A/N: Bromance chapter! Killua appears XD It's so cute and sweet that I got a toothache from all that sugar lol XP

To the Guest that requested a bit of Gon dominating Hisoka, you must be clairvoyant since there is a chapter with that coming *maybe* soon. (The most I will tell is that Gon will still be the uke of course) I'm being vague because haha no spoilers for you =P

xXIvana BraginskiXx: Thanks for mentioning that bit about me rushing the intricacies of their relationship. I thought you guys would have been bored but now that I know that isn't the case, I'll strike more of a balance, giving those parts as much love as I do the Lemon scenes:)

Thanks everyone for all your support in the last chapter! The reviews were so much fun to read XD I'm so happy you all like the story so far! Thanks for the best wishes about Grad school too, I've gotten some good news that classes won't be starting until February so I have some more time to write HisoGon! Um...I mean study...and prepare =.=

Oh and one last thing, I'm proud to announce that due to a request I've received, Leorio and Kurapika would be making an appearance. It would be in much later chapters though!

Disclaimer: I have no ownership rights of Hunter X Hunter...just the random OCs that I torture er...I mean introduce from time to time as well as the plot. Everything else belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi!

Warning: None! Just lots of bromance lol

Let's get to it!

Chapter Thirteen: My Best Friend

Later that night, while wrapped up in nothing but the silence, cool sheets and Gon's small arms, Hisoka couldn't help but observe the slumbering young man.

Gon looked so peaceful, breathing soundlessly, each wispy breath tickling his chest. Hisoka's smirk grew wider and one of his hands came up to brush through the soft thicket of messy black hair. In response, Gon groaned in his sleep and nuzzled his face against his chest while hugging him tighter.

So cute~ Hisoka thought, pulling up the duvet over Gon's bare shoulders and rubbing his back. In all his expectations, he had not anticipated that his fruit would have been such a delicious, addictive treat when ripened.

Hisoka knew that Gon would be dangerous to get addicted to, but he found himself thinking that this kind of addiction was something he could definitely get used to.

XXX

NB: Day 8…

That morning Gon woke up in a trance. He felt pleasurably languid and regretted having promised Killua that they'd set out early.

Ah…

A late morning after a night like the one he had would have been preferable but the incessant buzzing in his ear wouldn't let him go back to sleep.

He groaned.

Slamming his palm down on the alarm clock's buzzer, Gon buried his face into the plump pillow and groaned again.

I wanted to doze some more.

Turning over onto his back, he noticed that Hisoka wasn't there.

An early riser as usual, he thought with a yawn, focusing blurry eyes on the sky blue walls of their bedroom.

I need to get up.

Eventually he did, wincing as he padded across the cold, grey granite tiles to the bathroom.

Best to get started – it's either now or never.

He brushed his teeth and after showering, came outside to see that Hisoka had returned.

"Thanks for setting the alarm for me Hisoka," he told the man as he joined him at the table, dressed and ready to go.

As they sat together enjoying their breakfast, Hisoka studied the teen.

"You're pretty revved today aren't you? ~" he remarked, noticing Gon's barely contained excitement.

"Hehe…" Gon rubbed the back of his head. "It's that obvious isn't it?"

Hisoka smirked, nodding.

"I guess it's because I haven't seen him in so long that I can hardly wait." Gon took a bite out of his raspberry scone, chewing slowly.

Licking his lips he continued, "I want to know all about what he's been doing, the places he's been to, who and what he's seen…"

Gon's eyes shone as he spoke and Hisoka couldn't help but smile.

"Do you dream of travelling the world Gon? ~"

"Yes I do!" Gon shouted excitedly, "Dad was telling me all about the places he's been to, the things he's done…it was all so amazing! He even told me how our world was just a small part of a much bigger world!"

"Is that so? ~"

"Yes, and I really wanted to go with him to discover this new world but then I don't have my Nen any more…" Gon's face fell at this. "I'm totally missing out..."

"Your dad's Ging right? ~" To this Gon nodded enthusiastically and Hisoka added, "Well I'm sure you'll get to travel with him one day. Until then, I can show you all the cool places I've discovered. I've travelled a lot too you know~"

"Really?!" Gon's eyes regained their brightness.

"Yep~" Hisoka smiled, his eyes closing as he thought, Who wouldn't know every corner of the globe after chasing Kuroro around it…?

Gon happily dived back into his breakfast, gladly making great progress on putting the rest of the scones out of their misery while Hisoka was just happy to watch him satisfying his hunger.

"These are really good Hisoka," Gon cooed, stuffing another scone into his mouth. "Where did you get them? Was it at the pastry shop you showed me before? Was that where you went this morning?"

"Hmm..." Hisoka observed him briefly before responding. How Gon could eat and ask so many questions at the same time was unbeknownst to him. "Yes, I got them at that pastry shop and yes that's where I went this morning~"

"Thanks Hisoka!" Gon cheered, smiling innocently. "They are soooo good…"

"I'm glad you like them~"

"You should try one at least."

"Hmmm? No…I'm good with just this~" Hisoka held up his coffee mug to his lips, taking a sip. When he lowered the mug though, he saw a small, tanned hand in front of his face holding out one half of a scone.

"At least have a bite." Gon prodded, "I won't be happy until you eat at least something."

Hisoka leaned forward. "In that case…~" He smiled mischievously as he took the scone from Gon's fingers, chewing slowly. As Gon retracted his hand he grabbed his wrist and after completely swallowing the scone, took hold of Gon's fingers between his lips, sucking on them gently.

Gon blushed "Wh-what are you doing?"

"What you told me to do…I'm eating something~"

"But, I'm not food…"

"There's raspberry sauce on your fingers…~" He gave those digits one last lick. "Hmmm…your face too…it's dirty~" Grasping Gon's chin he licked the jam off the side of his lips, and then proceeded to kiss him full on, his tongue invading to get more of that addictive flavor.

"Mmmmm..." Gon moaned, tasting the coffee as he kissed Hisoka back. The taste of the scones intermingled with remnants of the caffeinated beverage to create a new flavor – a pleasant combination and his eyes closed in delight.

His tongue dueled with Hisoka's and his cheeks burned with his desire. The hand that Hisoka had been licking came up to press against the man's strong chest and he leaned closer, wanting to deepen their connection.

"Oh Hisoka…" he mumbled as Hisoka stopped kissing him to kiss his chin, down this neck, and then back up to capture his lips again. But as they kissed, somewhere in the back of his mind there was a voice nagging him, saying that he had something important to do; something that he'd forgotten.

Suddenly Gon jerked away, realizing that he was getting carried away; getting lost in those addictive kisses.

Hisoka grabbed his wrist, pulling him back.

"Ahhhmmm…I need to go…" Gon insisted, pushing him away gently with his free hand. "We can't..."

"Just fifteen minutes…~" Hisoka leaned forward to meet his lips once more, licking, nipping at them and peppering Gon's chin and swollen bottom lip with tons of small kisses.

"Ah, no I'm already late…we really can't do this..."

Hisoka was thoroughly tempted to make him even later but ultimately deciding to behave, he released him.

Gon got up and turned to the front door but Hisoka grabbed his wrist again. "Go clean up your face before you leave," he said pointing to the bathroom.

"What?"

"Your face is a mess now," Hisoka replied, chuckling. "But you can leave it that way if you want to become a meal for the ants~"

"Hisoka, what have you done...?" Gon complained as he ran toward the bathroom. "You've made my face sticky, haven't you?!"

"I wanted to make you sticky…~" Hisoka replied simply.

"Hisoka!" Gon gasped, red-faced as he looked back at him but Hisoka only responded by taking another sip of his coffee and humming as if he'd said nothing untoward.

XXX

"You're late!" came a familiar voice as Gon stood in the park looking around.

"Heh, sorry Killua," Gon said, turning to meet his friend's clear blue eyes.

For a moment, they stood there, each examining the other. To Killua, Gon hadn't changed much and though he did grow at least two inches, he was still shorter than him. Killua smirked. Well his dad is short after all...

To Gon, it seemed as if Killua had been eating 'growing mash' or something. He frowned.

Why did he get even taller?!

Killua was always taller than him, but with his friend's apparent growth spurt, he was now even shorter than the other boy.

It's only by two inches…or so.

I'll catch up to him, he thought resolutely as his eyes settled on Killua's face.

As for appearance, since Killua was also always quite mature for his age, not much had changed that was worth noticing.

His hair though, was a little different, with the front being just the same way Gon remembered, but the back now a little below his shoulders.

"You grew out your hair?" Gon asked, pointing to his head.

"Yeah, I thought it would look nice for a change," Killua replied with a confident smirk. "What do you think?"

"Don't you see how they're looking at you?" Gon asked instead of replying, gesturing to a small group of girls in the park that was standing nearby and taking double looks at them.

The little group was clearly openly admiring and whispering about Killua.

"Hm?" Killua turned to see who Gon was pointing at and frowned.

"Ah!" One of the girls gasped. "He's looking at me! What do I do?!"

"Oh my gods look at his eyes!" Another shouted. "He's so pretty!"

"Come on, let's go," their friend grumbled. "You're embarrassing me."

"But he's—"

"He's going to think we're weird," she continued. "Plus we're late."

"I can't help it...he's looking at me and I want a date!" The first one whined as she was pulled off along with her friend who was too busy drooling to protest to being pulled away as well.

The third girl sighed. "Just shut up and hurry."

Gon laughed as the three girls left but Killua frowned deeper. "I don't care about them, Gon."

"So does that mean you care about me?" Gon teased.

"Of course," Killua admitted, blushing slightly. "I wanted to know what you think about my hair, not them."

Seeing that his opinion was probably important to his friend, Gon replied, "It definitely looks good Killua!"

"Thanks," Killua muttered, looking at the thumbs up Gon was giving him. He started to smile. "As long as you like it."

"Yeah I do." Gon turned from him to look to the far end of the park. "I hope it doesn't rain today; we have a lot of places to go to!"

"We do?"

"Of course Killua!" Gon replied, pretending to look aghast. "I haven't seen you in a year and you're already thinking of ditching me?!"

Killua laughed. "Oh shut up you fool, you know that's not the case!" he replied, slapping Gon on his back. "Now let's go."

They walked in silence for a while but Gon stopped suddenly to look at his friend again. This caused Killua, walking to his left, to stop also, now eyeing him curiously.

Gon turned away from his gaze and looked down at his feet, examining his boots and the grass that came up between them as he gathered his thoughts.

Killua, now even more puzzled by Gon's bizarre behaviour, started to ask, "Gon are you oka—kyahhhh?!"

He was suddenly and unexpectedly tackled by the other boy, effectively throwing him to the ground.

"Wha-what are you doing?!" Killua asked, trying to get up but Gon was on top of him with his arms around his neck.

"Shhhh," Gon scolded, squeezing tighter and Killua stopped fighting him. They stayed like that for a moment, lying on the soft grass with only the sounds of the nearby fountain and the patter of feet surrounding them as people trekked by.

Those were the only sounds interrupting their reverie and they were both content with that moment.

Gon...

Finally, Killua brought one hand up, then another to hold his friend close, awkward and not used to affection but finding himself comfortable when it came to Gon.

He did not question the other anymore, or try to get up; just allowed him to hold on as long as he needed to…which, for Gon, was quite some time.

The people walking by were giving them odd looks but Killua just closed his eyes and squeezed Gon tighter, enjoying the fact that he could feel his friend again after being separated for so long.

Finally Gon spoke, and his voice came in a strangled whisper. "I…I-I'm sorry Killua…"

Is he crying? Killua wondered.

"I'm soooooo sorry…I'm sorry, sorry, sorry…" he trailed off, now sobbing openly into Killua's collar and the other teen was too surprised to speak at first.

"It isn't such a big deal Gon, people are late all the time, it's just that having trained as an assassin, I'm used to getting to my location long before I'm supposed to be there." He turned his head to look at Gon's green highlights as he spoke (since the other's face was still buried in his collar), "You don't have to beat yourself up about it…"

At that, Gon got up a little, hands on either side of his friend's head supporting his weight as he looked down at him. "I'm not sorry about that…"—he blushed—"well…I am, but this is about something else, something more important."

Something more important?

Killua's eyes examined the face close to his, finally moving to hold his stare, and waiting for him to continue.

"It's just that…that I've been such an ass to you Killua." Gon averted his gaze and rolled off of him, plopping down in the grass next to his best friend. "I've been such a jerk. I've been so selfish and conceited. I…" He choked up, unable to continue.

"What are you talking about Gon, there is no need to apologize for anything – we're friends…right?" Killua was beginning to wonder if Gon really was alright. And besides that, when did Gon start cursing?

Tears welled up in Gon's eyes again. "I HAVE TO APOLOGIZE KILLUA! DON'T YOU SEE? DON'T YOU REALIZE WHAT I'M APOLOGIZING FOR? YOU HAD COME WITH ME TO AVENGE KAITO AND I SAID SOME REALLY MEAN THINGS TO YOU…I'M LIKE THE BIGGEST JERK IN HISTORY AND I-I HURT YOU, I SEE THAT NOW, I'VE SEEN THAT FOR A LONG TIME SINCE I WAS ALONE ON WHALE ISLAND WITH MITO-SAN AND GRANNY AND ALL THAT HOMEWORK AND NO NEN AND…AND…" He paused when he felt Killua's hand on his face, wiping away the tears.

"Calm down Gon, you don't need to shout...it's alright..." Killua said softly as his fingers lingered on Gon's cheek.

Gon took a deep breath and sat up and Killua did the same. He had done a lot of thinking about this on Whale Island, about how exactly he would apologize to Killua and there was no way he'd do it as half-heartedly as he did the last time.

No Killua, it isn't 'alright'.

Dropping his head into his hands, he continued in a small voice, "My actions were unforgivable…you followed me all that time on my journey to find Ging; you never asked for anything in return, and how did I repay you? What did I do as your friend?"

"Gon—"

"No," Gon interrupted, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe his own past actions. "Don't make excuses for me Killua. I had no right to do that to you...to tell you that it all meant nothing to you…that you had it easy. You are my best friend…we share each other's pain but not because we are friends and I have your support, faith and love does that give me the right to push you around like I did—"

"You've never pushed me around Gon..." Killua insisted.

"Yes I have!" Gon corrected. "Not because you don't think I did and I didn't realize it at the time means that it never happened." He looked over at his friend. "I've had a lot of time to think about this and I owe you my life…for all that you did despite the risks involved..."

"But Gon—" Killua stopped himself.

Wait.

His eyes narrowed.

He knows?

"Who…told you?" Killua asked suddenly, the anger evident in his tone and the way his narrowed eyes became harsh and unreadable. He had a strong suspicion that Gon had become knowledgeable of everything that had transpired with Alluka.

Was it Melody...Hanzo...Leorio?

His hands clenched into fists in the grass. I had distinctively told Leorio and the others not to let Gon know about what I'd done.

"Who was it Gon?" Killua asked again, trying to even out his tone. I'm so going to kill them. "Who told you?"

He waited for a response but Gon just remained silent.

This just wasn't fair; he had wanted to save his friend from feeling guilty about that whole situation with Alluka and now someone and gone and spilled his secret. His face was set in a stony expression, dark and brooding but that dark expression relaxed as soon as he felt Gon touch his arm.

"Don't get angry…" Gon patted his shoulder. "I appreciate everything that you did to save my life with Alluka but it's not just that, if you hadn't come in time when I was fighting Pitou and pushed me out of the way of Terpsichora, or stopped me again when I was about to suicide in order to end it all – I'd be dead right now…"

Killua's features softened, his rage forgotten. "Gon, you've already said that you were sorry before I'd left with Alluka to go on our trip. And by the way, what I did for you was nothing; I only did what you'd have done for me. That's what friends do right?"

Gon shook his head. "Well yes, friends do that but that simple apology could never make up for all that I owe you. I've said some pretty harsh things and taken advantage of the fact that you trusted me so much"—he closed his eyes and smiled—"…and for that, Killua I am sorry…sorry and thankful, so thankful that you are still my friend."

Killua leaned forward and hugged him. For some possibly inexplicable reason that he was unaware of, he felt incredibly happy as he held on to Gon. "Of course I am still your friend…and I will always be your friend Gon…"

"Thank you Killua…"

There was a bit of silence and then Killua shifted. "You know Gon, there is something I've been wanting to tell you ever since you got out of the hospital." Taking a steadying breath, he continued, "I'm sorry I couldn't have been there for you on a more emotional level during our mission."

"Why do you say that?" Gon asked, confused. He couldn't see Killua's face since it was pressed against his shoulder, but he didn't force his friend to look at him.

"I...it's just that although you've probably felt all this time that you needed to give me a better apology for what you said to me then, I get the feeling that I should be the one apologizing instead." Before Gon could protest, he went into more detail, "Following the first encounter we had with Neferpitou - while everything was falling to pieces around us - I watched you spiraling downward, unable to do anything to help. I saw the signs: your denial, depression, anger...and I knew what you needed but I just didn't know how to provide it; I couldn't be that emotionally available friend to help you cope - all I could have done was protect you physically. I'm sorry, but that is all I know, maybe I should blame it on the fact that I'm an assassin, or the way I've been trained, but in my heart I know that those are poor excuses."

"Killua," Gon said firmly. "You were there and that's all that mattered. That mission messed us both up. You are sorry for what you didn't know how to say and I'm sorry for what I said to you. The fact is that this is all in the past now and we've learned so much from that experience. You think that you came up short in being there for me but have you ever thought that if you weren't by my side that I'd probably have never made it all the way to the castle to face Pitou? How could I have gotten through losing Kaito without you there? Your presence did more than words ever could have."

Killua pulled him closer, fighting the tears that threatened to fall. "Thank you Gon..."

"What are you thanking me for? I'm the one who was supposed to be thanking you," Gon said, pretending to be offended. "Don't come along and try to steal my spotlight!"

Killua laughed at his playful, teasing tone and replied, "Well, let's agree today to share the spotlight then."

"I like that idea." Gon settled his forehead against Killua's shoulder, sighing happily and feeling at peace now that he'd said what was long overdue. Just then he remembered what Hisoka had told him and he pulled away from Killua to hold him by the shoulders. Looking him in the eye, he started excitedly, "Hey Killua, let's get out of here, there's a lot of cool places we need to check out!"

Releasing his shoulders, Gon stood to his full height (which wasn't much) and held out one hand to Killua, who was still sitting in the grass.

Killua looked up at him, observing how the sun seemed to create the effect of a halo around his friend's head and he couldn't help but stare, not speaking for a moment.

Finally he reached out his hand, grabbing Gon's proffered one to allow the other to help him up and as soon as he did, the sunlight bathed the both of them in its warmth.

Killua couldn't help but notice the symbolism, of the way Gon had pulled him out of his personal darkness too and how he had come to find himself because of his friend's unconditional love and acceptance.

I know how good it is to walk in the light now because of you.

The warmth in his chest grew and he brought his palm up to cover his heart. You've always been my light but now I'm no longer afraid to join you with a light of my own, to walk by your side and not behind you in the shadows.

Falling into step beside Gon and giving the hand in his a brief squeeze; Killua met his friend's curious smile with a bright one of his own.

Thank you Gon for saving me.

2nd Re-edit Note: Fangirl squad lol

Re-edit note: Re-edited for more heart-wrenching bromance...damn...I gave myself the feels ;w;

A/N: Hmm Killua...who told Gon all about Alluka? Hisoka of course! But you don't know that XD

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Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it; see you in another update :)