Chapter Text
Luz gasped as she woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. She could still see Hunter getting sucked into the ground in Belos’ mind. The fear on his face.... It would have been her fault if he died in there. Luz could try to go back to sleep, but she didn’t think she’d be able to rest until she checked that Hunter was okay. She quietly got up so she could go check on him on the couch downstairs. She’d just make sure he was safe, then she’d go back to her room and try to sleep.
Luz paused on the stairs when she heard crying coming from the living room. She felt her heart skip a beat in panic. What if Hunter was hurt? What if Belos found them and was going to kill him? She quickly ran down the last few steps and pulled some paper glyphs out of her pocket, making sure she was quiet so she wouldn’t alert the intruder.
There was nobody there. It was just Hunter crying on the couch. Luz exhaled, relieved she didn’t have to fight anyone at 2 in the morning. Then she stepped closer to Hunter, who was still crying into his knees. His palisman sat on his hand, looking at him worriedly.
The grimwalker looked up when he heard footsteps. He tried to wipe his tears away without any success.
“Are you okay, Hunter?” Luz asked softly.
Hunter nodded. He stuck his thumb in his mouth so he didn’t have to talk. He didn’t trust himself to speak without bursting into sobs. He hated crying. Belos always said it made him weak. He wasn’t weak, but he couldn’t help crying right now!
“Are you sure? You’re not hurt or anything?” Luz wouldn’t be surprised if he was hiding an injury. It would be just like him to hide something because he thought he could take care of it himself. She knew Eda kept a close eye on him, but she could have missed something if he was hiding it....
Hunter shook his head. Flapjack chirped at him from his hand, telling him he should tell her what was wrong so she could help. Hunter didn’t want to, but he knew Flapjack wouldn’t leave him alone until he told someone.
Hunter wiped his face again, only succeeding in making his glove damp. Finally, he took a shaky breath. “I had a nightmare,” he croaked. “I don’ wanna talk about it, though.” He’d like to never think about it again, actually! He didn’t want to remember the anger in his uncle—in the emperor’s eyes. He didn’t want to think about the fact that if he ever saw him again he’d kill him without hesitation.
Luz gave him a sympathetic look. “That’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it. You know, I have nightmares too.”
“Really?”
“Mhmm. It’s not fun, is it?” Hunter shook his head. “But do you know what helps me feel better when I have a nightmare?”
“What?”
“A big hug! Would you like one?”
Hunter was hesitant. He did like hugs on the rare occasion he received one, but he couldn’t help being afraid. His whole life he’d been taught that physical contact meant pain. But...nobody here ever hurt him, and they’ve had plenty of chances to....
“You don’t have to have a hug if you don’t want to. Maybe you can borrow one of King’s toys for now?” Luz picked up a stuffed...creature. Hunter didn’t know what it was, so he assumed it was an animal from the human realm. It had a teal body, a bill, and a flat tail. And for some reason a hat? He didn’t know animals in the human realm wore clothes. He wondered briefly if Flapjack would let him put a tiny hat on him.
Hunter accepted the toy and squeezed it.
“My mom used to make me hot chocolate when I had nightmares when I was younger. I can see if Eda has any hot chocolate mix if you want.”
“Hot choccy?” Hunter asked. His brow was furrowed. He’s only had chocolate two or three times in his life, but didn’t it melt when it got too hot? What was so great about melted chocolate?
Luz covered her mouth to hide her coo at the way he said ‘choccy.’ It didn’t work very well as Hunter still blushed, but didn’t correct himself.
“It’s a drink! I’ll make it and you can try it out!” Luz stood and held her hand out towards Hunter. He slowly took it and let her lead him to the kitchen. He sat at the table and watched her put a kettle full of water on the stove. She could have put a fire glyph under the kettle to boil the water much faster, but she didn’t want to rush things.
Luz started to quietly sing a song in Spanish that her mom used to sing when she was a baby while she washed a sippy cup and a mug. Hunter couldn’t understand a single word out of her mouth, but the melody was nice. He settled further into his chair and hugged the toy he’d been given. Flapjack flew to the top of his head and made a nest in his hair, comforting him further. Hunter sucked on his thumb again, slowly closing his eyes.
The kettle started to whistle, startling both of the teens. Luz quickly took it off the stove so it wouldn’t wake up Eda or King. She poured water into Hunter’s sippy cup and her mug, then added the powder and mixed it in. Luz activated an ice glyph and rubbed her hand up and down the sippy cup until it cooled off just enough to not burn Hunter’s tongue off, but still be hot. She put the lid on and finally handed Hunter his cup.
“One sippy cup of hot choccy!” She lightly teased.
Hunter took it. The tiny part of his brain that was still big rolled its eyes, knowing he would never live this down. The rest of him was too curious about the drink to care about being teased. He took a hesitant sip, humming when he tasted it. It was so good! He didn’t think he’d ever tasted something so delicious! Any lasting fear from his nightmare was replaced by thoughts about how good the hot chocolate he was drinking was! He was grateful now that Luz had found him, just so he could experience drinking hot chocolate.
Luz chuckled when she saw how quickly he finished his drink. “I guess you liked that, huh? Hopefully you didn’t give yourself the hiccups!”
Hunter yawned at her.
Luz took both their empty cups to the sink and rinsed them out. “Come on, Hunter. Let’s get you back to bed.”
“‘S a couch,” he mumbled, sleepily
“You’re right.” Luz took his hand and brought him to the couch. “I’ll talk to Eda tomorrow about getting you a bed. We can clean one of the storage rooms out for you. Now lie down, okay?”
Hunter sat on the couch. “Can—” He stopped. Flapjack gently nudged him, encouraging him to ask his question.
“What is it, Hunter?”
“Can I still have a big hug?”
“Aww! Of course you can!” Luz sat next to him and pulled him into her arms, squeezing him tightly. Hunter tensed up for a few seconds, before settling down when he realized she wasn’t hurting him. He smiled weakly and hugged back. It didn’t take long for the two of them to fall asleep in each other’s arms, warm and full of hot chocolate.
They slept soundly until the morning.