Chapter Text
Kurapika had never pictured himself as a father. But then again, neither had he imagined himself a husband, but some things change.
Now don't get him wrong, he loved his kids. Both of them, even though it hadn't been too long he knew this.
But goddammit when they said they wanted to go to the park he was expecting it to be for an hour, maybe two. Leorio was working late that day and they had already eaten so he thought they might as well; grabbed a book he had been wanting to start for a while and walked them to a nearby park.
It's been 6 hours. He's nearly finished with his book and Leorio is probably home by now. They had arrived around 6 pm, Summer heat had died down and there were only a few kids around. He watched as hours went by and the few families there left. They did not.
He could be at home, peacefully asleep, but no. He's here, sulking as he watches- holy shit Killua just fell from a tree.
Kurapika's panic quickly subsided as he watched the boy carefully float down to the ground.
Right... ghost.. He thought, sitting back down to his spot on the bench.
"Haha! Found you Killua!" Wasn't Gon on the opposite side of the playground before??
"Ugh, you're no fun!" He slung an arm over Gon, pulling at his cheek. "Taking advantage of my moment of weakness like that!"
"Yo Kurapika, wanna play?" Killua yelled towards the blonde, pulling harder at Gon's cheek to muffle out complaints towards the previous statement.
"I'm not so sure about that one…"
Gon finally pulled out of Killua's headlock, bounding over towards Kurapika. "Yeah yeah! You should totally play!"
As Gon bounced on his toes excitedly (how does one have so much energy so late at night???) Killua made his way over as well, "Yeah, we can go after, just play one round."
"What game are we playing?" Kurapika answered, all too quickly.
"Hide and seek!" The boys announced in unison.
"We'll have 30 seconds to hide," Killua started.
"And you have to find us!" Gon finished.
"And no peeking!"
"Alright, go and hide" Kurapika covered his eyes. "I'm counting,"
Of course, after a little but of counting he uncovered his eyes. He wanted to leave as soon as possible, no matter the methods; ends justify the means or whatever.
He continued counting out loud, scanning the area for the two. But they were both gone, but a trace of bright green jackets or pure white hair.
Where did they go?? It's been 10 seconds, no way they've already hidden!
"28, 29, 30" He counted out, "Ready or not here I come,"
It couldn't take that long.
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Ring ring!
Leorio was shaken out of sleep by the sound of his obnoxious ring tone.
Who would be calling me this late?
He was going to just ignore it, before he settled back into bed and realized there was no one else in it.
"Kurapika!" He yelled, picking up the phone.
"Kurapika, is that you?"
"..Leorio?" His voice sounded gruff, clearly tired and strained.
"What is it Sunshine? Are you alright? Do I need to call for help?"
"Leorio I lost the kids"
What.
"What do you mean you lost the kids!" Leorio shouted, any remaining tiredness gone.
A groan. "They wanted to go to the park, so I took them, stayed for like… 6 hours and they asked me to play one round of hide and seek with them before leaving. It's been an hour"
"You lost them playing hide and seek?" He deadpanned.
"Lool Leorio, I'm tired, and they are way better hiders then they have the right to be,"
"Have you tried… giving up?"
"Leorio Paladiknight, you did not just insinuate that I leave our children-"
"No! God no, I meant giving up the game, surrendering, telling them you're done."
Of course, Leorio knew who he was talking about, he had doubt Kurapika would be willing to give up, but he seemed tired and worried enough that he would; but there was no way those kids would accept that win. Well, more Gon than Killua. Either way there was no way the game would end with just that round.
But if Kurapika was really worried about where they were to the point that he'd call for help, he might just be willing to accept that.
"Just… come here," He spoke in a hushed voice. "The parks just across the street and I'll need help wrangling them up,"
Without a question asked, Leorio pushed the covers off, and rushed out of the door in his slippers without so much as putting on a jacket.
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The walk wasn't that bad, luckily it was Summer and Leorio wasn't cold in just his pajamas. Actual shoes wouldn't have hurt though. Like Kurapika had said, it wasn't a long walk and he soon found himself arriving at the small playground.
Kurapika was sitting back in a bench, eyes closed and breaths deep, though definitely not asleep.
Either way, he took it upon himself to call out, "Hey kiddos, it's late, let's get on home before Kurapika passes out."
(Hopefully they didn't see Kurapika flipping him off)
And there they were.
Gon poked his head out of a space above the ladder. (There was no way he had been hidden in there the whole hour Kurapika had been seeking)
Killua just... appeared. Sitting right on top of the monkey bars.
He could feel the frustration radiating off of Kurapika, who was now stood up and right behind him, "He was invisible? There is no way that isn't cheating!"
"Eh? But that's how Gon and I were playing, you just suck," He stuck out his tongue, jumping down and trotting over to Gon as he unfolded himself from the space.
"Yeah, sorry Kurapika," He rubbed at his neck as they both walked over to them.
A long sigh. "Whatever, I don't even care, I just want to sleep."
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Leorio went to the bathroom right after arriving back at home.
He came out to find all three of them passed out on the couch. And with a soft laugh, he joined them.