Why did his heart beat so fast whenever thoughts of that boy entered his mind?
Leorio collapsed onto his bed, legs almost comically long as they dangled over the short twin-sized bedframe. Another full day of classes. These days, time seemed to drag on forever, monotony amplified by the heat of summer's last gasps, but Leorio didn't mind. At least he wasn't pitting himself against giant mutant bugs, like Gon had been only a few months ago.
Ever since he'd spent time with Gon after he was cured, Leorio had begun to notice how sweaty his palms got around the younger boy. Every time Gon gave him an endearing smile, he felt like throwing up, but not in a bad way. Those brown eyes made his stomach churn and his heart tie itself up in knots.
Sure, he'd had crushes on his female classmates, and even had sex with a few of them, but what he felt towards Gon was about ten million billion gazillion times worse – was that even a number? Leorio didn't care. Every time even the tiniest memory of their encounter in their shared hotel room in York Shin City entered his mind, his breath would grow short and his face would catch fire like a piece of tissue paper soaked in gasoline.
It'd been innocent enough – no one even tried anything. Leorio came in from scouting around the town for more money-making plans, and as he walked in Gon was in the middle of the room wearing nothing but bloomers, getting dressed for bed. Leorio remembered sputtering and dropping his briefcase on his foot as Gon pulled a shirt on, his 'Welcome back, Leorio!' and trademark sunny grin muffled by the fabric. Leorio had the most confused boner of his life then.
He never thought anything of it, besides that maybe Gon was attractive and he needed to get out more. It was best not to think about it too much, right?
Wrong.
Worried, Leorio paced the room, one hand running nervously through his hair. He wasn't falling for Gon, was he? Anytime he got a call, he secretly hoped it would be Gon. But it was usually his college buddies, or, if the planets were aligned in the seventh house of Jupiter during an irregular lunar cycle, Kurapika. The Zodiacs didn't ask much of him while they waited for the Association's approval of expeditions to the Dark Continent; Leorio had spent all that time keeping up with school, but he'd had plenty of time to drown in gay thoughts, too.
Thinking of Gon's smiling face was killing him. The way his tanned skin reflected the sunlight, making him seem to glow – God, this was getting way out of hand. At least it wasn't going south – well, not this time, anyway. Leorio had shamefully jacked off to the thought of Gon a few times, and taken three showers after each one. He felt so guilty, lusting after a boy this young.
Sitting back down on his bed, he threw his head back to look up at the ceiling. What was Gon doing now? Was he off adventuring? Possibly, so would it be worth it to call him? Leorio's heart hammered as he glanced over at his phone. Could he? Would he? Drawing a shaky breath, he hauled himself off the bed and snatched his phone from off his desk.
He unlocked it with all the concentration of an open-heart surgery, fingers trembling imperceptibly as they hovered over the Contacts app. His stomach lurched as he clicked it, but his phone momentarily froze up, leaving him slightly confused and, somehow, immensely relieved.
'That settles that,' Leorio started to think, but the phone buzzed to life in his hand, words filling the screen before he had the chance to put it back down: "Gon is Calling"
He stared at his phone incredulously, watching it rattle around his open palm. Had Gon developed mind-reading Nen during his time in NGL, or was this just the mother of all coincidences? Better not to think about it now – if Gon was calling him, it must be important. He hit the green phone icon, and put the phone up to his ear. After a few seconds, a sunny voice filled Leorio's eardrums.
"Leorio! Hi!" Gon chirped. Leorio's nervousness melted away under the intensity of the sunbeams that emanated from his phone – that sounded cheesy even in his own head, but that was how he honest to God felt.
"Hey, Gon."