gentle, light chord reverberated through the wooden body of Melvin 2.0. Gon gave the strings another experimental strum before his fingers fell along each string and began to pluck a sequence of notes to his heart's content. He closed his eyes and smiled up at the sun now that the morning fog was gone.

"This is the dream," Zushi hummed beside Gon, reclined back against his hands, his feet spread out in front of him in the park grass. "Sing a song for me, O Great One."

Gon struck a chord, and Zushi clapped a little. He followed up with a saucy little rift, one that Zushi deemed "crispy." Gon rose an eyebrow at him and winked.

"'As the semester begins... I... go out on a limb,'" Gon said, which Zushi replied to with, "Doesn't rhyme, but alright."

"'It doesn't have to rhyme, dear friend of mi-hi-hine,'" Gon sang, bitching his voice higher, and Zushi whistled with a satisfied shake of his head.

"This is it. My favorite bop," Zushi said.

"'—and I deci-hi-hide—! That this ass deserves better'—or rather this back deserves better—'than to lie... day by day... on a floor that has less pad-ding than a Christmas sweater—!'"

He concluded with a fantastical assortment of notes and at last ended with some dramatic, obnoxious strumming. He clapped his hand onto Melvin 2.0's hollow body and sighed, looking out at the park.

"I need a mattress," Gon sighed. He drummed his fingers on the wood and glanced over at Zushi, who studied him for a long, silent moment, mouth ajar.

Zushi gave a little shake of his head before slapping a hand over his short, buzzed hair and saying, "Wait—you don't have a bed, bro?"

Gon rolled his eyes. "No, I don't have a bed, 'bro'. My car's too small to fit a whole-ass bed!"

"Dude, then what've you been sleeping on?"

"A sleeping bag?"

"You know you can, like, buy mattresses online, right?" Zushi said, and when Gon stared at him, Zushi straightened and leant towards him. And here, Gon thought he'd have to go to a mattress store and lie where everyone else lied on. And then, he'd either have to pay extra to have them transport it, or Gon would have to strap it to the roof of his car. "They come in a small box and then they sort of inflate."

"You're kidding," Gon said.

"Or," Zushi went on, gesturing vaguely with his hand, "we go on an adventure to a mattress store and I help hold the fort down—or, rather, mattress down—on the drive to your place."

Gon opened his mouth, holding back a smile because shit, that sounded like fun to him. One of his favorite endeavors in high school involved spontaneous, ridiculous, impulsive trips, and buying a mattress seemed like one of them.

But then, he remembered Killua's rule. No boys allowed. Zushi would have to help him lug the mattress up.

Gon clamped his mouth shut and pouted his lips, turning away. He tapped a finger to his chin and hummed for a moment, eyes squinting as he narrowed his focus in on mattress shopping with Zushi. Beside him, Zushi leant over to see Gon's face.

Amidst the rules he and Killua set up, that morning Gon had asked that Killua let him know what days he'd be coming home late. It didn't help that Killua said, "Every night," and left. He had to assume that Killua wasn't exaggerating.

"I, um... I think it'd be a lot of fun. To go mattress shopping with you," Gon confessed, and while it wasn't a set plan, he was still convincing himself that there was no way in Hell Killua would march into the apartment while Zushi helped him drag a mattress into the apartment.

Zushi's lips spread into a wide, cheeky smile. Gon grinned despite himself, looking down at his guitar as Zushi said, "Aw, cute. It's like we're a married couple or something."

"Fuck off," Gon laughed, shoving him in the arm.

added you as a friend!

added to the group chat!

renamed the group chat to

11:23 Yo this is Knuckle

11:24 Dude cool username

11:24 Saucy Sexy Lads? Really, Knuckle?

11:24 Yes really

11:24 Also thanks, I'm glad SOMEONE appreciates my username

11:25 What even is your username

11:25 I changed it to Bitch-Ass Hoe last semester

11:25 yoU DID NOT

11:25 DID TO

11:26 ZUSHI NO, MY HONOR

11:27 MUAHAHA, SUCKER

11:27 Zushi

11:27 Yes, my dear sweet boy

11:27 The reason we made this group chat

11:27 Oh, yes, the reason we made this group chat

11:27 We're going mattress shopping you wanna come with us

11:28 Why is this formatted as a statement

11:28 Because you do, in fact, want to come with us

11:28 I mean, you're not wrong

11:28 Can I bring a friend

11:28 This aint cash cab fool

11:28 Of course you can bring a friend :D

11:29 We're taking my car

11:29 Perfect

11:29 Where are you guys? We'll be over in a JIFFY, as my grandma would say

11:29 Nuh uh uh who are you inviting

11:30 none of your BEES WAX, WHORE

11:30 We're in front of Zetsu Hall :D

11:30 GON

11:30 WHAT

11:30 Excellent

11:31 WHO DID YOU INVITE !!!

11:31 NEVER!!

11:31 THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE

11:33 JUST TELL ME

11:35 KNUCKLE !!!

11:38 invited to !

11:38 NOOOOOOOOO

11:38 Zushi's screaming irl rn lol

11:39 Sup ladies

11:39 Imma bouta burst into flames

11:39 O, did you step too close to a church?

11:40 Why you little...

11:41 Incoming!

"It's so hard."

"Oh, fuck, do you think it's too big?"

"I don't—"

"Is it too much for you to handle?"

"Can we leave? Like, before someone hears you two?"

Knuckle and Uvogin were lying side-by-side on a queen-sized bed while Gon tested the density of a neighboring double-sized bed. Gon looked up at them, snickering, as Uvogin wiggled around on the bed, flopping like a beached fish. Beside him, Knuckle dissolved into a wiggly puddle next to him, rocking to each flop Uvogin made.

Zushi groaned, a hand on his hip, and the other on the foot of the queen-sized bed as a retail worker came through the aisle and asked if they needed anything. Zushi pointed to Uvogin and said, "Yes, I'd like to have this man ejected into space."

Gon looked from the worker and Zushi to Knuckle, who's eyes were stuck on the ceiling as he mumbled, "Does the pain weigh out the pri—ice... and you look for a place to hi—ide..." Gon wished he had his electric guitar, but instead all he had was his acoustic guitar, so he spun it around, unzipped the case as it sat in his lap, and waited until the retail worker left the scene.

Gon slung the case against his back and pulled up one knee to the mattress. He brandished a clip which he used to pinch the fifth fret. And then, he readied his fingers on the strings. At the end of the bed, Zushi looked like he wanted to run, his eyes frantic and searching for the retail workers that would surely shoot them for loitering.

Gon raised a hand, his eyes on Zushi.

"Don't—!" Zushi hissed.

He struck his hand down over the strings in a down-stroke, up-stroke, and carried it along chords that climbed high up to the chorus' introduction. He cut the strings with his palm at each resting beat to the tune of, "One—twenty-one guns!"

Gon never had the highest voice to begin with, but he praised his feminine vocal chords for hitting that high note. He grinned at Zushi, who slapped both hands over his face and could only watch through his fingers as Gon stood up on the mattress, singing, "Lay down your arms—! give up the fi—ight!"

"Holy shit—kid's got a set of pipes!" Uvogin laughed, sitting up on the bed.

Knuckle burst to his feet, fully belting out, "ONE—! TWENTY-ONE GUNS!" and Gon knew the guy had the second-deepest goddamn voice he ever did hear—right next to Uvogin. So really, Gon should have expected to be blown away by his range but he certainly wasn't. He burst out laughing, still strumming to the beat as Knuckle turned it into a goddamn rock concert with a set of vocal chords that could turn it into metal in an instant.

Not only that, but being in music theory certainly didn't mean that any of them could sing. But dammit, Knuckle Bine could.

Knuckle pointed to him at the end of the chorus, and Gon picked it up again, knowing that of the two of them, Gon could hit the high notes with less difficulty.

But by then, they had the attention of the entire store, and customers had come to watch from the outskirts of their aisle. Gon cursed at the sight of someone who looked suspiciously like a manager crossing her arms at them, so he scrambled off of the bed, singing, "Your faith walks on broken glass... and the hang-over doesn't pass—Nothing's ev-ver built to last, you're in ruins..."

She's not coming for us, Gon thought, turning to look at the group of stragglers at the other end of the aisle.

And then, Knuckle was lunging down from the bed like Superman from the sky, slamming his fist to the ground to kickstart the next verse as Gon and Zushi startled, laughing. Knuckle rose, steadily, fists clenched and rising to the sky as he carried on to the line, "Throw up your arms into the sky—YOU AND I—!"

They needed some percussion, so Gon started stomping and Knuckle promptly joined in. They wound up stomping their way to the end of the aisle, Zushi and Uvogin behind them. Zushi refused to participate, but Uvogin was stomping and clapping his hands all the way down the aisle following the broad gesture the manager took towards the exit.

One of the employees held the door open for them and then, as soon as they were out on the streets, they closed it.

The four of them stood on the sidewalk and watched the worker lock the door and waited for them to leave.

Gon lowered Melvin 2.0 and turned to Zushi. "Fuck, I still need a matress." He plucked a somber tune from his guitar.

"There's more than one mattress store," Zushi offered, hands still over his cheeks.

"Yeah, and maybe don't bring the guitar next time so we won't be tempted," Uvogin suggested, pointing to Melvin 2.0.

They set to work getting a mattress—an actual mattress this time, and not a restraining order like the last place. Within five minutes of arriving at the next mattress store (on the other side of San Francisco), Gon had a mattress picked out and the four of them forewent the movement fees for the sake of Gon's bank account, and also the fact that he had three friends to help him out.

Since they were on the other side of San Francisco, it would have taken ages for them to escape rush hour. Thankfully, they just managed to miss it after pinning the mattress down atop Gon's car. Gon was sweating by the time they strung the rope through the open car windows and latched down the mattress. It made maneuvering inside a bit tedious, as they all had to slip in through the windows rather than the doors.

Knuckle and Uvogin leapt in feet-first into the back seat while Zushi crawled in on his hands, feet flailing behind him. Gon hefted himself up with his hands on the roof of the car and swung inside, dropping awkwardly with his knees bumping into the wheel. He accidentally stomped the horn on the way in, but it was fine, because they were all inside and ready to move.

A massive shadow was cast over the hood of his car due to the mattress hovering over the top of it.

Gon twisted around to look behind him at Knuckle and Uvogin and said, "Y'all better keep it from sliding off the back."

"Will do," Knuckle said.

"Don't say that—we don't know if we can," Uvogin said.

"Oh, so now you're doubting me? Is that it?"

Uvogin put a hand to his heart, the other through the window to the mattress. "You know I have the utmost trust in you."

"That doesn't even make sense—" Knuckle hissed, only to be cut off by Zushi cranking the music as Gon put a hand behind the passenger's seat and watched over his shoulder as he backed out of the parking spot.

The instant they were out onto the streets at a slow crawl, Gon was muttering to himself, "Oh dear Lord, this is it. We're fucking doing this—oh shit, oh shit—" as Knuckle waved a dismissive hand and said, "It'll be fine, bro. We've got this under control—whoa-ho-HOkay, okay!"

Zushi screamed as the mattress dipped forward, just a touch, just enough for Gon to see it above the windshield. Uvogin and Knuckle scrambled to steady it, hauling it back as the rope creaked ominously against the metal.

Zushi had a hand braced firmly on the dashboard, the other on the center console. Gon's knuckles turned white on the steering wheel as he took the first of many turns around San Francisco to the Design District. There, the streets were more familiar, less complex, and altogether safe in comparison to the manic downtown.

Gon slowed outside of his apartment complex. There was still some daylight left, albeit muffled through the overcast, which made it difficult to see up to the second floor where his and Killua's apartment window overlooked the street. All there happened to be on that window was a nice, white, opaque glare.

Gon reached for his phone.

His eyes went wide.

"Shit," he whispered under his breath, and it was disguised beneath the sound of all three car windows being exited from. Gon couldn't bring himself to reach for his own without wanting to vomit because—

—he didn't have Killua's phone number.

"This building here?" Knuckle asked, stomping one foot onto the curb, his hands on his belt loops, and his other foot on the street. He looked like a modern-day cowboy and if he had the hat to boot, Zushi would have flicked it.

Gon scrambled for the driver window. He grunted with the effort to escape until the exact moment Uvogin leant over and hooked his massive hands under Gon's armpits. Gon ceased all motion, turning into a firm, motionless wooden board in the process that Uvogin then gently rested on the asphalt. Gon wavered, just a tad, like a nice gust came off of the Bay right at that very moment.

He turned to Uvogin, who retracted his hands. "Thank you," he said.

"My liege," Uvogin said, with a flourish.

Gon started ahead, still disoriented. "Uh, yeah, this is my building. But I should, uh, make sure that there's... enough room! Yeah, get it all cleaned up."

"Come on, dude, we know," Knuckle said, rolling his eyes. Gon stared at him, horrified. Knuckle gestured to the apartment and said, "About the body."

Zushi slapped Knuckle in the massive, hulking bicep. "Bro, not cool. Sorry—I apologize on behalf of Knuckle's morbid sense of humor."

"Not morbid if it's true," Knuckle huffed.

"The news would say otherwise," Zushi hissed through clenched teeth, which he then turned to Gon in a crooked smile. "I'll hold the door while Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum snag the mattress. What number?"

Gon gave him the flat number and, the instant he did, he took off for the door. Zushi followed after him and, after catching the door behind Gon, waved him off with a sweet, unsuspecting smile.

Gon never ran up a set of stairs so fast in his life. He came, skidding, to the second floor landing so hard and so fast that his shoes slid him directly into the opposite wall. He scrambled, a hand touching the wood floors with a curse. His keys clanked in his hand as he scrambled forward, the door in view, and his heart halfway out of his throat.

"Please don't be home, please don't be home," Gon thought aloud as he unlocked the door.

The door clicked.

Gon sucked in a sharp, desperate breath and held it.

He cracked the door open, just a touch.

He peered inside, eyes wide. When the foyer was deemed empty, Gon slipped inside, nudged off his shoes, and hurried to the open bathroom door. Nothing. And then, he was racing through the living space, the empty kitchen, and Killua's bedroom door.

"Number four: Don't go in each others' rooms," Gon told himself, fists clenched at his sides. He sucked in a deep breath and reached one hand up to the wood.

He gave it a weak, disjointed knock that betrayed every ounce of his guilt. He pulled back and waited, quietly, but he didn't hear a thing on the other side.

A rush of relief swept through him. He could have collapsed, but instead, he tripped down the stairs to the kitchen and skidded to a halt in front of the fridge. There, he plucked the rules off of the fridge, folded them up, and reached up to tuck it into a cabinet.

Killua's bedroom door opened.

"Holy—Mother of God!" Gon shrieked, heart bursting in his chest. He gasped, half out of the agony from his bleeding heart, and the other from seeing Killua standing there in the open bedroom door.

Killua stared dully at him and rolled his eyes. "You knocked?"