And in the end, the Love you take is equal to the Love you make.

Epilogue

"Hisoka, I refuse to stride around my house wearing a ring representing a marriage I regret agreeing to."

"You agreed because you love me, Darling," Hisoka responded, only managing to irritate Illumi even more.

"I will wear a ring once we leave here. That's it." The Zoldyck was quite exasperated at this point. His fiance– something he still found very difficult to comprehend– had been pestering him to wear the accursed ring all morning. It wasn't as if the ring was ugly; Illumi hated to admit it, but it was beautiful– an onyx teardrop in the middle, silver spiderwebs branching off at the bottom. It fit perfectly; Illumi would have been alarmed that Hisoka knew his exact finger size– if it weren't for the fact that Hisoka was... well, Hisoka. Illumi would have agreed to wear the ring if they were in any other circumstances; unfortunately, they were currently residing in the absolute last place he would want to flaunt an engagement ring. He hadn't even told his parents about him and Hisoka... their engagement had only been a recent development to their relationship.

Recent as in yesterday. "I'm not wearing it, Hisoka," the assassin repeated exasperatedly.

The magician pouted. "Fine," he said, dragging out the syllables like a whiny child. "If you insist."

"Stop acting like a child and go, Hisoka. If my family finds out about... this," Illumi's gaze grew serious, "I don't think you understand the consequences."

"I don't," Hisoka replied, suddenly sharp. "Tell me, Illumi, what are you so worried about?"

The assassin did all he could from clenching his fists. "I'm worried about you, you idiot! If my family finds out that we're even a little more than business partners, they will not hesitate to kill you."

"And what makes you so sure they'd succeed?"

Illumi gaped at his future husband in disbelief. "The same thing that makes all our clients so sure we'd succeed that they pay us in trillions."

Hisoka sighed. "If what you say is true, then why won't they try to kill me after we leave?"

"I'm hoping we can go somewhere we can't be found. If not, going away is still safer than telling my parents to their face."

The magician only pouted a little more. "Then what about your siblings?"

"My siblings?" Illumi asked incredulously. "Hisoka, no one even knows that I've known you for longer than a few months, let alone that you're my...that we're... " he gestured vaguely at their surroundings.

"Fiancé?" Hisoka asked in amusement. "Engaged?"

He was only replied with a muted glare from his lover. Hisoka stared in amused silence at Illumi until the raven-haired male opened his mouth to speak up.

Unfortunately, he never got a chance, because they were suddenly interrupted by a loud voice exclaiming, "Am I going deaf, or did I just hear that you two were ENGAGED?"

Illumi did his version of a double-take, which was more like an elegant blink, and whirled around to come face-to-face with Killua, closely followed by Kalluto and Milluki, who was tapping away at a handheld video game. Killua looked extremely offended, for whatever reason, and Kalluto was just staring innocently at the two men.

Hisoka put his entire life and soul into trying not to burst out laughing on the spot. "You were saying?" He whispered to Illumi.

"You must have misheard," Illumi said weakly. "We aren't-"

"I'll take it from here, Illu," the magician butted in, pushing his future husband out of the way. Taking a deep breath, he proclaimed- much to Illumi's horror- "Yes, we are engaged. I proposed yesterday, and your darling brother accepted!"