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In their many years of adventure, Killua and Gon often forgot the days and just lived based on the temperature and the weather. Many times, they’d miss birthdays, anniversaries, even major holidays due to being caught up in one thing or another.
However, stopping in town one day, they couldn’t help but be surprised to see all the silver, green, and red decor to indicate one of the most celebrated winter holidays, Christmas. Killua even took to looking at some of the stalls, grabbing Gon by the sleeve before the other could walk right past.
“Pick something out,” he said, gesturing towards various knick knacks and tools. “As a Christmas present.”
“Huh?” Gon blinked at him in confusion, tilting his head. “What do you mean? Why would you get me anything? I mean, Santa’s gonna bring us something, right?”
“What do you mean “Santa”,” asked Killua, standing up straight and looking at Gon like he’d grown two extra heads. “Santa’s not real. That’s something parents made up to convince their kids to behave.”
“I think he’s real,” said Gon with his classic, optimistic smile. “I always got everything I wanted for Christmas. I bet he’s a Nen user!”
“What?” Killua couldn’t help but laugh at the idea as the two of them kept walking. “What do you mean a Nen user? What kinda Nen would even let someone fly around the entire globe in one night giving out gifts?”
“Hm.” Gon had to think on that a moment, hand on his chin with his head tilted up as he came up with ideas. “Probably an enhancer type for speed, right?”
“Santa doesn’t do the running around though,” KIllua pointed out. “His reindeer do. You’re 20 years old, how did you not figure out Santa’s not real yet?”
“Well, I’ve always managed to get everything I wanted when I knew it was Christmas,” he said. “It’s just when I forget about Christmas that I don’t get gifts.”
“I can’t relate,” said Killua with a shrug. “All I got were knives and poisons and other assassin stuff for Christmas. Never once did I actually get something I asked for. Well, okay. Nanika would always give me what I asked for, I just didn’t really ask her for things. But it’s not like I ever believed in Santa.”
“You never did,” asked Gon, too shocked to even feel sad for his friend. “What did your parents tell you?”
“My dad just said “I’m the only Santa you’ll ever know” and that was that,” he explained, hands casually behind his head and elbows in the air. “But my parents have never been the ones to let others take the credit for the work they did. I think my mom would keel over and die before letting someone else take credit for anything. Let’s not even get into my brothers.”
“You sure do have a complicated family,” said Gon with an awkward smile. “Well, you don’t need to worry about them anyway since they’re not around. Hey, since you don’t believe in Santa, why don’t I get you something instead?”
“Yeah,” asked Killua with a laugh, “with what money? You spent the last of the money on our hotel room.”
“Oh, right.” Gon chuckled. “Right. Okay, so then. What do you want for Christmas then?”
“Hmmm.” Killua had to think about that for a moment. Killua had never been terribly materialistic. Being given everything in the world except the one thing he needed did a lot to kill his desire to accumulate stuff.
All he really needed was someone in his life.
He turned towards Gon and gave him a bright smile. “Nah, I don’t need anything when I’ve got you.”
“Well, if you’re sure,” said Gon with a yawn. “Why don’t we turn in for the night then? Did we get one bed or two tonight? I don’t remember.”
“One,” said Killua as the two of them started heading towards their accommodations. “You said you wanted to save money and cuddle tonight.”
“Oh, right.” Gon beamed as the two of them neared their hotel.
It was later at night that Killua found himself unable to sleep, even while Gon held him from behind, drooling on his shoulder. He couldn't help but feel at least a little confused by their whole conversation earlier. How could any grown adult believe in Santa Claus? Sure, Gon had always been a bit naive, maybe a little too easy to trick, but everyone grew out of those beliefs eventually, right?
Killua shook the thoughts out of his head as he carefully untangled himself from the other, not wanting to disturb Gon's rest. He walked towards the window of their hotel room, opening it up and leaning out the window sill as he looked up at the stars.
“Should I be worried that my boyfriend still believes in Santa,” he asked himself with a sigh. “What am I doing? They're stars, they can't tell me anything. When did I get as fanciful as Gon?”
He looked back towards the other laying in bed, watching as Gon's sleeping face twisted up, reaching blindly for the person that was no longer in the bed. With a chuckle, Killua conceded and slowly crawled back into the bed. It didn’t matter what Gon believed, Killua decided. In the end, it wasn’t like Santa was a harmful belief. It wouldn’t do any good to let it keep him up anyway. The only thing Santa really did, as far as he could tell, was make people happy, and maybe a little more wary of their actions. If that was all he did, he was pretty harmless, wasn’t he? Sure, maybe knowing if kid were sleeping or awake was creepy, but he also had a mother that used to stare at him throughout the night whispering about how proud she would be once he started killing. Santa was harmless in comparison to that fleet of trauma.
And in the end, wasn’t the fact that he made Gon happy the most important thing?