Chapter Text
It was a slow day on the Boiling Isles.
Belos had long since been defeated, and the overwhelming popularity that followed the former CATTs had died down some time ago - much to their collective relief. The attention had been nice at first, but they were all happy to be able to go about their normal lives without interruption now.
Today, the Owl House was empty. Well, that's not quite true. It was mostly empty. Luz and Amity had gone out on a date, Eda left to go do "legal activities" (her words), and then Hooty, Lilith, and King had all decided to run errands. King was a growing boy, after all, and he ate a lot of food.
That had left Hunter by himself. Well, that's also not true. He was having a bad day - memories he didn't want to remember were forcing themselves to the front of his mind. So, he had asked Willow to come over. Much to the delight of Luz's shipper heart, he had asked her out not too long ago. She had wanted him to use one of the plans that she had made (think the Tunnel of Love from when she and Amity had gotten together, but planned), but he decided to go with something smaller, not quite so chaotic and grandiose. Willow had said yes, of course. They both had it bad for each other.
Once Willow had arrived to the Owl House on this slow day, Hunter had greeted her with a hug. She could tell he had desperately needed it. The trembling in his hands (gloved, she noticed) had given it away, but even then she would have known from the poorly disguised anguish in his wine-red eyes.
She took his hand and led him over to sit on the couch. He clung to her hand, not letting go, even as she picked up the remote and turned on one of the human shows that Luz had gotten Hunter into, for some quiet background noise.
Willow had barely put the remote down, when Hunter seemed to abandon any restraint he might have had and buried his head in her shoulder, his arms wrapping around her at the same time. He breathed out slowly through his nose, the tension in his body melting. Willow smiled softly.
She adjusted to a more comfortable sitting position, then reached her arms around and started to rub his back. She would stay there and rub his back for as long as he needed.
After some time, Hunter seemed to have started feeling better. He lifted his head from its place on Willow's shoulder, a sleepy look in his eyes replacing the anguish that had been there earlier.
It was now when he spoke: softly, sleepily, and slow. "Thanks, Willow." He leaned forwards and kissed her cheek, below her eye.
Willow's mouth quirked in a small, fond smile. "I'm here for you, whenever you need."
His expression soon clouded with a look Willow knew well. The sleepiness in his eyes was replaced with a faraway look of sadness, half lidded, as if the more he shut his eyes the higher the chances were that the bad memories plaguing him would go away.
"I don't know why he keeps coming back." Hunter whispered, like if he talked too loudly, then his memories would come alive again.
She moved one of her hands to his face, rubbing his cheek. He leaned into her touch, closing his eyes. "I'll take him away from you."
Willow pulled him tighter to her, one of her hands resting on his back, the other on the back of his head. His head returned to her shoulder, his arms having never left from being circled around her waist.
He let a small huff of bitter laughter out. "Name a more iconic duo than me and my trauma."
"Oh, well, that's easy. You and me!"
She felt him smile against her shoulder. "Okay."