Vastorie is watching a video of Killua and Daniel dance, only to have Leorio stumble across him. The truth hurts, especially when you try so hard to hide it.

Vastorie had his back resting against a wall, eyes glued to the phone screen. It was a video clip, one that involved his son. He knew he shouldn't have opened it, especially once Eifion told him who was in the video.

But he couldn't help himself…

He couldn't control himself to hit 'delete'. Instead, he hit 'play' on instinct. There was no way Victor could step onto the school grounds, it wasn't possible. But a small part of his brain expected to fool himself, to argue by watching the video…

He could make sure that Victor wasn't in the background.

Instead, all he could do was stare and smile, not even daring to pick apart his son's mistakes.

He may try to hide it all he wants, but he still loves his family. He still wants to be a part of it, but showing off those feelings, wanting what he wants puts his family in danger. He may be good at lying to Leorio's face, but not to Kurapika.

Kurapika would have a field day with his emotions. And try as his might, but he struggles to hold that pain in, especially against Kurapika's silver tongue. He knows where to hit him the hardest.

He's surprised he hasn't broken down in tears…

"Well, look at who the cat hacked up. Kurapika's right, you look like shit…"

Vastorie moved his phone slightly to the side, "If I look like a furball, you must be kitty litter… your insults are so dry, even cats don't want to touch you."

"Good to see your personality hasn't changed."

Vastorie brought his phone up to his eyes, "leave me alone…"

"Why? Never expected you to be the sentimental type. What's with the cheesy music? Missing your bae?"

"Call him my bae one more time… and I'll tell Kurapika you slap your salami as you think about him"

Leorio choked, "I- I do not! I watch nothing but sluts gone wild all night!"

"Oh~, no doubt about that…"

"Of course… he's a friend, nothing more."

Leorio took one step away, but a cold tingle ran up his spine when Vastorie opened his mouth "Ku~rap~ika…" The words came of his tongue, erotic but the inflection of his voice, clearly stated that the man may have been listening to him that night.

It was just a single a moment, a single moment Kurapika slipped into his mind, "That was one time, asshole!"

"So, you don't deny it…?"

"You…" Leorio bit his lip in frustration. Vastorie caught him off guard, "At least I'm not the idiot watching porn in the hallways."

"If this sounds like cheesy porn, I should be worried…"

"Huh?" Leorio leaned over, catching only a glimpse when Vastorie pressed his phone to his chest.

"A man must not look at another man's porn, or he shall be teased."

"That…" The man held out an accusing finger to the much older man, "that wasn't porn. I've seen that white hair before."

"In the mirror no doubt, old man…"

"If I'm old, you'll be ancient! That was Killua, you're watching a video of Killua and Daniel."

Leorio raised an eyebrow, "You believe… I'm watching porn, involving my son and his boyfriend? You think I'm that kind of a freak…?"

"No! You're weird, sure… Freakish at times. But I don't necessarily think you'd stoop that low." Leorio held out a hand, "However, I think you're a huge hypocrite…"

"Join the club…" Vastorie sighed in defeat, try as he might, Leorio already pinged Killua in the video. So, he'd remedy the situation "Yes, I'm watching a video involving Killua and Daniel. No, before you get smug about it… I'm not planning on getting involved with my family any time soon." At least, not until it's necessary…

Leorio faked a cough "Hypocrite…" he coughed again, diverting his attention to a nearby wall.

"Say that again, and I'll rip out your eyes… shove them down your throat so you can see who the real hypocrite is." He smiled at the man, "Lest I remind you, I did… in fact, hear you moan the dude's name. These walls aren't exactly soundproof…"

"Perv…"

Vastorie crossed his arms, phone now resting against his chest "If you want to see what Killua and Daniel are up to, I can show you. They're safe, so I'm not a complete asshole."

"Fine…" Leorio held out his hand, "let me see for myself."

The older man gestured to the younger man with a single finger, wanting Leorio to come closer. He was not handing that man his unlocked phone "No, you come closer. My phone is full of things I don't want you to see."

"Like what, homemade porn? You getting freaky with your husband."

Vastorie stayed silent, not even giving the younger man a reaction to the comment.

"Wait, you seriously have recordings of-"

"Do you want to watch the video of my son and Killua, or do you want to continue insulting my taste in entertainment, Mr I-like-watching-sluts-gone-wild?"

"Fuck you!"

"I'm already taken."

"Fuck you…" Leorio stated for the second time that minute, groaning out loud as he came closer. Vastorie reset the video for him as the man pulled the phone away from his chest. The moment Leorio saw Daniel move, he whistled "Your son has got some moves."

Vastorie paused the video, "First of all… move, second of all… who do you think taught him to dance?"

"Definitely, not you."

"Oh, you wound me. I will never heal from the pain you inflicted upon me."

"Don't be melodramatic. Your words ooze heavy sarcasm."

Snorting at the words, Vastorie continued to play the video for the younger man. Leorio's jaw dropped as the video progressed, Daniel having implemented all manner of techniques into a song meant for Killua. This, he definitely, couldn't see Vastorie doing it.

Vastorie was more reserved with his emotions, at least right now. So even if Daniel learned to dance from Vastorie, how he projected his movements, showed off his emotions had to have come from someone else, "Nathanial?"

"Oh, yes… the dancing, the techniques… all me. But how he's implementing them, he got all of that from Nathaniel. Just by going what I've managed to watch… before you rudely interrupted me, it's a few dances and, or songs dedication to Killua. It's hard to gather all the information when you've cut your ties with your family…"

"Which Kurapika and myself keep telling you're wrong for doing so."

"Which I'll continue to ignore until the issue has been dealt with. That being said… when it comes to emotions, Nathaniel has always been good at expressing them… so Daniel would have gotten that from him."

"And what, I'm guessing this is your way of… opening up to me?"

"Nothing you can't find on the Hunter's website. Or if you used your eyes and ears…"

"And he's back again. The same, cold-hearted analytical Vastorie."

Vastorie snorted once more, eyes still otherwise glued to the screen. Once they got past the first song, the man fast forward to the next song, he didn't want to play it just yet. Nor did he want to show the filler to Leorio considering his son was mainly talking to Killua "Speaking of analytical."

"You're seriously going to judge your son right now? He is a damn fine dancer! Could you not see how happy the two of them were?"

"I did…"

"But…?"

"Daniel is a little rough around the edges. Sure, he had his few good moments, but his movements were…" Vastorie rolled his wrist, trying to think of the nicest of ways to put it, "lacking that oomph… I could see he was trying to match his movements to the beat a few times… Yes, he is trying to improve, but if I was trying to impress Killua… Me personally, I would have stuck to what Daniel is good at, rhythm movements. Sway their bodies to the music… add a few slides here, a spin or two there. Boom, Killua be like putty in his hands."

"You're seriously critiquing your son's ability to woo his partner. Killua was happy. He… was smiling. They had fun. Who cares if Daniel wasn't perfecto~" Leorio argued with a sly grin, "what matters, is that two of them had fun!"

"Oh, no doubt, no doubt… but as his dance instructor, I'm disappointed in him. Not overall, but he should've played to his strengths more."

"Well, you can be as disappointed all you want and moody for however long you want…" Leorio crossed his arms, "but they were happy, while you are continuing to sulk about a few minor issues."

"Issues that could have been fixed mid-dance. Now the next part, from what I've watched so far… I can't critique, sure… they were dancing, sure there was no rhyme or reason to their movements. But, going by their actions, it was more of their way to test each other. They were egging each other on, getting themselves hyped up for the next move. Do you want to watch?"

"Of course! this is my friend we're talking about! I'm happy to see what my friends are up to."

"Can you say the same for Gon and Sakura?"

"Don't even go there."

"You want my advice…?" Vastorie's smile shifted slightly.

"No… but going by your smug ass smile, you're still going to give it to me anyway. Not that you haven't given it already. Shall I remind you about the call I was having with Iason that you interrupted, hmm? You dropped your advice without a single thought about what I wanted my little brother to do."

"You were trying to stunt his sexual growth. Of course, I was going to interrupt you. Let him explore, make mistakes… do whatever they want. They'll find out what that want through each other. If they break apart, so be it. Let them do it on their own. Iason will come to you again for advice one day… and you better be there for him, unless you want to be like me."

"An unsociable human?"

"Ouch~" Vastorie flashed the man a Cheshire-catlike grin, "No, interrupting an idiot's call to give sex advice to someone else's little brother. That being said; do you want to see my son and Killua improvise or not?"

Leorio rolled his eyes at the man, "Of course. But, no more interjecting yourself into my life."

"Likewise…" He hit play before Leorio could say anything else on the matter. The younger man was hitting him where it hurts, he was just good at not showing it. He didn't like it when Leorio interjected his comments about doing the right thing for his family when he knew what keeping in contact with his family would make Victor do.

Victor would never approve of Nathaniel, much less accept his non-blood related daughter. To top things off, he'd consider his son Daniel to be an abomination. He was a traditionalist. Even though the boy came from his loins, and was as much as his son as it was Nathaniel's, it didn't come from a woman's… therefore, Daniel was sub-human in Victor's eyes.

Victor will spend every waking hour of his life to take away about the things he has shown to care about. He has already done it in the past… he'll do it again.

He'll repair the damage after that man is either killed or locked away with the key thrown. When no harm can come to his family, he'll allow himself to reconnect with whatever consequences they place on him.

He was willing to face the consequences at this point.

After all, there was no way he'll get away with no issues whatsoever.

Vastorie watched the video will little to no critiques. He had no issue with the way the boys were dancing. Sure, he could point out minor details or stance issues, but he wasn't about that. He was focusing more on their move set, the bits involving the two moving to the tune of the music…

The rhythm…

From the way, Daniel slid, to the way he dipped his partner.

He also paid close attention to the boy's lips, checking to see what the two of them were saying to each other. There was nothing to note in this song; it was mainly Daniel checking to make sure his partner was comfortable with the idea of taking the lead.

However, that was before the song. Now that the second video was finished, he looked at Leorio's whose jaw was now touching the floor in shock.

"I take it you need a minute."

"A minute?! You watched the same video as me…"

"I did…"

"How are you still, nonchalant? It's like that was no big deal for you… not even a: I'm proud of my son."

"Oh, I am… believe me."

"THEN FUCKEN SHOW IT?! Do all my friends just have shitty emotionless parents?"

Vastorie was about to raise a finger, to interject… but Leorio already stopped him "Leave Kurapika out of this."

"I see I've struck a chord without needing to touch it."

"Even though Kurapika doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeves, like, Gon or Daniel would, he still cares about his friends. He just does it in a roundabout way…"

"Like I do?"

"What have you done for your family…? Name a single thing!"

"Whoo wee… where do I even begin? You've already heard about my exploits during my younger years. Now let me tell you what I've done for them recently. I've set up Scarlet to be an exorcist, one of the BEST exorcists out there. Daniel has already gone to see her, which means…"

"You were inadvertently the one who removed Daniel's Nen infliction."

"Yes, but I've only trained Scarlet, helped her hone this ability. The rest was on her… she wanted to be someone who could help others from their destiny, to remove curses. I just gave her the right push… What else? Zaikaria, even though she removed Daniel's memories of Killua the first time, she eventually helped Daniel recover them back. It was all she could do to save her little brother."

"And you trained her…?"

"Exactly, Eifion Mattocks… the current Deacon of Xavier's school of the gifted… I helped him build it into what it is today. And currently, the kids are in that school… studying, with me as their current sponsors."

"You what…?! You sent them to that prodigious school. The course's prices go up to ridiculous levels. You'll be in debt by the time they've completed one year."

"Unless… they get sponsored, which 90% of them are. I'm not just covering for my son, his boyfriend and Alluka… I'm covering hundreds of thousands of students, without worrying about a single jenny. Why? Because the money I have been funnelling into that school every day… is nothing, but a dip in my wallet. If I so much as sense Victor, I could, track him for days without him noticing… without having to sacrifice a single life."

"With this…" The older man pulled the backplate of his phone off, displaying the battery with inscription running along the inside of the backplate and the battery "This is one of the very few phones designed with encryption that'll make even the government drool. The numbers of these babies rank in the single digits. Ging has a similar one, which is why he's completely off the radar. He just had a different hacker build his… Only the elite of the elite, the prodigies of hackers that specialize in Inscription, could break this encryption. These babies would send anyone broke… costing anywhere from 100 billion to a trillion."

"WHAT?!"

"Not only that, unless the hacker can undo the encryption, but there's also absolutely no way to retrieve the data. It'll instead wipe the hacker's system of every single piece of data they've collected… Right now, the only people who could undo this is the original designer of the Inscription. I've had basic forms of these phones designed for the people I trust the most. Nathaniel is one of those people. At any given moment, he could whip out that phone and I'll be unable to reject the call."

"Then why doesn't he?"

Vastorie fell silent, his mood souring as he bit his lip, "because he knows what he did was wrong, which is why he can't muster up the strength to call me. I have every right to be upset and-" The older man closed his mouth. He won't say any more than that. Even with the new information Leorio obtained, there's nothing he could do to change the system already in place "I never trained those hackers, so it's all on them… their achievements. I just gave them a challenge they were willing to break."

"Even if you told Kurapika all of this… the two of you will not have to worry. As soon as I catch Victor with this device, he can longer hide with his ability… he'll be a walking target we can capture at any moment. All we need to do now is build a prison he can never escape from…" Curling his hand out, Vastorie showed off a cruel smile, "or find a way to kill him without allowing the things inside him to escape."

Putting the cover back, Vastorie's smile shifted to a more mellow one, "I may be a monster in your eyes… but in mine, I'm doing whatever it takes to protect my children. Whatever… it takes."

The older man took a deep breath, calming himself down before he spoke again "Daniel did one more song with Killua, and even though I haven't watched it yet… I know you do too. The question is, will you trust this emotionless parent? If you aren't… there's the hallway."

Leorio bit his finger. This man was on a completely different level than him. Right now, only Kurapika could keep up with the man. And even then… he might have no chance.

Even with all the good Vastorie has done, he can't accept it all at face value, "The next time I speak with Kurapika, we're going to validate your clams."

"Go on ahead… I won't stop you. I wish you luck. I'm just as good as Ging, except I won't run in this situation… I'll welcome the challenge with open arms."

"Good, now show me that damn video. I want to see how it ends…"

"Good…" The moment Vastorie hit play, he regretted doing so. The moment the music started playing, he bit his lip, eyes becoming unfocused, blurred. He knew the song long before the lyrics kicked in…

This song used to mean everything to him, now it's nothing more than a painful reminder. He hit pause once more.

Leorio was about to get angry at him, however before he could even utter a word, the man was gone… not even a trace left of him.

Vastorie left without a word being uttered.

Leorio scratched the back of his head, frowning at the man's reaction. What got the older man's panties in a twist? Why did he leave without a word? "Damn it… now I have to try hunt that fucker down. I'll go to the normal spots. I'm going to force him to explain his reason as to why he left."

"~"

Vastorie sat at a bench by himself, sobbing as the music continued to run in the background. My son just had to go pick the song Nathaniel serenaded me with… The same one we danced to on my wedding night.

Why is everyone making my job so difficult…?

Why is it after everything I've done, the choices I've made so far are soo difficult to live with…?

Even though I've made myself suffer from my choices, I'll make Victor pay…

He'll never take anyone else away from me! I won't let him… even if it's the last thing I do!

A/N: Everyone be careful during these hard times. Australia has been locked down, so I'll now be stuck at home… :(