A/N: So this was born almost entirely out of a simple desire for my girlfriend and I (who were watching HxH a the time) to just put the main four in a car for a couple of weeks and see what happened. Well, this happened. If you want to come chat about it, my tumblr username is zenellyraen. More of this to come.
The idea is planted on a sunny afternoon, one where the last vestiges of winter are melting in the sunlight as Leorio turns his face towards the wind. He has his briefcase clutched in one hand, a hot cup of coffee precariously balanced between the other and his chest, his shoulder pressing his phone against his ear. There are students walking along the sidewalk that he dodges as he makes his way to the quad. He is only half paying attention to anything that isn't the conversation he's having, which is sort of inconvenient and dangerous, but frankly, Leorio really doesn't care at the moment.
Mostly because he's talking to someone who might be able to get him into the medical program that he wants to join.
"Yes, thank you so much, Doctor," Leorio says, trying his best to not stammer and rearranging his arms so he can change the position of his neck before it sticks like this. He succeeds. His briefcase becomes a casualty, though, tumbling down to hit the pavement with a loud clatter.
Leorio bites back a few swear words as the woman on the other side of the phone keeps talking in his ear. Something about finishing up some paperwork and sending it to her department so they can get the ball rolling there. Leorio makes affirmative noises as he kneels, picking up the briefcase. He garners no small number of odd looks, he's sure, but he's focused enough on his conversation that he doesn't care.
Besides, college students are busy and headblind. They looked because of the noise more than any real sense of curiosity.
"Well, in that case, Mr. Paladiknight, we hope to hear back from you soon. Congratulations," the woman on the other end of the line says briskly. And before Leorio has much of a chance to do anything other than grab the handle of his briefcase and stammer out a quick goodbye, there's a click, and a dial tone in his ear.
Holy shit.
He puts down the phone. Tucks it into his briefcase, which he lays to the edge of the sidewalk and puts his coffee next to it as well. He takes a deep breath, tilting his head back to the sky.
Leorio whoops loudly, punching his fists up into the open air. He gets a few more weird looks for this, though they're interspersed with amused ones, and one guy walking by offers up a hand for Leorio to high-five. He does, with vigor, missing just enough to make it a bit awkward but still satisfying. The man, a complete and utter stranger, only laughs it off as he walks past. Leorio doesn't care. He doesn't care at all.
He just got accepted to med school.
Fuck yes.
Now he has to do all the paperwork and get ready and make sure that his grades stay up and-
Oh god.
His phone buzzes in his briefcase, and Leorio pauses his momentary freak-out to crouch and dig it back up. It's a short message from Kurapika, nothing more than "Where are you?"
Leorio starts tapping out a return message when another comes through.
"We were supposed to start studying half an hour ago."
And another immediately after that.
"I swear, if I find you lusting after some girls again, I'm leaving you to handle your finals all by yourself."
He snorts, offended. Lusting. How crude. Accurate, because Leorio's intentions with the incident in question were definitely more prurient than anything else, but crude. "had a phone intvw. omw rn," he sends in response. Leorio grabs his briefcase and coffee and stands up. Despite all the stuff he now has to do (which is so much stuff, oh god), he feels oddly….
Light.
Because now medical school is a possibility. An actual, true possibility.
Leorio swallows down his giddiness, though a smile keeps curling his lips. Though, to be fair, he's sure that he's not actually all that good at hiding his ebullient joy anyway. He makes his way into the library, shouldering open the door and gratefully feeling the warmth shake off the last of the winter chill still clinging to his clothes.
He raises a hand to the woman behind the desk, and she gives him a smile. He's a familiar sight here, after four years of grueling work and the weekly-turned-daily study sessions that he holds with Kurapika up in the third floor study carousel. "You're late," she chides, and Leorio ducks his head just a little bit, playing at being more sheepish than he is.
"How mad was he?"
She laughs as she scans a book from the return bin, her eyes sparkling with mirth. "He honestly came back down a few minutes after your usual meeting time to see if you were hiding somewhere. You should get up there before he starts taking the library apart board by board."
Leorio snorts, grins. "Kurapika would never. He loves this place too much."
"Be that as it may, you should hurry. He hates being kept waiting."
That much is true. Leorio waves goodbye and jogs up the steps to the third floor. He makes his way through the stacks, the low murmur of conversations and turning pages and the vents quiet and distant in comparison to his steps. Leorio inhales in front of the door to the room that he and Kurapika have unofficially claimed as their own, smells the vanillin and wood of old books mixed with the coffee he still has in hand. And then he pushes the door open.
He's greeted with the familiar sight of papers and books covering the entirety of the table in the center of the room, half-organized and half a mess, and a slender man leaning over it all, making a note in the margin of a sheet of paper. He looks up once he's done with his note, one eyebrow quirked. He straightens, crosses his arms.
"One day, I will get you to text me in proper english." Kurapika flips his hair out of his face, a graceful fan of golden strands giving way to evaluating grey eyes. He's slightly more disheveled than usual, his hair mussed instead of smooth, and there are slight circles under his eyes, barely visible in the weak fluorescent light of the library. He sits down with no small amount of grace despite his obvious malese, however.
Leorio chuckles under his breath, setting his briefcase on a clear spot on the table. "That's a bit of a long shot. It's faster to text you the way I do."
"It's sloppy," Kurapika mutters, but his gaze only narrows before he leans back in his chair. Leorio knows without having to see that he's crossed his legs under the desk. Kurapika is, as much as the other hates to admit it, a creature of habit. Especially when he's playing at being casual. Sometimes, Kurapika displays his interest almost too obviously, though Leorio's not so good at figuring out the difference between true disinterest and not sometimes. "So. A phone interview."
"Yep." Leorio pops the 'p' sound, just to watch Kurapika's eyebrow twitch.
"How did it go?"
He sighs, just to let the atmosphere tighten, nerves firing. Then he grins, giving Kurapika a thumbs up. "I got accepted! I just have financial aid bullshit to figure out, but I'm good to go, otherwise."
At that, the serious line of Kurapika's mouth bows into a soft smile. Lines of tension that Leorio hadn't realized he was carrying disappear from Kurapika's shoulders. "Good," he says warmly. "You should start hearing back from all of the scholarship committees soon, too. It looks like it's all coming together nicely."
Leorio sets his briefcase down on the floor, sitting down in the free chair as Kurapika turns his attention back to the work he was doing before Leorio came in. "Yeah, that much is true. Oh god, I have so much more paperwork to do now," he groans, slumping over on the table. Kurapika sighs irately and moves the pile of papers under Leorio's right hand so they aren't placed quite so precariously near the edge of the table. "What the fuck was I even thinking?"
"That you wanted to get into medical school, obviously."
He snorts, fixing Kurapika with one eye half-closed. "Bad idea. Zero out of ten, do not recommend. I would have more fun jerking off."
"First off, that's disgusting. Second, Leorio, have you ever considered giving yourself a little bit of a break?" Kurapika asks with something that might be amusement but is more likely closer to frustration. Leorio is interrupting his studies without reason now, after all, and Kurapika has never, in the years that Leorio has known him, ever let himself get anything less than a perfect score on anything. Even feverish, Kurapika shows up to his classes. Leorio wishes it was an exaggeration, but last time Kurapika showed up for his exams, he was running a high fever; he collapsed for three days afterwards, but he still completed his tests. "I mean, you haven't really given yourself any real time off. Ever."
With a faint scowl, Leorio opens his mouth.
Closes it.
A break. He really, really hasn't ever had one, it's true. Leorio has been completely focused on his goal of getting into medical school, and that hasn't left him with any leisure time that wasn't painstakingly carved out of a few evenings he's made for himself. Most of those have still been filled with homework or sleep. Much more the former than the latter, much to Leorio's continued dismay. Even his holidays were busy, either interning or studying. He shakes himself out of his thoughtful reverie, noticing that it's been too long since Kurapika asked him the question to really continue the conversation naturally. Oh well.
"What do people even do on breaks?" he asks, only half serious. "I have no idea. It can't be sleep. I can sleep when I'm dead, right?"
Kurapika's mouth twitches into a smile. "I've heard," Kurapika says, tucking a stray piece of blond hair behind his ear before he scratches down a note, "that sometimes, people use vacation time for leisure. Like reading or playing video games. Or travelling. Trips are very popular for those mysterious people who can afford to take vacations."
Leorio lets out a breath. It rattles a few of the papers spread in front of his face. "Trips, huh? Sounds nice."
"Doesn't it just." Kurapika sighs, leans back, stretches, and Leorio follows the line of his body with his eyes. Up Kurapika's slender shoulders to the curve of his arms. The almost delicate angle of his wrists. He swallows. Returns his attention to Kurapika's face. "Can you imagine? Just getting in your car and… going? Anywhere? Sounds nice right about now."
It does. It does sound really nice. But Leorio passes it off as complete conjecture. It's only March, and after all, he has a test on Friday, and three papers to complete, finals to study for, and now medical school papers to start putting in. He definitely doesn't have time for trips or vacations. Or really, anything that isn't studying, sleeping, and eating. But somewhere in the back of his mind, it stays.
Just get in your car and… go.
"Huh," Leorio says. He leans over, grabs his work, and puts the thought down as completely out of the question.