Death's Door // COMPLETED ✔

Hot Spring Episode

Killua found his lack of addiction jarring if not unnerving. It followed him Upstate and occupied all the time he should have spent mourning. His mom's side of the family was loud and annoying, so he spent most of the gatherings in the background or outside pretending like he needed a cigarette.

He turned his fingers over time and time again to check that the cigarette stains were still there. The brown had yellowed like an old bruise. It was evidence to the contrary: he should have a cigarette right now.

If I was ever going to quit, now would be the time, he told himself, but he was only twenty-five. These were his prime smoking years.

Alluka found him out on the terrace. She was sporting a high-collared black dress and headband, hair curled over her shoulders.

"Hi."

"Hey."

Alluka cleared her throat. "I called Gon to let him know we made it."

Killua's brow arched. Before he could question why the Hell she'd do that, he thought better of it. Alluka believed they were dating. Hell, even Gon believed they were dating.

His hand, which had been raising a toast to the ghost of his cigarette, fell to his chest. It tightened at the memory of what Gon had done in their old timeline.

"Something's been bothering me," Alluka said as Killua tried to recover from the bloody spear of Cupid's bow. "The coroner gave me your apartment key. Last time."

The problem didn't register until it was too late. "Shit," he said just as Alluka said, "I swear you had a different unit in that timeline. Do you think they accidentally dropped us in a timeline where... I don't know. You got a different unit?"

Killua blinked. Wow, he thought, she solved the issue for me. "Probably. I've lived there ever since I moved."

"Weird." She sniffed a little, heel digging into a knot in the floorboards. She tapped her whole foot down. "I suppose that could explain your no-smoking thing."

That doesn't explain it at all! "How so?"

"Because your apartment doesn't smell like smoke. Maybe you weren't a smoker."

That really doesn't explain it! "Weird that they'd pick this timeline," Killua scoffed, indignant. He crossed his arms defensively to hide the tobacco stains.

"So you agree?"

"I have no other explanation."

________

Meanwhile in New York City, Gon decided to clean Killua's apartment anyway because it bothered him that he did it once, and Killua didn't even get to see it. It was a leap to judge Killua's reaction as starstruck during Gon's confession, but he wanted to see that look on Killua's face again.

Only this time, Gon kept Killua's papers and books to their rightful places: organized and stacked atop his desk.

After tidying up, washing the dishes, and taking the trash out to the dumpster, Gon returned to finish scrubbing down Killua's bathtub.

A call came in that Gon ignored, but the voicemail went off a moment later. It was Uvo inviting Killua to another industry event. The urge to check his own mailbox was outshined by the itch to ghost-out as the seconds ticked tediously by. Sure, he could spend his night out on the town...