AN: oh no, ffnet hates emojis. just pretend that Gon is using an unnecessary amount of emojis lol

The next morning was a rare day off. And as usual on his off-days, Killua would dedicate every hour of his spare time to being as unproductive as humanly possible.

He had every intention to lay in bed for hours after he woke up scrolling through his phone. He'd be skipping breakfast thanks to his decision to spend food money on Alluka instead of, well, food, and he'd likely skip lunch as well. But not because he didn't have enough money to pay for lunch. That was because he'd be too lazy to go through the trouble of preparing it for himself.

Once his doom scrolling was completed, Killua would spend the rest of the day obsessing over Greed Island or watching one of the seven shows he was juggling. He had some fun plans for dinner: an actual meal consisting of on sale rotisserie chicken and those peas and mini carrot cubes that tasted good for literally no fucking reason.

But Killua knew deep in his heart and deeper in his soul that he would not be indulging in his rotisserie chicken, but warming up a cup of ramen. Because goals. And laziness.

Without his work alarm set, Killua slept until 11:30 in the morning (he'd been up until two in the morning so that really wasn't that big of an accomplishment, but waking up late in any way or form felt amazing).

With the sun trickling between his black-out curtains to tickle his nose, Killua rolled over and reached for his phone. He opened his phone with every intention of spending the next three to four hours on Tik Tok, but he was met with an interesting notification.

It was a Snap from Gon.

Killua was immediately wide awake. He sat up in his bed, and opened Snapchat. It was from two hours ago, meaning that Gon was a more productive person than Killua was. Though that wasn't shocking.

He Snapped first. Not that I would have been able to cough up the bile to do so, but still.

I should open it.

Killua sat staring at his screen until it dimmed, ready to turn itself off. The silver haired boy shook himself out of his stupor, and tapped the screen to wake the phone back up. "The fuck are you doing?" he muttered to himself, "Just open the damn Snap!"

He did so, and found a picture of Gon with a coffee mug held up to his lips. "Good Morning!," was typed across the screen.

Killua snorted at the Christmas emojis. Jackass.

The silver haired boy took a photo of himself shot from below, and then retook it. And then retook it again. And then took it from an upper angle. And then from the side. And then of only half of his face. And then of the upper corner of his ceiling. And then of the–

"Dammit! Just take a fucking picture!" Fueled by rage, Killua took a picture of himself flipping off the camera. Perfect. He hit send, and ignored the nerves squirming about in his stomach.

Once the deed was done, Killua settled back down in his bed and opened Tik Tok. However, not two minutes later his phone buzzed with another notification from Gon. Killua's stomach gave its best demonstration of a back handspring.

He responded already?

His heart speeding up in his chest, Killua switched tabs and opened Gon's response. He was sitting in his car, and had taken the picture in the middle of driving. Just the idiotic behavior Killua would expect from Gon.

"Why yes, I slept very well! Thank you for asking!" was Gon's jackass response.

"How about you?" was typed beneath it.

Killua scoffed, and took a picture of himself laying against his pillow and glaring.

"Like shit," he typed.

Killua switched his tabs back, but before he could get through two videos Gon had Snapped back.

Once again, Killua's stupid stomach squirmed with nerves. What the FUCK.

He opened Gon's response, finding another picture of the raven driving.

"Unfortunate"

Killua sent a picture of himself rolling his eyes.

Gon responded within a matter of seconds. "You know what else is unfortunate?"

"the fact that no one asked?"

"You weren't at Beanz today when I came to get coffee"

"it's my off day"

"nooooooooo *is sad*"

Killua blinked down at Gon's response. He's sad that I wasn't there? Did he come to Beanz to see me specifically? Killua's chest did a weird flippy thing, but he ignored it and responded with a picture of him looking unamused.

"I missed you"

"u literally saw me yesterday"

"But i wanted to see you today too"

Killua was WAY to invested in this conversation. What the fuck! Why was his heart being so weird?! Gon was just being stupid Gon! "why?" Killua typed into his response."

"Because i wanted to spread Christmas cheer"

"blocked"

"NO WAIT"

Killua giggled to himself as he took his response picture, and then he realized that he was smiling and laughing while Snapchatting Gon and his face immediately fell into a frown.

What am I doing?!

What the fuck?!

Stop it! Gon is NOT making me smile at my phone, and there is NOTHING to unpack here!

With that, Killua slung his six blankets off and marched into his living room. He flung his phone onto the couch beside him so he wouldn't be able to hear its buzzing, and turned on his Xbox to play Greed Island and stop thinking about his problems.

…

Greed Island was a multiplayer, open world game with multiple different game modes varying from RPG to TPS. It was way ahead of any other video games on the market, because each player designed their own, personalized character and unlocked their abilities and weapons along the way. It was theorized that there were an infinite number of different combinations, and there were constantly map expansions and new modes being dropped to keep things interesting.

Killua had started playing when he was a freshman in college because Ikalgo had been telling him how fun it was.

Then Greed Island had become an integral part of his personality for the rest of his life.

To say that Killua was addicted would be an understatement. He lived for Greed Island, and more often than not the damned game was the only reason he still got out of bed in the morning. He'd been in a tough spot when he'd first entered college, what with the backlash from his parents and being separated from Alluka.

Greed Island had turned into his outlet, and then his unhealthy coping mechanism (he was using it to stop thinking about Gon right that very second). And Killua was not ashamed! Greed Island was fucking fun, and anyone who disagreed or thought he was a nerd for playing could go fuck themselves with a cactus!

The game had been designed by a literal genius named Ging Freecss. Ging may as well have been Killua's god, because that man held him in a death grip and had his claws sunk deep into Kilua's bank account. No one knew Ging's face - or anything about him at all for that matter - and Killua had to admit that he was majorly invested in all the conspiracy theories about who the fuck this literal god was.

Killua prided himself in how fucking spectacular he was at Greed Island. His character was fucking AMAZING, and he considered himself a master! The main mode of the game was stationed on a map called "Greed Island," hence the name of the game. It was an island (who would have guessed), and every player started in that game mode to build their character and their abilities.

There were events held on Greed Island, as well as these Cards that you had to collect in order to unlock other game modes to unlock even more cool shit.

Killua's favorite game mode was called Heaven's Arena, and it was a TPS game mode meant for putting your character's powers to good use. Killua was a fucking good shot, and he'd put so much time and effort into his characters special abilities that he was near impossible to defeat!

There were 251 levels in Heaven's Arena, with each level consisting of a different map to battle on. It was a multiplayer game, and the goal was to be the last player standing. The secret goal was to find a passageway to the next level up, and it had been one big-assed-deal when people had first discovered that Heaven's Arena had multiple levels.

Killua was on level 145 after months of slaving away.

There were a ton of other game modes, but Killua liked this one the most. He'd already collected all 100 cards and completed all the RPG storylines on Greed Island, so he'd thrown himself into Heaven's Arena. Sure, Greed Island had gotten a Christmas expansion that Killua had yet to beat, but he refused to play that.

His character was already forced to wear a stupid fucking santa hat, and he wasn't succumbing to Christmas. Not even within Greed Island.

Killua's gamertag was AssassianKat377, because assassins were cool and cats were cats. His character had white hair (like him) with a ton of strength upgrades and like a million different weapons unlocked and mastered. His special ability was in the Transmuter class, and it was electricity. Isn't that fucking awesome?!

Killua could rant about Greed Island for HOURS, but alas.

It seemed that no one was as big of a fanatic as he was. Not even Ikalgo!

By the time three o'clock rolled around, Killua had managed to find the passageway to level 146 on Heaven's Arena! After watching the video showing his character riding the elevator to the next floor, Killua threw his head back against his couch cushions and groaned in relief.

"Finally," he whined.

That's probably enough of that for today.

Killua turned his Xbox off, and rubbed at the ache between his eyes. He'd been on screens way too much today. But that didn't stop him from going straight from Greed Island to his phone.

When he opened it up, he was faced with the still-opened Snapchat tab.

Shit! He'd left Gon on read for three and a half hours!

Killua scrambled to snap a quick picture of himself. Heat crawled to his cheeks as he sent it. For some reason he was feeling guilty. But why would that be?! It was just stupid Gon!

With a dramatic groan, Killua turned his phone off and flopped dramatically against his couch cushions. I'm hungry. But the kitchen is too far away.

After twenty minutes of laying with his eyes closed (and most definitely NOT waiting for Gon to Snap back), Killua's phone buzzed.

The silver haired boy scrambled to unlock his phone so fast that his vision got blurry for a hot second there. It was a Snapchat notification! But… it was from Chrollo.

Aw man…

Wait.

Why was Killua upset?! Because he'd been hoping it would be Gon to Snap him and not Chrollo?! What the fuck.

Killua responded to Chrollo, and then turned on the TV to try and distract himself. He tried to focus on little bitch Shinji and his adventures with four hilarious lesbians, but the minutes seemed to drag on.

After two episodes of Angel attacks and whining about not wanting to get in the robot, Killua's phone buzzed again.

He swore that he wouldn't be excited if it was Gon, but it was Gon. And Killua got very excited. Actually, his heart jump started and his fingers shook a little with nerves as he opened the Snap.

What was wrong with him?

Soon Killua's phone was filled with a picture of Gon's blinding grin, paired with a message of: "You didn't block me!"

Killua found his lips turning up at the corners. Here he was again. Smiling at his phone because of Gon. What the fuck.

The silver haired boy took a picture of just his eyes peeking up from the bottom of the screen. "yea. figured i'd give you a second chance. not that you deserve it"

"I won't squander this chance! I'll treasure your friend request more than gold and all the money in the world!"

Killua giggled to himself at Gon's goofy enthusiasm. He added sparkles? I can't with this guy. He's just too much.

…

Over the course of the next few days, Gon and Killua Snapped back and forth constantly. Soon Killua's heart stopped getting all warm and squirmy when Gon popped up in his notifications, and the absence of that was more than welcomed. Killua didn't feel fuzzy feelings when talking back and forth with Gon! Yay!

Sure, he constantly found himself grinning and laughing at his phone because of the guy.

And sure, he looked forward to Gon's adorable little "good morning" messages that always managed to greet him no matter how early he rose.

And sure, he kept finding himself thinking about how cute and cuddly Gon was, but none of that meant anything! Gon was just a person he had friended on Snapchat! They weren't actual friends or anything like that!

He enjoyed messaging the guy because… because… he was funny! He thought about him every waking second because he was constantly being messaged by him! And he daydreamed about running into him in person as he fell asleep at night because it kept happening and he was dreading the next occurrence! NOT because there was anything to unpack, and CERTAINLY not because Killua had a crush on Gon, because that was ridiculous!

The only reason Killua was so hung up over the guy was because he'd kissed him and forgotten. And it had surprised Killua, and THAT was why he couldn't get Gon out of his head.

Nothing more to it!

Gon and Killua were just casual acquaintances, and that was that. They'd met under unusual circumstances, but that didn't matter because only one party was actually aware of the fact!

That's right, he's just some guy.

Nothing special about him.

"And then he gave me a bouquet of roses!" Alluka gushed.

Killua rolled his eyes, and continued picking the bacon off his croissant BLAT. Alluka had come to visit him during his lunch break so she could exploit his place of business for free lunch, and also to drone on and on about Zushi, apparently.

As if Killua wanted to hear about Alluka's stupid boyfriend.

He didn't even LIKE Zushi! Why hadn't they broken up yet?! How dare Zushi be so charming and perfect. It was disgusting.

"It was literally so sweet! I cried!"

"Wow," Killua replied dryly.

"And he even had a bouquet for Bisky! You should have seen the look on her face!"

"He sucks up to old hags? Red flag if you ask me."

"Brother!" Alluka scolded. "That's not a red flag! That's the greenest green flag out there! He's kind to everyone he meets and he gives such amazing hugs! I think I love him."

That caught Killua's attention. "What?!"

"I think I love him," Alluka repeated shyly as she stole Killua's discarded bacon from his plate.

"No, no! You are NOT in love with ANYONE! The only guy you're allowed to love is ME!"

"Brother, how many times have we had this conversation–"

"-I'm putting my foot down! You better stop loving him right this second or I'm killing him!"

Alluka rolled her eyes, and stirred her coffee with her straw as Killua ranted for seven minutes on end about all the reasons why Zushi was a disgusting piece of trash that deserved to die in the most unimaginable way possible.

"Dump his ass!" Killua declared at the end.

"You done?" Alluka asked, unamused.

Killua glared at her.

"I said I think I love him, alright? The falling is still happening."

"I hate this. Stop falling!" Killua ordered.

"No! You can't control love!" Alluka shot back. "Your emotions are beautiful in that they cannot be taken away or forced! Zushi makes me so happy! He's literally the sweetest thing, and he's so cute! He always makes me smile and laugh, and I look forward to talking to him all day long! He's always so nice to me, and his smile is so sweet and true! He's a little ray of sunshine, brother! He makes me all warm inside," Alluka finished with a sigh and a lovey-dovey smile that could make Killua gag.

He rolled his eyes and pulled his phone out. Stupid Alluka falling for stupid Zushi. Who even did that anymore?! What was this nonsense, thinking that a guy was cute? Thinking about him all the time? Looking forward to talking to him? Always smiling because of him? Getting all fuzzy inside when thinking about them?

Who ever heard of shit like that? Not Killua! That's for sure!

Killua unlocked his phone and found a notification from Gon. His lips turned up at the corners, and he took a quick picture of himself. They were using a filter that turned your eyes different colors, and this one turned Killua's eyes purple and put silver glitter all over his nose. That was a good picture. I hope Gon thinks I look good in it…

"Who're you Snapping?" Alluka asked nonchalantly.

"Gon," Killua responded without thinking.

He soon realized his mistake.

As he's stated before, Alluka had seemed to forget all about Gon. She'd stopped bugging Killua about him once the initial chaos of the Instagram picture fiasco had worn off. But now Killua had brought the guy back up. And he'd admitted to having his Snapchat.

Alluka's face lit up in a devious grin, and Killua sensed his impending doom.

"You and Gon are talking?" she gasped.

"No! Stop it!" Killua commanded, already feeling the blush start to rise up in his cheeks. "It's just Snapchat!"

"When did you get his Snap?!" Alluka demanded. "I know you two weren't in contact after our double date–" She gasped so loud that heads of bystanders turned. "DID YOU TWO MEET UP TOGETHER?!"

"Alluka! Not so loud!" Killua hissed, mortified.

"Brother, tell me you and Gon didn't go on a second date!"

"There was never a first date to begin with!" Killua exclaimed. "We're NOT dating! I just ran into him at the store! It was a total coincidence!"

"If it was just a coincidence then why did you two exchange Snaps?!" Alluka demanded, leaning across the table and grinning like a fool.

"Because we shopped around together for a little bit! Gon asked for my Snap at the end, is that so wrong?!"

"It's not wrong, it's perfect."

"The fuck are you even talking about?"

"You two are friends now!" Alluka squealed.

"No we're not!" Killua argued, his face blushing red for some reason. Friends? With Gon? N-No! We're not close like that! We're just acquaintances!

"Killua, your prince has returned to your side!"

"He's not my prince!"

"You two are literally so cute together!"

"Alluka! We're NOT dating! And we're not friends either!"

"Oh? You're not friends? Then why were you smiling when you Snapped him earlier?"

Killua's jaw fell slack for a moment. "I– I wasn't smiling!"

"You're lying~"

"Am not!"

"You're blushing~"

"No I am NOT!" Killua complained, fisting his hands on the table as his face indeed flushed a deep scarlet.

Giggling like a fool, Alluka pulled out her phone and took a picture of Killua.

"What?! What are you doing with that?!" Killua demanded, reaching across the table to try and steal Alluka's phone away from her. He probably looked so fucking stupid in that! He hated blushing!

"Nothing, it's just Snapchat," Alluka drawled, though her face was turning feline.

"To who?! Who the fuck are you sending that to?!"

"Gon."

"WHAT?!" Killua squeaked.

"Oh? Is something the matter, dear brother?"

"You have Gon's Snapchat?! Why?!"

"He's my boyfriend's roommate! Of course I have his Snap! He's so fun to Snap too! He's so adorable and he responds so fast! But I'm sure you already know that~"

Killua's face flushed a deeper red. He… responds that fast to everyone? I thought he was responding that fast because he wanted to…

That was completely stupid. Why would Gon want to befriend Killua? He wasn't responding every two fucking seconds because he… because he… liked Killua (AS A FRIEND) or anything like that…

No. Of course not. Killua– Killua HADN'T thought that. Not at all.

I thought I was special or something…

"Aww, Gon responded!" Alluka chirped. "He says you're cute, Killua~"

"What?!" the silver haired boy sputtered.

Alluka showed Killua Gon's response with that mischievous cat-faced smirk plastered all over her face.

Sure enough. Gon was grinning that blinding grin and captioned it with: "Aww! Killua looks so cute! ?￢ﾀﾝ

Are those hearts?

Killua's brain was having a bit of a short circuit.

Alluka snickered, and Snapped a quick picture of herself and Killua at their table. Killua was blushing even harder in that picture. "I… think… you… embarrassed… him," Alluka spoke as she typed.

"Wha?! No! Don't send that!" Killua cried, lurching across the table to steal Alluka's phone.

"Too late!" the young woman cackled as Killua snatched her phone away.

The silver haired boy looked down in horror as he watched Alluka's response slip away as it was sent. The screen went back to Gon's response, with him calling Killua cute. Killua's eyes lingered on Gon's smiling face before he swiped down to return to Alluka's chats.

He begrudgingly handed Alluka her phone back.

"I hate you," Killua whined.

Alluka just giggled, typing away at her phone. She could be doing anything from texting Zushi to talking with Gon. Killua honestly didn't want to know at this point. He turned his attention back to his sandwich, only ten more minutes left on his break.

Gon… thinks I'm cute?

A pale flush resurfaced across Killua's pale cheekbones.

He probably said that to joke around with Alluka… yeah.

The hearts were a part of the joke.

Gon… he doesn't see me that way. He doesn't remember the kiss. He doesn't… he isn't interested in me or anything.

We're just… acquaintances.

He's just a guy that I friended on Snapchat. I don't have a crush on him, and he doesn't like me that way.

Killua continued shoving all his fuzzy feelings into the tiniest and most secluded box in his mind. However, his suppressed voice of reason knew that he was lying to himself, and that he wouldn't be able to brush Gon off as just some random guy for very much longer.