#and Killua being the only person who respects Alluka's pronouns bc he knows what its like to be different in their family

[imhyperfixatingrn]

Rewatching Hunter x Hunter for the first time in like 5 years, and I finally remember why Killugon was soooo special to me, especially when I was 12/13.

Early on, it's because of Killua, and specifically his family's reaction to Gon. There is this subtext to be seen there for anyone who's been young and queer and knows this response.

Especially when Killua expresses that the only thing he wants is to be Gon's friend and Illumi's pushback is to tell him he's confused, that it's impossible for him to want that, that it's against the way Killua is and has been raised.

There is such a powerful parallel here, with a kid who has a gay crush for the first time and for the response to be "no, you're confused, that's impossible, that's not you."

Then when Illumi is told that Gon already sees Killua as a friend, that Killua has already pursued this connection he wants, more tragic pushback occures: He threatens to kill Gon and/or stop Killua from ever seeing him. Reinforcing this idea that Killua has been corrupted and that the only way to 'fix him' is to take him away from Gon.

Ultimately we see Gon, again and again fighting for Killua's freedom. We see him being the force that Killua needs to fight back against his family's expectations and abuse, to break his chains, to pursue what he wants. What he wants being Gon's friendship. Being by his side.

There is a real queer coming of age and tragedy story here. And when I was a queer kid myself, dating someone who's family was homophobic and hated me for 'corrupting their kid' I related very very deeply.