Work Text:
“W-Will you go out with me?!”
Killua inhaled sharply at the earth-shattering question, biting down with enough force to nearly bite his plastic fork in half. His eyes bulged when he tried to inhale and couldn’t. He had to curl over the side of his and Gon’s cafeteria table to violently cough up the shitty school lunch that he’d just accidentally inhaled.
Gon, on the other hand, just blinked slowly at the scarlet faced girl standing just a few feet away.
“Eh?” Gon said and the girl blushed even harder. “What did you say?”
The girl visibly swallowed and clenched her shaking hands into fists. “Will you go out with me?” she repeated, voice a bit steadier this time.
She had guts for confessing to Gon, Killua had to admit. After all, he hadn’t voiced his true feelings about his best friend and they’d known each other since elementary school.
But Killua’s admiration stopped there. If anything, it was washed away completely by a wave of pointless but all consuming rage.
There was no way Gon could go out with this girl. Gon had never looked at anyone in that way. So he had to say no. He would definitely say no. Killua refused to accept anything else.
“You mean, go out as in a date?” Gon asked, like he was actually fucking confused. The girl nodded and Killua’s lips turned down in a deep scowl. She looked like a bobble head like that. Killua had always hated bobble heads.
“Hm,” Gon hummed and Killua’s head whipped around to stare at the spiky haired teen. Gon’s brows were furrowed, one hand clasping his chin in a thoughtful expression.
Killua’s heart plummeted to the ground. No way. There was no way Gon was actually considering-
“We could go anywhere you like!” the girl said hastily. “Maybe to the movies- there’s that new Hunter movie out now, I think! O-Or we could go to the park since the weather’s been so nice lately…”
She ducked her head. “I just, um. I think you’re really great, and friendly. I think we’d have a good time together.”
Killua’s fingers twitched. He had to tuck them underneath the table to hide the way his hands curled into claws. This girl needed to leave. Now. Before Killua made a decision he would later regret.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t,” Gon said and Killua almost stopped breathing.
Gon was…Gon was saying no? But. But why-
Gon continued apologetically, “I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to give you everything you want, and you deserve someone who can do all of the things you want with you. You know?”
Killua glanced sharply back at the girl. She was gawking at Gon with wide eyes, but she looked anything but heartbroken. If the way her hand was pressed over her heart indicated anything, she looked even more in love with Gon than before.
Killua clenched his jaw, teeth grinding together so hard it hurt. Why the hell did Gon always have to say the perfectly wrong thing, damnit?!
Gon chirped, “If you want we can still hang out though! Like a date, but a platonic one!”
“What,” Killua said loudly as the girl stuttered out, “I- um.”
Gon beamed at him and a part of Killua- the tiny, minuscule part not boiling with rage at his idiot of a best friend- melted a little at the sight.
“There’s nothing wrong with just hanging out, Killua,” Gon chided him. Killua just barely held back the urge to slam his fist into Gon’s stupidly gorgeous face.
“I- I would like that, a lot!” the girl said and Gon’s grin widened.
“Great! How about this Saturday? I’ll text you the details and everything!”
The girl teetered away on trembling legs. Killua tracked her progress across the cafeteria with narrowed eyes. It was only when she was finally out of ear shot that he twisted around to glare at the freckled boy sitting across from him.
“What,” Killua grounded out. “Was that all about?”
“Huh?” Gon tilted his head to one side. “Oh, that? That’s nothing, Killua. I go on platonic dates all the time, remember?”
As if Killua could forget. He’d lost count how many ‘outings’ Gon had done over the past couple of years. It was driving him crazy, if he was being honest with himself. Who in their right mind would go on a ‘platonic date’?! Just the mere idea sounded dumb.
But the girls kept coming, no matter how many confessions Gon turned down. And this just happened to be the first one Killua had ever witnessed first hand.
It totally sucked.
“Why did you reject her?” he asked and Gon shrugged.
“Gon,” Killua said. “Seriously. Tell me.”
“It’s nothing, really! I just…I wasn’t interested in her. That’s all.”
Gon went back to picking at his lunch, swirling the over-cooked pasta around his fork while Killua stared unblinkingly at him.
Not interested, huh? What did that even mean?! Did Gon say that because he wasn’t interested in girls? Or maybe…maybe there was someone else that Gon had in mind, specifically.
The air disappeared from Killua’s lungs and he felt suddenly nauseous.
If Gon liked someone already, how would Killua react? Would he smile and nod, play the happy best friend role?
“Killua?” Gon said with a frown. “Your face looks kinda weird. Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m fine,” Killua said numbly. He wasn’t. But Gon didn’t need to know that. Just like Gon didn’t need to know that Killua spent half his time these days running around in a black leather cat suit, chasing after akuma victims under the title of ‘Chat Noir’. No one needed to know that, especially his best friend. “Do you know where you’re gonna take her, by the way?”
Gon shook his head. “Nope! I’ll figure something out!”
Killua didn’t doubt it. He had to make sure that this was actually a platonic date though. He couldn’t let Gon get taken advantage of by this chick, right?
Right.
Killua smiled to himself. It was time for him to dig out that old hat of his.