xxxHolic, Domeki/Watanuki/Himawari, we won't let you disappear
It's her he reaches for first -- Doumeki is hovering quietly to the side and his mere presence is a challenge (You don't think I can handle this? I'll show you, bastard!), but Himawari is perched delicately on the edge of the bed, her smile sweetly open but unsure. She's facing them both without the faintest semblance of shame, but he senses an unwillingness to be touched, and his first priority is always to make sure she is soothed.
He shifts, moves to his knees, extends his arms to her -- and sees Doumeki out of the corner of his eye, watching. Waiting.
The bastard is just waiting for me to touch her; he'll probably get off on watching it, he thinks, and he is a heartbeat away from turning and giving him a warning punch to the jaw -- but then his arms are around Himawari, and his hands touch her back, and he stops.
She's still smiling, but her eyes won't quite meet his, and she's holding herself too straight to be relaxed. As if she is forcing herself not to shy away from his touch. "Himawari-chan..?" he starts, and is cut off by Doumeki's voice low and hot in his ear.
"She doesn't want you to see."
"But -- what?"
"You don’t need to see them. You can feel. You're still here to feel."
And suddenly Watanuki understands.
His breath is a startled rush, and it's echoed by her gentle laugh. She leans forward and brushes a kiss on his cheek, surprisingly chaste for all that her bare skin is now moving against his; and he can't think of anything to do but hold her tighter, hands splayed over her scarred back.
"Doumeki-kun, too," she says, eyes finally starting to shine and match her smile. "The both of us together."
There's a strong chest pressed against his back before he can speak, and a second pair of arms encircling him. He doesn't think to fight the contact, not even when he realises he can feel Doumeki's heartbeat against his shoulderblade, or when his mouth presses openly against a pulsepoint on his neck and bites.
He simply allows himself to feel, and he doesn't have to ask what Doumeki gave.
He understands, but not enough.
A strangled whimper wants to escape his lips, but he holds it back and forces it into a single word.
"Why?"
"You're ours," Doumeki says simply against his throat, and his voice is quiet but a growl. "We're not letting you disappear."
Watanuki sees himself reflected in Himawari's eyes, and he knows that Doumeki must be seeing the same, even with his face still lowered into his neck.
Her mouth finds his, the curve of her lips soft even as Doumeki bites again at the mark he already made. Archery-calloused hands slide up between them both, warm and somehow comforting on Watanuki's chest.
He was right, he thinks vaguely, mind already starting to cloud. I can still feel.