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The calendar on his desk was taunting him, it really was.
Hunter stared at it, fidgeting with the pen in his hand and any homework he was doing was now laying forgotten to the side. It was going to be Father’s Day in a few days and the only reason Hunter knew that fact was the colorful little note underneath one of the dates.
He continued to stare at it as if the calendar would share all of its secrets like what was one supposed to do on this day? Were you supposed to do anything? Maybe it’s for fathers to just gather in a group and do…something. No, that sounded stupid, it’s not that.
Hunter groaned and leaned back on his chair, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. Darius had helped him stick every single one of them the other day and it had taken them a good two hours. He knew the man was busy with work, rebuilding the Isles was no joke, and yet he still fulfilled this silly request just like that. Hunter smiled at the memory but his smile fell just as fast when he remembered why he was groaning in the first place.
He wanted to do something for Darius, to express his gratitude but doing it on Father’s Day would send a message Hunter wasn’t sure he was ready to send. It’s been just several months since he started living here, everything was still so new and undefined. Did he think of Darius as his dad? Did Darius see him as his son? His palms became sweaty at the thought and he heard the thud of the pen as he dropped it. This always happened when his mind went in that direction and he felt he knew the answer to at least one of those questions.
Darius took care of him, made sure he ate well and slept enough, enrolled him in Hexside, helped with his homework, and with his room, and was there for him in the aftermath of everything that happened after Flap’s death. And even if they argued sometimes, he never feared it would be the end of it. That’s what a parent does, right? But not like he would know, his previous one preferred him dead and buried and was now a puddle in some grass field. Whenever he thought about that though, about parents, Darius’ face was always the first to pop up in his mind.
Hunter could not see himself going to the man and asking him directly how he felt so a gift for Father’s Day should do the trick.
‘Hey, I know it’s been a couple of months and you are probably just taking care of me till I turn 18 but I think of you as my father, so no pressure, here’s a cake!’
His face flushed in embarrassment and he buried his face in his hands. This would be mortifying, he would not be able to handle Darius looking at him weirdly or worse, telling him straight up that he was being too presumptuous. Nothing ever went right for Hunter and if it did? It inevitably crashed and burned at one point.
He scratched the scars on his right arm and he could hear Darius’ voice telling him not to do that, to apply a salve but that was the least of his worries now. Maybe he should go for it, clear things up so he knows where things stood instead of wondering. And expressing his gratitude was always something good, he was sure. Who didn’t like gifts even if they were wrapped in the loaded expectations of fatherhood…were gifts even the custom? He truly knew nothing about this holiday but his friends would, lots of dads in that friend group of theirs.
But what if their suggestions were for long time dads and he accidentally offends-
“Little wolf, what are you doing?” Darius’ voice came from the direction of the door as he was passing by Hunter’s room, laundry basket on his hip.
Hunter quickly straightened his pose and tried to act as nonchalantly as possible. He was not a great actor.
“Oh, nothing, nothing, I was just resting. That homework? Pretty hard, yeah…”
“You need any help?”
“No, no, I’ll manage. You know me, I just don’t give up.”
“Well if you need any just call me. And don’t lean back like that, you will get a crick in your neck.” Darius gestured and continued on his way.
He heard him mumble something about buying him a better desk chair but soon the man was off earshot. Hunter sighed and picked up his pen from the ground, writing down ‘Father’s Day Ideas’ on a piece of paper. Well, if this was to be a colossal embarrassment, might as well do it right. Go big or go home like Luz loved to say right before she did something that landed them all in detention.
---
Hunter was poking at his lunch without much mirth. Not that the meal was bad, on the contrary, Darius made him the best lunch boxes since he knew his diet was a bit specific at times. Grimwalker stuff. But Hunter could hardly have an appetite when his head was still wrapped in the Father’s Day question. His friends must have noticed his sullen mood because soon enough he felt Luz poke his arm with a chopstick.
“Hey, what was that for?!”
“You are sulking and when you are sulking, it means you are thinking things.”
Hunter gave Luz a look and rubbed his arm, “Well, yeah? I have a brain, what am I supposed to do with it?”
“Not whatever it is you are doing now so shoot, what’s rattling in there?” she said and poked him again, this time with her fingers.
He swatted her hand away lightly and rolled his eyes. He was planning on asking them anyway so her questions came right in time. Though why was he hesitating? They would not judge him, they never did even when he knew his questions were stupid.
So with a sharp inhale he blurted out, “So Father’s Day, what’s that about?”
He tried to sound casual but seemed he failed if everyone’s looks were anything to go by.
“That’s all…?” Gus said with confusion.
“What do you mean ‘that’s all’?”
“We thought you were going through some major crisis again but you were just thinking of Father’s Day.”
“Well to me that’s a crisis for obvious reasons!” Hunter retorted as he stuffed his face with some risotto.
How couldn’t it be a crisis, it was a huge one in fact. A bad gift or bad whatever he had to do could ruin his relationship with Darius forever! But all of them had dads, well almost, so why was his anxiety about it so surprising?
“It’s just…I’ve never celebrated it since you know, Belos wasn’t exactly the best. So I have no idea what to do or even what the custom is. Not to mention that Darius is not even formally my dad or anything so maybe I don’t even have the right to-”
“Oh, wow, slow down, dude. ‘Don’t have the right’? Now that’s kind of ridiculous, of course, you have the right,” Gus jumped from his seat and moved next to him, “It’s not like Darius is doting on you 24/7, all the time. He totally is by the way. Remember the first day of school?”
They all did. Darius had kicked up a bit of a fuss over the admission being ‘discriminatory’ since it still required magic to be enrolled in Hexside. But Hunter had been so excited about school, that it had completely slipped his mind to tell him that this was just on the documents and in truth that was not relevant anymore. With all the chaos the paperwork had not been replaced and Darius had gotten a very wrong impression.
“Yeaaah, but how is that relevant?”
Gus gave him a look before sighing, “The point is, the only ones who would kick up such a fuss about school enrollment are parents. He is totally your dad.”
“But he is just, you know, looking after me! That’s not such a huge deal…well it is but not in this way.”
“Hunter,” Amity pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head, “He is obviously fond of you, why are you arguing about this? Do you want ideas for a gift or not?”
“Well, yes but you all decided to dissect the whole situation when it’s fine! I’ll just give him a gift, thank him and none of us have to mention this ever again! Easy!”
“Father’s Day is every year.” Gus pointed out while still giving him that same look as if Hunter’s been telling one huge joke.
“Are you going to give me ideas or not?”
He saw them exchange looks until Willow finally pulled out her scroll and showed him a list, “Here, this is what I’m giving mine this year but I am also thinking of doing something more traditional.”
“Traditional? That sounds great cause I still have no idea what is even done on this day.”
Amity’s eyes widened at her friend’s statement and she quickly waved her hands, “Wow, no, no, I do not think Darius will appreciate the traditional gifts. They are a bit too old school and by that, I mean centuries old.”
“Well, Darius is kind of old…”
“Not that old! I may not know him well but I doubt he would appreciate you hunting down an animal for him. Also Willow? Are you really going to do that?!”
“Not exactly, I was thinking more of a certain rare plant that might be a bit bitey but still fits since the point is to complete a challenge!” she winked with a bit too much enthusiasm and smiled, “But Amity is right, that does not sound like something Darius would like.”
Hunter groaned and leaned on the table, “Then what? Just a gift? Sounds a bit…boring.”
“Why not a breakfast in bed too and some fun activities for the day?” Luz suggested, a bit quietly.
Her expression had become a bit sullen. It must be hard for her and Hunter felt bad for bringing this up at all. Maybe he should have just messaged them individually.
“Luz, I-”
“Make sure you don't burn the food though. No one wants to wake up to a smoke alarm,” she chuckled lightly as if she was lost in some memory, “As for the activities, I guess whatever you two like to do together. So sewing, watching those cheesy soap operas which I can’t believe Darius likes, and something else? To be honest, whatever you do, he will like it.”
“Luz’ right. He literally teared up last week when you made him a wolf shirt.” Gus said while elbowing him a bit.
“Well, he didn’t tear up exactly-”
“We saw the photos, dude. Eberwolf sent them to Eda and Eda sent them to everyone else. I think the whole Isles knows that Darius is a total mush.”
Hunter wanted to retort but it’s not like he had been much different. He had also teared up because he had thought Darius might not like it, it was not his style at all but the man had accepted it with a smile. Even ruffled his hair too! Maybe Luz was right, he shouldn’t be worrying himself silly and breakfast, a gift, and some activities sounded good enough. Even if the question ‘Would this make Darius uncomfortable?’ still remained. Hunter made a mental note not to burn that breakfast.
---
Darius felt someone shaking his arm lightly but his sleepy mind could barely register it. What time was it even? Why was he being woken up? He had half a mind to turn over until he heard a quiet ‘Darius! Darius, wake up!’ .
That prompted him to finally open his eyelids and it felt like he was ripping open an envelope with a dull knife. It truly must be very early. But even through his blurry vision, he could see a tuft of blond hair and brown eyes staring very intently at him. He attempted to rub the sleep off his eyes so he could see Hunter properly but it seemed that it was barely dawn.
“Hunter…what? What time issit?”
“Around 6 am.”
So his suspicions were right and Hunter would never wake him up that early on a weekend unless something serious happened. The alarm bells in his mind immediately went off.
“That early? Are you alright? Did something happen?” he asked briskly, trying to sound as coherent as possible despite his sleepiness.
“Oh, everything is fine but I brought you something!” Hunter exclaimed and extended his arms enthusiastically.
He was holding a tray and the smell of food immediately hit Darius’ senses. He looked down at the well-arranged food, griffin eggs, sunny side up, with fruits cut in the same fun shapes that he did for Hunter’s lunches. Did the kid make him breakfast in bed…? Darius was not sure if he had to worry or not.
The boy was still looking at him eagerly, waiting for him to take the tray, and as soon as he did, Hunter sat right beside him. Darius was still at a bit of a loss for words, trying to decipher what was going on as he looked between the breakfast and Hunter who upon a closer inspection looked bone tired. His eye bags had deepened a bit and his posture was slouched but that didn’t seem to dampen his weirdly ecstatic mood.
“Not that I am complaining but what’s all this, little wolf? The breakfast in bed is certainly new.”
“Do you like it?”
“I do but-”
“Great! You eat and I’ll come back in a bit!”
Before he could inquire more, Hunter had already left the room, basically sprinting out of it. Is this some teenage thing? Darius wracked his brain for any information from those parenting books he’s been reading as he picked up some of the fruit slices in his tray. The little prince had really done a good job cutting them but judging by the hour, he must have woken up very early to do all this. No wonder he looked like he would drop on his feet.
Well, no sense wondering and assuming the worst because his mind was going places such as ‘He’s done something he thinks I will dislike and thinks I will be mad at him and is trying to placate me ’. Darius was not sure his brain was awake enough to have that serious of a conversation in the next hour so he waited for Hunter to come back and maybe shed some light on his peculiar early morning cooking.
Eventually, he heard footsteps approaching his room again until they stopped. Darius sat in silence for a while, picking at the griffin eggs but Hunter was still not back. A sense of worry grew in him so he put the tray down and peeked in the corridor outside of his room only to see the kid leaning on the wall, clutching something to his chest.
Hunter seemed to have been lost in his thoughts because he jumped as soon as he saw the man beside him.
“Ah, Darius! I was just about to enter and I am going to do it now. You can go back to eating.”
There was a nervousness to his tone and none of the enthusiasm from ten minutes ago, and that was too many mood changes for Darius not to put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, “Hunter, what’s going on? If something happened, I promise I won’t be mad, you can tell me.”
“I, uh…” he clutched the thing he was holding tighter and looked to the side for a bit, “Can we go in your room first? I’ll tell you what’s going on.”
With a nod, Darius beckoned him inside and sat back on the bed, hoping Hunter would follow suit. The anxiety in his posture was still not gone and he sat stiffly beside him before quickly handing him the package he was holding.
“This is for you. You don’t have to accept it, of course, but I wanted to show you my thanks and there’s a card inside explaining everything so…uh, yeah…”
Hunter looked down at his lap, his fingers fidgeting with the hem of his pajamas, and said nothing more, just waited. Waited for what exactly, Darius wasn’t sure of but it must have to do with the purple package he was handed. He quickly unwrapped it and was greeted with wine-coloured fabric, folded neatly with a little bow on the top. It was a gift, a short cloak with embroidery along the collar. He wanted to tell him it was beautiful work but there was also a card mentioned and as he opened it, he saw Hunter look away completely to the side.
What could be- oh .
Written in Hunter’s neat script was a thank you note and right at the bottom a ‘Happy Father’s Day!’. Darius stared at it for a minute too long until he felt the corner of one of his eyes prickling with small tears. It had escaped his mind that this was today. He had never celebrated it due to having two mothers and never expected he would have children of his own, ever.
But now there was a child right beside him who must have spent days preparing all this, who saw him as his dad and Darius wanted to waste not a minute more. He tapped Hunter’s hand, beckoning him to look back at him, and was met with uncertain brown eyes.
“Thank you for the gift, little wolf. It’s beautiful and you did a splendid job with the embroidery,” he smiled and placed his hand back on Hunter’s shoulder, “And the note-”
“You could ignore it! It’s nothing, I just wanted…I’m sorry.”
“Hunter, there’s nothing to be sorry about. In fact,” he took a deep breath and scooched closer, “I am flattered you see me this way.”
“You are? You aren’t uncomfortable?”
“Uncomfortable? By Titan, why would I be?”
“Well, uh, not much time has passed since I started living here and maybe you are just looking after me but not in this way, and I am presuming and seeing things that aren’t there and pushing this on you and-”
“Wow, slow down. Deep breaths,” Darius inhaled and exhaled in sync with him, “You aren’t presuming. It is on me, I failed again to communicate properly here…”
This caught Hunter’s attention and his eyes widened, “Communicate what?”
“That, however, you see me as? That’s who I will be for you. I didn’t want to push anything specific on you, making you think you should see me this or that way but it seems this has caused you stress either way. I am sorry.”
Hunter continued to stare at him, seemingly at a loss for words until he picked up the card from Darius’ lap and looked at it again, “So you accept this then?”
“I do and since we are being honest with each other here, and Eber will be on my case if I don’t say it finally but I see you as my kid. I have, for quite a while.”
It was Darius’ turn to feel rather bashful as this was too many heavy feelings and honesty for before dawn but judging by Hunter’s expression, it was the right call. The boy clutched the card close to his chest and gave him the biggest smile before throwing himself in Darius’ arms. He squeezed tight as if afraid to let go as if the moment was but a dream. Darius has certainly dreamt of such a scenario often. Maybe Hunter did too.
“Seems like both of us were keeping things close to our chest, huh.”
He felt Hunter nod and chuckle wetly before he separated himself from the hug. His face was a bit red from the tears but he still had a bright smile coloring his face.
“Now,” Darius said with mirth and picked up a handkerchief to dab Hunter’s tears away, “Can you tell me why did this all happen so early in the morning?”
“Oh! Because we need time to do all this!”
The boy manifested his scroll with excitement and showed Darius a rather full schedule for the day.
“How long did this take you to plan?”
“Several days but I had my friends help me! Though the cloak I did on my own, of course.” Hunter pointed at himself with pride.
Darius looked at the schedule again, at the cloak he was sure Hunter lost sleep over, and at his kid’s deep eyebags, and proclaimed, “Then it’s decided. We will nap for another three hours and then do all this.”
“But-”
“And before you ‘but’ me, you look exhausted and I am not even going to ask how much sleep you’ve lost over this,” Darius said, squinting his eyes at Hunter’s guilty expression, “We can move the scheduled things a bit. I was not responsible for a whole Coven for nothing, you know. I know how to organize stuff.”
Hunter looked like he wanted to protest but good sleep was one of the things Darius could not be convinced not to do. And he had to admit, he did feel exhausted. Staying three consecutive nights until 3 am to sew was perhaps not his most stellar idea.
“Alright, fine.”
“Oh, don’t look so cranky. Come,” the man opened his arms again, and as soon as Hunter was nestled comfortably in them, he laid back on the bed, “Don’t underestimate the power of a good nap, dear. Take it as a ‘Father’s Day’ activity.”
Hunter chuckled again and despite his mild ‘protest’ against the new plan for the day, the boy quickly fell asleep. Darius observed him fondly and before dozing off himself, he looked at the breakfast tray on the desk. The eggs had been slightly charred on the sides. Just how he liked it.