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Gon’s always thought Killua was cat-like, coming in rarely for affection on his own terms.
Killua’s laying on the bench with him, his head resting in Gon’s lap as he plays a game on his phone. Killua rarely allows anyone to touch his hair, so Gon takes this chance to card his fingers through the fluffy cotton candy hair. The pout on Killua’s face softens as he leans into Gon’s ministrations, his eyes on the game he just lost.
Killua’s been touchier for a while now, no longer hesitating before reaching out for something. It’s easier now, he guesses, because there’s just been so much time together.
5 years have passed since they met at the school entrance test site, having never seen each other in classes. Well, it’s not like they would’ve known each other. Killua hardly ever went to the school events, and they never had any classes together.
Now, Killua can brush rice off his cheek while he’s talking, without stuttering and thinking about it for twenty minutes. Twelve year old Killua would subtly take a picture and laugh about it later. No. Seventeen year old Killua would do that too.
The earliest moment he remembers of all this, the point where it started, was when Gon broke an arm trying to slide down the icy sidewalk on socks.
He was set to be in a cast for a few months, and Killua took it upon himself to take care of him. It was during lunch, Killua bored with the food served and Gon trying to finish the math homework due in an hour.
He was drawing on Gon’s cast, a decently accurate account of how he broke his arm, as far as stick figures go. He was holding his hand, no, almost cradling it, as he dragged the sharpie along it. Not exactly necessary, considering the arm was heavy enough to not move.
He kept holding his hand long after he finished drawing, and had started to help Gon on his math homework. The warm, comfortable way their hands fitted together stopped him from saying anything.
The next time was when they were eating at Gon’s house. Killua had just passed his driving test, and Mito-san had made rice for him.
They were laughing about something stupid, something about how he can finally drive off into the sunset now, when Killlua reached over and swiped his thumb across the corner of Gon’s mouth. Gon stopped laughing right there, and Killua gave him a strange look.
“You look like I just punched you, what is it?”
“Nothing.”, he said, voice barely above a whisper, the spot where Killua had brushed tingling.
Killua shrugged it off, digging into his food and already starting another story about how he almost backed into another car the other day.
The biggest one that sticks out in Gon’s mind happened a month ago, during finals week. The year had been hell for both of them. Gon, because he couldn’t use an arm for half of it on top of school work, and Killua, because he signed up for way too many classes that he didn’t even need.
They were walking home, both sleep deprived zombies. Killua had walked into a pole, apologized to the pole, and walked on. It was a silent walk, the exhaustion rolling off of them in waves, the thought of a bed and food making them put one foot in front of the other.
Gon remembered wanted to get indoors as soon as possible. The bright spring day taunted them with the promise of summer and lazing around, the trees in the forest behind his house green and fresh, and children playing in the park they had to walk past.
They reach Gon’s house at one point, changing clothes another, and finally flopping on the bed. Usually, Gon takes out the spare bed for Killua, but that thought wasn’t even in the same dimension at that time.
Gon was comfortable under the blanket when lithe arms snaked around his middle and pulled him in. He whined something unintelligible, wrinkled his nose when Killua lifted his head and his hair tickled him.
“Shut the fuck up”, he whispered in his ear. Gon couldn’t stop the shiver at this, but Killua took this to mean he was cold and pulls him in closer.
They woke up a full 7 hours later, tangled in each other, limbs strewn and blanket tossed to the ground. The sharp pangs of hunger were more urgent than anything, and the wake up kiss Gon gave Killua on the cheek got thrown to the side.
Now that he thinks about it, he wants to do it again. Gon looks down at Killua, still trying to pass that level on his game, children still running around. The only thing that’s changed since his trip down Memory Lane, is the elderly couple walking by slowly. Both of them have canes, hobbling down, and he would get up and offer help, but Killua’s still resting his head in his lap.
There’s some law against getting up when cats are in your lap, and that’s one rule he won’t break.
“Aww, what a cute couple!”, they say as they walk by.
The same thought’s been in Gon’s head for a while. Killua looks up, looking around to see the cute couple. He looks up at Gon after a beat, a question on his face.
Gon doesn’t look at him, instead smiles and waves at the elderly couple, ignoring the shock on Killua’s face.
Killua shoots up, and sits properly on the bench, flustered and thoughtful. Gon wants to make a joke about how he can hear him thinking from the side, but he doesn’t want to break this silence. The question of why he didn’t correct the elderly couple would come up, and that’s something he just doesn’t know how to answer. It’s something they never talked about, this thing in the middle.
They’re walking back home when Killua puts his hand on Gon’s shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.
“Hey…do I really do things like that? Stuff that makes people think we’re together?”
…that’s not what Gon was expecting. That everything he’s been doing was unintentional and didn’t mean anything.
“Yeah. You do.”
“Really?”, he says, sounding winded, “For how long?”
“I don’t know, I think a year.”
“Oh.”
They stand there, Killua looking at the ground, Gon looking off towards the park they had just left.
“I’ll stop it.”, Killua says into the distance between them.
“Whaaaaaat?!”, Gon whines, “But I like it!”
Killua’s head shoots up at this, confused and a little irritated.
“You idiot, that’s stuff people in relationships do! When they like the person, not when they’re just friends!”
“Yeah, so? I like you, and I thought you kind of did too, that’s why you did all those things and I didn’t say anything!”
“Wait, what? You like me?”
“You know, for a valedictorian, you’re really stupid.”, Gon says, folding his arms.
“Shut up, you can’t even add.”, Killua snarks back, probably purely on instinct and habit.
“Of course I like you.”
Killua stands there for a full thirty seconds, staring at Gon. The blush has come back in full force, from the tips of his ears, down to below the neckline of his t-shirt.
“Ditto.”, he says, voice like he’s still lost. Gon smirks at him, proud that he sounds like they just announced him the owner of Chocorobos.
Gon thinks they were right. They are a cute couple.