King of Hearts

🤲

"Thank you for bringing me your notes," Gon said—or rather, mumbled through his congestedness.

Canary stepped back from his dorm door with a soft smile and said, "It's no problem. Zushi's got the history notes for you. He gets out of class later, though, and spends the afternoon with Alluka. You probably won't see him until dinner time."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know."

She walked off and Gon watched after her as she descended the stairs from the fourth floor down to the third, the second, the first, and wondered if Canary was off to see her vampire counterpart, too. Gon's shoulders slumped at the thought. Wasn't he supposed to be watching over Killua right about now? Shouldn't he be the one walking Killua to and from his classes?

Gon coughed into his elbow, the mucus still wet in his throat and lungs. As repulsive as it was to lie and fester in his own germs, it reminded him of the look of disgust Killua gave him when he assessed the damage on his magic receptors. He wished he could experience whatever it was that Killua could read off of his receptors—perhaps then he would have a better understanding of how to appropriately use his magic.

Gon spent the weekend reading through packets and pamphlets and books from every course on his schedule in hopes of coming up with an appropriate level of knowledge for the following week. He acted as though, come Monday, he'd be back to normal.

By Saturday, he couldn't stand to sit in his bedroom one more day and could be found across the courtyard entering the library's wide open archways for a change of scenery. At the front desk, he inquired about the magic resources department, which the librarian directed him to from the stairs. He thanked her and headed down to the basement of the library.

Gon's muscles still ached for unknown reasons, as if he had just endured the most intense workout of his life the day before. It was entirely because of this that he missed the bottom step entirely and tripped, his hand scrambling for purchase on the stair railing.

His yelp and fall caught the attention of a passing student, who put out both hands in an attempt to stop Gon from smacking face-first into the tiles.

"Are you alright?" the student asked.

Gon's heart pounded in his ribcage. He cleared his throat and rasped, "I'm fine. Thank you...?"

"Kurapika," he said as he passed a hand over his short, blonde bun. Small baby hairs framed his pale complexion. Gon stopped short at the sight of his brown eyes sunk deep in sleepless shadows.

Gon nodded, rubbing at his sore throat as the student smiled at him in a way that made him giddy for more attention. He blamed it on the fact that he was thousands of miles away from home.

"Gon. What're you doing down here, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Not at all. I've just been doing research for a paper in elemental histories," Kurapika confessed, gesturing to his fully-stuffed backpack.

Gon startled at the course title. "I was just going to start on that paper," he confessed. "Would you want to work together? I mean—not together, together. We'd each be working on our own papers, but—"

Kurapika laughed, and it soothed the stiff tension in Gon's shoulders. "Sounds fun, but I think I'll have to pass. I work better alone."

"That's okay! I'll be super quiet, you won't even know I'm there," Gon insisted, and after a beat of silence, the wince on Kurapika's expression faded.

He sighed and gave a short nod. "Yeah, okay. Silent work-time."

"Silent work-time," Gon repeated.