I cannot believe I'm actually writing this author's note, it feels pretty surreal. So, here I am, not really sure what inspired me to complete this chapter (that's been sitting in the form of piece in my laptop for like a year now?), but here it is. I've been coming back to this a lot in the last few months, something just pushed me to write this and it really felt lovely to do so. I always feel like a part of me is missing when I take myself away from writing something creative, but after three years? I'm like, where has the time even gone?! Guys, really, I'm not at all sure if I'll continue even now, because my mind is completely blank at the moment. The thing is that it was scary for me to be writing after such a long gap, because I feel like my characters might be changing because I've changed. Does that make sense? But I felt like these two kids deserved a nice and cute moment to mark the end of... I wanna say era? Wait, you didn't come to read this, so I'm going to stop now. I hope you like it! This is really for all you sweet people who so kindly asked me to continue if I could, you guys are the nicest!

Chapter 27: "Euphoria."

The first thing that my drowsy brain noticed upon the opening of my eyelids was a bare-chested, sleep-disheveled, reflective Killua, staring intently at the ceiling with his arms crossed behind his neck, and the most lost look I'd ever seen his astute eyes sport.

The lower half of his body was covered in sheets and something besides the hint of a V that started just below his waistline told me he was very naked under there. A sudden unfamiliar wave of heat crept to my face, it brought with it a feeling that danced alternatively between embarrassment and a strong sense of bliss. I quickly shut my lids, wanting to memorize this moment despite its awkward and uncomfortable blow on my nervous system.

Just as that hit my thought process, there was a click in my mind and suddenly even my ears felt incredibly hot. "Shit," I murmured unintentionally, rolling my body so that my face was squished between the gazillion pillows I always had my bed stacked with.

I pictured how his head would shift in my direction and then sneaked a peek to match that image with my sensory reality. I swear I saw the funniest look cross his face when our gazes met, something I couldn't even put a name to. "Possibly the most reassuring thing that you could've said under these circumstances," he congratulated my hasty choice of words… or word.

"Shit", I mumbled again, chanting repeatedly in muffled whispers. "Shit, shit, shit…"

"Well, good thing I don't have feelings," he commented in the balmiest tone ever, "otherwise my ego and my confidence in my sexual skills would've probably taken a blow over that…"

I smiled into my pillow. His voice sounded different… gentler. "That's not why I said it," I clarified, my voice swathed by the lack of breathing space. I shifted slightly to take steal a glance of his visage; the way he spoke and the expression he currently held were just… so unusual. "How long have you been awake?" I probed, keeping track of every movement that his facial muscles made.

His eyebrows arched in confusion. "I don't know, an hour maybe?"

"SHIT," I whisper shouted, rotating on my back as I clasped my hands on my face.

"Why? Was it a contest I was unaware of?" He asked, shifting to place his head on his palm while his elbow provided all the support.

I pursed my lips and turned slightly in his direction. "Let me tell you what exactly you're unaware of," I invited, poking at his head before I continued. "You have this brain, a very malfunctional brain, I should mention by the way, that tends to just analyze things into teeny tiny pieces, then those teeny tiny pieces are broken down into further pieces and every single piece is then examined individually a million times per piece and then come in all the variables; how did this come to be—what is going to be the outcome? Who are the people involved? Is it going to lead up to world peace?" I ranted, frantically using my hands.

His eyebrows kept rising with every sentence I spoke until they completely disappeared under his hair, he was trying so hard to make it look like this conversation was very serious to him which was very out of the ordinary because not only was there the hint of a badly suppressed smile on his mouth but also the Killua that I knew, never passed up a chance to laugh at me.

"—and you have been alone with said brain for sixty minutes. So, it has probably already convinced you of all the reasons that last night shouldn't have happened!" I whined in conclusion, which in my already babyish voice wasn't the most soothing thing to listen to.

I expected him to stick his fingers in his ears like he always did when my high-pitched voice reached another level of resonance, one time he was even rude enough to say that only dogs could hear me when I went to that degree, but there he was still looking at me like… that.

He sighed, still staring at me. "Well, this was not how I imagined the start of this morning would be but…" He straightened, assuring me that he heard every word I said with attention. "Let's take into consideration two logically fortified questions," he commenced, his eyes breaking away from mine for just a second.

I rubbed my eyes to rid myself of any trace of sleep regardless of the fact that I knew I was completely going to be annihilated by his argument ultimately coming to the conclusion that whatever I said made no sense whatsoever… like Killua had once said, I was allergic to logic.

"Question one," he emphasized. "If what you're saying is presumably true, shouldn't I have left before you woke up?"

I opened and closed my mouth in successions as an attempt to come up with an answer.

He exhaled, forcing a pained look. "Women…" he pronounced distinctly and I leered at him until he continued his interrogation. "Second question: do you really believe last night would've happened if I didn't want it to?"

I processed this, actually, scratch that, I didn't because I already knew whatever he would say would render me speechless once more before I even got to hearing the first syllable. Killua was a calculated guy, he rarely let emotions take over, and even if that ever happened he would get a grip pretty quickly. Dear God, considering he probably even knew the exact number of hair on his head (just a theory, but he was undeniably obsessed with his hair), just the idea that prior events happened merely out of spontaneity made me feel… dumb.

As soon as I snapped out of my thought process I noticed the way his gaze was addressing me, it was so weird—so new. "Why is your face like that?" I inquired suspiciously, now turning completely towards him.

He pursed his lips before replying, "Uh, good genetics?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, you—your eyes, they've got a glint and there's something about your face, it's practically radiating."

He took this into consideration before finally proclaiming, "I'm a guy and I hadn't had sex in eleven months, I could be disco ball for all I know," he declared with a huge grin. "I'm on cloud nine." He closed his eyes feigning a look of utter and complete bliss.

I registered his words for a moment and pursed my lips as the obviousness of what he had said dawned on me. "You don't think last night was mistake?" I tested once more in a small voice, for the sake of my sanity.

"No, I don't. In fact, I've been up thinking how long an interval would be appropriate for round two," he declared with a teasing smile.

The heat surged to my face again as I understood the meaning behind his words. His eyes widened as he stared at me and for an instant, I thought I had drool on my cheek.

"You're blushing," he whispered in awe as I rubbed my palm of the corners of my mouth.

"I don't blush," I answered reflexively. I didn't, I never had. Blushing was for people who had a healthy amount of blood in their body, I had always been deficient. But the warmth in my cheek suggested otherwise.
He pointed towards the giant mirror on the south wall of my room, that clearly reflected a contrast between the pink glow of my face and the pale ivory of the rest of my body. I made a mental note to get a spray tan, because I was in bad need of one.

When I turned back to look at him, his face was inches away from mine, his fingers trailing softly on the color in my cheeks. "You're so beautiful…" he mused and I felt like my head was on fire.

That look. The look he was addressing me with ever since I woke up, for a moment he seemed as if he was just a normal boy, a regular eighteen-year-old who had never encountered anything unusual in life. He was just an ordinary teenager who couldn't do creepy things such as pass electricity within his body. He was just a very happy boy, who seemed content and… "You're in love", I accused, making sense of his gaze and blurting out my thoughts before I had a chance to process or refine them.

He giggled. Killua Zoldyck was sitting naked in my bed, giggling. "You're silly," he declared conversationally, shaking his head with his eyes closed, smile in place. Killua Zoldyck was sitting naked in my bed giggling and using the word silly.

I was utterly speechless, not that this wasn't a version of Killua I didn't like, I could get used to it pretty fast, but he was just being so… honest and explicit. After all the drama we'd been through since the last year, it was hard to swallow that he was just that easily comfortable with his feelings and our situation.

He tucked a lock of my wild hair behind my ear and planted a soft kiss on my jaw as he did so. Me being over-whelmed was an under-statement. This was all so unfamiliarly comfortable, my thoughts and surprise didn't exactly cease as his lips moved closer to mine and eventually overlapped. This is new, my brain kept chiming as Killua pecked my lips over and over, in soft, sweet kisses that were too intense to be innocent and too short to be deep.

"You're so beautiful," he breathed again as his hand cupped my face but his lips didn't break the motion, even as I tried holding him still with all my force but I knew I was just humoring myself with the attempt.

"Oh," was what my currently handicapped brain to manage to generate through my mouth. "—eleven months?" I suddenly asked perplexed, my voice barely stable from the rhythmic make out session.

His eyes popped open as he registered this inquiry, "Hm?"

I raised my eyebrows at him. "You haven't had sex for eleven months? That's a nice line."

He cleared his throat on registering my argumentative tone and smiled at me in the sweetest way; my intuition told me he was holding back a laugh. "It's true, I swear."

I challenged him with a dead-straight stare. "Your July sex-capade? Was that a birthday present you gave yourself?"

Killua just kept staring at me. "Can we do this some other time? I mean, I know a distinctly better way you can use your mouth," he suggested in a honey like tone as he attempted to kiss me again.

It would've even worked if I wasn't as fired up as I currently was, but I was quick to grab his face in both my hands before he could close the distance. "Killua, do you really know me that little?" I questioned in the most balanced voice I could manage.

He sighed before rolling his eyes and I wanted to kill him for it. "I mean, did you even see anyone in my apartment that day?"

My eyes widened at that. "You—you—" I blabbered in incomprehension. "I swear to you Killua, me in the elevator the day this happened? Level one psycho, and I'll dart straight to a ten with no problem if you don't explain yourself right now."

I could tell the rise and fall of my tone scared him because he immediately grabbed my hands in his as a precaution. "Not the face," he pleaded as always and rushed through the words that followed as he saw my expression. "Look, staying away from you was hard, but I was trying and— I really wanted to just have you stay as far as you could but you were so stubborn and, there I was sitting half-crazed out from everything and I get your message that you're on your way. It was stupid, I admit but really, Claire, how stupid are you to not even recognize your own stuff?"

"What?" I demanded in utter confusion.

"There's a whole pile of your clothes at my place Claire, come on, honestly I knew it was a long shot and wouldn't work but it was like you were just waiting to believe for something like that to happen."

"Killua," I emphasized holding back my rage. "Nothing you are saying is making sense to me right now, so just please lay it out for me in plain simple English; did you or did you not sleep with another person?"

"No, I did not," he confirmed in an irresolute tone that was so unlikely of him.

I just looked at him silently for a moment. If I was being completely honest, I barely understood half of what he was trying to tell me, and I don't know what it was, maybe just the surprise of seeing fear on his face and that longing to make everything okay. I knew he wanted it and I did to, so maybe that was why I didn't want to fight over anything with this boy, I just wanted that innocent guise of hope and happiness back on his visage, it was just lovely to watch. "I love you," I said simply, because I did.

His mouth opened slightly at my confession. I could tell that maybe this would be something he might never get used to, the awe on his face on hearing these words, it was reflective of the emotion he displayed last night when I first disclosed what I felt. "You do?" he probed like a little kid, not even trying to keep the bliss in his voice subtle.

His cold hands gripped mine tighter and I knew what he wanted. "Yes, yes I do. I love you," I assured him and it was funny seeing what these words did to Killua Zoldyck.

There was a brief silence, in which I just wanted to look at the emotions he was no longer able to hide, right there on sheer display, his beautiful face betraying it all. "You know I—" he mumbled incoherently. "—do, I feel—"

I raised my eyebrows when I understood what he was attempting to do. I leaned forward and kissed him and he took me in his arms like he was waiting for it.

"You know I do," he maintained again when our mouths separated. "I really—" but that was really only as far as he could get.

"Killua," I pronounced gradually, making sure I was aware of exactly what his expressions were communicating. "Have you ever said that anyone before?"

And my suspicions were confirmed as his eyebrows disappeared behind his silver strands and his skin acquired a deep pink hue.

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "You really don't have to say it—"

"But I want to, I swear, I just—" he insisted. I imagined he would be sweating a river right now if this were an animated movie.

"Tell you what," I offered, freeing my hands from his to press my palm to his cheek. "I want you to say it when you can no longer not say it."

One of his eyebrows arched at my statement. "Honey, you're adorable, but I hope you know you're the one who isn't making sense right now," he offered and I couldn't help the smile that crept to my face, I surprisingly liked how he addressed me.

"Wait a minute," he calculated, bending his head to register my expression.

"What?" I half-gasped in a laugh.

"You're not arguing, you're not bitching—do you feel fine?" he even went as far as to press the back of his hand to my forehead.

"I mean do you want me to?" I extended in-between chortle.

"As much as I love you biting my head off every second of every day, I must say that this is a change I can live with," he confirmed, looking pensive. "Is this because of the sex?" he added as an afterthought.

I burst out laughing at that. "Yes Killua, sex with you has changed my perspective on life and the beyond," I said, my tone saturated with sarcasm.

"If only I knew…" he mused, adding to the effect with his incredibly exaggerated hand gestures. "I could've saved myself from at least half a million arguments."

I rolled my eyes at that. "You're so full of yourself."

"But you love me for it," he reminded, grabbing my face in one of his hands.

"Since I've been so nice and uncharacteristically understanding, do I get breakfast in bed?" I demanded; my voice muffled by the grip his fingers had on my cheeks.

His eyes lit up at that. "We can get to that once I get my turn first," he informed, caging my body under his as he pulled the sheets over us, covering the sound of my wild laughter.

I descended the stairs in a state of complete euphoria, picking up every article of clothing casually thrown away at each step last night. I could hear Killua in the shower and recalling every moment of what led of to right now made me feel a rainbow of emotions.

I think I was still in a half-state of disbelief, part of me refused to believe that this was real and everything that happened had actually happened. I was almost scared of how happy I was and wanted to tone what I felt down just in case. If things reverted back to the way they were, I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle it.

I sat down on the couch, not certain how I should process or even address the entire situation. This was exactly what I wanted. This was it, but was it what Killua wanted? What if, it was what he wanted but he would somehow convince himself again that it wasn't good for me… or either of us. Would that be—

A quick peck on my cheek broke my train of thought. "Overthinking, are we?" Killua guessed with dripping wet hair and a towel around his neck.

"Are you going to leave now?" I pressed, not even trying to pretend that he didn't hit right home.

"Not unless you want me to," he informed, staring at me intently, one his hands in the motion of drying.

"No, but will you leave?" I probed further and I knew he understood just what I meant.

He got rid of the towel and sat beside me, close enough for our shoulders to touch. He smelled nice, like he always did and I just wanted to bury my face in his chest and stay that way for a century or two. "I have something for you," he disclosed, digging his hand in the pocket of his jeans.

"No." I grabbed his wrist before he could reveal anything. "I want a straight answer, are you leaving Killua?" And I couldn't keep the tremble from my voice.

"Claire," he spoke my name in a sigh, putting his arm around me almost automatically. This was his reflex for whenever he sensed that I was close to crying. "Just thinking about staying away from you like that again—it exhausts me. I couldn't do it, even if I wanted to, and I don't."

"Well, you're surprisingly good at doing things that you don't want to, and I never know what's going on in your mind Killua, that freaks me out," I mumbled, and yes, the waterworks started before I could even attempt to keep my tone firm.

"Oh, Claire," he repeated, nestling my head between his chin and shoulder. "I'm here right now and I'm never leaving. Look, if there was any way I could show you what I'm thinking, I really would."

"I hate your brain," I blurted out between bawls.

He chuckled at that and swiped away the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs. "This is it Claire: you and me," he whispered softly, touching his lips to the side of my neck.

"I don't believe you," I disclosed, sniffling as I thought of how embarrassing this moment truly was. "Those months were really bad Killua, really— really hard, okay?"

"I know, and right now all I can do is apologize for being so stupid and promise you that that is something you won't have to worry about ever again," he assured stroking my hair in gentle motions. "You can find some comfort in knowing that they were equally shitty for me, do you know how hard staying away from you is?"

"I know, I'm really cool," I quipped and actually started hiccuping because of the intensity of my cries.

He laughed at my remark and got up before planting another kiss on my forehead. "You're the light of my life."

"Took you long enough to get there," I mumbled as he proceeded to kiss my entire face, finally stopping with a peck on the tip of my nose.

"Should we make you some breakfast now?" he suggested, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"A lot of breakfast," I agreed, my stomach grumbling at the mere thought.

"Pancakes or bacon?" he offered, making his way to the kitchen as he buttoned his shirt.

"Whichever," I conceded, because both sounded really good.

"So… both it is," he translated and at this point, I just thought it was just pathetic of me to deny how well he knew me. "And scrambled eggs while we're at it," he added glancing at me for approval. "Let's just do everything." He grabbed items from the fridge and was arranging them in one neat line.

I could not emphasize how hungry I was and my face was too easy to read anyway. "But no—" I began, trying to counter his quirkiness.

"No coffee, I know." He shrugged, smirking as he expertly dealt with the pancake mix.

I stuck my tongue out at him. It was like the universe had programmed him with an integrated manual on precisely how to deal with me, how could any person resist that, now really?

"It's amazing what food does to you," Killua commented as he intently watched me sequentially devour two helpings of everything that he had made.

"Shouldn't you be happy? I'm low maintenance," I enlightened while chewing, it was nothing new to him that I was always very invested in my meals.

He snorted at that. "Yeah, okay—you're low-maintenance." He scoffed, sipping on his coffee.

"This food is so good, I'm not even going to torture you over what you just said," I disclosed stealing pieces of bacon from his plate.

He rolled his eyes, a small smile showing at the corners of his lips. The thing here was, I was very accustomed to different reactions from Killua, but this? And the way he kept stealing glances at me?

"My God, you are so smitten," I announced, staring at him.

He just vibrated silently with laughter at this, his eyes focused on the screen of his phone, but darting to me every other second.

"Is it the sex, Killua?" I teased, trying to recreate his earlier tone with a series of choice words of my own. "I mean if only I knew, I could've saved myself a lot of time and heartache," I mused with a deep sigh.

He responded with a laugh that was so loud I thought our neighbors from three houses away must have heard him.

"Honestly, Killua if you're—" before I could get to go any further, the front door clicked open and both of our gazes reverted towards it.

"Oh, honey—spit all over mommy's shirt? That's not very nice," my mom's voice reprimanded as she materialized right into the doorway with Katie lodged on one side of her body. She spotted us a second later and her immediate reaction was a gasp.

Let me explain why this was one of the most humiliating moments of my existence. I was actually seated in nothing but my underwear and the dress shirt Killua had on yesterday, there was an abandoned stack of the clothes that we had almost ripped off of each other in the heat of the moment last night perfectly within view on the sofa —oh, and while Killua was presentable and showered, here I was looking like I had been freshly electrocuted.

It took me a moment to realize that my mom didn't really take notice of all of that. Her gaze was excited and child-like. "Killua!" she greeted like she was finally reunited with her long-lost son, and I should mention here that she hadn't said a word to me yet.

Killua had appeared by her side before I could even process the situation. I thought my mom would combust from the intensity of her squeaking.

I pulled at the hems of the shirt I had on before I made my way to her. Katie latched on to me like we had been separated centuries and not one weekend. "Bah!" she announced in her five-month-old wisdom, rewarding me with some of her drool in the process.

"Are you guys—I mean, are you?" my mom questioned loudly, refraining to use that word solely because I was glaring at her.

Killua looked at me with a crooked smile. "Hana, I have to be honest with you," he began looking at her earnestly, "it's hard missing out on your homemade steak and potatoes every Thursday, and if Claire is what I have to tolerate in the process, I'll do it," he jested like the asshole he truly was.

My mom clasped her hand on her mouth. The biggest truth of our lives was that my mother was the biggest shipper we ever had, that was probably why I didn't even feel embarrassed when she reported, "This is too exciting! I'll pee my pants!"

Let's not forget folks that my mother was thirty-eight years old, but I guess that didn't really make a difference when you were a hopeless romantic and fangirl mixed into one deadly/obsessive combo.

"Mom, let Killua breathe," I requested through clenched teeth. That was not, and never would be all it took to tame her, and Killua himself just grinned throughout the entire ordeal like it was Christmas.

I sighed as I shut my bedroom door behind me, a very clingy Katie still vigilant with her head on my shoulder.

Killua was lying casually on my bed after my mom had thoroughly rejected even the idea of him leaving before dinner, and he wasn't really complaining. He had just discovered the ever-exciting hobby of looking through my ugly pre-pubescent pictures and laughing his head off.

I just walked towards him with the intent of snatching away the concrete evidences of my shame, but was distracted when I saw the strangest thing happen: Killua and Katie looked at each other for two whole minutes with no interruption. I couldn't point out which was weirder, a five-months old kid being able to stare without blinking or an eighteen-year-old man participating in the exchange.

"You're one tiny human," Killua commented, speaking to her exactly as he would to an adult.

She responded with a brief silence that ended in her extending her arms towards him and he took her from me without any hold up.

I realized that this was the first time Killua had seen Katie, ever; but the way she characteristically put her palm on his cheek, would suggest differently to an onlooker.

The manner he held her in made me speechless really, I mean Gon had nothing on him. "I had no idea you were good with babies," I admitted, seating myself next to them, feeling like a third-wheel.

"I'm not, I can't stand them," he revealed, shifting her so she was lying on his chest "I like this one," he added as Katie babbled on.

"She'll drool on your shirt," I informed him, surprised by how much I liked him doing what he was doing.

"Hm," he contemplated, watching as she played with his fingers. "Doable," he declared and I don't know what got into me when he said that but I turned his face towards me with one hand and kissed him

"What does one have to do to get one of those on the regular?" he asked when we broke apart.

I shrugged. "Just be yourself," I disclosed, pinching the tip of his nose.

Katie had had enough of the forty seconds in which she had been deprived of direct attention, so she rebelled with a loud scream and grabbed a fist full of Killua's hair.

"Oh my God!" I gasped, unable to control my laughter.

Killua had to gradually and gently pry off every single one of her tiny fingers, I was just impressed he didn't cry in the process; the guy was very sensitive about his hair. "See, now this is how I can tell she's your sister," he said, trying to get her to grab his car keys, but she was still very much determined to go for his hair.

I offered to get her bottle so she would dial the crazy down, and when I returned, she was immersed in a one way conversation with Killua, the gist of which I could tell very well from his all-telling sentence "…and that's why you babies are bald."

She was not having that and countered by attempting to stick her finger in his mouth while he was talking.

"That was disrespectful," Killua reproved, but Oh God did she enjoy his company, she was obsessed with him. I had to coax her for a whole half an hour before she agreed to leave his side when my mom wanted us to go for a quick grocery run.

I groaned as Killua leaned forward to strap on my seat belt because when I asked him if I could drive, he had answered with: "Let's actively try to not die on the day things turned around for us, that would be messed up."

"So, where do we go from here?" I asked, folding my legs as he started the car.

"You're awfully slow today—feet off my seat please," he ordered through gritted teeth, his foot pressing on the accelerator a little too hard.

"That's not what I mean, get over it," I responded, slapping his hand away from my boots. "You and I, where are we going?"

"You and I…" he contemplated, "…are going to the grocery store?"

I stared at him. "Do you want to keep your front teeth?" I probed in the most menacing voice I could produce.

A grin broke on his face on hearing that. "Look, don't over-think it, let me handle everything," he assured as he took a turn and then proceeded to wink at me.

"Oh goodie, so that fixes everything?" I inserted skeptically.

"Very much so, hon," he replied casually, finding a parking space in the lot of the super-market and killing the engine.

When he opened my door for me, I had bite back the urge to stick my tongue out and fold my arms in rebellion.

"Atta girl," he approved as I walked ahead without making a scene, and as his stride surpassed mine, he ruffled my hair before eventually running past me.

"Ugh Killua!" I whined, not taking the chance to test my unfortunate motor-coordination.

He was already in the procedure of examining items from one the aisles when I walked in and spotted him.

"You splashed water on my pants with that little bit you just did," I informed him, pointing at my feet.

"Oh dear, I wonder who's going to play you in the movie," he pondered, unable to refrain from laughing at his own joke.

I rolled my eyes and proceeded to the next aisle, leaving him behind as a display of my disapproval. "Killua," I said after a minute of silence, because I don't know, something hit me suddenly.

"Yes?" he answered, obscured from my view because of the compartments between us.

"I'm sorry for freaking out and being controlling," I mumbled, probably only loud enough for him to barely hear.

"I'm just going to gloat for a minute that you're apologizing to me," he informed, his voice suggesting movement.

I exhaled and walked in the direction he seemed to be walking, until there was a gap in the shelf, where someone had picked up too many gummy bear boxes in two connected rows. Killua's smug face appeared there a second later.

He spotted me and grinned, it was actually then that it dawned upon me for the first time how freakishly tall Killua really was; I had to crane my neck just to keep eye contact with him.

He bent down, to be on the same level as me. "I'm really not going anywhere," he said simply, and really for some reason, that was enough for right now.

"Aren't you going to kiss me?" I asked, when he was barely three inches away from my face.

"In a second," he said and I noticed where his gaze was as he pointed right below our chins, and there lied an innocent and lonely box of Choco balls.

I blinked at it for a second or two, before looking back up at Killua.

"This is definitely mine," I attempted to reconstruct with my words, one hand reaching for the box just when Killua's did.

"Is it?" he teased, "I mean I don't see your name written anywhere on it really."

I laughed a little before I could continue. "It will be written in your blood…"

"If you don't let go," he reminded and I full on broke into a silly fit of chuckles.

"Idiot." I tried to keep my tone insulting, but it was just plain amused at this point.

"Dimwit," he answered back, unable to keep the smile from his face now.

"Self-involved," I blurted out.

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Are we really going there? Obsessive."

I opened my mouth in faux hurt. "Stubborn."

"Shrill, controlling and selfish," he sequenced, actually snatching the box.

"Ugh, you doll-collecting weirdo!" I answered back, just before he leaned in and kissed me and it was truly the sweetest thing, standing here kissing in the middle of a super-market aisle shelf, the exact same place we first met. This was just truly nothing more than serendipity, I realized.

He smiled into kiss and something made me consider that maybe was thinking the same. After that we made a quick sweep of everything we needed and soon enough I was sitting on his lap, in the driver's seat of his car, parked right outside the city park, as he fed me Choco balls, and talked, laughed and made out in successions, and some other things I won't mention.

It was scary, when it really settled on me how perfect this truly was. "I still have that something for you," Killua spoke, shaking me out of my momentary trans.

I folded my sleeve back and offered him my wrist, the bracelet he gave me glistening beautifully under the car-light.

"You know it's another charm?" he questioned, impressed.

"I mean, let's be honest, it would be kind of concerning if I didn't at this point."

"That's my girl," he cheered as he pulled out a tiny black velvet box from the pocket of his jeans. The silver entity that revealed itself when he opened the enclosure was just lovely: an infinity charm that was engraved with clusters of white shimmering stones of the smallest and most delicate kind.

"Oh, this is just—wow," I described in a breathy whisper unable to contain myself.

He fastened it to the chain on my wrist in the matter of seconds and we both just stayed still, admiring the collection that had formed itself on the bracelet that once upon a time had one lonely K shaped charm in the same white stone setting, now it was accompanied by a glistening silver snowflake that was made so intricately that it was hard to believe it was even real, a crescent moon that held a very small sapphire blue gem at its tip and now my new infinity charm. It was really quiet a piece, I realized how much the bracelet reflected Killua and his taste in its entirety.

"I understand what this means now, but you probably got this way before you knew how things were going to turn out," I inferred, turning to face him.

"Does anything ever escape you?" he mused tilting my chin to plan a soft kiss on my bottom lip.

"Not a chance," I confirmed, tracing the perfect angle of the bridge of his nose.

"It was always meant to signify forever," he said after a minute of silence, "now it's a more physically concrete kind of forever."

I processed that for a second, every charm had some meaning behind it, I know he picked them very carefully every time. "I like this one the best," I revealed and he smiled the sweetest smile I'd ever seen. "Are you even real?" I questioned moving my finger to touch the rest of his goddamn perfect face.

"Uhm… I have a few ways in mind we can test that theory," he invited, his cold hands moving under my sweater to my bare back.

"Killua," I pronounced, looking straight into his gorgeous sapphire blue eyes, our foreheads touching.

"Claire," he whispered, fazed momentarily.

I had so may things I could have said to him in that moment, most of them promises I wanted him to make, but I realized that the bracelet fastened around my wrist was a collection of them; he had already promised me these things before I even asked them of him, or before I even knew that I would want them someday. So, instead, I just wrapped myself around him and breathed in the scent of him, shutting my eyes so I could maybe have a near perfect memory of this moment, because right now was really, really good.

What I've lost is what I seek to find again,

And once I do, it will be the essence of forever then.