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Hunter resisted the urge to tap his foot impatiently. It was still unnerving, being on his own in the human realm. But Luz promised to take him to the library after she got off school, and the others were helping Mrs. Noceda - Camila, he corrected himself sternly - by performing duties - chores - around the house while she dealt with an emergency at work. He would’ve stayed too, but Camila actually insisted someone be there to pick Luz up if she couldn’t.
‘Don’t want her disappearing into a portal again,’ she’d said with a laugh, though Hunter couldn’t imagine what was funny about the thought of losing her daughter.
So, here he was, leaning against a half-wall a little ways down from the entrance to the school - close enough to spot Luz when she finally emerged, but far enough that he couldn’t be accused of being somewhere he didn’t belong.
Of course, technically nothing was stopping someone from coming up and questioning him. He casually tugged the beanie Luz had lent him down further over his ears. Worst case scenario, the plan was to call them ‘cosplay’. Apparently some humans liked wearing fake plastic witch ears. Hunter didn’t really get why - even human aficionados like Gus didn’t wear fake human ears - but he wasn’t going to question it if it gave him an out.
A pair of human Coven Scouts emerged from a shop across the street. Hunter quickly averted his gaze somewhere safer as his heartbeat staccatoed into his throat. He kept them in the corner of his eye, watching them get in their carriage and pull away. It did nothing to help his nerves.
Gravesfield was supposedly a safe town, but he still felt the threads of anxiety looping through his chest. Humans didn’t typically keep cardinals as pets, so he couldn’t let Flapjack make a rats nest of his hair like he usually did when he needed reassurance. He had to stay confined to Hunter's pocket.
Hunter stuffed a hand inside so he could run his finger along his soft feathers instead. Flapjack gave a muffled peep and nuzzled his hand.
He took a deep breath and let it out of his nose. Okay. He could do this.
He’d done plenty of patrols as the Golden Guard, some that required undercover stakeouts. Few people ever bothered him then. He couldn’t articulate what he did, but Gus told him he had an aura of ‘don’t fuck with me’ when he was concentrating so… just… pretend that was what he was doing.
‘Don’t fuck with me,’ he thought at the flagpole, the safest place to stare at without inviting a fight. ‘I’m on an important mission, so don’t fuck with me.’
“Hey there!” a voice called.
So much for that idea.
He whipped his head around to see who was talking to him, keeping his face as cold as possible. He didn’t have his mask - he had to keep it under control.
A girl was waving at him. Her hair kinda looked like older pictures of Amity, though it was blonde instead of green and had a pink streak through it. She was wearing an orange pleated skirt and matching top with the logo from Luz’s school plastered across it. She had a duffle bag across her shoulders, again with the logo.
Four other humans - two girls and two guys - stood behind her. One of the girls was wearing an identical outfit. The other girl and the two boys were both wearing what almost looked like grudgby jerseys, each with a different number on it.
With the matching outfits, the five of them had to be athletes, though the Entrails didn’t coordinate to that degree.
The girl in the lead - the blonde one - looked him up and down. He hoped she knew how clearly she was sizing him up. It was a pathetic attempt if she was trying to be subtle.
“I haven’t seen you around Gravesfield before,” she said. She popped her hip out to her hand, ruining her fighting stance but looking entirely unconcerned about it.
Hunter shifted his weight. ‘Don’t fuck with me. I’m on an important mission, so don’t fuck with me.’ He crossed his arms over his chest as haughtily as he could, channeling the Golden Guard confidence. “So?”
She giggled at that, wiggling her fingers. “So, what brings someone as cute as you somewhere boring like this?”
He blinked. Cute? No one had ever called him that before. The closest was when he sent Willow selfies with Flapjack tangled in his hair, but she was talking about the bird, not him. Was he cute by human standards? Luz had never given that impression.
He realized suddenly that the girl had asked a question. “I’m visiting a family friend for a while,” he said. The lie had been drilled into all of them by Luz and Camila before they were allowed out alone.
‘And it’s not even a lie-lie,’ Luz had said, even though the only family Hunter had definitely wouldn’t consider the Nocedas his friends.
He didn’t offer anything else, trying to build up the aura again after she caught him so off-guard. Was that her intention? He resolved to not let her get the jump on him again - or any of her friends.
She defied logic by leaning towards him, fluttering her eyelashes and looking at him like she thought he was the most interesting person in the world. Or, a half-way decent imitation, at least. His friends looked at him like that more often than he thought was warranted, so he knew what it was supposed to look like. Her eyes were just a bit too cold.
“I’m Bri. That’s Roger, Casey, Olivia, and Logan.”
He flicked his eyes over each of them, trying to decipher if they’d be a threat in a fight or not. He didn’t try to hide it - if she wasn’t going to, he wasn’t going to either.
Bri looked at him expectantly, and he had to stop himself from wincing when he concluded she wanted his name too. What did he have to say to get her to leave him alone?
“Hunter.”
“Well, Hunter,” she said, putting emphasis on his name like the Coven Heads used to on his title when they were being condescending, “there’s a party down at the bowling alley tomorrow night. Everyone who’s anyone in Gravesfield will be there. You should come!”
He should what? He wasn’t anyone in Gravesfield. Why would this girl want him at her party? And why would Bri be insulting him and inviting him to a party in the same breath? Luz had the tendency to be weird and contradictory, but that always felt like it came from her always speaking her mind, no matter how jumbled her thoughts. This felt like… like… he wasn’t sure, but it felt bad.
Titan, he definitely had to get rid of her somehow. ‘Don’t fuck with me. I’m on an important mission, so don’t fuck with me.’ The mantra didn’t help. He clenched his fists to hide any potential shaking.
“I-”
A voice shattered the moment. “Hunteeeeeer!”
Everyone turned. Oh, thank the Titan. Luz. He couldn’t help but smile as she sprinted down the sidewalk towards them, backpack flying around like a wrecking ball.
His smile faded, however, when Luz didn’t slow down. “Wait, Luz, don’t you dare-”
Too late - she jumped at him. Bri shrieked and stumbled back. Hunter scowled, but he managed to catch her, bridal style, spinning to disperse the speed.
“Hi, Hunter!” she sing-songed. Little shit.
“Do you have to do that every time you see me?” he huffed.
“You haven’t dropped me yet!”
He smirked. “Oh? I could drop you now, if that’ll get you to stop-”
“No!” Luz wriggled out of his arms, stumbling to the ground. He fought to keep his grip on her so she didn’t hit her head on the wall or the sidewalk.
She was laughing, though, and it was contagious enough that he chuckled too.
He’d almost forgotten about the other humans until Bri cleared her throat.
“Oh,” Luz said, straightening. The cheer in her voice soured. “Hi, Bri.”
Thank Titan, Luz didn’t like her. He wasn’t overreacting and seeing things that weren’t there like he usually did.
Bri scoffed. “She’s your family friend?” she said to Hunter.
“Yes?” Hunter replied. Why would he lie about that?
Bri flipped her hair over her shoulder, but didn’t say anything else.
“What do you want, Bri?” Luz said, crossing her arms.
Hunter felt the sudden desire to not hear Bri give another confusing and condescending answer. “They were inviting us to a party at the um…” Titan, what was it called again? Booling?
“Oh,” Bri laughed. “No. I was inviting you, not her.”
Hunter furrowed his eyebrows. The Owl Lady insinuated he was not the kind of person who was fun at parties. Luz, on the other hand, was usually a ball of joy and enthusiasm. Who wouldn’t want her at a party? “Why?”
“Why?” Her friends laughed with her this time. “Uh, hello, it’s Luz-er Noceda! She’ll contaminate the party with her weirdo germs.” She let the sickly sweet smile morph into something nicer. “But you seem cool. So she’s a friend of the family, or whatever. Doesn’t mean you have to let her drag down your social life. Just ditch the freak and you can-”
Hunter didn’t remember stepping closer and looming over her. In all honesty, he didn’t even hear most of what she said over the fury ringing in his ears. But he did remember the look on Luz’s face - like she’d been punched in the gut, but had entirely expected and accepted it. The flash of surprise, the wide eyes, the mouth pressed into a thin line, the scrunched eyebrows flattening quickly to hide the brimming tears.
Luz was in the extremely small group of people he trusted. And not just with his life - with his secrets and the halfway-baked emotions about everything he couldn’t possibly sort through. She was a friend like Flapjack, and not like the Coven Heads or scouts. She was family like Belos distinctly wasn’t. She was the sister he’d never had and never thought to want.
And this girl almost made her cry.
How dare she. How dare she.
He towered over her. ‘Don’t fuck with me. Don’t fuck with me. Don’t fuck with me.’
“Don’t call her that,” he growled.
“Woah,” Roger said. In the corner of his eye, he could see him raising his hands placatingly. “We’re just fooling around, man. We’re sorry, just chill-”
“You should be,” Hunter interrupted, tilting his nose up at him. He looked back down at Bri and scoffed, like he was dismissing a little fly. Steve told him once that the older scouts and Coven Heads found it infuriating, and he hoped it translated to these kids.
Luz grabbed his arm, breaking the metaphorical spell. “Jeez, dude, you don’t have to go all GG on them.”
Hunter made a face at her. Of course she noticed. She was the only one here he’d gone full righteous-servant-of-the-Emperor on. Well, if she already caught him… “If they’re going to act foolish, then that’s how I’m going to treat them,” he said primly.
Luz rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, dude.” She cast a quick look at Bri and the others - none of whom had moved since he snapped at them - and said with false cheer, “Well, see you ‘round.”
She yanked on his arm, pointed at the sky, and announced, “To the library!”
Hunter, unsure of what to do, copied her. “Library!”
Luz yanked him down the sidewalk. The others, thank the Titan, didn’t follow. Hunter waited until they rounded the corner to let out a sigh of relief, releasing the weird mix of stress, confidence, fury, and anxiety swirling in his gut.
“You okay?” Luz asked softly.
“Are you?” Hunter countered. “You’re the one they were insulting, not me.”
Luz shrugged. “I’m used to it from them.”
Hunter raised an eyebrow. “What? Why?”
“What do you mean why?”
Oh no. Feelings. He looked away and forced his hands to remain flat at his sides.
“I just… I didn’t like you before because you were a criminal, and you were so smug about it too,” he said, nudging her shoulder. She smiled at that. “And now that I know you… it’s hard to imagine someone knowing you and not liking you. It seems impossible.”
Luz’s eyes widened. She put a hand over her heart. “Aw. That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me!”
Hunter scowled. She ruined it.
“Don’t get used to it, criminal,” he said as haughtily as he could. “I’m not saying they shouldn’t insult you, just that if they’re going to, they should at least say true things!” He tilted his nose up at her. “Like how you chew with your mouth open like a heathen.”
She gasped theatrically, splayed her arm across her face, and wilted. “Shock! Horror! You have cut into my biggest character flaw! How will I recover?”
A smile grew on his face before he could squash it.
“You will perish! Execution! Locked in the Conformatorium for the rest of your days!”
“Unless I break out!” She countered, pointing a finger in his face. “Again!”
“No! She’s escaped!” He shook his fist to the sky. “Curse you, Luz the Human!”
They both lasted a beat longer before laughing so hard they had to stop walking for a minute.
Finally, after he composed himself, Hunter managed, “You never did tell me how you did that.”
“Oh!” Luz perked up. “It was a while ago, the first time. My first day on the Boiling Isles, in fact.”
Hunter stared at her. “One day. You lasted one day before making it onto the wanted list.”
She smirked. “I’m just that good. Anyway, I guess I should start with my mom sending me off to camp…”