A/N: Hello, it's me! How are you? Are you well? I hope you are. It's been a while; more than 5 years, I think, since I last uploaded a new story here. I've missed this fandom so much and I want to contribute more content. I love HxH too much to let go of writing about them. So, while I prepare the next chapter of my long-shot school AU fic, here's one story I never published here. This was a gift to my Secret Santa baby in a HxH Christmas event over at Tumblr back in 2014. I loved this story so much that I want to share it with y'all now. :)

Setting: School/College AU

Disclaimer: Kurapika and Leorio are Togashi's

SOLACE

"Are you going?"

"…Where?"

Leorio flinched and yanked his back straight, shunning away from his bed where his clothes laid scattered around on and his suitcase rested gaping. His eyes were wide, surprised, gazing upon his blonde roommate who sat across the room from him, reading a book beside the ice-cold windowpanes permeated with chunks of thick snow. He looked at him with curiosity swimming in his irises. It was the first time that season that somebody had given a rather odd response to a customary question. Blinking, he turned around to face him. Then he remembered. "Aren't you… going somewhere, Kurapika?

The addressed returned the gaze, shutting his hardbound book shut. His eyebrows furrowed before he raised one. "You asked the same thing."

A rough exhale escaped the raven-haired man's throat. He looked away, hesitating, not knowing whether to continue his question or not. In the three months that they have become roommates, Leorio never truly had a long talk with the blonde. He knew his name, where he came from, but he did not know what was in the boy's thoughts. He was very intelligent, Leorio was aware of that. Why, Kurapika was one of his university's top-notched students. But he never really got the chance to ask him about his life, or invite him for a drink, or just hang around. They were never as tight compared to his friends in the college. His excuse was because he was too busy, or Kurapika was too busy. Or maybe he felt wary of the blonde boy's somehow condescending attitude. Nonetheless, he should try. Leorio shrugged. "You know… It's Christmas!" he exclaimed, laughing sheepishly.

Kurapika raised his eyebrows even more, as though demanding a follow-up statement from the raven-haired.

Leorio groaned inwardly, taking a deep breath and standing erect. "It's Christmas," he repeated, tone normal. He shrugged again. "Aren't you going home?"

A rather uneasy air then suddenly resonated throughout the room. It was cold but it felt distant. Silence ensued for a moment, with Kurapika only looking at Leorio with an indifferent look on his face. "I think you are well aware that I don't have a family anymore." His voice was silent but heavy, sharp yet gentle.

He knew that, and that was about it. Leorio swallowed. "Well, aren't you gonna at least go to your home for the break?" He pressed his lips together as he watched Kurapika blink and sigh, looking out the window and wiping the mist off the glass with his fingers. Leorio's eyes grew wide then. He saw a slight change in the blonde's face. He suddenly looked melancholic, sad, longing, as though he was mourning for someone's death.

"No," was the brief answer.

The 19-year-old man cleared his throat silently. "How about your relatives?"

This time, Kurapika returned his gaze to the raven-haired, eyes morose, but face grave. "They're gone," he calmly declared.

Here Leorio felt as though something pricked him in the chest from the inside. His face fell, together with his core, and he suddenly sensed this incredibly forlorn feeling eating his whole system up. He looked down and felt bad. He had no idea about it. All he knew then was that Kurapika's family was dead. Professors said it was because of some inevitable accident he miraculously survived. His fellow college students said that they were killed. He was careful with the blonde about that, especially because the tattletales around the university about him all pertained to loved ones' deaths. But he never knew that he also had no relatives anymore. Leorio pressed his lips together, and looking back at Kurapika he sincerely muttered "Sorry" under his breath.

The boy gave him a meek smile before looking out at the window and sitting still like ice again on his chair.

Leorio could but only fall sitting on the foot of his bed, looking at the floor with his wide-eyed gaze. When he turned his eyes back at the blonde, he saw the same melancholic mask on his face. No, he thought as he shook his head. He was wrong. The true mask was the pompous outer appearance Kurapika held in the façade of his persona. Perhaps behind the mask was a desolate child. He reminded Leorio so much of himself for a second there, of when he would joke around with other children when they teased him of being poor, of when he laughed everything off at his best friend's funeral. He suddenly wanted to show his concern for him. He was, somehow, a friend. "So…" he started.

Kurapika turned to look.

"Where would you be spending the holidays?"

For a moment, the gray eyes of the blonde boy noticeably grew wide. Then he shrugged, looking around the room. "Here, I guess."

Leorio pressed his lips together, and taking a deep breath he exhaled the words of his response. "But everyone's gone out of town. You'll be the only one left in the dorm."

Kurapika returned his gaze to the raven-haired man. He shook his head. "I don't mind."

Leorio nodded and stood up. Without saying something to the blonde, he walked out of the room.

Kurapika watched him shut the door with his furrowed eyebrows. He was a little used to people's reaction to his life's tragic story that Leorio acting the way he did had not surprised him even a bit. But his roommate's question honestly surprised him in a way. It had been a while since he heard the word home. It had been a while since someone reminded him of home. He took a deep breath and returned to looking out the window, watching the snowflakes fall from the gray sky to the blanket of thick snow on the ground. From their dorm room, he could see other college students fetched from the university by their parents, sisters, brothers, relatives. He took another deep breath. Alone in the holidays. A small, meek smile crept across his face after that thought. Again.

When Leorio came back, he went straight to his suitcase on his bed. Kurapika figured that he would scoop all of his clothes up and dump them in his bag because he was running late. But the blonde's eyebrows furrowed when he noticed something amiss as he walked to his bed to place his book back on his desk. Leorio was emptying his suitcase off of his things. Kurapika looked at him. "Leorio," he called.

The addressed looked. "Hmm?"

"Aren't you going?"

Leorio smiled, shutting his empty suitcase close.

A/N: How was it? Do you like LeoPika? Because I do! I think their friendship and how they cherish each other is heartwarming. Togashi's the best. 3 I know the theme of the story's not seasonal, but I hope you like it. Let me know in the reviews? It's been a while since someone commented on how I write stories. Even though I wrote this back in 2014, I somehow want to hear you thoughts. I really, really miss hearing your thoughts. Thank you so muchhhh and please be well in this pandemic. Always keep safe. xx