ꜱᴛᴜᴄᴋ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ- ᴋɪʟʟᴜᴀ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ [OLD]

23- 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘹 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳

"We decided that we're each gonna pick a door and see how it goes." Killua smiled. My eyebrows furrowed. I wasn't too sure when we had agreed on this. Then again, I wasn't really paying attention so I guess that was my fault.

"And no hard feelings if one of them's a trap!" Gon added. "How bout you guys? What are you gonna do?" He asked.

"Works for me. Seems like luck's part of the game or something." Leorio smiled.

"No objection here. That settles it!" A smile was also plastered across Kurapika's face.

"Well, Y/n? Whaddya say?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah! It's a bit risky, but I'm sure we can quickly knock down any challenge we face!" I said, triumphantly raising my fist in the air. In all honesty, I doubted my abilities. I only said that to get the others pumped up. But that was fine. If I failed, I failed. There was always next year if I really wanted to become a hunter that badly.

We all walked to separate tiles that were somewhat close to each other. "On the count of three, we all hop in at exactly the same time okay?" Leorio said, remaining on his tile. 

"I guess that means...this is goodbye, for now, guys." Gon sighed.

"Hey, don't sound so sad! It's just for this phase. We'll see each other again soon." Quinn was as smiley as always.

"Best of luck everyone!" I fiddled with my fingers, the feeling of anxiety becoming more prominent.

"We'll meet up at the base of the tower," Kurapika ordered.

"Let's do this!" Killua cheered. "One!"

"Two" Gon continued the countdown.

"Three!" I nervously shouted. We all hopped to the tile next to us and fell. I shut my eyes for the drop out of sheer fear. I was absolutely terrified. What if I teamed up with someone who wanted to ambush me? Or what if when I landed the challenge already begun and I wasn't prepared. I took in a deep breath. I landed on my feet...er...butt, which hurt like hell. "Ow!" I shouted.

"Oh hey, Y/n." I heard a familiar voice call. I fluttered open my eyes to see familiar fluffy hair.

"Killua!" I giggled, wrapping him in a hug. "So I guess we're teammates, huh?" I was overjoyed that I was paired up with Killua and not some sort of psychopath.

"Yup. We're supposed to put these gloves on." He pointed at his hand, which was covered in a black, leather glove. "That's what the sign says anyway."

"Right." I slipped the glove onto my hand and flexed my fingers a little bit. The door that was keeping us from the new trials ahead of us. "Are you as nervous as I am right now?" I chuckled a little bit.

"Probably. How nervous are ya?"

"I think my legs might give out." I laughed.

"You're kidding right?" He chuckled.

"Not sure. I guess we'll find out. You'd carry me if that happened though, right?" I snickered. Killua's cheeks were a shade of pink.

"Fine. But only cuz you're my friend and I wanna do cool hunter stuff with you when this exam's over." He scoffed. I laughed. "Hey, what's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing. I just think it's kinda cute how defensive you get. It's obvious you care, but you try to hide it." I admitted. 

"Cute, huh?" He scratched his cheek. "I'm not cute." He huffed. I let out another loud laugh. "S-Stop laughing at me, Idiot!"

"I'm not laughing at you Kil." I gave him a small smile. "I'm your friend, why would I do that?"

"Well, I dunno. Friends are tricky for me. You know that." He put his arms up, doing his signature walk.

"They're tricky for me too. We can figure it out together though." My smile grew a little bit as I turned my head to look at him a bit better. He looked surprised and his mouth was slightly agape.

~~

We had been walking around for a few hours, solving puzzles and laughing at the stupid jokes we made together. We must've found the exit because two other people that stood in front of a door had stopped us from moving forward. "Number 99 and 100." One of them spoke. They were covered in brown hoods, so we couldn't see their faces. I just kinda stood there awkwardly while Killua walked forward.

"So we've gotta fight you two now right?" He asked.

"Yup!" A voice replied, chipper as ever. "But just because you two are Kiddos, don't think we'll go easy on you!"

"Good," Killua smirked.

"So is there an order we're supposed to do this in?" I asked, growing a bit more confident. 

"You'll be fighting Irene." The larger figure pointed at me. The smaller figure, supposedly named Irene waved and took off her hood.

"Hi, Hi!" She waved eagerly. She had hair that was white on one side and a light blue on the other. She had light green eyes and pale skin. On her face were light pink freckles. "So what's your name 100?" She stepped closer.

"Is that really necessary?" Killua scoffed.

"Well, I'd like to know who I'm fighting." She sighed and then quickly turned back to me. "So what's your name babes?" Irene seemed very excited.

"Y/n." I held out my hand for her to shake it.

"Awe how cute! You can put that down, no need to be so formal." She giggled, her long two-toned hair bouncing a bit with her. "Okay, so when should we start?" She asked. 

"Whenever you'd like Miss Irene," I said nervously.

"Awe Miss Irene! That's so cute! You're adorable. Alright, we can start right now." She was grinning from ear to ear. "You two have to pin us down for four seconds." She held up four fingers. "If we break free from your grasp for three seconds, you owe us 10 hours. Do you two get it?" She put her hands on her hips. I nodded and so did Killua. "Awe, you're cute and you've got a brain! You really are the total package." She gushed, getting a bit closer to me.

"Can we start already?" Yelled Killua and the other challenger.