Falling For You

Pain

  I hurt the love of my life.

  Those were the words that replayed themselves in Gon's head for the days to come.

  Killua had stopped coming to school, and no matter how many times Gon text and called him, he never received a response. It got to the point where he even went to the Zoldyck's mansion, but he was greeted with closed doors and dropped blinds, a sign that he was clearly not welcome, or they weren't home.

  But where would Killua be? He lived in that house all by himself as far as Gon knew.

  Unless...

  The dreaded thought that his best friend had decided to join the family business after all passed through his mind, but he shook his head to push it away. Killua wouldn't do that, would he? After everything he's ever said about his family, he wouldn't just change his mind.

  The real question though, was why Killua had been there that day when Gon was beating up Retz? Hadn't his brother dragged him away? Not that Gon wasn't happy Killua hadn't gotten too hurt, but why did he suddenly show up then of all times? And why had Illumi been at their school in the first place? He had smelled of death. Did it all mean something?

  All these questions and uncertainties drove Gon near madness, so much, that one evening, while he was looking at himself in the mirror, he angrily punched it, causing the glass to shatter all over the ground around him.

The commotion had been loud enough to alert his Aunt Mito and grandmother, and they barged into his bathroom, eyes widening in shock when they saw Gon standing in front of a now broken mirror, shaking uncontrollably and with a bleeding knuckle.

Things at school weren't any better. Sure, Retz now avoided him like the plague, like the rest of the student body, but it didn't stop them from whispering things when they thought he wasn't listening. Calling him "monster" and "freak." It wasn't any different from when they called him gay boy.

The incident with Retz also earned him after school detention for a month, after his Aunt Mito had talked him out of getting suspended. She wasn't happy with him and had slapped him across the face after he spoke out one night during dinner, declaring that Retz had it coming to her and called her a bitch.

This brought tension at home and every afternoon, when Gon would return home after another day of detention, he'd avoid Mito and his grandmother just like the students at school avoided him.

This went on until one day, a couple of weeks later, the day before Retz's party, Mito barged into Gon's bedroom while he was lying flat on his bed, wallowing in his own misery.

"Gon. Enough is enough. Get up and come join your grandmother and me for dinner."

Gon didn't budge.

Mito stomps further in until she's looming over him, tapping her foot in impatience. "Gon."

He merely shifts, and continues to ignore her.

  Her impatience wearing thin, Mito lugs him up by the arm only to find that tears ran down his cheeks.

  Not saying a word, she engulfed him into a hug and let him sob, rubbing his back with a sigh.

  Finally, she asks. "What's the matter, sweet boy?"

  Hiccuping now, Gon's voice was choked and muffled. "K-Killua hates me."

  Figuring this was the cause of the reason why Gon locked himself in his room the past few weeks, she did her best to reassure him.

  "I'm sure that's not true."

  "Then why hasn't he spoken to me?! Why is he avoiding me?!" The dam inside him breaking, Gon wrenched himself away from her, tears streaming down his tan cheeks.

  Mito could hardly bear to see Gon this way, and no matter what she did, there was no cheering him up.

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  Retz approached Gon the next day at school, for the first time since the incident.

  "So are you still coming to my party?

  Gon, who had been mindlessly poking at his food during lunch, looks up at her in surprise, hardly believing what he was hearing.

  "You still want me at your party? Won't your brother, like kill me?" Since not only had Mito been pissed for what he did, Retz's brother, despite the silent and weird aura about him, had been worse, even coming to the school to make sure Gon got the punishment he deserved. So of course he hadn't been happy when Gon only got away with detention for a month, until he apologized over and over again to Retz, was he somewhat satisfied.

  Retz shook her head. "As much as I'd like to see that happen, I asked him not to. Because, well. I still want you to come."

  Though she offered him a smile, Gon knew better. Her plan must still be intact.

  "Besides. Killua's going. So I thought you still would like to come."

  At those words, Gon stiffened up. Killua's still going? Why? How? "How do you know?"

  "He left a note on my locker. Must of come early and then decided to still ditch."

  Clenching his fists, one still bandaged from his mirror shattering accident in his bathroom, Gon took a deep breathe, before replying.

  "Alright, Retz. I'll still go to your party."

  "Great! I'll see you then! It starts at six, so don't be late!" And she would then flounce off.

  There's no going back now.