This Won't End Well

14: How To Swim

"Tada!" Gon cheered, throwing his hands up to show off the room.

It was an indoor pool area; the light source came from inside the pool, making blue rays of light dance on the walls. The ceiling and the wall directly in front of the entrance were made of glass, allowing sunlight to leak into the room during the day. But since it was well into the night, the stars took over the sky instead, all of which you could see from the pool.

"What is this place?" Killua mumbled breathlessly.

"It's an indoor pool. Well, at least it was before the complex closed it a while ago," Gon said, walking over to the edge of the pool and sitting down.

Killua joined him and sat by his side. "Why'd they close it off?"

"Renovations or something. I don't really know," Gon admitted.

They both leaned back on the palms of their hands and gazed at the night sky. The stars usually hid behind smog and clouds in the city, but tonight was different. It was unusually clear, and stars illuminated every inch of the black sky.

"Big Dipper," Killua pointed out, aiming his finger towards a linear cluster of stars. "Orion and Cassiopeia too," He revealed, gesturing to each of the locations of the constellations above them.

"Woah," Gon mumbled. "Do you like astronomy?"

Killua shrugged it off nonchalantly. "My sister got me into it a while ago. She's the one who's really into it- astrology and horoscopes too. She's able to guess someone's zodiac sign like ten minutes into meeting them. It's honestly kinda scary," He laughed while smiling.

Gon looked at Killua with a soft smile, feeling a small swarm of butterflies in his stomach from seeing him so carefree and comfortable. It's nice to see him laughing like this, especially after this morning, he thought. Gon snapped out of his trance and pushed the sappy feeling down, chalking it up to him being happy that his friend was feeling better after a hard day.

"Your sister sounds amazing," Gon decided. Killua hummed and nodded his head in agreement. "Do you have any other siblings?"

Killua nodded his head again. "Yeah. My oldest brother is Illumi. You met him today. He's an asshole," Gon violently nodded his head and hummed in agreement, earning a playful scoff from Killua. "Milluki is my second oldest brother. He's a little bitch. Then there's me. After that is Allluka, my sister. She's the one who forced me to learn about astronomy and horoscopes and shit. She's my favorite family member by a long shot; the rest don't even hold a candle to her. And last but not least is Kalluto, my youngest brother. He's cool, I don't have anything against him, but we don't talk much. He's reticent," Killua stated, summing up his family.

Gon let out an impressed whistle. "You have a big family," Gon said. He'd never really met anyone with a family like his.

"Yeah," Killua mumbled.

"What about your parents?" Gon asked, looking at Killua inquisitively. Killua kept a stern gaze straight ahead into the pool and said nothing. A heavy silence landed on the two, and Gon realized he struck a nerve.

"Uh- you know, I have an idea of what we could do tomorrow?" Gon offered, trying his best to change the topic and shift Killua's attention.

Killua shot him a quick glance before looking away again. "What's this? You're actually making plans ahead of time and not just banging on my door the day of?" He taunted.

Gon scoffed and lightly shoved Killua's arm. "I was thinking- since you're into astronomy and that kinda stuff- we could go to the planetarium nearby. It's actually super cool, I've been there before with... my friend, and we loved it," He smiled.