"Gon, you need to eat" Leorio said worriedly, as he poked at his meal halfheartedly with a fork. Gon's eyes dropped and he mumbled, "I told you, I'm not hungry" Leorio had been trying to get him to eat his lunch for the last two hours, but honestly after breakfast that morning he wasn't actually all that hungry. It was...hard. Hard to forget, to pretend like it didn't happen. Leorio had told Kurapika they needed to talk about something important, but the soonest he'd be able to make it to Leorio's place would be in three weeks and this wasn't a discussion to have over the phone. "What do you mean your 'not hungry?' You haven't eaten well for the past few days and you ate such a small breakfast!" Gon shrugged, laying his chin on his hand with a blank expression. "I'm just...not" He mumbled. Leorio let out a frustrated sigh. "Damn, the two who know how to deal with trauma aren't here and I have no damn clue what to do about it" He muttered under his breath.

Then he sighed again, before grabbing Gon's fork from him. Gon blinked, then stared listlessly at the table. "Ok, let's see if this works" He cut off a bit of a piece of meat and stabbed it with the fork, then tilted Gon's chin up and poked at his mouth. "Open up, you need food" As soon as he smelled the meat, his mind went to the rotting bodies at the marketplace. Gon's face twitched and he moved the chair backwards. "N-No" Leorio frowned slightly, observing his different reaction. He huffed, then instead stabbed some of the salad and leaned over to poke his lips with it. "What about this?" Gon opened his mouth to refuse, then the leaves were shoved in. "Nhm-" The flavor was tangy and exotic, the leaves crunched a little as he chewed. "There we go" Leorio said with a grin. He removed the fork as Gon swallowed, then shoved some more salad in his face. Gon felt his stomach rumble slightly, so he let the fork enter once more.

After a few more bites of salad, Leorio tried to give him more of the meat. Gon turned his head away, breath hitching. Rot... Leorio paused, obviously confused. Then, he seemed to get it as his eyes widened and he hastily removed it all from his plate and fork. "Oh, sorry" He murmured. Gon shifted slightly, then turned back to his now meat free plate. It suddenly looked a lot more appetizing. Gon took the fork from Leorio and got himself his own bite of salad. Leorio grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled something down, then went into the fridge and moved some stuff around. Gon kept eating, slowly filing his stomach. "So Gon's a vegetarian now, fantastic" Leorio muttered sarcastically under his breath as he rifled through the fridge.

Days passed, Gon usually got pulled into activities with Leorio for most of the day because if he didn't than he'd just sit around and stare listlessly off into space. Gon felt...empty. There was a hole in his heart, one that would never be completely stitched over. But he hadn't cried, not since he was on the island itself. Leorio never offered him meat again. Actually, he never even put any on his own plate when they ate together either. They were currently eating dinner, which was spaghetti. "So, how're you feeling today?" Leorio said conversationally. He always tried to spark a conversation, get him engaged. "Fine" Gon said emotionlessly, taking a forkful of pasta. However, Gon always answered with as few words as possible. Leorio hummed for a moment, then spoke again. "When are you planning on meeting up with Killua again?" Gon paused, fork halfway to his mouth.

Killua... Gon hadn't seen Killua since they parted ways. Gon to the world tree, Killua to spend time with his little sister Alluka. With that thought, his empty heart ached a little. "I haven't...heard from him" He mumbled, setting down his fork and grabbing his phone. Gon scrolled through his contacts, then clicked on Killua. He read the last two messages that were sent.

Gon: See you later Killua!

Killua: Hopefully soon. 😽

Gon stared at the messages for a few moments, before typing.

Gon: Killua, we need to talk.

He clicked send, then set the phone down on the table as he half heartedly took another bite of noodles. "Ah, right." Leorio said, then continued eating. Gon sat there for almost an hour, Leorio cleared both their plates as he sat and stared at the phone, waiting for an answer. Eventually, his phone dinged and a new message popped up.

Killua: Talk? About what? I don't mind.

Gon's fingers moved, typing not slow but not fast.

Gon: No I mean...in person.

There was a few seconds of pause.

Killua: Okay...?? Hold up, is this even Gon?

Gon: Yeah, why wouldn't it be?

Killua: You never punctuate your sentences. At least, not properly. Your always in too much of a rush to type and end up screwing something up.

Gon thought for a moment on his answer.

Gon: I never realized.

He was about to type something else when Leorio got a notification from across the room. He blinked, then frowned slightly. "it's from...Killua?" Does he really think it's not me? t-that I'm...lying? A tear rolled down his cheek, he started typing again.

Gon: Why'd you text Leorio?

Killua: How did you know that?

Gon: We're in the same room.

There was another pause, Leorio was frowning slightly down at his phone.

Killua: Gon, are you...alright?

Gon: Well...

Killua: What's that supposed to mean!?!?

Killua: Gon?

Killua: Answer me!

Gon wiped his eyes, trying to think about what to type.

Killua: You said we needed to talk, why can't you just tell me over the phone?

Gon: It's...Not something we should talk about over the phone.

Killua: Why not?

Gon: Killua...

Killua: It's just, if it's that important why can't you just tell me now? I don't know when I'll have time to go visit you at whale island.

Gon paused for a moment, eyes on the words. He felt a few more tears roll down his cheeks, Leorio sat up with a concerned expression. Gon hadn't cried since the island, yet he'd done it twice in the last minute.

Gon: I'm...at Yorknew.

Killua: Yorknew? Why?

Gon: I'm at Leorio's place

Killua: Ok. Why?

His fingers hovered over the phone for a moment, hesitating slightly.

Gon: Killua please, when can you make it?

Killua: Don't dodge the question

Gon: Killua, we need to talk about it in person. I already said this.

There was no response for a few moments, then his phone rang. Gon blinked, then brought the phone to his ear. "Gon, why can't you just give me a straight answer?" Killua said, worry obvious in his tone. Gon wiped his eyes again. "I need to see your face when we talk, it can't be just over the phone" Gon mumbled. "Gon what...what the actual hell? Why can't you just talk to me?" Gon's hand trembled slightly. "I will. When you get here." Leorio walked over, obviously catching on to the fact that something wasn't going right. "Gon what's the matter?" He was about to respond when Killua raised his voice into the phone. "I'm worried about you dammit! Just tell me what's wrong!" Leorio sighed, then grabbed the phone. Gon was about to protest when he put it on speaker phone and set it down. "Killua" Leorio said.

"Leorio? Where's Gon? Why do you even have his phone?" Gon looked down. "I'm still here" He mumbled. Leorio sat down next to Gon, resting an arm around him. "There seems to be some sort of issue, what's wrong?" Killua let out a frustrated breath. "he keeps saying he wants to talk with me about something, but it has to be in person for some reason. Whenever I try to get any sort of clue as to why out of him he dodges the damn question!" Leorio sighed. "Killua, Gon wants to talk about something. It's important-" Killua spoke over him. "If it's so damn important why can't he just tell me? Why the hell does it have to wait until I find time to come visit?" Leorio bit his lip slightly. "It's a serious matter, he's going to tell Kurapika the same thing but he won't be here for about 3 weeks. It's not that it isn't important, it's just not something that can be discussed over the phone. Please Killua, find time" There was silence on the other end for a moment. "Alright fine, but I want to know why he's staying at your house" Leorio sighed. "He's going to be living here for a bit"

There was a short, confused silence on the other end of the phone for a moment. "That didn't really answer my question, but since you both insist on leaving me in the dark I don't see any point in trying to find a clear answer." Gon kept his eyes on the phone, for the first time in quite a while he felt a little bit of hope. "I guess...maybe next week? Me and Alluka are kind of...damn how do I explain it-" He muttered the last part to himself, then they heard another voice. "Oni-Chan! I wanna talk to Gon!" Alluka said faintly. There was a slight chuckle, then some shuffling. "Hi Gon!" Alluka said happily, louder this time. "Oh...Hey Alluka" Gon said. "You don't sound as happy as usual, you ok?" Gon didn't speak for a moment. "Yeah, I'm fine" He lied through his teeth. "Ok ok, gimme." Killua said in the background, then seemingly took the phone from a whining Alluka. "I'll text you the day of alright? And a few hours in advance." Gon nodded, even though he knew Killua couldn't see it. "Alright"

1617 words

To be continued...