Title: I Wanna Hold Your Hand
Fandom: Hunter X Hunter
Rating: PG
Pairing/Characters: Killua/Gon
Warnings/Notes: None
Summary: After a day spent fishing on the lake, Gon suddenly wants to hold Killua's hand. Knowing just how innocent his best friend is, Killua wants to make sure Gon knows why people hold hands.
Disclaimer: Yoshihiro Togashi owns all rights to the original story.

SPOILER WARNING: Not really any story spoilers. But feelings spoilers if you don't really pay close attention to Killua's relationship with Gon throughout the series.

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"The greatest weakness of most humans is their hesitancy to tell others how much they love them while they're alive."

Orlando A. Battista

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The sun had just begun to set over Whale Island, just as Killua was starting to get extremely bored. He kicked at the dirt beneath his sneakers, listening to Gon's grunts of excitement. They had been out fishing on the edge of the island since dawn and Gon seemed to be having the time of his life. Killua sighed in frustration and laid back, gazing at the blues and purples of the darkening sky.

"I don't understand how you think this is fun, Gon." He muttered, his eyes sliding over to see Gon staring at him with wide-eyed curiosity.

"Huh? What do you mean, Killua? Are you bored?" He inquired, a sudden sadness in his voice. Killua sat up in reply and nodded. He was running out of patience, just like the day was running out of hours.

"Can't we go exploring or something? I don't like sitting still for too long." He explained, a bit of blush crawling to his face. Gon's eyes narrowed and he turned his back. With a flick of his wrist, he cast out his fishing line once more. When he spoke, his voice was obviously filled with irritation. Fishing was one of his favorite things to do and Gon couldn't quite grasp the fact that his best friend may not find as fun as he did.

"Killua… You've got to have patience when fishing! It's gonna be boring at times… But…" His voice drifted off to silence as he watched his blue and green bobber bounce on the tiny waves of the water.

"That's stupid… We've been out here all day! I wanna go climb some trees or… Do something!" Killua retaliated, getting slightly annoyed with Gon's sudden attitude. He stood up, dusted the dirt off of his shorts and hands, and began walking to the edge of the woods. "Well… I'll go by myself, if that's what you want." He lied. Killua walked slowly ahead, a small smirk on his face. Knowing Gon would never let him go off on his own, nor want to be left alone, it wouldn't be very long before he was at his side again. He mentally counted to three before hearing Gon yell after him, along with a clack of a fishing pole being tossed to the side.

"Killua! Wait up!" Gon yelped, tripping over his feet in order to catch up to his best friend. Killua rolled his eyes and kept walking, filled with pleasure that he was right. The forest was dark and the sound of cicadas seemed to give the air an eerie feel. Hands shoved into his pockets, Killua stopped to wait for Gon to catch up.

"See… I knew you would come." He said, watching the raven haired boy dust himself off. Killua took this time to look over every detail of Gon. The muscular body; scars and bruises from the Hunter Exam and before, his brown eyes still holding the innocence of a child, raven hair that seemed to defy gravity. Shaking his head, he felt more blush creep to his face. He couldn't believe the feelings welling up inside of him, for his best friend. He didn't know what to call it, love, lust, or whatever. He tried really hard at times to not think about it. Even though he hated the thought of it, he also understood that there was no changing how he felt. Nights were getting easier to sleep through, the more he came to terms with it, however, Killua had silently vowed to never speak of this to anyone, and never confess to Gon. He decided that the words he always held at the tip of his tongue would more than likely destroy the relationship he had worked so hard at with Gon. Killua glanced over at the darkened woods, before looking back at Gon, who had suddenly appeared in front of his face.

"Killua!" Gon yelled, startling Killua, making him fall backwards and land on his rear. Killua's heart raced at top speed and he knew his face was ten times redder than it already had been. While he tried to catch his breath he glared up at Gon.

"Gon! Don't…Do that!" He hissed, breathing deeply, hoping his heart would stop trying to break through his chest. Gon smiled and dropped to the ground, sitting next to Killua.

"Hey… Killua… Were you really that bored? Fishing with me?" He asked, a sad look drowning his face. Killua swallowed. He hated seeing Gon sad, especially if he was the cause. He immediately regretted his actions from before. He shook his head quickly.

"Baka! I wasn't bored, cuz I was with you… I was bored cuz we didn't catch anything…" He sighed and gave Gon a kind look, a rare look that had been coming out more and more recently. "We've been out since early morning… Look its getting dark out!" He nearly shouted, waving his arms frantically. Gon grinned and pointed at Killua's chest.

"You said it!" He squeaked, happily clapping his hands together. Killua stopped any movement and stared at Gon, confused.

"What did I say?" He asked, suddenly thinking he had said something he didn't mean to. Gon grinned wider and got closer to Killua. Killua's face flushed, the fact that he said something embarrassing became even more apparent.

"You said that you weren't bored when with me!" Gon replied, excited over the tamest sentence. Killua blushed and looked at the ground. Relief spread through his body and he relaxed all of his suddenly tense muscles.

"Yeah… What did you think? That I was?" He asked, overwhelmed by the heat of Gon's close body. Gon nodded a bit, leaning against the nearest tree.

"Well… I thought… Since you always wanna do something else… Maybe you were getting bored with me." He said, his voice catching in his throat. His big, brown, eyes stared at the ground and Killua saw the sadness in them. He gulped down the lump in his throat before counting to ten in his head. If he was going to say it, it was now or never. It couldn't be that bad, especially if he worded things the right way.

"Gon… I could never be bored with you. See… Being with you is fun… And I don't wanna be anywhere else or with anyone else." He exhaled, almost in a whisper. Gon looked up quickly, able to catch everything said, and smiled brightly.

"Really?! You like being with me?!" He asked, super thrilled that his best friend felt the same way as he did. With Killua's sheepish nod, Gon lunged forward and captured him in a tight hug. "I love you, Killua! You're my best friend in the whole world!" He exclaimed, giggling wildly. Killua froze in utter shock. Even though Gon had said that he loved him, it was said in a context completely different than what Killua had wanted to say for ages. Still, the words echoed through his skull over and over, sending him into reeling embarrassment. Gon's light body and cute laughter was all over him and it was making him dizzy. He pushed Gon off of him and stood up. Being flustered was one of his least favorite things, and he had never been this flustered before.

"Hey… Mito-san is probably worried about us… So…We should get back." He mumbled, shaking the blush off of his face while dusting his shorts and legs free from loose dirt. Gon jumped up, raising his hand to the sky.

"Okay!" He exclaimed, marching ahead. Killua walked next to him, almost lost in thought. He did notice when Gon suddenly stopped walking. He looked over at the grinning 12 year old.

"Hey… Gon?" He asked, stopping. Gon giggled and held his hand out.

"Ne… Killua… Hold my hand?" He asked, outstretching his hand further. Killua couldn't help but blush even more and turn away. Killua was used to Gon's random attack of questions that could bring up embarrassing topics, or even asking him to do things as such.

"Why are you asking me things like that? It's embarrassing…" He muttered, avoiding looking at his friend. Gon gave him a sad look before running in front of Killua. He put his hands up in front of the assassin.

"Killua! I've seen it before! People holding hands!" He exclaimed, stopping Killua. Killua looked up, cocking an eyebrow.

"What kind of people, Gon?" He asked, knowing Gon didn't know what holding hands meant. Gon put his finger to his chin, to show he was in thought. His eyes lit up when he came to answer.

"Well! The lady down the street and the baker were holding hands last week! And the fishermen are always holding the hands of girls! So… Why can't we hold hands?" He asked, pouting, innocence dripping from his words. Killua clenched his teeth. There they were; those puppy dog eyes. He looked away, but kept talking.

"Gon… Do you know why those people hold hands?" He asked, knowing he would get a naive answer. Gon glared at Killua.

"I'm not stupid, Killua! You hold hands if you really like someone! And I really like you Killua, so please? Hold my hand?" He asked again, a more pleading look on his face. Killua blushed and finally held out his hand. The only way to make Gon hush was to do ask he asked. This couldn't be so bad.

"Okay… If you say so…" He muttered, awaiting Gon's hand. Gon squealed with excitement and took Killua's hand into his. Killua gasped when he was finally hand in hand with Gon. His hand was rough, from years and years of outdoor activities, months of tough hunter training, and fighting. His hand was the same size as Killua's maybe even a bit bigger, and they welcomed his touch gratefully. Yet, that one hand had enough power to send shivers down Killua's hands, for he had been longing to hold hands with Gon, since the day he was rescued from his home. It was hard for him, knowing his love was unrequited, but as long as he got to be near Gon, he was content. He gave Gon's hand a squeeze and looked over at the happy boy.

"Thank you… Gon…" He whispered, looking straight ahead. Gon cocked his head, but seeing the soft smile on Killua's face, he didn't say a word. Instead, the boy's stayed completely silent, until they reached Gon's home, still hand in hand.

-Owari-

Authors Note: This was an extremely old fic, but one of my most popular HxH fics. Killua/Gon is one of my strong points when writing fluffy romance or bubbly friendship fics. I reread this one a few days ago and looked at the reviews from my old account, and took the advice from those reviews about the OOCness littered through it. SO, I took the liberty of fixing it. Im still awful with tenses, so if something is not needed or the tenses seem off, please let me know!

Original Story: s/3884379/1/Holding-Hands (Put this at the end of the ff net URL)