A/N: Mild suggestive themes towards the end.

Disclaimer: I don't own Leorio, Kurapika, or HxH, but I do own this story! Cross-posting to and Ao3 under ChocolatteKitty-Kat and tumblr as maliciousbubbl3s.

Leorio let a deep sigh escape as he opened the door to his apartment and stepped in… but was immediately on edge when he found it fully lit, with noises coming from the kitchen. In an instant, his switchblade was in his hand and he was on the defensive, but, before he could say a word, a voice rang out from the kitchen.

"Welcome home!"

Leorio's shoulders sagged in relief and he slipped the knife back into his pocket. "Hey! When did you get back?"

Kurapika stuck his head around the corner from the kitchen. "Shoes off," he ordered, before vanishing again.

Leorio chuckled and shook his head, but obligingly kicked off his shoes before heading into the apartment. "Smells good," he said, coming to a stop behind Kurapika and wrapping his arms around the other's waist. "What are you making?"

"Um…" Kurapika paused. "Stir fry, I think."

"You think?" Leorio arched an eyebrow.

"I don't know, I just threw some things in the pan and now I'm… stir frying them. Probably."

Leorio laughed. "That sounds promising."

"Hey!" Kurapika turned around to glare at him. He had pulled most of his bright hair back into a short ponytail, but his bangs still framed his face, accentuating his wide blue eyes and fair skin-too fair; he was getting pale again, and the bags under his eyes were back-as he scowled up at Leorio.

"I'm just saying, there's a reason why I do the cooking around here," Leorio shrugged, backing towards the fridge.

"Oh, come on!" Kurapika protested. "I tried to do something nice, and all you can do is criticize my cooking?"

"You know I'm just teasing," Leorio bent down to kiss him on the cheek. "What are you doing home, anyways? I thought you'd be out of town for a few more days."

Kurapika shrugged. "The job ended early."

Leorio didn't press further. He didn't generally want to know any more about Kurapika's jobs than the other wanted to tell him. "Hey, um… I don't want to sound like I'm criticizing your cooking or anything, but I think something's burning…"

.*.*.*.*.*.

In the end, they resorted to some toasted sandwiches that Leorio made after scraping the burned remnants of Kurapika's stir-fry out of the pan.

"I can taste the burned vegetables on this," Leorio scowled at his sandwich.

"Sorry," Kurapika flushed slightly. "I didn't mean to burn it…"

Leorio laughed. "It's alright. You didn't do too bad, really. Especially for your first time making a stir-fry! They can be tricky if you don't pay quite enough attention, or have the heat to high, or anything."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," Kurapika glared at him.

"Well… maybe a little," Leorio admitted.

Kurapika rolled his eyes, but munched on the rest of his sandwich in silence. After dinner, they both helped clean up, continuing the companionable silence they often found themselves falling into. They settled on the couch once they were done, Leorio reading from one of his textbooks, while Kurapika scrolled through his phone. He tucked his stocking feet under Leorio's leg, and the latter could feel how cold they were through both Kurapika's socks and his own pants. "Honestly, we should just get you a pair of slippers," he said admonishingly, although it was unclear if he was scolding himself or Kurapika.

Kurapika peered over the top of his phone. "Why?" he asked.

"Your feet are always cold!"

"But why do I need slippers? I can just stick them under your leg. Problem solved. You're basically my own personal foot warmer."

Leorio arched an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

Kurapika grinned and scooted down further on the couch, pushing his feet further under Leorio's legs. "See? Foot warmer."

Leorio reached out and pinched Kurapika's thigh, which earned him a kick to the ribs. "OW!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to kick you quite that hard," Kurapika sat up, looking sheepish.

"Yeah, right," Leorio grumbled. He grabbed Kurapika's wrist and pulled the blond over towards him in one smooth motion, his other hand going for Kurapika's ribs to tickle him.

"No!" Kurapika yelped, yanking his free arm down to block Leorio's hand, blue eyes laughing as he did. "No tickling."

"Well, I need to get revenge somehow for you kicking me," Leorio retorted, pulling Kurapika onto his lap and wrapping his arms tightly around him. Kurapika squirmed slightly, not really trying to escape the hug, before finally settling down against Leorio. "That's better," Leorio teased. He leaned down to kiss the top of Kurapika's head and immediately regretted it when he came away with a mouthful of hair.

Kurapika leaned his head against Leorio's shoulder, letting his body sag into the older man's. "Where did my phone go?"

"Here," Leorio handed it to him, then turned the TV on.

"I thought you were studying?" Kurapika asked, already reengrossed in whatever he had been looking at.

"I did enough for tonight. Anyways, I want to watch the news, and it'll be on in a few minutes."

They lapsed back into silence, Leorio focusing on the TV, and Kurapika dividing his attention between his phone, the news program, and Leorio. When the program ended, Leorio turned the TV off and sighed, leaning his head back against the back of the couch.

"Ready for bed?" Kurapika asked, peering up at Leorio's face.

"Yeah, I guess," Leorio yawned.

Kurapika started to slip out from under Leorio's arm, but the other wrapped one arm around his shoulders and slid the other under his legs before standing up, successfully lifting Kurapika bridal-style and carrying him towards the bedroom.

"H-Hey!" Kurapika protested, kicking his legs slightly. "Put me down! I can walk, you know."

Leorio grinned, carefully navigating the narrow hallway and doorway to avoid running Kurapika into the walls or door jamb. In the bedroom, he deposited Kurapika on the bed and moved to the wardrobe to start taking off his clothes.

"Was there a point to that?" Kurapika sat on the bed, arms crossed over his chest and half-scowling over at Leorio.

Leorio turned to grin cheekily at Kurapika, taking in the other's appearance-his hair had mostly escaped from the baby ponytail, and his face was flushed, but his eyes were still blue and his hands were open, not curled into fists, so he wasn't truly angry. "Just… asserting my dominance," he teased before turning back to the wardrobe.

"Leorio?" the tall man nearly jumped when the voice sounded from just behind his right elbow. He turned to look down and found a pair of glimmering red eyes glaring up at him. Kurapika grabbed his shirt collar in both hands and pulled Leorio down to eye level with him. "Let's get one thing straight. You are not the dominant one in this relationship." A shove, and Leorio's back was against the wall. Another tug on the shirt collar, and his lips were pressed to Kurapika's.

Leorio smirked into the kiss and reached down to easily lift Kurapika up. He turned around so that Kurapika was the one with his back to the wall, the blond's legs reflexively lifting to wrap around Leorio's waist. Leorio pulled away and smiled down at Kurapika. "Are you sure about that?"

Kurapika's red eyes flashed, but he didn't answer, instead just pulling Leorio back into another kiss.