Oh My God, They Were Roommates

[ 2 ] The Less I Know The Better

A tall man in black leather and combat boots pulled a cigarette from between his lips and blew the smoke to the wind. It distinctly felt like they were engaging in a drug deal up at the highest peak of San Francisco, overlooking the city from a measly little park occupied only by tourists.

Gon crossed his arms against the breeze, his phone in the hands of this stranger Killua dubbed Chrollo.

Chrollo read through Gon's lease before handing his phone back. He stuck the cigarette back to the corner of his mouth as he went on to examine the hardcopy Killua retrieved from the movie truck rental he was using.

Chrollo flipped page after page before sighing and handing it back. He leant his hip against the railing. The man clearly had no fear of death because that had to be a surefire way to die if the railing didn't hold out. Gon's heart skipped.

"Sounds to me like you two were scammed. Not the fault of either of you, but I imagine you've both already made your security deposits and first month's rent. No way in hell you're getting them back now."

"What?" Gon cried, horrified. That was already $1,800 down the drain he wouldn't get back!

"You've got to be shitting me," Killua groaned, hands over his face. He took the lease back and slapped it to his side, furious. "Who gets to live there?"

Chrollo put a hand in his pocket and shrugged. "Whoever can scrape up the three grand for rent this month gets the apartment."

"Three thousand?!" Gon and Killua cried, horrified. All of the blood in Gon's body drained from his system and sent him staggering, woozy. He put his hands to his head and moaned, "It said rent was only fifteen hundred..."

"Yeah, well, ya aren't getting a single bedroom apartment in the Design District for under three thousand. Killua—you showed me pictures of it, right?"

It took a second for Killua to reply. Gon glanced at him and found Killua staring into space as he cleared his throat. "R-Right."

"It looked like there were two bedrooms. In any case, it's cheap for a two bedroom apartment, that's for sure. But again, rent's three thousand. If you can manage that, then fuck it. The place is yours."

Chrollo pushed off of the railing and asked if they needed anything else. When Killua shook his head, Chrollo gave a soft wave and dismissed himself with that voice of his that sounded like a nature documentary narrator.

Gon waved after him, saying, "Nice meeting you..." in a dejected tone. His hand slumped to his side.

"Well, that settles it," Killua said. Gon looked up at him. "The place is mine."

Gon's amygdala started on fire and in the split second panic between fight or flight, Gon settled on fight. "What? No way! You can afford paying three thousand for rent a month?"

Killua's eye twitched and he sneered as he said, "No, but I'll figure it out. Don't you have family around here?"

"Uh, yeah, three hours away. A-And it's complicated!" Gon insisted. He didn't have anyone in San Francisco aside from people his aunt worked with. Not exactly the sort of people Gon would go to begging to house him for a semester. "And I have classes starting soon, so I need to live here. The semester starts tomorrow."

Killua rolled his eyes, hands in his pockets. "Well, I'm not living with another person."

"It—It wouldn't be forever!" Gon insisted. Killua eyed him dully, unconvinced, as Gon surged on. "Just until we find a new place! And we'd splint the rent and be paying the fifteen hundred we agreed on."