These Days
With a sudden realization, Darius shot up. Sunlight was leaking through the window. Darius had overslept. He threw off the covers and pushed himself up. Eber was missing, but an indent of where they had been sleeping was apparent. The man couldn’t help but rub his eyes as he left the bedroom.
The house wasn’t empty. Chatter could be heard omitting from the living room. “Hunter?” Darius called out. It sounded like his voice, but he can never be too sure. The rebellion did garner him some enemies.
“Hi, Darius.” Hunter said, quietly. He was seated on the couch, criss-crossed. Eber was next to him, on the other side. The two seemed to have been having a conversation.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Darius apologized promptly. “But, where were you last night? I was worried sick. You cannot leave without permission.” He reprimanded the teen. Waving his finger around for an added effect.
“Where’s John? I’m shocked you even noticed I was gone with him here.” Hunter rolled his eyes. Darius was at a loss of words. His mouth simply hung open. “Hm?”
“Okay, you don’t get to ‘hm?’ me mister.” Darius groaned. “He’s not here. He will not be here. He’s staying with Edalyn.” Hunter didn’t look convinced. Acting as if John would jump out of a closet or something nonsensical like that. “Hunter, I know you’re mad. I wasn’t being a good parent.”
“No! You weren’t!” Hunter snapped back. “You haven’t been a good parent! Were you ever even a good parent? Was I simply blinded by the fancy decorations you put up!?”
“Calm down.” Darius instructed. “I know you have a lot of-“
“Shut up!” Hunter screamed. “Shut up! Stop talking. Stop acting like you know me! You don’t know me! You don’t love me, and you sure as hell don’t care about me!” Darius didn’t reply, simply letting the boy yell it out. “And, and…and I just feel like you’re trying to fill the void that John left, with me.” The older man sat down on the couch. Eber grumbled, but reluctantly made room.
“I was a dick.” Darius stated. “I know that for a fact. But for titans sake! You and John are definitely not on the same level.” He took a deep breath, noticing the tears whelming up around his eyes. “I love you. I will always love you.”
“Mhm.” Hunter muttered, not truly believing him. “Whatever you say.”
Darius continued on. Ignore the digs that Hunter kept making towards him. “I never got to fully process John’s death.” He sighed. “When John died, his name was erased from everything. Pictures taken down. Any mention of him would result in either being fired or punished. So people stopped talking about him, and then, they simply stopped thinking about him. It was like he never existed. I’m sure if Belos was still alive, and you tried to ask him about John, he’s simply frown and ask who that was.”
“But you remembered.” Hunter finally looked up at him. This strange curiosity fluttered in his eyes.
“Yeah. I always remembered. Even if nobody else would, I knew that at least one person was going to.” Darius thought about how lonely he felt. “He was my…friend. Imagine losing a friend, and not even being able to talk about them. How can you miss somebody who never existed? That’s what Lilith had asked me once when I tried to talk to her privately.” There’s a lot more to that story, but Hunter doesn’t need to know about it.
“I’m sorry.” Hunter frowned. “I’m sorry for being mean.”
“Don’t apologize. I let my grief consume me. I hurt a lot of people that way.” Darius grabbed Hunter’s shoulder. “Promise me, you’ll never let your grief consume you. Promise.”
“I promise.” Darius held out his pinky. Hunter used his pinky to grab it. “So what now?” Hunter asked.
“I’m gonna try to prepare for his death. I’ve got some time.” Darius smiled weakly. “I was thinking about a funeral, but it’d be unfair to the others.”
“What are they going to do with the bodies?” The question was quiet. Like Hunter was afraid of the answer.
“Bury them. Eda said they might grow into palistrom trees. While I don’t believe that, it’s a nice thought.” Eber crawled into Hunter’s lap.
“Are they going to get headstones?” Hunter began to run his fingers through Eber’s hair. “Or anything of the sort?”
“I don’t know.” Darius frowned. “Possibly. No clue how we’re going to do that legally. Or even where we will.”
“Maybe near The Owl House?” Hunter suggested. Which received a nod from Eber.
“Most likely.” Darius agreed. “I have no clue where else we could do it. I also don’t want to get in trouble for this.”
“So what’s the plan for while they're alive?” Hunter asked. “Just leave them at the Owl House?”
“Not sure. I could call Eda to ask. Although, she’s mad at me, so that likely wouldn’t work.” Darius rubbed the back of his head. “John is also mad at me.” Darius admitted.
“What? Why? What did you do?” Hunter said, shocked. “I didn’t know that guy could get mad.” Thought out loud.
“He can get mad, he just usually doesn’t. Somehow after everything he’s been through, barely anything can make him snap.” Darius chuckled. “Also, I didn’t do…okay no I did do something.”
“Mhm.” Hunter hummed, shaking his head. “Go on. Share the details.”
“Titan, fine.” Darius grunted. “John didn’t want me to worry about him. Or try to save him. He wanted to die. Not in a suicidal way, rather, he’d been alive for far too long.”
“Makes sense.” Hunter nodded along.
“Well, I guess. It didn’t make sense to me in the moment however. So I freaked out. Then a fight broke out. And no, it wasn’t physical. But in the end I agreed to let him rest.”
“Yeah. I get his point of view.” Hunter agreed.
“You don’t get to say that. You’re actually suicidal.” Darius side eyed him.
“Wow! Okay so just call me out like that. I see how it is.” Hunter folded his arms.
“Good. Glad you do.” Darius smiled, before getting up and heading towards the kitchen.
“Hey!” Hunter furrowed his brow and scrunched his face up. “Wait, where are you going?” Hunter asked, whipping his head around to look at where the man was headed.
“To the kitchen.” Darius replied, walking into the kitchen itself. The sink only had one dish, thank Titan.
“Why?” Hunter yelled out. The ‘y’ was stretched out. Like as if a child was asking the question during a long road trip.
“Because I’m gonna make breakfast. And no complaints. You need to eat.” He lowered his voice, “skinny ass child.” As much as he hates to admit it, Hunter is terribly thin. Not as thin as he once was, at least, but still. Plus, Hunter has a tendency to simply not eat if food isn’t provided.
“Let me help!” Hunter shouted. His footsteps could be heard as he ran towards the kitchen. Hunter fumbled into the room, standing as straight and proper as possible, even with his hands behind his back.
“Sure why not.” Darius shrugged, before turning towards the fridge. “How do you want your griffin eggs?” The man asked, opening the fridge, and pulling out the egg carton.
“Scrambled please.” Hunter smiled. “But I can make them!”
“No, it’s alright. I will. Can you just grab me two eggs, while I get the stove on and the pan out?” Darius requested. Hunter followed. “Thank you.”
“Of course!” Hunter gave a small nod. Darius returned it. Then he cooked up breakfast.
—
Another day passed. The air was as cold as it had been before. Hunter was standing by the door, bag on his back. He was prepared for school, prepared to face those halls once again. Darius finally approached, ready to fly him to school.
“We need to get you a staff.” Darius sighed, as he opened the front door and walked out. “I’m tired of flying you everywhere.”
“You only fly me to school.” Hunter remarked, as he followed Darius outside. “I walk mostly everywhere else.”
“Must have the legs of a titan by now.” Darius snorted, getting onto his staff, Hunter behind him.
“Nah, I wish.” Hunter smiled even though Darius couldn’t see it. Then Darius slapped the staff and the two were off. “Hey Darius?”
“Yes?”
“Can I hang out with the gang after school?”
“How are you going to get home?” Darius immediately asked, like the concerned parent he secretly was.
“Someone will fly me.” Hunter shot back. As if he was already ready to get that response. Was Darius really that predictable?”
“Who will fly you?” Darius once again asked almost instantly. Hunter threw his head back and groaned. He was tired of this song and dance.
“I don’t know. All of my friends have staffs, I’m sure one of them can fly me home if I asked.” The school could be seen in the distance.
“Hm, fine, I suppose.” Darius stretched the words out dramatically. “Just this once. Because I’m feeling nice today.”
“Yeah yeah.” Hunter rolled his eyes, “Thank you.”
“Welcome.” With that, Darius was landing. He put his foot out, to grab onto the floor. Then he pushed, forcing the palisman to stop. Hunter got off, and headed towards the stairs.
“Hey guys!” Hunter waved. “I’m back!”
“Finally!” Luz shot up and pulled him into a hug. Hunter gasped for air and Luz squeezed the life out of him. When she finally let go, he was hunched over, trying to get oxygen back into his lungs.
“Why are you so strong!” Hunter gasped. “How are you so strong? What happened to those nerd arms…” He finally stood up straight, and stretched. Loud pops could be heard. “Ow.”
“Yeah, I dunno.” Luz shrugged. “Maybe the nerd arms were the friends we made along the way.” She giggled. Amity giggled too. Hunter just stared at the two, confused.
“Hunter!” Willow lunged at him from behind. She kissed his neck, as he laughed, struggling to get away, until he eventually just gave in.
“Titan, I will never be used to this.” Gus shook his head. “Hi Hunter!” Gus gave Hunter a smile. Willow's head was now resting on his shoulder, her arms still latched around his stomach.
“So, how was your hangout with Matt?” Luz asked, something devious in her smile. She leaned towards him. “Anything fun happen?”
“What– no!!” Gus said, taking a step backwards. “Is that the bell I hear?” There wasn’t a bell. “Welp, guess I gotta head to class. Bye!” He hurried off, almost tripped as he ran up the stairs.
“Why did he look so nervous?” A voice asked.
“Ah!” Willow and Hunter both yelped, stumbling backwards. “Oh, hey Matt!” Willow smiled and gave a small wave. Hunter also gave a smile, but didn’t wave.
“Oh it’s probably nothing!” Luz grinned. “You should go check on him though. Make sure he’s okay.” Amity nodded along to her words.
“Good idea. See ya.” Matt said, before heading up the stairs and into the building. Then when he finally got inside, the couple burst out laughing.
“Titan, he is so oblivious!” Amity snorted, grabbing onto her girlfriend's arm to stabilize her.
“Gus is going to die when Matt comes to check on him! Ah-ha-ha!” Luz hollered. They sounded like hyenas.
“Cut Gus some slack. The poor boy has no experience in this area.” Willow frowned. Hunter just stood awkwardly at her side. “Plus for all we know, this might be his first boy crush.”
“Oh right, Gus likes Matt.” Hunter finally said. The gears in his brain finally turn in order to connect the pieces. “You know, I didn’t think Gus was gay.”
“Really? You thought he was straight?” Willow asked, slightly shocked.
“No, not straight. Not anything really. I dunno, never pictured him to be the romance type, I guess.” Hunter shrugged.
“Yeah that’s because you think of him like a small child.” Luz finally caught her breath. “Ow, my sides hurt. Why is laughing so painful?”
“I don’t think of him as a small child!” Hunter gasped, offended. “Well, no I do. I mean he’s like 10 and I’m 17.”
“Hunter.” Luz said, in the most serious voice possible.
“What?” Hunter replied, confused. “What? What did I say?”
“Gus is 13.” The air grew cold.
“No.” Hunter replied almost immediately. The faint laughing sounds could be heard. “No, no he’s not. He can’t be!”
“Oh, but he is.” Luz’s eyes widen, as her lips curl into a smile.
“No! I won’t accept this! This isn’t true–”
“Okay this can’t be that funny.” Willow said, staring at Amity, who was gasping for air in between her cackles. “Geez girl, breath!” Finally, Amity stopped laughing, and leaned into Luz as she groaned.
“Hey, way to ruin the moment!” Luz huffed, as she threw her arms up. She then folded them and looked away. Hunter simply nodded and did the same.
“I’m sorry batata.” Amity said, rubbing Luz’s back. “Carry on as if this never happened.”
“It’s too late. The moment has been ruined.” Hunter nodded along to Luz.
Eventually, the bell rang and the group all went their separate ways. They regrouped at lunch. All meeting at the lunch table in the corner of the room. Near the area where food is being served. Hunter sat down next to Willow. Amity and Luz on the other side. But Gus wasn’t there.
“Where’s Gus?” Hunter asked, as he sat down on the stools attached to the table. He set his backpack down on the floor, and used his foot to push it under the table. “He’s usually here by now.” The teen stated, as he looked up at the group.
“I dunno.” Luz shrugged, picking at her food with her spork. She looked sad, which matched the feeling her tray gave off.
“Maybe he’s with Matt.” Willow suggested. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out a PB&J sandwich. Luz brightened up and began to bat her lashes at Willow while she attempted to make puppy eyes. “Yes this is for you.” Willow giggled, sliding the sandwich over to Luz.
—
Gus was walking towards the cafeteria. Though this trip was cut short by Matt. “Gus!” Matt called out from behind, causing Gus to stop. “Gus, wait up!”
“Waiting.” Gus hummed, before turning around. Matt almost ran into him. “Woah!” Gus could feel his face go red. “Hahaahaha…” Gus awkwardly laughed, before taking a step back. Matt also looked red, but Gus couldn’t tell if he was just embarrassed rather than flustered. “Whats up…” Gus finally choked out.
“I was trying to find you this morning, but I couldn’t.” Matt admitted. “You seemed all nervous when you were running off up the stairs. Is everything okay?” He looked genuinely concerned for Gus’s wellbeing, which only made Gus’s face go redder.
“I’m fine!” Gus stuttered. “I mean.” He looked away. There are only two ways this conversation could go. He could either a) tell Matt he’s fine and keep pushing down his feelings, or b) he can tell Matt his feelings. Gus really wants to go with option b.
“Hello? You there?” Matt asked, waving his hand in front of Gus’s face. Gus just stared at him, still contemplating his options.
“Pick a letter.” Gus suddenly announced. “A or B?” He continued. Matt tilted his head to the side, confused, but then began to ponder.
“I pick….” Matt looked to the side, for one last time, solidifying his choice. “B? I think? Was that the right answer?”
“Matt, I like you!!!!” Gus yelled out. “I really like you. I have since we went to the illusionist graveyard.” Matt did not reply. Suddenly, Gus felt the need to run away and hide forever. “Nevermind! Ha- that’s so weird. Prank- You just just pranked!” His voice cracked, then he ran off, leaving Matt stunned.
Matt watched Gus run off down the hall and into the cafeteria, likely to meet up with his friends. The silence of the hall was deafening. “I like you too…” Matt mumbled, as he looked to the floor, defeated.
The rest of the day was spent at home, because Matt decided to skip the rest of his classes. Somehow he managed to sneak out of the school. “Fenris.” Matt mumbled, the palisman came crawling out. “Let’s go home.” And to home they went.
Matt gently opened up the front door. His parents weren’t home. Of course they weren’t home, when are they ever home? Fenris didn’t go away for once, Matt let him roam freely. The cracked egg rolls around, as it lacks legs. That’s the main reason why Matt usually kept him in his uniform or in his bag. But Fenris sometimes liked to be out. He seemed to like it right now. Matt wandered up the stairs to his room. Fenris somehow made it up the stairs as well. He rolled into the dog bed that he had found on the shore. Must’ve leaked from the human realm, because there aren’t really dogs in the boiling isles, at least not ones that would’ve used this kind of bed.
Then a sound could be heard from downstairs. The door opened, or it was being unlocked, but by now it was opened. “I swear I locked the door…” Matt whispered to Fenris. “Someone must be breaking in, because there’s no way my parents are home.”
Fenris hummed something to Matt. Roughly translated to, “What if it’s Steve. He comes by sometimes, remember?”
“Yeah but he always comes home whenever mom is home. I mean that’s really the only reason he comes by. Plus to him, nobody should be home.” Matt whispered back. Then the sounds of heavy footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs.
Then his door opened. Matt screamed, which caused the person who opened the door to scream too. Who opened the door? It was just Steve. “Why are we screaming?” Steve asked, still yelling, as Matt was too.
“Why are you here?” Matt asked. “To your knowledge nobody was supposed to be home! And why did you come into my room?”
“Woah, calm down!” Steve said, waving his arms. “Look, I was just coming by because Mom called me telling me to check if you were home. The school called, said you didn’t show up.”
“Oh.” Matt deflated almost immediately. “Of course they did…” He folded his arms, and stopped making eye contact with Steve.
“Sorry for scaring you.” Steve apologized, before joining Matt on the floor.
“It’s fine. I wasn’t even scared.” Matt brushed his older brother off.
“Mhm, for sure.” Steve snorted. “I’m also sorry for not visiting more often. I’ve been busy helping out with the new government form. Y’know how it is.”
“Can’t say I do.” Matt replied. “But it’s whatever. I don’t mind. We’ve never been close, no point starting now.”
“I don’t think that’s true! It’s never too late to start being close.” Steve moved closer to Matt, but Matt just shuffled backwards, keeping the distance. “Well, wanna tell me why you were skipping school?”
“You’re gonna tell mom on me.” Matt huffed, pulling his knees close to his chest, and wrapping his arms around his legs. Fenris somehow made his way into Matt’s grasp.
“Hey! I won’t do that. I’m the cool older brother.” Steve replied, offended by the accusation.
“The cool older brother who worked for the Emperor.” Matt finally looked at his brother. Stared him right in the eyes. “Doesn’t sound super cool to me. Especially after what he had done.”
“I quit! Plus I never even liked him!” The tensions were rising. “I mean that’s the main reason we weren’t close. I wasn’t really allowed day’s off.”
“You choose that though! You choose to work for him. Nobody made you! It was all your choice, and you made the wrong one.” Matt reached out and grabbed Steve's arm. He pulled off the glove on his right hand. “That sigil will always be a reminder that you were on the wrong side of history.”
“I heard you were friends with the previous golden guard. He gets a pass but I don’t? Especially because I QUIT before the day of unity!”
“He gets a pass because he was a kid who had no choice! You, again, choose this!” Matt barked. “I don’t want to talk to you anymore.” Matt got up and walked out. He stood at the door frame, and turned around, “Also get the hell out of my room.” Then he turned his heel and walked down the stairs. Fenris in his hands.
By the time Steve had made it to Matt, the boy was flying off. Leaving Steve in the dust. Where was Matt flying too? Gus’s House. He needed to come clean about everything. Or more like, just say that he felt the same.
Matt reached Gus’s house in a short amount of time. He knocked on the door. Gus opened it, without asking who was there, which is probably why he looked so shocked. “Hey Gus.”
“Hi, Matt…” Gus smiled, awkwardly, but then he stopped smiling. Likely embarrassed from earlier. “What’s up?” But before Matt could even answer Gus cut him off, “Uhm! If you’re here because of what happened earlier, I swear I didn’t mean it. It was a heat of the moment type of thing! I know you’re not gay, and even if you were, you wouldn’t be into someone like me!”
“But I am!” Matt cried out. “I do like you! I know you weren’t joking, and I’m not joking either.” The two stared at each other, in complete silence.
“Okay.” Gus replied.
“Okay?” Matt repeated, except a little more confused. “So what now?”
“I dunno.” Gus said. “I don’t know if I want to actually date you or anything.”
“What? Then why did you tell me any of this?”
“I didn’t want to just push down my feelings. That’s really unhealthy.” Gus explained, crossing his arms.
“But wouldn’t dating solve this? I mean we both like each other…” Matt rubbed the back of his head. “So what, we just go back to being friends?” Gus nodded. “Uh, I don’t really want to do that.”
“What?” Gus was shocked. “What do you mean? We can just go back to how things were before! Or no not like how things were before. Things will be different obviously!”
“I’m gonna go home.” Matt said, his voice lacked emotion, like he had just died. “Bye Gus.” Matt waved weakly before walking off.
Gus watched him. “Wait!” Gus called out. Matt stopped, but didn’t turn around. “I do want to date you. Just not yet. I’m scared.” Gus admitted. This got Matt to turn around. “Scared to commit fully. I mean, I would hate to date you and then we break up and we stop being friends. Because as much as I like you romantically, I also like you as a friend.”
This gets Matt to smile. “We’ll still be friends, even if we break up. I swear.” He reassured. “And we could wait a bit.”
“Thanks.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“I’ll see you later.”
“See ya.” Matt waved, before turning around and walking off into the town. Gus shut the door, and crumbled. He let out a groan, but then got up and continued on as if nothing happened. He wasn’t going to tell anyone about that interaction, even though he knew everyone would go insane if they found out he had hid that from them. Mostly Luz would lose it. He doubted anyone else would truly care that much.
But then Gus remembered that he was supposed to go hang out with the gang after school, crap! So now he was scrambling to get changed out of his uniform and get out the door. “Bye dad!” He called out, but got no response.
The group was all together, chatting and stuff. “Hey guys!” Gus smiled. “Sorry for being late!”
“Oh it’s fine, don't worry!” Luz smiled. “We’ve been waiting! Now we can go to the human realm!” This received a lot of confused looks from the group.
“Is that what we were doing?” Viney asked. “Because I doubt Puddles will be accepted by humans. No offense Luz.”
“None taken! I was definitely the odd one out, so you’re probably right. But I really wanted to take you guys to the new mall that opened up in the next town over! It’s so cool!”
“Just leave Puddles at home?” Hunter suggested. Which received a gasp from Viney. Willow gave him a death glare, which made Hunter try something else, “Maybe you could try dressing him up to disguise him?”
“Her.” Viney stated.
Hunter lifted an eyebrow. “What?”
“Puddles is a girl.” Viney replied.
“WHAT?” Hunter was flabbergasted. “Nuh uh! No way. Has she always been a girl?”
“Yes.” Viney replied, shaking her head. “Anyways, that’s a good idea. Let’s put a cloak on her!” Viney smiled, before taking off the cape she was conveniently wearing. She then placed it over Puddles, who simply accepted it.
“Alright then! To the human realm we go!” Luz smiled. The group headed to the portal that was stationed in the woods, and then entered it.
The group was now in the middle of the woods, however, luckily Luz knew her way to the town. Then from the town, she made it to the next town.
“My feet hurt! I’m not used to walking like this! I need to flyyyyyy!” Skara groaned, dragging her feet. “Ughhhhhhhhhh.”
They had finally made it to the mall. It was quite big. “Woah!” Amity gasped in awe, as she looked up to get a view of the whole building.
“I know right! I’ve been dying to come here for quite some time!” Luz said with a smile. “But I didn’t want to come alone.”
“Well you’re not alone now!” Willow smiled. “So let’s go!” The group headed inside. They walked around for a while. Looking for random things. Viney tried to buy something with snails, then got mad when that didn’t work, so Luz had to step in while Willow and Amity dragged her away.
“Sorry about her!” Luz apologized, sliding over a 20 dollar bill. The man just shrugged, clearly not paid enough to care about a crazy teen and her fake monopoly money or whatever new games kids play these days.
“You can’t pay with snails!” Was the first thing that Luz heard as she headed out of the store. “This is the human realm, dummy!” Skara was reprimanding Viney.
“I got your shirt.” Luz smiled, holding up the bag. “Next time if you wanna buy something, just ask. I can probably pay!”
“Yeah, or we can steal it.” Willow giggled.
“No, no stealing. Also don’t say that so loud or else we’ll get kicked out and I refuse to be banned from here. Not yet.” Luz says, turning away dramatically.
“Sorry, sorry. I won’t steal anything, I promise.” Willow smiles at Luz. She returns the smile. “Let’s keep shopping!”
“Actually, I'm like super hungry. Can we get something to eat?” Skara asks. Hunter nods along, then the rest of the group joins in.
“Okay! Just know, food here isn’t like food in the demon realm.” She states, and then mumbles to herself, “it’s actually edible.”
“What was that?” Amity asked.
“Nothing!” Luz laughed awkwardly. “Let’s just go.” They all headed towards the food court. There was a large empty table, which Luz quickly ran over to so that no one would steal it. “Where do you guys wanna eat?” Luz asked. The group scanned the restaurants that surrounded them.
“Well I dunno about Panda Express. I mean, what are we eating, pandas?” Hunter frowned.
“What even is a panda?” Viney questioned.
“Good question!” Hunter laughed.
“I want Hot-dogs! Luz’s mom made those once and they were delicious.” Willow smiled, pointing at the hot-dog stand that was behind the table.
“Okay, we all agree?” Luz asked the group. Everyone just nodded. So Luz went to go buy six Hot-dogs. It took about 10 minutes to get them all out, but eventually she was able to return to the table. However, it took three trips to get it all back. Nobody got up to help, which was kinda sad, but Luz doesn’t care.
The rest of the day was spent shopping and laughing, until they eventually had to head home. It took a while to get back but they did. Then they went through the portal, and then everyone parted ways. Well besides Willow and Hunter.
“Can you give me a ride home?” Hunter asked. Willow nodded, and pulled out her Palisman and the two were off.
Amity and Luz walked together. “I had fun today. Though I always have fun with you.” Amity smiled, grabbing Luz’s hand.
“Me too. I love you.” Luz whispered, pulling her close and grabbing her waist.
“I love you too. You’re the best girlfriend ever.”
“No way, you’re better!” Luz giggled. “Wanna spend the night?”
“I mean this in the nicest way possible, Batata, but not with all those guards there.”
“Oh crap. I forgot about them. I mean some are even staying in my room.” A chill went down her spine.
“You could spend the night at my place. I’ll just have to pray dad won’t see you. Although knowing him, he definitely won’t.” The two giggled.
“Yeah, I’d love to!”
“Alrighty!” Amity smiled, and the two headed towards the manor. Somehow Amity’s father kept it in the divorce. Actually he kept everything, because the judge really didn’t like Amity’s mother. She doesn’t see her mom anymore, thank God. Well sometimes, but it’s always supervised and since Alador is often busy, it’s hard to schedule them. The twins completely cut her off. Amity hasn’t yet, mainly because she doesn’t know how to.
When Amity and Luz arrive at the house, Amity scouts out. The coast is clear, so the two head for the door. Amity quickly opens it, and the two run upstairs.
“Woah Mittens…wait, Luz?” Edric pauses.
“What are you doing here?” Emira asks. Looking the human up and down.
“Wait it’s late–”
“Is she spending the night?!”
“Keep your voices down! And don’t act like you haven’t brought partners over here to spend the night too.” Amity huffs.
“I don’t like these accusations.” Emira looks up and away.
“Mhm, like we’d ever do anything like that!” Edric folds his arms.
“Can we go now?” Amity groans. Luz just awkwardly stands behind her.
“Nuh-uh-uh!” Edric waves his finger.
“Not unless you do something for us, first.” Emira smirks.
“Why would I do anything for you guys?” Amity asks, smacking Edric’s finger away before she folds her arms.
“Because if you don’t–”
“We’ll tell Dad.”
“What-” Amity groans angrily, “fine! What do you want?” Amity throws her head back.
“We want you to do our chores this week. All of them.” Emira smiles. Edric simply nods along.
“Fine, fine.” Amity agrees. “Can we go now?” She asks. The two smile and say yes, walking off to their room. “Sorry about that. They’re the worst.” Luz doesn’t reply. Doesn’t matter though. It wouldn’t change Amity’s mind about her siblings.
Amity opens the door to her room. Luz enters first, Amity second. “Sorry it’s so messy, didn’t realize I was gonna have company– not that I don’t want you here!”
“It’s fine! Also it’s not even messy. If you think this is messy then I’m worried about what you’d think of my room.”
“Wanna share my bed?” Amity asks, shyly. Luz nods.
“Can I use your pajamas? I didn’t bring any.”
“Yeah! Here let me go grab you some.” While Amity was doing that, Luz took off her shoes. The sun had completely set.
Amity and Luz were both in bed only a couple of minutes later. They were cuddled together, limbs intertwined. It was nice. “Goodnight Amity.” Luz said, tiredly.
“Goodnight, Luz.” Amity placed a kiss atop her head, and drifted off to sleep.