Speak of the Devil // COMPLETED ✔

Breakfast at Tiffany's (Zeno's)

If Killua had known removing the earring would mean garnering Meruem's indefinite attention, he would have waited until Thursday night to do anything about it. It was better to be tracked than personally monitored by Meruem, and he could tell the moment he saw Hisoka that the demon was furious about this.

Killua woke up that Thursday morning already uneasy. Oh no, he thought, something is about to go horribly wrong .

It wasn't dread he felt after the movies, or during parties when Gon's tattoos were on display, but it was something a touch more muted. Just enough for Killua to get up and ignore and go about his day.

In the lobby, however, he found the source of his anxiety.

The lobby had ceased functioning as a moving, breathing thing. Instead, all its occupants gathered for a scene, which Killua immediately thought, Maybe a fight broke out? but there wasn't any sound. Surely there would be a ruckus if a brawl was going down.

He paused at the landing just before the foyer and, gut sinking, said aloud, "Fuck."

He recognized Meruem's haughty posture through the front windows. The Prince was standing out on the stoop, staring out into the yard, smoking.

Killua debated going out back and ultimately, this was what he did. He circled the banister, headed past the mess hall, and backed through the exit students used to smoke weed out by the dumpsters.

He made it to the neighboring dorm room and was freedom bound from there. Still, he scratched his head and pondered curiously about what prompted Meruem to drop by. If he was looking for the gold, he was sorely mistaken—clearly it wasn't on Killua's person.

He bounded up the steps to his first class and came to a screeching halt the moment he entered the corridor to his lecture.

"You've got to be kidding me," Killua breathed.

Meruem was at the lecture hall door, blocking traffic yet again.

Everyone stared like statues in a museum as Killua nudged past them. Meruem straightened from where he'd been relaxed back against the wall beside the door, his eyes following Killua even as he passed by, singing, "With these... hungry eyes—one look at you and I can't disguise—!" in his head.

"Can you—stop singing all the time? It's more distracting than normal thoughts," Meruem stressed, his voice trailing just a few paces behind Killua down the steps of his lecture hall.

Everyone who had been seated stood, abruptly, and it halted Killua in his tracks. They're all possessed, Killua thought, morbidly, and turned to face Meruem.

Meruem, who'd managed to come within a breath of Killua once again.

Meruem took a deep, calming breath. His expression flatlined once more. "Believe it or not, I can't hear most of what you think. You aren't a very linear-thinker, so to speak."

"Forgive me for being cautious," Killua said.

"It is... certainly an adjustment. I can't blame you," he went on, and as Killua went on replaying the choreography in his head, staring Meruem in the eyes, Meruem raised a dismissive hand in the air.

The lecture hall sat at once. His peers from the hall filtered in, resuming their normal function and swarming about to their seats.

Meruem tucked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans, posture relaxing. "You should stop by the house tomorrow. It's Gon's last day."

It took a monumental amount of effort not to break his pace when singing, "I wanna hold you so he-ar me out—!"

"Are you avoiding them on my account?" Meruem asked.