"What is it?" Illumi stared into the cage sitting on the kitchen table. In it was a spider with fur about the size of Illumi's palm.
"It looks like a tarantula." Hisoka stood back with his arms crossed next to Illumi.
"Funny you should say that! They're often mistaken for tarantulas, but this is a wolf spider."
"Is it venomous?" Illumi watched curiously as the spider walked around the small case that came with it from the pet store.
"Yes! It isn't deadly, but it has excellent eyesight and quality depth-perception, making it able to pounce on prey if it needs to."
"It can jump?" Illumi asked, intrigued.
"Yes! Pretty cool, right?" Chrollo beamed.
Hisoka spoke up. "Why did you get this again?"
Chrollo smiled at Hisoka sarcastically. "Well, since I've been separated from my troupe, I've felt very solitary. I thought I should get a pet. I found this little creature that is similar in nature to what I'm going through right now! See, wolves hunt in packs and are very social creatures, but the wolf spider is a lone hunter, and spends most of its life alone. Much like myself, the wolf spider isn't much of a wolf at all."
"You didn't even ask me if you could bring a pet into my apartment." Hisoka seemed annoyed. Chrollo smiled before he spoke again.
"First of all, it is our apartment. Second, I wouldn't even be staying here if someone wasn't such a traitor…"
Hisoka rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Keep it. Just make sure it stays in its tank." Hisoka sighed.
"Are you scared of it, Hisoka?" Chrollo teased.
"I'm not worried about it. How about you, Illumi?" Hisoka looked over at Illumi, playfully poking him in the chest as he spoke.
"I'm not scared of anything. I'm an assassin. I kill people without remorse. I've undergone torture and interrogation most people could never survive much less imagine. I am a force be feared. I, myself, feel no fear."
Just then, the spider jumped against the glass. Hisoka and Chrollo didn't see much of what happened, just a flash of a black figure moving at a speed that could not be registered by the naked eye. It took them a second to realize that Illumi was gone. They turned around to see him in the corner between two walls and the ceiling, holding himself up with his legs and arms, panting and eyes wide with what could only be described as fear.
"Illumi, come down from there! You'll get footprints on my walls!" Hisoka rushed over to yell at Illumi.
The ceilings in Hisoka's apartment were rather high, and for a second, Hisoka admired Illumi's agility.
"It's just a spider, Illumi. It's more scared of you than you are of it." Chrollo tried to reassure him.
"That spider lunged at me." Illumi walked himself further up the walls.
"It's not even that venomous! Why are you so worried? It's not fatally venomous! You literally poisoned us with stuff that is way more lethal just last week!" Chrollo approached Illumi and stood beside Hisoka.
"Illumi, I thought you said you weren't scared of anything."
"DID YOU SEE THAT THING? YEAH, I SAID I WASN'T SCARED OF ANYTHING BUT I DEAL AND KILL PEOPLE NOT FUCKING SPIDERS LIKE WHAT THE FUCK NATURE JUST DECIDED TO MAKE AN EIGHT-LEGGED LITTLE DEATH CREATURE ONE DAY OH HELL FUCKING NO. GET THAT SHIT OUT OF HERE."
Chrollo crossed his arms, looking up at his roommate on the ceiling. "I can't return it."
"THEN KILL IT." Illumi growled.
"I'm not going to kill it!"
"Look, Illumi, Chrollo will keep it in its tank in his room at all times it won't get out." Hisoka spoke soothingly to Illumi.
"...You promise?"
"Yes! Now will you PLEASE come down?"
"…No, not yet."
"Illumi, don't make me do this." Hisoka held up his finger.
"Do what...?" Illumi observed Hisoka's finger, and then using Gyo, realized there was a string of bungee gum connecting it to his chest.
"When did you...?"
"Come down, Illumi!"
"I DON'T WANNA COME DOWN, HISOKA."
"I DON'T CARE, YOU'RE COMING DOWN."
Hisoka yanked the Bungee Gum back, bringing Illumi with it. Hisoka prepared to catch Illumi, but it was a little too late. Illumi landed on Hisoka and they both fell to the floor.
"Detach yourself from me at once!" Illumi squirmed to get away from Hisoka.
"Get off me first!"
"I'll get off you if you get your stupid Bungee Gum off of me!"
Hisoka released his hold on Illumi and they got up, disheveled.
"So much for the fearless assassin."
"Shut up. And you, Chrollo: Keep that spider in the tank or it will die." Illumi pointed a needle in the direction of the cage and glared at it.
"Don't worry! It'll be fine. By the way, its name is Hisoka Jr." Chrollo picked up the spider cage and took it to his room.
"Hisoka... Jr.?" Hisoka repeated after Chrollo had left.
Illumi shrugged. "It's fitting. He's creepy and jumpy."
Hisoka smiled. "Do I scare you, Illumi?"
"No."
Hisoka moved closer to Illumi. "You don't even know when I attached that bungee gum to you, do you?"
"It was when you poked me."
"Took you long enough."
"Why did you even feel the need to bungee gum me?"
Hisoka leaned in close. "Just in case I wanted to kiss you later."
"You'd lose your face if you did that."
Hisoka licked his lips. "It would be worth it."
Illumi's brows furrowed. "Don't you have something to do?"
Hisoka chuckled. "No, I can do this all day."
Chrollo stepped back into the room. "Hisoka," Chrollo started. "I at least have the luxury of leaving the room when I'm tired of you. Illumi literally lives here. Don't torment him so much."
Hisoka backed away from Illumi with a grin still on his face. "He likes it." Hisoka licked his teeth as he walked away to his bedroom.
…...
Later that evening, the trio watched a movie together. Some teenage drama movie that Hisoka and Chrollo told Illumi he had to watch.
Hisoka ordered takeout since Chrollo had been cooking for the past week, Hisoka didn't want to cook, and Illumi was banned due to a tendency to drug the other two.
When the movie was over, Illumi went to the bathroom in Hisoka's room to shower while Chrollo used the main bathroom. Hisoka cleaned up the takeout boxes and waited in his room for Illumi to be done with the shower.
…...
The hot water steamed around Illumi, letting him relax. He knew better than to wash his hair in hot water, but he needed this. Hisoka was constantly in his face, being ridiculous.
Hisoka's words played back in his mind. "Do I scare you, Illumi?"
Illumi scoffed at the idea.
"What a joke. That I should be scared of him."
Illumi allowed the hot water to run down the back of his neck. "Just in case I wanted to kiss you later."
Illumi touched his lips. "He wanted... to kiss me?" His hand moved to touch the spot on his chest where Hisoka had bound the bungee gum to him. That level of planning, just to get a kiss.
He wondered what Hisoka would do to get more out of him. His hand moved lower, and he closed his eyes.
It was time to relieve some stress.
…...
Hisoka knocked on the door.
"Illumi, are you almost done? You've been in the shower for a while."
He paused, waiting for an answer. When there was no reply, he tried the door handle and found that it was unlocked. He opened the door slowly and poked his head into the room.
"Illumi?" The bathroom was filled with steam, but he could see Illumi washing suds out of his long black hair. He faced away from Hisoka, letting him see his lovely backside. Hisoka was beginning to enjoy the view when Illumi turned and threw a needle at him. The needle hit the wall to the right and behind Hisoka.
"Did I tell you that you could come in?" Illumi held two other needles in his fist.
"No, I just wanted to make sure you were okay… You've been in here for a while." Hisoka feasted his eyes on Illumi's naked body. "What exactly have you been doing in here for so long?" Hisoka's brow was raised, and his voice was suggesting.
Illumi was still turned away from him, his big round eyes staring back at Hisoka looked almost innocent. Purposefully innocent, like he was hiding something. After a pause, Illumi said, "Today is my hair day. I have to wash and fully condition it. You know this."
"I know but…" Hisoka trailed off. "…Are you...?"
"Am I what?" Illumi desperately didn't want Hisoka to know what he was just doing his shower. He didn't want him to know that he was touching himself not even moments before Hisoka opened the door.
"Nothing. Carry on." Hisoka smirked a knowing smirk before leaving the bathroom and closing the door behind him.
Hisoka walked over to his bed, the image of Illumi naked burned in his mind. He lay on his back on the bed and sighed.
"I'll have to find some way to release this tension or I'm really going to end up killing someone…" Hisoka mumbled to himself.
…...
Illumi dried his hair with a towel. It was finally silky smooth and smelled like strawberries. He wrapped his hair up in the towel, got dressed and opened the bathroom door. Hisoka was on the bed asleep. He breathed quietly.
"Clown, wake up. You need to shower."
Hisoka remained unmoved.
"You'll mess up your makeup. It'll get all over your nice sheets."
Hisoka groaned as he rolled over on his side.
"Fine." He got up and walked into his bathroom.
…...
When Hisoka was done showering, he dried his hair and brushed his teeth. He turned off the bathroom light and opened the door to his bedroom. He was surprised to find Illumi sitting in his bed reading one of Chrollo's books.
"What are you doing?"
"Reading."
"Yeah I can see that, but you're in my bed."
Illumi shifted under the sheets. "I saw something in the living room move."
"So, you're staying here tonight?"
"Yes."
Hisoka smiled and crept closer to the bed. He got on and began to slowly crawl his way to Illumi, licking his lips before he spoke again.
"Well, if you're going to be spending the whole night here, might as well…"
Illumi put his hand on Hisoka's face, stopping him from getting any closer.
"You're sleeping on the couch."
"The hell I am." Hisoka lay down on his bed and pulled the covers over him.
"Hisoka you can't stay here!"
"This is MY bed!"
"Fine. I'll throw you out myself!"
Illumi pulled the covers back and pulled on Hisoka's torso. Normally, Illumi would have no problem picking Hisoka up, but when he pulled, Hisoka didn't budge.
"Bungee Gum? Really?"
"What makes you think that if you of all people is scared to sleep in the living room that I want to sleep there?"
"I'm not scared!"
"Then sleep on the couch!"
"No!"
"Fine! But I'm staying here."
Illumi exhaled. "…Fine. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Illumi turned off the lamp on the nightstand and lay on his side facing away from Hisoka. He decided that if Hisoka tried to do anything to him in his sleep, he'd kill him. He gripped his needles tightly as he drifted off to a state of half-sleep.
…...
Illumi could hear Hisoka's voice in the living room. He looked at the clock. It was 2:39 am. Illumi got out of bed and peered through the bedroom door. He could see a light on in the kitchen, and Hisoka pacing back and forth as he spoke on his cell phone.
"Machi, he's fine. I promise. You just have to trust me on this… I already told you if you have his name I can find him... Don't yell at me… Greed Island? What is that a cruise destination? …. Your guess is as good as mine. Look, I want to get Chrollo back to his normal self too, believe me. Yeah. … No promises. I'm kidding! Okay. Bye."
Illumi quietly moved back to the bed as Hisoka walked towards the bedroom. Illumi feigned sleep as Hisoka walked in and got back in bed.
Illumi's body felt heavy as he thought about Hisoka getting Chrollo his Nen back. Hisoka would definitely fight him, and one of them would die.
It wasn't like he cared or anything, or at least that's what he thought. He couldn't stop the hurt he felt in his heart. No matter how he denied it in his head, he knew that these men were not just his roommates. They had somehow become his friends. His father and grandfather had always taught Illumi that friends were not something Assassins should have. Maybe they wanted to save him from this pain. Illumi felt a warm droplet of water run down his cheek. He closed his eyes and clenched his chest, bearing the pain so he could sleep. For the first time ever in his life, Illumi felt the fear of losing a friend.
…...
Chapter 3, Fin
…...
Note:
Hello everyone! For those of you who have been reading this story, I'm doing updates of the earlier chapters! Feel free to re-read and review as you please
Thank you!