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Chapter Text

He was weak for not getting to ask her to be his date for Grom. Hunter spent his whole free Friday (two days after all the euphoria) mourning his attitude and laying on the bed with his head embedded in the pillow. 

He was frustrated, after all. Hunter let out a deep snort before hearing those well-known heels tap on the wooden floor. “Little prince,” the voice said from the doorway of his room. 

“I’m busy, Darius”.

“Evident,” Darius said, with a noticeable irony in his voice. “You are old enough to stop worrying about this stuff…”.

“This has nothing to do with age, Darius”. 

“Oh, I know.” he sighed. Darius knew Hunter’s insecurity was not from immaturity or, even worse, old taboos inherited by Belos’ Puritan traditions clout. It had everything to do with Belos, though. The sequels of being part of Belos’ army, and the values he conferred to his soldiers made Hunter insecure. 

The boy had the nightmare of not being worthy enough of Willow Park. THE captain. 

She was gorgeous and intelligent, powerful and capable of anything. And beautiful, so beautiful that could make anyone blush miles apart. And she meant the world to him. How can you be worthy of the world? No man is deserving the world. 

Hunter, Gus and Willow were volunteering to reconstruct the main square of Bonesborough, but on Tuesday, there was no trace of Willow. Gus and Hunter remained working almost until sunset when Gus suggested a snack break. 

The city was almost complete. All the hard work of the kids was paying off. 

Hunter was happy that all the nightmare was over and that he could be himself. But something was off. He could sense it. They hadn’t seen Willow since they were in the first period at Hexside. Besides, Gus was suspiciously nervous. 

“Dude, what’s going on?” Hunter asked. The boy was not dumb, and Gus knew Hunter could smell something. 

“I… Well…” Gus rambled before saying: “I want to ask Reilie Glowberg to Grom”. 

Oh, Titan. Grom. 

Hunter wasn’t aware of what Grom meant until Luz and Amity started talking about their relationship and what they thought was one of their most romantic moments. But as soon as he heard the word date, his legs trembled and his heart skipped a beat. All of them were single while their two friends (Luz and Amity) were going together as a couple. After the incident at the Archives, neither Willow nor Hunter mentioned their handhold or their later interactions. They had no time for that kind of stuff while they had to reconstruct the Boiling Isles. There were more important things than worrying about relationship status or a handhold. An irrelevant handhold. 

But he wanted to ask Willow to be his date. 

See her in a dress and wearing makeup. With a different hairstyle, and give her a corsage. 

But he was not brave enough to look her in the eye and tell her: Willow Park, I would be honoured if you let me be your Grom date. 

“So…? What’s the problem?” Hunter tried to play cool. 

“I’m honestly so scared. Whenever I’m next to her I get really nervous and super blushed… I think she thinks I’m totally a loser” Gus continued. 

“C’mon” Hunter replied “You? A loser? You are one of the coolest witches I’ve ever met. You helped the Boiling Isles in more than one way. Any witch should be thankful for receiving your attention” he encouraged his friend.

“Oh, Titan.” Gus said, “I think I want to be your date!” Both of them laughed and Gus glared over his shoulder towards Lake Lacuna. 

“Anyways…” Gus said. He started picking up his stuff. “Speaking about Grom… Do you have a date yet?”.

“Gus, I’m honoured but you just said you have a crush on that bard track girl, so I cannot reciprocate your feelings”. Both of them laughed again. Hunter was turning very good at spotting opportunities for jokes (even if they were bad). That made Gus happy; seeing Hunter laugh when he met him with a permanent frown was heartening. 

“You are not my type, Deamonne. But keep an eye open, you’ll probably find someone to ask out for Grom. Anyways… See ya’, I’ll let you know if I make a move on Reilie”. Gus returned to school while Hunter stood still next to the stairs in the main square. Finding a grom date… He already found the girl he wanted to date, but he still had to find the courage to feel worthy of her. 

Deep in thought, Hunter let his guard down as he could never do it as the Golden Guard. Hunter didn’t notice that someone was behind him until he felt a pair of hands cover his mouth and drag him all the way to Lake Lacuna.

Chapter Text

Hunter felt dragged through the alleys with extreme strength, but somehow also with delicacy and care. 

Hunter couldn’t even scream for help. The only thing that could come out of his mouth was some sort of gasps, muffled cries, and grunts. 

But then, the person dragging him stopped short: he was at Lake Lacuna and the sun was almost setting. 

“Listen, you! What do you…?” Hunter began to claim but was interrupted by the most lovely pair of eyes he had seen in his entire eyes. Those eyes he surprised himself admiring a couple of times. 

“Willow”.

“I hope I didn’t scare you too much. I just wanted to surprise you, but you have such good reflexes that is hard to catch you off guard”. She gifted a smile and Hunter replied with a warmer one. 

Hunter and Willow stared at each other for a couple of seconds before breaking connection into an averted gaze bathed in the golden twilight they were under. It was the perfect scenario for a grom proposal, and Hunter knew that. The sunset, the slight wind that played to ruffle their hair… The two of them. But as always, Willow’s mind was faster and interrupted Hunter’s attempt to decide that would’ve probably ended in a withdrawal. 

“I have something for you,” said Willow with the most intense blush rounding her cheeks. Hunter had never seen Willow like that before. Not even after Grudgby training. 

She rifled through the pockets of her dress and pulled out a small red flower. 

“I found it,” she said “and thought you would like it. I didn’t grow it. I just found it, as we found you”. 

Hunter stared in curiosity and wonder at Willow's fingers. The flower was really small, probably smaller than his thumb. 

“And… That made me think of you and how we never spoke about what happened in the  Archives. I’m sorry… I didn’t think you’d like to speak about something like this when we were thinking about Belos and The Collector” Willow said.

“Something like this ?”

“Yes. About… you and me ”. Willow pronounced you and me with a special intonation that made Hunter feel butterflies in his stomach and a weird flutter down his guts that drove his mind into a place he never explored before. 

Hunter turned a new shade of red. His ears felt warmer than usual and his heart started beating faster and faster until he could almost hear it as a buzz under his chest. He thought he could pass out at any moment. 

"Well… It's not that I don't think about it. I actually do it a lot! I mean, it's not like I keep fantasising about it every day… but I think about it almost every day". His stuttering betrayed his nerves, revealing themselves to her saying even more nonsense every time he opened his mouth.

“I get it,” she said interrupting her friend; he was about to have a crisis. Then, Willow held Hunter’s hand and pulled him a little bit closer. 

“You should take a closer look at that small flower,” she said. Hunter held the flower right in front of his nose. It was almost the same colour as Flapjack, but he wasn’t sure that was Willow’s intention and didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable for reminding him of the absence of his first and only palisman at the moment. “Uhm… I think you are talking about the droplets of dew, I guess…” Hunter said “Or maybe is the pistil! You were talking about the reproduction of plants the other day… I can’t remember everything because you have a better memory than me but I am very aware you were talking about the marvelousness of the differences between plants and…”.

Hunter was interrupted by a tingling down his ankle, similar to the walk of a spider on the skin, or to a soft feather producing the most delicate caress. Hunter looked down. The ground around him and Willow was completely covered in white flowers. Jasmines. The red flower was a distractor. 

Hunter raised his face to encounter the reddish face of his favourite witch. She was standing caressed by the wind that slightly ruffled her newly cut hair. 

“Do you want to go to grom with me?” she said with a smile that showed him the profound conviction she had, but also the panic of being rejected by none other than Hunter, the boy she not so secretly fell for and thought about constantly.

“Say yes. I would love to spend that night with you. I can teach you how to dance if you don’t know. I am not a good dancer but we can learn together…” She continued saying. Now she was the one that talked too much. 

Beneath the sunset, covered by the light of the agonising day were born Willow’s insecurities about what she thought was kinda obvious: Hunter’s feelings for her. But they also died, because, regardless of the fear that was growing right in Hunter’s soles of the feet (right next to the white jasmines, and slid through his spine) his adoration for Willow and the tenderness he had for the colour she acquired on her face made him give a step forward and look her in the eyes: “I’d be honoured if you let me be a companion to such a powerful witch”. 

Willow hugged Hunter in excitement. They both had the biggest of smiles on their faces. “I can’t believe it…” She said. “I gotta tell my dads, I gotta tell Gus”. 

“Was Gus aware?”

“Duh,” Willow said, “He helped me plan all of this”. 

They both followed each other back to their respective homes while discussing some topics around Grom: how is now celebrated since the Grom tradition disappeared, if Luz and Amity were applying for Queen and Queen… “I am very happy you said yes, Hunter” Willow stated. 

“I am happy too, Willow”.

She let out a huge sigh “I was really scared of telling you… I wasn’t sure you would say yes”. 

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. I think I just tend to make the first moves…”

That phrase hit him like a bucket of cold water. She was completely right. Willow was the one making the moves. Their first pinkie-hold and then, hand-hold was Willow’s move. He was a coward. 

“Anyways,” Willow said under the Boiling Isles stars that were shining almost as Willow’s eyes “I’ll see you at grom. I gotta do my hair and buy a dress”. 

“Yes, Willow,” Hunter said, still a little frustrated by the fact that he was a coward for not making any move on his crush (who also happened to be his friend). He saw her standing right in front of his house’s door, with the light from inside lighting her from behind. Her silhouette was the most magnificent view he could ever ask for, and her smile… Her smile of joy was even prettier than the valley of jasmines Willow grew at the sidelines of Lake Lacuna.

He could be brave later. But for those seconds Willow smiled next to her home’s door, Hunter felt like the luckiest witch in the world. 

Chapter Text

Perry Porter, Gus’ dad, was promoted to host in the evening news. Darius and Eber were watching the guy they once shared a classroom with giving the news report when the energy of a blonde kid stormed in. 

Arriving home felt like a triumph for Hunter. After running home in a blast of vigour, his heart found its way to make him feel as if it could run away to the opposite side. His heart beating wasn’t the only thing that was beyond the common: his smile was huge. It even hurt his cheeks. But as soon as the door was opened, he tried to bury those emotions to avoid the interrogatory. Hiding the euphoria of the moment was almost impossible; Hunter let out a deep sigh as soon as he put his feet over the carpet. Both Eberwolf and Darius shared a suspicious glare and then redirected their eyes towards the former Golden Guard. 

Darius remembered how when Hunter was part of the Emperor’s coven, he never had a bit of interest in people the same age as him. He was obsessed with soldiers, rules, authority and discipline. Now, he was preparing a wild berries marmalade sandwich without washing his hands first (to Darius' despise) while humming a popular song amongst the youth (also to Darius’ despise). 

“So… Did anything good happened today?” Darius asked. Hunter went bright red. 

“Pshhh, why do you think so?”

Eber swarmed Hunter with his nose, sniffing. He growled at Darius. “Eber says you smell like jasmines”. 

Eberwolf growled again. “Sorry” Darius corrected “ Wild rush jasmines , he says. Weren’t you at Bonesborough giving a hand? What were you doing at a field of wild rush jasmines ?”.

“I was at Bonesborough, then at Lake Lacuna”, Hunter avoided Eber and Darius’ eyes. 

“That’s not the answer you know we are looking for”. 

Eberwolf continued smelling Hunter who put down the knife with marmalade, and instead, rested his hands on the countertop while fixing his eyes on Perry Porter saying that the Town’s Library would have a great re-opening with the presence of Tinella Nosa, who wrote her memories from The Day of Unity in an innovative (yet disturbing) poetry book. “I… I’m going to Grom with Willow Park”. 

Hunter couldn’t hide his smile when he finally looked up to Darius who stared in awe. “Willow Park? The plant girl you stood up for that night with the palismans? The girl who won the grudby championship last summer? That kid that helped me and Raine build a temporary terrarium for the injured of The Day of Unity?” Darius asked breathing almost no air, with more hesitation towards his own mind and capacity to remember said girl's face. 

Eberwolf growled. “Yes, I know, Mutt. She comes here sometimes but you know I am bad with names”. 

“Yup, that’s Willow,” he said. “And I am going on a date with her!”.

“Congratulations, Little Prince” Darius palmed his protégé in the back and gave him a confident smirk. “You deserve it. It’s your moment to live your teenage years. After all, you are turning eighteen soon”. With that thought,  Hunter finished making his marmalade sandwich, shared a bit with Eberwolf and continued thinking about the beautiful eyes he would be dancing with under the stars on the night of Grom. Maybe he could even fantasize about having the boldness for a peck on the cheek.

“Well, now,” Darius said standing up “I’m off to bed. You can’t be my age and look as good as this without the exact amount of sleep. Goodnight, everyone”. 

Hunter wished Darius and Eber goodnight, and following the impetus of hope that can only be born in the chest of a glowing young man whose romantic desires feel up close to being fulfilled, he stopped to ask Darius something:  

“Times are getting better, right?”

“They are, little prince”.