Ghost Orchid |KilluGon|

chapter 3

It was sunnier today. The weather was slightly warmer, but it was still pretty cold. There was a breeze in the air, and it ruffled through the leaves of the evergreens. The rest of the trees didn't have leaves anymore. They looked more like sculptures of smooth bark that were branched out in patterns that weren't quite understandable but beautiful, nonetheless.

Killua and Gon were walking to a café. It was a place they had wanted to try out for a while, and it would be perfect for Kurapika to whoop some math nonsense into their brains. Killua was wrapped up in a black winter coat, a red scarf, sweatpants and some fluffy boots like a normal person. Gon on the other hand had opted for a sweater and jeans. He was freezing the whole way since it was walkable distance and he had insisted on walking. Logic always seemed to escape the green haired boy.

The café was in sight. It had a warm cozy atmosphere to it even looking at it from down the street in the cold dry air. It was slightly dim inside making the light seem warmer. Once they entered through the door, the wave of warm air hit them and made their bodies tingle all over as they warmed up. The tables were wooden, and there were cream colored sofa benches that went with the tables. The went to sit at a table and waited for Kurapika to come who was probably getting off the train right about now.

The boys got out their math stuff, and Killua had enough sense to suggest that they bring a laptop for the online review as well. Gon had absentmindedly agreed, knowing that Killua was much more sensible than he was.

A waiter came up to them out of nowhere but just as Killua was saying they were waiting for a friend and they would order in a little bit, Kurapika walked in the door with someone they didn't know tagging along behind him. "Oh, wait I see our friend" Killua told the waiter and she nodded and walked away so they could have some time to reconvene before she asked for their orders.

"Sooooo is this the infamous Leorio?" Gon was super curious and almost exploded with excitement as Kurapika nodded. Leorio outstretched his hand and shook hands with Gon and Killua.

"Kurapika tells me a lot about you boys. Treats you like his children almost. Or that's how it sounds anyway" Leorio laughed and Kurapika knew it was true. After all the time the three spent together, he almost did parent them in a way. Killua's parents weren't good people and he had run away in high school just after Kurapika graduated and he ended up living in the spare bedroom in Kurapika's new apartment.

For Gon, he grew up with his aunt, but Kurapika still acted as a parental figure. More of a funny uncle but still.

"Kurapika is kind of like the dad I never had, I guess. But i see him more as a close friend than a parent you know?" Gon smiled as so many amazing high school memories flooded back into his mind. He was sure the same was happening for Killua when the white haired boy nodded at Gon's statement.

"My family is a pile of trash, so I ran away. Kurapika kind of took care of me. I'm super glad we all met one day. It's one of the best things that's ever happened to me" Killua laughed to make it seem less sincere because sincerity wasn't his thing, but every word he'd said were some of the truest thoughts he had ever had.

"Glad to see our little family is reunited but you guys still need help, don't you?" Kurapika intervened which was good since it was likely they never would have broken out of memory lane, and nothing would get done.

"Yea. Here's my notes and stuff, and the review is on Killua's laptop" Gon pushed everything they had brought to the other side of the table. It was a lot. Piles of papers, notebooks, note packets, and previous tests which he hadn't done great on. Killua opened up his laptop and pulled up the review and then turned it to Kurapika too.

"So, what exactly do you need help on?" It didn't seem too bad to Kurapika and he must have shown it on his face even a little bit because Killua rolled his eyes.

"Everything" Gon deadpanned. "I swear it's written in some alien language or something. I don't even know what I'm being asked" he admitted. Killua nodded in agreement. He didn't have much idea either although he could kind of understand what was on the page. He just didn't know how to solve it.

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After about 3 hours of explaining, lots of scratch paper, a bunch of coffee, and two groaning college students who were slowly dying of math, they had a better understanding of what they were supposed to be doing.

Kurapika was a genius and he just so happened to be a great teacher. He had explained things the way he thought about them instead of the standard textbook methods and for some reason it clicked much better in the two boy's brains than it did in those stupid lengthy lectures. Leorio had also pitched in a few times. The man was much smarter than he looked.

As a final test, Kurapika wrote out a few problems that were slightly different on two pieces of paper to give to Killua and Gon. They were relatively easy and meant to gauge how much they had retained from their little tutoring session. Surprisingly Killua got them all correct, and Gon only missed one due to a subtracting error that probably occurred due to how much math they had been doing. Kurapika figured that Gon would recheck his work on the actual test and decided that they should be ok.

"Thank you so much Kurapika! You have no idea how much you helped me. I can probably get better than a C on this test now!" Gon beamed at Kurapika happily. It truly was a miracle since Gon had fully expected to have to drop out of college from failing that one test so badly.

"Yea thanks!" Killua wasn't as great as expressing gratitude since it made him feel kind of funny inside, but he tried every now and then.

The two pairs split way and soon Killua and Gon had arrived back at Gon's apartment. They flopped onto Gon's couch and decided to watch a movie together. They settled on Knives out since it was a movie that had been popular and neither of them watched it yet. It turned out to be so baffling with the amount of plot twists that both of them were in shock by the end.

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"I can't believe he killed her!" Gon exclaimed. Still trying to sort out the murder mystery in his head.

Killua nodded. "But the way he stabbed it into her neck was terrifying" He made an incomprehensible noise and then sighed. "I need some chocolate to take my mind off that" He headed toward his secret stash of chocolate that he hid in the corner of Gon's pantry and tossed some to Gon. They munched quietly on the chocolate, their minds pondering.

"I should probably go home. It's getting late." Killua grabbed his coat and his school stuff which he tossed into his school bag. Gon was sad to see him go, and it shown in his eyes. He'd always worn his emotions on a sleeve. "Don't worry. We'll see each other tomorrow!" Killua attempted to make him feel better.

"Okay" Gon sighed drawing out the 'y' to be dramatic. He hugged Killua out of instinct before the white-haired boy left and Killua felt a light blush fall over his face as he walked out the door. He walked quickly down the hallway to the exit of the apartment complex.

As he walked away, he saw the ghost orchid out of the corner of his eye. Little did he know, it would start to bloom soon...