Chapter Text
Mulberry purple skies, crimson orange trees, boiling hot oceans, the demon realm was what many beings called home. It had been a month after the Day of Unity when Belos had attempted to wipe the demon realm off the map, and Hunter, Willow, Gus, Luz, and Amity had managed to find their way back to the Boiling Isles after getting stranded in the human realm. Hunter had nowhere to live when they had returned, so his friends had decided that he would stay at Willow's house. Hunter had initially wanted to object to the group's decision, knowing those…feelings would explode if he lived in the captain's home, but he also understood that this was probably the best place for him to stay, so he had reluctantly agreed. Plus, a tiny part of him did want to experience those weird feelings that he got around his first friend his age.
Hunter had been staying at Willow's place for a couple of days by now, and as he had predicted, the strange feelings he got around her had only exasperated, and they had exasperated much, much more than he had expected. In fact, he could hardly contain them anymore, worrying he'd explode. These odd feelings had all started when they were talking through Penstagram before everything had happened. Before Hunter realized the Willow he saw at the Hexside halls was a fake, his cheeks heated up when saw her in person for the first time after playing Flyer Derby. On top of that, he could hardly describe what he had felt when Willow pulled him in for a group "hug" as they had called it. That's when Hunter finally realized that something was up with him and his newfound emotions.
Hunter had not a clue what he was feeling. He could barely describe it even to himself. The nervousness, shyness, flushed cheeks, heart palpitations, and that weird fluttery feeling in his belly that would always happen around her…something strange was certainly going on. He began fearing he had fallen ill. Perhaps he had gotten hexed or cursed? But…then again, Willow must've been the one to hex him if these feelings only occurred around her, and why would his best friend instill a curse on him? It was all so confusing, but the one thing he knew for complete sure was that he had never experienced anything like this in his entire life.
Sometimes, he wanted to question Willow about it, specifically about what these peculiar new feelings were and if she had indeed cursed him to experience them. However, every time he thought about asking her, he just couldn't bring himself to do it, as just the mere thought of that made him extremely embarrassed. He was afraid of Willow noticing his behavior around her and was desperate to keep all these weird emotions that were overtaking him at bay. However, the more he attempted to repress them the stronger they continued to grow.
Hunter didn't know it, but his captain, Willow Park, was also feeling some warm, funny feelings around him. For her, it all started back when they were stranded in the human realm. Adjusting to human life was rough for all the witches, but the way Hunter dealt with it always made her admire him. Under all that tough-guy persona, he was such an adorable, nerdy kid. He was so dorky and immature, and that's what Willow loved about him. He always managed to make her laugh and smile.
However, unlike Hunter, she knew exactly what she was feeling, and she was stricken with fear because of it. This was her first crush she had since she was just "half-a-witch" Willow, and she never had luck with crushes in the past. Now that she had a new one for Hunter it made her knees weak. There was no way she had a chance with him, right? He had been cooped up in a castle all his life, and he didn't have any friends his age until very recently. Hunter probably didn't even know what being in love felt like if he had ever heard of romantic feelings at all. Besides that, what would he see in her, anyway? Despite her major confidence boost, she still had some doubts about herself. Nobody had dared to have a crush on the dreaded "half-a-witch" Willow, so no one would probably find her appealing enough to crush on her now, especially not someone as cool and amazing as Hunter.
Willow was afraid to make a move, as she had convinced herself there was no chance that Hunter would feel the same way about her. Or worse, what if he mocked her for liking him? Out of fear, she had decided to try and keep this a passing crush and no more, but just like with Hunter, the more she tried to repress these feelings, they only continued to grow bigger.
After all the hullabaloo with the Day of Unity, Belos, the Collector, and being trapped in the human realm, Willow was determined to have just a mundane, normal, slice-of-life day to spend with Hunter. She had been secretly preparing a surprise picnic for him by the wisteria tree that Luz and Amity grew back during Grom. Willow was guiding him to the spot, their palismen perching on their shoulders. Hunter was blindfolded and had no idea where he was being brought to, and Willow was holding his hand to guide him around. Holding Willow’s hand made Hunter feel like he was about to become mush, his cheeks warming up. 'I'm just holding her hand…' Hunter thought, 'why does it feel so…nice?'
Willow's hand separated from Hunter's as they came to a halt. "We're here! You can look now!" Willow announced.
Hunter lifted the blindfold off his eyes and was very confused by what he saw. All he saw were the darkened clouds covering the sky, a wilting wisteria tree with tons of falling pink pedals, and a straw basket on top of a white and red checkered blanket. "Um, it's scenic, but I don't understand."
Willow jogged towards the picnic blanket, excited to show Hunter the ropes. "It's a picnic, you dork!" She exclaimed jokingly. Hunter stayed behind for a moment, freezing up as his cheeks dusted a bright red from the name Willow called him. A…dork? He was a dork? For some reason, he liked that Willow had called him that. It made him feel weirdly flattered and feel that strange fluttery feeling in his stomach. Willow sat down on the blanket while Clover chewed at the wooden basket. "Well, I've been thinking, the past month has been crazy, so I wanted to spend a nice, normal day with you." She said as she began to dig in the basket, causing Clover to fly to get out of the way, "I hope you're ready for lunch because I spent all day yesterday preparing all the food for us!"
Hunter snapped out of his trance and started walking over to the blanket, "Well, I'm not that hungry, yet." he replied as he shrugged, "but I'm going to be soon, anyway, so I could definitely eat." He proceeded to sit down on the blanket, crossing his legs. He was stunned that his captain would go to such lengths to spend time with him, but part of him felt undeserving of such great treatment. Being treated with genuine kindness was, if he was being honest, still a little bizarre to him, "Wow, you really did an amazing job at this, captain, but you didn't have to go all out for such a scrawny boy like me."
Willow was saddened to see Hunter still putting such little faith in himself. Hearing that made her need to tell him he was deserving of good treatment, "Oh, Hunter, of course I had to go all out for you! We all deserve a nice, relaxing day after everything that's happened, but out of all of us, you deserve one the most. You weren't happy back at the castle, were you?" Hunter went quiet, knowing she was right, then silently shook his head 'no', admitting he wasn't. Willow began taking out the food she had cooked and served them on plates. There was a fresh fairy pie, a frosting-covered candy eye, a crunchy fang cake, a warm sweetmummy, some delicious gold and green macaroons, and a sugary eyeball kreme. Hunter's eyes lit up at the sight of it all. Such sweet food like this was never served to him back at the castle. He had never even seen any of these foods before. They looked quite delicious. Hunter took the plate of fairy pie, the food that had piqued his interest the most, and placed it in his lap. It looked so appetizing and it smelt heavenly. Even though he wasn't that hungry yet, this was certainly making his appetite grow at a rapid pace. Suddenly, he compared this to the garbage food he was served back at the castle, which instantly made him saddened. Willow noticed the sudden change in expression, getting concerned, "Hunter, are you alright? You suddenly look troubled."
Hunter sighed. Man, he really lived such a horrible life back when as the Golden Guard, hadn’t he? "It's nothing serious, captain." He reassured her, "It's just, back at the castle, Belos used to control everything in my diet, and it wasn't exactly a good, nutritious diet. All I really had to eat and drink for all my life was hardtack and warm water, and sometimes he would even deny me meals as a punishment. I thought food had to be earned. I didn't even realize it was a basic right, and back then I had gotten so used to it that I didn't care or even notice how terrible it was. It was just normal to me. After I was forced into hiding and had no choice but to survive off food from the garbage I had food and drinks that had actual flavor for the first time." Hunter's cheeks flushed a little, as this next bit was slightly embarrassing to admit, “As stupid as it might sound I was shocked to find out things had actual flavor." Hunter then made eye contact with Willow, seeing her deeply concerned face. He stopped talking for a moment, not wanting her to feel sorry for him, "Sorry, I'm rambling, but I'm just glad I can actually have the freedom to choose to eat whatever I want now." He began lifting up the fairy pie off the plate with his hands, gloomily looking at it, "I really missed out on stuff like this, huh?"
Willow was heartbroken to hear this. No wonder the poor kid was so scrawny. He had practically nothing good to eat his entire life. He was clearly a bit sad after that entire infodump, so she wanted to cheer him up, "Well, now that we're back home, I can make you whatever you want to try. It's always good to expand your diet." Willow said with a wink.
This touched Hunter. She would cook new foods to try just for him? That was so sweet. He cracked a faint smile as his cheeks dusted a faint shade of red, "Oh, really? I'd appreciate that. Thank you, captain."
"Of course, Hunter," Willow confirmed with a grin, glad she had cheered him up. Hunter then began bringing the fairy pie to his lips to eat. However, before he was able to take a bite, Flapjack began chirping at him, asking to be fed. Hunter placed the fairy pie back on the plate and began ripping small chunks of it off, bite-sized for Flapjack, and then fed them to his palismen. Clover then began buzzing at Willow, telling her she needed to eat too. Willow then began feeding her some bits of the candy eye. It was quite relaxing out here, and everything seemed to be going well until-
*CRASH*
Thunder boomed in the background, startling all four of them. Flapjack and Clover flew off their owner's shoulders, and Hunter and Willow froze in the moment. There was a storm coming. On top of that, these were the boiling rains, not the harmless rains back in the human realm, and not only that, they were out in the open where the closest shelter was who knew where.
Willow began feeling horribly guilty. 'Oh for titan's sake!' She thought, 'Why didn't I check the weather?! Everything is gonna be ruined now!' But before she could apologize Hunter scooped her up along with Clover and began shooting away on his staff to search for shelter, completely ditching the picnic and all the food.