Archive of Our Own

The first time it happens, he doesn’t think that much about it. 

There’s no pressure upon him to present anything close to perfection anymore, but Hunter isn’t studious because he thought that Darius and Eber demanded perfect grades from him… well, at least that wasn’t the only reason, and certainly not the primary one anymore ever since they sat him down and talked to him about his tendency to overwork himself. Figures that telling them that he used to work far harder back at the coven wouldn’t go over too well, especially when he admitted some days he didn’t even sleep. He had been so proud of it too.

He winces. It was natural for him to be that misguided but it’s never a pleasant memory now that he has a wider perspective of the world. 

The point is he’s not trying to please anybody but himself this time, and while he still doesn’t put his pencil down until he has finished his homework for the day and gotten one full hour of study for his Beast keeping test next week, he hasn’t failed to take into account the occasional break to stretch his muscles and munch on the grapes Darius gave him before he went upstairs. 

Light is still dancing lazily into his room from the window, though in muted colors that let Hunter know that, if he hadn’t finished his work yet, now it would be a good moment to put it aside. He groans, stretching on his chair and leaving his worksheets on the desk before heading downstairs. 

It’s unusually quiet for this hour of the day, but that’s not too surprising. It doesn’t embarrass him to admit a good amount of the noise of the house comes from him, especially when Eber isn’t at home and Darius is left to either get his own work done or simply relax in that calm manner of his, surprisingly serene despite his lively public persona. 

He gets to the kitchen without any interruptions, already thinking about the possibility of ordering some take out if Darius isn’t up to cooking dinner tonight, and stopping in his tracks when he takes note of both of his guardians not only being at home, but in this very same room, talking in such hushed whispers that he must have been far too distracted to catch before. 

He’s not as alert as he used to be either, there’s no need to be when there aren’t enemies rounding every corner or planning to stab him in his sleep. 

And because that’s how things are now, he doesn’t think anything of it, stepping confidently into the room with his sight fixated on the apples on the counter; with all three of them here, they can probably prepare something nice for dinner, but he wants to nibble on something while they decide. 

“Hey,” He greets them, eyes on the prize and barely registering the weird jump both of them make, as if they hadn’t been aware he was there, “what are we getting all whispery about?”

He squints at the fruit platter and grabs the shiniest apple he can see, barely hesitating before taking a bite out of it. As he suspected, it turns out to be quite the juicy one, but unfortunately for him, that means part of the blood immediately splatters onto his shirt. 

“Awww, man,” perhaps he should have thought this one through a little bit better. 

He turns around, looking for something to clean himself so the blood doesn’t stain his clothes too badly and his eyes land on Darius, whose own eyes are wide and panicked, his mouth half open as if he were one of Hunter’s classmates caught on the act of cheating on a test. It’s not an usual look for him, and he recovers from it a little too slowly to pass unnoticed before handing him a napkin with a slight cough. 

“Make sure to put that on the laundry later,” He says, his expression a little too nonchalant and his tone a little too pleasant for it to be completely sincere. 

Hunter narrows his eyes. 

“Yeah, I’ll do that. So what were you talking about?” Unlike his dad, who seems to have forgotten all of his carefully studied acting classes all of a sudden, Hunter mimics an innocent and unsuspecting questioning tone perfectly as he appears to be distracted almost completely by the tedious task of soaking all the blood from his shirt with the napkin. At least by his own assessment.

“Just some work matters. Nothing that would interest you, little prince,” Darius answers smoothly.

“Mmm, is Osran still trying to get a say on the new laws?” He frowns. Ah, that did get into his wolf patch, he truly hopes it doesn’t stain. 

From the corner of his eye, he sees Eber relaxing a little too obviously, taking the out Hunter has offered. 

“ Yes. Not very clever. ”

Ah, but I am . 

Hunter nods, looking an appropriate amount of understanding before he decides he has done everything he could to rescue his shirt and looks up at their faces. They have recovered rather quickly, and perhaps it would seem like nothing for someone who doesn’t know them half as well as he does. 

He thinks about it for a moment. Maybe it’s truly nothing; both Darius and Eber were very adamant about not getting him involved in government matters anymore, and while they sure do complain about work in front of him, they never get too much into the bureaucratic details of it, lest Hunter starts coming up with ideas on his own. It stung at first.

Over time, however, he has come to admit that the amount of activities and pastimes he wishes to pursue nowadays really suit the free time he has thanks to his lack of involvement. 

It’s entirely possible they were discussing something they don’t want him to know about due to that, or perhaps it’s another delicate matter that has nothing to do with him. It’s hardly like Hunter’s nosy, and if it’s something they had deemed better to remain unknown to him, he can live with that. 

They don’t have to know every single last thing about each other to trust each other, after all. 

So he shrugs. Whatever it is, they are dealing with it together, they’ll be alright. 

“So,” He starts, ignoring how intently he can feel their eyes on him as he takes another –very careful this time–bite of his apple. “I was thinking we could make dinner together?”

The smiles he gets in response make him feel silly for worrying that something was wrong for even a second. 

The second time it happens, it becomes an oddity. 

He unceremoniously throws his backpack on the couch with a slightly over dramatic sigh, uncaring of the books spilling from it before throwing himself too and covering his face with an arm. 

The place by his side sinks in with another weight, though Hunter doesn’t move from his position. 

“ Failed your test ?”

A clank comes from the kitchen, followed by a very scandalized hiss. “Eberwolf!”

Hunter snickers, sparing a quick look to the demon by his side, who looks genuinely curious rather than malicious. 

“As if,” He snorts. “It would be embarrassing for the kid of the ex-Beast keeping Head Witch to fail his test, wouldn’t it?”

“ Wouldn’t mind ,” Eber chirps. “ Love you no matter what .”

A wave of warmth rushes to Hunter’s chest, and he scoots closer to the other, who leans against him with a soft purr and no hesitation. 

“I love you too,” the words come easily to him now, but the joy they bring him is still the same as the first time. “But I promise, I didn’t fail.”

“ Another trouble? ”

“Only that I’m tired,” He whines slightly, letting his head fall on the back of the couch a little more dramatically than strictly necessary. “My neck is never going to recover from looking down at tests all day.”

Darius clicks his tongue in amusement, coming from the kitchen with one plate in hand and an abomination trailing behind him with the other two. Hunter beams as soon as Darius sits down on the free chair and the abomination hands Eber and him their meals. Seems like it's a having lunch on the couch kind of day.  

“I thought you weren’t interested in theater?” Darius ruffles his hair, half a smile on his face before Hunter can swat him away. 

“I’m not, I’m very serious.”

If anybody asks, he would have been able to keep his face impassive and get even Darius to buy his act –he’s pretty sure he’s going to offer to help with his neck later if it’s truly sore anyway–, if it weren’t from the wonderful scent coming from the plate on his lap. He doesn’t regret breaking eye contact and breaking into a smile once he looks at it. 

“Oh! You made my favorite,” He looks at it with wonder, though not enough not to start eating as soon as he can grab the fork the abomination hands him. 

“I thought you deserved something nice for surviving your exams period,” Darius says simply, looking at him with the same smile he had the first time Hunter expressed joy at something he had made him. Some things never change, though Hunter no longer feels the need to find a way to repay him for this. 

It’s a big weight off his shoulder, to not have to second guess every kind gesture he receives, especially from his family. 

“Speaking of,” He pipes up after he has taken a few good bites of what he’s sure must be the juiciest and most flavorful dish on the Isles. “I was thinking we could go out later? It feels like forever since I haven’t been hunched over a book.”

Not that he normally minds that, but most of the time he’s reading something that he feels passionate about rather than trying his hardest not to forget the composition of sleep potions. 

He goes to take another bite of his food but stops halfway, mouth open in a way that he’s sure would make him look really funny if the other two people in the room were paying attention instead of looking panicked at each other, a whole conversation seemingly going on in their eyes before Eber turns to him with an overly apologetic look. Hunter has to admit, if only to himself, that the sauce all over their fur from sticking their face on their plate isn’t exactly helping their case here. 

“ Sorry, pup, not today. ”

Well, that’s fine and all, it’s hardly like he was overly attached to the concept of going out today since it was a spur of the moment idea, but something feels off about this. 

“Is something happening today?”

Eber doesn’t make the mistake of looking at Darius in search of help, but the hesitation on their face is more than enough. The demon isn’t one to find themself lost for words on a regular basis, after all. 

“Raine got some news about our runaway colleagues,” Darius explains. It might as well be a code for ’don’t ask any more questions’ , as both of his parents have left it very clear that while they don’t want him to be involved in government matters in most normal circumstances, when it comes to the rogue ex-Coven Heads? It’s not even a question, he’s not to know a single thing in order to keep him safe. “They need our help to check it out. It needs to be as soon as possible, you understand.”

Hunter hums in affirmation. He knows well there are no arguments to be had when it comes to this, but that doesn’t stop Darius from wincing. 

“How about we do that tomorrow? We can bring something for dinner later too, it shouldn’t take us that long,” He offers with a conciliatory tone. 

Hunter smiles. “Yeah, sure, that sounds good.”

Darius looks relieved, and even Eber sinks his face again on his plate. Soon the conversation drifts idly into more mundane matters –what else did they all do during the day, what are their plans for the weekend, etc.–, but Hunter remains pensive through it all. 

When he finally brings his backpack back to his room, he shoots Luz a quick text, mulling on his thoughts as he awaits for her answer. 

A split on responsibilities from the former rebels wouldn’t be odd, but he knows that Raine isn’t one to sit out this kind of direct action, especially not if they were the one to notice it first. That’s why it’s usually the three of them, Raine, Darius and Eberwolf, who handle any matter relating to Terra, Adrian, and Vitimir together, even if sometimes they also get some help from others. 

Regardless, once he gets a confirmation from Luz, his suspicions become stronger. 

After all, there’s no way Raine would still be going on their date with Eda this afternoon if they had something this important to do at the same time. Hell, it’s unlikely Eda wouldn’t want to participate too anyway.

It’s not decisive evidence, but it does mean his intuition was right. 

Darius and Eberwolf are lying to him. 

They don’t let a big third time occur for it to become a pattern that Hunter could notice, which is as much of a declaration of guilt as if they had actually slipped.

Ever since Hunter started living with them, they have done a good amount of emphasis on the fact that he’s still a child –well, a teenager, but that’s just semantics–, and while he understands at this point their point and where they’re coming from with that, that hardly means he hasn’t retained a good amount of the skills he acquired in his previous life style. Hunter Deamonne can acknowledge he’s a child, undeserving of all the burdens that were put on his shoulders from a young age, in the same sentence in which he can acknowledge he knows how to disarm an opponent twice his size in all of five seconds.  

Darius and Eber might think they can deceive him easily, having been covert rebels for years. Too bad for them that he used to be the Golden Guard, and he doesn’t need them to be obvious to pick up on the signs.

If he has to be honest, Hunter almost wants to ask them how is it that they lasted so long pretending to be loyal if they’re this bad at keeping secrets; in the span of a week, he has silently rounded the hallways only to peek at them huddled close together no less than six times, right before Eber’s innate sense of hearing has alerted them of his presence. So far, he has been successful in pretending he was just walking silently without any ulterior motives every single time, unaware of any clandestine conversations taking place in front of his very eyes, which is far more than what they have been able to convince him of. 

As it happens, every time he shows himself when they have been evidently trying to talk about something without making him suspicious, they have started a new topic of conversation right away, rather than continue the conversation they were having before. It’s almost painful how obvious the reason for that is. 

To their credit, they don’t act any differently with him when they’re actually interacting with him than they did before this whole thing started but Hunter can feel the shadow of doubt start creeping up on him despite himself, one inch after the other for every single time he catches his parents acting off and then pretending far too obviously that they’re not doing anything strange. 

They don’t keep secrets from each other, not like this. 

Even when the adults are dealing with something they consider inappropriate to involve Hunter in, they have been very careful so far to explain their reasoning, if not what exactly is happening, and while Hunter certainly has protested in the past, the transparency of it all has helped him accept the way things are. 

But this is different. It’s like he’s not even supposed to know that something’s wrong. He doubts it’s a jab at his intelligence, when if there’s someone who praises it more than anybody else in the world, it’s those two, but then why? What could possibly be so bad that he can’t know it?

Whatever it is, it’s having a field day with his appetite. 

He makes a face at his potato as it bleeds all over his plate, but he doesn’t stop crushing it into a paste under the watchful eyes of Ghost and Stringbean. This makes for a horribly gross lunch, but it’s not like he was planning to eat it anyway, with the way his stomach keeps growling and turning so intently that it almost resembles the awful concoction Luz and him ended up making in Potions class last period. 

“There’s no way they aren’t hiding something, right?” He stabs a star shaped piece of ham, wincing as it mixes with the horrible puree his food is slowly turning into and trying hard not to think about the affectionate note that was, against all odds, still attached to his lunch box when he picked it up from the kitchen counter this morning. “I mean, they aren't as subtle as they think they are.” 

He doesn’t look up at his friends, but he can tell they’re looking at each other, none of them even touching their own food either. He wishes they would, just because he’s having a hard time with this doesn’t mean they all have to go down with him. 

“It could be something good,” Luz pipes in, gentle and optimistic. His desire to believe her and his irritation at the apparent dismissal mix together and his stomach makes another unpleasant turn. “Mamá was really bad at pretending everything was normal when she was waiting to give Vee the adoption papers.”

Hunter grumbles, shoving a bit of the gross mixture of lunch into his mouth and instantly regretting it. At least that seems to give Gus the confidence to take a bite of his sandwich, as if he needed his permission to do that. 

“Darius already adopted me though,” His tone is petulant. He knows she didn’t mean it would be exactly the same thing, but he can’t help it. “It’s been almost a year, actually.”

Which would make him terribly excited if not for the fact that he’s starting to believe that he might have been the only one in the house for which the past year has been akin to a very pleasant dream. 

“Maybe they’re getting tired of me,” He muses out loud, and while it’s meant to be a joke, he feels his heart start racing. They have told him over and over that they’re going to want him around forever, but they said that when he had been living with them for just a couple of months? What if he has been too clingy? Too needy? He has felt so comfortable lately that it didn’t occur to him that could have been just him lowering his guard. 

He thinks back on the note on his lunch, with the hastily drawn heart on it. No less affectionate than the previous day, but Hunter knows sometimes Darius scrambles to write those, between preparing a nice lunch for him and getting ready for his own day at work. What if he has felt obligated to do this for him all this time? Hunter, after all, expressed how touching it had been for him those first days, so for all he knows, Darius has just trapped himself accidentally into this responsibility when in truth he might wish he didn’t have to do this anymore. 

He pushes his lunch box aside for the palismen to happily dig into. He doesn’t think he could physically get anything more into his stomach if he tried. 

Amity huffs and Hunter winces. Maybe he should have asked first if Ghost was even allowed to eat that, but when he looks at her, she’s not looking at her cat, but at him. 

“You can’t be serious, your dad threatened my dad over your safety last time you slept over, you know that, right?” 

Hunter makes a noncommittal sound. “So?”

“ So that’s not something someone who has gotten tired of you would do, would it?”

That made sense to him an hour ago, but now he’s not so sure, so he just shrugs, ignoring the consequent groan that earns him. “I don’t know, I can’t read their minds,” He replies haughtily, ignoring the part of his brain telling him that he sounds an awful lot like Darius right now. 

“Hunter, he always packs your lunch,” Willow points to the food currently being devoured by two palismen and sniffed by a third one, not unkindly but certainly slightly exasperated.

“He could have felt obligated to do that!”

“We saw him kiss your forehead when he dropped you off,” Gus deadpans. 

“Force of habit,” He grinds his teeth together. “Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but have you never done something nice for someone that you didn’t want to do just so they would feel better?”

It happens far less often these days, but his mind unwillingly wanders back to the old days, to Belos and all the times Hunter forced himself in his vicinity just to care for him and make him feel better, even if he was all too aware of the possibility that he would come out with another injury for his repertoire. 

Though he supposes there was an important difference from what he’s thinking now. He refuses to voice it, but it hardly matters when his friends are just as perceptive as he is. 

“Of course,” Luz says easily. “But only because I cared about them.”

Hunter lets out all the air in his lungs at once. She doesn’t need to say anything more for him to understand what she’s implying here; he’s being ridiculous and paranoid when Darius and Eberwolf have been working for an entire year to make him feel secure in his place in their family. All for him to let one little peculiarity swallow it all and spit the pieces at him in the form of his old insecurities coming back together. 

It’s not fair at all to them. 

A hand sets gently over him, and soon is followed by another three, as if they were making some kind of pact instead of just trying to comfort him about old fears coming back. The sight makes Hunter smile despite it all. 

“Just give it some time, okay?” 

“And if they really got tired of you, we can take care of that,” Amity adds, a little mischievous smile on her lips. Hunter recalls having made similar threats directed to Alador and it makes him snort. 

If nothing else, at least he still has his friends. 

And it’s a good thing he has them, because if this goes terribly wrong, he knows he’ll be able to go to them and no matter who it is, they will drop everything and anything to help him. Though he truly would prefer it if it doesn’t get to that. 

Hunter takes a deep breath, trying not to make too much noise lest Eber picks up on the sound before he even finishes preparing himself to talk to them, and then he rounds the corner, where Darius and Eber try –and fail– to look like Hunter just caught them in the middle of a casual conversation that had nothing to do with him. 

“It’s getting awfully cold out there these days, isn’t it?” Darius starts.

“Cut it out,” Hunter frowns. No matter how easily the man can make such a basic conversation starter sound like a genuinely observant statement, he’s not in the mood to deal with it. 

Darius blinks slowly. 

“Cut what out?”

Hunter makes a vague gesture toward him and Eber, whose felid eyes are focused on him with such intensity that he’s taking the little confidence Hunter had for this and twisting it over his head all over again until the words are just spilling from his lips without rhyme or reason

“This! All of this! All of these stupid conversations that you want to pretend are normal but you always change the subject when I’m around and- it’s not even something convincing! Really, are you even trying? Your acting could use some pointers,” He sees Darius opening his mouth, but he doesn’t give him the chance to interject. “And I know you weren’t going with Raine last time, they had a date with Eda, Luz told me. Something’s going on and you’re not telling me what it is. You know I’m not a baby, I can help! What’s wrong?”

The last of his words seems to seal shut all the noises in the room. For several seconds, only being able to hear his ragged breath and how shaken he sounds for something this ridiculous, he almost wonders if time has stopped. 

Eber recovers first. 

“ Winter soon. Messy time for all ,” They say, as if that magically explained everything that Hunter has been worrying about. 

“But that’s not it!” He snaps back. “You’re hiding something from me! Why?”

Darius takes a step toward him, offering his hands in conciliation. Hunter hates how much he wants to take them; this isn’t about him needing comfort, even if he really wants it. 

“Hunter… nothing is wrong, I promise,” He sounds sincere. Earnest. Everything Hunter knows him to be but that all of these days observing them both have covered in multiple layers of doubt. “Eber and I just have a lot in our heads. If anything serious ever came up we would tell you, you have nothing to worry about.”

He doesn’t drop his hands, no matter how many seconds pass without Hunter taking them. It’s exactly the same thing he does whenever he’s offering him comfort after a nightmare or after a particularly bad memory resurfaces. Gentle, patient, parental. 

Hunter’s shoulders slump. 

“You promise? You promise that nothing’s wrong?”

Darius smiles, Eber already nodding by his side before he even says anything. 

“I promise, my little prince. If something truly awful were to happen, I wouldn’t deprive you of the chance to brace yourself for it,” All the tension is gone from his body the moment Hunter takes his hands, immediately starting to rub circles on the back of them. “Although if that were the case, you know we would rather be preparing together, right?”

Hunter nods slowly, and his dad looks pleased. 

“ Trust us, cub .”

Hunter nods again, allowing himself to lose some of the nervous energy he was holding for this confrontation, but as he sees his guardians start to fret around, suggesting ordering some take out and watching a movie on the couch –perhaps to prove just how normal things are at the moment–, he can’t help but harbor a tiny bit of hesitation still in his chest. 

He wants to believe them, it’s true they have never lied to him unless necessary and he can’t see what kind of situation could make this necessary, so by all means their statements should ring true. 

He wants to believe them as badly as he wanted to believe they meant their care, more than a year ago when they promised he didn’t have to be alone anymore. 

He wants to believe them. 

But he doesn’t. 

To their absolute credit, Hunter doesn’t catch them whispering like that anymore. 

He feels guilty about even doubting it so much he even needed proof, but when they say that there are matters they have to attend to with Raine, one quick text to Luz seems to prove the veracity of it. No more lies. 

It’s not like that happens more than once in the following week anyway, and that isn’t rare as far as that kind of meetings go; there are plenty of matters that involve the previous rebels in ways no others have enough jurisdiction to handle. Not even Hunter, regardless of how much he was actually involved in the internal workings of the Emperor’s Coven back then. 

He has made his peace with that. Truly, he has. But not being included in that isn’t what’s bothering this time, even if the feeling that something more is going on is the same. If not something that puts his guardians in danger, then something that they want to keep from him for another reason, though it’s hard to guess what that could be. 

Because here’s the thing; despite Hunter not saying anything about his suspicions that after one long year living with one another, the adults of the house might have gotten fed up with him and not want such a hassle being around them anymore, they must have seen it clear in his eyes when he confronted them. That has to be the reason why they’re making a point to be around him even more these days, which is saying something since they were never exactly the type to leave him to make himself company, not like he usually had to back at the castle. 

In fact, you would think Hunter is the one being suspicious by the way they’re acting. 

Every time Hunter tells them he’s going out to hang out with his friends or that he’s staying late at school for practice or even just to check out something happening in town, Darius and Eber remain silent for a second too long before continuing with the usual routine of telling him to have fun and take care. He’s almost sure he caught them looking at each other in complicity, but the look was gone so fast that he couldn’t prove to himself that he had actually seen it. 

But that’s not all, no. 

The real oddity begins when he’s back at home. 

They always seem to have some kind of activity ready for them to spend time together, as if they were trying to overcompensate for something bad they’ve done –the first time, admittedly, Hunter thought they might have accidentally set his books on fire or something equally as dramatic, but once he was back in his room, he couldn’t even find evidence that someone had been in there–, except the only thing in common those occasions seem to have are that Hunter has been out of the house. 

Hunter is good at finding patterns and figuring out suspicious behavior, especially coming from his parents, given how long he has been living with them already, but despite all of his best efforts, it feels more like they miss him when he’s out of the house rather than them having some kind of secret agenda he’s not noticing. 

Still, he perseveres. 

“Oh, by the way, have you seen my orange sweater?” He asks the day after he went to watch a movie with his friends in the Human Realm, face scrunched in concentration as he vigorously mixes the batter of the cupcakes Darius and him are preparing. Perhaps too vigorously because some of it flies directly into his dad’s pristine shirt. “Whoops.”

Darius huffs softly, attempting rather lazily to remove the mess with a rag while he continues reading through the recipe they’re following from the book on the counter. “Mmm, I don’t think I’ve seen it in my room, but you can check if you left it there later.”

Hunter squints, but there wasn’t a single second of a nervous reaction in the other’s behavior, no reason to suspect he’s been doing anything suspicious that could make him nervous at the mere mention of something being out of place. 

He deflates a little. “Okay.”

“What frosting should we do for these? Maybe you know some interesting flavors from the Human Realm?” Darius asks suddenly, still not looking at him but at the book. “We could get the ingredients for that next time.”

“Uh… anything is fine really.” Now who’s the one caught off guard. “Well, we once made a cake out of bananas and some leaves and gum and rocks we found… that was a good day. I think I prefer the sweets from here though. Goreberries are… really good.”

It’s not exactly his preferred flavor of all time, but he does have a soft spot for it, especially now that he can taste it without the waves of guilt it used to cause him even just a couple of months ago. Darius looks at him knowingly. 

“We’ll get some for next time, dear” He promises. 

Hunter smiles, and doesn’t think about any secret agendas for the rest of the day. 

It’s right back on his mind, however, as his fingers caress the spine of each book in the bookshop next time they’re in town.

“Do you think they have any books on grimwalkers?” He asks softly, turning around only to find Eber looking half bored at the displayed books on Beastkeeping –surely all things he already knows– and Darius reading the back of a book which name he can’t see from where he’s standing. 

They both are quick on refocusing their attention to him when he speaks. 

“ Don’t think so, pup .”

“I would have picked it up already if they had,” Darius shrugs, but the way he smiles at him is gentle, up until he wrinkles his nose in distaste. “Although I doubt they would have anything of interest here.”

Hunter knows he’s right. Most of the books that include any information on grimwalkers and remained part of the public domain under Belos’ reign merely treat the subject as some sort of urban legend at best, filling the pages dedicated to the subject with rumors and superstitions. 

In truth, he’s not truly interested in that right now, and while it seems like such an unlikely possibility, it did cross his mind that his parents might be acting weird because they aren’t feeling all that comfortable currently with his grimwalker quirks, and since they’re at a bookshop… 

Once again no guilt betrays a deceit from their part and so Hunter lets out a sigh and drops the topic. They probably wouldn’t be as obvious as to do that right on his face anyway, right? 

Maybe concerned that he’s feeling down once again about the lack of information on himself, Darius and Eber keep a close eye on all the books he picks up through the rest of their visit, even –or perhaps especially– when he puts them down. It’s hardly like he’s not going to get another chance to come back for the ones he was interested in anyway.

Hunter doesn’t manage to catch them off guard either while they watch a documentary on Boiling Isles animals while snuggling on the couch, half because he gets distracted marveling at the direwolves to Eber’s clear delight, and half because there truly doesn’t seem to be anything to find. Nothing comes either from the time Darius and Eber start truly acting like old people and discussing old music they used to listen to at parties when they were younger, which seemed rather suspicious but he wouldn’t put it past them to simply get nostalgic.

In sum, it’s all completely normal. Too normal. Truthfully, Hunter wouldn’t even be suspecting them now if it weren’t because the pattern of his own hangouts followed immediately by them wanting to do something with him, as if they were doing it on purpose.

He hates to admit it, but it does reassure him at least that they don’t seem to want to get rid of him, as loving as ever around him and maybe even a little more than usual. What he can’t understand is why . 

It doesn’t take long to reach the inevitable conclusion: He has to back them up into a corner. 

“Hey, dad? Are you busy?” He pops his head into the man’s room. Darius smiles, putting a bookmark on the book he was reading and immediately sitting up to give him all his attention, like Hunter knew he would. 

Over time, he has gotten more and more used to that, but he can admit it still makes him smile back on reflex. 

“Never for you, little wolf,” Darius says playfully, though Hunter knows he means it, and beckons him closer with a hand. “What did you need?”

He takes a moment to consider his words carefully as he sits on the edge of the bed, letting himself lean against Darius as soon as the other’s hand is on his hair. It would be ideal if Eber was around too, but it’s hardly like they aren’t going to find out, so it’s alright if he says it now. 

“Skara and Viney are planning a sleepover.”

Darius hums thoughtfully.

“You know you don’t have to ask me for permission for that,” He ruffles his hair and Hunter groans softly, not even trying to move away to avoid it. “What day is it?” 

And here comes the important part. 

He shrugs. “They said we could have it next wednesday or on saturday, either of those was fine, but I wasn’t sure if we had something planned for the weekend, so I told them I’d let them know.”

Entirely believable for him; after all, Darius knows how much he’s come to enjoy having family plans now that he actually has a family, even if most of his anxiety about enjoying what he gets before they ‘get bored of him’ is long gone by now. 

He feels the hand on his head tensing for a moment. It’s only a split of a second, but Hunter prides himself in being really good at reading body language. 

’Got you’.

Darius clears his throat. “There’s nothing scheduled for the weekend, and you don’t have classes to worry about the next day if you do it then, so that should work fine,” He says smoothly, without missing a beat. 

Hunter smiles. 

His dad is good , he has to admit that. He did manage to not let anything spill back when they were both at the coven, trying to do his best to become a safe space for Hunter and not even revealing the amount of distaste he felt whenever he expressed his loyalty to Belos. In fact, Darius not only managed that, but nobody even suspected him until the Day of Unity itself. He’s a good liar. 

Unfortunately for him, Hunter is good at spotting liars. 

He got on the trail Darius and Eber left behind once and he can do it again.

It all would be a little more satisfactory, however, if his friends weren’t looking at him with such doubt.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Skara asks, such genuine concern in her voice that he would appreciate a little more if he wasn’t feeling a little peeved. She seems to think he’s about to make a fool out of himself. “We can still have an actual sleepover. My mom said it was fine if you wanted to stay.”

“Yes, I’m sure,” He lets out forcefully. “I’m hardly going to get an opportunity this good any time soon, you know?”

“Why are you so convinced they’re doing something suspicious right now again?” Viney asks, before exchanging a look of understanding with the other girl. 

Hunter gesticulates wildly at them.

“Because of that!”

“Huh, because of… us?”

“No! Not you, that… thing you were doing! Looking at each other like you were saying ‘oh, look, Hunter’s lost it again’ with your eyes! Like you’re having a whole conversation with each other that you don’t want me to know! Darius and Eber have been doing it a lot lately.”

“Hunter,” Viney says softly, though looking at the same time like she wants to grab him by the shoulders and shake him around a little. That’s yet another reason not to stay, she’s very well capable of doing that if she gets exasperated with him, he knows from experience. “Has it occurred to you that all parents do that? It’s like… protocol for whenever they think you’re being a dumb kid and they don’t want to discuss it to your face.”

She doesn’t look impressed by the huff that leaves his mouth at that, but he can’t help it. 

“Maybe most parents, but not Darius and Eber,” He can tell he’s not convincing them but if not for them, he has to say this for himself. “They promised me, no secrets between us.”

He tries to convince himself that the reason why his friends stay silent for so long after his statement is because they’re impressed with the closeness he has with his family, not because his voice cracked in the middle of the sentence. 

That has to be why they sound so gentle too, because they’re in awe. 

“Then… why would they be doing something behind your back?”

“I don’t know! That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” He pulls at his hair with a sigh bubbling in his lips until he feels a sting. It’s not that they don’t want him anymore, he has gathered that much, but what could cause them to act so secretive that they can’t even admit they’re hiding something from him?

Thinking about it isn’t going to solve the mystery. He needs to focus. 

“Well, if you change your mind, you can always come back here. Or if you just want to come back, really” Because something about his plan went wrong. It’s not said but Hunter doesn’t need them to spell it out to him to know.

Despite himself, his shoulders drop slightly. 

“Thank you. I’ll consider that.”

The warm smiles directed at him almost make him want to stay here with them, but if he wants to catch his parents with the metaphorical hand on the bag, he has to hurry before nightfall. 

He accepts the good luck his friends send his way, bows politely at Skara’s parents on his way to the door and then he’s walking through town with his hood pulled up, trying to look inconspicuous in case someone around recognizes him and alerts Darius and Eber of his upcoming presence. 

Something else being involved in the scheme that would imply this is a bigger deal than he wants to believe but… he shuffles uncomfortably, turning his head to the side so his hood will conceal his face as a person passes him by on the street. He’s gone this far though, there’s no point in denying how he can’t simply let the matter go now. He needs to know, and if he has to use his old skills to trail criminals around, then he will. A part of his brain, the one that isn’t crawling with a million thoughts that have to frequently be put into a conscious halt to concentrate, can appreciate the irony of the last time he ever trailed someone and what he’s doing this time. 

The road he follows is familiar, but the pressure on his chest and the shortness of breath aren’t. Not anymore. He tells himself it’s just him being careful. His hands tingle with the desire to hold onto something as the road gets more desolate, people and houses less frequent. But he’s not about to engage into a fight, he’s going to see his parents. There’s no need to be nervous. Or he hopes so, at least. 

Far sooner than he’s ready for, his house comes into view. 

It almost feels like he isn’t supposed to be here, despite it being his house. 

He gulps, approaching the back door carefully with the cover of the lazy sunset. The light is on. Are they having an early dinner? Despite himself, he feels a spark of fond amusement; they’re really such old people. 

The joy doesn’t last long with his hands all clammy with sweat. He takes a deep breath as he wipes them on his pants. Is this how door-to-door salesmen feel like when they try coming to their house?

He lets the air out…

… And he slams the door open. 

“AHA! I knew you were doing some… thing… huh?”

The first thing his eyes register is that the room is crowded . Though on a second look, that’s not people he’s looking at. 

A couple of huge plushies sit at the dinner table as if he suddenly had stumbled into a bigger version of a child’s tea party. Though he has to admit his heart starts racing even more when he realizes those are direwolf plushies. There’s a couple of bags over the table and, notably, a cake. 

Darius and Eber’s smiling faces stare back at him. 

“Surprise, little prince.”

“ Surprise! ”

He blinks. 

“It’s… not my birthday?” And he’s pretty sure of that too. As he didn’t want anything to do with the records of the day he was created, everyone had been gracious enough to let him pick his own –the day in which he’d met Flapjack–, and while he knows his parents love to go all out when it comes to celebrating, the day has already passed. By months, even. 

Frankly, it’s hard to concentrate on what they could mean when he can practically feel all the nervous energy he had gathered slipping out of him like a balloon deflating after it’s been pinched. Not that he ever tried that or anything.

Darius snorts, though Hunter notes his lips seem a bit wobbly. 

“No, it’s not, this isn’t for that,” Alright so at least he hasn’t stumbled upon some weird alternative universe. “But there is a special reason for it.”

Hunter makes the calculations in his head. It’s not his birthday, and it certainly isn’t Darius or Eber’s birthdays, though he would find it weirder if the date coincided with those, because why on the Realms would they be trying to surprise him if that were the case? Besides, he has those memorized. They’re not close to any holidays. There’s nothing that could possibly be going on today. 

He grabs onto the frame of the door. 

“It’s… huh, saturday?”

Darius pushes Eber gently. 

“I told you we should have been more clear.”

“ Wouldn’t have been surprise! ”

Hunter shakes his head. 

“I’m sorry, what’s going on? I came here to catch you.”

“Catch us doing what?”

He flips his hand around, as if that truly conveys what he’s trying to say. “I don’t know! Whatever it is you’ve been doing these past weeks!”

“ Were planning for this .”

“Aha! So you were doing something behind my back!” He can admit, in the privacy of his own mind, that the way he’s pointing his finger from one to the other repeatedly might be a little too dramatic, but this is the only thing he feels he has control of at this moment. 

“Yes,” Darius smiles at him. Apologetically, but not enough. 

“So you lied to me,” He presses his lips together. 

Darius looks at Eber with a look that seems to scream ‘I told you so’.

“ We didn’t ,” Eber stresses, sounding like he has said this a million times already. 

“You told me you weren’t hiding anything from me!”

“We told you that there was nothing wrong, not that we weren’t hiding anything,” Darius says, sounding a bit unsure of his own argument. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry that we had to lie to you.”

Darius sounds sincere, but it’s hard to know what to make of it when he’s still not sure about what’s going on. He’s been standing on the doorway long enough though, and the soft breeze blowing on his back is starting to make him feel cold even through his hood, so he takes a couple of steps inside and closes the door behind. 

“Alright…” He says, feeling proud of how steady his voice sounds, “then why did you?”

“We were trying to keep this a surprise from you.”

“This being…?”

“ Party. For you .”

“Well, that’s nice and all, but… why?” Truthfully, he feels more confused than hurt. Though admittedly it’s a bit hard to feel hurt when he can see the goreberries on top of the frosting of the cake even from here.”

“What else would it be for?” Darius asks, sounding still like he’s one second away from losing his composure. That makes two of them. “The day of your adoption, of course.”

“That’s… not today though,” He’s almost offended. He doesn’t doubt that the day is just as special to them as it is to him, but seriously? They can’t even remember  the exact date it happened?

“We know,” Darius assures him. “But if we tried to surprise you on the actual day, you would have undoubtedly known, wouldn’t you?” 

He would have, but he still raises an eyebrow. 

Darius sighs. 

“Dearest, I don’t think you understand how hard it is to surprise a kid with instincts like yours,” He says fondly. “Do you really think we didn’t know you noticed every time we were trying to plan this party?”

Now that’s news to him. 

“You did?”

“ Obviously. Wouldn’t have done this today if not .”

“Huh… I guess you did.”

“ Darius almost snitches though. ”

The ears of the man in question seem to drop an inch of embarrassment. 

“I didn’t want you to feel like we didn’t love you anymore if you thought we were being distant. That’s why we made a point to spend more time around you as well, as I’m sure you noticed.”

“ And for intel! ”

Darius pinches the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “That too, but did you really have to say it now?”

Eber shrugs. 

“Oh,” Hunter walks closer to the table, watching everything around carefully, his head spinning a little with all the revelations. “So the direwolves and the goreberries were on purpose.”

Eber puffs out their chest in pride. 

“ Of course !”

Hunter nods slowly, sitting on the first available chair he sees. One of the plushies seems to be practically smiling at him from the other side of the table. 

“I see,” He says. 

It’s obvious that the duo was expecting him to have more of a reaction to this, because the longer he spends without speaking, the more they seem to shuffle awkwardly in place. He even sees them exchanging one of those looks of theirs from the corner of his eye, though the image soon turns blurry. 

He doesn’t realize he’s crying until the tears start falling into the hands he has lying on his lap. 

“Hunter?”

“ Cub? ”

He feels Eber nuzzling his arm softly, and he doesn’t even have to look to know Darius is standing by his side too now. The hand that lands gently on his hair merely confirms his suspicions. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” He hurries to say, before they start feeling guilty or, well, guiltier about this. “It’s just… you really knew how I was going to react, didn’t you?”

“ Sort of, ” Eber chirps, sounding the most ashamed he has the entire conversation. “ Know you well .”

Hunter sniffles, nodding while he tries to wipe his eyes with the back of his hand. 

“It was a weird reaction,” He states softly. “I came back home thinking I would find you doing something suspicious and I would make you have to come clean to me. Who does that?”

“You thought we were hiding something important from you,” Darius gets closer and his hand moves from his head to his back, rubbing it gently in a half hug. “We figured you would be suspicious. You are not weird.”

Hunter chuckles. 

“No, it was weird. But you don’t care.”

“Well… no,” The man sounds confused, and the sight makes Hunter smile a little. “We would rather have trust between us, but there’s nothing wrong with you, little wolf.”

“You love me anyway.”

“ We do. ”

He takes a deep, watery breath. 

“I love you too,” He blinks hard to free his eyes from tears for the moment being, so he can look at them properly, hoping that look conveys how deeply he means this feeling.

After so much time together as a family, he’s not truly worried about it. 

“Now… what’s all of this?” He reaches out with his arm for the nearest plushie, unable to hide the way the sight of it makes him smile. It doesn’t have Darius’ craftsmanship, so it seems to have been bought, but that’s not a problem. He suspects Eber was the one who got these for him. 

The demon in question purrs, while Darius looks like a weight has been taken off his shoulders.

“Are you hungry? We can eat or open your gifts first, whatever you want,” Even through tears, Hunter can tell Darius is giving him one of those wide smiles of his, those that seem to come so naturally whenever they’re all together. 

The answer was already on the tip of his tongue before he finished his question, and it feels only right to let it out now. 

“I think I want to stay right here. Forever, if that’s okay.”

He’s swept into a tight hug, and he can feel lips on his hair as his dad kisses the top of his head. 

“As long as you want.”

He closes his eyes with a content smile.

Eber will grow impatient soon and start poking at his ribs to make him laugh, insistent on him actually making a choice. Hunter will get a chance to appreciate the work his family put on to make everything special for him. There will probably be a lot of tears, more than the ones still trailing down his cheeks slowly. He knows he’ll go to sleep feeling happy and loved, and the most relaxed he has been in weeks.

He’s looking forward to it all. 

But for now, he’s perfectly happy right where he is.