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One month. One month of Hunter and Darius living together and Hunter actually got used to it way faster than he had expected.
Naturally, it took some time to break bad habits, but Darius was there by his side the whole time.
Hunter relearned sleeping habits, eating habits, his free time habits, all of it, so he could live more comfortably.
If you had told him a few years ago he’d be sleeping in until noon on weekends, he probably would’ve laughed.
Hell, if you told him a month ago he would’ve laughed.
But now it was normal.
It was normal to be still sleeping until lunch time, when Darius decided that was enough and barged into his room, shaking and muttering nonsense until Hunter weakly pushed him away with groggy mumbles about “Okay okay I’m up!”
If you told him a month ago he’d take half an hour to eat most days, he would’ve laughed.
But now it wasn’t uncommon to be eating slowly, talking to Darius about his day or something new he learned while the older man scolded him for talking with his mouth open.
If you told him a month ago he spent some days doing absolutely nothing he would’ve laughed.
But now a lot of his free time was spent scrolling aimlessly through Penstagram, or doing homework, or just any mundane thing that didn’t actually result as anything .
Hunter was comfortable, he felt at home, safe for once in the place he resided.
It was all sickly domestic sometimes, Darius patting him on the back after he got an A on a test, or Darius cheering him on at games, Hunter celebrating Father’s Day of all things with Darius.
That had been a bit embarrassing, but neither has mentioned it since, Darius just took him in with open arms and Hunter ran into them with only a little hesitation.
Hunter didn’t have to worry about being caught up late, or coming home late (okay, well sometimes but only if he didn’t call Darius to say he was coming home late anyway), or doing nothing, or not eating fast enough.
He was allowed to relax, be at peace and be himself.
Himself, Hunter Wittebane, his own person.
Hunter wanted Darius to know how much he meant to him sometimes, the person who offered him shelter when he needed it, reassurance when he didn’t, offered help when he refused.
Darius was truly a savior to Hunter, practically a Titan in the way Hunter felt he owed to him.
But of course, he’s Hunter and has to ruin everything good in his life.
It wasn’t even anything bad that made it happen, nothing particularly good either, just a normal day, a normal situation.
A simple: “Can you pass the salad?” “Yeah sure.”
A normal enough conversation.
Until Hunter screwed up.
“Here you go,” Darius said, handing over a bowl of salad and Hunter grabbed it.
“Thanks, dad.” Hunter said and Hunter hadn’t even realized he said it for a bit.
One beat.
Two beats.
Three beats and suddenly Hunter dropped his fork and straightened.
“I- I didn’t mean- I-” Darius looked up, brows furrowed and Hunter wonders if Darius had even heard him but he was too busy panicking, climbing out of his chair.
“It was a slip up- I mean- Remember when-” Hunter tripped over his own feet and crashed to the ground and Darius was up on his feet.
“Woah, woah, kid, calm down.” Darius said, hand on his shoulder and Hunter was breathing a bit.
“I- but I-” Hunter was not in fact, calming down, not one bit.
“Hunter, you called me dad, that’s fine .” Darius reassured.
“ How?! ” Hunter asked. “I- I mean do you- That’s- You’re not my dad that’s- It’s so weird! ”
Darius sighed and stood up, grabbing something off the coffee table nearby and turning it to face Hunter.
“These are adoption papers.” Darius informed and Hunter stared at them wide eyed.
“What?” He asked after a minute and Darius chuckled.
“They’re adoption papers, for you. I- I was gonna ask this weekend, but this is as good a time as any. I want to adopt you, Hunter. Legally. I know you’re almost an adult and you- You could probably take care of yourself. But I want you as a kid,” Darius said. “But only if you want it as well.”
Hunter grabbed the papers and verified that yeah, they were in fact adoption papers.
He looked up at Darius who was smiling softly at him and in seconds, Hunter launched himself into Darius, his dad’s , arms, hugging tightly and nodding.
“That’s a yes?” Darius said with a light hearted laugh, hugging back.
“Duh!” Hunter shouted. “You already enrolled me in school, you’re listed as my emergency contact and guardian! I just called you dad! Of course I want this!”
“We’ll head down to Eda’s office to make it all official.” Darius pulled back from the hug and gave Hunter a teasing grin.
“This means you’ll be Hunter Deamonne now.” Darius said and Hunter groaned.
“Oh no,” Hunter mumbled, recalling all the times he told Darius it was a lame last name .
“Oh yes,” Darius mocked. “This means you’ll be Hunter Deamonne, the man with a pretentious last name, a stupid last name, a- What did you say? A-”
“Stupid made up last name you came up with to be an even bigger loser.” Hunter recalled. “I know!”
Darius just laughed and ruffled Hunter’s hair. “This means that I’m your dad, through good and bad, I’ll have to be the bad guy sometimes now, you know that right?”
“What do you mean?” Hunter asked.
“Rules, grounding, stuff like that.” Darius said and Hunter nodded.
“Okay, okay, that’s fine.” Hunter mumbled, opening and closing his hands. “I want you to be my dad, no matter what.”
Darius smiled and hugged him one last time.
“Good, cause I’m here to stay.”