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Hunter awkwardly stood at Darius’ door with one bag over his shoulder and Flapjack in staff form in his other hand. He pointedly stared at his boots (Which were slowly getting more and more worn out each day) while Darius stared down at him.
“Little Prince? What brings you by?” Darius asked. Hunter gripped his bag tightly. “They’re demolishing Belos’ palace.” Hunter informed.
Darius frowned. “What? Don’t people still live there? I mean, where are you, Kiki, Steve and the other supposed to go?”
Hunter shrugged. “Steve is “Crashing at the Owl House,” whatever that means, and apparently Kikimora already found somewhere else. I was the only one left but they didn’t bother to check.”
It thundered loudly and Darius didn’t miss how Hunter flinched. “Get in here before it starts raining.”
Hunter shuffled inside but didn’t move beyond the entrance.
Darius stared at the teen for a second and swallowed harshly. “I… I was going to wait until it was more appropriately timed, but I guess it works out regardless.” Darius began. “I cleaned out the sewing room and made it into a guest room? It was intended… for you.”
Hunter looked up at that, brows furrowed. “Me?” He echoed and Darius nodded.
“I wanted you to have a place you could always come to if you needed. I wasn’t going to tell you until it was finished.” Darius said and led Hunter to said room.
Hunter bit the inside of his cheek when he saw the room. Darius was right, it wasn’t finished, but there was still enough decorations and stuff in the rom that had Hunter slowing his breathing so he didn’t do something stupid like cry.
There was a bed with a nightstand and a lamp on it, the lamp had cardinals along the bottom edge. A bookshelf stood in the corner, a few books placed sideways that Hunter remembers mentioning wanting to read. The walls were a light purple and there was a rug on the floor that was shaped like an abomination face. The blankets on the bed were deep red and looked very fluffy. Hunter saw another dark purple blanket underneath and curiously walked forward, pulling it up and was surprised by its heft, looking at Darius’ slightly alarmed.
Darius rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “It’s a weighted blanket, Luz said in the human realm they help with anxiety, PTSD and can help with people who are touch-starved. I thought it would be good for you.”
Hunter was overwhelmed with emotion, dropping his bag onto the bed and opening and closing his hands. Darius watched, slightly confused by the action and Hunter swallowed harshly.
“Thank you.” Hunter settled on. Darius smiled softly and sighed.
“You’re welcome. You can stay here as long as you liked.” He wanted to tell Hunter he could stay forever, but he didn’t know if they were quite at that point yet. It’s only been a few weeks since the kids returned from the human realm and while they had a tearful reunion, Darius just wasn’t sure what it quite meant.
He loved and cared for Hunter like a son, and Hunter had celebrated Father’s Day with him so he at least knew he was a fatherly figure to him.
But did that mean Hunter wanted him as a dad, as someone who cared wholly for him? Or did he want Darius at a distance?
Darius, despite how much he’ll tell others to be open on their feelings, was scared to ask. Hunter’s been through so much, he was worried that something like this would push Hunter away.
After that, a weird relationship formed.
Though of course they already had an abnormal relationship, this one was stranger.
They weren't officially family or anything and they weren’t quite Luz and Eda level yet, both too awkward for that.
They hugged and stuff before, Darius would high five him, give him pats on the back (Hunter learned he was touch starved a bit back and asked for assistance, but even then they were both awkward about it) but now all of that felt like it had tension to it.
Hunter didn’t stay at Darius’ cottage for long, hanging out with friends, going off on last minute missions or adventures (Belos was done but there were still loyal Belos witches who tried to fight in his honor) or just staying out. Only really ever coming back to sleep.
At some point, Darius had blocked Hunter’s path from leaving one morning, staring him down. Hunter clutched his Flyer Derby bag and stared at him awkwardly.
“What?” Hunter asked and Darius smiled. “I made breakfast, come eat with me.”
Hunter looked to the side, eyes a little wide. “I’m good.”
“I wasn’t asking,” Darius shot back and Hunter sighed but followed Darius back to the table.
Hunter practically inhaled his food and Darius reached over, grabbing his arm with mild disgust.
“Little Prince, calm down.” He ordered and Hunter froze. “W- I- Is that it? Did I do something wrong?” The teen backed away from the plate and Darius frowned, confused by the action.
“What? No, you’re just inhaling your food, eat slower or you’re gonna choke.” Darius said. “That’s bad for your digestive system and it’s really gross.”
Hunter frowned. “Sorry.” He mumbled and Darius sighed.
“No, no, don’t apologize, just please eat slower, okay?” Darius asked and Hunter nodded, watching him eat for a moment before following suit.
After that incident, Darius made Hunter eat breakfast everyday before leaving with him, and Hunter eventually began to eat slow without having to be reminded each time, and Darius felt happy that he was able to undo a bad habit from Belos.
There were many bad habits from Belos, Darius slowly learned.
He asked Hunter where he always went during the day one time and Hunter had practically frozen.
“Uhm,” He mumbled, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “Out? I wait until Gus and Willow are done with school to play Flyer Derby with them. And after, I’m just… I dunno, I find things to do.”
“What, Hunter if you have nowhere to be you can just stay here until it’s time for you to be out.” Darius said. “And I’d feel better if you weren’t staying out late for no reason.”
Hunter gave him a strange look. “You… It’s just-” He seemed frustrated and Darius got confused again. It was a simple sentence, why did he seem so frustrated over it?
“Belos made me stay out all the time,” Hunter began, opening and closing his hands a few times but stopping when he noticed Darius staring. “He didn’t want me around so I just thought-”
“I’m not Belos,” Darius reminded. “I want you safe, I don’t want you wandering around when it’s dark for no reason. Please don’t feel scared to stay around. I’m not going to yell at you.”
Hunter sighed, gripping his bag. “Okay.” He mumbled and shuffled back to his room.
Another habit he had that Darius learned late one night was forcing himself to get little sleep.
Darius had risen to get something to drink and paused when he saw Hunter’s bedroom light on.
He pushed the door open, confused and frowned when he saw Hunter sitting on the floor.
“What are you doing?” He asked and Hunter did that fist thing again before forcing himself to stop.
“I’m sorry, is this wrong again?” Hunter asked and Darius entered the room.
“What is?”
“Belos only let me get three hours of sleep, he said witches needed to stay vigilant and be ready for attack at all times.” Hunter said and when Darius frowned and hit his head.
“Ugh! I knew it was wrong!” Hunter groaned and hit his head a few times, Darius grabbing his arm and stopping him. “Hey, hey, stop that.” Darius said and Hunter looked a little lost.
“It’s not wrong, it’s just-” Darius ran the hand that wasn’t holding Hunter’s wrist down his face exasperatedly. “Okay, so Belos has instilled really bad habits into you. The average person needs eight hours of sleep. Starting tomorrow, you’re going to sleep , not just bed but sleep, when I do, okay?”
Hunter nodded.
And as everything else, Hunter slowly got used to the sleep schedule, even accidentally over sleeping sometimes. The first time it happened, he apologized to Darius and flinched anytime he moved that day (just breaking Darius’ heart but he knew the kid wasn’t in control of his PTSD) until Darius told him it’s fine, that he’s actually happy he overslept because he needs it.
And soon with time, the previously thought permanent eyebags slowly disappeared.
Darius went to the Owl House a few weeks after (it’s where Raine was currently resided) and sought out his friend.
Luz smiled when she saw him and let him in, calling out for Raine.
The bard witch entered and smiled upon seeing Darius. “Hello! What’s up?” Raine asked and Darius sighed as they both sat on the couch.
“Okay, so you know how Hunter is living at my place now?” Darius asked and Raine nodded.
“Yes, you made another Penstagram account because I had your old one blocked just to spam me about it.” Raine recalled.
“And you blocked that account.” Darius reminded and Raine nodded.
“Okay so like… He’s been kinda weird?” Darius mumbled.
“Yes, he’s a kid with PTSD and he’s having to adjust to a non-stressful life, he’ll be a bit strange.” Raine said and Darius shook his head.
“No, not that,” Darius said. “He’ll… He gets really fidgety sometimes? And he does this- This thing with his hands. He opens and closes them a lot? And he gets really frustrated at simple things. And whenever I tell him something he does was a bad habit from Belos he says it’s “wrong?” And he also will like, make things feel even sometimes? Like if I tapped his shoulder, he’ll tap the other one.”
“Oh, hm, I don’t know,” Raine mumbled and Luz burst into the room, hand raised in the air. “I know what it is! I know!” She was on her tippy toes as if she were trying to get magically taller.
“You do? What?” He asked and Luz let out a big exhale before getting closer.
“I dunno if it’s the same here, but I think he may be autistic.” Luz said and Darius nodded. “We do, uh, Alador is. Wouldn’t he have been diagnosed when he was younger though?”
Neither Raine nor Luz said anything, simply blankly staring at him and he pressed his lips together. “Right,” Darius mumbled.
“Don’t take my word for it though,” Luz said. “I know the Blight kids are, and I had a few classmates back home who were, but I’m not a doctor. You should find out who diagnosed the Blights and take him to them!”
Darius nodded and smiled, ruffling her hair. “Thanks kid.”
And so he did, and when the doctor explained Hunter was, in fact, autistic, and proceeded to explain what that meant to Hunter, Darius watched the kids eyes grow wide.
On the walk back (Because it wasn’t that far and Darius enjoyed quality time with Hunter), Hunter was opening and closing his fists again and didn’t seem like he would stop. Darius smiled at that, he’d been doing his research since Luz mentioned and learned that what Hunter was doing was stimming, something that happened when he had too much emotions. Neurotypical people did it too but it was more common with autistic people.
“You okay?” Darius asked and Hunter nodded.
“It’s just-” Hunter took a second to gather his words. “I mean, I’ve always felt different from other kids for many reasons, but when I started hanging out with Willow and Gus and stuff, they didn’t do the things I did. I thought I was just weird again but now- Well now I know why I’m different. It’s nice, knowing I'm not weird , just different.”
Darius smiled widely and ruffled Hunter’s hair.
“I’m glad.”