Chapter Text
The sight of Kurapika pushing open the diner door, a laptop under his arm and his suit tidy despite a long day at the association, proved more effective in perking Leorio up than the coffee he was drinking. He almost stood as he waved Kurapika over, calling his name over the chatter of the other patrons. As Kurapika slid into the booth, Leorio began pouring him a cup of coffee.
“Evening,” he said, sliding the cup over to Kurapika. “I was starting to think you weren’t coming.”
“Something came up.”
“Top secret stuff?”
Kurapika shook his head.
“No, I ran into Beans. He wanted me to look over some forms.”
With that, Kurapika leaned back and took a sip of his coffee. Underneath his long bangs, his eyes begin to close. His entire body was obviously yearning to relax, maybe slump against the window and fall asleep right then and there. But he remained as he was, drinking his coffee and gazing out the window at the street. It was crowded for the middle of a weekday night, with business people hurrying past their window and expensive cars waiting at the red light. Leorio wondered if it had something to do with the upcoming holiday, which they and the Zodiacs were planning to work through.
Still looking away, Kurapika asked, “Have you been waiting long?”
“Only fifteen minutes or so,” Leorio lied. “Hope it’s okay that I ordered for you. I got you the special, the one you ordered last time.”
“That’s fine.”
“And I got you extra sausage. You need protein.”
Now Kurapika’s eyes were on him, narrowed in defiance rather than sleepiness.
“I’ve been taking care of myself, Leorio. I don’t need help.”
Leorio sighed. “It won’t kill you, you know.”
Before Kurapika could reply, the waitress came over with their food. Leorio was grateful for the interruption. He was too tired to start a fight and, from the way he switched all his attention onto his omelette, Kurapika was feeling the same way. Once the waitress left, they ate in silence. While Kurapika took small bites, Leorio shoved his food in as fast as he could. He only slowed down when he noticed Kurapika watching him.
“I haven’t eaten in hours, okay?”
“Same here,” Kurapika replied before taking another bite of his food, the speed of which was slow, restrained.
“Are you trying to make me feel like a pig?” Leorio asked.
Kurapika shrugged and the smile tugging at his lip was enough for Leorio to forgive whatever insult was about to come out of his mouth.
“Well, you are the boar now, so I suppose it’s fitting.”
“I’ll show you a boar!” Leorio declared before stuffing the rest of his waffle into his mouth. Bits of it stuck out from between his lips and it was hard to move his jaw, but he was determined not to spit any of it out. Kurapika simply stared as Leorio forced himself to chew, then shook his head and went back to his meal.
“Do you want me to ask the waitress to bring you some water?”
Leorio grunted in the negative, now chewing frantically and fighting the urge to swallow too soon out of fear of choking. The worst part was realizing that he didn’t know what he was trying to prove to Kurapika through this rash action. It was too late to take it back now, though, and so all he could do was close his eyes and focus all his energy on mashing the waffle down.
When had swallowed a good portion of the waffle and could breathe normally again, Leorio opened his eyes. Kurapika was putting the small plate that had been holding the sausage on top of his main plate and had his hand out for Leorio’s own empty plate. As Leorio handed it to him, he asked: “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he said sheepishly before draining the rest of his coffee and reaching for his wallet, hoping he had the money to cover his meal. Although the association paid them well for their time, he could never shake the fear of coming up short, especially in front of Kurapika, who wouldn’t be able to hide his judgement. Fortunately, he was spared this time and he added his part of the ticket to Kurapika’s with a sigh of relief.
“Heading back to the hotel?” he asked. Kurapika nodded. “Awesome. I wanted to show you a faster way to get there.”
“Does it involve illegal trespassing like your last shortcut?”
“Technically we weren’t trespassing.” Kurapika raised an eyebrow and Leorio added, “I don’t know if it’s legal, but I do know that we won’t get chased by dogs this time.”
Although Kurapika’s expression remained skeptical, he followed Leorio out of the diner, asking where his shortcut was.