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kendelias · 3 years ago

Note

December drabbles #31 with oc of your choice. (Now you have the ask get writing 😉)

first of all, noemie you’re an angel and this was so sweet of you to send me xxx. second of all, i apologize that it’s for an oc that you know nothing about and that it became this... monstrosity of a fic. i’ve also posted it here on ao3, but i’ll slide it under the cut too.

send me winter prompts!

During her travels, Xaria Blume had become accustomed to a certain level of quiet. A hunter's life is never an overly social one, after all. Whether the job is to save a kitten from a tree or to defeat the evil witch who'd put a curse on the town, Xaria does much of her work just her and her hunting partner. But when she returns home she remembers abruptly that it hasn't always been that way.

As her eldest brother slurps down his soup directly from his bowl and the twins argue while they chase each other around the table, her father turns to her with a big grin and she once again reminds herself that this was once her normal. "Would you like anything more, angel?" he asks. His voice is a natural loud boom over the surrounding chaos, a lightning strike in a thunderstorm.

Xaria shakes her head with a smile. "No thanks, Papa," she assures. "The first serving was so good, it filled me right up." While the food was delicious, it's not really the whole truth. Really, she just doesn't feel like dealing with the impending squabble with her brothers over who can have seconds. If she's still hungry, she can retire to the greenhouse later and make herself a salad.

Jai finishes lapping up the dregs of his soup, puts his bowl back in front of him, and reaches for the soup ladle himself, even before he's asked. "Xaria's too good for us poor people now," he quips. "She's tasted how the rich people live and now she's a big fish in a small pond."

Xaria's face curls in displeasure at her older brother's words. "Don't put words in my mouth," she reprimands. Instead, she turns to her brother closest in age and bows her head. "Really, Viden, it was delicious. Thank you."

Viden smiles, a comfort as always. "Any time," he assures.

Suddenly, her youngest brother perks up from the other end of the table. He raises his head from his barely-touched plate and looks to his father, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. "Has it been long enough yet?" he asks. His lisp shines through his big buck teeth, still awkwardly childish in his nearly teenage mouth. It makes Xaria smile.

Odo sighs at his son's impatience. "I told him he had to wait until you got through the door and had your fill to ask you about work," he explains to Xaria. Then, to Melo, he says, "Go on now."

He immediately turns to Xaria, teeming with excitement with every word. "Did you fight any monsters?" he asks. "Was it fun? What were the other hunters like? Where did you go?"

Her second-eldest brother tsks. "Slow down now, Mel, don't want to scare the poor girl," he chastises. "She just got back, after all."

"Not everyone's nearly as slow as you," Jai replies offhandedly, tipping his chair back. Gustall's reply is to tip his chair over with one sweep of his leg, watching Jai yelp as he falls to the ground. Xaria barely smothers her laugh before turning away from her older brothers' on-coming fight and towards Melo.

"It was fun, but very dangerous," she says, lowering her voice to a dramatic whisper. He moves to the edge of his seat with wide eyes, gripping his knife and fork with white knuckles. Excitement heats his cheeks to rosy red. The sight makes Xaria grin as she continues. “I made a lot of friends, but we risked our lives time and time again. I haven’t fought a lot of monsters yet - most of the ones I’ve met were within the Hunter Exam. As for where I’ve been, it’s hard to name all the places I’ve seen. Beautiful countrysides, expansive cities - ”

“Cities, you say?” Odo interjects. He runs a hand along his bushy brown beard, looking contemplative, and Xaria knows what he says moments before he says it. “You didn’t stop in at Yorknew City, did you?”

Xaria’s time in Yorknew City isn’t exactly a fond memory, but she remembers it well. Kurapika’s bloodlust… Gon’s bravery… and her own meeting with the Phantom Troupe. She can still feel tingles up her spine when she thinks of those sisters, the blade of a sword pressed under her chin, the little one walking around her in circles. She barely resists the urge to shudder. But telling her father that wouldn’t help things, and it would only stain his fond memories of the big city. So she bites her tongue so hard she tastes metal and smiles politely. “I think I stopped in there, yes,” she replies.

Odo chuckles. “Good,” he says. “Fine city, Yorknew.”

Jai and Gustall groan in unison. “Oh, way to go, Xar,” Jai sighs.

“Here he goes off on the same story again.” Gustall tips his head back and closes his eyes, as if to settle in for a nap.

“I like your stories, Papa,” Xaria says patiently. As the only darling daughter, she’s always been closer to their father than most of her brothers. And as a storyteller, she’s not lying. Her father’s stories were one of the reasons she wanted to become a hunter in the first place. Maybe if he tells her his story about Yorknew City again, it’ll replace images of carnage and despair with fondness.

Viden nods in agreement. “So do I,” he says. ��But even Xaria knows this one by heart.”

“Besides, I thought we were gonna talk about her hunter adventures,” Melo says with a pout. “Ah, but what does that compare to the adventures of love?” Odo croons, much to the dismay of the two eldest brothers who groan once again. Melo pouts as well, slumping down in his chair. Their father ignores them. He leans forward on his hands towards his only two interested children. “It was a bright and windy day. The weather was warm, but not too warm - the perfect day to - ”

“Go to the market with your father?” Gustall guesses.

Odo snaps and points at Gustall. “Yes, exactly!” he says.

“And you were just the age Xaria is now,” Jai adds. He turns to Melo. “He’s always the same age as one of us. One day it’ll be your turn.”

Gustall hops up from his seat and spreads his arms dramatically. “And then you saw her,” he waxes. “Her red hair glistening in the sun, and mouth moving a mile a minute.”

Jai gets up as well, his chair making an awful squeaking noise as he goes. “She was fighting with some poor guy about the price of one of his trinkets,” he says. He throws his arm over Gustall’s shoulders, and they lean into each other with gusto. “And you fell in love at first sight.” Xaria rolls her eyes. She’s never been a fan of their showy dramatics, and she isn’t about to start now.

Odo sighs and leans back, waving them off. “You just don’t get it,” he says. “None of you will appreciate true love until you’ve found it.”

“Excuse you,” Jai says, plopping back down in his seat. Gustall follows suit. “I’ll have you know I’m courting the young lady who’s apprenticing at the library.”

“Oh, we know,” Viden mutters. “There’s not a person in the county that doesn't know.” Xaria snickers.

Gustall continues as if Viden hadn’t spoken at all. “I have my fair share of people lined up, just never felt the need to settle down,” he says. “And when Viden screws up the courage, he’ll eventually ask out the baker’s son.” Viden’s ears heat, but he doesn’t deny it. Xaria assumes he knows better than to argue with his older brother.

“That’s right,” Jai says with a nod. “We won’t all be old maids like Xaria.”

Xaria feels her face heat up immediately. Jai’s the oldest, and no stranger to teasing his younger siblings. As the only girl, Xaria often gets it the worst. “Jai,” Viden chides.

“What? We were all thinking it.”

Gustall rolls his eyes and turns to Xaria. “Don’t worry about him, kid,” he says. “He’s lucky the young librarian took pity on him.” Melo snorts, having gone back to solemnly stirring his stew. Meanwhile, Jai sticks out his tongue in defiance before retorting.

“She was never interested in any of the boys in town who tried to court her,” Jai continues. “She always had her nose in a book, or she was thinking about the Hunter Exam, or--”

Odo leans forward heavily on his elbow and glares. “Leave your sister alone, Jai,” he says with an air of finality. Jai leans back in his chair, thoroughly dismissed. Meanwhile, Odo shakes his head. “She just puts her work before her love life, that’s all. Nothing wrong with that.”

Her father’s intentions in that moment were noble - she knows that. He’s trying to stop her brother’s teasing, after all. Still, it feels backhanded; in the way that he carefully chooses his words and the way that his body tenses, she can tell he doesn’t fully mean it. Xaria knows that his dream for her has always been to find love, like he did with her own mother in the marketplace of Yorknew City. She thinks it might be because she’s her mother’s spitting image; red hair, a fiery attitude, a nurturing disposition. He wants her to follow in her footsteps, to live the ideal life he’s made up for himself. Xaria wonders from time to time if her mother’s life was so ideal after all, but… she knows it would make her father happy. To see her as happy as he thinks she would be.

It’s all of this that clears her throat and forces the words out of her mouth before she can think about it. “Actually,” she says, and the entire table turns to look at her. Her father, with waiting and honest eyes, and her brothers, in various stages of interest. Her mouth goes dry at the next words that spring to her mind, but she’s too far gone now. Gustall is leaning forward with his chin in his hands; Viden is considering her with a warm smile; Jai, although feigning disinterest, is leaning back in his seat with heavy-lidded eyes peering at her. She swallows, and says, “I did meet someone. While working as a hunter.”

There's a moment of undisturbed silence. A hush falls over all seven men in the household, as they all continue to look at her in shock. She fidgets in her seat under their scrutiny. And then, all Hell breaks loose.

Gustall cheers, raising his goblet into the air. "Well I'll drink to that!" he exclaims. "Who's the luckiest person alive?"

The twins, from where they had ended their fight in the kitchen, poke their heads out. "Our sister?" Elian asks. "Must be some kind of mistake."

"Do they live in another country or are they invisible?" Eimir adds.

"Are they a hunter too?" Melo asks, light dancing behind his eyes again.

"You have to tell us how you met," Gustall adds, "that's always the best part."

"Ooh, I hope it was fighting a monster," Eimir says, racing back to his seat with his twin close on his heels.

"Nah, knowing Xaria, it was something boring like buying her lunch," Elian disputes, plopping down on the other side of Viden.

"What are their powers? Do they have a cool one like you?" asks Melo.

"Better yet, what do they do for fun? I could use a cool in-law to liven the place up," Gustall notes.

Xaria startles as someone lands a hand on her shoulder, and she turns to see Viden grinning at her. "I'm happy for you, Xar," he says. "I hope they're even half as wonderful as you."

While the words should warm her, chills tingle down her spine, a violently unpleasant reminder that she just lied to her entire family. She's immediately overwhelmed, too busy asking herself why on Earth she would say that to answer any of their very pressing questions. She's finding it hard to breathe let alone speak, so she just squeaks and offers a half-hearted smile as she listens to the background noise of Gustall getting a toast going for her fictional love life. She needs a plan of escape. Maybe she can sneak out in the middle of the night. It wouldn't look great, but she could say it was an emergency. Say she was called away on important hunter business; they would never be the wiser. Being here after telling such a bold-faced lie, just because she thought it would save some feelings--

Sudden movement brings both her thoughts and the cacophony of chaos surrounding her to a halt. Her father stands, his chair scraping against the floor as he does. For the second time in these few short minutes, silence descends as all of his children turn to look at him. Even the twins watch with rapt attention as Odo looks to Xaria, so quiet that a pin might as well drop. Xaria watches him, a scared animal ready to run, as he stares her down from his place next to her, finally, eventually squatting down to her eye level. Then, he throws his arms around her neck and promptly begins blubbering.

"Oh, my sweet Xaria!" he wails. "I'm so happy for you." It's unsaid: I'm so proud of you. She hears it loud and clear.

After a beat, she takes a breath. It feels like Nen training; it clears her head, aligns her sense of self. Gives her some clarity. And she thinks that she can do this. For her dad, she can do this.

She hugs him back, burying her face into his broad shoulders. "Thank you, Papa," she says. "And I am happy." Not a lie. Here, in this moment, with her father weeping into her shoulder, she is.

"So." It startles her. She looks up to see Jai, a devilish smile on his face, as if he's figured something out. She doesn't like it. "When are they arriving? Assuming you've invited them for the holiday, that is. They're welcome to come, aren't they, Dad?"

Xaria opens her mouth to snap back at Jai - a lie, whatever she can say as fast as she can say it - but before she can, Odo pulls back and sniffs. "Oh, of course!" he says cheerfully. "We would all be delighted to meet them."

Xaria looks up at Jai, who looks even more self-satisfied. He thinks this is checkmate. He's so obnoxious.

So she says, "I'm not sure what their plans are, but I can give them a call." Not a promise, but promising. Gives her time to call someone and figure something out, or wiggle room to say they couldn't make it if things go haywire. And best of all, room to beat Jai at his own game… whatever game that is.

"That's wonderful!" Odo cheers, and everyone breaks out into buzzing excitement once again. Jai makes eye contact with her, raising a goblet. Xaria glares back. The match has just begun.

Xaria manages to dodge all of the questions her family asks by telling them that it's a surprise. Every time they asked something, she would reply with something along the lines of, "Well, don't you want to ask them when they get here?" It worked pretty well - they were all very anxious to meet this person. Almost as half as anxious as Xaria is to figure out who the hell they are.

When she finally escapes back to her bedroom, she brings out her phone and opens her contacts. Her list is small as it is, but she goes through the necessities for her fake partner nonetheless. A decent liar, someone who will impress her dad… someone around her own age. With a wrinkle in her nose, she crosses off Killua and Gon easily. It leaves her with few options.

She reasons she can't use any of her friends from home. She already told them that she'd met this person while working as a hunter, and that would be a dead giveaway that she was lying. Plus, Xaria had been so busy traveling and hunting, she hadn't been able to talk to any of her old friends since she left. She didn't know if anyone would even want to hear from her anymore, let alone help her fool her family. She mentally exes their names off her list.

Her next obvious choice is Phoenix, her hunting partner and closest friend. He's an excellent person, a typically willing accomplice, and a relatively good liar. They would be the perfect candidate for this. But… this is the first time either of them has taken time off in months, and she doesn't want to interrupt their holiday. She doesn't even know what he decided to do with his freetime - and, in hindsight, maybe she should have invited them home with her regardless - but she's sure it's better than spending it getting interrogated by her family and sharing her childhood bedroom. She crosses him off the list.

Melody and Kurapika are still working together as bodyguards, or at least they were the last she heard. Though Kurapika's unlikely to answer her texts or calls unless in a dire emergency, she calls Melody every so often and asks about him, and sometimes asks Phoenix. They're always very busy, especially Kurapika as the head of security, and she would never ask them to take time off for this. Even if they had the time off as it is, Melody has her own quest to take care of, and Kurapika… Xaria shakes her head. She quickly crosses them both off as well.

She flips through her contacts one last time, a pool of dread filling her stomach. She checks, and double checks, and checks one more time. It seems she's left with exactly one option.

She sighs. Checks one last time for good measure. Steels herself. Then presses call.

As the phone rings, anxiety begins to gnaw at her. They write letters, but she hasn't heard his voice since… What if he doesn't want to hear from her? What if he laughs at her and hangs up? She has half the mind to hang up herself when the ringing stops.

"Hello?"

She feels a high-pitched buzzing noise in her ears and she immediately regrets not calling Phoenix. She runs on autopilot: "Hey, it's Xaria. Do you have a second to talk?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Give me a sec." There's shuffling, some murmurs, and a door opening and shutting before he speaks again. "Sorry, I was in the library. What's up?"

"Um." She panics. How does she ask this? Better yet, how does she ask this without sounding crazy. So she doesn't; not yet. "How's your holiday going?"

There's a moment's pause at the other end of the line. "It's going fine," he says slowly, suspiciously. "My family's out of town, so I'm just hanging out in my apartment and going to parties. Why?"

Xaria frowns. That's not part of her script. "What do you mean why? I can't just call to see how my friend is doing?"

Leorio huffs a small laugh, imperceptible to most, maybe, but Xaria hears the quiet amusement and imagines the small smile on his face with ease. It's one of what Phoenix calls his 'Xaria faces' - ones he makes just for her. She says she disagrees with the premise in its entirety, but she knows what he means. Small smiles, quiet laughs, careful understanding - not many people get to see that side of Leorio. She's lucky that way. "I appreciate the call, but unless you just miss me so much you had to see how I was doing, I doubt you called just to check in," he replies. "Plus, I know you. I can hear your anxiety through the phone. So spill."

She sighs, a small one. After everything they’ve been through, he knows her too well. “Okay,” she murmurs, “fine. I… I need a favor.”

“That’s more like it,” he says, and she can see his grin, sharp edges and excited eyes, and okay, maybe she did miss him. Just a little bit. A lot. “What’s up?”

“Well, I was just wondering… I, um--” She nearly swallows her tongue in an attempt to get it out of her mouth. She stops abruptly and takes a deep breath. She writes words for a living, damn it, she should know how to articulate herself. She opens her mouth and tries again: “My family was making fun of me and saying that I would die alone, and so I maybe told them that I’m seeing someone, and now they want to meet them and I don’t know who to call.”

Her ramble ends, and it’s met with silence. Leorio’s usually smart mouth stops short, surely catching up with her words. She gives him a moment to do so, until the moment stretches out way too long, and she says, “Um, Leorio?”

“Got it,” he says eventually. “That’s kind of stupid. Makes sense for you, though.”

She feels her cheeks heat up. She knows he’s right, but still. “Hey! Will you help me, or not?”

He hums. “I guess I’ve got nothing else going on,” he says finally. “I can put a hold on all the partying and drop by yours, sure. Not to worry, Xaria - parents love me.” Suddenly she finds that very hard to believe. “I’ll be there in a few days. That work for you?”

“Sure,” Xaria says. He gives an affirmative and a goodbye, but before he can go, she says, “Wait, Leorio? … Thank you.”

His voice is warm when he says, “Don’t mention it,” and then hangs up. She can only hope this was the right thing to do.

Xaria spends the next three days giving her family as little information as possible.

What’s their name? Leorio.

Where did you meet? The Hunter Exam, but you’ll have to ask him for the story.

What’s his super cool power? Don’t ask such invasive questions, Melo, and finish your vegetables.

In the meantime, she also takes a call from Phoenix the next day, who laughs at her profusely. “Oh my God, Xaria,” he says. “This is only something that’d happen to you.”

“What? Are you saying I’m dumb? Because Leorio already told me that,” she says glumly.

They reply, “No, I’m saying your life is a romantic comedy waiting for you to write it.” She frowns and opens her mouth to reply, but he continues, “Just so you know, I totally and gladly would have been your fake Romeo, but I think this is much better.”

“Because it’s more likely to blow up in my face?”

Phoenix hums. “I don’t know about that,” they say. “But I think this is exactly what you two need.”

Cryptic as always. Xaria doesn’t know what to make of that. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ll see,” he hums. “I also think it’ll be really funny if it blows up in your face, if that’s any consolation.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence,” she says dryly.

“I said if! I said ‘if’ it blows up on your face. I am not claiming this energy for you. I hope it goes off without a hitch and you throw it in Jai’s face.”

She smiles. “See, this is why you’re my best friend.”

“I do my best,” they say. Xaria has half the mind to cancel on Leorio and take Phoenix up on his offer, but she refrains.

On the third day, it snows. Xaria wakes up to a window covered in frost, a red nose, and a text on her phone.

Leorio: I’ll be there in an hour.

His text surprises her. She knew the time was coming, but he’d just said “in a few days;” she was sure he’d call her the day before. Leave it to Leorio to just arrive nearly unannounced. Either way, she jumps out of bed and springs into action. After getting ready, she runs down the stairs towards her waiting family. “Morning everyone,” she says, as cheerfully as she can manage through her nerves. At the table, Gustall narrows his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

Xaria blinks as she joins Viden in the kitchen. “Wrong? Why would anything be wrong?” Without a word, he passes her a bowl for her to whisk. “The sun is shining, the ground is covered in snow, we’re all here together.”

“No, Gus is right, something’s suspicious,” Eimir agrees. “You’re wearing that green sweater, the one you wanna look nice in.”

“Mhm, and your comfy socks,” Elian adds. “You’re nervous when you put on your comfy socks.”

Viden tuts disappointedly. “One more word picking on Xar and none of you get breakfast,” he says. Xaria feels her heart warm for her older brother. He takes her whisked bowl back and winks, dumping it into the rest of the recipe. She can’t help but smile back as she picks up some apples to slice.

Gustall scoffs. “Picking on Xar? Who’s picking on her? Not us, surely!”

“We’re just curious about her wellbeing,” Jai agrees. Xaria sticks her tongue out at him, and he screws his face up in return.

“Curiosity killed the cat,” Viden says as he begins to ladle their breakfast into bowls.

“Satisfaction brought it back,” the twins reply in unison.

“Yes, well, satisfaction will do no such miracle in the few minutes it takes us to serve your meals,” he says with confidence. He turns to Melo, who’s toying with one of his dragon action figures at the end of the table. “Mel, go get dad, would you? Breakfast is almost ready.” Melo sighs, but nods, and pushes his chair out so he can run off to their father’s office.

Xaria takes the bowls over to her brothers, first to Eimir, then down the line to Gustall and then Jai. Jai catches her eye and smiles. “What?” she asks, placing his bowl in front of him.

“Oh, nothing,” he says. “A man can’t smile at his favorite sister?”

“His only sister,” she corrects.

“Same difference. I’m just curious what’s making you so nervous.” Suddenly, his eyes widen. Xaria feels her own as well. He grins even wider, and says, “Is it…”

There’s a knock at the door. From Eimir and Elian down the line, they all look towards the door, ‘til it’s Xaria and Jai left. Xaria looks to Jai, who grins. “The boyfriend,” he says.

At once, everyone begins moving. Xaria makes a mad dash for the door, even as all her brothers stand and take off as well. Viden rounds the table and holds his arms out, catching both the twins who struggle against him. Gustall ducks his arms and, with long gangly limbs, follows Xaria in hot pursuit. Jai is a little slower but still keeps pace, mere steps behind Gustall. They make their way through the dining room and into the living room, where the front door’s within sight. Xaria thinks she’s made it--

Gustall grabs her by the wrist, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Jai trips over them, tumbling to land on his own face in front of them. Meanwhile, Elian - or Eimir, she can’t tell from the floor - jumps over them, landing easily on his feet. Xaria grabs him by the ankle and yanks. He yelps and hits the ground, the reflection in his glasses - yep, definitely Eimir - shining in Gustall’s eyes. Gustall groans, shielding himself, and Xaria takes the opportunity to get up herself. “Come on, Eimir, get up!” she hears from behind her, and turns to see Viden holding Elian. There’s another knock on the door.

No time to waste. She moves forward, but Jai runs around her, blocking her by holding out his arms. “What is this supposed to accomplish? He’s just gonna freeze out there!” Xaria yelps.

Jai grimaces. “I don’t know? A distraction!” he replies, before turning and dashing for the door.

“No!” Xaria leaps forward and wraps her arms around Jai’s waist, digging her feet in and dragging him back. He stumbles forward, but she doesn’t budge, threatening to topple them both. Meanwhile, Gustall gets up and puts his hand on Xaria’s waist and attempts to pry her off Jai.

“We just… wanna… open the door!” he yells.

Eimir rises from the floor and notices Viden and Elian, running back for his twin. “No, leave me! It’s your chance!”

“No man left behind!” Eimir replies, before grabbing on Elian’s legs and yanking.

Viden groans. “Xaria, open the damn door! These two are insufferable!”

“I’m trying!” she yells. She swings her leg back with all her might and connects solidly with one of Gustall’s shins. He yelps and lets go, sending himself backwards and Jai and Xaria forwards. Gustall lands on his ass with a groan, and Xaria falls so she’s flat on her front on top of Jai.

Through all the chaos, the siblings barely hear another knock and an accompanying little padding of feet on the floor. Melo looks at all his siblings in distaste, then opens the door just enough to stick his little face through.

“Uh, hi,” a disembodied voice that’s very clearly Leorio says. “Is Xaria home?”

Melo considers this for a moment, then sticks his head back in, nearly shutting the door in the process. “Xaria, your boyfriend’s here,” he announces, before pushing it all the way open.

Xaria watches as Leorio’s face comes into view and he takes in the sight in front of him. He smiles, then immediately loses it to confusion, and Xaria can’t even blame him. Three of them laying on the floor, Xaria on top of her oldest brother, Viden holding one twin and the other yanking on his legs, and the twelve-year-old the only one not involved in the mess… they’re a sight to behold. “Leorio,” she says meekly, “hi.”

From behind her, she hears Gustall jump to his feet, then he lends a hand down to Xaria and helps her up as well before making his way to Leorio. “Gustall Blume,” he announces, sticking his hand out. Leorio tentatively takes it, unprepared for Gustall to shake vigorously and prolongedly. “Second oldest Blume brother, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m sure you’ve heard all about me.” Then he winks. Bastard.

“Uh, likewise,” Leorio squeaks. Then blinks. “That it’s nice to meet you, I mean. I’m--”

“I got you,” Gustall says, waving his hand and effectively saving him in the process. Leorio sighs in relief, and shoots Xaria a small smile. Gustall gestures to Melo. “This is Melo, the youngest. Melo, say hi.”

“Hi,” Melo mutters, his eyes focused on the ground.

“Hi,” Leorio returns easily. “Nice to meet you.” Melo doesn’t reply, and Xaria isn’t surprised. He’s not by any means shy, but he’s easily petulant, and having a stranger for the holidays when it’s just been the eight of them for so long could easily set him off. She notes that she should take a minute to talk to him later.

Jai finally stands, groaning and rubbing his back. “Hey,” he says. “I’m the oldest brother.” He crosses to Leorio and shakes his hand. “Jai, the one being mercilessly attacked for no reason--”

“As if,” Xaria scoffs. “You started it.”

“Whatever.” He points back to Viden, who’s still frozen, two twins attached to him. Quickly he drops Elian, who yelps as he falls on top of Eimir. “That’s Viden and the twins, Eimir and Elian.”

“Hi,” the twins say in unison.

“Um, breakfast,” Viden says. Then he pauses, mentally recalibrating, before he adds, “I mean, we have some, if you want some.”

Leorio just looks at him, clearly still overwhelmed and confused. “Um, sure. I eat breakfast.”

Xaria sighs. This is going to be a long week.

“Okay, that’s great, we’ve all made introductions,” Xaria says, making her way over to Leorio. She grabs his arm and pulls him towards the stairs. “I’ll get Leorio unpacked and settled and we can all interrogate him later--” She stops short as she hears thunderous footsteps. “Uh oh.”

“Uh oh?” Leorio asks. “What? Uh oh what?” Panic colors his voice, and Xaria turns to him.

“Um… prepare yourself.” She puts her hands on either of his shoulders and leans in as close as she dare. “You’ve got this.”

He blinks down at her in surprise, his mouth open like he might say something, but Xaria pulls to the side just as her dad comes into view at the top of the stairs. Hulking, huge, with broad shoulders and muscles and an imposing beard, she’s not surprised when she hears Leorio squeak unpleasantly. Odo makes his way down the stairs, looking Leorio up and down when he finally reaches the bottom. He stops just a few feet short, standing taller than even Leorio by almost a foot. From an outsider’s perspective, he must be terrifying. “Papa, this is Leorio,” Xaria says. “Leorio, this is my father, Odo Blume.”

Leorio finally comes back to his senses, seemingly, and sticks his hand out promptly. “Pleasure to meet you, sir,” he says, and Xaria looks up at him. His face is steeled, seemingly suddenly confident even though she knows he’s scared out of his mind. His false confidence brings a smile to her face.

Odo considers the hand, then looks back up to Leorio. After another long pause, finally, he throws his arms around him.

Leorio yelps in surprise but doesn’t resist, barely dropping his hand in time to be pulled into the hug. She swears she can hear the crack of his back as Odo squeezes him. Tentatively, he pats Odo on the back too, shooting Xaria a confused glance. She just shrugs. “Welcome to the family!” Odo yells.

“Thank you, Mr. Blume,” he whispers, and Xaria quickly realizes he’s running out of air. “Much appreciated.”

“Papa, Leorio and I were just on the way to put his things away,” she says. “After that, you can talk to him as much as you’d like.”

Odo nods and drops Leorio from the hug, allowing him to land on his feet. Leorio nods. “It was nice to meet you,” he says stiffly, and then grabs Xaria by the hand and takes off himself for the stairs.

Leorio collapses on her bed, closing his eyes. His snowy jacket rests on her coat rack, and his shoes sit by the door. “Your family is terrifying,” he finally admits. He peeks up at her where she’s standing by the door, hands on her hips. “You look nice though.”

She feels her face flush even more red than it already is. Must be a draft. “Thanks,” she says flatly, crossing the room to her bed. She reaches over him for the window and makes sure it’s closed, pushing down on the frame. When she pulls back, she nudges his legs until he moves over, then sits next to him on the bed. “Sorry for the… horrifying display this morning. My brothers are menaces who will stop at no cost to embarrass me.”

“They seem nice,” he says noncommittally. She raises an eyebrow until he relents. “Okay, they seem loud. Some of them seem nice. I know you said you had a lot of brothers, but I didn’t expect… that many.”

“Six,” she says easily. “I'm in the middle. The only girl.”

“Must suck,” he says. Then he winces. “Sorry. I mean… it must be fun. Just seems kind of lonely, I guess. No wonder you took off.”

Somewhere within her, Xaria feels like she should be offended by that. But why pretend he’s not right? Despite Viden’s best efforts, despite her father’s favoritism, Xaria’s always felt like the odd one out. She often wished her mom was around, or that she had a sister, and it is why she became a hunter in the first place - well, part of the reason. It’s not that she doesn’t love her family, it’s just that “It sucks,” she confirms, “sometimes. They know how to get under my skin for sure. Which is why Jai kept pressing about my partner… I panicked. Sorry for dragging you into this.”

Leorio frowns and sits up, crossing his knee underneath him so it touches her thigh. He puts his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, no need to be sorry,” he assures. “I agreed, remember? Besides, not much I wouldn’t do for you.” She looks up at him, surprised, and he looks surprised he even said it himself. There’s a brief awkward pause where he drops his hand, then he continues: “Or, uh, Kurapika. Killua, Gon, Phoenix. We’ve gotta stick together, right?”

She doesn’t know if that made her happy or sad, and she isn’t sure why. “Of course,” she agrees. “So, thanks, I guess.”

“Gotta stop saying that when it’s my pleasure,” he says. “Now, run me through your family members and our dating backstory. I’ve got your dad and the little guy and everything else is a tossup.”

Xaria smiles. And she does.

Luckily, Xaria and Leorio stay upstairs long enough that her family chooses to eat breakfast without them. Small miracles, she supposes. So, for lunch, she leaves a note on the counter and takes Leorio into town.

They stop by a few shops (at which Leorio insists on picking up a gift for her dad, and she insists that he doesn’t need to do that), grab some fresh baked bread from the baker’s son (who asks her how Viden is doing, so she supposes Gustall was right on the money with that one), and then eat lunch at a small cafe. One of her old friends is their barista, and she seems happy enough to see her. She introduces Leorio as her boyfriend, and is afraid for a moment that he’ll hit on her or be upset that he can’t, but he just nods and smiles. Lunch is peaceful.

When they return to the Blume property, it’s to find the twins in the front yard building a snow fortress. “Xaria!” Eimir calls, popping out from the top of the sculpture. Elian, too, waves from the bottom. “Xaria’s boyfriend! Come see what we did!”

Leorio gives them a thumbs up, then leans into Xaria. “Okay, tell me which one’s which again?”

“Eimir’s the one with glasses and freckles,” she says easily. “He’s got his glasses off right now, and the winter’s rid him of his freckles, but he’s the one at the top of the fort. Elian’s at the bottom, he’s got a chin dimple. He’ll be the nicer one too. They’re fifteen and trouble-makers, so be careful what you let them drag you into.”

“Got it,” he nods, then puts his arm around her waist. She feels her face heat, and he shrugs. “Gotta keep it up the act, right?” Then he grins as they draw closer to the twins. “Hey! What have you got here?”

“Snow fort!” Elian chirps. “You guys should come help.”

Leorio looks at Xaria, who shrugs. “Alright,” he says, “I’m in. Where do you want me?”

The twins exchange a glance, and Xaria can see the evil behind their eyes. “Boys,” she warns, “don’t do anything to him, okay? He’s not used to it.” Leorio looks at her, surprised, then back to the twins who are now looking at her innocently.

“Would we do something to your boyfriend?” Elian asks, faux-offended.

“I think you’re overly suspicious of us,” Eimir says.

Leorio nods along. “Yeah, I’m with them. They seem like good kids.”

Xaria rolls her eyes. “It’s your funeral,” she mutters. He takes his arm away, a surprising amount of warmth leaving her as he does, and heads towards the small fort.

Elian steps to the side, revealing a small tunnel-like hole. “After you, Mr. Xaria’s Boyfriend,” he says.

“Thanks… Elian,” he says, and Elian blinks in surprise.

“You knew which one I was,” he says. Leorio nods and Elian smiles. “Cool. Go ahead, sir.”

Leorio nods and, surprising Xaria as per usual, bends down to crawl into the fort. Eimir scooches to the side as Leorio pops his head through, then helps him up to stand next to him. He looks around upon his arrival, seemingly impressed. “This is really nice, guys,” he says. “I know some ice hunters who don’t do work anywhere near as good as this.”

“Thank you,” Eimir says diplomatically. Xaria sighs, her breath showing through the air. She’s just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“So, what can I do to help?” Leorio asks, clapping his gloved hands together.

Eimir grins. “You’re our test subject for the newest feature: the slip-n-slide,” he says. Leorio frowns, but before he can say anything, Eimir raises his hands and gives him a shove. That’s all Xaria sees before Leorio disappears from sight.

“Leorio!” she calls. Then she takes off running. Past the fort, where the twins are cackling, then down the hill towards the back of the house where she sees Leorio sliding down on his ass. She runs after him, stumbling in the ice and snow as she goes, eventually tumbling into her own version of the slip-n-slide. Somewhere, she hears the twins laugh even harder, but she’s focusing on how cold she is as she flies through the snow instead.

Eventually, they both land at the base of the hill, the start of her backyard. With an ‘oof,’ she tumbles into him, both covered in snow and freezing. “Are you okay?” she asks, sitting up and helping him do the same. He rubs the back of his neck and she groans. “If those two concussed you or something, I swear--”

“I’m fine,” he promises, grinning at her. “That hurt like a bitch though. Those two are insane.”

“Tell me about it,” she says. She watches as his Nen aura activates. “Um… what are you doing? You can’t beat them up. They’re still my brothers. Trust me, I’ll do plenty--”

“Relax,” he says, which effectively quiets her. Activating his ability, it creates a small portal. He packs up a snowball and grins at her. “Watch this,” he says. Then, he drops it in. They both look up to look at the twins, who are high-fiving when a portal opens and the snowball hits Eimir in the face. Xaria laughs despite herself.

“Oh my God,” she says, “you’re a genius.”

The twins look around, confused, then turn to Leorio and Xaria, who wave. “Quick, make more snowballs,” Leorio says. “We can’t run out of ammo.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” she says with another laugh. The twins are running towards them, and Leorio is opening another portal, and she can feel the cold of the snowball seeping into her gloves, and she realizes abruptly that she hasn’t laughed this hard in months.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Phoenix says. She can envision them shaking their head at her, holding up his hands for a timeout. “He played in the snow with your brothers?”

“Mhm,” Xaria says. She’s sitting on her bed, changed into her sweater dress and leggings and boots, trying to warm up after the prolonged snowball fight. The twins were smiling more genuinely than she’s ever seen them, and Leorio was soaked to the bone. He’s taking a warm shower right now, trying to get the chill out of his system before he catches his death. “Eimir and Elian hugged him. Without trying to push him over, I mean. It was scary.”

“The picture of domesticity,” they mutter. “I guess Gon and Killua taught him to be better with kids. So it’s going well?”

“We skipped breakfast, so we haven’t sat down with the whole family yet,” she admits. “I’m imagining an attack at dinner. We’ve gone over the official dating story and all my brothers’ names like ten times, so hopefully it’ll be okay.”

Phoenix whistles. “Good luck to you and him. I had flashcards and I still couldn’t tell you all your brother’s names. No offense.”

“None taken.”

“What story did you land on for your meet-cute?”

She screws up her face and curls her legs towards her. “We didn’t really,” she admits. “We’re just going with our real meeting. We didn’t want it to get confusing.”

There’s a pause. A concerningly long pause. To the point where she almost asks if they’re still there. Then, he says, “So… your fake relationship is based on your real friendship. From the meeting to the dynamic to the way he acts around your family.”

Xaria is unsure when she says, “Uh… yes?”

“Lord help you,” he mutters, “this won’t be psychologically damaging or messy at all. Where’s a therapist hunter when you need one?”

“Huh?”

“Never mind.”

Just then, the door opens and Leorio enters. He’s toweling off his wet hair, his slacks (one of the fifty pairs he owns, she’s discovered) back on, and his glasses are missing from his face. The only other thing missing is… a shirt. Xaria feels her whole face go red. He’s just as built as she remembers, and every time she sees it it’s more jarring than the last. “Uh,” she says intelligently.

“Oh,” Leorio says, and she watches his face go red as well. “Um.” He belatedly and slowly raises his arms to cross them over his chest.

“What? Hello? Xaria, is everything okay? Earth to Lovebird One?” Phoenix calls to her over the phone.

“Sorry, Leorio just walked in,” she says slowly.

“Oh? What is he, like, naked?” She doesn’t respond. “Oh my God, is he?!”

“Could you, um, grab a sweater from my trunk?” Leorio asks. She nods, and reaches down with her free hand, blindly grappling with the trunk.

“Oh, put me on the phone with him.”

“What? No.”

“I wanna talk to him!”

She sighs. She realizes that this, as with most arguments with Phoenix, is not something she’s going to win. She sits up slightly and tosses the phone to Leorio, who struggles but catches it. “Phone’s for you,” she murmurs, then puts her head back under the bed quickly. As she works with the trunk, she can hear Leorio in the background.

“Uh, hello? … Oh, Phoenix… No. Only half! … Yes…. I don’t think-- That’s none of your--! Oh my God. Whatever.”

She pulls out a red sweater that looks pretty cozy, closes the trunk, and sits back up. Leorio looks annoyed, but he’s nodding without saying anything, which Xaria guesses is a good thing. She can never tell with those two. Eventually, Leorio sighs. “Kay, got it. Bye.” He tosses the phone back to her, and in return she gives him his sweater, which he puts on. Thank God. She puts the phone back up to her ear. “Hello?”

“He sounds bothered,” Phoenix observes. “Fun.”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing,” Phoenix says, waving her concern away. “Anyways, have fun. I’m gonna go… be anywhere else. Bye!”

At that, Xaria looks up at Leorio. They maintain eye contact for a moment, before Leorio rubs the back of his neck and looks away. “So,” he says, “dinner?”

Dinner, as she predicted, is an attack. At least Leorio is better at answering questions than she is at dodging them.

Where are you from? “A little town not too far from here.”

What do you do for a living? “I’m a licensed hunter, but I’m studying to be a doctor.”

Why’d you become a hunter? “To pay my way through med school.”

Where’d you meet Xaria? “At the Hunter Exam.”

When’d you two start dating?

Leorio smiles at that one. Xaria, meanwhile, panics. This wasn’t something they went over in detail - there was no pinned down moment, just a general idea of it happening at some point somewhere along the line. She was hoping it wouldn’t come up. As she flounders, she looks back to Leorio. “Well, not for a while,” he says after a moment. “But I fell in love with her the moment I saw her.”

Xaria stifles a sharp intake of breath. He’s going off script - she didn’t ask him to say any of this. Everyone’s paying rapt attention (except Melo, who’s mashing his vegetables together); even Jai looks interested where he’s sitting with his head resting on his hand.

“Her red hair was practically shining with the sunlight bouncing off it,” Leorio continues, and Xaria blinks. This was starting to sound familiar. “She was telling some guy off, just as fiery as her hair, and I knew she was the one. And we’ve been fighting and falling in love ever since. Dating just kind of… happened naturally.”

Xaria thinks her heart might’ve stopped in her chest. She doesn’t remember telling Leorio how her parents met; she doesn’t know how it would have come up. She never talks about her mom if she can help it. She removes her eyes from him to look at her dad, whose own eyes are shining, a smile on his round face. “Beautiful,” he murmurs. Leorio smiles, and turns to look at Xaria.

“I know,” he says.

She feels like she’s going to faint.

After dinner, when they’ve interrogated Leorio enough for one night, they return to her room. While he changes into pajamas in the bathroom, she makes work of the cot. “Hey,” he sighs. “I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.” He sits on her bed and begins to climb under the covers when he frowns at her. “What’re you doing?”

“Setting up the cot,” she says. “So I can sleep.”

“You’re going to sleep there? What about your bed?”

She looks over her shoulder, confused as to why he’s confused. “You won’t fit in the cot,” she says simply. “You’re too tall.”

“But we’ll both fit in the bed,” he says slowly.

She looks at the bed. Then to him. Then the cot. And then back. “You want to share the bed?” she asks flatly.

He rubs the back of his neck. “Well, it’s the only thing that makes sense, right?” he asks sheepishly. “We’re pretending to date anyway, and we’re friends, it won’t be weird. Besides, you’re gonna freeze over there.”

Logically, she knows that she should argue. But emotionally… she’s exhausted. After the day they’ve had, and dinner especially… She just nods. She shuffles over to bed and crawls in next to him, reaching up to turn off the light. They’re quiet for a moment after that.

“Leorio,” she says eventually, and he hums. “When did I tell you… how my parents met?”

“Wha?” he asks. She can tell he’s already half-addled by sleep, exhausted from his long day of traveling, barely coherent. Still, she presses forward.

“The story. My dad falling in love at first sight, my mom arguing with the guy. What you told my dad at dinner.”

There’s a brief pause. “You never told me anything,” he says eventually. “That was really how we met. I just… added in the love parts.” He huffs a small laugh, and she can tell he wants to rub his neck nervously again, but he refrains. “Kind of corny, I guess, but I came up with it on the fly.”

She pauses. How ironic. All this, and someone described her just how her dad saw her mom - exactly what her dad wanted for her. But it’s Leorio. It’s just Leorio. Her real fake boyfriend.

“Goodnight, Leorio,” she says abruptly, before turning over and promptly closing her eyes. She pretends she doesn’t hear him softly whispering, “Goodnight, Xaria,” just a few minutes later.

When Xaria wakes up in the morning, it’s to find an empty bed. She groans - this only means Leorio is wandering the house without her. It can only be trouble.

She quickly gets ready, then flies down the stairs as fast as she possibly can. No one in the living room, or the dining room - she’s about to panic, when she hears noises from the kitchen. She creeps closer, voices washing over her as she does, hiding just out of sight. “Thanks for helping,” Viden is saying. “Xaria usually helps, but…”

“Couldn’t bear to wake her?” Leorio guesses. “Yeah, me neither. She’s cute when she sleeps.” Viden laughs softly, and Xaria can’t help but smile. “Really, though, it’s no big deal. Back at home, I’m living in an apartment by myself, so you’re helping me more than anything. I’ll take some cooking lessons from you over ordering takeout again anyday.”

There’s a return to gentle silence for a moment, the only sounds are rolling and whisking, and eventually Leorio says, “I just wanted to say… thanks, Viden.”

“Hm? I don’t mind. I like cooking, so showing someone else how to do it--”

“No, I mean… Well, for that too. Like I said, you’re a lifesaver. But I meant… for Xaria. She speaks very highly of you. You’re a really nice guy, one of the first people to make me feel really welcome here, and you love your sister. That’s obvious. I can tell that you protect her when I can’t be around to do that, so… I’m just grateful, that's all.”

There’s a brief pause. Xaria feels her own heart hammering in her chest in the silence, so much so she’s afraid they can hear her. Then, she strains her ears to hear Viden’s next words, so soft it might as well be a mouse speaking: “Thank you. That means so much more than you'll ever know. I’m not… strong like Jai, or charming like Gustall, so sometimes I doubt my place in this family. In the world, even. But knowing that my little sister turned out as well as Xaria has, that means a lot to me. And I’m more than happy to pass taking care of her off to someone like you.”

A warm wetness hits Xaria’s cheeks, and she realizes that she’s crying. As the two men return to silence, she furiously scrubs at her cheeks, then high tails it back to her room. It can’t hurt to give them a little more time.

An hour or so later, while she reads a book on her bed, there’s a soft knock on the door. “Come in,” she calls. The door opens to reveal Leorio, who smiles. “Hey,” he says, “I wasn't sure if you were awake.”

“I was wondering where you snuck off to,” she says. She’s decided not to bring up his talk with Viden; she doesn’t want either of them to know she was eavesdropping if she can help it. “How was your morning?”

“Good,” he says, nodding. “Viden taught me how to cook. Speaking of which.” He offers her his hand, wiggling his fingers. She takes it and he guides her to stand. “Breakfast is served.”

He leads her down the stairs and to the table, where her brothers and father are already engaged in a classic Blume breakfast - everyone talking over each other, food smeared on the twins’ faces, Melo’s action figures lined up around his plate as he glumly eats his food. A typical morning. “Ah, finally, there you two are,” Gustall croons. “We were waiting!”

“Welcome, darling angel,” her father booms. “Come, we’ve saved you some.”

“Good morning, Xaria,” Viden says politely. She smiles as she takes her seat next to him, and Leorio sits opposite her next to Jai. “You’ll be pleased to know that Leorio helped me to make breakfast this morning.”

Xaria raises an eyebrow, looking in Leorio’s direction. “Oh?” she asks.

Leorio chuckles awkwardly. “I was around,” he says. “Viden was kind enough to teach me some basic cooking skills, that’s all.” He looks down the table to Eimir, and nods towards the dish in front of him. “Eimir, would you mind passing the jam?” Eimir nods and - shockingly, politely - passes it down the line to Leorio. “Thank you.”

“You could have slept all day, Xaria,” Jai snarks. She glares at him as he continues, “We had to send your boyfriend just to be your wakeup call.”

“Jai,” her father reprimands.

“Xaria was actually up hours ago.” Eight heads swivel to look at Leorio, who’s looking at Jai unimpressed. “She was reading, I just didn’t want to disturb her.”

Xaria feels her chest tighten. It’s rare that anyone stands up to Jai for her; Gustall, sometimes, but he likes to team up with his older brother, too. Her father and Viden, maybe. Leorio’s an addition to a relatively short list.

“Hm?” Jai asks. “Must be nice. Some of us have real work to do.”

“Hunting’s real work,” Leorio interjects before Xaria can defend herself. “She puts herself on the line every day to keep people like you in towns like this safe, so she can take a break every once in a while, if you ask me.” He smiles, all sharp edges and not natural, and goes back to his food. Meanwhile, Xaria looks to her right for Viden’s guidance.

Should I stop him? she asks with her eyes.

Absolutely not, this is fantastic, is his unspoken reply. She turns to her dad to ask the same, but his eyes are glued to Leorio, amusement dancing on his face. Seems like he agrees with Viden.

“I don’t believe I did,” Jai says eventually. “Ask you, that is.”

All other conversations have fallen quiet. Even Melo, who’s been silent since Leorio’s arrival, is looking up from his food to watch the verbal sparring match. Leorio swallows and raises his eyebrows.

“Oh? Well, it seemed to me like you were being pretty unfair to Xaria, so. You’re welcome for the correction. Good talk.”

Ouch. That was definitely a blow to Jai’s ego. Xaria reverts her eyes to Jai quickly. He looks like steam might come out of his ears soon. “I think you should keep your nose out of things that aren’t your business.”

Suddenly, Leorio’s fork clatters to his plate. “Xaria is my business,” he spits. “Now I’ve only been here for a couple of days, but I can see that you’re treating her like crap. You’re treating most of your family members like crap! You think you’re some hotshot because you’re the oldest brother, but you’re just an asshole. I don’t care that you work in a blacksmith’s shop, and I don’t care that you’re the oldest. You’re being a dick, so apologize.”

There’s a resounding silence that follows Leorio’s mini-speech. Xaria looks between the two men staring each other down, a silent pingpong match only she can follow. This is different from anything Leorio has said to any of her other brothers. While the rest was playing nice, Xaria can tell this is coming from deep within Leorio’s heart. There’s a lot of things he hates, but bullies are near the top of the list, and she hates to say it, but her oldest brother definitely is a bully. She doesn’t know what to do in the wake of that. The rest of the family continues to watch as well, no one saying a word or taking a bite, just… waiting. For the other shoe to drop, maybe? For Jai to say anything? It’s stretched out so long, Xaria opens her mouth to say something, but then--

Jai laughs. A deep, bellowing one. Then, he claps Leorio on the back. Leorio, meanwhile, looks confused. “You’re a good guy,” Jai announces. He turns to Xaria then. “I’m sorry, Xar. I stepped out of line - really out of line.”

“It’s fine,” Xaria says faintly. She’s too busy trying to remember the last time Jai apologized to her… ever.

Jai nods. Then he turns to the rest of the table. “Seconds?” he asks. Slowly, Eimir raises his hand. Elian puts it down.

After that, the table slowly erupts back into chaos. Eimir and Elian are talking about how cool Leorio is, and Jai is talking to Gustall about… whatever it is they talk about, and Melo is eating his vegetables, and Viden grins at Xaria confidentially. Meanwhile, she turns to Leorio. He shrugs. She shrugs back. For now, everything’s fine.

In the morning after breakfast, Xaria takes Leorio to the greenhouse to help her pick some fresh vegetables for dinner. “Whoa,” he says upon entering. “I knew you liked plants, but… I didn’t know how much, I guess.”

Xaria smiles as she looks around. There are flowers and vegetables and fruits, things Leorio saw every day and ones he’d probably never heard of. Xaria didn’t have much of a chance for upkeep while she was away, but Viden and Melo were taking care of it for her. They did a good job; it looks no different than when she left it. “Yeah,” she says. She leads him down a line of peppers and motions for him to pick some. “It was my mom’s.”

“The greenhouse?” he asks. She nods. “It’s beautiful,” he says. There’s a pause as they both gather in silence, then he says, “Your mom. You, uh, never talk about her. Sorry if it’s personal, or whatever, but you brought her up last night, so I thought…”

She shakes her head. She doesn’t like talking about her mom, but since he dove into her family nonsense with no preparation (and done really well thus far), she thinks maybe he deserves an explanation. (Or maybe, somewhere deep down, she does want to talk about it.) “She passed when I was little,” she says softly. “In childbirth with Melo.”

“Oh,” Leorio says softly. “I’m sorry.”

“It was a long time ago,” Xaria says. She holds out her basket and he dumps his peppers in. She catches his pitying frown and waves his concerns away. “Really, I didn’t know her that well. It’s worse for the twins and Melo, who really didn’t know her at all. I have a few memories… But the garden was hers, so. That’s where my love of it came from.”

She leads him down another row where carrots grow in multitude. They both begin picking, side by side. “You must’ve really looked up to her,” he says softly. “To keep this up, even after all this time.”

She considers this for a moment. Can she look up to someone she mostly knows through pictures? Can she admire a memory? “I guess,” she says eventually. “Really, it was just… My dad always tells me that I’m just like her.” She smiles softly as she thinks of the picture hung up in her room; her mom and dad at age eighteen, her mom’s long red hair and smattering of freckles and blue eyes. “Looks, personality, fiery attitude.” Leorio snickers, and she nudges him with her elbow. “Shut up. They say I’m her spitting image.”

“So you wanted to take up the garden because of that?”

She thinks on it for a moment. In a way, she supposes that’s true; the real reason, though, she’s never told anyone. Still, it crawls up her throat and out of her mouth before she can think to stop it. “I never really knew who I was, if not my mom’s clone,” she admits. “So I just did what I thought she’d do. I even took the Hunter Exam for her.”

Leorio pauses, dumps the carrots into the basket, then raises an eyebrow. “She was a hunter?”

Xaria shakes her head. She pulls on his sleeve down another aisle, where potatoes poke out from soil. They bend down to pick them. “She was engaged to one,” she clarifies, “before she met my father. He died on the job.”

He’s quiet for a moment. Then he asks, “Your dad told you that?”

“Her journal,” she says. “She kept one when she was my age.”

“So she was a writer too?”

Xaria smiles at that. “No, she was pretty bad at it.” That makes Leorio laugh. She decides she likes the sound. “She changed her tenses all the time, stopped writing mid-sentence. It’s a mess. Viden and I used to stay up under the covers with flashlights and laugh at all the silly mistakes.”

They put their potatoes in the basket, but don’t stand up just yet. Instead, he turns to her and smiles. “Sounds like fun,” he says softly. “But that means that you’re not your mom’s mini-me, right? You’re 100% uniquely Xaria. I don’t know anyone who writes quite like you.”

Her heart flutters. She’s never quite sure of herself, she thinks, but Leorio… he settles her. He soothes her. “Thanks,” she murmurs. She clears her throat and shakes her head, standing suddenly. She’s afraid of what she’ll do if she stays down there too long. Leorio stands too, bringing the basket. “Besides, I wasn’t quite like her today either. You were more like her, actually.”

Leorio raises an eyebrow. “I reminded you of your dead mom?”

She laughs. “No; she was the only one who ever stood up to Jai and reminded him who he really is. He was 13 when Mom died, and he hasn’t been the same since. But today… I saw a glimpse of the old him, thanks to you.”

He rubs the back of his neck and smiles sheepishly. It’s one of her favorite ‘Xaria faces.’ “I just didn’t want to see you get hurt, you know?”

She smiles. “I know,” she assures. Then, she leads him back out of the greenhouse.

When they arrive back into the house through the backdoor, Gustall is waiting for them in the kitchen. His eyes light up. “Ah, perfect!” he says. “Xaria. I’m borrowing your boyfriend for lunch.”

“Huh?” Leorio says, looking up from where he was wiping his feet on the mat. “Me?”

“Sure,” Xaria says. She knows better than to argue with Gustall.

Gustall claps. “Yay!” he says. He grabs his lute from the counter and pulls it over his shoulder, then grabs Leorio by the hand and heads for the front door. “See you later!”

“Uh, Xaria?!” Leorio calls, looking at her desperately over his shoulder.

“Have fun,” she calls. “See you.” Over the sounds of Leorio scrambling for assistance, the front door closes. She supposes she’ll find out what went on later.

Meanwhile, the kitchen door swings open. “Ah, angel!” Odo calls cheerfully. “Excellent, just who I was looking for.”

“Papa,” she greets. She swings her basket onto the kitchen table, right where Viden asked for them. “What’s up?”

“You remember dinner tonight, right?” She just blinks at him. Odo raises his eyebrows expectantly, and when she doesn’t respond, continues. “You know… dinner? The Blume family dinner? The same one as every year?”

Suddenly, realization sinks in. As a large part of their holiday celebrations, every year on the same date, the Blumes have a fancy, traditional dinner. Dressed up, saying grace, toasts, musical accompaniment, a cooked turkey, the whole nine yards. They wait to exchange presents until the typical date, but this dinner is a Blume family special. She realizes now why she had to pick vegetables, and why Viden went out to get necessary provisions. “Oh no,” she whispers.

“Oh yes,” Odo says cheerfully. “I was just making sure. You’ve had a lot to deal with lately, what with Mr. Leorio coming to stay with us. But I’m sure you’ll be prepared - you always are!” He wraps an arm around her shoulder and squeezes, and with that, leaves the kitchen.

Okay, no big deal - she has an army of dresses in her closet, and she can write a toast on the fly, no problem. Besides that, she doesn’t have to prepare much, right? Right.

Except Leorio. Who’s not here. Damn Gustall, that bastard.

There’s no use worrying about it at the moment, she resigns. Meanwhile, though, she’s been meaning to talk to Melo - and now that Leorio is out with Gustall, it seems the perfect opportunity. And, hopefully, it can save this potentially disastrous dinner.

The sign on the door says “FUTURE HUNTER AT WORK - DO NOT ENTER”. She smiles and knocks anyway. “Hello? Future hunter? It’s me, the current hunter. Can I come in?” There’s a long stretch of silence, and just as she raises her fist to knock again, there’s a small murmur granting her entrance. She slowly opens the door.

Melo is sitting on his bed, a blanket over his head and an action figure in each hand. He looks so sad it makes Xaria’s heart break. “Hey,” she murmurs. “Got a sec?”

“I guess,” Melo mutters. She nods and approaches, sitting at the edge of his bed next to him. She raises her hand to take off the blanket, and he winces.

Her hand drops. “Sorry. Castle of darkness stays intact unless you dismantle it,” she assures. He just nods. “You seem a little down lately. Wanna share why?” He just shrugs. She slides her shoulder next to his and nudges. “You know, they say if you tell people why you’re sad, it makes a little bit of that sadness just float away. Like a little sadness cloud. I’d be happy to take away some of the sadness cloud, Mel.” Nothing. “That’s okay. Sometimes people don’t feel like sharing. But I’m here if you wanna talk.”

“I don’t want to,” he says bluntly. She winces.

“Okay. Can I touch you?” There’s a pause, and then he nods, so she puts her hand on his back and rubs soothing circles there. It’s an old habit; something she’s done ever since he was a little boy. “Maybe, to cheer you up, Leorio can tell you some of his hunting stories later, yeah? I know we haven’t got much of a chance to talk since I’ve gotten back, but… I know we’d love to tell you about all the monsters we got to fight. Sound good?” Melo doesn’t respond, and she doesn’t expect him to. “I’ll take that as a yes, because I know you love hunter stories, and the Melo I know just wouldn’t say no to that.” With that, she stands softly. “You want me to stay?” He doesn’t say anything. “To leave?” Still nothing. “Okay, well, I’m around if you need me - and if not, I’ll see you at dinner.” She tiptoes quietly out of the room, leaving him alone for now.

Xaria is sitting at the kitchen counter when Gustall and Leorio arrive. She knows it’s them because Gustall is excitedly talking, and she assumes he hasn’t lost her supposed boyfriend. A few moments later, Gustall bounds into the room. “Xaria, there you are!” he exclaims. “Perfect, just wanted to let you know - reviews are in, and your boyfriend’s alright. A huge dork, maybe, but still okay in my book.” The door swings again and Leorio enters, looking exhausted. “Ah, the man of the hour! We were just talking about you.”

Leorio just smiles, then takes a seat next to Xaria. Gustall busies himself with putting his lute away and humming the tune to an old folk song. “What did he do to you?” she whispers.

Leorio, still smiling, says through his teeth, “I’m never talking about it ever. Your brother’s nuts.” That’s a typical reaction to Gustall - well, the real Gustall anyway - so she just shrugs.

Behind them, the backdoor opens, and Viden enters. “Hello, all,” he says, barely visible over the bags of groceries. He plops them onto the countertop, and finally, Xaria can see a brilliant grin behind them. It makes her smile too. “Ready for dinner?” Xaria inhales sharply. Dinner - she has to tell Leorio.

“Of course,” Gustall booms from across the room. He turns on his heel and grins, putting his hands on his hips. “I’m always ready. I even prepared a new musical piece with the help of Leorio and everything.” Xaria looks back to Leorio curiously, but he just closes his eyes and shakes his head. “What about you, Viden?”

“Getting ready,” he says. “The turkey has been cooking all day, but I’ve got everything else to prepare in the next few hours, so, I better get to work.”

Gustall salutes. “Hear, hear!” he says, then promptly exits.

Leorio turnst to Xaria, frowning. “What’s up with dinner?” he asks.

Xaria opens her mouth to explain, but Viden slides up next to her. “Xaria, look what I have,” he whispers confidentially, then slides her a piece of paper. It has a sequence of numbers on it, and a signature by someone called Felix. After a moment, Xaria gasps and turns to her older brother.

“The baker’s son?” she asks. Upon Viden’s nod, she squeals and throws her arms around his neck. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks,” he says. “Someone gave me a vote of confidence this morning.” He smiles at Leorio, before going back to the counter.

The door swings open, and the twins rush in to flank Leorio. “Mister Leorio!” they chime in unison.

“Hey, kids,” he greets, then turns to the one on his right. “Eimir - fort status update.”

Eimir salutes. “We’re adding a second story, Captain,” he says, in a fake-deep voice. “We’d like you to take a look at it before dinner.”

“You’re our only hope,” Elian adds on, also saluting.

“Aye - dismissed.” The twins drop their salutes. “I’ll be out after I get to hang with your sister for a bit, cool?” They nod, and then take off toward the backyard. Leorio huffs a tiny laugh, then turns to Xaria. “They’re good kids.”

She doesn’t respond - she’s too busy being completely awestruck. Leorio’s been here for a day and a half, and yet her family’s never been so happy. Viden’s taking chances, the twins are listening to someone for once, Gustall’s showing strangers a side of him that’s not charming and polished - she doesn’t even know where she is anymore. She wonders if, maybe, he’s changed her too, and she just doesn’t know it.

The door opens again, and Jai enters. She feels Leorio tense next to her, and she instinctively reaches for his hand under the counter. He seems surprised, for a moment, then he grabs her hand in return. “Hey,” Jai says, smiling tightly. “Xar. I just… I know I apologized at breakfast this morning, but I just wanted to say it again.”

“Really, no big deal,” she assures.

“No, it is. I’ve been a jerk since you got back, and I know it’s no excuse, but… I missed having you around, and I didn’t know how to say it. Teasing you, it… seemed like the best way to tell you at the time. And I’m not saying I’m gonna stop, but I’ll try to find the line between laughing with you and laughing at you. Sound good?” She just nods. She doesn’t trust herself to speak. Meanwhile, Jai turns to Leorio. “And I’m sorry for my attitude towards you, Mr. Leorio. Xaria and I can get… competitive, and with you here, it felt like she was winning, so I wasn’t exactly receptive. My apologies.” He sticks out his hand to shake, and tentatively, Leorio takes it. “Thank you. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” He drops Leorio’s hand and puts his hat on, smiling. “I’m off to see a librarian.” He nods and goes back the way he came, satisfied with their talk.

Jai too. Maybe lying about her relationship with Leorio was a blessing in disguise.

“You’re amazing,” she mutters. Leorio blinks.

“Uh, thanks?” he asks.

She nods. Then, she says, “Dinner. Oh, shit, dinner.” And drags him from the room by their interlocked hands.

“Wait, so I need to do what?”

“Give a toast,” Xaria sighs. “I’m so sorry, I totally forgot until this morning. My dad will say grace, we eat dinner, then we all give toasts. It’s a Blume tradition.”

Leorio frowns where he’s sitting at the edge of her bed. “I don’t know if I’ve ever made a toast,” he says. “I mean, I guess it can’t be that hard. Right? It’s not like you guys are pinnacle toast givers.” Xaria winces and he blinks at her. “No. Well, you had to be bad at it at some point.”

“My dad says we all have a gene called the golden tongue,” she says. “And no one else but our family has ever participated.”

Leorio puts his face in his hands. “This is a lot of pressure,” he admits.

She sighs and sits next to him. “I’m so sorry,” she says. “I didn’t even think that your being here would coincide with this. I’m sure we can get you out of it - say you get nervous, or got sick--”

“I’ll do it,” he says, suddenly confident. He looks at her and smiles. “After all your family’s done for me over the past few days, it’s the least I can do.”

There goes that feeling in her chest again. She smiles back. “Okay,” she says. She doesn’t say what she’s thinking - that it’s him that’s done a lot for them. And that’s the end of that.

“A speech? In front of your entire family?”

“A toast, but yeah, pretty much,” she says as she slips her earrings into her ears. “I told him he didn’t have to, but you know how he is. Stubborn.”

Phoenix scoffs. “Yeah, not the adjective I think I’d use. Stupid, maybe. Your family’s, like, full of professional speech givers.”

“Told him that,” she says.

“And your brothers will drag him to dust if he gives a bad toast.”

“Told him that too.”

“And this is like, one of your family’s most sacred traditions, and it’s super important.”

“Three for three.” She sighs, observing herself in the mirror. “And we have to get all dressed up, and eat this fancy dinner…” She trails off.

Phoenix huffs. “He’s walking into the lion’s den,” he mutters. “No wonder you’re freaking out.”

“I wish you were here,” she whines, walking over to the bed and flopping down onto it.

“Ah, but then you wouldn’t have had your novel of family misadventures,” they point out. “Besides, you’ve got this. Just give your perfect speech, and if Leorio messes up, oh well. Small potatoes.”

He’s probably right; in the grand scheme of things, her family already loves Leorio. What is one bad speech on the most important night of the year? Probably nothing.

There’s a soft knocking on the door. “That’s him, I think,” she says, standing. “I should go.”

“Wait! What if he comes in naked again? I gotta know!”

“Half-naked. Bye, Phoenix.” Despite their loud protests, she hangs up and dumps her phone on the bed. She’ll apologize to him later. “Come in,” she says.

The door opens, and Leorio stands in the doorway. He looks sharp - his cheap suit is replaced with a fancy one, probably paid for with newfound hunter money. His tie is a deep green, and it brings out the color in his eyes. It’s… good. “You look good,” she murmurs.

He swallows. “You’re one to talk,” he says, and it sounds lighthearted, despite the small voice crack. She looks down at her dress - one she’d bought from the local seamstress a few years ago. Light green, chiffon, high-necked, with purple flowers climbing up the skirt. It’s one of her favorites in her closet, and she hadn’t had a chance to wear it to the Blume dinner yet. She smiles back at him. “Thanks,” she says. With that, he holds out his hand again. She takes it and lets him lead her downstairs.

“Perfect timing!” Odo cheers when he sees them. It seems he’s right; Viden is just serving Odo’s own food. Viden smiles and nods before heading to his seat. “Sit, sit, and let the festivities begin.” They do as they’re told, Leorio only dropping her hand to pull out her seat. She smiles at him as he does, and Odo sighs happily. “Ah, young love,” he says. Gustall and Jai exchange an exasperated glance, but still smile despite themselves.

When Leorio himself is seated, Odo clears his throat. “Alright,” he says, “let’s get started.” He holds out his hands to Xaria and Leorio respectively, and everyone around the table takes hands. “I would like to say thanks…”

As her father says grace, Xaria keeps a careful eye on the other end of the table. Melo is still stewing, his anger palpable on his face. The storm cloud she’d talked about hangs heavy over his head, casting a shadow on him. She wonders how she can fix this; she figured it was about her hunting, but now, she’s not sure. It’s been a while for him to be petulant about just that, and it seems like her promise of more stories hadn’t done anything to cheer him up. She’s concerned, but she resolves that she’ll talk to him tonight after dinner.

When grace ends, they tuck in, and dinner goes smoothly, overall. Melo stays silent, but Xaria cajoles Leorio into telling some hunter stories. Between the two of them, they get fairly into it, telling tales about the Zoldyck estate and the Hunter Exam. It makes her miss her friends - Killua, Gon, Kurapika - so the stories are tinged with a longing to return. They even talk a little bit about Yorknew, which Xaria is surprised at herself for doing, since she was fairly set on not talking about it. Elian nearly snorts milk out his nose when Leorio tells a tale about their undercover work against the Phantom Troupe, and Viden has plenty of questions when they talk about the cooking hunters they met during the exam. Again, Melo stays quiet, no signs of excitement on his face. Dread is slowly crawling its way into Xaria’s stomach.

Sooner than they know it, they’re all done with their food. As Viden cleans up, Odo claps his hands together. “Alright!” he exclaims. There’s a glint in his eye that only comes with their toasting tradition, an excitement Xaria knows too well. “Now, we begin with the toasts. Jai? Will you do us the honor of starting off?”

Jai nods and stands. He delivers his typical speech; sturdy, strong. He chooses his words carefully, a giveaway to his caring nature. He only makes fun of each family member once, a record for him, and everyone finds it good-natured. Leorio’s even included, much to his delight. As always, it’s a strong start.

Gustall is next; his lilting, swinging toast always feels like a song to Xaria, and one she loves to listen to at that. Then, Viden gives a soft, loving soliloquy, always Xaria’s favorite toast. Before she knows it, it’s her turn. With everyone’s attention on her, she stands, and she raises her glass.

“I’ve had a busy year,” she says. “I’ve traveled the world, I’ve met so many amazing people, and I’ve written so many stories.” She looks to Leorio, who gives her a smile. “But I’ve never felt more at home than I do with you.” He looks taken aback for a moment, and she watches as his face warms, but she finds that she means it. She looks around at her family then - Viden’s wide smile, Gustall’s crinkled eyes, the twins’ rapt attention. “Home is where you all are - whether that’s in this house, or in the shop, or in Yorknew city. And I’m so thankful for each and every one of you. I truly can’t say it enough or in enough ways. No matter what we give each other this year, the only gift I care about is having each of you care about me. That will be enough.” She raises her glass above her head. “To family. To love.”

They raise their glasses, and repeat after her: “To family, to love.”

With that, she sits. “Beautiful as always, Xaria,” Odo commends. She smiles in return. He then turns to his other side. “Mr. Leorio; you’re a guest of Xaria’s. Why don’t you go next?”

Leorio nods and stands, his lanky limbs unfolding from underneath the table. He picks up his glass. “I know that I haven’t known any of you for very long,” he admits. “It’s only been about a day, though it might feel like years. You all welcomed me into your home with open arms, and for that, I’ll never be thankful enough. But I’m even more thankful for the gift you gave me in Xaria.” He turns to her and smiles, and soon enough, all eyes are on her. She feels her own face heat up, and she wonders if this is payback for her comment about him feeling like home. She feels that tightening in her chest again either way. “In the short time I’ve been here, I can see what each of you mean to her - how you’ve shaped her, how much you love her. The woman you’ve made her has slowly but surely become my favorite person in the world. I’ve been so blessed to have her by my side, and hopefully I’ll get to have her by my side for a long time.” He raises his glass and grins. “To Xaria.”

More glasses raised: “To Xaria!”

She can’t stop smiling; her cheeks hurt. She opens her mouth to respond, when suddenly--

“No.”

Everyone looks down towards the end of the table. Melo is slouched in his chair, arms crossed over his chest, face drawn in wrinkled lines. “I’m sorry?” Leorio asks.

“You should be,” Melo replies.

Xaria frowns. “Melo--”

“No!” He stands suddenly, pushing his chair back. “Xaria is my big sister. You can’t have her!”

Leorio frowns. “Buddy, I--”

“I’m not your buddy! I’m Xaria’s buddy. I was supposed to go hunting with her; she and I were going to go everywhere together. But you stole her, and now you’re stealing everybody. You’re messing everything up! And everyone here is just letting you. Well I’m not gonna let it happen anymore.” With that, he runs for the kitchen door, leaving everyone in silence.

Xaria feels stunned. She had no idea that, of all things, Melo might be jealous. She didn’t even think what her being away would do to him - she was the closest thing to a mother the kid had ever had, and she left without having a serious talk about it. At the time, she thought he couldn’t have handled a conversation, but now she knows that his feelings run deeper than she’d thought. He thought she’d abandoned him, and that Leorio was taking up all of her love. This was her fault. So when they hear the backdoor open, she stands reflexively to go after him.

“Melo!” she calls as she races for the kitchen. Everyone is hot on her heels. The door firmly clicks shut before she can even open the kitchen door, but when finally gets there, it’s with a great sigh of relief that she finds Melo only sitting on the back step. She turns to her family. “I’ll get him--”

“Actually, can I?” They all turn to Leorio. He rubs at the back of his neck sheepishly. “It’s just… it’s kind of my fault, so. I’d like to give it a try.”

The rest of the family look at each other. “This man has worked miracles so many times, I’m willing to try it again,” Gustall says.

“We’ll put our fates in the hands of the Captain,” Elian says.

“Aye,” confirms Eimir.

Jai shrugs. “Why not?”

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Viden agrees.

Odo nods, and claps Leorio on the shoulder. “You’re a very noble man, Mr. Leorio,” he says.

“Thank you,” Leorio replies. He heads for the door, but Xaria steps in front of it.

“Um,” she says, and everyone looks at her. “Just… be careful. He’s really sensitive, you know. Ask before you touch him, and, um, just choose your words. If he doesn’t answer, that’s normal, but it might lead into a meltdown. And if he needs me, I’ll stay right in the kitchen, okay? Me and Viden, just us, we’ll be right here--”

“Relax,” he says, and he braces her shoulders with his hands. “I’ve got this.” After a moment, she nods. He lets go, and heads for the door.

“Alright, out, shoo, you vultures,” Odo says to the boys behind him. “You heard the lady.” The twins grumble and Jai and Gustall sigh dramatically, but they all head out the kitchen door. Odo gives Xaria one last nod before following suit, just as Leorio opens the backdoor himself.

Xaria and Viden scurry to the door after it closes, pressing their ears against it attentively. It’s quiet, for a moment, then Leorio speaks: “I’m sorry,” he says. “If I made you feel like I was taking your sister away.”

Melo doesn’t answer, and Leorio sighs. “You know, it’s really cool that you have a whole bunch of family that cares about you,” he says. “Like, Xaria loves you so much that she can barely contain it. And your dad, and your brothers… I don’t have any family like that, so.”

There’s another long pause. But, eventually, Melo says, “You don’t?”

“No,” Leorio says, “and doesn’t that suck? I’ve got my parents, but they were always out, and I don’t have any siblings. I had a friend, but he got really sick and… So I was really lonely.” There’s another pause, as if he expects Melo to say something, but when he’s met with silence, he keeps going. “Then, just this year, I left home and I found a family. I got to build my own, so that’s kind of cool. And your sister was nice enough to be part of the family I built, so thanks for sharing her with me.”

“But I don’t want to share,” Melo says petulantly, and Viden and Xaria exchange a glance, preparing for an oncoming meltdown.

Leorio hums. “I get that,” he says. “But Xaria… she means a lot to me, just like she does to you. I know I haven’t known her as long, but she’s the nicest, smartest person I’ve ever met. She reminds me to tie my shoes and make my breakfast - I bet she did that for you, too, huh?”

Melo seems to consider this. “When I was a kid,” he admits. “But I’m not a kid anymore.”

“Of course not,” Leorio assures. “But what I’m trying to say is - there’s room in her heart for both of us, you know? There was room for you and all your brothers and your dad, and they all have room in their hearts for each other, and I’ve got room in my heart for all of you. Does that make sense?”

After a moment, Melo says, “It does.”

“Even if we do different stuff together. And I know you wanna go off and be a hunter just like your big sister, and travel the world with her - and believe me, I get it, Xaria’s cool. Like, really cool. I would wanna be just like her too. But I think you should give it some time, man. Wait until you’re old enough like she did, and then you can give the exam a shot. In the meantime, you can hear all about what Xaria does hunting.” There’s another awkward beat, and Xaria wonders for a moment if Melo’s upset again, but Leorio continues. “You know, in our little found family, there’s two hunters just about your age.”

Melo perks up, responding quickly. “Really?” he asks.

Leorio hums. “Sure are,” he confirms. “Two kids - Killua and Gon.”

“Are they good hunters?”

“The best I’ve ever seen. But the problem is that they’re pretty sad.”

“What do you mean?”

There’s a moment, and Xaria can tell Leorio’s choosing his words very carefully. Mulling them over in his head before he speaks - not very typical of him. She appreciates the effort more than she could possibly say. “Gon’s dad left him to be a hunter when he was just a baby,” Leorio says eventually. “And Killua’s family, well… they’re really terrible to him. He had to run away and find a way to make a name for himself. And now, they have to fight all these monsters and they get hurt all of the time. It just makes them sad.”

“Oh.”

“So, what I’m saying is - enjoy it while you can. Be a kid. Play with your action figures. Help the twins build snow forts. Let Viden make you a home cooked meal. Go visit your dad and brother’s shop. Sing songs with Gustall. Write to Xaria all the time and let her tell you those stories she’s so good at telling. Life is too short for you not to enjoy what you have when you have it.”

There’s a long pause after that, and Xaria almost gives up and opens the door. But then, just as she goes to stand, Melo says, “Thanks, Leorio.”

“Don’t mention it,” Leorio replies.

They fall into an amicable silence. Xaria feels warm all over; no one’s ever been that good with Melo in… well, ever, besides herself and sometimes Viden. It makes her heart swell and her eyes ache with holding back tears.

Viden nudges her. “You landed a good one,” he says.

Xaria smiles. “I know.”

After Leorio and Melo come back in from the cold and Xaria gives Melo the biggest hug she possibly can, the festivities for the night continue. Gustall plays them all some music he’d picked out earlier in the afternoon, and everyone dances until they can't dance anymore. They eat dessert - courtesy of the baker’s son - and play games and talk until they can barely stand straight, they’re so tired. One by one, they all retire to bed, and Xaria and Leorio barely speak; when their heads hit the pillow, they’re out like lights.

Xaria only wakes to a phone ringing sometime in the early morning. Leorio groans next to her and grapples for it, reaching blindly over his shoulder for it before finally finding it and picking it up. “Hello?” he mumbles sleepily. Xaria groans, trying to will him back to sleep, covering her head with her pillow. “Wha? Wait, what?”

Suddenly, Leorio sounds more alert and awake, which knocks the tiredness out of Xaria as well. She removes the pillow and blinks up at Leorio, who looks odd without his glasses and with sleep ruffling his hair. It makes her smile despite herself. “Are you sure?” Leorio asks. He frowns at the response, whatever it is, and continues, “Wait, that doesn’t make sense. I--” He stops short and his frown deepens. “Okay,” he says finally, “understood.” Eventually, he hangs up and sighs, dropping his head down to the pillow.

“Well, that seemed pleasant,” Xaria comments. “What’s up?”

Leorio shakes his head. “Can’t we just go back to sleep?” he begs. “I liked it better that way.” She holds her ground, staring him down, and he finally relents. “That was one of my professors. The pre-test date has been moved up, so I have to go home. Today, I mean.”

Xaria feels her stomach drop. She’d been having such a wonderful time here in their own little bubble, she hadn’t even considered that, at some point, it might end. “Oh,” she says.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I had no idea. They set a date for it, and then--”

“It’s okay,” she interrupts. “No worries. I mean, you did what you came here to do. You more than convinced my family we were dating - I think some of them might like you more than they like me.” Leorio huffs a small laugh. He still looks sad, so, without thinking, Xaria reaches up and puts a hand on his cheek. He tenses for a moment, but relaxes into it. “You were amazing. You are amazing. Now get your butt home and crush that pre-test. And I’ll see you… when I see you. Right?”

He shakes his head, and reaches up to catch her wrist. “Sooner than that,” he says, “please. Sooner than… the next random time Gon calls us all together, or when the world is ending, okay?”

She smiles. “Okay.” And before she can cry, she takes her hand away and sighs. “Alright. Let’s get going then.”

They announce that Leorio is leaving at breakfast, to a chorus of boos and outrage. Even Melo looks distraught, potentially because Leorio promised to tell him more stories about the Zoldyck mansion at dinner today. They try to enjoy the rest of the meal, but it is easy to see that the Blume house is tinged in sadness, a melancholy resting on each of their shoulders. Xaria can’t help but think of the sadness cloud stretching over all of them.

After breakfast, Leorio packs up while Xaria helps Viden with the dishes. He keeps shooting her pitying looks, and she can’t tell if it’s because his date with the baker’s son is tonight or because this is just how Viden is, but she chooses not to engage either way. While they clean, it starts snowing again, and Xaria stops thinking about it before she can fret whether Leorio will be able to travel in such weather.

Finally, just before lunch, the Blumes gather in the living room to stage a sendoff. Leorio’s gathered his bags by the door, and finally, he’s ready to say goodbye. He goes down the line. “Gentlemen,” he greets the twins. They all salute, and Xaria barely holds back a laugh at their deadpan faces. They drop the salute. “I’m sure I don’t have to remind you, but I have a new Captain to take over in my stead. You will trust his wise guidance for your totally awesome fort that I’m actually really impressed by. Got it?”

“Got it!” they chime in unison. Then, after a moment, they fling their arms around his waist, encompassing him on either side. “Bye, Mr. Leorio.”

“Bye, Eimir. Bye, Elian.” When they let go, he turns to Viden and holds out his hand. Viden, being Viden, shakes his head and pulls him in for a hug instead. “Take care, Viden,” he says.

“You too, Leorio. Thanks in advance for watching out for my baby sister.” They smile as they pull away, and Leorio moves to the next in line.

Jai looks unimpressed. “You’ll have to stop by more often, kid,” he says. “Keep putting me in my place.” He holds out his hand and smiles. “Pleasure meeting you.”

“Likewise,” Leorio says, shaking accordingly.

Gustall sighs dramatically when Leorio gets to him, shaking his offered hand all the same. “I think I’ll miss you most of all, Scarecrow,” he says. “My partner in crime.”

Leorio winces. “With you, that might be a very real label, so I’d appreciate being left out of it.” He smiles then. “Kidding. Mostly. Bye, Gustall.”

Melo awaits him with crossed arms. Leorio simply raises his hand to his forehead in a salute. “Captain,” he says. “You’re in charge now. So make sure there’s no funny business among the crewmen, got it?”

Melo lets out a small smile and nods, saluting in return. “Got it,” he replies. Then, he steps forward and hugs Leorio around the legs. “Thanks.”

“Any time,” Leorio replies, patting his head affectionately.

Finally, Odo awaits Leorio at the end of the line. “Sir,” Leorio says. “Um, I know I’m not going to be here for the gift-giving festivities, but, I did get you something.” He reaches into his pocket, but Odo holds out a hand.

“You already got me something, Mr. Leorio,” he says. Then he gestures around, sweeping through all his kids. “All of my family. Together. Happy. It’s more than I could ever ask for.” Once more without warning, he sweeps Leorio into another bone-crushing hug. Leorio ‘oofs’, but goes with it, allowing himself to be picked up. “Thank you so much.”

“Any time,” Leorio squeaks.

“Okay, Papa, he gets it,” Xaria teases, and Odo drops Leorio at once.

Once everyone has said their goodbyes, Xaria opens the door for him, and they step out together into the cold. The twins ‘ooh,’ and Viden gives her a thumbs up, and Gustall tells them not to do anything he wouldn’t do, which Jai replies is not much. Xaria rolls her eyes and shuts the door, leaving the two of them alone.

The snow is falling lightly now, so lightly she can barely even see it, except where it lands in Leorio’s black hair and eyelashes. She could count them, she’s so close to him. “I know you said no thank yous,” she starts, “but… thank you. You’ve done more than you’ll ever know in this short time. Truly, it means the world.”

“Thank you for having me,” he replies. “I meant what I said to Melo about not having a lot of family. This was the first family Christmas I’ve had in… ever, I think.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” They both smile, and she clears her throat. “On the brightside, everyone definitely thinks we’re dating now, so that’s a plus.”

“I know, right? How the hell did we pull that off?”

Because somewhere along the way it stopped being pretend, whispers a voice in her head that sounds suspiciously like Phoenix. She resolutely ignores it. “We’re just that good,” she says instead, and Leorio nods.

“Hell yeah we are,” he says. “Thanks for being the best fake girlfriend ever.”

“Thanks for being the best fake boyfriend ever,” she returns. “We make a good team.” After a beat, impulsively she throws her arms around him. He returns it immediately, picking her up to meet him with ease, a meld they fall right into. “I’ll see you soon, right?”

“Sooner than soon,” he says. “As soon as we can.” He pulls away, but stays close, not putting her down just yet. Close enough he could probably count her freckles; close enough she can see the snowflake as it lands on the tip of his nose. He smiles, and she smiles back.

“Bye,” she whispers.

“Bye,” he says. And with that, he lets go, turning to walk the path away from her house and towards town. And, with one last look over his shoulder, he’s gone.

And all Xaria can think of is long black eyelashes behind glasses, and soft pink lips as they say goodbye - and that Phoenix, to her dismay and horror, was right.

#xaria blume #hxh #fic #katie writes #noemie #anotherunreadblog #ask #asks #what kind of woman doesnt have an ask #i'm still finding out queue i am

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