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The emotional high of Kurapika being back and a fellow Zodiac doesn’t last long. Leorio hadn’t really expected sleeping together to change anything - at least not logically, but he’s never been logical when it comes to Kurapika. Which is why it still hurts when Kurapika throws himself into his work, first running the next set of Hunter Exams and then traveling all over the damn world recruiting bodyguards for the Kakin Empire princes.
All of this is incredibly important - and Kurapika certainly needs more allies on the expedition than just Leorio - but it doesn’t stop Leorio from feeling lonely.
It would be easier if that night had been a one-time thing… but it isn’t. Kurapika isn’t around very often but whenever he is, they find themselves falling into bed together. It’s like they can’t help it. Leorio supposes Kurapika’s expert control and years of practice pushing his friends away for “their own safety” left him much more equipped to get up and leave the next morning, but he is having trouble adjusting, waking up to an empty bed and the love of his life already gone - off gods know where doing gods know what.
Because he is a coward, he waits until the eve of the actual expedition to make his move, and push Kurapika towards something he’d been planning all along.
“We should go to Whale Island,” he says.
Kurapika frowns at him, poised and severe despite the fact that they are both currently naked. If Leorio hadn’t caught glimpses of the ways the Kurta’s face softened imperceptibly when they were actually having sex a few minutes prior, it probably wouldn’t hurt so much.
“You said Gon lost his Nen. And I’m not putting Killua in danger by recruiting him for this.”
“I’m not talking about that! Jeez, for such a smart guy you can be a real moron,” Leorio shoots back. He supposes one thing will never change - Kurapika’s whole cold indifference thing gets under his skin and riles him up like nothing else. “We’re about to go on an insanely dangerous journey and we might be gone for literal years, and you haven’t seen them or so much as texted them for two years - don’t even try to deny it.”
“Ah. A social call,” Kurapika says, blankly, as if it’s some strange new type of magical beast that he’s never heard of before.
“Yeah. I know that’s a new concept for you,” Leorio says. He keeps his tone light but if he didn’t know better, he’d think Kurapika can sense the actual emotions underneath; the Kurta sure looks troubled, maybe even a little guilty. “Well - I’m gonna go. Alone, if I have to. I already coordinated with Killua and his sister - sisters? Whatever. Point is, I’d like you to come with me.”
“I don’t have time, nor can I afford such distractions. But I hope you have a nice trip.”
“I thought you’d say that,” Leorio sighs, interrupting Kurapika. “And I didn’t want to have to resort to this, but it looks like you’ve left me with no choice.”
“Nothing you say will change my mind,” the Kurta says dismissively.
Leorio sucks in a breath, then says, all in a rush: “Hey, remember that time when Gon was dying and you didn’t even bother to pick up the phone? Well, he’s not holding it against you ‘cause he just assumes you didn’t hear until afterwards. But whaddaya think he’ll say when I tell him that you knew and still chose not to come?”
“... You wouldn’t dare,” Kurapika growls, clearly regretting confessing that information in his previous attempts to push Leorio away. A lesser man would probably cave at the look on his face. But Leorio, with long practice, stands his ground.
“I absolutely would.”
Which is how they find themselves on a boat the following morning - Whale Island being so insignificant and out of the way that there aren’t any direct flights. Kurapika sulks for the entire trip - well, he’d probably call it brooding but there’s a distinct poutiness that Leorio doesn’t dare to actually call him out on.
“Hey, this is pretty nostalgic. We met on a boat just like this,” he says, attempting to restart a conversation for about the tenth time. It’s not the same captain or crew but it looks like the exact same type of ship. Probably. Leorio’s not in the navy.
“I remember. You insulted my deceased clan and life’s mission and attempted to pick a fight with me.” Okay, so he’s still not over the emotional blackmail. Good to know.
“H-hey, you didn’t exactly make a good first impression yourself! But that’s not what I meant. Remember when that sailor fell overboard and Gon literally jumped in right after him, not a care in the damn world?”
“I do remember,” Kurapika says, a little less severe. Almost nostalgic, if he’s still capable of such a thing.
Then he ruins it by adding, “His intervention saved you from your inevitable humiliation at my hands. It’s no wonder you two became such fast friends after that.”
“Oh you little shit. For your information, if we actually fought fair - meaning, no Eyes and no Nen - I’d kick your ass, Kurta.”
“Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that, Riolio.”
(Leorio wonders what it says about them that this exchange of taunts and insults inevitably leads to them vanishing below deck and abusing the privilege of their private cabin. At least it passes the time pleasantly).
Whale Island is a tiny little place - almost idyllic in its simplicity. Leorio supposes it has a certain appeal, but he’d never be able to live here. He needs to be in a city - and not just because of his self-appointed life’s mission to service poor patients but because he’s the kinda guy who needs to be around people, not frogs and fish.
Gon and Killua are on the dock waiting for them. Gon’s face lights up at the sight of Kurapika and he launches himself into the air, a tackle-hug that almost knocks Kurapika straight into the water. (Gon’s grown, even though Leorio last saw him just a few months ago - he’s almost as tall and heavy as Kurapika now and will almost certainly have six inches and fifty pounds on him by the time he’s finished puberty).
(Leorio almost tears up right there on the dock when he thinks about how close Gon came to never reaching these milestones. Killua notices and teases him relentlessly but Leorio lets it slide, for once. It’s obvious to all of them, just from the way that Killua looks at Gon, that he can’t believe their luck either. That he doesn’t intend to waste a moment of it).
Gon’s Aunt Mito is a nice enough lady but the way she talks about Ging showing up and depositing Gon on her, and only leaving his son some sort of puzzle-box bullshit instead of a proper forwarding address, has Leorio hoping he gets the opportunity to punch the former Boar again sometime.
He tackles the subject with Gon as soon as he gets a chance. Mito sent them out to pick something up at the market while Kurapika, Killua, and Alluka (slash Nanika? Leorio’s still a little out of the loop on that one, and Killua isn’t exactly forthcoming with his family business) get started on dinner.
“Hey Gon,” he says, “you hear from Ging lately?”
“Not since we talked on the World Tree,” Gon says, without any apparent angst about it. “He gave me some good advice, though.”
“I see, I see… well, I’m glad you found him,” Leorio says, though his heart isn’t in it.
“No you aren’t,” Gon says cheerfully. “I know you hit him right in the face during the election! Aunt Mito says she watches the video at least once a day and that it always makes her laugh. She was really excited to meet you.”
“Oh… you saw that?” Leorio will never regret giving Ging a small piece of what he deserves... but it is admittedly a little awkward to be talking about it in front of Gon.
“Yeah! Your Nen ability is super cool, Leorio! I can’t use Nen anymore, but that’s okay! I’m gonna do what Ging said and use this time to figure out what I wanna do with my life… though I gotta wait until I catch up on school,” he adds, his face falling a little. “I dunno how you study so much. I hate it.”
“Well, you’ll be caught up in no time,” Leorio says with entirely misplaced confidence. How many years does Gon need to catch up on? Plus, he’s a smart kid… but sitting still and reading isn’t exactly his forte… no doubt about it, he’s in for a rough time.
“Hey listen, about Ging… I’m sure I’ll be seeing him on this expedition. D’you want me to take any message?” Or I could just hit him for you… Please ask me to punch him again.
But Gon just grins. “Thanks, Leorio, but I don’t have anything else to say to him. I never really wanted to meet him - I just wanted to find him, and now I have. He might be my dad, but Aunt Mito and Killua and Alluka and Nanika and Kurapika and you are my actual family. Does that make sense?”
“Y-yeah,” Leorio answers, trying valiantly not to cry in the middle of the street. It’s a losing battle. “You’re family too, kid. That’s why I’m here.”
He’s mostly recovered by the time they make it back to Mito’s house, at the cost of one tear-soaked tie.
To Leorio’s eyes, both Kurapika and Killua are distracted and distant during dinner. They’re both polite enough that Mito doesn’t notice, but Gon picks up on it too and gives Leorio a questioning look. Leorio just shrugs, knowing it’ll come out sooner or later. And indeed, late that night when both Mito and Alluka have gone to bed, the four of them find themselves gathered around the kitchen table, a palpable tension in the air and nobody really paying attention to the game of cards Gon had insisted on.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Leorio says eventually, throwing his cards down in a huff. “I can’t play under these conditions.”
“You’re just mad that you lost all your jenny, old man,” Killua says, but even this familiar insult comes out differently. Wrong. More a matter of course than truly impish.
“Leorio’s right,” Gon says insistently. “You’re only here for one night, Kurapika. You guys should say what you’re thinking, since you won’t see each other for a while!”
Leorio and Kurapika don’t look at each other but it’s a close-run thing. By mutual agreement, they’ve severely downplayed the threat level of this expedition. The kids don’t need to know that the Dark Continent might very well be more dangerous than the Chimera Ants were. Gon would just feel even worse that he’d ‘thrown away’ his Nen and couldn’t help... and Killua would instantly realize the truth: That there's an excellent chance both of them will die out there.
Though… that’s all the more reason for Kurapika and the former assassin to clear the air. Kurapika seems to realize that, too - that, or Gon’s intense cheerfulness wears through his resistance, the way it always seems to.
“I… I suppose we should discuss the matter,” the Kurta murmurs.
Killua sighs, scrubbing at his face with one hand before he eventually comes out with it. “... After what happened in Yorknew, two of my siblings joined the Phantom Troupe. Illumi, of course, and Kalluto - you’ve never met them. They’re the youngest - but that doesn’t mean they’re weak, they learned Nen even younger than Gon and me. And… and our family's intel suggests the Troupe is interested in the Dark Continent.”
“Shit,” Leorio says eloquently.
“Indeed,” Kurapika says. This clearly isn't a surprise to him - his mafia sources must have tipped him off already.
“But they weren’t Troupe members a decade ago,” Gon says, glancing between both his friends - back and forth, like he’s following a tennis match. “So that means Kurapika doesn’t need to kill them. Right, Kurapika?”
“It’s true that I only specifically swore to hunt down the people personally involved,” the last Kurta allows, “but that doesn’t mean they’ll stand aside and let me do it.”
“I’m not worried about Illumi,” Killua says, waving one hand in an accompanying flippant gesture. “He'll never be loyal to anyone but our family. This whole Troupe thing is probably just some weird foreplay between him and Hisoka. They’ll try to kill each other and it’ll turn them on-”
“Too much information,” Leorio growls. The less he thinks about the creepy clown’s sexual proclivities, the better.
“-plus, Kurapika couldn’t kill him anyway-”
“I’d certainly prefer not to test myself against him if I can help it,” Kurapika says, though Leorio knows very well that he’s inwardly fuming at the implied challenge to his capabilities.
“-but Kalluto, they’re just a kid. And our family - shit, you all know how we were raised. The Troupe is probably the closest thing they’ve got to people they care about, and we know how tight-knight the Spiders can be. I’m afraid by the time you encounter Kalluto, they’ll be willing to die defending Chrollo, the way the other members are,” Killua finishes in a rush.
Leorio has to admit the kid has a point. He’s mostly surprised the Zoldycks let yet another kid get away. Unless Kalluto was ordered to join the Troupe as some sort of deep cover mission - perhaps to take some of the Spiders out? Nah, that’s wishful thinking. The world is a shitty place and Kurapika having to go through one of Killua’s younger siblings just to reach Chrollo is the kind of thing that’d happen to them.
“... I’m sure Kurapika doesn’t want to hurt your sibling. Either of them. Right?” Gon asks eventually, into the tense silence that follows Killua’s proclamation.
“I do not plan to,” Kurapika confirms, “but I do not think that is good enough for Killua.”
“It’s not,” the former assassin says, his face twisted into a frown. “You’ve changed, Kurapika. Gon might not want to see it, but you can’t hide it from me. There’s a part of you that wouldn’t hesitate to cut Kalluto down if they get in your way - and that part’s growing stronger and stronger. I can’t accept your word on this anymore. I need you… to make a vow.”
“No,” Kurapika snaps, rejecting the idea before Leorio can even process it. “I can’t do that. If I swear not to harm Kalluto but find myself forced to confront them when I go after the Troupe… from what you’ve said, they are certainly skilled enough to kill me with that sort of block on my Nen.”
“I thought you might say that,” Killua says quietly.
Leorio doesn’t need Nen to sense the air around the table shift and change. The hairs on his arm and the back of his neck prickle, as if the entire room is abruptly filled with static electricity. And the sheer malevolence of Kurapika’s answering aura is enough to take his breath away. He sits there, stuck dumb and frozen-
“Hey, knock it off!” Gon says. The tension dissipates as suddenly as it started. “You two are friends, damnit! You’re not fighting over something as stupid as this!”
“It’s Kalluto’s life, Gon,” Killua argues - though his resistance is weak, as it always seems to be when it comes to Gon. (Leorio idly wonders if either of them have realized the true depth of their feelings for one another. It sure goes well beyond any ‘best friends’ he’s ever seen. Sometimes it reminds him, painfully, of Pietro and himself at their age, dancing around each other, not realizing they were about to run out of time to act on their feelings...)
“And Killua is correct to doubt me,” Kurapika says evenly, and the worst part is that he doesn’t even seem sorry about it.
“You’re not fighting each other over something that might happen, and that’s final,” Gon says, his green eyes blazing with something like their old fire. “Besides, you’re both forgetting about someone. Leorio’s gonna be there - he would never let Kurapika kill Kalluto!”
Gon’s faith in him is gratifying to Leorio. Especially since, when it comes to Kurapika, he breaks his own rules, over and over again.
“That’s right,” is what he says out loud, instead of any of that. “I’m gonna be on this expedition too. And I’m sticking to Kurapika’s side whether he wants me to or not. Like a remora-”
“You’re too big for that, old man,” Killua mutters, interrupting him.
“Though he’s annoying enough to be one,” Kurapika murmurs back, and they both manage smirks, bonding at Leorio’s expense.
“Both of you shut the hell up,” Leorio growls. “We’re having a moment here. I’m trying to sound all cool and reliable!”
“And failing hard,” Killua laughs. But he stands up and crosses the table to stare hard at Leorio (who, when seated, is actually at his eye level). “Okay. I do trust you, even though I should know better. Swear to me, on your Nen, that you’ll do everything in your power to keep Kalluto alive - no matter what happens. If you do that… that’ll be good enough for me.”
“I swear,” Leorio says.
His Nen shifts and surges in response to his words - it’s one hell of a feeling, one he can’t quite equate to anything else. This Nen shit tends to fly right over his head, anyway. But he doesn’t really need the vow - that’s just to reassure Killua and defuse this situation. He would’ve done whatever it took to stop Kurapika from staining his soul, regardless.
He just hopes they never have to put this to the test. That Kalluto has the good sense to stay out of Kurapika’s way, whenever the last Kurta finds the Troupe once more. Because Leorio’s not actually sure that Kurapika wouldn’t just cut Leorio down, too.
“Now that we’ve settled this nonsense,” he says, with a bravado he doesn’t really feel, “are we gonna finish playing or what? I got a lot of jenny to win back from you brats!”
Predictably, Leorio just ends up losing more. He’s pretty sure both Killua and Kurapika are cheating, and one of these days, if they’re all lucky enough to survive what’s coming for them, he’ll be able to prove it.