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Vee set a heavy looking box down on the circular table in the Noceda Household’s kitchen, and it seemed everyone was as confused as the other, watching as she smiled her usual wide smile, before sitting in between Amity and Gus.
Willow, getting automatically dragged from the conversation she’d been having with Hunter by the thump! the box made, read the side of it. “…Jenga…?” She muttered, mostly to herself, but looked between the group for confirmation.
Vee let out a small laugh, opening the box from the top and either ignoring or not noticing the confused looks she gained from those around her. “Yeah! I found it on Camila’s shelf a while back, and she showed me how to play it!” The basilisk explained, pulling out a slip of cardboard with numerous long wooden blocks balancing on it.
Luz looked up, having not been paying attention, her eyes being set on the egg in her lap. “Oh, I remember that game.” She stated, her voice the usual tone it had been the past month. She put her phone on the table infront of her, watching Vee cheerfully set up the game, and trying to ignore the nervous glances she kept getting from the blonde sat next to her.
Hunter kept looking at her like that, and she wasn’t all together sure as to why. He’d never been particularly good at reading people, so his sudden adaptation to reading her every move was slightly alarming, to say the least. And his look wasn’t one filled with sympathy either. It was more so one of concern, about something that he couldn’t seem to place for himself, which only seemed to make his situation worse for himself.
Vee slid the cardboard from underneath the game, revealing a full stack of those blocks, laying in three-by-three rows in opposite directions from each other. Gus gave a quiet round-of-applause to her succession, his eyes wide in slight awe.
The shapeshifter, since having shifted into her human disguise in order to sit on the chair properly, explained the rules, answering some questions when needed, but for the most part simply explaining the basics. When everyone agreed it made sense, they began the game.
It started with Vee, and the group went clockwise, meaning that Gus went after her, pushing a block that he found moved with a focused glare and placing it alongside hers at the top with a soft and victorious smile, which was quickly shot down when she reminded him he had to do it again many other times.
Willow played next, pushing a middle piece closer to the bottom of the stacks and placing it carefully alongside Gus’, before nudging Hunter, who was still shooting Luz looks filled with an emotion no one could really place.
He pushed a piece out without much thought, hesitating when he realised that the row was filled, and Willow gestured for him to pass her the block, which she placed facing in the opposite direction. He gave her a soft smile, then went straight back to his cautious glances at Luz.
The mentioned dragged a block from a side, and put it on top, going right back to gently stroking the egg with a hand, the other holding her head up on her palm.
Amity’s go passed without much chaos, and the group continued, repeating the pattern of go’s.
After the second or third time around, and whilst Vee was trying to explain to Gus that he couldn’t just take a piece from the top and put it back where he found it, to no avail, Hunter turned to face Luz, who’s eyes were still glued to the top of the egg with a blank expression. The blonde watched her carefully, then, making sure everyone was distracted enough by Gus’ confusion, spoke quietly in her direction.
“What’s up?” He asked carefully, eyes fixed on the Jenga tower, as if to not seem intimidating.
The human girl glanced up briefly, gathering that he’d spoken to her, then quickly went back to distracting herself with gentle pats on the top of the wood. “Nothing.” She answered quietly, her tone of voice still the same.
Both stayed silent for a moment after that, the others having finished their debate and continuing on. Amity went after the pair of quiet teens, watching with slightly wide eyes as the tower shook gently with the removal of another block. Vee gave a quiet laugh, as she took her next turn.
When the group was distracted yet again by trying to find a piece Willow could pull that actually moved, Hunter decided to try again, his voice quieter than it was prior.
“You sure?”
Luz simply hummed, not even bothering to look up this time, and instead just continuing to rub the egg.
“No you’re not.”
This was the phrase that forced Luz to involuntarily glance up at the boy next to her, his muttered words coming out softly. Her glance gave her all she needed to know.
Hunter’s head was down, and he was running his thumbs past eachother in his lap, eyes solely focused on the movement of them. He wasn’t even trying to act inconspicuous anymore, not seeming to care if he made it clear to everyone in the room that something was bugging him. If it was anyone else, Luz would’ve assumed they were bluffing to get her to talk, but this was Hunter. If there was one thing they knew about the ex-guard, it was that his ability to use sarcasm and simply lie were two skills he was lacking in substantially. The guy couldn’t bluff to save his life.
So seeing that look on his face wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
Willow gently elbowed him, giving him a sympathetic look, to which he quickly shook it off (if there was one thing Luz could give him credit for, it was how quickly he could switch between moods, fake or not), took another piece with surprising ease, before looking at Luz, that softness from earlier more prominent in the look.
Once Luz’s turn was up, she turned back to her friend, who was clearly trying to make his fidgeting less obvious, having pushed his hands slightly under the table.
It took her a slow moment to realise why he was so nervous. So worried about her hiding things from him. Hunter had been lied to his whole life, hadn’t he? All because the only family he thought he had lied to him about everything. Who he was, who he was supposed to be, and now she was practically doing the same thing! Refusing to tell him things, harbouring information that he might consider important, it was all the same. They’d both been in Belos’ mind together, so the feeling of distrust after everything…
She felt awful.
And so, whilst Vee was busy trying to give Amity advice to take a piece from one of the top few layers, with Gus’ inputs of how ‘unfair’ the whole ordeal was, Luz turned to face the blonde.
“…They’re all gonna hate me.” She muttered carefully, arms crossing as she rubbed them gently, slumped in her chair.
Hunter instantly heard her speak, swivelling his head to face her, eyes slightly wide at her sudden speech. He didn’t question it, however. They’ve had this conversation numerous times before, so her words weren’t anything new.
But maybe they could make the outcome of this one a little bit better.
With a sigh, Hunter began to talk, trying to keep his voice at the same level as hers. “I don’t know why you keep saying that.” He answered softly.
Luz simply looked up at him, eyes slightly narrowed, as if offended by his comment. She ceased her stroking of the palisman, her look shifting into that of a slight glare.
Hunter instantly rushed to correct himself, with a slight wave of his hands from their place on his lap. “I- I didn’t mean it in a bad way-!” He stuttered out, voice jumping in volume more than he would’ve liked it to. When he received no extra glances from the others, who all seemed to be hyping Willow up, as the plant witch looked stressed at the lack of moveable pieces, he gave another quiet sigh.
Luz’s glare didn’t lessen, her eyes meeting his, and he couldn’t seem to bring himself to avert his own. After a moment of uncomfortable staring, Hunter took another piece with less ease than previous, an astonished ‘how?!’ from the illusionist of the group, and a mutter of ‘experience’ from the blonde, and put it in it’s place. The human did the same after a moment of guidance from her girlfriend, before the gaze returned, though it didn’t seem as harsh this time.
“…My point is,” He tried again, hands going straight back to fiddling. “I don’t understand why you’re beating yourself up about it.”
When he didn’t gain a response, Hunter simply sighed yet again, before leaning back in his chair.
“Look, it’s not-“
“Why are you beating yourself up?”
The sudden question snapped the ex-guard out of his spiral, as he glanced at her with cautious eyes. Luz’s hands were back on the palisman, as she traced small glyph patterns on the top with her finger.
“What do you mean?” He questioned, voice ever-so-slightly shaky.
“You know what I mean, Hunter.” She answered vaguely, not moving any part of her body to even bother to make it seem like the pair were talking.
The mentioned went quiet, eyes shifting back to the game at hand, to which Gus was laughing about it ‘not being that easy’ to Vee, who was visually struggling to find a piece that was willing to move without toppling the tower. He smiled softly at the banter, almost wishing he could be a part of it.
“I know you’re still struggling with the fact you’re a-” Luz started, turning to carefully look up at him with exhausted eyes. He instantly gave her a worried glance, causing her to leave the words unsaid, though both knew where the conversation was going. “…And with everything that happened.”
That part he wasn’t used to, the mention of anything other than him being that thing wasn’t something they usually got into talking about. These types of conversations usually included the mentions of The Collector and Grimwalkers and that was that, but now…?
“What?” Hunter practically whispered, voice as low as he could make it.
Luz gave him a knowing look, but what exactly she knew, he wasn’t really sure. Spotting his confusion, she gently rolled her eyes, before starting to list things of on her hands, both of them staying below the table, so that no one could see her.
“The nightmares, the over-analysing, the scavenging,” She tapped her finger to her hand everything she listed, her eyes filled with something he couldn’t quite describe. “Heck, Mamá tells me about these things, Hunter.”
With another piece taken from him, with another surprised noise from Gus, and as Luz followed his steps in taking one from the layer above, the pair got back to their conversation, one of which Hunter was really willing to just end.
“She’s told me about what you’ve been doing. The times she’s found you in the hall, sobbing into your knees from fear of something that you made up in your own head,” She continued, voice still quiet, but her reasoning seemed a lot less filtered than prior. “The times it’s taken you numerous minutes to initiate a conversation because of how long you spend making sure you’re safe in a place you feel like you can’t trust.” A groan shot up from Gus at the other end of the table, seemingly making it evident that it was his turn. That only seemed to push Luz further into her debate. “And all of the food, and the bandages and everything else you’ve taken from places around the house, or even stores you’ve somehow got access to, and have hidden down in the basement.” Hunter visually tensed at that one, his breath hitching. “Gus told me about that, and that you won’t tell him why you do it.” She seemed to finally finish, giving a sigh as she leaned back. “I’m not looking for answers, Hunter. I’m just asking you to stop berating me about something when you’re doing the same to yourself.”
The silence that followed was deafening, Luz’s final words falling on deaf ears as Hunter processed the conversation that seemed to have turned very quickly from that of a regular discussion to something that felt similar to a lecture.
He felt a hand gently squeeze his own, looking over as he noticed Willow giving him the same expression as before, before gesturing with her head to the wobbling Jenga stack. He paused for a minute, feeling her gently tap the breathing pattern he was so used to at this point onto his hand, before reaching over to take a piece from nearer to the top, trying to ignore how the pile jolted at his movement. It didn’t topple, staying upright just barely.
Luz did the same with a bit of prompting from Amity, and the game continued, the previously chatting pair remaining quiet for a moment.
Surprisingly, it was Hunter who broke the silence between them.
“…The nightmares have been happening for years. They’re not anything new. The watching… it’s automatic, and…” Luz looked up at him carefully, listening to his words with genuine curiosity. “…I really don’t want to talk about that last part.” He held up a hand, knowing her well enough to tell an apology would follow. “But they won’t hate you. They… If- If it hadn’t been you, it would’ve been someone else. Belos tricked you. That’s what he does, he tricks people. He tricked me, and- and he tricked you. That won’t make them hate you, Luz.” He muttered, squeezing the material of his trousers with a hand as he spoke.
She went quiet for a moment, simply watching as Amity’s hand hovered around the stack as though it were hot metal. Then, with a soft smile, the human started to speak again.
“They won’t hate you, either.” She started, holding up a hand, the opposite to the one Hunter had moved, to tell the blonde to be quiet as he tried to protest. “You’ve proved to us all by now that those stereotypes about Grimwalkers are absolute lies. You’ve saved us more times then I can count at this point. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a witch. Heck,” She gave a soft laugh, pointing to herself. “I’m not a witch, and look where that got us.”
The pair both smiled at that, giving a collective cheer with the rest of the group when Amity finally pulled a block out without a collapse. When the mutter died down, Luz smiled again, wrapping the egg up, and shuffling her chair far enough back to put it on a kitchen counter. Hunter took this as a good sign, as she pushed the seat back in, and turned to him.
“I’m… sorry for not talking.” Luz apologised, with a slightly ashamed frown. “It’s just… kinda…”
“Hard.” Hunter finished with a nod. “To talk about things when you blame yourself.”
The human nodded, watching cautiously as Vee slowly slid out another brick, letting out a breath she’d been holding for a while when the tower moved, but didn’t fall.
“It’s not your fault we’re here.” Hunter tried to wrap up the conversation, turning to Luz.
“It’s not your fault about the Day Of Unity.” She nodded, smiling softly.
“But I-”
“End of debate.” Luz cut him off, giving him a quiet high five under the table with a smirk, which he instantly returned.
There was a surprisingly loud crash! as the Jenga pile went crashing to the ground, Gus looking frustrated with a piece in his hand, pouting slightly at the pile of wooden blocks.
“I am so done with this game.” He muttered, audibly through gritted teeth.
“I think you’re just a sore loser, Gus.” Amity commented with a vague wave of her hand.
“Talk again, Lavender, and I will pelt this block at your face.” Gus said through his pout, spinning a blue spell circle before Willow very obviously grabbed his wrist through fits of giggles.
The group simply laughed through it, ignoring Gus’ calls of protest.
He held a piece in the air. “I hereby challenge the Hexsquad – and Vee, no offence, Vee – to a rematch of Jenga!” He moved to stand on the chair, which Willow, again, gently tugged him back down.
With a drowned out mutter of ‘none taken’ from a grinning basilisk, the group cheered a yes, as Gus thrusted the blocks towards Vee for her to reset the tower.
Hunter sat with a slight expression of surprise on his face, unnoticed by most on the table. All but Luz, who joke-punched him with a smile.
“Here that, Hunter? You’re one of us now.” She said at regular volume, smirking full force at his confusion.
“Yeah.” He muttered through held-back tears. Luz simply wrapped her arm around his shoulder, gently pulling him closer to her.
“You have us now, Hunter, and nothing’s gonna change that.” She whispered softly, her voice similar to the smiley tone the group was used to.
“…Same for you there, Luz.”