Archive of Our Own

Hunter was pacing the room, fidgeting with the edges of his gloves.

“Come on! You like Amity and the twins, it’s not going to be awful!” Willow reassured from where she sat on his bed. 

“Yeah, besides, they live in a mansion, so if it is awful, you can just stay in your own massive room.” Gus said, on his stomach on the floor as he read a human magazine.

“This is a big thing,” Hunter said and bumped into one of the boxes in his room. “I mean, we’re moving in with them. Darius and Alador have only been dating for three months, this is fast, right?”

“They’ve known each other since Hexside, so maybe it’s just a long time coming?” Willow suggested, folding her hands neatly in her lap as she watched her friend pace.

“ Maybe .” Hunter agreed. “But- What if they don’t like me? Will that ruin their relationship? Amity, Edric and Emira are all my friends but what if they don’t want me as their brother? Half-brother? Whatever. I mean, I want them as my siblings, I think they’re all cool. But the twins and I were distant at first and Amity and I fought a lot, I mean we still do sometimes. What if they only like me as their friend, not their sibling?”

“Hunter?” Gus said, rolling over so he could look up at his friend.

“Yeah?”

“ Breathe ,” Gus instructed and Hunter inhaled deeply and dramatically, causing Willow to let out a giggle. “I think everything is going to be fine, okay? I know Em is excited to have another little brother, and Amity thinks you’re chill! She was asking Luz about things you liked so she could help Alador set up your room.”

Hunter paused his pacing and looked at his feet, hands opening and closing. 

“Are you guys sure it’ll be okay?” He asked and Willow hopped to her feet. “We promise that we think it’s going to be okay,” She informed him. “And if it isn’t , we’re here for you.”

Hunter pulled her into a hug, causing Gus to jump to his feet and wriggle in between them, demanding he be included and the trio laughed but hugged each other tight.

~~~~

Hunter walked into the living room an hour after Gus and Willow returned home, fidgeting with his gloves.

“Dad?” Hunter mumbled and Darius turned, smiling widely at the title and looked at his son.

“Yeah? You finished packing?” Darius asked and Hunter nodded. “Also Flapjack is in one of the boxes but I can’t remember which one so when he wakes up he’s gonna be mad.”

Darius chuckled and Hunter shuffled over to him a little.

“Are you sure they won’t mind us moving in?” Hunter asked.

“Alador invited us,” Darius reminded. “Yeah! But what if Amity, or Edric, or Emira don’t want us?” Hunter asked nervously.

Darius stood up straight and turned, the box he was packing abandoned as he put his hands on Hunter’s shoulders, making the teen look at him.

“Hunter, are you okay moving in with them?” Darius asked, brushing Hunter’s hair noodle to the side. “Yeah! Yeah it’s just… It’s new . And I’m worried they won’t like living with me. I was scared you wouldn't like living with me.”

“But I do, so don’t be too worried, okay?” Darius said and ruffled Hunter’s hair. “Besides, they’re your sorta-siblings now. You guys will have to get along eventually.”

Darius turned to finish packing their living room decorations as Hunter fixed his hair, suddenly pausing.

“Wait, are you gonna propose to Alador?” Hunter asked, grinning and Darius flushed a little, waving a hand.

“Not now ,” He mumbled and shrugged. “I hope too eventually though.”

“Aw,” Hunter teased and Darius flushed more. “Shut up.”

~~~

Hunter was finally moved into his room when Edric and Emira bursted into the room, causing him to shriek and turn, arms up to block any expected hits.

“Sorry!” Emira shouted immediately and Hunter glared, not lowering his arms. “What do you two want?” He asked suspiciously and Edric grinned, making a fake bow and Emira followed suit.

“We wanted to welcome you into our humble abode.” Edric informed and then grinned when Hunter rolled his eyes.

“You guys live in a mansion, it’s hardly humble.” Hunter informed and Emira straightened and rested her hand on Hunter’s shoulder. “You live here too now. You got everything settled in, right?”

Hunter shrugged and gestured around. He had taken some time unpacking. When he moved in with Darius, he hadn’t had many things, but after a few months of living with the elder, he had slowly accumulated more clothes, books and other objects to fill his room, but he had still been surprised by how quickly he set up.

“Yeah, it was mostly books and clothes.” Hunter said and Emira smiled. “Do you like the decorations? We were worried you’d think we were overwhelming with the cardinals but Amity said you really liked them and she thought it’d be nice to fill the room with stuff like them. Darius said your old room already had a lot of cardinal related stuff. It’s not too much, right?”

Hunter looked around and rubbed his arm awkwardly. He loved cardinals, absolutely, they were his favourite and anything about them made him happy. It reminded him of Flapjack, of Caleb, who he was “supposed” to be, and just in general they were really cool. And it made him happy that everyone seemed to catch on and loved giving him cardinal related things.

Hunter nodded and pressed his lips together. “Yeah, I really enjoy it.” He told her and her face fell at his monotonous tone.

“Oh, come on, you don’t have to lie! If you don’t like them we can take stuff down.” Emira was playing with the gem that rested on her brooch, frown intense as time went by and Hunter shook his head.

“No, I mean it, I enjoy it all.” Hunter promised and Edric smiled, resting a hand on his twins shoulder. “Em, he means it,” Edric reassured and Emira sighed.

“Sorry, I’m like- Really anxious. I know it’s a big thing for you, it is for us too, and I want you to be as excited about this as us.” Emira said and then opened her arms. “Hug?”

Hunter smiled softly and awkwardly shuffled into her arms before sinking into the hug, holding her tight before Edric joined, hugging them both and picking them up a bit, causing Emira to laugh and Hunter chuckled too.

~~~ 

It was time for dinner and Hunter was pacing the kitchen as Darius helped Alador set the table.

Darius smiled softly at Hunter and turned. 

“Little Prince, you good?” Darius asked and Hunter looked up at him and almost lied until he remembered this was Darius and Darius was his dad and always there for him.

“Nervous,” Hunter told him, lifting his hand up to bite the seams on his gloves, the fake leather soft under his teeth. “This is like, our first dinner like, all together, living together. A family dinner. Are we a family? Like you guys aren’t married but you’re together does that make us a family? Cause I don’t want to use the wrong words, like would the Blights be my siblings? Step-Siblings? Sorta Siblings?”

Darius and Alador both blushed some and Alador turned away, pretending he wasn’t listening as Darius knelt before Hunter.

“I think it’s safe to say family. And sorta siblings work. It’s fine to be nervous Hunter, it’s a big step forward, okay? If at any point you’re uncomfortable, don’t bother to excuse yourself, okay? Don’t force yourself through something you don’t want to. If you need a breather, that’s fine.” Darius said and Hunter exhaled slowly and nodded.

“Okay, okay, thank you.” Hunter said and Darius smiled.

“Now help set up so we can eat.” Darius stood and Hunter nodded, carefully setting plates down and making sure he was aware of his surroundings (he’s already made that mistake with Camila and while a broken plate was fine to her, it wasn’t to Hunter).

Emira, Amity and Edric all entered and took their seats, Hunter waited until everyone was sat to sit in between Amity and Darius (he remembers Edric mentioning how they all had “specific seats” they sat in and Hunter didn’t want to accidentally upset any of them by taking one of their seats).

Amity smiled at him when he sat next to her and he relaxed some.

They all ate and talked about their day, Hunter began by telling Darius about his latest Flyer Derby practice and how he and Willow learned this new trick that involves her using her plants to launch him across the field and he could use his powers to teleport.

It was weird when Edric chimed in about how cool it was for them to combine their powers, but only because Hunter wasn’t used to other’s listening in on their nightly talk. But it was fine, just something new.

Darius went on, talking about his new job working for Eda and how he “wasn’t suited for the paperwork life,” which made Emira launch into a story about and interning job she was doing.

Hunter found himself going quiet as Amity and Edric joined in, telling stories about their jobs or lack of and Darius was laughing with them, joking with Alador.

Hunter forced a smile onto his face as he ate but there was a weird feeling in his chest, gnawing at him.

“Yeah! And then she tried to get me to tell her where she could purchase the ingredients for summoning satan!” Amity said and everyone laughed. “I swear, her parents need to keep an eye on her or we’re gonna have another Collector issue.”

“Maybe just try and wean her off,” Darius said. “Get her into something else that isn’t dark lord related?”

Amity nodded and Hunter shrank some in his seat as they continued with their conversation over his head.

Hunter swallowed down the rest of his food and slid back, leaving to his room without a word and no one tried to stop him, though Hunter supposed it was because Darius asked them not to, thinking the only reason Hunter would leave was if he needed a moment.

Hunter sat on his bed and Flapjack flew into his lip, tilting its head to look up at him.

Hunter scratched the wood head and sighed.

It’s fine, it was one conversation, he didn’t even try to include himself into any of their topics, it’s not like they were outright excluding him.

It was fine.

But that feeling grew some more in his chest as he curled under his blankets.

~~~

Getting to school was weird. The mansion was closer to school and further away from Darius’ workplace than the cottage had been, so Darius could no longer bring him to school, because his abomination teleportation powers had a limited range and he no longer had time to bring Hunter.

So Edric was banging on Hunter’s bedroom door to wake him up half an hour before he was used to being woken and Hunter was rushing to get into his uniform to take off with the others.

Emira giggled as he ran out to catch up with them, tugging on his boot.

“Someone’s a slowpoke.” She teased and Hunter frowned. “I’m not slow, I’m the fastest on the Flyer Derby team,” He defended.

“Didn’t stop you from almost making us late!” Edric teased and the four of them began walking the short walk to school.

Hunter bit his tongue and tightened his grip on his bag, ducking his head.

He didn’t know if they were intentionally making fun of him or if their teasing was just rubbing him wrong until Amity rested her hand on his shoulder, offering him a soft smile.

It was just teasing, he was being too sensitive.

Hunter exhaled slowly and awkwardly reached his hand out to Amity, scared she’d make some face or make fun of him or just flat out refuse but Amity didn’t hesitate taking her sorta brother’s hand into her own.

Hunter relaxed some as they walked, Edric beginning to ask what courses Hunter was taking this semester and Hunter smiled as the three of them made effort to include him in their conversations.

When they finally got to school, Amity and Hunter waved goodbye to Edric and Emira (despite being in the twins’ grade, Darius had convinced the counsellor to keep Hunter in Luz, Willow, Gus and Amity’s grade because Hunter was only a few months new and needed support of his friends).

School went by like normal and Hunter was relaxed again, laughing with Gus, planning team stuff with Willow, teasing Luz and playing card games with Amity.

Everything was normal, a completely average school day.

But Hunter found himself thinking back to the previous nights’ dinner, to earlier this morning and there was nothing really wrong about either events they just…

They felt wrong.

Amity was checking in on him more than she normally would’ve, asking if he slept alright, if he ate enough last night, if he needed anything. Hunter found it a little annoying and told her as such.

“Oh, sorry.” she apologized and just smiled and went back to talking to Luz.

Hunter relaxed at that, one thing about Amity is that she understood Hunter sometimes when Hunter didn’t even understand himself. If he ever worried he came off as too harsh, she reassured him he didn’t and she understood what he meant. If he worried he was accidentally ignoring her while working on a project, she reassured him she knew he was busy.

Of course the others were understanding, but they weren’t like Hunter like Amity was. They didn’t know how his brain worked like she did.

Gus noticed Hunter zoning out and waved a hand in front of his face and Hunter blinked, back to full attention.

~~~

Hunter was about to start walking home when Amity grabbed his cape. “We have to wait for Em and Ed.” she informed.

“Oh, sorry,” Hunter awkwardly waited next to Amity. Hunter was feeling antsy because they should just be walking home but Edric and Emira were taking so long to show up.

Hunter was getting a little upset as they waited, he had to do his homework, make sure Flapjack wasn’t still sleeping (the palisman was much like a cat sleeping the day away and Hunter was trying to get it on a normal schedule, because what if Hunter needed him and it was sleeping?), finish the new book he had just started. He could’ve probably finished his potions homework by now but they still weren’t here.

Hunter frowned and looked at Amity, expecting her to be upset too but she was smiling at her scroll, typing away and laughing which only frustrated Hunter more.

After everyone else was done trickling out of the building, the two twins finally walked out. The four started walking and Hunter frowned more when the twins didn’t even apologise for being so late, just laughing and talking about some prank they pulled.

When they got home, Hunter stormed up to his room, shutting his door and hurriedly doing his homework after waking Flapjack.

Hunter stayed in his room until Darius came to get him for dinner.

“Hey, you still doing homework?” Darius asked, frowning at Hunter still being in his room.

Hunter looked at the books on his bed and once again, almost lied but shook his head. “I was reading,” He told Darius and the older man frowned.

“What, Hunter, you can sit in their living room and read too. It’s the same here as it was in the cottage.” Darius informed and Hunter just shrugged.

“Okay,” Hunter mumbled and pushed past to go to the dinner table.

Hunter began eating and Darius softly nudged him, giving him a soft look and Hunter straightened and began telling Darius about his day, relaxing some.

But like the night before, the Blights took over the conversation and Hunter felt his words dying in his throat.

“-And it was fun, right Hunter?” Amity turned to him and Hunter offered a weak smile, glad she was trying to include him now but he hadn’t been paying attention.

“Sorry, what was it about?” Hunter asked. “The big food fight in the cafeteria today!” Amity said and then she and Hunter began to talk about how it started.

Hunter left dinner that night feeling a little better, glad he had been included and instead of going to bed right away, he grabbed his book and walked down to the living room.

Edric and Emira were on the floor, making bracelets of sort and they both greeted him when he entered. He waved and sat on the couch, curling up as he read his book.

“Oooh, whatcha reading?” Emira asked and Hunter frowned as his reading was interrupted..

“It’s a human book.” He said and turned back to the words.

“Yeah, but what’s it called?” She asked and Hunter’s frown deepened as he was interrupted again.

“The Turning of The Screw.” Hunter replied and looked back at the book. 

“What’s it about?” Emira asked, smiling at him and Hunter ignored her this time, causing her to frown and turn back to her twin. They had a silent conversation before Edric spoke now.

“Is it any good?” Edric asked and Hunter sighed, closing his book and standing up, storming to his room. 

He just wanted to read! He was used to reading in his living room for hours by himself without interruption and here he couldn’t even read for two minutes without someone interrupting!

He flopped onto his bed and went to sleep early again.

The next few days were a similar routine, except each day seemed worse.

He was later and later to waking up each morning, making them all late once which resulted in a lecture from Bump about how timely appearances lead to better education.

Edric and Emira always took their sweet time meeting up with them after school, ruining Hunter’s entire after school schedule and making him more frustrated the later they were.

He even wasn’t able to do his homework in peace because Edric and Emira were always running up the halls and Amity kept coming into his room and asking about stuff.

During dinner they all talked over him or never even tried to include him into the conversation to the point where Hunter didn’t even begin the conversation anymore.

And he wasn’t able to read in peace either! He found himself sleeping the day away so much that even Flapjack called him a hypocrite for it.

Hunter tried to tell himself it was just because it was new, Hunter had to adapt to their way of living, same as they had to adapt to him being there.

But each day was harder and by week three of living with the Blights, Hunter felt like he was reaching his breaking point.

And that breaking point came when Hunter sought Darius out, to try and talk to him about his feelings. Because Darius always knew what to do, and Hunter trusted that Darius would know what to do.

But when he entered Darius’ room, he was consoling Emira, the girl crying into his shoulder.

Hunter frowned at the scene and Darius looked up. “Hey Little Prince, can you wait a moment? Emira needs my help with something.”

Hunter looked at how soft Darius was holding Emira, how much the other teen trusted Darius and frowned more.

And for the first time ever, with no real reason, with no intent to take it back.

He lied to Darius’ face.

“Oh, don’t worry, it was nothing.” Hunter said and Darius nodded. “Okay,” He said and Hunter turned, jaw tightening as he left.

Darius wouldn’t have ever believed that it was “nothing” if it was just him. But now he had three other kids, three other kids who were perfect, who had their lives together, who had autism but could function , kids who were easier to take care of, kids who didn’t have copious amounts of trauma.

Kids that were better than Hunter.

Hunter rushed to his room, shutting and locking his door as he crumpled to the ground, softly sobbing into his arms and Flapjack twittered around him, asking if he was okay and what was wrong and “ do I need to get Darius? ”

Hunter didn’t answer any question but the last, shaking his head no as he sobbed until he fell asleep.

When Edric came banging on his door the next morning, Hunter’s back hurt and he had a headache, but he forced himself to get up and change for school.

“Woah, you look like shit.” Edric commented when Hunter opened the door.

Hunter bristled and harshly pushed Edric out of the way, the green haired teen protesting with a shout but Hunter ignored him, walking out the door to where the girls were.

Edric caught up and was having a hushed conversation to Emira. Amity raised an eyebrow at Hunter.

“You okay?” She asked and he said nothing. Hunter watched as Amity just nodded and he thinks she probably just assumed he felt nonverbal that day. She reached her hand out for comfort but Hunter moved both of his hands away to grip at his book bag straps.

Amity’s face fell a bit but she said nothing.

Hunter pretended everything was fine at school and Gus only questioned him once, the others leaving him alone after he said he was fine (though of course they knew he wasn’t, but they all thought this was a thing Darius could fix).

Hunter didn’t wait for the twins after school, Amity calling out for him to wait but he dismissed her, walking home by himself and going to his room, enjoying the half hour of quiet before the Blight kids all returned.

Alador had given him a questioning look when only he walked through the front door but said nothing as he went to his room.

Hunter had finished his homework by the time they came home and he grabbed his book, going down to the living room to read.

Anyone who tried to talk to him was promptly ignored, Hunter not even blinking when they called his name.

Darius came over, brows pushed together on his forehead and he told Hunter dinner was ready.

Hunter looked up at him, eyes narrowed before falling back to his book, not offering any form of acknowledgement.

Hunter knew, he knew he was acting like a brat, knew he was being rude, but after being ignored and, titan, replaced , after not even a month, he felt it was deserved.

“Hunter, it’s time for dinner,” Darius repeated, a little more firm but he was also concerned.

“Okay, go have family dinner then,” Hunter said, tone dull and mocking.

“Can’t do that without you.” Darius insisted and Edric entered the room, presumably to collect both of them but stopped when he saw they were talking, standing in the doorway.

“That’s a lie,” Hunter shot back, eyes still never leaving his book, boredly scanning the words.

Emira and Amity joined Edric in the doorway, all silent and watching the scene unfold.

“What? Hunter, it’s not a lie.” Darius said, tone softening. “You’re a part of the family, Hunter.”

Alador was there now too, none of the Blights daring to utter a word.

“You guys seem to be doing perfectly fine without me,” Hunter insisted. “What, having nightly dinner conversations and not once even asking how my day was anymore?”

“I didn’t mean for our nightly tradition to disappear, it’s just we’re here now and the Blights do dinner differently,” Darius said. “We can bring it back if you want.”

Hunter slammed his book shut and threw it at the wall, screaming a bit.

“Hunter!” Darius scolded for his outburst and Hunter felt a sob bubble up.

Because Edric, Emira or Amity threw tantrums, right?

“If I want, of course!” Hunter yelled. “Because you don’t care! You don’t care about our old traditions! About me! Because you got a new perfect family Perfect little princesses and prince who are better than me! Right? They don’t need a schedule to function, they don’t have trauma, they don’t have tantrums! So much easier to care for, right? Why do you still need Hunter? No one needs Hunter! Let’s just ignore him and hope he gets the message! Well I FUCKING GOT THE MESSAGE!”

Hunter didn’t wait for a response, summoning his staff and teleporting out as harsh tears fell down his face.

He appeared in the middle of some woods and he collapsed, sobbing and Flapjack transformed out of staff and flew in his face, picking at his hair to try and get him to look at it.

Hunter smacked Flapjack away but the cardinal wasn’t phased, tweeting at him some more as Hunter sobbed.

Hunter sat in the forest for three hours, crying himself into a headache and self pity and he tugged at his hair.

He hasn’t cried this hard since getting left in the human realm, since he lost Darius.

It felt fitting he cried this much again.

Because he lost Darius, hasn’t he?

The man found better kids, wanted to comfort them before Hunter, wanted them more than Hunter, spent more time with them than Hunter.

And even if none of that was true, Hunter just spent the whole day acting like a brat and then yelling at him, so Darius probably hated him now. Despised him. Loathed him. Regretted adopting him, calling him son.

Hunter was crying again, no tears falling because he ran out, just dry heaves coming out shakily as the night fell.

Hunter was alone in the woods crying.

Four hours now, and no one has found him.

Was anyone even looking for him? 

He doubts it.

Who would look for him? 

They were probably glad he was gone, thinking “good riddance,” because maybe they had been trying to get rid of him the whole time.

Hunter sobbed again and started scratching at his cheek scar, leathered finger tips running over taut skin, scratching hard even through the layer of cloth. The skin around it was scratch, red and the scar itself was being dug into so deep it began to bleed, even though it was ages old.

Hunter sobbed more, curling up tighter, Flapjack nestled against his side, looking up sadly.

Hunter was hopeless, helpless.

He ruined the one good thing he had, the only thing he had.

Five hours.

Hunter had been working so hard on getting better, becoming a good kid but it’s only been a few months, he wasn’t better, he wasn’t even good.

So why the hell did Darius even adopt him? Was it a cruel joke maybe? Because Hunter didn’t deserve someone as loving and caring as Darius. The man took him in with open arms, a warm smile and a loving heart.

But Hunter had spent sixteen year of his life working for pure evil , was made after someone who betrayed Belos, was awful, a failure.

Why would Darius want him?

Six hours.

Hunter scar was still bleeding, he hadn’t stopped scratching and he was sure if it actually bled fast enough, he’d be dead from blood loss, but the drip was too slow and too inconsistent, pausing until he irritated the area enough for it to keep bleeding.

The pain was numb.

He felt numb.

He felt lost.

It was almost morning now and he was still alone.

They weren’t looking.

They didn’t care.

Who would care about him?

They didn’t care enough to talk to him during dinner, why would they care enough to look for him for more than ten minutes?

Seven hours.

Hunter should be tired, should be exhausted, he was used to sleeping for over ten hours now, sleeping half the day away on weekends, always being late to school because he slept in.

But he didn’t feel not one once tired.

It was his old training coming back he thinks.

Too used to not sleeping for anything more than two hours that he didn’t even blink.

Hunter felt sick, he couldn’t cry anymore, emotions gone. He wanted to throw up but he hadn't eaten anything so nothing would come out. 

His head hurt, he had cried for so long before. His skull pounded and screamed at him but he couldn’t do anything to relieve the pain.

His chest hurt, he felt betrayed. He couldn't talk to anyone about it because he just ruined his relationship with the only person who cared for him.

Hunter leaned against a tree, looking up at the sky and sighing.

No one cared.

Eight hours.

Flapjack suddenly woke up from its lap and flew away, making Hunter let out a humourless laugh.

Makes sense, why would a palisman want to stay with someone as pathetic as Hunter.

If he had any tears left, he would start crying again, feeling truly and completely abandoned.

He thinks his cut bled out enough though, because his limbs were feeling heavy and his head was foggy and he was finally getting tired.

He heard rustling and assumed it was some creature, ready to kill him.

Until he heard the flapping of wings and tweeting, a very distinct “ This way! This way! What took so long? This way!” that Hunter knew was Flapjack.

Hunter sat up, eyes blurry as he stared forward, making out a figure emerging from the woods.

“Omigod, fuck, Hunter.” Darius rushed over and Hunter laughed again, no emotions behind it as Darius grabbed him into a hug. “You motherfucker , disappearing in the woods? We started a search party and it still took us forever! Have you been here the whole time?”

Hunter started struggling, pushing Darius away and Darius begrudgingly pulled away, looking Hunter in the eyes.

“You don’t care,” Hunter mumbled and tried to summon his staff to disappear again but Flapjack gave him a harsh glare as it refused to transform. 

“ Fuck that! ” Darius said. “Hunter, I care for you so much , I have not stopped looking for you for the past, what, ten hours?” 

“Eight.” Hunter corrected, avoiding eye contact. 

“Whatever, I haven’t stopped looking. I called in Raine and Eberwolf to help look. You fucking- You disappeared into the woods behind the Knee, did you even know that?” Darius was clearly worried.

Hunter shook his head. “No, wasn’t paying attention, just wanted to leave.”

Darius bit his lip and pulled Hunter into a hug, the blonde limp like a doll as he was dragged into the embrace.

“Hunter, you are in trouble for running away,” Darius stated. “And we need to have a very important conversation about how much I care for you, but first you need to sleep.”

“But school.” Hunter excused.

“School started half an hour ago and you would not be going anyway.” Darius said and picked Hunter up, cradling him like a baby and Hunter made a face.

“We are going home, and you are resting, and then we are talking, got it?” Darius informed.

“Got it,” Hunter mumbled, weak and lacking energy to argue or yell. 

~~~

After Hunter woke up, Darius was in his room in seconds, offering him water and snacks.

Hunter was pointedly ignoring his presence, head resting on his knees as he looked out his window.

“Hunter,” Darius began, sitting at the end of the bed.

Hunter said nothing.

“Little Prince.” Darius tried again and Hunter groaned, facing him now.

“Why didn’t you come tell me you felt like this?” Darius asked and Hunter was angry again, throwing his blanket off and standing up, pacing the room furiously.

“I tried! ” Hunter shouted. “The first time I thought to maybe bring it up, you were helping Amity with homework! The second time I almost told you, we were talking and then Edric interrupted and you left to help him! And then when I finally knew I had to tell you, you said you were comforting Emira! Like she came before me!”

Darius’ soft expression softened further, looking guilty as he frowned.

“You said it was nothing.” Darius reminded and Hunter groaned. “Yeah! And you would’ve realised that wasn’t the truth a month ago but now you didn’t even blink! You like the Blights better than me and I totally understand or whatever but don’t say I didn’t come to you because I tried!”

Darius stood now.

“Okay, this is some on me, I should’ve realised something was up sooner. But Hunter, you should’ve tried harder to get my attention?” Darius suggested and Hunter glared.

“Oh, I’m sorry but after three failed attempts , I was sort of under the impression you didn’t care!” Hunter screamed.

“I do care, Hunter! You are my son!” Darius argued.

“Am I? Because you’ve spent more time with the Blights recently. Not once these past few days have you asked how my day went. Or if I need a ride to practice! You didn’t even ask when my next game was!” Hunter yelled and was sobbing, tears finally back since he had drinken water.

“And- And I get it! They’re all better than me! They don’t have problems! They don’t get this upset about things! They are all fine after I’ve moved in!” Hunter yelled, stopping pacing and sinking to the floor.

“No, they aren’t.” Darius said and Hunter rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, they are.”

“Hunter, Emira was crying to me that day because she thought you hated her.” Darius said and sat in front of Hunter. “Edric interrupted us because he wanted to know what your “reading time” rules were. And Amity needed help with her homework because she’s been stressing over how things as simple as laundry day would work that she wasn’t paying attention in class. Hunter, they’re having just as hard a time adjusting as you. They aren’t “better” than you.”

Hunter seemed off put by this new information and looked to the side.

“They don’t throw tantrums like this.” Hunter mumbled and Darius shrugged. “Alador would disagree with that fact I think.” Darius tried to joke but Hunter just huffed.

“Hunter, they’re more similar to you than you think. And even if they did behave how you think, that wouldn’t make then “better” in any sense. Just different.” Darius reached forward to ruffled Hunter’s hair but the blonde ducked away with wide eyes and Darius paused, retracting his hand.

“But you like them better.” Hunter stated and Darius rolled his eyes.

“Hunter, they may be my sorta kids now too, but you’re always my first kid, my first priority. I love you most, and you’re my favourite, just don’t- Don’t tell them I said that.” Darius rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve been trying to make a good impression on them. This is new for all of us, okay? I’m scared they won’t like me and that it might cause a rift between me and Ala. I’m sorry that I’ve been focusing more on that than you lately.”

Hunter began fidgeting with his gloves.

“Really?” Hunter asked, voice soft and meek, so quiet it was hardly spoken and Darius nodded.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been showing it lately, I really am. I- There’s really no excuse for ignoring your own kid. We should have talked more about moving in, the changes it would bring, talk to each other more about how we were feeling.” Darius confessed and swallowed. “I hurt you Hunter, and that was he one thing I swore I would never do when I signed those adoption papers.”

“You didn’t hurt me,” Hunter mumbled. “I just- I’m so used to- To being told I’m replaceable. That there’s someone who can take my place in seconds, and I just- I felt like that had finally come.”

Darius wrapped his arms tight around Hunter and the blonde sank into the hug, sobbing as he clutched onto Darius’ shirt.

“I never wanted to make you feel like you were- Like you were with him again.” Darius said, own voice shaking as he held back tears. “Fuck, we are so bad at this family thing.”

Hunter laughed wetly, burying his face in his father’s shoulders.

“We really are.” Hunter replied and Flapjack twittered, making Hunter laugh some.

“What did it say?” Darius asked. “It said the best families are the dysfunctional ones.” Hunter replied and Darius let out a laugh too.

The two pulled away from the hug but Hunter moved and crawled into Darius lap, Darius cradling Hunter despite the fact he was very much a very large teenager.

“We should have a family meeting, go over all of our schedules and stuff so we can properly make things work.” Darius suggested after a few minutes of them sitting in silence.

Hunter picked at a stitch on his glove. “Yeah, that- That sounds good.”

So they all talked, Hunter mentioned how he likes to be home a certain time, Edric explained he doesn’t like being late to school (hence his urgency to wake Hunter in the morning), Amity explained she likes walking home as a family, Emira explained she has RSD (and Hunter ignoring her easily upsets her), Alador explained he enjoys the talking at the table (they all promised to make sure Hunter was included) and Darius explained he was worried to fuck this all up (everyone assured him he was doing great)

They talked for hours, just explaining and sorting stuff out so they could still have their regular schedules but fit in the new people’s life styles as well.

~~~

The first few days were awkward, they had wrote actual rules for stuff, something the Blight children had apparently been doing for years that they introduced Alador to and now they were introducing the Deamonnes to.

But they all had their own personal rules.

Please watch how you say something to Emira.

Please don’t put pressure on Amity.

Please be on time entering places for Edric.

Please be on time leaving places for Hunter.

Please spend time with Emira every now and then.

Please knock on Alador’s door before entering, even if it’s open.

Please ask Amity for permission before touching her no matter what .

Please don’t talk to Hunter if he’s reading.

And tons and tons of more rules.

It seemed tedious, probably annoying to others, probably ridiculous to others, but it helped them all out a lot.

And soon after a few weeks, they all adapted, and an outsider never would’ve been able to guess they hadn’t been making it work hardly a month ago.

Hunter was laying on the couch, reading and Emira tapped his legs, a silent ask for him to move his legs. Hunter lifted them and she sat before letting him rest his feet in her lap.

Emira spoke to Amity about her upcoming sleepover with Willow, Amity smiling as she sat on the floor, talking to her big sister.

Edric entered and tapped Hunter’s shoulder, asking him to lift his head. Hunter slowly moved so he could still read while moving and Edric sat down, letting Hunter rest his head in his lap now, joining his sister’s conversation.

Hunter finished his book and rested it on his stomach, going on to tease his sorta sister about how nervous she was getting for a sleepover when Darius entered.

Darius smiled at the four of them all laughing and talking before announcing dinner was ready.

So yeah. It took them a little bit to work it out, but living together wasn’t going to be as hard as they thought.

And they promised to all talk again if it started not working out.

Well, the kids did, not Alador and Darius.

The kids never wanted to be the reason Alador and Darius broke up, they knew their parents loved each other dearly and they had to overcome their own road bumps to even get together, none of them wanted to ruin their relationship because of a small problem.

So they made a pact to talk about any problems they had, even if it seemed like a teeny little problem, they still needed to tell one of them.

It would work out, it was working out.

And Hunter wasn’t being replaced, no.

He was just getting more people who loved him and trusted him.