he strange thing about the American education system involved parental income. Socially, Killua was disowned, but on paper? The government didn't know that and therefore assumed his parents were paying for his education. Their six figure income put Killua's financial aid down the drain and, as he racked up debt by ten grand every semester, he had a shit ton of scholarships to apply for by the end of the semester if he didn't want to drown in it.

That meant passing OChem and keeping his GPA up. The second would only be easy if the first wasn't so fucking hard.

Killua put his hands in his hair to keep his head from falling on his homework. Lecture was tomorrow, which meant homework was due by midnight, and he spent that entire day forcing himself not to dial Alluka up. His mother wasn't above tapping cell lines and tracking Alluka's phone activity, and Killua really did not want to deal with his mother.

But, whenever his phone rang, he hoped to God that it was Alluka.

He lunged for his phone, only to sigh when he saw Zushi's name on the screen. He put his phone to his ear and said, "Hey, how's it going?"

"Tell me why Gon is interrogating me about you."

Killua dropped back onto his futon with a groan. He put a hand on his face and shook his head, "It's complicated. I'm in the middle of OChem, so could we maybe talk about this after the deadline?"

"We talk about it now because we're literally in the elevator heading to your dorm right now."

"Please tell me you at least brought homework to work on."

"Hell yeah. I'm not a complete idiot," Zushi said.

"Ah, so we agree that you are a partial idiot," Killua said. Zushi cursed him out and hung up. As soon as the line went dead, Killua stared at his phone only to spew obscenities when he realized what Zushi said. We. He's in the elevator with someone else and, more likely than not, it was Gon Freecss.

Killua lunged to his feet once again and looked frantically around his dorm room. He threw his comforter over his messy sheets and grabbed his discarded clothes in a flurry. He kicked them into the closet and slid the door shut just as a knock sounded on his room door.

He sprayed his least overwhelming cologne and walked through it on his way to the door. He ran a hand through his hair, frantic and fast, before unlocking the door and swinging it open.

"Now is not the time," Killua said as he held the door open for Zushi. He dropped his eyes so he wouldn't have to see Gon's face as Zushi marched inside and claimed the futon where Killua's homework was spread out. Zushi stacked the papers up to make room.

"Why not?" Gon said. Killua let the door swing shut after him and, when Gon passed him, he lifted his eyes to watch as Gon took in the sight of his room. Killua's room was relatively plain in comparison to most of the rooms on this floor. Really, the only form of decoration he had was a dark black and purple mandala tapestry over his bed and the futon. His desk was still decked out with shit from home, which meant an expensive monitor and desktop he planned on selling if need be.

Gon pointed to the tapestry and said, "Nice."

"You look stressed," Zushi commented.

"I'm freaking out," Killua said, throwing his arms out. "My brother stopped by yesterday and I've been in existential crisis mode ever since."

Zushi sat up fast, eyes wide. "You're kidding."

Killua put a hand to his hair and said, "I fucking wish I was. He came with his psychotic boy toy and my grandpa's Ferrari. Shit doesn't get weirder than that."

"Wow, I am not caught up," Gon said. He jumped onto Killua's bed and kicked off his shoes. "Your brother's gay and has a Ferrari?"

"That's what you got out of this?" Killua said.

Zushi waved his hands in the air and said, "What'd he say?"

Killua dragged his hands over his face and moaned, "My sister applied to YU. My dad's willing to pay for her education if I switch back to Yorknew Law. She'd get to major in whatever she wants, but—"

"You'd be in criminal law," Zushi finished.

Killua collapsed into his desk chair with a hand over his eyes. "I spent all afternoon applying to scholarships for next semester. If I can pay off my tuition I could work for Alluka's, and I know her grades are good, but I just don't want her to have to deal with this shit."

"I don't know what to say," Zushi confessed, eyes on his lap.

"Have you talked to her?" Gon asked. Killua dropped his hand to look at Gon, who was in the complete draw-me-like-one-of-your-French-girls poses on Killua's bed. He was sprawled all over Killua's comforter and fuck it, if Killua wasn't already planning on never washing that comforter again.

He shook his head, trying to dispel the heat flooding elsewhere. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he cleared his throat and said, "N-No, I haven't. I can't call her. My mom's recorded mine and Alluka's phone calls before."

"Fuck, dude," Gon breathed, and it sounded so gay coming out of his mouth that Killua looked desperately to Zushi in hopes that he'd play the responsible roommate card.

Zushi shrugged uselessly.

Killua sighed. "So... yeah. I have to pass OChem or else. I'm applying to scholarships that require a 3.8 GPA and if I fail OChem, I'll be toast and they'll use my blood for strawberry jam."

"Then let's get it done!" Zushi declared. He dropped his backpack between his legs and unzipped it.

Killua moved to join Zushi on the futon, his eyes trailing over to where Gon watched them with those bright, amber eyes. Gon flopped onto his belly and positioned his chin on his folded forearms. His eyes met Killua's and the silence that stretched between them confirmed Killua's suspicions. The locker room was still on both of their minds, and Gon wasn't going to let it go.

For now, he was grateful to have Zushi as a buffer.

They studied late into the night, trying to make the midnight deadline on their OChem homework. When that was done, Killua was back to his paper and, likewise, Zushi was back to writing anatomy notecards. All the while, Gon lounged on Killua's bed and occasionally Killua would look up and find Gon's eyes diverting from where they had been focused on the two of them on the futon.

The clock ticked closer to midnight. Eventually, Gon said, "Don't you need to be up in five hours?"

Killua looked up, startled by the accuracy of that number. Gon was looking at him, and Killua remembered, Oh, right, we swapped schedules.

"Yeah, I do," Killua said, slowly.

"We should get out of your hair then," Zushi said. He gathered up his notecards as he added, "Kurapika said there's gonna be a pop quiz tomorrow to prep for the exam."

"Oh, joy," Killua groaned.

"Tell me about it," Zushi said with a roll of his eyes. He stood up and zipped up his backpack. "I'll see you tomorrow in Hell."

"Yeah, see ya," Killua said, leaning forward over his knees as he watched Zushi tap on Gon's arm to get him moving. Gon rolled off of Killua's bed and gracefully landed on his feet.

Killua started to pack his backpack for the morning, if only to distract himself from Gon's receding ass as it headed to the door. Zushi said goodbye again before the door closed and was promptly punctuated by Zushi crying, "Hey!"

Killua looked up as the lock on the door clicked.

Gon was still in the room after having completely slammed the door in Zushi's face. Killua's jaw dropped as Gon strode back to him and crouched in front of Killua's half-zipped backpack, his eyes on Killua's face.

Killua would have stammered and stuttered for eternity if Gon hadn't said a word. "I don't like to have serious conversations over text or on the phone," Gon said. "I wanted to see you in person."

Killua clamped his mouth shut and frowned at him. Gon clasped his hands together between his legs and said, "Just—tell me if I did something wrong. I thought we were both into this. Did I misread something?"

"I-I don't want to talk about it," Killua said. Gon stared at him expectantly, and Killua couldn't maintain eye contact without wanting to simultaneously vomit and make out with him. Killua clenched his hands against his knees and stressed again, "I'm serious, Gon. Just leave it be."

Gon moved as if to stand. Killua's heart stammered in his chest as Gon leant towards him. They stared each other down, and Killua's eyes fluttered between Gon's as he felt the heat of Gon's arm brushing past his shoulder, his hand clutching at the back cushion of the futon.

Killua's breath shuddered out. He smelled sharp peppermint on Gon's breath, which had to mean that at some point, Gon had popped a mint in. He wondered how long ago Gon had done that. Was it when he was finishing OChem or writing his paper?

"Tell me," Gon breathed, and the rest went unsaid. The inflection in his voice was too similar to the one in Knuckle Bine's bedroom, and the cheeky way Killua had teased him over the phone.

"Do it," Killua demanded.

Gon cocked his head to the side. "Do what?"

Killua reached up as if to strangle him. Instead, he clutched onto Gon's jawline and dragged him forward. He pushed himself to the edge of the seat, meeting Gon's open mouth with his tongue grazing against the underside of Gon's when he slipped into Killua's mouth without hesitation. Killua let out a barely restrained moan of content upon the slow, shaky exhale of his breath into Gon's mouth. The chill of Gon's peppermint tasted like candy on Killua's lips, sticking to the inside of his cheek where Gon's tongue roamed and scoured every inch of Killua's mouth in the matter of a minute.

When they let go, Killua felt lightheaded, out of breath, and dizzy. He pushed up after Gon as he straightened to his feet, grabbing Gon by the shoulder and crushing their lips together with enough force to send Gon staggering to the middle of the room. Killua stepped over his backpack, gasping at the touch of Gon's warm finger against the skin of his stomach.

When their lips separated with an audible sucking sound, Gon stepped back to the door. Killua forced his feet to stay where they were, letting Gon's hands slip from his waist. He watched as Gon dragged a thumb across his sore bottom lip with a grin.

Gon gave him a slanted, drunken smile before turning back to the door. He unlocked it and swung it open, and they both came face-to-face with the sight of Zushi jumping back from the door where he had been standing with his ear against the wood.

"What's, uh... What's going on?" Zushi stammered, clasping his hands behind him innocently.

Gon stepped out and closed the door as he said, "Just clearing something up. Let's go."

a/n: V short chapter, hope ya don't mind :)