[HxH] - Slow Start

[selenias]

Title: Slow Start
Author: lavendre 
Fandom: Hunter x Hunter
Pairing: aged up Gon/Killua
Rating: all audiences
Word Count: 1115

[A/N]: Squabbling fluff. Almost first go writing these two? Written for scrimmage, 1000 word minimum.

"This is far enough, don't you think?"

Gon dug his shoes into the sand and waited. Killua followed at his own pace, not too far out of reach, but distant enough that the granules he kicked up fell into empty space.

"I thought it was far enough twenty minutes ago. But, you know. You didn't ask then." Killua shrugged, nonchalant. "You've already accepted that I'll just go along with your decision. So what's it matter?"

"But Killua, you haven't even tried to stop me. And I won't be gone long! Only four months," Gon chided. "And besides, four is a small number."

Killua could only scoff. "Yeah, for you it will be. But that's sixteen weeks, a quarter of the year, Gon. You're even going to miss my birthday."

"I'm sorry. It'll go fast."

“Still, I just.” Killua sighed and kicked hard into a dune, sending a small smothering of wet sand and rock into a tide pool. He shoved his hands further into his jacket. “I hate it when you find me only to tell me that you're leaving.”

“I'm sorry,” Gon repeated. “I was hoping it would make it easier...”

“Jeez, you could at least look me in the eye,” Killua laughed, sounding miserable. He cleared his throat and took the lead, marching several strides ahead. Gon watched his legs and the curve of his back.

Killua, as always, was difficult to leave behind.

They walked the rest of the distance to the harbor in silence. Killua jogged up the stairs when they reached them, Gon only stopping to tie his shoelaces and pull his passport from his back pocket. Seagulls combed through the fog and cried from all directions, hailing their approach. Gon wondered if all sea birds were in good company, even the ones across the sea.

“Well, there's your ride,” Killua muttered, peering over the aluminum railing below. “Nice ship. It actually looks like you could poke a hole in it with a butter knife.”

Gon made a face at him. “That's actually a very nice looking ship. And it won't matter if the crew is good.”

Killua sighed. “I know, sea-legs. Maybe I just wanted to see how you'd react.”

Gon tried his damndest to ignore the glitter starting to form in his eyes at the jest and failed.

Killua noticed and made himself frown. “No no no, don't you dare cry. This was your harebrained idea!”

“I know!” Gon wailed. “I know. But you're making it worse!”

Killua sighed and held his palms out. Gon stretched his arms above his head and Killua swept him up tight, sliding his hands around Gon's waist and up the back of his jacket. Trying to wrap Gon up completely was like trying to swaddle a wall.

"I'll come back to you," Gon murmured into his neck, fingers making knots in the small silver hairs, and settling there. Killua used the sleeve of his jacket to wipe the wet tracks away when he drew back, eyes only slightly swollen after the act. "I'll do what I can to return fast. I'll get in and get out. You know that."

"You better," Killua growled, knocking their foreheads together. "I also know you have a knack for not listening. And if you take too long, or don't call—don't you dare make me come find you."

Gon smiled and wrapped their smallest fingers together, pressed a kiss to his thumb. It wasn't a real kiss like he would have liked, but it was real to Gon, and he was the one leaving. Killua fixed a loose strap on his bag and walked down the aluminum ramp with him, but no further.

As easy as simply putting one foot in front of the other, Gon slipped his hands from his, almost like he hadn't been the one to reach for them in the first place. He didn't look back, boots thumping along the deck, among the crew, his new mates for the next four months, and Killua didn't stay to torture himself.

The echo of water slapping cold and calm against the hull of many ships chased him back to the beach.

His anger faded away with the knowledge that Gon's coming and goings belonged to the sea. That, it had always been like this, and it might always be. And that as long as he returned and continued to return, this would all soon be in the past.

He was halfway settled among the squabs and crab legs when the yelling started. Boats in the harbor blared their alarms and sirens, orange boats were tossed overboard, and a figure clad in forest colors was paddling through the dark waters at breakneck speed, yelling all the while.

Gon was soaking wet and shivering when Killua waded in and dragged him the rest of the way to shore, shoes kicked off fifty yards back, hair full of static. He had half the sense to drown him the rest of the way, if he didn't accidentally electrocute them both first.

“What the hell! You just had to jump off the ship! You really couldn't have changed your mind sooner?” he bellowed. “I thought you were actually going to leave! You asshole!”

Gon was shivering so hard his teeth clinked together, but he gripped Killua's arms and laughed, narrowing his eyes. “I thought you would ask me to stay! But you didn't! You're stubborn! Just admit it!”

“No!” He pulled Gon's ankles out from under him and heard him thunk into the sand, groaning. Killua was trying to pull his hair out of his eyes so he could glare properly. He tore his jacket off to free his arms, then his shirt because that was tight too, and wadded them up and chucked them both at Gon's head.

“I fucking can't believe this—your orchestrated this whole damn thing? For what? To get me to tell you I'll miss you? You're a dumbass!”

Gon made a noise like a beached whale.

“What was that? Are you choking?”

“No,” Gon managed, smiling around mouthfuls of hair. He looked like he might cry again. “But you finally said it.”

“Oh,” Killua mumbled, face flushing. He picked up the wet shirt he'd disgracefully used as a throwing ball and pulled it back on. “Are you happy now?”

“Yeah. I'd have missed you too.”

Killua glared reproachfully at Gon and tried to look angry, but started laughing halfway through. He threw himself at him, knocking them both down into the sand, and gave Gon the sweetest kiss of his life.