AN: cries because fluff


"This. Is a terrible idea."

"Wrong! This is an amazing idea! Have you seriously never ridden a Dragon before?"

Killua fixed Gon with an unamused glare. "No! No I haven't! Dragons are fucking dangerous, don't you know that?!"

Gon was practically wiggling. Jackass. Just because he was cute didn't mean he could just get away with dumb shit. "Well you're a Dragon, and you're just a little baby kitten!" he chirped, booping Killua on the nose.

The Valkyrie growled in warning, slapping his hand away. Gon slapped back… and now they were having a sissy fight perched on a big ass rock stack in the middle of a fucking archipelago. They'd been hauling ass for a month now, and had stumbled across an enormous lake (it was an archipelago, the ocean was right there, but Gon kept calling it a lake cause he was stupid). It would take another two months if they tried to go around, so naturally Gon had suggested they go across.

Swimming was out of the question, because even if they did swim across neither of them were aquatic humanoids and swimming for two weeks straight was just asking to drown.

There were, however, giant rock stacks dotting the entire body of water.

So of course they had decided to just jump from rock to rock. With their Ren, it was child's play. They could cut the two weeks' journey in half by sprinting from rock to rock! Only problem was… the rock stacks kinda ended in the middle? And now Gon and Killua had wasted three and a half days crossing an archipelago with no way to make it all the way to the other side.

Killua had told Gon that they should have just taken the path through the cavern system, but someone had decided that it would be more fun to cross the swamp! He'd said that there was definitely another entrance to that month's worth of time saving shortcut, but no, no there was not. Crossing the swamp had been chaotic to say the least, so they'd just decided to keep going straight. The cavern system just went straight, how hard could it be to just follow it on the surface?

Giant archipelagos.

That's what was hard.

They were now on top of an enormous rock stack, so high that it was above the clouds, with no choice but to turn around and just walk around the entire archipelago? Or they could backtrack all the way back to the entrance to the cavern system, but that would waste so much time…

But that's when Gon saw the Dragons.

Honestly.

Killua should have expected him to say it, but the second the suggestion left his mouth Killua was just utterly disappointed in himself for falling in love with this of all people.

They were Snow Herold Dragons… or at least that's what Gon's deduction was. It was a small flock, migrating to the northeast… the direction Gon and Killua were headed. Too good to be true, right?! Right?!

Nope! Not for Gon! His idea was to just casually hop onto one of their backs and be carried across the archipelago! No problem!

"You're an idiot! A total freakin idiot!" Killua exclaimed, grabbing Gon's wrists in one hand and prodding him aggressively in the forehead with the other. "There is no universe where this works! Dragons eat humanoids!"

"You're Dragonite! You can communicate with them!"

"That's just a rumor! I killed a Dragon once, I tested that theory, it's just a rumor!"

"But Snow Herold Dragon's are harmless!"

"Do you really believe that they feed off sunlight?! Like fucking plants?!"

"Photoseethinsas!"

"It's photosynthesis!"

Killua moaned in exasperation, releasing Gon and pinching the bridge of his nose. "You know that humanoids suck ass when it comes to classifying Dragons. They're a complete mystery species! They keep to themselves, and we should just leave them alone!"

"But Killuaaaa, they're right there! It'll be so easy!" Gon whined as he pointed behind them, to where the flock was approaching. They were nothing more than tiny pinpricks of shadow in the clouds at the moment, but they would pass below Gon and Killua within five minutes. "We can cross the lake in an hour!"

"And how will we get off? What if they dodge us and we miss? What if they eat us?!"

"Details!"

"Details are important!"

Gon poked out his bottom lip. "Please? For me?"

"We crossed the swamp 'for you' and look where that's gotten us!" Killua retorted, averting his gaze. Dammit. Gon knew his greatest weakness… Gon.

"This'll work out perfectly! I just know it!"

"Your plans are terrible, and they always fail."

"Not always! Just… most of the time. And it's more fun that way!"

"Are we really just out here to have fun?" Killua complained, crossing his arms and sticking his leg out.

Gon's eyes turned soft, melting like molten chocolate. His face lit up in that spectacular grin, the one Killua had fallen for. "Yeah. What's the point in taking a journey if I can't have fun along the way? It's about the way you got there, not the destination. You're right here, and I wanna experience as much as I can with you right in front of me."

Killua's face flushed, and he averted his gaze. Gon…

"Fine. But when this goes horribly wrong you will be solely responsible for our deaths."

"Yayy!" Gon cheered, wrapping Killua up in his arms and spinning him around. The Valkyrie sighed in annoyance, but really he loved this. Loved Gon. He was being so sweet lately… He kept giving heartfelt speeches like that. It was just too much, one of these days Killua wouldn't be able to control himself anymore and would just kiss Gon till he drowned in affection.

But now. He couldn't do that. He was in love with Gon, but that didn't change the fact that Gon was his best friend. He'd just lost him less than two months ago, and now that he knew just what he'd lost? He wouldn't change this for the world.

He'd just love him in silence. He'd hide the true colors of his feelings. He'd be the friend Gon wanted him to be. But when Gon wasn't looking? In the warmth of the night? That's when Killua could show it. That's when he could watch Gon smile under the sun… smooth the furrow in his brow as he slept.

Being in love with Gon was like floating upwards in a bubble. It was all fun and games now… but once that bubble popped? He'd fall from the sky with no hope of ever looking back up again.

The bubble was their friendship, their platonic relationship. Any and all explosive feelings were contained within that thin, soapy layer. But if either of them reached out, and burst the bubble? Releasing all that fiery emotion to the sky? There would be no going back.

And that was what Killua was afraid of… as much as he longed to just drown himself in Gon… he liked what they had. And until he was absolutely certain that things would be okay if they took that final step… he didn't want any powerful emotions sending them tumbling into a fiery embrace.

"Are you ready Killua?" Gon asked, hopping up and down and adjusting his backpack.

"No, but for you I'll endure."

"Aww, you're so sweet!" Gon cooed, wrapping Killua up in a quick side hug and smooshing their cheeks together.

And then there was stuff like that. Gon was a whole lot more affectionate now than he'd ever been before. Killua couldn't tell if it was just them having come even closer together for their struggles, or if it was Gon pushing the boundaries of their friendship. But he wouldn't worry about it. So long as Gon was okay with this… then so was he. He'd take anything, any tiny scrap Gon through his way.

That's how bad Killua had it. He was like a damned starving dog.

It made him kinda disappointed in himself… but when he'd see that dazzling grin?

He couldn't hold a grudge.

"Here they come!" Gon breathed.

Killua braced himself, pumping his muscles with Ren, readying for the jump. The Dragons were approaching, scales sparkling a blinding white in the sun. They weaved in and out of the clouds, like dolphins leaping up to touch the surface. Their enormous wings were like vast sheets of silk, and their powerful bodies rolled with muscle.

They obviously saw Gon and Killua, but didn't seem to mind. There were about 20 of them in total, all in varying sizes, the smallest of which being the size of a school bus and the largest of which being the size of Heaven's Arena stadiums. Their eyes were enormous, sparkling with thousands of years of wisdom and knowledge.

It was said that all Dragons were immortal, that they had flown through the depths of space to settle here, that they were the beginning of all life. Killua didn't know if he really believed that, a whole lot of religions based all their mambo jumbo off of the mystic beasts. But whenever he'd gaze into one of those sparkling eyes? He couldn't help but wonder.

"You ready?" Gon whispered with a grin, grabbing Killua's hand and holding it tight.

"Yeah," the Valkyrie breathed, squeezing back.

"We're aiming for that one, okay?" Gon said, pointing to one of the mid-sized beats. Dragons weren't divided by gender or age, they just were. They distinguished one another based upon the patterns in their scales, the arrangement of their horns and spines. The swirling of colors in their eyes. The one Gon and Killua were taking a ride on had a smooth back, with not many spines. It gave them more room to land without the fear of impaling themselves.

"Got it," Killua affirmed with a nod.

"We go on three, kay? One… two…"

"Three!" Killua interrupted with a wild laugh, jumping off the stack of rocks and dragging Gon along with him. The hybrid squealed in surprise, little shit! If he was gonna drag Killua on this thrill seeking stunt then the least he could do was get a little taste of fear!

Gon yelled out in surprise as they fell downwards in a collision course with the Dragon's back. Killua's musical laughter echoed off the final rock formation, and the Dragons watched in amusement as a pair of playful hitchhikers flung themselves over for a ride. They didn't mind Gon and Killua, they could sense the goodness in their souls.

"WoAh!" Killua yelled when they touched down on the Dragon's majestic back. His boots slipped across the surface of the Dragon's slippery scales, and he quickly lost his footing. The Dragon blinked, its own form of laughter. A smaller member of the flock adjusted its position, ready to catch Gon and Killua on its rougher scales if they didn't manage to stick the landing. But Gon proved both himself and Killua to the flock of Dragons, quickly reaching out and grabbing onto one of the well spread spines along the Dragon's back.

Killua looked up at Gon, who was dangling from the side of the enormous Dragon, one arm holding on and the other arm holding Killua up. The Valkyrie laughed, carefree and ecstatic.

"That was a close one!" he giggled, reaching up to use Gon as a ladder.

"Woah, careful!" Gon nagged as Killua pulled himself up using the top of Gon's head as a handhold. It was cute, Gon had been so ready to jump onto the back of a Dragon, but once they were actually in the act Killua was the one having fun and Gon was the one doing the worrying.

The Valkyrie paused right before Gon, hanging suspended in the air, one hand braced on Gon's head and the other on his shoulder. He leaned in close enough for their noses to brush, and chuckled low in his throat. "Don't worry about me," he murmured, breath dusting Gon's lips.

Okay. So maybe Killua was pushing the boundaries a little bit too.

He continued his climb, stepping unabashedly on Gon's head and kicking off of it to lay on the broad surface of the Dragon's back. Gon released the breath he had been holding, face on fire. Fuck. That had been hot. Killua's existence wasn't fair to Gon's existence! He was too gay for this!

Once Killua was confident in his balance, he laid on his belly and crawled over to where Gon was still hanging. He reached his hand down for Gon to take, and hauled the heavier male on up. Once they were both steady and seated, they both cracked up laughing. This was so freakin awesome! They were riding on the back of a giant dragon!

The Dragons swished in and out of the clouds, humming in welcome to their two visitors. Gon laughed in awe, and waved happily when the biggest of the flock dropped down to fly right alongside them. The sun set low against the sea of clouds, sending the fluffy sea into a peachy orange light. The light reflected off the sparkling scales of the Dragon's, and Gon and Killua gawked at the amazing scene they had placed themselves in.

Gon rose shakily to his feet, the wind was pretty strong (they were sailing over the water below at hundreds of miles per hour). He offered his hand to Killua, who gripped it without hesitation. "Is it okay if we climb up?" Gon called to their new Dragon friend. It hummed a yes, the noise rumbling in the two boys' chests and vibrating the spines along its back.

"Awesome! Thanks!" Gon chirped, tugging Killua alone as they walked along the Dragon's elegant neck. They climbed up the horns to sit on its head, and perched at the best seat in the house. It was like the top of the Dragon's head was designed for humanoid passengers! The spines and larger scales stuck up in the back, creating a little nest area and a safe pocket from the raging winds.

Gon and Killua sat on their knees, leaning together for balance as they sat with a Dragon's eye view, watching a sunset unlike one they had ever seen. Surrounded by a flock of mythical beasts, the two boys soared through the clouds.

Killua was so happy. He laughed lightly, and allowed himself to relax against Gon, leaning his head on his friend's shoulder. "This was an amazing idea."

"See! Told you!" Gon chirped, wrapping his arm around Killua's waist. The two boys settled in for the ride, sleeping peacefully under the stars as their scaly companions adjusted their migration route to keep the boy's from getting off track.


AN: usually I have trouble writing transitionary sections between arcs, but this one was really fun