Oh My God, They Were Roommates

[ 29 ] Put Your Head On My Shoulder

Gon felt as though he had just run a marathon and was still recovering days later. The emotional energy of explaining everything (on top of the fit he had that morning after Killua left for class) wore him down into nothing but a tired bean on the floor, cradling his guitar. When the conversation ran dry, and all was out in the open—aside from Killua's profession, that is—Killua suggested that they end the visitation period.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Knuckle sighed. He gave Gon a pat on the back and said, "Thanks for telling us, albeit after... having your arm twisted about it."

"Yeah, thanks for listening," Gon yawned from the ground, eyes closed. "I'll be back tomorrow."

"You better promise up, bub," Knuckle said, holding his pinkie out. Gon shook it with his own pinkie, and that was that.

Knuckle and Zushi left to put their shoes on in the foyer, which brought Ikalgo over to Gon as Killua watched from the kitchen, his arms folded over his chest, and his annoyance with Ikalgo simmering over the surface of his expression. Ikalgo eyed him from over Gon's head and it took an immeasurable amount of effort not to flip the guy off.

Ikalgo looked down at Gon and said, "Can I talk to you? Alone?"

Gon swallowed hard. He glanced back at Killua, and then at the front door where Knuckle and Zushi waved farewell and left. He really didn't want to take this to his bedroom, so he clasped Ikalgo around the wrist and pulled him to the foyer.

At the door, he didn't bother with shoes. Ikalgo ducked down to grab his sneakers before following after Gon, his wrist falling back to his side. The moment the front door shut behind them, Killua pushed off of the counter and hurried across the wood, skidded down the hallway, and went to the front door to press his ear to the wood and listen.

Gon went to the window at the end of the apartment corridor. There, he hopped up onto the ledge and said, "What'd you want to talk about?"

Ikalgo stuffed his bandaged hands into his pockets and shrugged, glancing back at the door as he said, "Oh, I don't know, the fact that you're living with your boyfriend? "

Gon frowned, brow furrowed. If his forehead could hurt anymore, it would. "I don't see why it concerns you," he said.

"It doesn't, but I'm worried about you, Gon. And I have a feeling that one of your reasons for hiding this is so that your mom doesn't find out," Ikalgo said, and the thought of Aunt Mito finding out about all of this made it feel like Gon's stomach acid was eating its way up his esophagus.

He swallowed it down, tense.

"If you're hiding things from the people you care about, is it really such a good thing?" Ikalgo asked, and Gon said nothing.

He knew it was irrational for him to hide this from his friends, and in the end, it felt like Ikalgo was just another excuse to keep people from finding out that he was living with Killua and—on top of all of that—was crushing on the guy .

"I didn't want to make you feel bad about this—we know now so there's no point in regretting not saying anything earlier. The more people who know, the more backup you have if things go south," Ikalgo said, and Gon glanced up at him, eyes glassy with tears. Ikalgo offered a weak smile and said, "It sucks being stuck with an ex—even if you have separate rooms. And I'm not saying you and Killua will even get to that point, but... just saying, that'll really fuck a guy up. It's not good for either party."

"You say that like you have experience in the subject," Gon said, pursing his lips.

Ikalgo laughed, shaking his head. He stepped up to the windowsill beside Gon and leant against it. "Sort of. My mom—she tends to jump from apartment-to-apartment depending on who she's dating. I never really got to see that since my abue took me in. She's never really had... stability . Let's put it that way."