wataboshi, the traditional hood. Instead, it was a hairpin. Watanuki picked it up, stunned.
“Mokona, go check the treasure room. Third shelf from the door, eye height in a wooden box. See if there’s a hairpin still in there.”
“Got it!” Mokona raced off while Watanuki inspected the butterfly.
He was nearly certain it was the same one. A price paid for Himewari’s happiness. The first hairpin Domeki had ever bought him to push his bangs out of the way. Mokona returned quick enough.
“Empty!” He announced.
“Strange,” Watanuki muttered. Then again, he was allowed to use the things in the shop’s treasure room, as long as he didn’t try to own them. Domeki’s first gift to him, paid as a price.
Watanuki carefully used it to pin his bangs back. It gave him an overall simpler look than a bride would have. And Yuko would’ve done her hair in something heinously complicated with a lot of pins and pieces. But Watanuki thought that it suited him well.
He wasn’t a bride and he wasn’t Yuko. He was just himself, and all that came along with that. And now, he believed that’s what Domeki wanted.
Dressed, Watanuki inspected himself in the full size mirror, surprised at how much he looked like himself. He had expected to look like a woman, but he didn’t. The shop had once again provided him with a perfect piece of clothing.
“Mokona, is Domeki dressed and ready?” he asked, caught up in his own reflection.
“Domeki’s ready! Domeki is waiting on Watanuki but isn’t impatient!”
Watanuki smiled at himself in the mirror, “Then let’s have a wedding.”
It passed in a blur. Vows, promises, Himewari crying, food and cake and love and presents and finally, finally, alone with his husband.
He had woken alone and dressed alone. Wanting Domeki to see him for the first time fully dressed rather than in pieces. Now, he had plenty of help undressing. Domeki’s greedy hands removing piece after piece of clothing. Stripping down outer and then inner layers.
He wasn’t hurried though. He didn’t rip the clothes off and discard them. Instead he was methodical and intense, carefully storing each piece of Watanuki’s wedding trousseau. Watanuki watched, not really helping. He got the sense that Domeki wanted to take him apart all by himself.
“What did you think of the outfit,” Watanuki asked while Domeki stripped off layers.
“You looked lovely, but I must confess I spent a lot of time imagining taking it off of you.”
A deep blush washed down Watanuki’s cheeks and to his throat.
“I wasn’t sure about wearing something so feminine,” Watanuki said, uncharacteristically shy. But then, didn’t everyone want to be attractive to their partner on their wedding day?
“You were absolutely perfect. But I’m going to be even happier once I’ve got it all off of you.” Domeki finally hit the base layer, and both of them were left in nothing but their underwear.
Finally, with their clothes off and neatly stored, Watanuki was able to put his hands on his husband. Was able to feel that broad, warm chest and lay his head on his heart.
“Dance with me?” Domeki asked softly.
They hadn’t had any dancing at their wedding. Their group had simply been too small. But Domeki couldn’t say that he didn’t want to. If there was an activity to do, he wanted to do it with Watanuki and no one else.
“A little, then I want you to take me to bed.”
Domeki curled around him. They swayed together, warm naked flesh pressed against each other. There was no music, but they didn’t need any. The music was the sound of their hearts in sync. It was the feeling of tatami against their feet. It was the sense that something had changed.
They’d lived together for years, but marriage always changed things. Altered and reshaped until you were more of one than of two.
Watanuki was incapable of granting his own wishes. That was one of the things he had given up when he’d become the shopkeeper. And yet, somehow, he’d still ended up so happy.
Maybe it was because he hadn’t had his wishes granted. To have Himewari, to live a different life, to not see spirits. Those would’ve been his wishes. But would they have led him to happiness? Watanuki wasn’t sure. All he knew was that in this moment, he was happier than he had ever imagined he could be.
Maybe those ungranted wishes were exactly what he needed.
“What are you thinking about?” Domeki asked, pulling back to look down at him.
Watanuki wasn’t sure when he’d gotten so big, so tall, so broad. Stretching and reaching until he seemed to take up every room he entered.
Watanuki smiled, his eyes closing with the force of it. “What a silly question. I’m thinking about you.”
“I’m right here. You have me already.”
Watanuki put his head on Domeki’s chest. “I do, don’t I? Take me to bed husband.”
Domeki opened his eyes to the morning sun of his first day as a married man. He’d go and make sure the paperwork was filed properly in a few hours, but that could wait. Now he wanted to be with Watanuki. To enjoy the time together before their responsibilities took them away.
When he had suggested marriage the year before, it had been an impulse. A chance to make Watanuki see that he was so much more than just his boyfriend. Even if he never aged another day, even if he was seventeen forever, Domeki would love him for eternity.
In fact, sometimes he worried that Watanuki would fall out of love with him as he aged. As Watanuki continued to be perfect and young, and Domeki moved toward middle and then old age.
But then there was...the egg. The egg that wouldn’t hatch. The egg that nothing would be born of.
Yuko had said he would have to decide when it was used, not Watanuki. He wasn’t exactly sure what it would do. Just that it had something important to do with Watanuki and that he would know the right moment to use it.
Domeki had yet to find a perfect moment to use it and he wasn’t sure there even was one.
How could he, in good conscious, choose to use something on his boyfriend husband without knowing what it might do to him.
Watanuki sighed and turned closer to Domeki in his sleep. Naturally seeking out the contact.
It had been five years since Yuko had disappeared and Watanuki had taken up her kimono and pipe. Since he had become the shopkeeper and placed himself in a binding and unbreakable promise.
Domeki had never told Watanuki that him making that promise, going to such lengths for Yuko, is the thing that really made him fall in love. He was relentlessly kind and gentle. Always willing to lend a hand when he thought he could.
But that, that dedication, that love, seemed to be such an unusual commodity in the modern era that he couldn’t help but love him for it. Couldn’t help but put himself right beside him.
Domeki dug the egg out of his pocket and looked at it. Then he set it to the side.
Whatever time was going to cause him to need it wasn’t now. And Domeki couldn’t ever see himself making that decision.
No matter how many years went by.