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A campout, that’s what Skara had called it at first and Hunter had been hesitant to join. He needed to get back to the castle, if Belos found out about him sneaking off with a bunch of teenagers, he’d certainly be in massive trouble.
And Hunter didn’t want to get hurt.
But this was something that Darius had insisted he joined with the promise that things would be taken care of at the castle. Flapjack urged him with a small but firm twitter which sent Hunter jogging off in the direction that the team had just disappeared in.
“Wait!” Hunter panted, catching up with the team after a few minutes of running, the four of them turned upon his approach, a hesitant look on Willow’s face. And suddenly, now that Hunter was actually here in front of them, he realized he didn’t know what he was supposed to say.
“Aren’t you supposed to be going back to the castle?” There was almost a bit of hostility behind Gus’ voice as he looked at Hunter suspiciously. Hunter took a step back, chewing on the inside of his mouth and blanking as he tried to think of what to say.
“I… Darius…” he shook his head, ending his statement there and beginning a new one, “I… I wanted to… apologize…”
Skara raised an eyebrow and since Hunter had never been good at reading social cues or knowing when he was supposed to stop talking, he just went on.
“I’m… I’m sorry for all that I didn’t realize—no I knew but I didn’t think of the consequences of what I was doing,” Hunter wrung his hands, barely looking at the team as he focused on a spot on the ground a few feet off to the right, “I—I didn’t mean for this to happen… I’m sorry.”
He waited for their judgment with anxious anticipation, dying to know what their verdict would be. He knew that he didn’t deserve their forgiveness, he had done something unforgivable.
Hunter had lied to them, he got them hurt, he got them in trouble and he almost ruined their entire lives. He didn’t even deserve this chance to talk to them. He wouldn’t even be surprised if they just walked away right now and left him here.
How selfish was he to think that he had the right to be doing this? Sure they deserved an apology, but what right did he have to be stopping them from their night.
Hunter clenched his hands so tightly that his knuckles popped and he could feel his heart rate speeding up. He was going to work himself into a panic if he didn’t stop his train of thought where it was. But once he started going, it was hard to stop. His breath was shallow and he panted slightly in an attempt to get himself under control.
“Caleb—Hunter,” Willow’s voice suddenly caused him to look up, his mouth going dry with anxiety, “Skara thought we should have a sleepover to celebrate our first victory. Do you want to join?”
“A camp out in my backyard,” Skara added, “I don’t think my parents would mind if we all stayed over.”
“Huh…” Hunter blanked for a second, “why are you inviting me?”
“You came all this way just to apologize,” Willow spread her arm in a loose arc and shrugged, “now you gotta prove that you mean it.”
“Oh… I…” He swallowed thickly and Flapjack nestled into his hair, “okay… how do I do that?”
Neither of them answered that question but there was little resentment in Willow’s expression. She just smiled tiredly, the paint on her face smudged and slightly smeared across her cheek.
“Come on, let’s get going before it gets too late,” Skara insisted, resuming their trek across the sandy beach. She waved them along over her shoulder and the rest of the group followed.
Hunter hesitated, but after a few seconds, he hurried after them with anxiety thrumming in his chest. He wrung his hands, trying to figure out what Willow had meant by her statement as he walked. What did he need to do to prove his apology? Was this some kind of trial?
He racked his mind the entire way, his thoughts finally being cut short when they approached a house with lights still on in the windows. Skara unlocked the door with little effort and shoved it open. Immediately, the light from the entranceway washed over the patio and caused Hunter to squint slightly from the sudden change.
Skara spoke with her parents who were kind enough to let the kids stay the night. But unfortunately, Skara’s “camp out” came to a halt when they weren’t allowed to sleep outside.
“It might rain tonight, the weather has been unpredictable lately so we don’t want to risk you all getting hurt.” Is what her father told her. Skara complained a little bit but relented on the promise of snacks. So they went upstairs to gather in her bedroom which was apparently where they were going to be sleeping.
Hunter hesitated when being presented with the threshold, still trying to figure out what his task was to prove his apology. Willow wasted no time in dragging him inside by the elbow.
Skara’s room was nothing like Hunter’s bedroom back at the castle. It was neater and yet felt just as lived in, if not more. There were posters on the wall, pictures from team photos, and trinkets placed on shelves. Hunter noticed a few wilting plants on the window sill and pretended not to be looking when Willow went over to them with a small amount of pity and concern, healing them with her magic.
Her room was smaller and yet because of the lack of clutter, it somehow managed to feel bigger than Hunter’s. The lack of books and papers everywhere did wonders for making a room actually look breathable.
Flapjack fluttered off of Hunter’s head, immediately making his rounds to explore the room in a feat a lot braver than Hunter was. Hunter just stood a bit awkwardly by the door while the others made themselves comfortable in different places around the room.
Skara flopped down on her bed while Viney pulled out the chair at the desk to sit down. Willow plopped onto the floor underneath the window and Gus sat next to her.
Willow made eye contact with Hunter and he froze up momentarily.
“You can sit down, stay a while,” Willow seemed to joke, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture. Hunter pressed his lips into a thin line but nodded and sat down a few feet away from where he was standing
“Wow, today was a day,” Skara stretched her legs out, propping herself up with her arm, “I’m exhausted.”
“I’m hungry,” Gus added, raising his hand slightly. Viney nodded in agreement.
“I also would like some snacks,” she said, moving her bangs away from her eyes with an almost unconscious movement.
“Fine, fine, I’ll go get some snacks,” Skara pushed herself up from the bed, “does someone wanna come help?”
“I can come,” Hunter offered, nervous energy thrumming in his veins causing him to stand much quicker than he had intended to. He felt a small blush spread across his face upon noting the rest of the group looking at him.
But Skara just smiled and gave a thumbs-up, leading him out of the room like this was the most casual thing in the world and like Hunter wasn’t currently having an internal battle. He didn’t belong here, he was supposed to be back at the castle. Hunter wasn’t used to hanging out with witches his age, this could only turn out badly.
“What kind of snacks do you like?” Skara asked him, pulling open one of the cabinets in the kitchen. She practically stuck her head into the shelves to look for something to snag.
“Oh.. uh… I don’t know.”
He figured Skara would get annoyed by his lackluster answer, but she didn’t seem to care. She just hummed underneath her breath and pulled out a few boxes of crackers.
Handing them off to Hunter, she then moved to the fridge for some drinks. Hunter balanced the boxes in his arms carefully, the shaking of his hands doing little to help.
Flapjack had at some point made his way downstairs to the kitchen, the palisman curiously flew about before going back to rest on top of Hunter’s head. He picked at Hunter’s hair, pecking his beak against his scalp.
“You’re pretty good at flying,” Skara said, looking over her shoulder and noticing Flapjack, “you must really have a bond with your palisman.”
“Oh… uh… yeah, I guess we do,” Hunter couldn’t see Flapjack from where he was sitting on his head, but Hunter could feel his tiny feet pulling at his hair. Flapjack twittered happily.
“Friend, ” Chirped the palisman.
Hunter didn’t respond to Flapjack, but he was sure that Flapjack knew of his agreement.
“This should be good,” Skara said with a yawn, cradling a few bottles of some sort of drink in her arms, “let’s get back upstairs.”
Hunter chewed on the inside of his mouth, following Skara upstairs once more. His hands were shaking slightly no matter how hard he worked to stop it. Even with his gloves, they continued to shake, albeit much less than they would if he didn’t have them on.
Everyone was still mostly in the same spots when Skara and Hunter had left, but when the two of them entered the bedroom and shut the door, they moved towards the middle of the room where it would be easier to share the snacks.
The box of crackers was opened and drinks were distributed. Despite the hunger that gnawed at Hunter’s stomach, he only drank the drink that was offered to him, not wanting to chance to overstay his welcome.
“I still can’t believe we managed to win,” Willow tapped her feet against the floor with a small, but proud smile, “We did great.”
“For a first game too,” Viney added, shoving a handful of crackers in her mouth as she crossed her legs in front of herself, “Imagine what we’ll be able to do next game.”
“It’ll be awesome,” Gus grinned, his ears twitching as he reached for another handful of crackers.
Hunter remained quiet, pulling one knee up to his chest and wincing slightly at a small crick in the joint. Flapjack tucked his beak underneath his wing, tired from all the flying today. He could imagine that all their palismen were tired.
“Hunter, are you going to play with us next time?” Willow suddenly asked, pulling Hunter out of his thoughts. His eyes widened slightly and he hesitated.
“I uh… I don’t know…” he blurted out before he could think over the question too much, “I would like to.”
Willow smiled and Hunter felt like he had passed some sort of test. He moved the small strand of hair out of his eyes, clenching his jaw slightly. Maybe this was going well after all. But a small part of Hunter still felt a bit awkward, like he didn’t fully belong in a group like this.
They had their friendships and they knew who they wanted to be with. But Hunter had none of that, he never even had any other friends his age. Flapjack didn’t really count because Hunter had no idea how old he was, and Flapjack was also a palisman. So he didn’t think that Darius would count him either.
At some point, the crackers were all gone and Viney had suggested they play a game. So a deck of cards was brought out and Hunter, unfortunately, didn’t know how to play any card games.
This meant that any game they decided to play, either Hunter had to sit out or someone would have to explain the rules. Over, and over, and over again because Hunter wasn’t good at card games. The rules got mixed up in his mind and they always confused him.
Neither of the four let him sit out of a game.
“I can see your cards,” Viney said with a small laugh and Hunter immediately flinched back, a small blush blooming across his face. He held his cards up a bit better, trying to think strategically about the game they were playing.
Strategy, he was good at. Remembering which card did what, not so much.
Losing every game unfortunately badly, Hunter made it his goal to learn how to play so that he could be less pitiful next time.
Next time.
Oh.
Hunter felt his cheeks heat up in another blush that spread all the way to his ears as he realized that he was actually enjoying himself. Again. This was just like the flyer derby match except… calmer. And it felt nice. Nice enough to think that there might be a next time.
He would have physically tried to shake those thoughts out of his head, but Flapjack was asleep nestled in his hair and Hunter didn’t want to wake him. He deserved the rest.
So Hunter pushed those thoughts into the back of his mind, placing down the same card that he had tried to play last round only to get playfully told off by Gus that “No, that card doesn’t match so you can’t place it down.”
They were playing some human game that at this point, Hunter was thinking that Gus was just making up the rules on the spot. But allegedly, Luz had shown him how to play this game.
“Okay, I give up, I tap out,” Viney ran her hands down her face, flopping over onto her back as she tossed her cards down on the floor, “I’m too tired to go on.”
“I agree,” Skara yawned, bringing a hand up to her face to try and hide it, “I think we should watch whatever shows are on right now until we fall asleep.”
“Deal,” Willow said, placing her cards in the pile on the floor in front of them as well. Gus sighed but he couldn’t hide the exhaustion on his face as he tried to keep himself from yawning.
The five of them settled on the floor, huddling around Skara’s crystal ball which she fiddled with for a few minutes before settling on a channel. They gathered some more pillows and blankets from around the room and managed to set up some kind of nest in the vicinity. Hunter sat on the outskirts of the area, facing the door.
He was genuinely invested in the show that they were watching since it was something that he had never seen before. But with the warmth of the room and the sudden comfort that he was able to settle into, it didn’t take long before he was fighting off sleep.
Flapjack twittered softly in his sleep and Hunter felt another presence nuzzle against his shoulder. Looking down with a start, he could see Willow’s palisman pressing up against the crook of Hunter’s neck. He couldn’t remember her name, but she seemed content to cuddle up against him with a small buzz.
He resisted the urge to flinch away, knowing that he almost got them all destroyed by Belos today. They shouldn’t be so calm towards him, if Hunter was in their situation he’d probably be angry. But there was no malice in the way that the palismen snuggled against him.
Soon, Gus’ chameleon joined the pile that Hunter was beginning to make. He leaned back in the huddle of blankets, his eyes trained on the crystal ball.
Skara and Viney were talking quietly about something that he couldn’t understand and Willow and Gus were leaning against each other tiredly. Willow’s palisman buzzed softly, chittering in his ear with sleepy sighs.
Hunter wasn’t sure when the other two palismen crawled on top of him since exhaustion was beginning to take hold, but he recognized the two of them laying on his chest. He didn’t even have time to feel much guilt before he began to drift off.
The sounds of both Flapjack’s sleepy chirping and the bee palisman against his ear buzzing softly were able to calm his nerves enough for him to drift off to sleep.