Everyone Drinks Pale Ale

Rating: PG 13

Pairing: Killua/Kurapika, hints of Leorio/Kurapika

Warnings: Hints on sexual situations and some profanity

Summary: As he assists Kurapika in collecting the remaining eyes of the Kuruta Clan, an eighteen year old Killua realizes that he's been yearning for something for the past six years.

Chapter 2

* * *

Kurapika and I had breakfast in a small cafe'. The morning was unbearably cold for some. Couples and friends, all wrapped up in thick wool jackets and scarves, chatting the morning away. Today, we were going to a small underground auction. Ikalgo had given us the location last night and gave as much information he could regarding the rumors about the scarlet eyes of the Kuruta tribe being auctioned off. Yeah, Ikalgo's a cool guy like that.

He may be an octopus, but he's really cool.

Kurapika had fried eggs, freshly baked buns and a warm serving of tea.

What a perfectly balanced meal. I thought to my myself, trying to push aside thoughts of how exactly I was going to apologize for last night. I'm bad at these things. When I apologize, I usually meant it and it was hard to me to do it. But this time around, I'm a little embarrassed about it. I've never imagined I'd apologize for something so stupid.

Perhaps, the real goal of a human being is not perfection, but balance. I took out a chocolate bar out from one of coat's pockets and began to unwrap it.

If that were the case, then would perfection be the same as balance? I snapped off a piece of chocolate and ate it. As far as I'm concerned, perfection and balance are absolutely subjective. Could it be that a balanced fighter would be the perfect fighter? And if he were, wouldn't this make that person the strongest?

I chuckled.

Of course not.

"Chocolate in the morning? You're such a strange boy." Kurapika offhandedly commented as he used his bread knife to slice his buns into two equal parts. He performed it as though it were a sacred ritual. Uptight as ever.

"'Boy' Huh? That kind of has a bad ring to it now." I continued eating. I looked towards the window that was couple of seats away. "I'm hardly a kid. In fact, I've hardly been one to begin with."

"If you don't want to be called a kid then you should stop acting like one." He replied calmly.

"Shit. You're really good at arguing."

"Call it natural talent. I may not be as stubborn as Gon but I'm very good at defending my own beliefs." He smiled again.

I scratched the back of my neck. Geez, being with him was getting more uncomfortable by the second.

"Forget it. Let's just think about how we're going to get back the eyes of your friends."

"Killua," Kurapika wiped his mouth with a napkin. "to be quite honest, I intend to buy it. The eyes of my comrades, as much as possible...I wish to retrieve them by more peaceful means. But if the situation calls for it, then less honorable methods are inevitable."

Here he goes again, going on about how to compromise two conflicting solutions to solve a problem.

"Hey, rather than thinking about it. I think that you should just do the best you can. There are some things that don't you don't need to agonize yourself about. This is one of those things." I picked up my hot chocolate and drank it.

"Chocolate again?"

"Didn't I say there are things that you don't need to agonize yourself about?"

"Y-yes." His eyes widened.

"Just so you know, this is one of those things." I grinned.

My relationship with him is pretty odd. I never had the time to think it over, but sitting here had made me realize that. I can't be like Leorio to him, and he can't be like Gon towards me. Yeah, it's definitely strange and I don't know why.

"Once you have the eyes of your comrades back, what then?" I found myself asking this.

Dead silence.

"I don't know. All my life, that's all I've been set out to do."

"I see..."

We sat there quietly until we finished our respective meals. I glanced at the older man in front of me. How could someone so strong, be so fragile? Just by looking at him, I felt this amazingly overwhelming feeling of unease.

* * *

The auction was at around eight in the evening. Half past six, we were already prepared to drive to the location pinpointed. I was vain enough to wear a suit. Kurapika wore his usual clothes.

"Ahh, you're no fun." I sighed. "I even had us go on a nice car."

I knew how to drive since I was seven, but this was my first time driving out on the road. Irony, go figure. Kurapika sat by the passenger's seat. He wasn't any fun to talk to either. He kept rubbing his hands together as though he were cold.

"Are you okay?" I asked him out of concern.

"Yes. I'm fine. Just a little anxious, that's all."

If you think about it. My life is in a very peaceful place right now. It's shockingly peaceful, it's been a while since I fought anyone. Admittedly, it can be a little boring. And yet, it's so quiet, I can't help but be thankful for that.

"Kurapika." I mumbled out his name clumsily.

"What?"

"It's nothing."

I didn't have anything to say.

* * *

At exactly eight o' clock, Kurapika and I arrived at the underground auction. We looked around and I couldn't stifle my laughter.

"We've got tons of bad seeds around here, don't we? Man, look at this place it's like a congregation of ugly, bald guys with small dicks."

Kurapika pressed a finger against his lips. "Quiet. It's not good to take anything by face value."

"But you can tell it too right?" I inched in closer towards him.

Six years later and I'm taller than Kurapika. Maybe five or six inches tall, I believe. I was hovering over him, admiring that peculiar but intense blue color of his eyes, it stands out even in the darkness of evening.

"I don't think anyone here is a threat." I wore a wide smirk.

Man, I don't even know where I got this confidence from. It must've been the suit. It's the suit all right.

"What's with you all of a sudden?" He placed a hand over my chest to push me away. "Don't be too full of yourself."

* * *

We sat through the entire action which lasted for three hours. By the end of it we had hoped that the eyes were going to be auctioned off last. Instead, it happened to be a fancy, frilly pink dress that a very popular girl idol wore on her debut concert.

I looked around again. Taking into consideration that Milluki was an otaku loser born into an assassin family, I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out here. Fortunately, he wasn't.

I made a big sigh of relief. "Kurapika, sorry about this. Ikalgo must've gotten it all wrong."

"No." He shook his head. "I refuse to believe that Ikalgo-san would make such an incompetent mistake."

"W-What?" I blinked. "Do you have a plan or something?"

"Certainly."

* * *

Notes: Hello! Thank you for everyone's reviews, I was pleasantly surprised! I hope that this chapter isn't a disappointment to you guys. I have to be honest and say that capturing their personalities for me was a bit of a challenge and I don't know if I got Killua or Kurapika right. But hope you guys enjoy it! Thanks!