Hunter x Hunter Oneshots

Listen (Machi)

Through much persuasion (harassment) from Shalnark, Machi hesitantly puts on his headphones and starts to listen.

"You'll like it Machi," Shalnark practically begs, the headphones eagerly bouncing on his fingertips as he holds it out to her. "I know you will."

Her expression hasn't changed for the past hour, and it doesn't now when she finally turns his way. "Aren't you growing tired of this?"

"No," he answers, and she can see that there's no lie behind his words, "because I know I'll be there, grinning smugly when you finally do give in and admit that you like it."

Machi's bottom eyelid twitches, alerting Shalnark of the annoyance bunched up inside of her ever since he started his pestering, its effects only now breaking the surface. "Fine," she snaps, and accepts the headphones. The sooner she listens and gets this whole ordeal over with, the sooner she'll be able to get back to embroidery or reading. Anything would be preferable over being the target of Shalnark's tireless harassment. He's a Spider, and killing members of their own Troupe is frowned upon, not to mention he's too nimble to land a hit on if one wished to simply smack him away. Doing as he asked would be the only way out.

She hesitates when the headphones are in her hands. It's such a simple device that she's not quite sure how to put it on, and when she does, it doesn't feel comfortable. The sides cushion her ears and muffle everything around her, making her feel almost vulnerable. Her hearing has always been sharp. With this sense weakened, all sorts of improbable fantasies fill her head; of hordes of enemies storming their base and she unable to hear them approaching, or of the building crumbling and she unable to escape because she couldn't notice.

Shalnark says something and waves his phone in front of her face. I'm going to play it now is her best guess based on the movement of his lips.

Before she has time to prepare, the harsh screech of metal on metal fills her ears, merciless shredding on guitars warped beyond all reason.

Machi rips the headphones off her head and shoves her face into Shalnark's, breath hot. It clatters against the concrete and pulls out of his phone's socket from the impact as she conveys her pure fury towards him.

"Are you trying to kill me?! Make me deaf? Defenseless?"

"W-woah, I think we can-"

"This is your favorite song? At such a volume?" That level of loud couldn't have been healthy. "Was this a prank?"

Shalnark tries to make excuses with his hands meekly raised in the air, but she can see past it. It's meek, but far from apologetic, and Machi refuses to accept his half-hearted and tedious explanations.

She supposes that either she or Shalnark must have touched something in the chaos, because a chord vibrates and suddenly fills the air. Seeing her pause, Shalnark swipes the headphones from the ground and hurriedly plugs it into his phone with superhuman speed before shoving the contraption over her head.

Machi finds herself sitting down, and... listening.

The way each individual notes pulls into the next, the background percussion fitting in so smoothly that she swears it could be the pure sound of a single instrument all by itself. She's never heard something like this before. The singer's voice comes on, and Machi's eyes widen just a tad, periwinkle almost aglow in the lighting. The voice isn't hoarse as one would be when sick, but it's deep with a rough edge to it and yet doesn't clash against everything else, instead weaving together like threads in fabric.

(She remembers a word for it and isn't quite sure whether it fits, but it will have to do; husky.)

Little by little, the vocal range expands, and then there's a sudden crash of chords against each other, repeated and increasing in power and—before, the change in her expression was subtle. But this time, the widening of her eyes is quick and in visible awe. She can't see anything ahead of her, or if she does, she can't register it because she can only listen right now—it's breathtaking.