Chapter Text
Luz was acting off and everybody could tell. At least, from Hunter’s point of view that was what it seemed like.
He didn’t expect her to be her typical happy-go-lucky self or anything like that, no. Nobody was quite themselves, not for long, at least. There were sparse moments when all felt right in the world. When they could laugh and smile and pretend that everything was okay.
And for a few months, it had been like that. Luz was clearly tired and still upset between school, portal research, and failed attempts. Hunter didn’t blame her, and he knew that nobody else would once they understood why she felt so strongly about their situation being entirely her fault.
At some point in January, just after the break ended, Luz just… shut down. Hunter couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason, he could only hope it was just stress from the tribulations of human schooling, and that it would clear up within a week or two.
But it didn’t.
Now, it was near mid-February, and a weird holiday called ‘Valentine’s Day’ was coming up. It was apparently all about mushy things like love and chocolate and romance. He didn’t really understand it, but Luz seemed like the kind of person to go all-out for that sort of thing.
Amity seemed to think so, too. So, it came to a surprise to literally everybody when Luz nonchalantly mentioned that her school was having a dance, and she wasn’t going.
Something was definitely, unarguably, absolutely wrong and Hunter felt like it was his job to figure out what it was, considering he technically knew the most about the guilt weighing down on her.
So that was how Hunter found himself waiting outside for Camila and Luz to get home, in the cold Connecticut winter, building up the courage to ask Luz what happened. He needed to know, needed to
help!
The car pulled into the driveway. Hunter watched as Camila turned it off, opening her door and stepping out of the vehicle. Luz took another second, eventually doing the same. She slung her bag over her shoulder, intently glaring down at the icy ground.
She looked even worse than usual. Quieter, too. Even on her worst days, she always kept chatting with her mom as a mild attempt to keep up appearances. But today, she put in no effort. Eyebags deeper than his own hung from her dull brown eyes, her movements were lethargic, and her lips remained in a tight line.
If Hunter looked close enough, he swore that he could see a bruise underneath the collar of her jacket. Had somebody been hurting her? Was that what this was? He beat the absolute shit out of whoever dared hurt his family, with no hesitation. Might as well use his training for good, after all.
“Luz?” he reeled himself back in - he couldn’t get too far ahead of himself, in case he had it all wrong. He hoped that he had it all wrong. She looked up at him, and for a split second, it looked like she had been crying. Camila was already walking inside, pressing a quick kiss to his forehead that made his stomach explode in pride. He pushed the feeling down. “Can we talk for a second?”
“Oh. Uhm, yeah. Sure,” Luz replied, her voice hollow. It was so wrong. It wasn’t the Luz that had saved him, the one he
knew.
What could have possibly brought her to this point? “D’you wanna head inside, or…”
Hunter hadn’t really thought this through. “Uhh, you okay if we walk to the shack? I wanted to, uh, ask you something, but I don’t know if you’d want to answer when the others are around. If that makes sense.”
“That makes sense, yeah,” she nodded, adjusting her bag. “Aight, we can walk. Are you gonna wait til we get there to ask, or on the way?”
They were already walking, so there wasn’t much of a point in waiting. Their surroundings gave way to the forest within less than a minute, there was nobody around to intrude.
“I… noticed that you’ve been acting weird. Not your usual weird,” Hunter exhaled, watching his breath in the cold air. “Back in January, I know that something happened. And, whatever it was, it’s dragging you down. Oh, Titan, I’m bad at this - I just wanted to ask if you, like… wanted to talk about it?”
Luz was quiet. The shack was just in front of them, and wordlessly, she climbed up the stairs, and opened the door. Hunter followed her in.
“I’m just tired,” she responded robotically once she sat down on the couch, tucking her knees against her chest. “It’s been a lot. That’s it.”
Hunter didn’t believe her - she was avoiding eye contact and biting her lip. She always did that when she lied, Amity had been the one to tell him that. He sat down next to her, watching her posture carefully. The fabric of her jacket shifted, showing him that he hadn’t been imagining things earlier.
There was, in fact, a prominent bruise at the base of her neck.
“Has somebody been hurting you?” he asked bluntly. Luz stiffened, swiveling her head towards him to look him in the eyes.
“What?!” she sputtered out. “No! Nobody’s hurting me, I’m fine , nothing’s wrong!”
“I can tell you’re lying, Luz,” Hunter said softly. Luz shifted, hugging her knees just a bit closer. “I won’t push for you to tell me what happened, but I just… we’re all here for you. You’re just as much family to us as we are to you. We want to help in any way we can.”
“You can’t,” Luz whispered softly, burying her head between her legs. “Nobody can help. Even if I… even if I told someone, I’m just the weird kid, everyone would believe
him,
and then I’d get in trouble again, and I
can’t
do that to Mami. She’s so stressed right now.”
“Is
he
the reason why you’ve been so distant? Why you’re avoiding people?” Hunter dared to ask. Luz considered his questions for a second, slowly nodding her head. “Do… you want to talk about what he did?”
She sat up, and he could see the tears in her eyes now.
“Do you- do you promise you won’t tell my mom?” she pleaded. If Luz didn’t trust her mom to do the responsible thing with whatever has been bothering her, then he wouldn’t. He would protect her.
“I promise,” Hunter affirmed.
“There’s… there’s this one senior. At school.” There were more tears cascading down her face now. She clutched at the cushions of the couch, so Hunter scooched just a bit closer. Luz leaned into him, shoulders shaking. “He was nice at first! I- I thought that I
finally
made a friend in this crummy town. He knew a lot about writing, so we talked about that a lot during lunch and common times.”
Hunter didn’t exactly know what a lot of the terminology for human school was, but he was
assuming
this guy was older. He’d have to use the google later to figure it out exactly. For now, he draped an arm over his sister, and let her cry.
“Then he got weird. I thought it was just like, a normal thing, because I do weird things too and all that, but he…” she choked for a second. “He was talking about drugs and… and
stuff
a lot.”
“Stuff?” Hunter parroted.
“...sex,” Luz clarified. Anger boiled in Hunter’s veins, he didn’t like where this was going. “After winter break, he wanted to go over one of his stories in one of the library study rooms. I didn’t… I didn’t
know
that he was going to-”
“Hey, hey,” Hunter held her a bit closer, letting her cry it out. “It’s not your fault. What he did isn’t your fault.”
“But- but he didn’t even
do
that much, and I’m overreacting,” she sobbed. “All he did was
touch
me. People have it so much worse, but I’m being so
stupid
and crying about it, and it’s just-”
“You’re not stupid,” Hunter was quick to shush her. “He violated your trust. You didn’t consent to him doing that, and you would have said no if he asked. You can’t blame yourself for that piece of shit trying to take advantage of you.”
Luz whispered something that he couldn’t quite hear. He nudged her, encouraging her to speak up just a bit.
“He didn’t stop,” she said, just a bit louder. “He won’t stop talking to me, or having his friend talk to me, or texting me- he won’t leave me alone. I just want him to leave me alone, Hunter.”
It would take much more than the law to keep him from caving this guy’s skull in. Nobody hurt his sister like this and got away with it.
Suddenly, rage washed over him once he remembered the bruise on her neck. The fresh bruise on her neck. She seemed to sense the source of his sudden rigidness.
“He followed me into the bathroom,” she mumbled. “It- it didn’t go very far. A teacher walked in and started complaining about couples making out ‘n stuff, so he left before he got in trouble. All he did was… yeah. It’s not a huge deal. I’m overexaggerating, I probably just didn’t say
no
loud enough-”
“Did he ask?” Hunter raised an eyebrow. Luz shook her head. “He acted, without asking or thinking. You are
not
at fault for any of this. I know you’re worried about how your mom will react, but he’s a hazard to your safety. I think you need to talk to an adult.”
“I…” Luz hesitated. “There’s no point. I’ve got a bad reputation, the administration would probably listen to whatever story he gives, and take the opportunity to expel me or something. Mami can’t afford that, and- and I’d feel horrible adding the stress of it to her plate. She’s got too much to deal with.”
“Do you want me to talk with him?” Hunter offered.
“What?” Luz blurted out, her tone suggesting that she found the idea ridiculous.
“I was the Golden Guard. I know how to instill fear into others. I understand that you don’t want to drag others into this, and I disagree with you, but respect that,” Hunter elaborated, pausing for a moment as Luz hugged him just a bit tighter. “I’d just threaten him a little bit. What’s he gonna do? Run around claiming that Luz’s older brother, who doesn’t legally exist, beat him up for harassing his sister?”
Luz snorted at that. “It’s a nice thought. I just… I don't want to give him another reason to talk to me.”
“Your mom can help, as scary as that sounds. She loves you,” the blonde ruffled her hair. “We all want to protect you. Me, Amity, Gus, Willow, Camila- even Vee. You’re so, so, important to us.”
“Okay,” Luz croaked out. “I’ll… talk to Mama about it after dinner. Can we just hug for a little bit longer?”