An Audible Voice
By Firia

HxH (c) Togashi; not me. I wrote this out of being annoyed at the lack of Hunter x Hunter fanfiction in general; and Leorio/Curapica fanfiction in particular. Admittedly, I've only seen the first 30 episodes of the anime and never read the manga, so if it turns out Leorio has some love interest later on or Curapica is revealed to be a girl or something, I apologize for my lack of accuracy. The title was 'borrowed' from Clover by CLAMP. Comments can be sent to enishigirl@aol.com

--


The heat was stifling and extremely close to being unbearable. Curapica wiped the sweat from his brow and opened the door in front of him.

They had stopped in a small town on the way to the next Hunter Exam for the night. The entire group and shuffled into small, musty smelling hotel rooms that were the size of a closet; the only furniture in the room being two twin beds and a small wastebasket. A bathroom of even smaller size attached through an open doorway. Curapica stared morosely towards the bathroom, contemplating the complete and utter lack of privacy with disdain. Coupled with a room that induced claustrophobia, and the oppressive heat, his mood was not improving.

Casting a glance at the door, he debated on whether he could take a shower to cool off, while his roommate wandered the town with Gon and Killua. He knew Leorio had no sense of modesty, but that was Leorio. After a moment of hesitation, he stepped towards the bathroom and began removing his clothing.

"Oi, Curapica!" The wooden door swung open with a loud creak as Leorio burst into the room. Curapica cursed his horrible timing and quickly refastened his trousers. Pulling on his tank top, he look around the edge of the open doorway and glared at Leorio, hoping the man would either get to the point of whatever he wanted to say, or leave.

Of course, Leorio did neither. He flopped down on one of the beds and began tugging at his tie.

"Ah, it's so damned hot here! I'm gonna die!" He complained loudly. The tie went flying towards the floor. Curapica sat on the vacant bed and watched Leorio expectantly.

"Well?" He finally asked. Leorio gave him a blank look. "What did you want? You called my name when you came in here."

"Eh, I forgot." Leorio waved his hand dismissively and closed his eyes. "I don't know how Gon and Killua can run around out there," He gestured towards the small window above Curapica's bed, "I'm going to die of heat stroke and I'm not moving!"

"Aa." Curapica sighed. It was ridiculously hot. He laid back and gingerly set his head upon the flat pillow that smelled of mothballs.

They both lay in companionable silence, until Curapica noted Leorio had begun to snore softly. Not long after, his own eyelids grew heavy and he also drifted off to sleep.

..

There was something wet and sticky dripping onto his face. At first he tried to ignore it, but it wasn't going away. He let his eyes flutter open and stared straight up into someone else's face hovering an inch away from his.

"AUGH!" Curapica yelled and jumped from the bed frantically. He fell quickly into a fighting stance automatically and looked towards his bed.

Leorio stood beside his bed with a puzzled expression, holding two popsicles.

"What's with you?" He asked distractedly, his attentions more focusing on catching drips of melted popsicle with his tongue.

"Leorio! Don't DO that!" He muttered and settled back on his bed. Warily, he watched the older man lick the melting lime green popsicle.

"Well, I kept yelling for you to wake up..." Leorio replied, obviously not repentant in the least. Curapica turned away and looked out the window. He wondered why he always ended up with this rooming arrangement.

Abruptly, a lime green popsicle appeared in front of his face. Before he could speak, Leorio took Curapica's slim hand and placed the popsicle within it.

"Here. I woke you up 'cause I brought that for you." Leorio grinned and scooted onto the foot of the bed. His attention turned back to his own popsicle. Curapica stared at the melting green ice in his hand and then back at Leorio.

"I don't want this." He stated.

"Have you ever had one before?" Leorio asked casually, seemingly not disturbed by the refusal.

"Well, no." Curapica answered truthfully. He realized his eyes were drawn to watching Leorio lick the remains of the popsicle. It was oddly fascinating, though he wasn't entirely sure why. Leorio's eyes met his for a moment. Blushing, he turned away.

"How do you know you don't want it if you've never had one?" Leorio said calmly and began chewing on the wooden stick that the flavored ice had been skewered with.

Well, that was a good point. Hesitantly, Curapica raised the popsicle to his mouth and took a tentative swipe with his tongue. A burst of sweetness and cold rushed into his mouth. It was refreshing. He took another lick.

"See? I'm not a complete idiot, eh?" Leorio grinned. Curapica nodded faintly and turned resume looking out the window while he finished eating the popsicle. The sun was setting, and the small room was dyed in the purple and golden hues of fading light.

It wasn't until he tossed the wooden stick towards the wastebasket, that he was aware of eyes on him. Unusual that he hadn't noticed right away. He turned and looked at Leorio warily.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

Leorio blinked, as if coming out of a daze and jumped off the bed. Curapica wasn't sure, but there seemed to be a faint blush coloring the older man's cheeks. Leorio laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"Ah, nothing! Nothing! I was just zoning out!" Leorio coughed and laid back down on his own bed.

After a few moments, Curapica pulled the sheet off his bed and set about turning it into a makeshift bathroom door.

"What're you doing?" Leorio asked. Curapica gave him a look that clearly stated the obvious. Finally he replied,

"I want to take a shower. I don't like not having privacy." He finished tacking the sheet to the doorway and stepped past it, into the bathroom.

Usually, Leorio would needle him about why he wanted such privacy from another man, but for once, he said nothing.

He remained oddly quiet, even after Curapica finished his shower. Curapica flopped back on his bed, feeling blessedly cooler than he had been before the shower. The feeling unfortunately didn't last long enough. Leorio, without a word, walked past him and into the bathroom. Curapica heard the shower turn on a moment later.

Immediately, he remembered the first time Leorio and him and roomed together. He hastily tried to push the mental image of Leorio's naked body from his mind. All the while he mentally cursed the man for having no sense of decency at all.

Why was he even thinking about it anyway? He decided it was the humid, stuffy heat that was making his brain settle on weird topics. He listened idly to the sound of water splattering against the shower walls until it finally ceased.

Leorio emerged from the bathroom clad in nothing more than damp pants and a towel he was using to rub at his hair vigorously. Curapica fought the urge to blush.

"What is wrong with me tonight?" He thought irritably and turned so his back faced Leorio's bed. He closed his eyes and made every effort to fall asleep. This time, sleep refused to come.

He was sure it had something to do with the fact that he could feel Leorio's eyes on him again.

It went on for at least an hour, and he debated on whether he should get up and yell at the other man for being obnoxious. But the night had somehow became almost surreal, and at some point, he realized that it wasn't really bothering him anymore. He was uncomfortable from remaining on his side, though. He made a point to appear to be naturally moving in his sleep as he turned to lay on his back, although he wasn't sure why he felt like doing so.

"Sometimes I wonder about you." Leorio said abruptly. Curapica fought back the impulse to be startled. There was no way Leorio could know he was awake, after all.

"You look so young at times, but your eyes ... well, you're not really childish at all." He continued, oblivious to the audience for his monologue.

"Today ... when you were looking out the window, and the sunlight hit your hair and face just so..."

Curapica was having a hard time concentrating on deep, even breathing. He found himself silently urging the other man to complete the sentence he left hanging.

"... You're really beautiful, you know?"

His breath hitched, but if Leorio noticed, he gave no sign. Those words rang in his ears.

"Beautiful" ... surely ... he couldn't be saying...

He remained frozen in place, listening to the sound of Leorio breathing. Finally, he couldn't stand it any longer.

"Leorio...?"

No reply.

He opened his eyes and turned them towards the other bed. Leorio was sprawled out on his bed, one leg hanging off the side of the bed, along with both arms; his head turned towards the Curapica's bed. He began snoring, and a little stream of saliva ran down the corner of his mouth, onto the pillow.

"... Idiot." Whether he was directing that comment towards himself or Leorio, he had no idea. But he was altogether feeling hot, sweaty, irritated and strangely disappointed. He sighed and curled back up on his bed and stared at the ceiling waiting for sleep that was slow to come.

Tomorrow, the strange, surreal night would be passed, and he and his three companions would resume their quest to become Hunters.

But the night was not over yet, so it wouldn't really hurt to spend some time thinking about the way Leorio sounded when he said those words...

...right?


Owari.