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Gon’s Age: 1
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With the familiar dull thud of an unconscious body hitting the floor, Ging straightened himself up from his fighting stance and dusted his hands. He searched his companion's stoic face as he approached him, pausing to check on the slightly squirming bundle strapped to the leaner man's back.
The bundle - Gon; their son - had stayed asleep for the entirety of the rather short fight between his parents and the 4 Greed Island players that had invaded their home, enraged at the so-called disparities of the game.
"We can't raise him like this."
It was not a suggestion up for contention, but rather a statement of fact. Kite stared at the pile of bodies in their small dining room, not meeting Ging's searching gaze amidst his own inner turmoil.
"I know."
Ging's reply was delayed, golden eyes flitting from his partner to their child; safe, but only just so. Kite could hold his own - Ging had taught him everything he had known and Crazy Slots provided an added bonus of security - but a one-year-old could not, and they both knew it.
"How long? Until he can...?"
Ging's question rippled through the silent room, slicing through the pain-derived tension like the prized dagger of a seasoned blacksmith; the 'join us again' and 'hold his own' unspoken but understood.
Kite shrugged, eyes glazed over, staring numbly out at the still night, "I don't know. Maybe when he's 14."
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Gon’s Age: 11
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Ging's eyes followed the path of Kite's fingers as they weaved through his silky locks, strands glinting silver in the waning moonlight; a sight so familiar that it caused a pang in the brunet’s chest, given that he had not seen it for upwards of three years.
Their marriage was unorthodox, but so had been everything that revolved around their relationship from the first day onwards. After losing Gon to Ging’s grandmother and his cousin, Mito, neither Hunter expected Ging to stop his adventurous escapades nor did they assume that Kite would resume the role of faithful follower.
Their separate lifestyles made the rare detours where they would reunite ever the more important.
"- my soul told me that it was him before my eyes even landed on his face. He looks just like you but his affinity for animals is more like mine. I can't believe that I hit him in anger - I never wished to be that kind of parent. But he needed to learn a harsh lesson and I knew that you would have expected me to."
Kite's words fell on ears that barely acknowledged them, their target's eyes instead trailing down from his former student’s face to his lean torso.
Ging tugged Kite closer, roughly dislodging the other Hunter's possessions that lay strewn across their owner's lap mere moments before. He refused to meet his spouse's eyes, instead focussing his fingers on the clasp that held the lapels of the cerulean blue cloak together, forcing down thoughts and memories of days filled with a warm bundle, laughter, and family.
He tossed the cloak aside and began making short work of Kite's white shirt, grunting amidst his mental whirlpool of thoughts and emotion, "-s'good that you hit him. Sounds like he's a reckless kid - serves him right."
He stubbornly kept his gaze on the buttons of Kite's fly, not needing to see his own pain reflected in his husband's eyes. Kite said nothing, instead communicating by using nimble fingers to toss Ging's worn cap and navy scarf aside.
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Breathing heavily and senses dulled by the throes of endorphin-induced bliss, Ging threw a heavy arm across Kite's bare chest before asking quietly, "When does the restraining order say that we can...?"
Kite's resounding sigh conveyed the wistful yearning of both estranged parents as he shared the information that was already cemented in both of their minds, "When he's 14."
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Gon’s Age: 13
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It had been against Kite's wishes that Ging had tasked the other Greed Island programmers with the final 'test' for Gon, where using the Accompany card would take him to Kite, whilst using Magnetic Force would take him to Ging. However, as it had always been with them, Ging did what he wanted with minimal concern given to Kite's personal wishes.
For 12 years, Kite had thought up countless scenarios about how their family reunion would go, and yet in a day, Ging had unravelled the possibility of any joint meeting. It was difficult to think of having to endure months of 'delayed gratification', either until he could see Gon once more or until he could witness his son and husband together; however, Ging had made his choice and that would be that.
There would be no storybook reunion, with a son being hugged and the situation explained over a meal with both parents.
It was frustrating, to say the least, but Kite knew the man he had married and even more so, he knew which battles to choose; when it came to Ging, well, he could count on one hand the number of times that his former teacher had ever lost.
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Gon’s Age: 14
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And so, on the morning of the 5th of May, Kite begrudgingly accepted his fate as he prepared for a new job. Their son was 14, which meant that they could soon be together as a complete family once again, if fate decided to be kind.