irst day of classes and Gon was already losing his mind again. It was the car ride all over again—dreamy, full of hopeful, lovely scenarios only to be crushed incessantly by his brain's inability to filter out the Worst Case Scenarios Of The Century. Gon, with his hair looking stunning (it was his best feature, by far, right next to his p e r s o n a l i t y) and brand new book bag to boot.

Ah, yes, Gon Freecss was ready to kick his Official, Actual First Semester of Freshmen Year in the ass.

Gon swept his backpack onto his shoulders and swung open the bedroom door. The instant he did, Killua's door opened and Gon was reminded that he had a roommate he hadn't anticipated. He didn't expect that news to be so refreshing. A roommate. While it cancelled out every chance he had of calling this apartment a bachelor pad, it was still a relief to have a place occupied by someone else—anyone else.

He was sick of spending every morning, day, and evening alone. It wasn't at the fault of his aunt, by any means. Ever since his grandmother passed away—the soul subject of Gon's attention before and after grade school—Gon realized how much time Aunt Mito spent away.

And, so, Gon stepped out with a cheery, "Good morning—!" like he was on a radio talkshow. He spun to the side and found Killua dressed in his everyday best, one strap of a backpack over his shoulder.

In that moment, Gon wondered why Killua being a student never crossed his mind.

"Wait—You're—" Gon started, and Killua sighed, walking ahead. Clearly, he was already done with the day. "You're going to class? You're a student?"

"Yes, I'm a student. I'm a freshmen, dude."

"What?!" Gon screamed, and Killua flinched. It was far too loud for the morning, but Gon's energy levels were skyrocketing faster than he anticipated that day. "What college?"

"USFC."

Gon's heart leapt into his throat. They went to the same college. Gon was so shocked by this that he didn't say a damn thing, not even as Killua started for the foyer and opened the door to leave.

Gon kicked back into gear. He leapt across the pathetically empty living room and to the door where he slipped on his sneakers and said, "Since we go to the same college, we should—"

"I'm not commuting with you," Killua said all matterof-factly. It came out in such a way that Gon felt borderline offended by it. Was there something wrong with him? Why wouldn't Killua want to commute together?

Killua turned to him, his hand on the door handle. Gon straightened, dropping his foot to the floor as Killua said, "And if you see me on campus, do me a favor and don't talk to me."

Killua punctuated the request by opening the door and promptly shutting it in Gon's face.

Gon collected every last shard of his self-worth that Killua shattered right then and then. With it, he mustered up his fury and muttered under his breath, "Well fine, wasn't like I wanted to walk with you anyway."

Campus wasn't all that far from their apartment, but in San Francisco's January temperatures, the Pacific brought a morbidly cold breeze through the city's streets. Gon was certain his car privileges would come in handy in winter and, for that reason and that reason alone, he was grateful to have brought it to the city. Traffic may have been shit and parking may have been even shittier, but at least he'd be warm.

Internally, Gon was just waiting for the day Killua would decide that he couldn't stand the cold walks anymore. Killua would have to depend on him to get to classes without freezing his butt off.

Then I will be the superior roommate, Gon thought, but Killua had to cave first.

Gon paused at the apartment building foyer.

The chances of Killua caving first were slim to none, he could just tell.

"Dammit," he grumbled, pushing through the door and onto the streets. Killua was already at the end of the block, crossing the street.

When Gon peeled away from the curb in his dinky little car, he glided past the intersection and slowed where he could see Killua's head of white hair on the sidewalk between parked cars. Gon slowed to match Killua's walking pace and put down his passenger window.

Killua glanced at him, immediately cursed, and looked away as if he didn't recognize Gon.

"It's really cold outside!" Gon said, teasingly, and Killua rolled his eyes. "I'll drive you to class!"

"Fat chance!" Killua shouted back. "Leave me alone, Freecss."

Gon frowned. He knew what he was supposed to do, but he didn't want to do it. But he was a man, dammit, and 'no' meant no! So Gon scowled as he put up the window and drove on ahead. He hated being a gentlemen sometimes—that shit was hard work. He just wanted to give Killua a ride, so what was wrong with that?

These thoughts simmered inside of him all the way to campus where he found a parking spot two blocks from his lecture hall. Perhaps if he had ignored that exchange with Killua, he would have gotten over it by then, but nope. He couldn't forget or forgive the way Killua dismissed him all of that morning.

Sure, neither of them expected to be roommates, but the least Killua could give him was an ounce of respect.

It was for this reason that Gon sat, scowling in the lecture hall, arms crossed, brooding, and muttering under his breath. It was for all of these reasons that no one should have approached him, but by some stroke of luck, one of his peers was idiotic enough to engage anyway.

"Is this seat taken?"

Gon looked up. A guy that, quite possibly, was shorter than him was standing there looking dapper in a jean jacket and khakis. Gon's jaw dropped. How did I already snag one? he thought, amazed, before stammering, "Y-Yes—I mean, by you."

The guy smiled. He had the most powerful set of eyebrows Gon had ever seen.

"I don't recognize you from last semester," he said, and Gon nearly blushed. Nearly.

"Y-Yeah, I just transferred here," Gon confessed.

"Interesting. Classes are pretty small here so I'm sure you'll get to know all of us," he said, shifting close with his elbow on the armrest between them. He put a hand out to Gon and they shook on it. "Zushi."

"Gon."

"Nice to meet you," Zushi said, and the two of them shared sheepish, eager smiles. Gon turned away, giggling, and clasped his hands together between his legs.

In that moment, Zushi gasped, and Gon jumped to attention. He followed Zushi's wave towards the door to the small lecture room where a buff, stocky guy walked in. The guy froze, slapped a hand to his chest as if shot, and Zushi followed up with fake shooting noises like, "Pew! Pew!"

"Oh! God!" the guy choked out, falling against the doorframe. As he did so, an older gentlemen approached from behind, looking disinterested and slightly annoyed by the scene.

Zushi gasped and signaled for the guy to cut it out. When he turned, he cursed and staggered into the room, saying, "Sorry, Professor."

Gon put a hand over his mouth as the class giggled to themselves.

"Take your seat, Mr. Bine."

Mr. Bine, it seemed, saluted their professor and took to the steps. Zushi was beside himself next to Gon, hands over his face, a smile on his lips as his friend came to join them. He claimed the seat on Gon's other side and slung an arm back behind Gon's chair and the chair opposite him.

Gon flushed, overwhelmed by the attention when the guy leant over and said, "Nice to meet you, newbie. Knuckle."

"G-Gon," Gon said.

Knuckle inclined his head in a half-bow and said, "G-Gon, nice to meet you."

Zushi reached over to slap Knuckle on the knee. Knuckle propped his ankle up on his opposite leg and snickered, looking thoroughly amused and not at all ashamed of what just transpired at the front of the classroom.

Their professor went to the whiteboard as the class continued to mingle. Gon watched as the man wrote Professor Wing on the board and followed up with contact info and office hours.

"Are we making a new friend this semester?" Knuckle asked, drawing Gon's attention back to him, and then to Zushi, who the question was targeted towards.

"Of course we are," Zushi said. "I called dibs."

"Dibs?" Gon squeaked.

"So, Gon," Knuckle said, and his intimidation level skyrocketed to nine thousand. Gon started sweating despite himself as Knuckle leant in, a deadly expression on his face. "What dorm are you in."

"I-I'm not in the dorms," he confessed.

Zushi whistled low. "Oh, wow. But you are a freshmen, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Interesting," Knuckle hummed, stroking his chin, eyes narrowed skeptically.

Gon smiled, emotionally and mentally weak. "I'm still pretty close to the dorms, though. They were full, so... I got an apartment instead."

"Are you kidding me?" Zushi gasped, and Gon jolted, looking back to Zushi, who's jaw was in his lap. "That's awesome! God, I can't wait to have an apartment. I'm sick of having to share a room."

"It's been one semester," Knuckle said.

"Yeah, and I'm sick of it," he insisted.

The clock ticked closer and closer to the starting time of class. Within the last minute before lecture, however, the door to the room opened and Gon's attention honed in on the brightest goddamn thing in the room—that white hair and pale complexion of a very, very familiar face.

Gon knew what Killua had told him—or, more accurately, threatened him to do—and so the brief flit of tension in his shoulders dissipated. He wouldn't acknowledge Killua. He'd give Killua what he wanted and, in due time, Killua would regret deciding to alienate himself. Gon was sure of it.

He folded his arms, knowing that Killua had seen him, and as he did, he heard a soft curse being uttered by Zushi and, likewise, Knuckle.

Knuckle sucked in a sharp breath and all but groaned, "Fuuuck."

"What is it?" Gon said. It seemed too coincidental that his two new lecture buddies would curse within the same few seconds of Killua's entry.

Zushi put out a hand to Gon, silencing them both. "Okay, okay, this is something that needs to be explained ASAP or so help me God, one of us might make a mistake and by 'one of us' I mean Gon."

"Right," Knuckle agreed.

"What mistake? What am I doing?" Gon said, straightening a little. Both Knuckle and Zushi slapped their hands onto Gon's shoulders as if to stop him from lurching out of his seat and straight into Killua's arms. Knuckle shoved Gon back into the seat—not that he was going anywhere in the first place.

The three of them discretely (albeit, quite obviously) watched as Killua climbed the steps to the very back of the classroom. He shed his backpack from his shoulder, set it on the ground, and turned to take a seat. The three of them whipped back around to avoid being spotted as stalkers.

Only then did Gon catch several other people in the classroom doing the same exact thing. A group of girls all turned to one another, whispering and giggling to themselves as Gon eyed Zushi wearily out of the corner of his eye.

"That," Zushi said, "is Killua Zoldyck."