Author's Notes:
PAIRINGS: Leorio/Kurapika (Leopika). A secondary pairing appears in later chapters.
RATING: Mature. Sexual content.
SPOILERS? Yes, until chapter 390 of the Hunter x Hunter manga by Yoshihiro Togashi. You may want to click off until you've caught up with the Succession War Arc, or have decided that you don't care. I do attempt to explain the context for the uninitiated.
This first chapter features art by Dibalikawan on DeviantArt. To view the image, check out the version posted on Archive of Our Own (AO3 username: lemonpika).
Chapter 1: Physiological overreaction
The Black Whale powers forward over icy territorial waters.
Sat on a sofa in the living room in the 14th Prince's quarters, Kurapika writes a report on the progress of the Succession War to send to Mizaistom, member of the Zodiacs with the code name "Ox."
Now that we've hit the two-week mark, we have a week to go before the ship docks at the New Continent.
I want to say, of course, that 14th Prince Woble will emerge victorious, but at this juncture I cannot say anything with complete confidence. The situation grows more and more critical as we barrel toward the inevitable conclusion of this bloody battle for the Kakin Empire's throne. There can only be one survivor, after all.
The recently discovered death of 10th Prince Kacho, twin sister of 11th Prince Fugetsu, devastated everyone in her and her twin sister's camps. With 8th Prince Salé-salé and 12th Prince Momoze also dead, eleven of fourteen princes remain in the running.
The guardian spirit beasts, a parasitic type of Nen born of the Seed Urn ceremony, are beginning to make their moves on behalf of their respective princes. These Nen beasts are the unknown and unpredictable variables of this war. Queen Oito is growing anxious that the 14th Prince's beast has yet to manifest, and I attempt to soothe her with empty promises of safety, security, and a happy ending.
The good news is that the 14th Prince's security force has been bolstered by the recent additions of the Hunters originally assigned to the now deceased 10th and 12th Princes. While as a general rule the employees of the younger princes are transferred to the employ of the elder princes, Melody and Hanzo conveyed a special request to be reassigned to 14th Prince Woble on account of the 14th Prince's guards being substantially decimated at an early stage, leaving only Bill and myself.
The elder princes acceded to this request, primarily because they still don't consider the youngest prince, a mere infant girl, as a threat.
3rd Prince Zhang Lei then recalled two of his personal guards, Sakata and Hashito, who had been temporarily purporting to aid Bill and me as we scrambled to recover from the many murders and assassinations that occurred within the 14th Prince's quarters.
Given these recent staffing changes, the following now reside in the 14th Prince's quarters: 14th Prince Woble; 8th Queen Oito, the prince's mother; Shimano, the queen's employee; Melody, the Hunter formerly assigned to the 10th Prince; Hanzo, the Hunter formerly assigned to the 12th Prince; Bill, a Hunter affiliated with Beyond Netero; and I.
I am thankful for the added strength of Melody and Hanzo. Hanzo was my batch mate at the 287th Hunter Exam, and Melody is a close associate from the Nostrade family, so I know them both well. With the periodic and ominous rumblings that warn of even greater perils to come, we will remain vigilant in the face of ever-evolving circumstances.
I must confess, however, that I have personally found these past two weeks exceptionally difficult. For one reason or another, I've had to activate Emperor Time for several hours at once. While this experience has helped me gain crucial insights about the technical limitations of my own ability, I can't say that the experiment has been altogether pleasant. Side effects include migraines, intense fatigue, and fainting episodes.
I can't remember whether I've mentioned this to you back when we were screening applicants together during the 289th Hunter Exam, but the most dangerous aspect of Emperor Time isn't the exhaustion or illness that follows, but its impact on my lifespan. For every second that my brown eyes turn scarlet and Emperor Time is activated, I lose an hour of my life —
Kurapika's pen pauses over the paper before him. Is he perhaps revealing too much?
After a moment's contemplation, he folds away the last two paragraphs in which he describes Emperor Time's effects. Surely, Mizaistom doesn't need to hear about that. No one cares. It's nobody's business but Kurapika's own.
He tears away the extraneous paragraphs and inserts the rest of the page into an envelope, which he then signs with the code name "Rat." Just as he tucks the envelope into an inner pocket of his blazer, Hanzo approaches.
"You busy?" Hanzo asks. "I gotta talk to you about something."
Kurapika gets up from the sofa. "We can talk later. I have to head back to Queen Oito."
"Nen training with the queen again? Already?" Hanzo is incredulous. "Come on, Kurapika. She's exhausted. Don't you think she's had enough for the day?"
"The queen understands why this training is crucial. These defensive and protective techniques that I'm teaching her could mean the difference between life and death for both her and her baby."
"Forget about Queen Oito and 14th Prince Woble for a minute. What about you?"
Kurapika raises an eyebrow. "What about me? What do you mean?"
"I mean stop being such a stubborn ass and check this out."
Hanzo waves a sheet of paper in front of Kurapika's face. Kurapika snatches it and looks.
"It's a schedule of shifts for the guards," Hanzo says. "Melody and Bill drew it up. See here, it's time for your break."
Kurapika stares at him. "What, you want me to take a break? Now?"
"Damn straight. Go lie down or something!"
"I was sitting down just now, wasn't I? Isn't that enough?"
"Listen, Kurapika. The queen needs her rest, otherwise she won't be able to absorb anything you're trying to teach her. And the same goes for you. How do you expect to protect the queen and the prince when you're like this?"
Without warning, Hanzo flicks Kurapika's forehead with a finger. Caught off guard, Kurapika teeters backward.
"See?" Hanzo says. "You're practically dead on your feet! We need you in your best condition."
"You startled me!"
Fuming, Kurapika's eyes wander the room as he tries to formulate an excuse to check in with Queen Oito.
He's doing this for Queen Oito and Prince Woble, of course, but in a way he's also doing this for himself. He prefers watching over the queen and the prince with his own eyes. It's not that he doesn't trust the others, but. . . .
Kurapika's gaze falls on Bill, who is already staring back at him. Bill reddens then whips his head away to resume his conversation with Melody on the far side of the room.
Kurapika narrows his eyes. "Did Bill put you up to this?"
"He did," Hanzo says. "But he has a point, you know."
"What are you talking about?"
"Bill told me you recently overworked yourself and blacked out. Just dropped to the floor, out cold, then stayed unconscious for nine hours afterward."
Kurapika hisses as this reminder. That day, he had activated Emperor Time for three consecutive hours, then collapsed from exhaustion before he could deactivate the ability. Twelve hours of Emperor Time in all, approximately five years of his life. . . .
Kurapika glares at Bill, furious that he talked about that disastrous incident to Hanzo. Bill, however, seems determined to avoid meeting his eyes again, so Kurapika exhales a long breath to calm himself. He doesn't have the energy to kick up a fuss anyway.
"Whatever," Kurapika sighs. "I'm leaving then."
Kurapika has just started heading for the exit, when Hanzo seizes his arm.
"Where do you think you're going?" Hanzo demands.
"Where else? Outside, obviously."
"Like hell you are. It's too dangerous out there! People are dropping like flies in those hallways! Just use one of the beds here. Sleep to your heart's content."
Hanzo grabs Kurapika's shoulders and steers him away from the door, but Kurapika pulls away from his grip.
"There's no way I can relax here," Kurapika says. "Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."
Before Hanzo can say anything more, Kurapika hurries out the doorway and starts traversing the halls of the first tier.
Even without his mind consciously deciding on a destination, his body already subconsciously knows where it wants to go. Somewhere, two tiers below him on this ship seemingly heading straight to hell, is one of the rare people in the world who can evoke echoes of what it felt like to have a home.
Leorio is taking his break alone, lounging on a dusty couch in the dimly lit stockroom of the medical ward. Because there are cardboard boxes of supplies stacked everywhere, he takes care to flick the ash of his cigarette into a half empty can of coffee.
Reaching the end of the page of an anatomy textbook balanced on his knees, he takes a deep drag then stretches back with a sigh.
He wheels around his arms — first his right arm, then his left. His uniform, which distinguishes him as one of the medical staff assigned to the third tier of the ship, is a size too small.
A few months before the Black Whale's expected date of departure, he started getting hyped up, constantly lifting weights as he studied. Now, his biceps strain against the sleeves of his uniform. Should he ask Cheadle whether there are any spares lying around somewhere?
Even so, he can't help but smile down at the red crosses marking his sleeves.
Watch me from up there, Pietro. I'll make you proud. I'm on my way now. I'm far down the road to achieving my dream. I may have lost you, but I won't lose anyone to poverty again. I'll save all the lives that I can.
These thoughts are cut short when a member of the medical staff pops his head into the stockroom. He addresses Leorio as Mr. Boar.
"It's Leorio! Just call me Leorio! What's up?"
The staff member says that Leorio has a visitor, one of his fellow Zodiacs.
Another Zodiac? Isn't it enough that Cheadle the Dog and Gel the Snake are working Leorio to the bone? "Send them in," Leorio grumbles. "Whoever it is, I can talk to them here."
As the staff member slips out of the room, Leorio trains his eyes on his textbook and sulks. He might devote 110% of his efforts during his shifts, but must he be pestered during his breaks too?
A familiar voice floats toward him. "The uniform's looking good on you, Leorio."
Leorio jerks up his head, his face instantly splitting into the widest and goofiest grin possible. There he is — Kurapika, one of his best friends in the entire universe. Kurapika stands there in a midnight blue suit, blond hair messier than usual, a slight smile on his face.
"Kurapika! What are you doing here?"
Kurapika holds up an envelope. "Does Mizaistom ever drop by? Mind passing this message to him?"
Then why is Kurapika visiting the medical ward, not the political ward, where Mizaistom is assigned? Both wards are even found in the same tier of the ship, located practically beside each other.
Kurapika squints down at Leorio. "Since when do you smoke? Shouldn't medical students, of all people, know the adverse effects of nicotine addiction?"
As if to prove Kurapika's point, Leorio starts coughing. "I know, I know. It's a bad habit. The worst. I'm trying to quit, I swear!"
"Look at all the boxes in this room. Are you trying to start a fire?"
"Hey, in my defense, I rarely do this. Honest! It's only when I'm under loads of stress, like right now."
Kurapika plops down beside Leorio on the couch. He leans close to insert the envelope between two random pages of the anatomy textbook, then looks up to survey Leorio's face.
"What are you stressing about?" Kurapika asks seriously.
Now that Kurapika is sitting so close, Leorio notices the dark shadows under his eyes.
"What am I stressing about? The better question is what are you stressing about! Man, you look terrible. Like a red-eyed zombie."
Kurapika leans away. "Sorry for subjecting you to a close-up of my terrible face, Mr. Leorio. This zombie simply needs a nap, then he'll be right as rain."
Kurapika closes his eyes and scoots down so that he can rest his head on the back of the couch.
Leorio watches him for a moment, then decides to speak up. "That position looks way too uncomfortable. You'll wake with a cramp. Rest your head on my shoulder, come on."
Eyes still closed, Kurapika slides sideward until his head bumps against the crook of Leorio's neck. As his soft hair brushes against Leorio's skin, the breath catches suddenly in Leorio's throat.
"How is this position any better?" Kurapika complains. "You're hard!"
Leorio's face immediately heats up. He stares down at his own crotch. Is he hard?
"Have you been working out?" Kurapika asks.
Oh, Kurapika wasn't talking about that.
Leorio struggles to get his mind out of the gutter so that he can stammer out a response to Kurapika's question. "Ah, um. A bit, yeah. Can you feel my biceps, my pecs —"
"Unfortunately, yes, as I'm now using your oh-so-firm muscles as my pillow. Damn, you seriously stink of smoke."
"Should I put out my cigarette?"
"No, it's tolerable," Kurapika says. "As you know, I preside over a mafia family as my day job. I've grown accustomed to everyone smoking endlessly around me."
"Really? You should tell your underlings to stop, the secondhand smoke is worse —"
"Can you please be quiet? I came here to rest, not converse."
"Why even come here then?" Leorio demands. "You know I have a big mouth!"
"Hmm. I'm not sure. But I feel like . . . up there, it's difficult to breathe. Down here with you, it's not difficult at all. Smoke or no."
Touched by the unexpected sweetness of these words, Leorio is stunned into silence. He flips through a few pages of his textbook, only barely registering what he's supposed to be reading.
Maybe he shouldn't keep subjecting Kurapika to secondhand smoke like this. He stops pretending to study and dunks his cigarette into his canned coffee.
He looks down at Kurapika, who is breathing slowly and steadily against his shoulder, already fast asleep.
"You were that tired, huh?" Leorio murmurs. "You're always overdoing things, Kurapika. Even when you know you shouldn't."
He reaches out to gently brush Kurapika's bangs away from his eyes, when Kurapika suddenly makes a soft groaning noise at the contact.
Startled by the sound, Leorio stops moving and watches to see whether Kurapika has woken up, but his friend doesn't move or make any further sound.
Kurapika continues to inhale and exhale warm breath against the sensitive flesh of Leorio's neck. Leorio is now hyper-aware of it — the intimacy of it, the intensity of it. . . .
To his infinite horror, he can feel himself stiffening down there. A goddamn boner! Now, of all possible times!
Far from getting his mind out of the gutter, Leorio's entire being is now trapped in it.
He flips feverishly through the pages of his textbook to find something decidedly unsexy to help him deflate his boner. Of course, he lands right on a full-color spread describing the physiology of genitalia, comparing flaccid to erect penises.
This isn't helping!
Why, oh why did Kurapika have to make such a sexy sound out of nowhere? Why does Kurapika have to feel so soft and warm and small against his shoulder?
Leorio's boner is still rock-hard. Once his break ends, he won't get the chance to jack off in peace. He needs to get himself off now. The circumstances are far from ideal, but does he even have a choice?
He can't nurse anyone back to health if he's too busy nursing his own blue balls, right?
Holding his breath, he very carefully lowers his boxers. His erection springs out, stiff as a rod.
He prays for all the angels in heaven to strum their harps in soothing harmony, anything to ensure that Kurapika stays fast asleep. He then starts to stroke himself with an excruciating slowness.
He begs himself to hurry up and come, but minutes pass with no such luck.
He glances down at Kurapika just to verify whether he's still asleep, and —
No. Kurapika is not asleep. Kurapika is wide awake and staring right at him.
Leorio freezes, his mind going blank.
After an agonizing moment of silence, Kurapika says, "Why did you stop? Did you want me to help?"
What? What did he just say?
Kurapika reaches down and wraps his slender fingers over Leorio's rough hand. He then assists Leorio in moving his hand up and down, up and down his cock.
"Mm. Wait." Kurapika withdraws his hand to stick his fingers into his mouth before getting back to it. "There. Do you like it slick?"
Is this a dream? Even for a dream, isn't this way too much?
Finally managing to break free from his trance-like state, Leorio pulls his hand away from Kurapika's in utter embarrassment.
Undeterred, however, Kurapika continues to pump Leorio with his own fingers.
Leorio should stop Kurapika. He should, but he doesn't want to. Kurapika's skillful motions feel so unbelievably good that Leorio physically can't bring himself to end what's happening.
Leorio doesn't last long, coming violently all over Kurapika's fingers.
He sinks back against the couch, the force of his orgasm sapping all his energy. In a daze, he watches as Kurapika pulls a handkerchief from his trousers pocket to methodically clean his own hand.
Without a word or a backward glance, Kurapika suddenly stands up and escapes from the room in about two seconds.
Panicking, Leorio leaps up to follow him. Leorio is by the door when he has the presence of mind to stop. He can't leave the room like this, can he? Dick still poking proudly out of his pants, traces of cum on his thighs and on the couch.
He pauses to rearrange himself and to wipe off any incriminating evidence from the room, then hurries out the doorway.
By the time he stumbles out of the stockroom and into the hallway beyond the medical ward, Kurapika is long gone.