tall man in black leather and combat boots pulled a cigarette from between his lips and blew the smoke to the wind. It distinctly felt like they were engaging in a drug deal up at the highest peak of San Francisco, overlooking the city from a measly little park occupied only by tourists.

Gon crossed his arms against the breeze, his phone in the hands of this stranger Killua dubbed Chrollo.

Chrollo read through Gon's lease before handing his phone back. He stuck the cigarette back to the corner of his mouth as he went on to examine the hardcopy Killua retrieved from the movie truck rental he was using.

Chrollo flipped page after page before sighing and handing it back. He leant his hip against the railing. The man clearly had no fear of death because that had to be a surefire way to die if the railing didn't hold out. Gon's heart skipped.

"Sounds to me like you two were scammed. Not the fault of either of you, but I imagine you've both already made your security deposits and first month's rent. No way in hell you're getting them back now."

"What?" Gon cried, horrified. That was already $1,800 down the drain he wouldn't get back!

"You've got to be shitting me," Killua groaned, hands over his face. He took the lease back and slapped it to his side, furious. "Who gets to live there?"

Chrollo put a hand in his pocket and shrugged. "Whoever can scrape up the three grand for rent this month gets the apartment."

"Three thousand?!" Gon and Killua cried, horrified. All of the blood in Gon's body drained from his system and sent him staggering, woozy. He put his hands to his head and moaned, "It said rent was only fifteen hundred..."

"Yeah, well, ya aren't getting a single bedroom apartment in the Design District for under three thousand. Killua—you showed me pictures of it, right?"

It took a second for Killua to reply. Gon glanced at him and found Killua staring into space as he cleared his throat. "R-Right."

"It looked like there were two bedrooms. In any case, it's cheap for a two bedroom apartment, that's for sure. But again, rent's three thousand. If you can manage that, then fuck it. The place is yours."

Chrollo pushed off of the railing and asked if they needed anything else. When Killua shook his head, Chrollo gave a soft wave and dismissed himself with that voice of his that sounded like a nature documentary narrator.

Gon waved after him, saying, "Nice meeting you..." in a dejected tone. His hand slumped to his side.

"Well, that settles it," Killua said. Gon looked up at him. "The place is mine."

Gon's amygdala started on fire and in the split second panic between fight or flight, Gon settled on fight. "What? No way! You can afford paying three thousand for rent a month?"

Killua's eye twitched and he sneered as he said, "No, but I'll figure it out. Don't you have family around here?"

"Uh, yeah, three hours away. A-And it's complicated!" Gon insisted. He didn't have anyone in San Francisco aside from people his aunt worked with. Not exactly the sort of people Gon would go to begging to house him for a semester. "And I have classes starting soon, so I need to live here. The semester starts tomorrow."

Killua rolled his eyes, hands in his pockets. "Well, I'm not living with another person."

"It—It wouldn't be forever!" Gon insisted. Killua eyed him dully, unconvinced, as Gon surged on. "Just until we find a new place! And we'd splint the rent and be paying the fifteen hundred we agreed on."

Killua clenched his fists at his sides. Rationally, he knew Gon knew nothing about him. There was no reason for this idiot stranger to even consider how terrible a decision it was to live with Killua. "You don't know what you're saying," he hissed.

"I'll be a great roommate!" Gon insisted. "Just two guys being dudes! We can play video games and watch sports and whatever else dudes do—"

"That's not the issue," Killua snapped, and Gon immediately shut his mouth.

Killua paced away, and Gon's brain turned frantic for an answer. He couldn't afford to pay three thousand a month! He was already asking so much of his aunt, and this would just be pushing the limit of her generocity. Gon wanted to be his own person, dammit! and the first step to doing that was living on his own. He'd prove to his aunt that he was a young, capable adult. He wouldn't go crying to her over this.

Killua started to turn back. Gon scrambled for something to do, and in an instant, he summoned tears to his eyes and whispered with exaggerated dejection, "I-I can't afford the three thousand..."

Killua hesitated, frozen at the sight of tears bubbling along Gon's lower lashes. He looked away, cursing under his breath. Gon glanced up at him before putting his hands to his cheeks, looking down, "I can't g-go back home..." he moaned, miserably. "I have no one h-here..."

Gon let out a weak, gasping sob. He paused, glancing up at Killua, who was intentionally not looking at Gon, arms crossed over his chest, brow tense and forehead wrinkled with distress. Killua started to look at him, so Gon covered his face, fake sobbing.

"Fuck—Fine, just—just stop crying, alright?" Killua hissed, waving a hand at Gon.

Gon stopped instantly. "Really? You'll be my roommate?"

"Jesus, you really sprung back from the grave there, huh?"

Gon gasped with excitement, wiping tears from his face as he said, "You won't regret this, I promise! I've never had a roommate but I'll try my best!"

Killua was already regretting it, but it was too late. Soon, he was back at the apartment where his rental truck sat on the curb of their hill. Gon's pathetic car beeped when he locked it and turned his keys to the foyer entrance. They propped the door open and started the ascent with Killua's boxes to their flat.

Gon pulled a box from the top of the stack in the back of the truck. Killua's heart nearly gave out at the sight of it, and every horror story imaginable flitted across his mind—the box, ripping open at the seams. The box, tipping backwards and spilling all of its contents onto the pavement. Gon, curious and intrusive enough to open it himself.

Killua snatched it from Gon. "I-I'll take this one. I don't need your help, you know."

"I don't mind, really," Gon said with a ignorant smile and went to take the next box. Killua scowled at him and started towards the door, clutching the box to his chest and wishing this day would just be over already. Maybe he was asleep and this was all just a horrible, dreadful nightmare.

He climbed the steps and unlocked their flat with his own set of keys. Looking at the keys made him sick. With a sigh, he pushed inside and wandered into the open living space as Gon's foot caught the closing door and nudged it open.

"Sorry—I sort of claimed the right room. But I can take the left one, too, if you'd like!" Gon said. Killua could see boxes stacked in the right room through the crack in the door.

"Which, uh... which has a larger closet?" Killua asked.

"I don't know," Gon said, so they went to investigate. Killua kept the box clutched to his chest as the two of them examined the rooms. Sure enough, one did seem to be an office space, as it had no closet to speak of. It just so happened to be the room Gon picked.

Gon scratched absently at his hair and said, "Well, not surprised. I don't have that many clothes, so I didn't think to check."

"Left room for me it is," Killua said.

"You start unpacking! I can take care of the boxes!" Gon said, and before Killua could argue, Gon was already bounding through the living area and disappearing into the foyer. The front door shut shortly after.

Killua wandered into the second bedroom. The closet was spacious, and Killua had to believe this was the one good thing out of all of the bullshit of that day. He shelved the box and, gently, tore the tape from the top. Its contents weren't meant to be folded up like that, so he set to work hanging them in the corner behind the open closet door.

Layers of lace and shiney, sheer fabrics occupied the box, each one more elaborate than the last. Killua flattened them out as he extracted them, and when Gon came back in, oblivious, Killua hid the lingerie behind the door and ordered his makeshift moving guy to leave the boxes just inside the door.