Daniel starts to work on his designs as Mikkel continues to work in the background on other tasks.

There was a shift in the plan the boys made with Mikkel. While the man was against the change at first, considering he made it so that both boys had to be in the room for him to continue to work, he understood the change once they explained their reasoning.

So, while Killua and Alluka were out having fun, he and Daniel were in the workshop, completing their own, tasks with minimal interference from the other.

Daniel's tongue poked from out of the side of his mouth as he moved the knife, always aiming it away from his body just in case it slipped. The knife had a rubber grip, so it was easier to control the movement. And the turntable made it easier to move the object around without having to hold it.

It must have a magnetic mechanism, something that helped it keep in place without it feeling like it's forcing the object into it. So, when he moved it around, he decided to ask "Does it have a magnetic or gravity mechanism on this machine…?"

"More like suction cups…" The man hammered away at the metal before him, never once shifting his gaze to the other working at his desk, "It keeps it there, without it moving, other than you pushing it around, or turning the turntable."

"Huh…" He adjusted the knife, deepening the cut, "nifty." Making a curve around the top of the eye socket, he made several smaller cuts to give it a more defining eyebrow. He blew away the lingering metal shards, checking his handiwork constantly.

The last thing he needed was to make a harsh line that would be impossible to meld with his intended design. Next, moving onto the eyelids, he scratched a little under the eyebrows, closer to the eye socket, trying to give off the illusion there were eyelids. He spoke up, "Is it possible to make small pieces that clip on the inside."

"I can…" The man murmured to himself, "What are you looking for?"

"Something that makes the eyes more into… slits… to give it a more menacing look."

"Sure, I'll shave down a couple of pieces, see what kind of design you're looking more for. However, I'm going to need you to clip them on the inside. We'll give it a more push and slide mechanism, so you can still push the eyes inside. Actually… now thinking about that, it'll keep the eyes in place. I just have to make sure Rosalia can still push the eyelids again, so the eyes can pop out…"

"I'm glad I thought about that…"

"You're thinking outside of the box. A talent like that will help you in the long run, if, you hone it…"

"Killua is better at that kind of stuff, than me…"

"Don't sell yourself short. I still don't understand that aspect about you… why do you let people get underneath your skin? Insult your obvious skills?"

The boy knew who he was referring to. There was only one man that dug underneath his skin, ripping away pieces of him… degrading him for his imperfections, "Maybe because everyone talks about him as though he's some god among men…"

"Not me… I roasted him."

"But…" Daniel sighed.

"But, what…?"

"You still consider him as helpful… he made you who you are, to this day."

"He gave me some of the materials… but I made all the tools. I defined my technique, not him."

"But had he not intervened… would you have all of this?"

Mikkel turned to the boy, "I supposed not…"

"That's my main point… he gave you a foundation. He gave me…" The boy sighed again, "He gave me nothing."

"What about Wolfbane…?"

Daniel scratched at the nose area, trying to define the muzzle, "What about it…?"

"Did he not give that to you…?"

"Technically, he gave it to Zaikaria, then she gave it to me."

"Has he not given anything to you, personally?"

"Our journals…"

"What do you write in them?"

"Questions… mainly ideas. It's a very sophisticated journal… with so many features a normal, hardcover one could only dream of competing against…"

"But…?"

Daniel looked over his shoulder, "I can barely look at it now. I used it to think of ways to improve myself… but he told me I'm doing everything wrong. He refused to offer me guidance… so how am I supposed to improve, if everything I'm doing is wrong…"

The man scratched his head, "I suppose there is no way to improve if the bar is set that high…"

"Exactly…"

"Have you tried jumping?"

The boy incredulously at the man, "Seriously…"

"Well, yeah… if he set the bar impossibly high, give yourself a goal that allows you to jump and reach for his impossible bar."

"Exactly how am I supposed to jump for something I don't know how to reach." The boy looked at the bust, returning to his task.

"Hmm…" The man scratched his chin next, "I suppose these weapons. Master them, then try to reach for that bar your father set."

"I don't think it'll be that easy…" The boy laughed at his shitty situation.

"Well, nothing is supposed to be easy… it's only easy, after practice. Do you think it's easy for me to smack metal within a few degrees difference… no. But Practice makes it easier. Strive for your form of 'easy'."

"I'll try…" The boy blew at the muzzle, getting rid of the shaved metal. He admired his handy work, even if only a fraction of his work was done, "I appreciate these conversations…"

"Good, now less gum flapping, and more knife scratching…"

"Yes, sir…" The boy mocked, saluting the wall as if it was the general before him.

Mikkel scoffed at his reaction but had no reason to chastise the boy. The boy had made his reasoning clear… he had pointed out why he felt that way. Those gifts he received from his father, now felt like a memento to condemnation. He no longer knew if he was doing things, the right way.

At least… the right way in his father's eyes.

Even when he suggested a solution, the boy could see the value in his words… but he still felt as though it wasn't the right way.

Then… like a light bulb going off, the answer occurred to the man, "There is no right way…"

Daniel's head perked up, "What?"

"This will sound like ravings of a mad man… but hear me out. What if there is no, 'right way'. What were the exact words your father said to you… when he said he was unwilling to help?"

"Well… he had two excuses. Do what you think is right… don't listen to me."

"Don't listen to him… huh? It's starting to make sense now."

"Well, that's only one of his excuses. The second was… Sometimes, adults have to make bad decisions… followed by him admitting… sometimes, you have to hurt the people you care about, in order, to protect them."

"This… this makes sense. You have to sometimes hurt the people you care about, to protect them."

"But-"

"Yes, I'm aware… you feel like it's unjustified anger being directed at you. But… I want to point out something. Do what you think is right… don't listen to me. There's a reason I want to point it out… But, first… did he offer you support before or after that?"

"Way after…"

"He…" Mikkel drums his fingers against the anvil, "He's… He's worried about something… don't listen to me. He doesn't have an answer to his problem. He doesn't know how to deal with the person after you, hence why… he wants you to do what you think is right."

"He told me I should avoid this man… but Nathaniel said I should seek him out, if, I needed answers…"

"Then you have yourself an unanswerable conundrum. You said you can't see his impossible bar… but what if he never put up a bar… What if you assumed, your father set a bar you believe you can't reach?"

"Then… I've set myself for failure…"

"No, you haven't… because you couldn't fail to begin with."

"Unless I die…"

The man rolled his eyes, "Technically, yes… Unless, you die… of course. But there is no right solution. Just like if I repeat the same process… no, not even. Even if I repeat the same method, what might work in one scenario, might not work in another. Just like there are thousands of metals… there are thousands of solutions. Reach out for a bar you set… not the one you think your father set."

Daniel looked at the bust, now smiling at himself, "Do what I believe is right… not what I think is right. Thank you…" The boy brought the knife to the bust, "I'll follow my heart and thoughts."

"Glad to assist!" The man returned to his current task, filled with newfound vigour, a desire to finish what he started. He'll make sure that at the end of this job, the boys leave with a huge smile on their faces.

Not just Daniel…

But Killua too…

He'll also need to help Alluka, to build the plates for her training vest.

"~"

Killua noticed the tiny shift in his partner's attention, the attention to detail he put into his current tasks. It was almost like seeing a split personality awaken in his boyfriend. Was he against this sudden change… no. That shit better, be the new normal… the new standard.

Did he have questions… yes.

He wanted to see what brought about the sudden change in demeanour. He wanted to know what impacted his boyfriend in this way. Now, he could ask Daniel… but then his partner would excitedly tell him the reasoning for the change, from an emotional perspective.

What he needed… was a technical answer.

If Mikkel was the cause of this, he wanted to thank the man.

So, when he headed towards the shop, finding the man hammering away, the only one there, he made sure to knock on the door loud enough so he didn't scare the pants off the man like last time.

After a few knocks, Mikkel responded, "I'll be out there in a minute…"

"It's just me…"

"Oh, Killua what brings you here?"

"Questions…"

"About your weapons?"

"No, Daniel…"

"You know you could ask him… rather than me."

"I'm well aware of that…" Killua crossed his arms as he entered the room, "But it is, questions you could answer. What exactly did you say to him to make him… well, chipper? He's like an over-excited puppy."

"Is that considered good?"

"Yes! It's a very good, change… I want to thank you for that."

"How exactly do you know I'm the cause of that…?"

"Can it a hunch." When the man burst into laughter, Killua continued "I'm serious. I appreciate what you did for him. He's… happier."

"I said many things to him…" the man reminisces of the past, "But the answer you're looking for… I don't think he has a reason for anything to hold him back, now."

"Hold him back…" Killua hummed at the answer, "Then it's about Vastorie. Did he let go of his attachment to the man? Or in this case… his reason for why he didn't think he was good enough?"

"I believe he did…"

"I…" The boy smiled to himself, "I appreciate that. Even though I'm pretty sure we've had this conversation multiple times, he just needed an outsider's perspective on the matter. I normally don't go out of my way to constantly; thank those I consider friends… but thank you."

"I don't know whether to feel insulted… or appreciative."

"The second… it's what friends would do for each other, help them out. No point saying thank you like a broken record, to someone you would've helped either way."

"Ah… now I understand. You sound like someone who can't handle a compliment."

Killua scratched the back of his head, feeling awkward at the situation "Mainly to those are genuinely close to me… those I cherish."

"Do you have other friends close to you?"

"I do… several. I cherish most of them. There's the occasional friend I want to strangle."

The man laughed at that "Now, that… I can understand."

"I guess I should go see Mr Happy-go-lucky, see his side of things. I just wanted to speak to you first… because I wanted to thank you, for speaking for him. He… he needed to have that sort of conversation with someone other than me."

Mikkel waved the boy off, "Alright… good talk. Also, I'll be finishing off one of the pieces of your weapon. That'll be done in a week or two… once it's done, I'll be able to make the rest of the pieces much easier."

"Alright, so that means more smelting soon?"

"Yes…"

"~"

Killua found Daniel talking with Alluka, the girl being inquisitive with an aspect of their past. He leaned against the door frame; arms crossed as he listened.

"Yup, one hundred percent… I considered him cute… endearing I would say."

"He has also been kind all my life…"

"Yeah…" Daniel agreed with a smile. Killua's expression melted from what he had heard so far. Embarrassing as the topic was, they were reminiscing on their interactions with him. By now, Daniel must have sensed his presence.

Daniel looked up, "Speaking of the Angel…"

"Don't let me stop you…" Killua awkwardly ran his fingers through the back of his hair, feeling embarrassed from being called the angel. It was a call back to when Daniel once, not only called him, My Angel, to Illumi's face… but it was also brought to his attention by Gon, if, he could recall the situation correctly.

Alluka looked at her brother with a smile, "Is it actually, true Daniel called you, his Angel?"

Killua sputtered from the question, Daniel interrupting his mess of a boyfriend, "To be fair… I was half-listening to myself. And second, under the right angle, his soft and fluffy white hair, gives him a halo-like glow, that feels… ethereal."

"Alright you hopeless romantic, keep the compliments to a minimum. Less, I die from heatstroke, due to my constant blushing."

"Understood…"

"Are you here to whisk your boyfriend away…?" Alluka asked out of curiosity.

"Sort of…" He sat beside his sister, away from his boyfriend for the moment, "I'm here, to hear, a different kind of story. What made him chipper over these past few days…"

"Well, as you're aware… I spoke to Mikkel."

"Yeah, I spoke to him to get his opinion on the matter first… sorry about that."

"It's fine… You tend to want an outsider's perspective of things first when it comes to matters like these."

"Technically, I just wanted to hear from the horse's mouth first. You tend to…" Killua rolled his wrist, "focus on the feelings, what you were thinking of at the time… I needed to know the reason why it was brought up in conversation."

"Ah…" Daniel looked at the floor, "When I was talking to Mikkel about how I felt Vastorie was treating me… us, really… I brought up that I feel like no matter what we try to do, it always felt like we weren't good enough in his eyes. But then he told us that we shouldn't listen to him, but rather follow our own, path… even though it wasn't good enough."

"A vicious cycle of self-doubt…" Killua hummed from his partner's words, "There wasn't a right answer, nor was there one that the man would agree to."

"Exactly… Mikkel stated that there might be no answer to the question. It was all a conundrum, a bar I've accidentally set for myself."

"Which is where he brought up the weapons, correct."

"Yes… he believes that I shouldn't focus on the bar I can't see, but rather set my own, bar… I wish to reach. I thought about it… and I think he's right. These weapons I'm making will have a touch of myself in them… Just like Benny's knife, I'll be leaving a part of myself on these weapons… that I designed. With help, of course…"

"Sure…" Killua smirked, "you had assistance. But…" He raised a finger, "whether it was Mikkel or myself that made suggestions, it's still your weapons."

"Agreed… but more importantly, he made one single key point, that made me change my way of thinking I'll never be enough to surpass Vastorie's bar. One… Strive for your form of 'easy'. Two… There is no, 'right way'. Three… He doesn't know how to deal with the person after you. Four… Just like there are thousands of metals… there are thousands of solutions. Reach out for a bar you set… not the one you think your father set. Those four points made me realise… I should do what I believe is right… not what I think is right."

Killua raised a curious eyebrow, "Even after he pointed out how he saw you failed… when it came to stopping Victor from hurting Eifion?"

"The boy gave a nod… I know I'm weak right now… that I'm not strong enough to beat Victor, if, he ever decides to attack us. But deep down, I don't want to focus on that… I should be focusing on improving myself, to reach a point where I could beat Victor."

"Just like how we beat the Chimera Ants…"

"To be fair, our plans went up in flames several times."

Killua chuckled to himself, "I guess they did… But at least we still won in the end."

"We did…" Daniel reached out, touching Killua's hand.

Alluka put her hand in between the boys, "Please do not make out like I'm not in the room."

Killua's face blew up into a mirage of red "I- I-"

Alluka mocked her brother in a cheeky way "I- I- hear you at night. It's always this declaration of love. I love you…" She tried to sound like Killua, next pretending to be Daniel, while fluttering her eyelashes "I love you, too… then it's followed by this, lip-smacking sound. It sounds like mffthmmmrfgh."

Daniel burst into laughter, "I guess we sound like we're drowning in water through these walls. You're still young… young at heart, to hear what kind of relationship your brother and I have."

"Don't tell her anything…" Killua freaked out.

"I don't plan to… What I will say, however, is we express love differently. What may sound like… we're drowning in water, to you… to us, is… well, us… expressing our love."

"We're never kissing again!"

Alluka hugged her brother, "I'll just cover my ears next time. No-"

"Uh, uh…" He shoved his sister away playfully, "I will not commit you to our sounds of affection."

Daniel crawled towards his partner, smiling mischievously, "Aww… You never want to kiss me again."

"No…" Killua turned away.

Daniel moved around his partner, kissing him briefly on the lips, "Uh, oh… you broke your rule."

"Stop it…" the boy pouted as he turned his head in the other direction.

He next kissed his partner's forehead, "Oops, you broke it again…"

Killua turned away, his lips cracking into a smile, "I said, stop…"

Daniel moved, kissing his partner once more, this time, on the right cheek "Scandalous, a rule breaker."

Killua chuckled, grabbing his partner by the shirt, forcing him into the ground. He used his body as leverage, pinning his partner beneath him "This is your last warning…"

Daniel broke out into a huge smile, looking at his partner above him. The light fixture radiated from behind Killua, giving his boyfriend a heavenly glow "Wow… your beautiful."

Killua pouted through blushing cheeks, eyes diverted away, "Baka… you always pick the most inconvenient times to be cheesy."

Daniel held up his hand, touching his partner on the cheek where he kissed him earlier. The boy turned to face him, cheeks still red, "You'll always be beautiful…"

A loud and sudden cough brought them out of their trance, the two turning to face the girl. Alluka smirked mischievously, her arms and legs crossed as she impatiently taps an elbow, "You done being kissy-face with each other?"

The two boys looked once more at each other, Daniel breaking out into laughter as Killua got off his partner, wishing he hadn't. The moment he got off, he failed to realise his body was hiding something. His partner was hard, and there was no way to hide it, not without his sister noticing, he was jumping to hide it.

"Oh, you get those too?" Alluka pointed to Daniel's crotch, surprised by the situation.

"Huh…?" Daniel looked down, blushing once he realised where she was pointing "Oh, that…" He looked at Killua, unsure what to do. If she randomly got those, it meant she was starting puberty.

But at the same time, this was a discussion Killua want to wait to have. He didn't want to say anything, just in case, he upset his partner.

"Damn it…" Killua muttered under his breath. She gets hard-ons too… but if I explained how to deal with them, one, she might be disgusted… two, it's not something she's liked about herself. "Alluka, remember a long time ago, you told me… It randomly got bigger… Or that I called the balls life bearers… I kinda lied back then."

"I thought as much…"

Killua looked mortified at his sister, "What else do you think I'm lying about?"

"A lot of things…" The girl looked down in defeat, "I feel so weird, with this body… like… something doesn't feel right. I never quite understood it, even now."

Killua gave a nod, "The whole family calls you a thing, because of Nanika… or refer to you as a brother or son. I'm the only one that called you my little sister. Even now, I fight against them, constantly asking them to call you a daughter or sister. They… they refuse to…"

Alluka gave a small nod, "Maybe…" She looked away, staying silent.

Killua frowned, "I know the term… you're trans, a trans-female to be exact. But other than that, I have no medical experience… no way of knowing how to help you. Maybe…"

Daniel poked Killua in the ribs, "What about Ashton Nieves? Couldn't we go see her…"

Killua gave a nod, "Even though she isn't a medical doctor, she's lived through the experience. She might know… but what about your weapons? We can't exactly leave yet. We also have the second part of the weapon creation to deal with…"

"I do… how about we see Ashton, before Rosalia? The finishing touches can wait… your sister is more important now."

"She is…" Killua offered a smile, "Alright, we will. We'll get the opinion, well… advice from someone who will know more about this than we do. What you say, little sister?"

"Alright… but can you at least tell me how to deal with… that?"

Killua let out a long guttural groan, frustrated that he'll have to, unfortunately, tell Alluka the last thing he wanted to keep a secret, at least for a year longer…

He wanted to delay it, to not poison his little sister's mind with information about temptation…

To not corrupt his little sister's innocence…

"Okay… I'll tell you how to deal with it. BUT DO NOT… expect me to show you how to deal with it." To jerk off…

The boy had an unwanted conversation, teaching his little sister how to masturbate. Even though she looked disgusted, even if she never stopped loving him as her older brother…

The look of disgust will never leave his mind.

Yet, when two arms held them, he believed they'll live past this conversation.