Breaking x Making Promises

The Bitch Is Back

It all happened approximately a month after Gon Freecss, star running back for the Hunters, performed a roundoff front handspring using a rival linebacker's big, beefy shoulders as a spring, only to snap his collarbone on impact. That in itself would have been both impressive and horrifying to witness, except everyone in the stadium saw it. It was, perhaps, the most dramatic exit a football player could have taken for a season when the season hadn't even started.

But that on its own wasn't where shit hit the fan. Gon's broken collarbone was a tragedy, yes, and it would be over two months before Gon could hit the field again, but that wasn't the worst of it. Not to Killua, anyway.

No, shit hit the fan on their eight month anniversary, at the very start of the semester when classes were back in session and Killua was just moving into his new apartment.

Zushi had been standing on the couch like he had just conquered it. Stance wide, hand on his hip, the other poised to wipe away nonexistent sweat from his forehead. The apartment came with the couch.

He leapt from the cushions, his acid-washed jeans rolled up to his calves. "Do you ever feel, like..." he started, scratching at his summer buzzcut and looking approximately thirty skin tones darker than he had in the spring.

"Like a plastic bag? Drifting through the wind?" Killua said, completely monotone.

Zushi slumped and rolled his eyes. "No, I mean, like... do you ever feel like something bad is about to happen? Foreboding—is that the right word?"

Killua stared at Zushi from across the living room. It was, perhaps, the most ominous thing he had heard all summer, which was really saying something considering he had spent his summer back in Portland with his family. Illumi was the god of the foreboding aesthetic.

"You're probably just sensing the start of the semester," Killua said.

Zushi hummed like he didn't quite believe it. He pouted, shook his head, and insisted, "No, I don't think that's it. I've been feeling that since last semester ended."

"Yeah, Calc II is about to fuck us both up the ass," Killua said. He had heard horror stories already from the TAs, namely Kurapika. Kurapika had been their TA in OChem and had suffered with them, in spirit. Calc II would be another nightmare entirely, and the mere mention of it had them both shuddering.

But Calc II wasn't what Zushi sensed, and it certainly wasn't where shit would hit the fan. This was a different grade of shit. This was... personal.

And then, Killua felt it. It was like a smack to the back of his head and the doorbell going off. Zushi startled, a hand over his heart, and Killua cursed under his breath.

"God, that better not be Illumi," Killua huffed. Illumi had helped move Killua to and from the dorms and had accompanied the moving truck trip from Northern Cali to the San Francisco area. The last thing he wanted, though, was for his older brother to linger around and infect the place with bad vibes.

He marched up to the door and opened it a crack. He peered through to the foyer, to the window on the front door. There, waiting among the mailboxes, he found a surprising guest.

"Knuckle?" Killua said, and the hulking football player perked up at the sight of Killua's head peeking out of the door.

Killua turned back inside and held the door open for Zushi to see. He pointed to Knuckle and said, "Did you give him our address?"

"What? No, why would I?" Zushi said.

Knuckle started hammering on the glass door, shouting, "Let me in! Code Red! Code Red!"