"Here it is, boys: Vegaslas, the City of Lights."

Gon pressed his nose against the window and gaped at the flashes of neon rushing past them, reduced to colorful streaks by the pace the train sped them along. "You were right, Leo; this is nothing like Yorknew!"

"Please, that flea market? This is where we make the real money."

The statement was the culmination of all the misconceptions Leorio had slowly made apparent over the course of the trip. First was the idea that cheating a casino was easy. Second was the idea that you were safe from being blacklisted as long as they couldn't prove you were cheating. Third was the idea that a casino that blacklisted you wouldn't immediately tell all the other casinos to blacklist you as well. Fourth was the idea that Gon and Killua wanted any part in this nonsense.

"I dunno about you, but me and Gon are here to be tourists," Killua asserted once more. "So just leave us out of whatever you're planning."

And now Leorio wasn't even trying to hide his intentions. "Don't be like that," he pleaded. "You gotta know I'd split the pot even!"

"Like we care. I told you from the beginning that—"

And then Gon suddenly shot his hand up like an overeager five-year-old begging for a turn to talk in class, effectively stopping Killua in his tracks. "I think we should at least hear him out," he said in the answering silence. "Maybe all he wants is something simple, and we'd still have plenty of time to have fun."

Killua looked over and opened his mouth to retort, but Gon met his stare head-on, unyielding. Swallowing his grimace, he drew into himself and muttered, "Yeah, wanna share your grand plan?"

"We win… a lot. At cards."

Now the face Killua made to his friend was the universal expression of can you believe this shit?—but Gon only cocked his head quizzically. Groaning dramatically at his fate as the group's permanent explanation-guru, Killua continued, "By cheating. He wants us to cheat."

"Oh, but how?" Gon asked, and Leorio jumped at the second chance to make his pitch.

"You've got that crazy eyesight! Remember the butler guy throwing that coin around everywhere and how you kept track of it? This isn't that different; what you gotta do is count cards, which'll let you figure out the dealer's hand," he eagerly appealed, and Killua's jaw dropped at the false equivalency in play. Gon, on the other hand, was hanging on every word.

"Eh… But I'm not too good at math…"

"Can you count to fifty-two?"

"Yeah…?"

"That's all there is to it!"

"Wrong again," Killua sighed. "Even if Gon can pull it off, do you really think there aren't safety measures for that old trick? They've got regenerating card decks now, so they never run out of any one card. Get it, old man?"

"Still only nineteen," he muttered under his breath and then shook his head. "B-but anyways, that doesn't change my plan for you, ya brat."

"Oh?"

Leorio fixed him with a smug look. "You're a Transmuter, right? So you use Hisoka's ability to change the cards you're dealt into a winning hand!"

Some people simply had a talent for being wrong, it seemed. If Killua rolled his eyes any harder, he'd probably never see straight again.

"Just because I'm a Transmuter doesn't mean I can use other Transmuters' signature moves at the drop of a hat," he very slowly and patiently explained. "Do you have any idea how much the pedo must've practiced to pull that stuff off?"

"Um…"

"A lot. The answer is a lot. It would probably take me months, maybe even years to learn to do it as fast as he does. So unless you plan on calling Hisoka here—and you better freaking not—just give up and gamble away your money like all the other idiots here."

Leorio blinked, taken aback; you could practically see the cogs turning in his monkey brain as he tried and failed to think of a solution. He opened his mouth to day something, but then the train lurched to a stop.

"/PLEASE EXIT COMPARTMENT AT YOUR DESIGNATED OUTLET. THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING POP-CHOP EXPRESS FOR YOUR TRAVEL NEEDS/"

"Come on, Gon. Let's go check out the hotel," Killua said as he started for the exit.

Gon threw a few worried glances between them. "Oh, uh… alright then! Sorry about your plan, Leo. We can try something else later," he added before following after. Leorio waved him off, scrubbing vigorously at his bangs in frustration.

Determinedly carefree, the filthy yet well-integrated streets seemed to camber beneath him as Killua casually strode away from the train station. Vegaslas was home to many of his earliest kills, where he'd learned how to fade into people's shadows and tail someone through dense and tumultuous crowds. He knew the cityscape here like the back of his hand.

"I can show you all the best places, even the lesser-known stuff! I know the coolest magic shows, the biggest waterslides, the—" And then Killua paused at the realization there was no one beside him. He turned around to find Gon's green figure frozen in the middle of the path, totally dumbstruck by the blinky smorgasbord of media around them. It was more than the pervasive rainbow of casino logos; there were a million tunes hidden in the din, a menagerie of different smells to assault his sensitive nose.

Killua called out his name, but the boy didn't respond, seemingly unaware of the people bustling past him. After a glance over his shoulder, he braced himself and grabbed Gon by the wrist to lead him out of the crowd's way.

"Oh, sorry," he sheepishly apologized. Killua grunted his acceptance, and Gon suddenly slid his wrist out of Killua's grasp so to better hold his hand.

"H-hey," Killua stammered, but Gon just smiled brightly and pulled him along.

The hotel was a huge complex that hosted no less than five casinos off the opening plaza, which was a roofless, park-like arena—covered by a plot of thick grass, the paths arranged with benches and artfully-placed palm trees—all leading up to the two gigantic windows that walled off the lobby. Here, they could finally get a good view beyond the city's horizon, and Gon stared up in wonder at the orangish glow of light pollution tarnishing the night sky.

Killua waved over a vender and ordered them two smoothies. "What do you wanna do first? Jump on the beds? Swim in the pool?"

"Let's wait here for Leorio," Gon said instead, pointing to a pair of lawn-variety armchairs facing the hotel's front doors. He let go of his hand as he plopped himself down, and Killua couldn't have refused him even if he tried.

"So how do you know so much about this place? It's like you live here or something!"

"I did live here for a while," he said quietly.

"Really? For wh—Oh, Leorio!" the boy suddenly called. Leorio gave a half-hearted wave as he walked past them toward the lobby's front door.

"You guys can do whatever," he muttered. "I need a drink." Killua stuck his tongue out at him when he turned his back.

They had the good sense to pause their conversation until the man out of earshot—or, for Killua it was sense, at least, but for Gon it was probably just courtesy. "What's wrong with him?" he finally asked.

"His get-rich-quick scheme didn't work out, and now he's gonna get drunk 'cause he can't deal with it," Killua chided reproachfully. "He'll probably order a few hookers, too."

"Hookers? You mean… oooooh."

"Yeah. Disgusting, right?"

"Well, I dunno. Girls can be pretty nice so long as they're in a good mood, but everybody's that way, I think. Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

War flashbacks of his overbearing mother flickered through his mind. "No, no I have not."

"That's too bad," Gon said. "They're loads of fun!"

Killua choked a little on his drink.

"You've had a girlfriend?"

"Yup! Those ladies who made port on my island, remember? And that's how I was so good with Palm?"

"Oh," he exhaled. "That hardly counts."

"Well, it's more than you can say," the boy quipped, sucking obnoxiously at his cup's straw. "I can help you get a girlfriend, if you want."

He had to smirk at the idea. Gon whispering awful tips to him through an earpiece, and Killua following through with all of it just for shits and giggles. Eventually dragging his date miles through the wilderness just to go look at some bugs for ten minutes. Holy shit, he actually did that with Palm, didn't he?

"Oh yeah? And how exactly would you help?"

"I could, uh… advise you."

"Mm. Riiiight. What's the perfect date, then?"

Please say bug-watching. It'll be hilarious.

"…Take her to dinner. Wait—show up to dinner with a rose. And tell the girl it reminded you of her."

Not as funny as the bug thing, but it still had Killua snorting derisively. "That's so cheesy, dude."

"But girls are into junk like that! Basically, all you have to do is show that you care how they're feeling and give it some romantic kick. Trust me; I know about this stuff."

"Oh, come on," he scoffed. "Don't act like you're some kind of ladykiller. You're still a kid, same as me! So it's not like you've got such a ~treasure-trove~ of experience, alright? And I don't care how many old ladies you helped cross the street back home."

"But—"

"No buts!"

Gon heaved a deep sigh but left the matter alone. They were quiet for a while as they watched the traffic flit by on the boulevard below.

"…When will Leorio be back?"

"As soon as he gets robbed or gets laid. Whichever comes first."

Right on cue, Leorio staggered out of the lobby with a girl on each arm, half-empty champagne bottle in each hand, obviously a few too many drinks in the hole. When his eyes fell on his fellow Hunters, he stopped in his tracks to blink slowly at them, but just as it seemed the stupid-train had finally pulled into station, one of the girls whispered something in his ear, and a sleazy grin broke out on his buzzed-up face. With a boisterous sniff, Leorio whirled around and marched back inside, dragging his giggly entourage along for the ride.

"Honestly," Killua grumbled. "Adults are so dumb. What's so great about sex, anyways?"

"Well, it feels really good if you know what you're doing."

"That's what they all… say…" he trailed off as his train of thought derailed, crashed, and started to burn.

Wait, he suddenly thought to himself. Wait, what? What? What?

Gon got a sly look on his face, eyebrows cocked mischievously while a little smirk played on his lips. "And if you're really good, you can make the girl feel even better, which is a whole other sort of nice feeling."

Killua stared at him even harder. "Hold on," he whispered sharply. "Have you ever had sex?"

"Yeah, totally!"

"Dick in vagina? That sex?"

"Is there any other kind…?"

"Dude!"

"Yeah?"

"What the fuck!"

Gon snickered impishly. "I already told you, Killua: those ladies had a thing for kids, and I happened to be the only boy around."

"But those were just dates!"

"Sexy dates."

"I—I just—" Killua stammered, further unbalanced in the face of Gon's seamless composure. "Does your Aunt know?"

"Well, she knew about the dates… huh. I guess I never went into much detail."

Killua settled back into his chair and turned his gaze back across the hotel plaza. Leorio was making a scene inside—swinging a tennis racket wildly at a hoard of policemen—but the boy hardly noticed. "That's… messed up," he found himself sputtering. "Abuse and—wrong and—and I'm not even talking normal creepy, here! Hell, I'm normal creepy. But this? This is Hisoka creepy, alright?"

Gon gave the obligatory shudder, yet the resolve did not drain from his eyes. "Well, maybe, but it's not like anybody got hurt. If we wanna talk about bad childhoods, then we could talk about yours till the end of time, probably. After all, you were being taught to kill people before you could even walk and stuff. That's advanced creepy, I'd say."

Leorio burst through one of the windows with a receptionist braced under his forearm, seemingly as a hostage. "Sex is different, man. A whole other ballpark. You just don't mess with that."

The police formed an armored brigade that cut off their view of the commotion. "Why? What makes sex so special? It's nice for everyone involved! Murder, now that's unpleasant all the way around."

The sound of another window breaking. "It makes babies! That's a big deal, I think you can agree."

The familiar pop of gunfire. "I guess…"

Leorio appeared again, somehow having climbed up on the hotel roof. "And I thought you didn't care about the murder stuff."

It had somehow become important to him that Gon didn't care about the murder stuff.

"Yeah, you're right; I don't. I just wanted to prove my point. Sorry," Gon offered sincerely, and Killua could see it all too well, the earnesty beaming through every inch of his face. He swallowed stiffly and found his response stuck in his throat. To call Gon an open book would be inaccurate, since understanding a book at least requires some literacy on the part of the reader; his was a cornucopia of thought, overflowing and instantly recognizable—literally springing out at anyone willing to look. Staring him dead-on like this was always a deer-in-the-headlights kind of feeling, a seizure-like trance that never failed to take him by surprise. It was an excruciating beauty; Killua averted his eyes.

"…So why did you do it?"

"Well, they asked me real' nice, and I already knew what it was from hanging around the sailors so much, so I thought, why not? It'll be another experience under my belt! That's what Miss Mito always says about trying new things, anyways."

"And you liked it?"

"Oh, for sure," Gon affirmed, nodding emphatically. "It felt great on my end, and I liked that they liked it, too. They were real' thankful, afterwards—said that nobody knows true loneliness until they've spent a few months at sea. Then they bought me a milkshake for the trouble!"

His mouth felt too dry, but he couldn't make any spit. "Really? That's what you gave your virginity to? Just to please some lonely fucking pedophiles?"

"Killua," Gon started, reaching out to clasp him on the shoulder. He was always saying his name so weirdly, with such an odd cadence to the normal intonation. There was no way for Killua to not hear his name when it was spoken in that voice, to ignore it or forget what was said. The hand on his shoulder felt like a brand burning through his shirt. "If I'm not upset, then why should you be?"

"Whatever," Killua muttered, pushing the hand away. His bitterness removed him even further from the situation, like an island no one understood.

"Don't be mad! It doesn't change anything, after all. This whole time, I haven't been a virgin, and we still got along just fine. Us together, that means so much more than anything in the past," Gon insisted. His eyes were too hazel.

"Hopefully you didn't get the clap," Killua mumbled.

"The what?"

"An STD, moron. Sexually Transmitted Disease."

"Eh…?" Gon wondered aloud, looking down at himself. "I don't feel sick. And that was a long time ago, anyways."

"Well, I feel sick. Your gross story made me sick. Good job."

"I still don't think it's such a big deal," he sighed. "You should try it sometime! It's not that different from touching yourself."

Killua froze in his chair.

"…You know what I mean, right? When you're kind of horny, start thinking of something dirty—someone you like, maybe—and reach down—"

He needed Gon to stop looking at him. A distraction. Anything.

"Killua?"

He knew that he was safe. There was no way Gon could know. But still…

"Oh, my gosh. Have you never even touched yourself before? Is that even possible?"

"Of course I have," Killua hissed through his teeth. "Would you stop talking about it so fucking loud?"

The other boy laughed cheerfully at his embarrassment, and Killua's gut churned with his guilt. It wasn't like he was lying. Gon hadn't asked, so it was fine. But still…

He was getting away with something that he shouldn't be.

"Alright, alright, I get it. Miss Mito's a bit of a prude, too, but I always assumed that was 'cause she's a lady." Gon grinned, showing off all his pearly whites. Killua looked down and said nothing.

"Heeeeey. Don't zone out just yet. We have to wait for Leo."

"I can zone out while I'm waiting, can't I?"

"But then who'll I talk to?"

You could go make friends with someone new, Killua considered saying. You're good at that.

"Hah… Fine, then. My company is too amazing; I get it," Killua said instead.

"It really is! There's no one else I'd rather be with!"

Again, his heart throbbed painfully. Gon was always taking things too far, always stepping over all the lines. What was Killua supposed to say to something like that? How was he supposed to feel?

He felt creepy. Not the normal kind, either. Advanced creepy.

"…You know, this is the part where you might say, Why, thank you, Gon! I feel the same!"

"You wish," Killua laughed. "You wish."