Oh My God, They Were Roommates

[ 12 ] Cry Me A River

"I can't believe you tipped that dancer, like, eighty bucks!"

"Granted, five of that eighty was from me."

"That ten was from me."

" Ugh , you aren't making this any easier! Gon tipped that dancer sixty-five bucks and none of us stopped him! Isn't that what friends are supposed to do? Stop their friends from tipping strippers more than fifty bucks?"

"I was distracted by the concert! It's not my fault!"

Gon transcended at some point and wound up in his car, his hands on the wheel, but the four wheels outside just as stationary as his brain. He was transfixed, and every part of his mind was stuck in The Phantom wishing he had an ounce of dancing power like that . He couldn't tell what he was: turned on, impressed, or both. Sure, he could dance, but not like that .

Stripping was on another level he couldn't comprehend. He couldn't imagine being able to hoist his entire flimsy body up onto a pole like that, let alone flip upside down whilst doing so. And, sure, Gon was a trampoline master in his hayday (elementary school) but he had nothing on the stripper he just tipped sixty-five bucks to.

"Do you think we could go back sometime?" Gon asked, turning to look at Zushi, who made a point to turn once, twice, and three times to stare, dumbfounded, at Gon.

"Did... Did you not just hear the concern in my voice? Or do I need to make it more apparent?" Zushi said.

Knuckle shrugged in the back seat and slapped his hands down on his lap, saying, "Hey, you insisted on bringing the guy."

Gon rolled his eyes and, as nonchalantly as he could manage, said, "I'm just saying that it was fun . I'm not saying we go specifically to see that... stripper... but just to go to The Phantom again!"

Behind him, Uvogin slapped his hand over his face.

"Unbelievable," Knuckle said.

"I'm telling you! Classic case of Pretty Woman —man meets hooker, man buys hooker, man falls in love with hooker," Zushi said.

"I'm not in love!" Gon shrieked, voice shrill and thoroughly offended. Before they could start a toussel on the road, Knuckle cut between them, waving his hands desperately about to avoid such shenanigans from happening.

"Hey, hey, hey! Everyone, calm the fuck down! Your local voice of reason is talking here," Knuckle said.

" VOICE OF REASON! " Uvogin roared, laughing his ass off as Zushi screamed with laughter. The car was absolute chaos all the way to the front door of the dormitory where Gon parked, pouted, and watched his friends leave.

After stepping out, Zushi leant back in, a hand on the open passenger door, and said, "But seriously—that was fun. Text me when you've made it home?"

"Yeah, sure," Gon sighed with a light, cheerful smile. They said their farewells before Zushi shut the door and chased after Knuckle and Uvogin as the clock on Gon's dash ticked towards midnight.

Now left alone to his thoughts, Gon's mind was left adrift thinking about the fluid sway of the dancer's hips like Shakira had nothing on them. This was an entirely different playing field that Gon was unfamiliar and oh-so taken with. The glamor, the outfits, the sheer strength in those muscular but lean arms. That dancer could probably snap Gon's leg in half.