Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It's like what he does with food, Hunter realizes.

He does it with people too. These people who somehow think he's good and their affections. Their attention.

Hunter hoards it and hides it- there are bags of HexMix stashed under his bed, human snacks he'd grown attached to, stuff he didn't eat at lunch when he wasn't hungry (when he didn't deserve it) that he stuck in his pockets and took home. It's weird having extra food. There never used to be extra, there were rations if you made it to the mess hall in time, and if you didn't, you waited until the next meal.

It was hard to explain why he needs to keep his extra there and keep them secret. He doesn't think he could explain it if he tried.

It wasn't like Darius didn't feed him. There was breakfast on the table every morning, and they talked about their days over dinner every evening. Hunter got to choose what was packed in his lunches. They even went out to eat sometimes. Whenever he came over, Raine made them both tea, and they had sandwiches. Every adult he stayed with always said he was growing, and they were all willing to feed him. But the stash didn't go away.

He hoards the attention of his friends. He is disgustingly clingy, they let him sit by them, his hands slip into theirs without a second thought and they cling tightly to each other.

His Penstagram messages are busy. He follows all his friends and acquaintances, even Lillith (just because her stationary is cool, not because he like, looks up to her, or admires her work in the history museum or anything). He's part of a few group chats. The Emerald Entrails one, a few Rulers Reach ones including one where they do something called a role play, and it's pretty fun.

His report card goes on the fridge held up by a magnet and he basks in the pride of his fa- Darius, who lets him stay still even though it's been a few months. He's ridiculously still proud even though there's only one A on the report.

Hunter starves himself of it.

He hides in the library during lunch. They shouldn't have to put up with his presence.

There's a certain satisfaction in waiting until he's finished with Flyer Derby practice to let himself eat, to accomplish everything on an empty stomach. He feels like he has truly earned it.

He doesn't let Eda ruffle his hair until he's done something good. Then and only then will he allow himself to lean into the touch.

He pulls away into himself, and Darius lets him know he's there for him. No matter how much Hunter wants to get up and curl up underneath the sheets in Darius's bed instead, he resists. The gaping, aching emptiness in his chest is familiar.

He doesn't deserve the warmth of these wants being fulfilled, not until he's better.

Not until he can manage to be worthy of it. So even in boredom or misery, there's satisfaction in following this rule.

It's when Hunter binges that he feels the most guilty though. Then he always feels the need to cut back after he's taken too much.

He leans his shoulder against Raine and the bard smiles at him, tucking a lock of his hair back. They say his name with fondness and he allows it.

The first time he ate dinner in the Human Realm, Camila kept asking him if he wanted another serving and he said sure, even when he knew he didn't necessarily need it, he could be fine without it, and he felt so bad, but to throw it up would be a waste of her time and effort.

He joins the rest of the group on the couch during the movie and ends up with Gus's head in his lap and his arms around Willow, and Luz is playing with a string on the edge of his sweater and he relaxes into it, all of it.

When it's worst he will ask. He will ask if Darius will stay a little longer and hold him. He indulges in the contact. He accepts the fussing over his well-being and doesn't brush it off.

He opens the packages very quietly in the middle of the night and hides the wrappers in his backpack to toss at school later. he sometimes feels sick after dipping into the stash under his bed.

Once he starts he can't stop.

The chewing becomes mechanical, repetitive, and soothing.

(So did Darius's hand on his back after a bad dream.)

He binged until he was unbearably full. It brought temporary warmth and relief. And then the guilt settled in like a thick blanket of snow.

He was disgusting. A clingy crybaby and a waste- a waste of all that was being given to him without expectation of anything back. What a drain on resources. What a drain, a drain, a drain...

What if one day it ran out?

Their endless patience with him, Eda's answers to his questions, somehow putting up with him leafing through her books for hours. Darius's lo- care for him.

One day they would see him for what he truly was, just some worthless, talentless kid. And he didn't have a stash for that. He could try but he couldn't actually stash love away for a rainy day. If it decided to slip through his fingers like sand he couldn't stop it.

He wasn't even a person, how could he be deserving of the care he was receiving? Did he even need to eat the same things they did? What if the good food was being wasted on him. Flavorless ration bars, the texture of dry oats or sawdust, might suffice just fine, actually, they'd sufficed for years. Rations could be revoked or used as incentives, why should it be different with this food, with these adults?

Surely they would think what he did- his stash, these late-night binges- disgusting, wouldn't they? Hunter curled up on his side, suddenly feeling nauseous. The empty paper bag that had once held two apples and a squished fire-honey cake made more guilt well up like blood on his fingertip after a slip up with the needle during one of his sewing lessons. Darius was teaching him and helping him alter some of his clothes. He was growing.

Getting bigger?

Maybe just getting fatter. Hunter's stomach turned. He grabbed his backpack and stuck the two empty HexMix bags inside, as well as the paper bag, and the empty cereal box.

He never did this before, why should he do it now? Titan, he had to be sick in the head.

Without even thinking about it, Hunter flipped the latch on his window and opened it. Flapjack stirred from where he was sleeping on the pillow.

"Sh, go back to sleep, buddy."

His palisman trusted him so much. Hunter sleep soon, promise?

"I promise."

Goodnight, love you.

"Love you too."

It had been a long day for Flapjack. He had a palisman playdate with his old friends from the Bat Queen's lair and he slipped back into sleep that was hopefully filled with nice dreams. Did palismen dream? Hunter wondered as he slipped out the window and into the cold night air.

He didn't have a plan. He hadn't thought about this before.

All he was thinking when he originally shut the window behind him was that he had to get out of that little room with the snacks under his bed burning a hole in his conscious. He needed to get out and dispose of the evidence of his latest shameful binge now.

After he dumped everything in a trashcan and tried to turn back, his feet felt glued to the ground.

He went the other way instead. Further away from Darius's house.

Just for a walk, that's all. I'll take a walk and I'll feel better.

Maybe it would burn away the ungodly amount of calories he'd just inhaled.

It might have been an hour, and it might have been two. His breath made big white clouds in the air. Inhaling stung his nose. The temperature continued to drop as the early hours of the morning began.

Hunter started to run. He still felt a little sick but he had to get away from the houses and the buildings. Then it turned out that the woods didn't feel much better. Hours passed. His fingers had long since gone numb. His hands and feet were the next to become numb. His eyes stung, and so did the tips of his ears.

Shouldn't he head back ho- to Darius's house?

He had left his scroll at home, but just at the horizon, the sky was beginning to lighten up. In a few more hours, breakfast would be on the table. Darius would be there. Coffee would be brewing. They were both making the slow, uncomfortable switch to decaf due to Hunter's insomnia and Darius's horrible caffeine withdrawal symptoms that he didn't want to experience anymore if he missed a day. Maybe Raine would be there if they were going to work together that day, and they would be humming something soothing. Maybe Eber would join them, and he might bring Hunter another cool rock. Maybe Darius would be bitching about his coworkers. Hunter thought it was endlessly funny when he did that. He would never let go of the one time Osran had apparently stolen his lunch and then Hunter might bitch about Boscha a little bit and Darius would roll his eyes at the stupid stuff she did and once he'd admitted that he got bullied in high school too.

When he info dumped about Wild Magic, he was surprised to find that Darius actually listened. He wasn't sure if he found Wild Magic genuinely interesting but even if he didn't he was listening.

It would be warm and comfortable.

Which he didn't deserve.

No, no, he couldn't go back.

So he kept walking but his limbs felt heavy now. Maybe he should have grabbed a cloak or something. He was still very full and now his lack of sleep that night was catching up to him.

...

...

...

Eda found the kid passed out under some bushes, half-buried in the snow. In her harpy form, she picked up the soft whistling that Hunter's tooth gap produced when he breathed out.

Eber had gone to the hollowed-out skeleton that used to be the castle and was trying to sniff him out there. Darius had checked Hexside, every hiding spot he could think of, and called all of Hunter's friends' parents to ask them if they'd seen him. They were trying to keep this between adults, but they had ended up needing to ask the kids if they'd seen their friend and now the kids were worried too. Raine was in the library, searching there. And here was Hunter, miles away from home, miles out of Bonesborough.

She clenched her jaw, refusing to laugh or cry. She shook him awake.

"Eda...?" he reached for her, his sleepy voice almost too quiet to hear. "Why're you here?"

"I could ask the same thing of you, kid," she said, helping him sit up and trying not to sound too angry. He would get an earful from Darius later, she was sure. "C'mon, I'm taking you home."

"'Kay." He shook the snow out of his hair and yawned. If he could do magic, maybe he wouldn't be shivering so badly right now. If he could do magic he'd be doing better in his classes.

There was no use in thinking about what-ifs.

Hunter let himself be picked up and flown back home. It wasn't until they were already halfway there that it occurred to him- he was probably in trouble for this.

Oh well. He let out a breath, resigned, as they landed on the front porch. Eda's harpy form retreated and she shook off the extra feathers. It wasn't like he hadn't been punished before. Maybe the guilt from last night would finally go away if he received a proper punishment.

That wasn't what happened when Eda set him down and opened the door to Darius's house. As soon as Hunter stepped in, Raine's face lit up. "Darius!" they called into the living room before rushing over. "Oh, Eda you found him! Thank Titan!" Hunter found himself squished between Eda and Raine in a warm hug. "Yikes! You're cold," Raine pulled back and grabbed Hunter's face gently. "You're so cold."

"I'm fine," Hunter mumbled.

"Oh my fucking Titan," he was pulled into another hug, and this time it was Darius, who sounded like he'd been crying. "Don't ever do that again, do you hear me? You are grounded until you graduate. Are you hurt? Does anything hurt?" Hunter's throat burned. He felt familiar pressure behind his eyes and closed them tight. He shook his head, burying his cold nose in Darius's neck. He felt the older man shiver. "Why did you leave in the middle of the night? And without your Palisman? Flapjack woke me up terrified, what were you thinking? Where were you? Were you with anyone?"

When Hunter didn't answer, overwhelmed by the array of questions, Eda did. "I found him curled up in the snow. He was in the woods around Lumbar. He got pretty far."

"I'm going to call Camila and tell her we found him," Raine said. "She's been searching the Human Realm, we had no idea where you were, dear."

"I'm sorry." He's ashamed of the way his voice wobbles. But he really is. He's never seen Darius this worried, or Eda this pensive.

Darius pulled back slightly, and Hunter felt a hand reach up to cradle the side of his face. "I'm just- I'm just glad you're okay. Will you tell me what happened, Birdie?"

Hunter could feel his throat closing up. After his old nickname started to bother him (he wasn't a prince, he wasn't important anymore and he didn't like the way he used to be important) Darius had come up with an equally cheesy one to annoy him with. He would never, ever admit that he liked it.

He can't stop the tears now, hot and blurring his vision, rolling down his face. "I'm sorry I ran away," he managed to croak. He sank into a kitchen chair, and Darius knelt down to stay at his level. "I'm so sorry."

"Did something happen?" Eda asked, standing by him and running her fingers through his hair. Hunter knew he shouldn't, but he leaned into it. He didn't deserve a reward for what he'd done, and what he'd been doing but he leaned into it anyways.

"You can tell us," Darius said. "Why did you leave like that?"

The words wouldn't come out. Hunter fiddled with the edges of his gloves. He had to say something. Why did he do that? "I don't know," he lied. "But I'm sorry. Please don't be mad."

"We're not. I promise."

"You don't have to talk about it right now if you really don't want to, we can talk later."

"Eda is right, really you should be getting out of these wet clothes. I'll run a warm bath, okay?"

"You were gone so long- do you want something to eat?"

Hunter shook his head aggressively, looking sick at the very idea. "No. No, I don't- I shouldn't."

"Why not?" Eda questioned, her brow furrowing. "It's almost lunchtime, kiddo. You slept through the morning."

She couldn't hear his mumbled response. Darius stood up, offering a hand to Hunter. "Okay. You don't have to, it's okay. Come on, let's get you into something not cold and wet and dripping everywhere." Hunter was ushered to the bathroom by two doting par- adults. The drain was plugged and warm water turned on. When Darius came back with his favorite red pajamas, Flapjack was with him.

Boy lied! Boy go, worried, worried. I love you. Jerk.

His palisman flitted around his head as he tweeted angrily, tugging at that lock of Hunter's hair.

"I'm sorry, buddy, I'm so sorry I tricked you."

You should be.

His palisman scolded him, landing on his head and starting to arrange his hair with his beak.

"C'mon, Pancakes, let's give him some privacy," Eda snorted, gently scooping the bird up. Darius turned the water off.

"Call if you need anything," Darius said, running a critical eye over Hunter one last time, checking for blood or bruises. "Promise you didn't get hurt?"

"I'm not hurt. Promise."

"Okay." The man sighed and went to leave. He paused in the doorway. "I meant what I said about you being grounded, you know. Maybe not until you graduate, but- you know, maybe Raine should decide." He sighed. The door clicked shut behind him and Hunter was left alone.

Darius always teased him about being the reason he was getting grey hairs. Maybe the teasing had more truth to it than Hunter had thought. He was the reason Darius looked so worried. Forget being grounded, he deserved a thrashing. And he would've gotten one from his uncle. Running away from the Emporer's Coven wouldn't just have been bad, it would have been treason.

And the stash...

hoarding resources

hoarding something he didn't always deserve

Hunter remembered what he was supposed to be doing, and started pulling off his clothes. He tried not to look down at his scar-covered body as he stepped into the bath. He shut his eyes, sinking into the warm water with a sigh. His limbs felt looser and his skin erupted in goose bumps.

He hadn't realized how cold he'd been.

He dunked his head under and ran his hands through his hair. Then he was hit with another wave of white-hot guilt.

They took such good care of him as if he were something precious that deserved to be held and cared for and warm and fed.

And he ran away from them like some ungrateful little shit.

Little shit

Worthless

Out of all the grimwalkers-

He had to be the one who lived.

Chapter Text

When Hunter came back downstairs, hair damp and fuzzy socks muffling the sound of his footsteps, the adults were sitting at the kitchen table. Raine patted the seat next to them, and Hunter crossed the room obediently to sit between them and Darius.

They talked to him about running away and how it was unacceptable to leave without letting someone know where he was, how dangerous it was to disappear like that. Stuff Hunter technically already knew. They asked him to promise not to do it again and he readily promised. The fact still stood that he had done it and caused a huge panic, so he was grounded for the next two weeks, with no going out and no crystal ball, and an earlier bedtime. Hunter bit back a whiny response at that. His instinctive reaction was that he didn't need a bedtime, he wasn't some little kid. But he wasn't going to whine about it and prove them right.

"Now, is there anything we can do?" Raine asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you must have run away for a reason. We want to help you resolve the problem, not just punish you and hope it resolves itself."

"If you don't like living here, then there are other options for you, like Eda's, or-" Darius began, but Hunter gave him such a frightened look that he paused.

"No," the boy stammered, reaching for him and then stopping himself. "It's not- I mean, I don't hate it here. I want to live here."

"Alright, I didn't mean- I was wondering if that was the reason but if it isn't..."

Hunter felt his throat starting to close again. "I'm tired. Can I go to sleep now?"

"You're sure you don't want to talk about it?" Eda looked concerned.

"I'm sure. Please?"

Darius sighed. "We'll talk about this more when you feel better, then."

"Okay. Thank you." Hunter needed to get away from the kitchen table. He didn't want anyone offering him food again. Raine and Eda each hugged him again before they left, and the soft kiss Raine pressed to his temple nearly made him start crying. Titan, having parents- guardians?- people like this was weird, and he might never get used to it.

He made sure to sleep all the way through dinner curled up on the couch, pretending to be more tired than he really was so Darius would leave him alone.

Hunter worried about how he would survive breakfast the next day, but his friends came over and solved that problem. With them at the table- and Puddles trying to eat Gus before a new 'griffins outside' rule was instated- Darius was keeping too many kids in check to notice how little his own kid ate.

But of course, they wanted to know why too.

"I don't know," Hunter muttered, picking at the fruit on his plate with his fork, and slipping some under the table to Ghost.

"Bullshit," Luz said with her mouth full of waffles.

"What she means is that you have a bad poker face. You look guilty," Amity said.

"We want to help you, you know," Gus said. "You can tell us."

Hunter stayed silent. He felt someone's hand slip into his. "Maybe not now. But do you promise you will when you're ready?"

He couldn't say no to her. "Yes, Captain."

Darius wasn't stupid.

He knew something was up. But his kid was being secretive about it, and he didn't want to cross that line to where he pried the reason out of him in a forceful or manipulative way like Belos would have done. He- along with Eda and Raine- wanted nothing more than for Hunter to feel comfortable coming to one of them and telling them about it without being forced to. It didn't matter which one.

While Hunter was grounded, he did more reading than usual in his free time. It bothered him that he was missing new episodes of his favorite cartoon, but he bit back his complaints. He definitely deserved worse.

Darius sat with him in the living room a lot. They both sat in the quiet. Hunter with a book, and his da- Darius with a sewing project or a magazine.

He seemed to be waiting for something.

Well, he could wait as long as he wanted. Besides, Hunter liked the company. He didn't want Darius to go away. Sometimes when the words started to swim in front of his eyes he set down the book and scooted over to the other end of the couch to be held. Darius set down what he was working on to hold him. He shouldn't. Hunter had done something bad. He was grounded. Darius should push him off but he never did, and Hunter knew he never would even if it made sense for him to.

Sometimes he would ask him "Do you want to talk?" and Hunter shook his head.

Tell, Flapjack chirped quietly, settling into the crook of Hunter's neck. Safe now. Tell.

No, he thought. He didn't want to ruin this.

He was getting so much positive attention. He was glad that he'd managed to smuggle his breakfast into his pocket and into the stash instead of eating it. That seemed to balance it out.

"Are you nervous?" Raine asked.

"Only a little," Hunter answered truthfully. His two-week period of being grounded ended in time for the Flyer Derby match, so there had been no debate over whether he was going.

"No need to be," Eda said with her usual Eda bravado. "You kids can crush Glandus. I know it. I've seen you play before." She ruffled his hair. Well, now he just had to win, to earn that.

"Hunter," Willow called, and he straightened his posture, his smile growing. "Ready?"

"Yes Captain," he said, grabbing Flapjack and hurrying off.

"We should go too, Darius saved us some good seats," Raine said, reaching down to slip their hand into their lover's.

The sun was bright, and the air was crisp and cool. Hunter's favorite weather.

"Are you okay?" Luz asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"It just looked like you were swaying a little."

"No. I'm fine."

"Okay. If you say so. Good luck!"

The match went the way they usually went, the Emerald Entrails crushing their opponents, and a certain two ex-Coven Heads and a certain wanted criminal felt that certain brand of parental pride that two of them would have been disgusted by a little more than a year ago.

Raine squinted and adjusted their glasses. "Hey, does something look off to you guys?"

"What? Did he put on his uniform backward again? How did I not catch that before he left the house?" Darius took off his sunglasses and squinted at the field as well.

"No, something else..."

On the field, Hunter felt his vision blur. His jaw felt stuck. He needed to get down now. Chug some more water. Sit for a while. Eat something now that he had properly earned it. Willow looked so proud. He smiled. He would be fine. He just needed to get down and-

From the sidelines, Luz and King saw him slump over as soon as his feet hit the ground. They dropped their pom-poms and ran over to check his pulse.

"His heart is still beating," Luz said.

"He's breathing," King said, his ear pressed to Hunter's chest. "Do you think he's tired?"

"Luz! What happened, is he okay?" Eda was there by their side.

"I don't know, I think he just passed out? Should we try and wake him up?"

"'M up, 'm fine," Hunter mumbled. He blinked a few times then tried to sit up. His vision got cloudier and he let Raine ease him back to the ground.

"Stay there, darling, try to relax. Darius is getting the school healer."

"I don't need- I'm okay, I swear," Hunter tried to protest.

"Hunter, you passed out, you obviously aren't okay," Willow said, grabbing his hand.

"Nuh-uh this used to happen sometimes, all the time back when I... I can deal with it myself," Hunter tried to sit up again only for a vine to hold him down.

"Everyone back up, give him some space."

Oh great, they had actually gotten the healer.

"I'm fine!" Hunter tried to protest one more time.

A cold bottle of water was pressed into his hands. Darius sat down on the grass next to him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Hunter repeated. His hands were shaking too badly to even open the water bottle (weak, pathetic) so Luz reached over and twisted the cap off. Hunter took a sip, shivering as the water cooled him from the inside out and the cold metal of a stethoscope was pressed to his chest.

"I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. When was the last time you ate something?" the healer asked when they were done listening to his heart.

Hunter froze.

"You had breakfast, right?" Darius asked. "I saw you with a granola bar in your hand, you ate it, right?"

Amity was right. He had a bad poker face.

"I'm sorry," Hunter blurted.

"Sweet Titan, kid," Eda sighed, hiding her face in her hands. Darius stood up and turned in the other direction. Hunter heard him counting to ten under his breath. Oh. He'd made Darius angry. Or something like that.

"How often do you pretend to eat?" Raine asked.

"I don't know."

Raine stood, and offered him a hand. "Come on, let's go inside, out of the sun."

Eda and Raine sat across from Hunter. He could feel them watch every bite go into his mouth. Every time he swallowed, it seemed that a little bit more of the tension left the room.

"Am I in trouble?" Hunter asked after a while, after the food was gone.

"No, of course not," Raine assured him.

"What makes you think that?" Eda asked.

"I don't know. Is Darius mad at me?"

"He's... processing this. He isn't angry at you."

"Hunter," Raine reached across the table to take his hands into theirs. "I have a feeling this... disordered eating has something to do with that incident from a few weeks ago. Will you tell me if it does?"

Disordered eating? Hunter had never thought about it that way. At least not the avoiding eating part. That was just taking what he felt he deserved and no more. But when he thought of those binges... it felt like the word disordered could be applied to them. Those felt wrong.

So he nodded.

"Did you eat dinner before you ran away?"

He had. He nodded.

"Did that make you feel bad?"

It wasn't dinner that made him feel bad. He shook his head.

Meanwhile, Darius was staring down at the pamphlets the school healer had spread across the desk.

"I'm just relieved he isn't in the Illusions track. This stuff is harder to detect in Illusions students, especially if their parents aren't in that track and don't have experience detecting the spells," the healer continued. "It's harder for kids to hide when they don't eat when they don't have the power to literally change what you're seeing, so it's easier to catch these things."

Darius felt sick to his stomach. His hands clutched the edge of the seat.

"I would consult another healer more specialized in eating disorders. I can recommend a few in the area that I know of."

"Thank you."

The information in the pamphlets was alarming and overwhelming. Some of the advice was conflicting. Was Hunter just starving himself, did he purge what he did eat? The terms and categories started to swim across the pages. When the healer was done talking and writing things down on their notepad, they asked if Darius had any more questions and slipped the paper into his pocket.

Darius shook his head. He didn't even know where to start.

His kid wouldn't look him in the eye anymore. Raine explained what little Hunter had told them, and things still didn't make sense.

Useless, useless, useless.

Darius found Hunter wedged under his bed again.

He did not enjoy going to the doctor. And this time he was going because he'd been bad.

"Hunter, I need you to come out now. We're going to be late."

Hunter grabbed the purple sheets and tugged them down so Darius couldn't see him. He liked hiding in Darius's room better than hiding in his own. His stash was there. It was still burning a hole in him, the knowledge that it was still down there, he was still adding to it just less frequently. Darius watched him like a hawk at the table these days.

"Please, Birdie."

Silence.

"Do you not want to get better?"

"I do."

"Then come out so we can work on fixing this."

Behind his eyes burned with unshed tears. His chest felt tight. He allowed Darius to pull him out from underneath the bed and walked silently by his side to the doctor.

"I'm sorry I almost bit that guy," Hunter muttered on their way home.

"You know what, it's fine." Darius sighed. "You didn't."

"I almost did."

The doctor had offered to take Hunter back alone, and after that Hunter refused to let go of Darius's hand.

They had to weigh him, measure his height, and take his blood. There were a lot more questions involved than at his 'wellness check'. The doctor asked about how he slept, fatigue, dizziness, and fainting. Darius told him about the Flyer Derby match. Hunter sat on the table feeling very small. He could tell the doctor was trying to be nice but it didn't make him feel any better.

He was just going to check Hunter's mouth and teeth for any evidence that he purged regularly, in case he had lied. Hunter didn't know that, and when hands came toward his face, he had bared his teeth in a snarl and nearly clamped down on that man's fingers before Darius pulled the doctor's arms away. It was embarrassing.

Hunter hoped they weren't going back. Talking about it made him anxious.

Darius almost didn't hear the quiet taps on his door. At first, he thought he might be imagining things, but then they came again. He opened the door to see Hunter standing there, frog plushie in hand with those ugly human sweatpants on along with an old sweater of Eda's.

"I can't sleep."

"Do you want me to sit in your room with you?" Usually, that made Hunter feel better, to have someone sit with him until he fell asleep. When Raine was over, or Hunter was at the Owl House, they sang sometimes, soft and low. It knocked Hunter right out and he slept dreamlessly.

Tonight, he shook his head. "Not my room." He looked so tired and... something else. On edge. Guilty?

"Alright. Do you want to sit in here?"

Hunter got settled on the right side of the bed while Darius went to the bathroom to finish his skincare routine. When he returned, Hunter looked relaxed, curled up on top of the sheets with the stuffed animal- Spring? Sprog?- clutched to his chest.

"Should I keep the light on?"

Hunter shrugged. "You don't have to."

There was soft moonlight coming in through the window, so Darius chanced shutting the light off. He pulled an extra blanket out of his closet and tossed it over Hunter, who cocooned himself in it.

He wasn't planning on asking the kid to talk about anything. The confession came unprompted, quietly. Around fifteen minutes after they had said goodnight, Darius had thought Hunter had fallen asleep. But he wasn't asleep, and the words kept coming, slowly, halting. Choked up.

"So I can't stay in my room. I don't- I can't be around that anymore. I'm going to feel out of control again and it scares me."

Darius waited for him to say anything else. He didn't.

Hunter curled in on himself further, biting the inside of his cheek.

"Tomorrow we can take that stuff out of your room," Darius said, finally. "Would that make you feel better or worse?"

"I don't know. Maybe both," Hunter admitted. "I have to tell the doctor about this, don't I?"

"If you want help, then yes. I... I don't have the knowledge to help you with this. I might do it wrong." It felt wrong to admit that he couldn't help. He was supposed to have all the answers, wasn't he?

"What if I never get better?"

Darius turned on his side to face Hunter, his magenta eyes glowing slightly in the dark. It was a slightly creepy Grimwalker thing that had taken a while for Darius to get used to. "This is more common than you think. Other witches struggle with this. There are people out there who know how to help. You can get better."

Hunter nodded. "Okay. Okay, thanks for not being mad at me."

Darius turned and ruffled Hunter's hair. "It's... not your fault. It's like being sick. There's no reason for me to be angry."

"Oh." Hunter tried to wrap his head around that.

"Thank you for telling me."

"You're welcome, I guess?"