Chapter Seven – Choices

Killua was curled up in a ball in the far end corner of the balcony. How could he have been so stupid? How did he let himself believe that Gon might feel the same way? How could he have taken advantage of him? And now Gon remembered. Killua felt the bile creep up his throat. He shook his head; he couldn't keep throwing up. He had to pull himself together. He would apologize and Gon would be okay with it. Gon had always been good at forgiving him. He sat there without moving an inch for what seemed like hours.

"Killua" he heard Leorio call out his name. He didn't turn to look at him. He felt Leorio walk over and sit next to him. They stayed like that, in silence, for a little while. Killua heard Leorio take a deep breath in and he knew his friend was about to talk to him; maybe try and snap him out of his self-loathing. Killua wasn't a fan of people cheering him up but he felt he might need a little help right now.

"Gon came to my room this morning" Leorio started. Killua's heart had started to pound harder. Did Gon tell Leorio? "He was really upset" Leorio continued. There it is, the bile creeping back up. "Look Killua I know that your relationship with Gon isn't exactly simple. You guys have known each other for five years now and it's easy to give in to the comfort you give each other" Killua's head started to spin, where was Leorio going with this? "But I think you know more than Gon where those lines are drawn and you shouldn't be taking advantage of that; Gon trusted you" Leorio finished.

Killua felt his heart shattering; like it was made from glass and it was splintering inside his chest. He couldn't breathe; he swallowed hard and nodded slowly still not looking at Leorio. His friend looked like he wanted to say something more but then he got up and left Killua's side. He knew it; it had all been his fault. How was he ever going to face Gon again? He couldn't go with Gon on this trip; or would it be worse if he didn't? Killua felt the air thinning, making each breath painful. His eyes were burning. What am I supposed to do?

"Leorio where's Killua?" He heard Kurapica ask him but he didn't hear Leorio answer. Killua couldn't talk to him. Hearing it from Leorio was already hard enough, he couldn't stand hearing it from Kurapica too. He got up and walked towards his room. He looked down at his feet not daring to meet Kurapica's eyes.

Kurapica saw Killua run past him and could've sworn he saw tears in Killua's eyes. Kurapica felt the anger rising inside him. He walked after Leorio and walked into his room behind him.

"What the hell did you say to him?" Kurapica said slamming the door of Leorio's room behind him. Leorio looked up at Kurapica in surprise. Leorio had his own doubts about getting into the situation, but he felt like something was terribly off; he just couldn't leave without saying something to Killua.

"Look Kurapica I don't think it's really any of your business" Leorio said to his blonde friend, making up his mind; he had made the right choice.

"It's really none of your business either but that didn't stop you!" Kurapica said getting angrier by the second. Leorio looked stunned. Did Kurapica know about the whole thing? How could he not be worried about Gon?

"If you know what's going on then, how can you take his side?" Leorio asked slowly.

"I'm not taking anyone's side! I'm staying out of it" Kurapica said, well kind of. "This is between the two of them. If you had to butt in you should have been comforting Killua not making him feel worse" Kurapica said to him, guessing that was what had happened. Comforting Killua? It was more like Gon needed the comfort, Leorio though.

"Kurapica, Killua is not as innocent as you think" Leorio said to him starting to feel angry at his friend.

"No Leorio, Gon isn't as innocent as you think he is" Kurapica said and stormed out of the room. Leorio looked at his open room even more shocked. What the hell was that supposed to mean?


Gon walked into the suite some time later. The sun was completely down and he could finally face going back to his room now that everyone was safely in bed. He'd been walking around trying to figure out what to do next, but he couldn't think of anything to solve his problem. He knew he'd been so rude with his friends but he didn't know how to apologize without explaining what had happened. He stood in front of the two doors he was dreading. One lead to his room with Killua and the other lead to the empty room. He wanted, with all his might, to just go into the first room and joke around will Killua and fall asleep on the same bed. Maybe even hug him as closely as he had been hugging him when he woke up.

He looked at the other door. He couldn't face Killua and act as if nothing happened; he took a deep breath and walked to the second door and pushed it open. He closed the door and leaned his back against it. He didn't want this. He didn't want to feel this way and have to be so far away from Killua. Why couldn't things go back to normal? If he had just not gotten drunk yesterday everything would be fine. Why did he have to screw everything up?

"Gon" he almost screamed at the sound of his name. He turned on the light and saw Kurapica sitting on the arm chair in the corner of the room.

"Kurapica! When? Why?" Gon asked feeling his heart beating fast. Kurapica sighed.

"Leorio and I are leaving early tomorrow and I didn't want to leave without talking to you. I want you to know Gon, that I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't care about you" Kurapica said softly. Gon walked over to Kurapica and sat in the bed in front of him.

"What is it?" Gon asked feeling a slight nervousness in his stomach.

"I know that I shouldn't be interfering with your life" Kurapica started but Gon interrupted him.

"You're not interfering; I care about what you have to say" Gon said smiling at Kurapica. His friend returned his smile.

"Well, you remember the other day when you were telling me about the problems you were having?" Kurapica asked and saw a slight confusion on Gon's face, "With Killua" he clarified and Gon looked away from him. Kurapica knew this wasn't going to be an easy conversation, but he couldn't stop thinking what he could do to help after he saw Killua so upset.

"Mhm" Gon answered still not looking at him.

"You were hurt that you didn't understand why Killua was acting differently towards you?" Kurapica asked and Gon nodded. He didn't need to remind him; Gon knew now why he'd been acting that way.

"I get it now" Gon said looking at his feet. Kurapica knew that would be his reply.

"That's the thing Gon, I don't think you do" Kurapica said honestly. This made Gon look up at him. "You need to stop talking to other people about your problems with Killua" Kurapica said speaking out his final decision. Gon looked back at him confused.

"But you helped me think, and Leorio and Miko" Gon said thinking about who he had trusted with his problems. Kurapica sighed, he knew Gon had said something to Leorio, but telling Miko was only going to confuse him further.

"But not Killua?" Kurapica asked him. Gon looked away again. He couldn't face Killua much less have a conversation with him. "You are having a problem with Killua and you should look at him to get the answers you want" Kurapica said.

"I can't" Gon said softly.

"Gon, you are taking the easy way out" Kurapica said sternly and saw how something awakened in Gon's eyes. He knew Gon never liked to take the easy way out on anything. "Taking that road would only lead to bigger problems in the long run. Right now Killua is just as hurt and confused as you were" he continued, now talking softly to his friend.

"I don't want to hurt Killua!" Gon said suddenly concerned. He hadn't stopped to think that Killua might be upset with him.

"Then you agree you owe it to him; to talk to him and sort things out?" Kurapica asked him. Gon nodded slowly.

"But Kurapica, I can't look at him" He said and felt a relief just saying that out loud. Kurapica felt he reached a point in the conversation were he couldn't intrude any longer.

"Killua is your best friend Gon. I'm sure you have your reasons to be scared but you have to consider if you are willing to lose him over that fear" Kurapica said. He knew he had helped as much as he could. "Get some sleep Gon and think about it" Kurapica said and got up from the chair. He reached the door and looked back at Gon sitting, looking at the same spot not moving an inch. I hope they can work it out.


Disclaimer: I do not own HunterxHunter (blah blah blah)

Side note: So these chapters have been stressful! I hope you are intrigued as to what is coming up next because it's coming up soon! To my sweet reviewers, thank you so much. I absolutely love it when I receive that email that tells me there is a new opinion about Pandora's Lair! Please keep them up! XD

I do hope the story is not too predictable. Sometimes it's hard to move the story from its natural course, specially if you want to keep yourself true to the original characters as much as you can. With that said, I plan on surprising you (I hope) in the future with some racy stuff! Be prepared!