Bubble Tea

A/N:

Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you enjoyed it (I do to).


The door opened, and Hisoka beamed fondly at the four curious boys.

"Welcome to Bubble Tea," He spread his arms. "My sweet ripening fruits."

Yes.

It all started with the magic of a cup of bubble tea.

xXx

Gon, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika stared at the grinning red-haired man before them. And sharing looks with each other, whirled around to leave.

"Wait!" Hisoka cried out, very much surprised.

As the four turned back to look at him, he softly laughed at his own desperate tone. He must have been lonelier than he had thought.

"Sorry for calling you four 'my sweet ripening fruits' – it's a mere nickname I give to my customers." He chuckled. "I meant no harm – it was out of affection and gratitude."

When his customers still stood frozen by the door, he murmured, "Well, more out of affection, but..."

Gon's crew continued to stay rooted in their spots, and Hisoka raised an eyebrow. He placed his hands to his hips.

"I'm not strange; I'm just very eccentric, okay?"

Gon, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika all raised an eyebrow at that, and Hisoka plus the four stood there in the small café, staring at each other with their eyebrows raised. It was when Hisoka whipped out a cup of bubble tea from out of no-where ("Bubble tea, anyone?") that the four began to take seats. Hisoka chuckled.

"Ne, ne, Killua!" Gon spoke first as he went over the menu. "What are you having?"

Killua scratched his cheek and slightly blushed.

"Uh, I dunno… I've never really had bubble tea before…"

"There's Chocolate bubble tea." Kurapika offered, smiling as Killua's face brightened.

"I'll have that, then!"

Hisoka, the ever-observer (and stalker), took a quick note in his My Sweet Ripening Fruits memo pad.

Killua (white haired, blue eyed boy, dresses like a skater-boy, looks about 12): Has a fetish over chocolate.

"What type of bubbles do you want, kid?" Leorio asked as he glanced at the menu as well.

"I-I told you I don't know, old man!" Killua frowned with a blush.

Smiling, Hisoka added to his observation,

Apparently a tsundere. And a big one at that.

"HEY! I'm only nineteen, thank you very much!"

Blinking, Hisoka jotted down,

Leorio (black haired, black eyed male, tall, wears a suit and carries a briefcase, unbelievable, but he is 19): He looks much older than he actually is. Apparently hot-tempered.

"Black Tapioca pearls are the most common." Hisoka suggested.

Killua sent the waiter/café owner a shrewd look, but shrugged anyway.

"What about you, Kurapika? Leorio, what will you have?" Gon piped in.

"I will be having Oolong Tea with Frog Eggs." Kurapika smiled.

Hisoka chuckled, amused. It seemed that this blonde knew what he was talking about.

Kurapika (blonde, brown eyed male, wears an odd skirt-like blue fabric with gold patterns, looks extremely feminine, 16?): It seems that he is smart. He surely knows his bubble teas! :D

"Huh. I'll have a, um…" Leorio scrunched his eyes and chose a random drink. "Milk Tea with…black Tropical pearls or whatever they were."

Kurapika sighed, and he and Killua corrected their tall friend in unison,

"I believe its Tapioca pearls. / Its Tapioca pearls, you idiot."

As Leorio screamed at the two about how he didn't care ("WELL I'M SORRY FOR BEING IGNORANT; I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!), Hisoka found himself some new information to write.

Kurapika: Very polite but it seems he is the nagging type to correct every single mistake.

Killua: Has an excellent memory. I think he is quite clever. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a foul mouth though.

Leorio: Over-reactive and has a rather foul mouth. What a funny man. ^^

"What are you having, Gon?" Killua asked, completely ignoring the man. ("HEY, BRAT!")

"Umm… Ooh! I'm having Green Apple Green Tea with…Coconut jelly!"

"Apple. But of course." Killua smirked.

Hisoka perked up at this order as he smiled widely and nodded to his self.

"A very good choice, boy." Green Apple Green Tea was one of his confidential teas.

Gon (black spiky hair with a tinge of green, wide and innocent brown eyes, wears all green, looks 12): Cute! Absolutely adorable. Shota. Bright, energetic, enthusiastic and kind. Innocent and dumb. Oblivious. It seems he likes Apples! I will call him Apple-chan. :)

"So one Chocolate with Black Tapioca pearls, one Oolong Tea with Frog Eggs, one Milk Tea with Black Tapioca pearls, and one Green Apple Green Tea with Coconut jelly?" Hisoka repeated their orders. When the four nodded, he smiled. "Hm~ Very interesting orders~" And with that, he went back to his counter to make the four bubble teas.

Once he was gone, Leorio shivered.

"God, he's one creepy man…"

"Yeah." Killua narrowed his eyes as he lowered his voice. "I wonder what he kept jotting down in that memo pad of his."

"So you noticed too, Killua?" Kurapika looked about as serious as Killua did.

Leorio and Gon sat in their seats, dumb-founded and clueless.

"I thought he was writing our orders." Gon cocked his head, whispering as well.

"That's what I thought too, but he wrote a bit too much and often for that…" Killua murmured. He lowered his low voice even lower. "I felt that he was…observing us?"

"Oh, who was observing who?"

Everybody jumped at the sound of Hisoka's cheerful(?) voice. They turned their heads to see him at his counter, making their teas. All four of them were thinking of the same thing. How could he have possibly heard them from such distance?

Killua, a quick thinker and actor as he was, spoke,

"We were just talking. It's none of your business."

Hisoka laughed.

"I suppose it isn't, Killua."

Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio couldn't say another word after that. It was chilling enough that Hisoka could hear their silent whispers, but it was absolutely terrifying that he remembered Killua's name and said it so casually.

"But you know…" The four looked at Hisoka to see him walking towards them with a tray of cups. "It may be exactly my business." Hisoka's lips curved into a smile, and Killua felt that this man was dangerous. "Did I ever tell you four what other reasons this café was made for, excluding selling bubble teas?" He laughed. "Of course not. I would have remembered."

Having reached their table, Hisoka started setting down the ordered drinks.

"One Chocolate with Black Tapioca pearls for Killua, one Oolong Tea with Frog Eggs for Kurapika, one Milk Tea with Black Tapioca pearls for Leorio, and one Green Apple Green Tea with Coconut jelly for Apple-chan – ah, I mean, Gon." Hisoka licked his lips. "Enjoy."

All the four could do was stare at their teas in shocked and tensed silence.

"On second thought," Hisoka pulled a chair from the table next to them and sat with the four (next to Gon). Pulling out his own bubble tea ("Secret Magic Special" – a special bubble tea with secret ingredients made by himself), he grinned. "I'll join you!"

He planned it all along. HE PLANNED IT ALL ALONG. Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio could not help but mentally scream these words.

"So…" Gon, the ever courageous one, started to say. "So what's the other reason you created this café?"

"Me? Create this café?" Hisoka paused and stared at Gon with wide eyes as if he couldn't believe the boy had said such a thing. He softly laughed. "Oh no, it wasn't me who thought up of this café."

Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio shared mystified looks of surprise, and bravely, Leorio asked,

"Then who did?"

"What did." Hisoka corrected. Slowly sipping his tea – oblivious to the four teenagers' curious and eager looks – he smiled a feather-soft smile and gently spoke, "Magic. It was magic."

For the first time ever since they met, Hisoka's smile didn't spook the four friends out at all. On contrary, they began to wonder about this 'magic' Hisoka spoke of.

It was Killua who froze first, followed by Leorio, Kurapika and Gon.

Magic?

"Wait, wait, magic?" Killua exclaimed incredulously, doubt thick in his tone.

"Hang on here!" Leorio slammed the table with his hand. "You're telling us, that this café appeared by magic, just like," Leorio clicked his fingers in Hisoka's face. "That?"

"I find it quite hard to believe myself." Kurapika murmured. He then sent Leorio a look. "Please, Leorio, don't ever do such a motion again. It's rude and girly. It's bitchy."

It was Killua who sent a look at Kurapika this time.

"And don't you ever say 'bitchy' again, Kurapika. You sound bitchy – you know, especially with your looks and all."

"Yeah, you look like a bit-"

Leorio was cut off by Kurapika's murderous glare, and Killua meekly rose his shaking hand saying,

"I-I mean, it..it doesn't suit you…"

"Yeah… Since you..you know…you're polite and all…" Leorio trailed off.

Hisoka chuckled at the amusement of the situation.

"Cool!"

Silence.

Everybody froze at Gon's excited voice, and stared at the green shota who grinned at them, oblivious.

"I never knew magic could be so great!" The boy happily exclaimed. "I mean, of course I knew it existed, but you know, it's not like I ever imagined that it could build a whole café!" Gon blabbered on. "Wait, but why didn't I ever think of it? Magic is a very powerful think, and Aunt Mito would always tell me to believe in magic, and-and-"

Hisoka burst out laughing, and Gon's three friends soon followed.

"Huh? What? What's so funny?" Gon cocked his head.

"Ah~" Hisoka chuckled. "Nothing, Apple-chan." He smiled. "Nothing."

Gon turned to his three friends in confusion, but all they did was smile warmly at their shota friend.

They weren't going to ruin the elated hope of their friend with small taunts (even Killua was holding it in – though this was mostly because Kurapika kept shooting him glances of warning). If there was even a single child who believed magic, then true magic truly existed.

"So as I was saying," Hisoka folded his hand beneath his chin. "This café was created not just like," Hisoka clicked his fingers in front of Leorio's face. "That." He smiled when everybody except the spectacled man giggled. "It all started by the magic of a cup of bubble tea." Hisoka sighed dreamily.

The four shot each other looks, and decided not to ask further questions in case Hisoka truly did lose his mind more than he had already now.

"And as I was saying before," Hisoka continued. "This café stands for two simple purposes: first," Hisoka raised a finger. "To show sweet ripening fruits the wonder and beauty of bubble teas,"

"He means serve people bubble tea." Killua 'translated the literature' into Gon's ears.

"And second," Hisoka raised another finger, and with a mysterious smile he spoke, "To help sweet ripening fruits solve complicated doubts, problems, and complexes that are currently bothering them. They don't always have to be complicated – they could be a simple matter. For example, you could wonder 'what colored shirt should I wear tomorrow: blue or red?' and I would always be here to help."

"He means he likes having gay conversations- I mean…" Killua gulped as Hisoka sent him a (murderous) smile. "He means he'll consult and give advices."

"Well that's very kind of you!" Gon beamed. He slurped at his tea. "You make very good teas too!"

"Why thank you, Gon." Hisoka did a magician's bow in his seat.

Give advices and solve complexes… The Kuruta frowned thoughtfully.

Nobody seemed to have noticed this as they blabbered among themselves while inhaling their teas. ("Kind? Like I'd ever ask that freak for advice." "Don't be mean, Leorio!" "What, Gon? It's true!" "Since when did you have problems to ask advice about, old man? Oh wow, I never realized you were such a thoughtful person, I apologize, sir." "KILLUA, YOU BRAT! Don't you start laughing, Gon!") Hisoka, on the other hand, did, and he narrowed his eyes at the blonde with a smile.

It seems I'll be having a customer tomorrow… The magician licked his lips.

"Isn't it about time you unripe fruits have to go home?" Hisoka asked casually. "Of course I don't mind, but it's getting late and you four must have school tomorrow…"

"AH!" Gon shouted as he stood up quickly. "Aunt Mito would be so mad at me! She'll start nagging at me again about how I shouldn't follow dad's example of coming home late every day!"

"I have to visit the hospital to see Pairo as well…" Kurapika murmured.

"Oh, I forgot I had science lessons today…" Leorio sighed along as he scratched his head. "I would be so much more excited if my tutor was a pretty woman."

"Pervert." Killua rolled his eyes.

"Brat." Leorio glared. "Don't you have anything?"

"I'm babysitting my sister." Killua said with a large grin. His grin grew as he said, "Father and Illumi are still at work, and Mother will be taking Kalluto shopping."

Hisoka stared at Killua at the name of 'Illumi'. Hn~ Interesting~

"What about your other brother? Milluki?" Gon piped in.

"Oh, that fat pig? He'll be in his pigsty as usual." Killua shrugged.

"Sister? Excuse me if I'm wrong, but I thought the Zoldyck siblings were all male?" Kurapika blinked.

"Oh, well… Alluka's special." Killua sighed. "It's complicated. Male sex, female gender, you know?"

Indeed Kurapika did, and apparently, Leorio did too as he nodded, but clearly, Gon didn't.

"You seem happy about babysitting." Hisoka observed.

Leorio smiled evilly, and Kurapika shot him a look of 'don't you dare'.

"Well you see, the brat has a bit of a brother- I mean, sister-complex-" Leorio was cut off by Killua's kick in the stomach.

"Killua really cares about Alluka." Gon explained, sweat-dropping at the wrestlers that were Killua and Leorio.

"I really must be going now." Kurapika said apologetically as he stood up. "Killua, Leorio, stop fighting now." Kurapika snapped. "See you tomorrow at school, Gon. And thank you for the tea." Kurapika nodded at the red-head who nodded back cheerfully.

"Bye Kurapika~" Gon waved in reply.

"Hey, no goodbyes for me?" Killua frowned at the blonde.

"Or me?" Leorio pouted.

Kurapika rolled his eyes and ignoring his two other friends, the Kuruta exited the café.

"Come on Killua, Leorio, we should go too." Gon urged the two huffy boys.

"Che." / "Fine…"

"Thanks for the tea!" Gon waved at Hisoka, Killua and Leorio following suit.

And once again, the café was silent, only filled with the calm soothing magic of bubble tea.

"How enjoyable that was~" Smiling, Hisoka started cleaning up the table when-

Ding-a-ling.

The door opened again, and an unsurprised Hisoka found that it was a certain blonde.

"Yes, Kurapika?" Hisoka blinked.

"Um…" Kurapika fidgeted uncharacteristically. "Can I…can I come here again tomorrow?"

"But of course~" Hisoka smiled. "Will you be coming with your friends again?"

"No… Tomorrow I'll be…alone." Kurapika stared at the ground with hard sadness.

"Of course." Kurapika looked up to see Hisoka's smile still in place. But it wasn't a warm one as it had been a second ago; this smile was one of mystery. "If you can find it, of course…"

Kurapika was mystified and confused, but instead of asking, he nodded awkwardly and left.

"How amusing." Hisoka chuckled to himself. Flipping his phone open, he called a number. "Hello? Yes, well, I just thought you might find this somewhat amusing~ Hn~ I wouldn't be able to tell you that now, you spoiled fruit." Hisoka bit his lip to hide a giggle. "Why don't you drop in tomorrow afternoon? Ohoho~ If you can find it, that is… Where? My café, of course! Why, would you rather come over to my house alone? Maybe you can wait until night for that~" Hisoka blinked at his phone when it hung off, and laughed. "So humorless as always~" The café owner stretched his arms and placed his hands on his hips. "Now to start cleaning…"

xXx

"My Sweet Ripening Fruits" – by Hisoka the Magician

Killua Zoldyck (white haired, blue eyed boy, dresses like a skater-boy, looks about 12): Has a fetish over chocolate. Apparently a tsundere. And a big one at that. Has an excellent memory. I think he is quite clever. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a foul mouth though. A Zoldyck! He's related to Illumi! Oh, what fun! Refers Alluka in female terms… Hm… Interesting. Whenever Illumi spoke of his second youngest brother, he would call it 'the thing'…

Leorio (black haired, black eyed male, tall, wears a suit and carries a briefcase, unbelievable, but he is 19): He looks much older than he actually is. Apparently hot-tempered. Over-reactive and has a rather foul mouth. What a funny man. ^^ Studies science and is smarter than he looks. Fond of women.

Kurapika (blonde, brown eyed male, wears an odd skirt-like blue fabric with gold patterns, looks extremely feminine, 16?): It seems that he is smart. He surely knows his bubble teas! :D Very polite but it seems he is the nagging type to correct every single mistake. Has a brother(or friend?) named Pairo who is currently in the hospital. Timid and sensitive about his personal information.

Gon (black spiky hair with a tinge of green, wide and innocent brown eyes, wears all green, looks 12): Cute! Absolutely adorable. Shota. Bright, energetic, enthusiastic and kind. Innocent and dumb. Oblivious. It seems he likes Apples! I will call him Apple-chan. :) Kind and polite at times. Lives with his aunt (Mito) and his dad who's always late to come home. Apparently, his aunt dislikes his dad and is quite the nagger.

xXx

"Wow, that was one freaky guy, huh?" Leorio shuddered.

"He was so weird." Gon nodded.

"Creepy." Killua added.

"And he knew all our names when even we didn't…know…his…" Leorio trailed off, and the three stared at each other. "We don't know his name." He whispered.

The silence was broken by Killua's cursing.

"Dammit, I can't believe we didn't even think of asking him for his name…"

"Wahhh! We didn't even ask his name! How rude of us!" Gon wailed.

"We don't know his name."

"Well he was rude too, not even introducing himself." Killua growled angrily.

"We don't know his name."

"Wahhh! But we still should have asked!" Gon wailed louder.

"We don't know his name."

"DAMMIT, STOP SAYING THAT, OLD MAN!" Killua burst out, glaring daggers at the two of them. "Just shut up for a moment, will you?"

Gon and Leorio fell silent as they waited for their bossy friend's next orders.

"Do you think we should go back and ask?" Killua murmured to himself. "But that seems so stupid. We could always ask him another day, and I can't be bothered going back-"

"Yeah, let's go!" Gon ran past his friends towards the café.

"Huh?" Leorio blinked.

"Wait, Gon!" Killua cried out.

"Race you!"

That was all he needed to hear for the blue-eyed boy to follow his green friend.

"Bye, old man!"

"Come on, Leorio!"

"Huh?" Leorio blinked again. "Huh? Wait, hey, wait for me you brats!" The tall boy soon stumbled to catch up.

It only took Gon and Killua five minutes to arrive, but as soon as they did, all they did was stare at the café. …Or where the café should have been. It had disappeared. Bubble Tea, was nowhere to be seen. Minutes ago, there had been a small café, alone in corner of the town, but now; there was nothing but thin air. An empty space.

"God, you kids…running like that so fast…where the hell do you get such energy…" Leorio panted, finally having caught up. But he was surprised when Gon and Killua started running home as fast as they could. "Huh? Wait, I thought…what? Why are you running like you've just seen a ghost or something? Aren't we going to go to…" Frowning, he glanced at the empty spot and scratched his head. "Strange, I feel like there used to be something here…" As he scratched his chin in thought, he suddenly remembered that his friends had ditched him. "HEY! Wait! Gon and Killua, you brats! When I get my hands on you… HEY!" With the last glance behind his shoulder, Leorio, too, ran home.

"Ohohoho~"

xXx

"…and I tell you, Pairo, the café owner was such a strange man." Kurapika sighed as he spoke to his unconscious friend as he did every day. "If his red hair wasn't eccentric enough, his outfit sure was. He was like a clown. Or a magician, by the way he spoke of magic…" Kurapika trailed off as sudden realization hit him. "I don't know what his name is." The blonde looked dumbfounded. "I never asked… We never asked… He never told us." He glanced at the unconscious boy. "How rude of us. How rude of him. How rude of me." Placing his hand on Pairo's hand, Kurapika whispered sadly, "Pairo… I hope you get well soon…"


A/N:

I love how 'cliche' is acceptable when it comes to Hisoka.