#a college LUZ is attending

[pancakesandpessimism]

Hey. Hey, remember Eda in season 1?

Remember how she clearly didn’t put much, if any, thought into agreeing to teach Luz magic? Remember how it took days of begging and eventual bribery before Eda showed Luz her first spell, or explained how magic works for witches? Remember how she clearly hadn’t considered the implications of mentoring someone without a bile sac, and didn’t seem to have a plan beyond showing Luz spells that she was physically incapable of replicating and hoping for the best? Remember how she openly laughed (in King’s own words mean-spiritedly) at Luz when she got excited about possibly being ‘the chosen one’? Remember how she didn’t seem to think twice about putting incredibly dangerous traps around an arena two teenagers would be fighting in despite the fact that either girl could have been severely hurt (or in King’s case KILLED) by them? Remember how she initially tried to discourage Luz from even trying to attend Hexside because of her own beliefs about the school system, even though Luz was clearly interested and obviously wanted more education than Eda was (and could) give her alone?

Remember the first time Eda recognized Luz doubting herself and her place on the Isles? Remember her understanding exactly what Luz needed in that moment, AKA a pep-talk, a gentle reality check about the concept of chosen ones, a promise, and a new perspective of the Isles that Eda knew Luz would find beautiful? Remember how she willingly spent a whole day filling out paperwork and undoing her teenage-self’s handiwork despite hating every second of it because she recognized that Hexside was better equipped to help Luz’s growth as a witch then she was on her own? Remember her in Adventures in the Elements, trying so freaking hard to help Luz take the next step in a journey that she didn’t understand much better than Luz did, but had worked hard to try figuring out for Luz’s sake? Remember how she started spending her free time researching older forms of magic in the hopes of MAYBE finding information that could help her teach Luz? Remember her patience despite Luz’s obvious skepticism and eventual disobedience on the Knee? Her immediate praise for Luz managing to discover her second glyph all on her own even though she’d almost gotten Eda eaten by a monster ~10 minutes prior? Remember how she spent Grom stressing because she understood what Luz’s capabilites were at the time and was concerned she was expecting too much from herself and would get hurt physically, mentally, or emotionally during the fight, despite originally planning to do nothing but relax and have fun? Remember how she was 100% ready to face a monster that displays your worst fears to everyone watching, despite having very good personal reasons to be concerned about doing so, without so much as an ‘I told you so’ because what Luz needed at that moment wasn’t a lecture, it was someone supporting her when she was faced with something she wasn’t properly prepared to handle, and letting her know it was okay that she couldn’t do it yet because Eda would be there to help until she was ready?

Remember how she started this series as an irresponsible, negligent teacher? Remember watching her learn and grow as a mentor over the course of the show, gradually taking more kids under her wing (hah) as she went until she became someone that every member of the Hexsquad who’s spent more than 30 minutes with her trusts implicitly and looks to for guidance and support during times of crisis, and who several kids who aren’t part of the main squad (ex. Edric and Emira) respect in a similar way?

Remember this expression from I Was a Teenage Abomination? Her genuine surprise and shock, almost disbelief, at being considered a good teacher? 

Look at her now.

[mecub]

Some Owl House headcanons, written by me at 3am (these take place around the timeskip)

The former coven heads are the last to get their sigils removed. When they do, the whole Isles celebrates

Hunter is one of the first people to get his coven sigil removed though

The University of Wild Magic is always chaotic, but when Luz gets there, the chaos increases, and it’s not uncommon for students to hear about the headmaster and the human student exploding something or committing crimes together

Luz’s Titan form was caught by Daily Knee Views and a few other penstagram accounts that update automatically, so there’s very blurry footage. Amity loves it anyway

Hunter’s palisman carving shop is attached to his house, and it becomes one of the spots where the Hexsquad hangs out the most

After Luz is out of college, all the Hexsquad buys a big house together and they live there together

Hunter is often surrounded by a ton of random palismen, he’s like a Disney princess, his friends never stop teasing him about it

Raeda’s wedding is attended by like half the staff and students of the University of Wild Magic, because everyone loves headmaster Eda and wants to see her happy

Hunter carved Waffles a few years after Flapjack died. He sat in front of Flapjack’s gravestone and asked if it was ok if he carved a new palisman, and he knew that Flapjack would be ok with it. He carved Waffles while sitting in front of Flap’s grave, talking to them both as he worked. He talked a lot about his wishes for the future, and his favorite memories

Flapjack and Waffles are honorary siblings

Willow helps Hexside’s flyer derby program

Gus and Willow both help coach the University of Wild Magic’s flyer derby team

Eda’s the coach for the University’s grudgby team, and she has a half-joking sports rivalry with Gus and Willow, who both take this rivalry very seriously

The old light glyph becomes a symbol of resistance and hope throughout the Isles

Luz takes a memory photo of King’s dad for him

The Nocedas are kinda local legends in Gravesfield

Part 2: here

[snows-2am-thoughts]

Uh so Gravity Falls x The Owl House is canon?! This is the best moment of my life guys

I'd like to think Luz decides to investigate anomalies on Earth when she can since Eda had told her weird stuff on Earth was just magic leaking from the Boiling Isles. She decides on Gravity Falls because it seems that's where the biggest traces of weirdness are. Mabel and Dipper decide to go back to Gravity Falls or attend college near there after high school because it's their home and they've already been away for long enough (and lets be real, everyone besides the stans are probably still there because it's a small town and families hardly ever leave those). Dipper studies paranormal sciences or an applied research major or both and helps continue studying Gravity Falls after he graduates since Ford is off on adventures with Stan. Mabel is studying Fashion Design or Graphic Design with a minor in Photography (the sweaters and scrapbooking stuck) and is now determined to make something (I'm thinking like a fashion line, plushies, or even a cartoon/comic series since she's very creative) inspired by the weirdness of Gravity Falls. 

Luz and the twins end up meeting by chance when they're researching some of the more elusive creatures and they just kind of pause when seeing each other.

Luz: *is sweating nervously because she thinks the twins are freaked out*

Dipper and Mabel: *are sweating nervously because the last time someone found out about the weirdness the FBI got involved*

I think after a very long and awkward conversation they'd actually be really excited to know there are other humans who are open to the weirdness! Luz spent her life not thinking she'd be able to fit in around other humans and the twins have probably felt a little outcasted since they'd been through something no one outside a select few in Gravity Falls can relate to. 

Hijinks ensue. Luz and Mabel feed off of each other's bubbliness and high energy personalities. Luz and Dipper are now combining their research with Luz's knowledge of the Boiling Isles and Dipper's knowledge of the mysteries of Gravity Falls. Luz ends up taking them to the Boiling Isles to introduce them to everyone and suddenly the twins feel like they're at home. Everything is going great until they recognize Eda as a woman from one of Grunkle Stan's old pictures and now they're on a mission to locate their grunkles from whatever adventure they're on to bring them to the Boiling Isles. Stan and Eda reunion (very awkward at first because they're cautious of lingering feelings from the other but they're both well established in life now and so the awkwardness fades, chaos buddies are back) as well as both sets of twins getting to explore the Boiling Isles.

Luz now has a human based support system that isn't her mother which helps her feel ok in her humanity. The twins are able to talk about their experiences with someone who understands and even thrives in the weirdness. 

Dipper and Luz experiment and find new combinations of King's titan glyphs while Mabel and Luz work on a campaign to introduce the two worlds to each other while preventing the creation of more witch hunters or the FBI from being scared because yeesh they don't wanna repeat their trauma. 

Dynamics between the gangs! I think Hunter and Soos would be an awesome pair of bros and I could totally see Amity and Wendy being the cool and composed duo of their respective groups. Luz, Willow, Amity, Mabel and Wendy having a girls night because lord knows they need it. The boys (Hunter, Gus, Dipper and Soos) simultaneously have a boys night but it’s Dipper introducing them to BABBA and Hunter having them carve wood while Soos and Gus try to spook them. Somehow the two groups end up combining and now it’s just a big sleepover with everyone getting into shenanigans. 

King and Mabel would be besties and I can totally see her making little sweaters for him so they can match. Luz catches on and now we have three matching besties. Eda and Stan fuel each other’s gambling habits while Ford and Raine stand on the sidelines getting ready to bail them out. Dipper and Willow would totally get along and I can see them researching the more unique plants of the Boiling Isles together. Gus and Dipper discuss the differences in the worlds of witches and humans. Hunter would introduce the palismans to Mabel and she’d start sprucing up their homes and making them little sweaters. Waddles meant everything to her and if she could help them find homes then she would. 

The Collector visits and all of a sudden the GF group gets PTSD from Bill because ‘oh looks its another all powerful interdimensional being.’ When questioned about it the Collector gets concerned and decides to look into it.

The Collector: *concerned because he knows how he was when he didn’t understand human mortality and thinks this ‘Bill’ just needs to be informed* “YEESH nevermind this guys a mess, you don’t have to worry, he’s being forced into interdimensional therapy. I wouldn’t put it past him to try his old tricks though so don’t make any deals or trust anything triangular’

The GF crew: “HE’S ALIVE????”

The GF group is lowkey paranoid after that because they risked so much to make sure Bill couldn’t hurt them again and the TOH group has to comfort them because they understand. The Collector is assuring them that he’s watching out for them so they don’t have to be too paranoid. The groups go back to doing what they're doing. 

I lowkey wanna see Mabel learning magic while Dipper is lowkey just fine studying and researching since actually doing the magic stuff lost its appeal when Bill possessed him. I haven’t even thought of what Mabel’s palisman would end up being

…. WHO AM I KIDDING, IT'S PROBABLY A MINI WADDLES

OR A LLAMA

Or maybe like a squirrel or beaver, Stan’s would definitely be a crow but he and Ford probably are a little put off of doing magic themselves because of similar reasons to Dipper. Actually, maybe Stan would be a little more open since Eda is there and he knows that while she’s mischievous and a troublemaker, she’s nothing like Bill. If Ford and Dipper did wanna learn magic I think Ford gives off hawk palisman vibes while Dipper’s is definitely an owl. I just realized that all the Pines besides Mabel have bird palismans in this. That’s actually pretty good angst potential. 

I COULD WRITE SO MUCH MORE AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I WANT TO WRITE A FIC

I AM GONNA WRITE A FIC

[theaceofarrows]

Buckle up, this is going to be a long post⬇

Thinking about the unbridled chaos that would have been Hunter if he had gone to public school with Luz during they're time in the human realm

Would it have made sense for him to suddenly go to school, him the guy whose only previous experience with public education is an undercover afternoon at Hexside, a completely different realm where he didn't even attend class? No, it wouldn't have made any sense whatsoever.

But just imagine it. That you're a student at Luz's school and one day the weird girl who let loose a bunch of snakes in the school shows up with her "cousin from Sweden". This mysterious 16 year old dude with a facial scar who is an absolute beast in gym class whose got even the P.E. teacher speechless.

This guy who has a glare that makes even the seniors shudder and think twice about saying anything about the Noceda girl, and the one time the bully didn't take a hint and keep his mouth shut, and actually tired to take a swing at the guy, doesn't land a single hit because the Swedish dude breaks out some kind of Spider-Man moves and back flips out of the way and the bully ends up punching the locker instead and breaks his hand, and Swedish dude just goes "you would have broken your hand anyway with the way you were making a fist" whilst causally flicking a speck of dust of his shoulder.

He always spends his lunch period outside, and a cardinal shows up everyday without fail to join him. He's either having what appears to be an intense one sided conversation with said cardinal, or the bird is casually nesting in his hair while he reads a book and eats his lunch.

It turns out that all the teachers love him. The home ec teacher is so impressed with his sewing that she doesn't even mind that he nearly blew up the oven while they were making cookies. The math teacher loves him because he's apparently also a math whizz who can do college level problems. The P.E teacher is trying to recruit him for at least three different sports teams. The drama teacher loves him because He's a natural at acting and doing improv. He's always the first one to class, takes the most notes, he's super respectful to the teachers, reminds the teachers about homework, does extra assignment work for fun. This dude who is wicked smart and sarcastic, and witty almost all the time, and then raises his hand in history class and asks "What's a Spain?" With the most sincere expression.

Just imagine that

[fruity-phrog]

Owl House headcanons, timeskip edition:

Lilith basically adopted Amity. They go on adventures together, mapping the Isles and documenting any and all changes that occurred when the Left Arm became the highest spot. Lilith is basically Amity’s mom now and they continued to heal their trauma from the Emperor’s Coven together.

The Emerald Entrails still play together often, now as a professional team. It’s still more of a hobby than a job, but they remained close.

Willow coaches flier derby to students at Hexside with the help of Skara, who works as a teaching assistant.

Hunter was officially adopted by Darius and Camila (separately) almost immediately after Watching and Dreaming and spent alternating weeks in the Human and Demon realm until he took up the job of palisman carver.

Gus and Vee, despite neither of them attending college, teach in the Human Realm course at Eda’s university. In between King’s Tide and Thanks To Them, Vee gave Gus detailed lessons to correct his misconceptions and they mainly teach the truth. Gus refuses to admit that the ocean doesn’t sound like a paperclip.

Luz and Lilith constructed the entire Glyph course on their own. Eda helped, obviously, but she was busy overseeing the entire building of the university. Luz is mainly taking that course for nostalgia.

Hunter tries to keep himself to himself and most people don’t even know he’s the Golden Guard. 

When Darius and Alador began to become friends again, Hunter hung out a lot with Edric and Emira while Amity was off with Lilith, so they’re close friends now. Hunter taught Edric about wolves and Emira about their healing processes in the Emperor’s Coven. They, in turn, taught him to be a teenager, because while the Hexsquad are great, they’re...not too knowledgeable in that category.

Amity is the strong tall girlfriend from her adventures with Lilith. This is actually semi-canon in that Ams is canonically taller than Luz now, but I just wanted to include it.

Hunter and Willow eventually got together nearly a year after Watching And Dreaming. They were even more drawn-out than Lumity. Amity was yelling at Willow to make a move, Gus was yelling at Hunter, Luz was yelling at both of them but it was eventually Waffles and Clover than got them to get their shit together.

Hunter, with Darius and Dell’s help, eventually carved an egg (like Luz’s) a few months after Watching And Dreaming, which hatched into Waffles. This was when the Hexsquad promised to get matching tattoos the second they were able to (Eda offered to do it then and there but they politely declined).

As I mentioned in pretty much every headcanon list I’ve ever made, Marcy went to Luz’s school once she moved. Marcy would not shut up about how amazing Anne and Sasha were, and Luz would not shut up about how amazing Amity was, but Marcy also spoke a lot about Luz to Anne and Sasha and so they got jealous.

Luz dyed Hunter’s hair red when she was sixteen and he was eighteen, but it went terribly and ended up light pink. He still kept it until it faded out.

Darius nearly fainted when he saw it.

Vee showed Masha the Demon Realm and they absolutely love it. Sometimes they’ll be a guest in the Human Realm course at the university and they go on dates to the Knee and Skull and cool BI places. 

Waffles bites Hunter. A lot. She’s a biter.

They all got therapy <3

[juliettedunn]

Change (Luz and King Fic)

"Maybe I won’t try to pick you up again for a bit.”

A bit. As if in time, Luz's ability to pick King up might improve, rather than continue to deteriorate. He had known this day was coming; he had noticed the increasingly strained breaths Luz let out when she tried to carry him for long periods of time, the wobble as he began to run out of space on her shoulders. Rather than perch securely on one arm, he had to awkwardly curl around her back, digging his nails in a manner uncomfortable for both. Really, he should have stopped trying to fit a year before.

“It’s okay,” he said softly. “I’ve been too big for a while.”

***

King is going through major growth spurts, changing way too fast and unpredictably for his own comfort, but his big sister is there for him.

***

King trotted to Luz’s house with growing eagerness. It was a friendly building with a sprawling garden of vegetables both native to the Boiling Isles and from the human realm, though from the state of the garden, Luz had trouble consistently attending to it. 

The house looked vulnerable to the world, though Luz had warned King about the abomination traps Amity had engineered, lying in wait to capture would-be intruders in slimy purple casing. Luz had disarmed the traps for the day, with an urging to King not to tell Amity, who anxiously kept all the security strictly managed. According to Luz, she had to bribe Amity to make the traps non-fatal, though she insisted Amity was only joking…probably. 

King had been here before, when he, Eda, Raine, and Camila helped her and Amity move in, but other than that he hadn’t really been over much. Luz making her official move to the Boiling Isles made it easier to see her in theory, and for the first year of her college King had seen her weekly as they worked together to uncover and experiment with his new glyph language.

But ever since Luz had gotten her own place with Amity, their time together had decreased drastically. Of course, King had already grown used to her long absences over her remaining high school years. At first it had been hard for everyone, especially with how many times they had seen Luz ripped away from them, each time apparently for good. 

The Owl House had been so empty without her, even if she did visit often. But Raine’s arrival made it less so, and King grew adjusted to the new routine, enough that he didn’t feel the need to cling to his sister at every opportunity.

He was developing slower than the average witch or demon, but he had matured enough that he felt secure in his family dynamic. And if he ever got bored, Collie never hesitated to answer his calls and take him on a wild trip across the skies.

All this was true, but the fact remained that King hadn’t had a sibling day with Luz, just the two of them, in months, and he was overwhelmingly excited for it to begin. 

Approaching the door, he caught the scent of shushrooms, and made a quick detour into the garden, scarfing down a few.

“King, I can see you.”

“Weh?” He looked up to see Luz heading down the steps, eyebrows raised at him. He shoved the last few shushrooms into his mouth and swallowed. “Luz!”

King leaped into her arms without a second thought, as he had always done ever since they first met, planning to scramble up onto her back. This time, though, instead of catching him securely, she stumbled, struggling to hold him and yelping as she fell. 

She hit her side hard against the garden fence before colliding with the ground, flat on her back, choking on a gasp.

“Luz!”

“I’m okay,” Luz rasped. “Just got the wind knocked out of me.” 

“But…isn’t that…”

When Luz had been nearly petrified, her organs had been frozen for a few moments, and nothing had functioned quite as smoothly since. The Healers had concluded she could for the most part engage in activities she had before, but her heart and lungs had to be routinely managed. They were weaker than average, and Luz often had to monitor her activities lest she suddenly start struggling to breathe.

On cue, Stringbean emerged from the house, carrying a bag of bottles and jars in her mouth, which she deposited at Luz’s side.

King tapped his claws nervously as his sister lay trying to suck in air, though her body relaxed significantly after she fumbled into the medicine bag and inhaled some substance from it. 

Under Eda’s tutelage, she had grown quite proficient in potions and herbs, especially after she lost access to glyphs entirely for several years. With the freeing of healing magic from sigiled restriction, and aided by the suppressed ancient knowledge that was only just now being recovered, medicinal potions were much more widely available, though Luz still preferred to create them largely on her own. Many of them were her own design.

She sat quietly for a few minutes as her breathing got under control. King was too scared to say anything, just listened to her wheezing. What was likely only five minutes felt like hours, until his sister's breathing finally evened out enough for her to extend her arm  to Stringbean. "Good girl," she spoke, giving the snakeshifter a grateful scratch under the chin. 

“Luz," said King, voice breaking. "I’m so sorry.”

Luz paused in the middle of praising Stringbean, who had begun to purr. “Hey, it’s okay. It was an accident. I’m used to way worse. Comes with living on the Isles. And that new medicine works great at keeping these really mild." She gingerly got to her feet, wincing at the pain in her side. "Oof, that's going to leave a bruise though." She hesitated. "Maybe I won’t try to pick you up again for a bit.”

A bit. As if in time, her ability to pick him up might improve, rather than continue to deteriorate.  He had known this day was coming; he had noticed the increasingly strained breaths Luz let out when she tried to carry him for long periods of time, the wobble as he began to run out of space on her shoulders. Rather than perch securely on one arm, he had to awkwardly curl around her back, digging his nails in a manner uncomfortable for both. Really, he should have stopped trying to fit a year before. 

“It’s okay,” he said softly. “I’ve been too big for a while.”

“King…” 

He couldn’t help but bristle at the look in her eyes. That same look of pity his loved ones always gave him these days. He never used to receive looks of pity. At first, it was always squeals and coos, then, when his true origins were discovered, hesitancy, awe, and sometimes a bit of fear. But pity...that was a more recent development, one that emerged after he began to be hounded by reporters and citizens wishing for blessings, not to mention the zealots who sought to kill the living proof of their religion’s falsity.

And all this while he grew and developed far slower than most children, and had tentatively begun to discuss his likely immortality to his loved ones. If only he had gotten a chance to ask his dad how long it took to reach full titanic size, or just how long he could be expected to live. 

Collie knew some answers, but not nearly enough. The Archivists were careful with their wording, and as much as Collie wanted to help, they hadn’t been told enough to truly understand. What was clear was that Titans lived for at least several thousand years, and that was a future King was unable to fathom.

In a way, it was no wonder people felt sorry for him - the young Titan had taken to a lot of silent contemplation and brooding. “Teenage mood swings,” Eda would chuckle, though even she knew it wasn’t just that.

As much as King pitied his own situation, he hated the emotion from others. Why couldn’t he just be King, not a tragic, orphaned child cut-off from his heritage, a vulnerable target of assassins, the son of a literal god, or a strange, unfathomable creature doomed to live a life far vaster and more complex than anyone else. He was a Clawthorne, a son, a friend, a brother. That’s all he wanted.

“It’s fine,” he snapped at Luz, and she flinched, hugging her arms close to herself and making King feel even worse.

“It's not that I can never pick you up," she said after a moment. "I'm pretty strong. It's just, I can't really carry you around. Or catch you or have you on my shoulder or back. But I'll always be able to give you lots of hugs and cuddles. That'll never change."

“I know.” He sounded so stupid right now. Was that an actual tearful quaver in his voice? Over not being able to be held? No child could be held forever. Most grew up much quicker than him. Who else even got to perch on people’s shoulders for years? There was always a final time you were carried in someone’s arms, and you rarely knew when it was. Why was this such a big deal?

“I’m not a little kid anymore,” he said, mainly to assure himself, not Luz.

“You’ve grown up a lot. But I know you still love hugs.” She reached for him again, and this time he obliged, cuddling up to her while she squeezed him tight. “I’ll always be able to hug you.”

 “It’s not that big a deal.”

“It is though. I’m sad about it too.”

“You are?” 

“Of course! I’m going to miss carrying you around all the time. I knew it was bound to end, but for years it was just…our thing. You riding around on my shoulders. And it can’t be our thing anymore. I’m really going to miss that.”

Strangely, King felt better knowing Luz was also sad about it, that he wasn’t being overdramatic and childish. 

“And, hey, maybe one day you’ll be able to carry me!” Luz laughed. “I’ll be an old lady and you can carry me places.” 

King’s stomach dropped at the mere suggestion, a reality he knew was coming but didn’t want to even acknowledge at this point. He clung tighter to Luz, and Luz cleared her throat awkwardly. “But not for a really long time.” She hugged him close. “Sorry I said that.”

“It’s fine. I know it’s true.”

Luz fidgeted awkwardly, casting her gaze around as if looking for something to say, before she ended up getting to her feet and beckoning him into the house. “Come on, let’s sit somewhere more comfortable.” A good idea given they had been sitting near the garden for quite some time now.

King hadn’t seen the place fully furnished before, decked out in whimsical décor and memorabilia displayed proudly on bookshelves and windowsills . It could potentially be considered cluttered, but it was arranged in such a way that it felt perfectly comfortable and open.

“Your, uh, house looks nice.”

“Thanks!” Luz said, flopping down onto the couch, which King quickly copied. “We’re working on it. There’s still a lot to fix.”

There was another awkward pause. What was he doing? This was supposed to be a fun day with his sister; who knew when he’d get another one? Yet he was still on the verge of tears.

"I got that new battle royale video game we were talking about," said Luz. "Wanna play it?"

"With snacks?"

"Yep! I know how to prepare."

King tried to get comfortable on the couch while painfully aware of how much more space he took up than he used to, the way his claws had grown so thick and sharp. He picked up the video game controller, and was thankful that he was able to maneuver the toggle  without much difficulty.

"Here we go!" Luz deposited a large bag of chips next to King. King snatched it up and started crunching them down. He had always been hungry, but now that he was going through another major growth spurt, he was more ravenous than ever.

"Weh! Save some for me, okay?" said Luz. Though her Titan transformation was temporary, she had picked up some habits, such as using the trademark Titan cry. King couldn’t be happier to share another thing in common with her, a Titan trait that he wasn’t completely alone in. 

At her insistence, he looked up from cramming the chips into his mouth. "Sorry," he muttered, offering her the bag.

"It's okay. I've got more junk food, but I can make you a sandwich or something too." King only had to look at her before she laughed. "Right. We're here to eat crap and play video games until our eyes melt." She offered him a fist bump, which he happily returned. Then she passed him a couple candy bars before booting up her gaming system. 

King narrowed his eyes. "Weh? How do you already have stuff unlocked?"

"Oh, uh...we had a going-away-party for Amity's trip, and people wanted to play."

"You started without me?"

"I know, I'm sorry! The temptation was too great."

"Your traitorous behavior will not go unpunished!"

Luz had shown King so many video games over the years that their skills were evenly matched. It didn't take him long to get acquainted with this one, and in a few moments the two were battling it out, slamming each other's avatars into walls and uppercutting them into the sky.

"Woah, this game's blood graphics fucking rule!" said King as he sent Luz's avatar flying once more. 

"Shit." 

"Haha, get wrecked. Your guts will spill!”

"Oh you poor, innocent soul."

"Weh?"

Luz unleashed some power-up King hadn't been aware of and smashed his avatar into the ground.

"What?"

The two continued playing, each winning and losing a round, until King ended up winning the final tie-breaking match. He gave a dramatic victory cry. "Ha! I have destroyed you! The student has destroyed the teacher!"

"This time."

"Don't downplay my victory!"

"Okay, dork," Luz laughed, shoving him.

"Hey, I'm the champion, you're the dork!" He playfully shoved back, but Luz let out an unexpected yelp.

"Weh! Still sore here, remember?"

King shrunk back. "Luz, I -"

"No, it's alright. It only hurt a second."

Still, the mood was ruined, and the guilt resurfaced. "I keep hurting you."

"You never hurt me that bad. It was just an accident, I could have done the same thing to you."

King shook his head. "No you wouldn't."

"Well, it's just because I'm more used to my size. You're changing so fast, of course it's hard to figure out."

Changing so fast, and it looked like he wasn't going to stop any time soon. Did Titans grow for their entire lives? Was there ever a point where he could just settle and get used to it? Would he always be gaining in strength until he could topple Luz over with just a nudge? Until he couldn't even fit in anyone's house? All that assuming his loved ones were still alive.

She put her hand on his shoulder. “Hey, you know it’s okay to talk to me about this stuff.”

“What’ll that do? It won’t make me little again.”

“No, but I learned it helps sometimes, to get it out.” 

“But I came here to spend time with you. I didn’t mean to make this a whole downer conversation.”

Luz set her controller down and drew King into a hug. King couldn’t help letting out a small whimper as he nuzzled close, rubbing his head against her shirt. Luz gently pet along his back, ruffling his fur while she spoke. “We’re still spending time together. We don’t always have to just be having fun. I haven’t seen you in a long time, and I want you to talk to me about stuff like this. It’s what big sisters are for.”

King had enough of fighting back tears. He hadn’t properly talked with Luz in months, and being here, held close in her arms, he allowed himself to let it out. “I’m just so scared. Everyone is getting older and moving on, and I’m being pushed into all these things, but I still feel like a little kid. Like I’m not ready for this, but I have to be, because I’m the Titan, not a child.”

“You are still a kid. I don’t know how long it’ll take for you to grow up, but as a technical ‘adult,’ I’m telling you it’s not so easy even then.”

“But at least people are growing with you. You’re following the normal path.”

“Normal path?” Luz looked at him, skeptical.

“Ugh, you know what I mean. Your aging isn’t like mine. Don’t pretend it’s the same. You have things change, yeah, but you still know about how long you’ll live, who’s going to stick around for most of it, what to even expect from your aging. And I don’t know any of that except that nobody’s going to stick around with me except Collie and a couple of demons like Hooty.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry. It’s not the same. But, I don’t know who’s going to remain in my life either. I think that’s always an uncertainty.”

“Well for me it’s a guarantee,” he snapped. “One of the only guarantees I have. There are no other Titans. I’m alone. Stop pretending you know what I’m going through.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” Instead of speaking again, she did a nervous tap against her right arm. 

King hadn’t really meant to snap at her, but he was so tired of being alone. Everyone who could have explained to him what was happening was dead. He was so, so alone, and no amount of reassurance from his family could change that. 

“It’s fine,” he said. “It’s not you. I know there’s not really much you can say. A lot of this I’m working out with Collie, but he's a kid too. I just want someone who actually knows something to tell me it’s going to be okay. My life can’t be like what I thought it would be. When I had Eda officially adopt me, I thought I knew where my life was going. Even if I never found my original family. But then we found out I was a Titan, and I’m almost immortal. I can’t have a normal life. I can’t even have a normal Titan life because they’re all gone. Everything I thought my future could look like is just stupid now.” 

He looked at Luz, but it appeared she was waiting for him to say more, so he took another breath and continued. “If I just knew what was going to happen, and when. But I don’t know anything about being a Titan. Eda keeps telling me to just let myself chill and have things happen when they do, but how am I supposed to prepare for stuff when I have no idea what things are going to be like? No one knows anything about Titan development or how long it’ll take. Everyone else is changing, and one day they’ll die. I know it’s a long time, but not that long. And then I’ll be more alone. I already can’t make friends with people other than Collie. Who feels right playing with a god? I’m scared, Luz.”

He hadn’t meant to say that much. Why had he said that much, let himself turn into a blubbering mess again? Especially over something Luz couldn’t help with? 

Still, he let her pull him into another hug while he struggled to stop his tears and listen to her response. For some reason, he almost believed she could be reassuring, even as he dreaded another vague “we’ll wait and see what happens” kind of comfort. 

She was so quiet; was she even going to answer? Or did she agree with him, that his situation really was hopeless?  

“King…I can’t promise things will be okay. You’re right. We don’t know what your development is going to look like. And I know none of us can really know what you’re going through.”

She paused again. This wasn’t a promising start, but somehow, the way she said it made King feel calmer than some of the vague inspirational words thrown at him from people like Grandma Gwen, well-meaning but useless for someone who was so isolated from anyone else’s experience. 

Luz continued. “I used to believe in happy-ever-afters, but now I kind of learned there is no permanent 'okay.’ There’s just times that are more okay than others, and they're always changing. You never know when or how. But, I know that there’s always something good to find. Things you never even thought of before that you would have missed out on if the changes hadn’t happened.”

"Like what? What kind of things?”

“Like…like Collie! Or, wait, is it Coco now?”

“No! Only I call them Coco. You can’t do that.” 

Luz held up her arms. “Sorry! Didn't know that was a closed nickname. Collie then. None of us could have predicted him getting released, and if we could, we would have done everything we could to stop it. I know we all would have fought to make sure the Day of Unity never happened, that Collie never got released, and that we didn’t get separated. And, it was terrible, but it happened, and Collie was finally freed, and now you have them. So, would you undo that, and solve it in the simpler way?”

King furrowed his brow. “Oh. That’s really weird to think about.”

“Yeah,” Luz chuckled nervously. “It is. I don’t like thinking about it a lot because I start worrying about the things I did." She started to scratch harder at her arm, but Stringbean quickly nosed her way in and Luz pet the snakeshifter instead. "But again…I guess we just never know what’s going to happen. Like, I didn't want things to change when we all lived at the Owl House together either, but then if they hadn't, I might've not reconnected with my mom, and gotten to be sisters with Vee, or had any of the opportunities I did. Even losing the original glyphs...that hurt so bad, but it challenged me to find even more ways to study magic, which helped Hunter and I start that disability program, and then when you started developing your own glyphs, it gave me a whole new language to work with that could do things the other one couldn't!  So however things  happen, well, something good is there. There’s always something good there. Even when you thought you lost it all, and it’s nothing like what you expected.”

“So you’re saying something good is going to happen no matter what?” He knew Luz was an optimist, but she couldn’t really believe that. “That’s not true. Sometimes things are just bad.”

“You still have to make the good opportunities happen. If things had gone differently, maybe you wouldn’t have befriended Collie, and they would have accidentally killed everyone.”

King chuckled wryly. "Probably.”

“But you connected with him, and you helped save the Boiling Isles and him. You did that. Even though the situation was bad, you made something good happen. Another person might not have done that and just given up, or tried to fight them instead. So see? You’ve got to make it happen, but it can happen from anywhere.”

“But what if that doesn’t happen? What if my life just sucks and it’s out of my control?”

“That…that could be. For a time. There’s always going to be times like that. I’m not trying to sound like I’m saying your life will be great. Because I know it might not. Life can really suck. I’m just saying, there’s always something there to make it worth it. Even if you really have to look, and you don’t find it for a long time. If we always stopped when life was at its worst, we’d never get to see all the surprising  things that do turn out okay. Even if they seem small, and don’t last. Life is really weird and surprising with what happens to you. I didn’t always feel this way, but I’m grateful I hung around to see where my life went, and where it’s still going to go. You just never know.”

King rubbed his skull. “This is making my head hurt.”

“I know, it kind of does for me too. It’s really weird, but maybe it helps?”

“Kind of. Probably.” He sighed. “I don’t know.” What Luz said made sense, but at the same time, it was more waiting. More anxious anticipation of an unknown future, unclear when or how it would change. And as much as Luz reminded him the darker times wouldn’t last, she wasn’t the one facing an immortal life. To maintain overall happiness through a life of eighty or ninety years was an entirely different feat to doing that with a life of thousands. She could never really understand. 

King wanted to believe what she was saying. In some ways he knew it was true. But it didn’t stop the fear. Even she admitted she didn’t know what his life would be. If his happiness would be great, or small snatches, desperately clung to amongst the pain. Probably periods of both, but which would make the bigger picture?

More waiting. His life was simultaneously far too slow and far too fast, one spent in frustrated anticipation for his situation to become clearer, his mind to mature, while his body and mind shifted and developed, and his loved ones aged. He didn’t know if he wanted to hurry things into a period of greater certainty, or freeze it all right now and never let it move. What stability could exist for him, anyway, in a world of constant upheaval and change? One where even the victories gained from the defeat of Belos were called into question, as ugly groups reared their heads, determined to bring back the system and doctrine that had so recently been overpowered?

He got so caught in his thoughts, he almost forgot Luz was there, until she said, “Well hey, I do know one thing that is guaranteed to never change.”

“What?”

Luz took his face between her hands and gave his cheek tufts a scratch. “That I’m your big sister, and I love you. Even if we see each other less, and our routine changes and our lives change, and I can't carry you anymore. No matter what, that’ll always be true. Okay?”

“Okay.” He sniffled and cuddled closer. “Luz…I’ve really missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, buddy. We need to see each other more often. I know you’re growing up and have your own stuff, but we need our duo time.”

He nodded, sighing into her shirt. The thoughts hadn’t really calmed. Nothing had been resolved. But the hug was warm, and he felt loved. Things were okay, for a moment.

King was going to reply, but instead Luz pulled away and gave him a mysterious smile.

“Hey, what’s that look?” King asked, tilting his head at her suspiciously. 

“Wait here. I just got an idea. Oh! And close your eyes.”

He obeyed, though he half-expected some jumpscare. It would have been a bit odd for the moment, but not out of the question.

Luz quickly returned. “Okay, hold out your arms.”

King held them out, and something light-weight and soft dropped into his paws. He opened his eyes to see a very familiar purple and white cat hoodie, the one Luz had quit wearing years ago. 

King stared at the garment in his paws, then back up at his sister.

“Remember you asked me to keep it for you so it could be a hand-me-down? I think it might fit you now,” she said, smiling. “If you, uh, still wanted it.”

“You actually kept it?”

“I promised you, didn’t I?”

His tail wagged and he hugged her again, before he silently smoothed the fabric out, admiring it before tentatively attempting to slip it on.

There was some difficulty due to his horns, and Luz helped him when the hood got caught on them. But thankfully, the material was stretchy, and with some minor wriggling he managed to get it on.

It was still a bit too big, billowing out around his feet, but he wasn’t lost in the fabric, and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to wear it at times. 

“I have a hand-me-down,” he said quietly. Then he spoke a bit louder, once the sentence had fully clicked. “I have a hand-me-down!”

Ever since he learned of his father’s existence, he had dreamed of having a hand-me-down from him, before realizing the truth. The concept of a hand-me-down had even been cruelly spat in his face amongst the Titan Trappers. To Tarak, a hand-me-down was the severed skull of a child, and all the weapons King thought he would inherit were used to slaughter his kind.

The symbol in the tower he hatched in was a possibility, and for a while he had worn it on his collar, though it had turned out to have magic that concealed him from Collie. Now that Collie was his best friend, that wasn’t an option anymore either. There had been no physical history left to inherit, beyond the massive bones of his ancestors. Not a trace of true heritage, all relics of Titan culture wiped clean by the Archivists and the Trappers.

The destruction of an entire civilization and nearly all traces of it made him more desperate than ever to have something tangible, meaningful, to hold. Especially if he was going to outlive his family by so long.

Eda and Raine made it a point to give him keepsakes and trinkets ever since he spoke to them about this, and each one he treasured. His pile of plushies gradually transformed into a nest of all kinds of odd knicknacks, until it was more impressive than a dragon’s hoard, at least to him.

And now Luz. How many times had he watched her run off in this exact purple hoodie, getting into wacky hijinks, while he trotted after her on stubby legs, always falling behind and crying out for her to come scoop him up onto her shoulder and carry him along on her daily grand adventure?

“How do I look?” he asked. Not that she would ever say he looked bad, but he hoped she truly approved.

“You look amazing, but see for yourself!” she said, directing him to a tall mirror.

It was certainly an awkward fit, but it suited him far better than he had hoped, and he did a little twirl to see the full effect.

Luz pulled out her phone, and raised her eyebrow to confirm King had no qualms with it. He gave her a thumbs up, then went into increasingly dramatic and silly poses, until the two were lost in giggles over it.

“Aww King it fits you so well. I’m really glad you like it.”

King turned to admire himself once more. His tail wagged, though it bumped uncomfortably against the shirt. “I think there needs to be more room for my tail though.”

“I can get Hunter to modify it for you.”

“Okay, but not too much!”

“Of course not. The power of the meow must be preserved.”

“Ew, don't call it that.”

“Last I checked it was my hoodie originally, and that’s what I remember calling it when I wore it.” She brightened. “Oh, that means you have to say it.”

“Say what?”

“You know.” She held her hands out like cat paws. “Meow meow.”

“I am not doing your hideous cat impression."

“Oh, are you too much of a cool, moody Titan for that?”

“The ears won’t work on my head. My horns are in the way.”

“So? Embrace the cringe!”

“You're just like Raine.”

“Embrace the cringe!” She hugged him close and tickled him until he shrieked with laughter.

“Okay, okay! Meow meow!”

“There we go!” Luz cheered. “The ancient power has been transferred. Now it’s truly yours.” 

King pumped his fist in the air. “Yes! The power of the ancient cat gods are mine!"

Luz beamed at him, and he beamed back. He tensed reflexively to leap into her arms, but caught himself, and with another pang of sadness he wrapped his arms around her in a simple hug instead. “Thanks, Luz.”

"Any time, buddy."

After letting the hug linger for a moment, he pulled away. “Okay, enough downer stuff. Can we do a game rematch so I can destroy you again?"

"You're on."

[talaofthevalley]

I always hate hate haaated when stories pull the "main character goes home to their normal world and life at the end of the story" and have it depicted as an undeniably good thing. As a growing up moment, like you can't keep the fantastical and magical in your life as an adult, that it's something to leave behind as you grow up.

Which is why I think it's so so great that The Owl House didn't go that route and instead showing at the end a permanent door between realms is set up. Luz is going back and forth regularly, and will go on to attend college in the demon realm. Growing up doesn't mean letting go of one of her homes and the world that finally made her feel like she belonged.

And it is such a fitting end for TOH, a show that emphasises that being passionate about your nerdy interests is actually great and good! Luz and Amity connect from a shared love of The Good Witch Azura. Hunter developing nerdy hobbies and fixations is depicted as a all around positive, he gets to be a kid and enjoy himself without holding back. Camilla reconnecting with her interests and allowing herself to indulge in that love again helps her connect with her daughter and mend the rift in their relationship. And that's so beautiful to me.

The Owl House feels like it's saying "just because you're growing up doesn't mean you have to let go of your passions" and I love that. Love that in a show for kids and teens, who might be scared they have to let go of things they love because they're getting 'too old', a central message is that you're never too old for your hobbies.

[sakebytheriver]

I have written another Huntlow piece to drop right before the new episodes drop so as not to contradict anything in canon.

This is basically just the concept of "Hunter's been flirting with Willow for an entire year and she couldn't tell" if it ran off a cliff, enjoy

~~~~~~~

The past year will probably go down in history as the most eventful year of any of their lives, from Luz first finding her way to the Boiling Isles to getting trapped there to finding her way home with several witches in tow, being stranded in the human realm until they could find a way back and then having to do battle with an eldritch god when they finally did, but now life seemed to settle down. Things were back to normal, or as normal as they could be on the Boiling Isles. Hunter and Luz had officially joined the student body at Hexside with Camilla giving Luz the caveat that she supplement her human education with online courses so she'll still be able to attend a human college one day. Meanwhile Hunter's transition to a normal student had gone over pretty well even if sometimes his unfortunately puritanical upbringing would rear it's ugly head at the wrong moment.

Over all the past year had changed all of their lives in ways none of them could have ever imagined, but now the world had slowed down and they were all able to be regular teenagers again.

As of now the Emerald Entrails had just finished another successful practice before their next upcoming match. Skara and Viney sat on the bleachers reviewing the footage from their practice while Hunter, Gus and Willow gathered up the equipment on the field.

Once everything was put away Hunter had Flapjack turn into his staff form and turned to the other two

"I gotta get to the library, I'm gonna be late for my shift," he said letting himself hover a few inches off the ground.

"Of course," Willow smiled. "I'll see you later, try not to get any papercuts." She teased.

"Well, if I do you'll have to kiss it better." Hunter smirked and Willow giggled before he took off into the air.

Watching him fly off Willow was suddenly struck by just what exactly he'd said. Her head cocked to the side and her eyebrows furrowed as her face shifted into a confused pout. She turned to Gus standing next to her the uncertainty obvious in her voice.

"Wait. Was Hunter just flirting with me?"

The reaction to her question was not at all what she expected, but it was instantaneous. Gus blinked and quirked his head as if he'd been slapped, the expression that had taken over his features full of disbelief.

"What?" Willow looked around her as if that could explain her friend's reaction, "what's with the face?"

Gus stayed silent and just continued to stare at her, his eyes narrowed and he seemed to be studying her face for any kind of deception. When he seemingly found none his face changed again into one of surprised delight.

Instantly he turned towards their two teammates sitting on the bleachers.

"Hey, guys!" He called out as he jogged his way over to them. "Guess what Willow just asked me."

"Okay, Gus, I get it," Willow rolled her eyes her cheeks looking pink as she followed him.

"She just asked if Hunter was flirting with her," he grinned as Viney and Skara both looked up from Skara's scroll.

"You're kidding," Viney said in disbelief.

At Gus' little headshake the two girls burst into laughter with Gus following suit not too long after. Willow's cheeks were firmly on fire now.

"Okay, fine he wasn't flirting with me, will you all stop laughing now?" She crossed her arms over her chest pouting as she knew her embarrassment was clearly written in her every move.

The three entrails left on the field stopped laughing immediately to look at her with wide eyed expressions as if she'd just sprouted a second head.

"Ok, now you have to be kidding," Viney looked at Willow as if she was waiting for the plant witch to say she was.

"Willow, we're not laughing because Hunter wasn't flirting with you," Gus explained. "We're laughing because he definitely was."

Willow felt like someone poured a bucket of ice water on her head.

"Wha- tha-s he- no-" she spluttered looking quickly at each of them back and forth.

"He's been flirting with you since the moment he met you," Skara said.

"Wha-! No he hasn't!" Willow's arms fell away from her chest in shock.

"No, you're right he started flirting with you after he let us go after kidnapping us." Gus interjected.

Willow looked to Skara and Viney feeling like she was grasping for straws as they both met her eyes with matching matter of fact nods. The ground felt like it had opened up underneath Willow right where she stood.

"Bu-but that was over a year ago." When she spoke her voice felt a million miles away from her.

The three entrails eyes met as they noticed how lost their captain had become. Gus turned back to Willow taking a cautious step towards her.

"Willow?" In an instant Willow had snapped turning Clover to her staff form and launched herself into the air leaving the others behind.

"Um," Gus watched her fly away with wide eyes. "Should we follow her?"

"Eh," Viney wvaed her arm dismissively. "She probably just needs some time to process."

"Hm," Gus looked back up to the sky where his best friend had disappeared with a worried look while Skara and Viney got lost in the recording once more. He hoped Viney was right.

________________________

Hunter was behind the library's front desk stacking books onto the cart to be reshelved. He bent down to grab a couple books from under the desk and when he stood back up straight Willow had appeared standing on the other side stealing the breath from his lungs in surprise.

"Ah!" The reaction jolted out of his chest as he took a step back clutching the book in his hand to his chest before he settled with a chuckle rolling his eyes at his own expense. "Hey, did I forget something at practice?"

"No," Willow bit her lip unable to say anything else. Her heart felt like it would leap right out of her throat, but all she could do was stare at the blond in front of her as he grew more and more confused as the time passed in silence.

"Do you need something from me?"

"I don't know if I wanna ask you yet," Willow let the words spill out of her mouth knowing that she wouldn't be able to ask him the questions swimming around her mind, but that she could at least tell him that.

Hunter's eyebrow rose to his hairline as he took in her odd behavior.

"...Ok, well, I have to reshelve these books," he spoke slowly as if talking to an animal that might get spooked if he made any sudden moves. Willow honestly couldn't blame him even she had to admit she was acting strange.

"Ok," it was the only word she could make herself say. Hunter narrowed his eyes at her.

"So... I'm gonna go... do that now," he pointed awkwardly towards the stacks behind her.

"Ok," Willow could only imagine how weird she must have looked to him at that moment as he blinked and cocked his head to the side with a curious smile.

"Ok," the confused smile on his face as he parroted her word back to her asking Willow a thousand questions she didn't want to answer at once.

She followed him to the stacks as he rolled the book covered cart into place, she settled leaning back on her hands folded behind her against the bookshelf next to the cart as Hunter began to reshelve.

"You ok?" He stole a glance at her as he put the books back into place. Willow could hardly tear her eyes away from him just taking in every detail feeling like she had to examine him like a bug under a microscope.

"Kinda?" Willow winced at her own response.

Hunter's only response was to give her a weird look opening his mouth to say something before thinking better of it shaking his head turning back to the books on the cart. Willow stood back leaning watching him reshelve books all along the aisle.

She watched as he reached the other end and a witch she recognized from Hexside approached him. Willow couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could see the way the other girl was leaning in close to him, how she twirled her hair around her fingers, batted her eyelashes at him, and the slight dusting of pink on her cheeks. Willow would be lying if she said a hot curl of jealousy didn't settle in the pit of her stomach as she watched them. It didn't help that the witch was also beautiful, tall with long shiny hair, and a figure Willow would never admit made her more than a little insecure in her own.

And yet as Hunter talked to her his body language was all business. He pointed to different parts of the library in response to her questions, when she leaned in he would take a small step back, the smiles he gave in response to hers were tight and didn't quite meet his eyes. Even though the witch's interest in him was clear there was no reciprocation on Hunter's side.

Hunter stole a glance towards where he'd left Willow standing against the bookshelf and was almost surprised as their eyes met. But not as surprised as he was at her reaction to the eye contact. Willow's eyes grew wide and her cheeks turned red, she looked away from him almost as soon as he'd looked at her towards the cart of books pulling a few off and returning them to their place on the bookshelf in front of her.

Hunter had to admit she was really acting strange today, but even with her odd behavior he found himself getting lost just watching her. She hadn't even changed out of her practice clothes yet, her hair still up in a messy bun with flyaways sticking out from the force of the wind as she flew on Clover, and dirt smudged on her clothes from when she dove down to snatch a falling flag. He barely registered when the witch he'd been talking to walked away, his eyes were locked on Willow as she attempted to put a book on the tallest shelf. She was standing on her tiptoes even hopping a little bit, her arm fully outstretched, he couldn't help but chuckle at her behavior. He watched her for only a second more before he made his way over to her.

"Here, let me," Hunter said as he made his way to stand right behind her taking the book from her hand focusing on sticking it back in the right place rather than just how close he'd gotten to her.

Unfortuantely Willow was left to notice how close they were now standing to each other. She had turned around to face him as he took the book from her, they were so close she had to press her body against the bookshelf to avoid touching him, she never really realized how tall he'd gotten over the past year until just this moment. Willow hadn't grown an inch, but Hunter on the otherhand, her stomach was a mess of butterflies as she had to tilt her head all the way back to look up at his face, she felt like she was surrounded by him, boxed in by the cart on her side and the bookshelf at her back and as he leaned over her his arm stretched further than hers could ever go and yet still bent at the elbow Willow was struck with just how much she herself had developed feelings for him over this year. She couldn't believe how oblivious to her own feelings she had been and the fact that it had taken the realization that he might have feelings for her being what woke her up.

Willow had to admit she was a little embarassed, but not as embarassed as she felt a second later when Hunter finally looked down from the top shelf and made eye contact with her. She watched as the realization of how close they were and the fact that he'd been the one to put them into this position hit him like a truck. His face and ears turned into a tomato and his eyes widened to the size of saucers, every muscle in his body tensed, his eyes darted to her lips before he stumbled back away from her.

"Ha- I was- um- I just- I yeah..." he spluttered running his hand through his hair nervously as he turned back to the book cart avoiding her eyes that remained locked on his every movement.

Wow, I've been so blind. Willow thought watching as he picked up more books to reshelve.

"Thanks," she said stilted from her own nerves. "For the help. I can see why they hired you." She watched as her joke had the intended effect breaking the tension in his shoulders as he let out a breathy laugh.

"Yeah, that was the first question on the application. 'Can you reach the tallest shelf?'"

As the two of them fell into an easy laugh letting their friendship take over the awkwardness that had settled between them Willow's mind was still buzzing with everything that had just happened.

________________________

Gus was woken up by a loud rapping against his bedroom window, before he could even get up to open it Willow had sped through on Clover landing on her feet as the palisman quickly transformed into a bee.

"How did I not see it?" Willow plopped down on Gus' bed as he sat up. Gus responded as his still half asleep brain processed the last couple seconds.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is about Hunter, yeah?" Gus asked and Willow groaned dropping her face into her hands pushing her glasses up to her forehead.

"You guys were right, he likes me," she whined into her hands. "What am I gonna do?"

"Well," Gus spoke slowly feeling like if he moved too fast he would send her into a breakdown. "I'm just spitballing here, but you do like him back, right? I mean, I haven't misread that?"

Willow sighed picking her head up from her hands to look at him.

"No, you haven't."

"So, why don't you just ask him out?"

From her reaction Gus felt like he'd just asked her to get a ladybug for a pet, panic taking over her every feature.

"I can't," She shook her head. "I just- I mean- ugh-"

Willow looked away from Gus' gaze looking down at her hands and when she spoke next her voice was so low Gus was sure she didn't want him to hear what she said next.

"Why me?"

Gus could hear every latent insecurity in her soft voice. He'd known Willow at her best and at her worst and he knew deep down some part of her never felt good enough, no matter what anyone else said or what her own experiences showed her.

"Willow," Gus sighed wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close to him. "I could probably spend an entire day telling you why Hunter is completely and utterly gone on you," Willow groaned and Gus chuckled. "But I can tell you're not quite in the right mind to really hear 'why you'. So I'll just say that you're amazing and Hunter would have been insane not to fall for you."

Willow sighed as she wrapped her arm around Gus' waist burrying her head into his chest.

"Thanks, Gus. I mean, I have no idea what I'm gonna do, but I'm glad you're here for me."

"Well, whatever you decide to do I'll support you, but I'll warn you Luz told me Hooty has a plan for you two." Willow sat straight up panic returning to her eyes.

"What?!"

________________________

Willow had successfully pushed all thoughts about mutual crushes and asking boys out to the back of her mind, even if Gus' first move after she admitted her feelings was to tell Luz and Amity about it, the betrayer, and now the Emerald Entrails were in the middle of their championship match and Willow absolutely refused to let her head get distracted from anything but the giant trophy waiting for them.

Maybe that was why she didn't see the other player coming until it was too late and she was falling through the air instead of securely on Clover. But just as soon as she'd started falling she was caught by someone. Someone with really strong arms, someone she knew when she looked up would bring every thought she'd been respressing straight to the forefront of her mind.

As she let her eyes slowly drift up to look at Hunter's face, her breath left her in an instant. His gaze was focused and intense, his jawline sharp and tensed as he focused on the game, the sun behind him giving him a halo and lighting up his blond hair like it glowed. He looked down at her and Willow could swear her heart skipped a beat once that intense gaze was focused on her.

"You ready?" Hunter asked with a confident smile and Willow finally realized Clover was hovering nearby. She grinned at him and nodded her head once before he was launching into the air where she easily caught Clover as she turned into her staff form the two of them slipping back into the match like it was second nature.

The Entrails flew their way into another victory and Willow let herself get lost in the celebration as everyone came together in a giant group, cheering, hugging, and congratulating. After separating from a hug with Gus, she found herself instinctually shifting into a hug with Hunter. As they pulled away Willow couldn't stop herself from speaking.

"Thanks," the word blurted from her lips before she could stop it, at his curious look she continued. "For catching me- earlier- in the game." She stumbled through her words suddenly feeling awkward.

"Oh that," Hunter smiled. "Well, I had to make up for last time."

"Last time?" Now it was Willow's turn to be confused. Hunter laughed and shook his head.

"Of course you didn't know," he said smiling at her.

"Didn't know what?"

"Our first game together?" He spoke hoping to jog her memory. "You were falling and I went to catch you, but you gave me the flags instead."

"You were trying to catch me?" Willow asked completely shocked.

"Yeah I was, but then you caught yourself which I should have guessed, but at the time I didn't know you that well, so," he smiled as the realization dawned on Willow's face.

"It didn't even occur to me that you would be trying to catch me. I just thought you were obviously going for the flags," Willow said with wonder in her voice like she couldn't believe it. Hunter just chuckled at her reaction.

"Of course it didn't. It's your one blindspot, Park," he leaned down to be eyelevel with her putting his hand on her shoulder. "You never think of yourself." He grinned at her as his eyes darted to something just above her head right before Willow was hit with the ice cold juice from the cooler her other teammates were currently dumping on her.

She let herself get caught up in everyone else's laughter and the celebration of their victory. Taking pictures with the giant trophy with red juice dripping down her glasses wrapped up in her teammates grinning from ear to ear. Yet all the while Hunter's words kept ringing through her mind.

You never think of yourself

________________________

It was the day before Grom and somehow Luz had yet to grompose to Amity. She claimed that she wanted everything about it to be perfect, but Willow knew it was just her overactive brain adding more and more spectacle to the gromposal until she had somehow roped all of them into the process. Willow stood in her ending position breathing heavy as she held up the sparklers with Gus and Hunter, grinning from ear to ear as Amity obviously said yes and Luz picked her up, the two of them twirling and laughing cheeks on fire.

Willow, Gus, and Hunter let their arms drop and finally caught their breath from the ellaborate routine Luz forced them all to memorize. Gus took Willow's arm pulling her away from the group as Hunter made his way to the happy couple.

"So?" Gus started. "When exactly am I gonna be helping you with your gromposal? Time's running out." He stole a glance to Hunter.

"Shush," Willow turned to look over her shoulder beford pulling Gus even further away. "For your information there is not going to be a gromposal."

"What? Willow, come on."

"Do I need to bring up a certain duel track witch named Matt?"

"Hey, I asked Matt to grom," Gus said pointing his finger at Willow accusingly. Her only response was to raise an eyebrow at him. "Ok, fine it was as friends, but it's still more than you."

"Look it's just... not the right time." Willow looked over her shoulder at Hunter.

When he interrupted the happy couple Hunter wasn't expecting to be bombarded about his own failing love life, but the second he made his presence known Luz turned on him.

"So you gonna ask Willow to grom or what?" Luz put her hands on her hips as Amity rolled her eyes at her girlfriend's instant switch.

"What- I-" Hunter looked behind him at Willow hoping she couldn't hear anything before turning back to Luz with a stern look. "Are you crazy? I can't ask Willow to grom."

"Why not?"

"Because not only is she Willow," he emphasized her name as if the awesomeness of her identity was explanation enough. "She's also going to be grom queen tomorrow and oh yeah, she's Willow freaking Park."

"Oh come on," Luz rolled her eyes at him.

"I kinda see his point," Amity spoke up for the first time. Luz turned to her with her jaw on the ground. Amity shrugged. "Well, I mean, she is Willow and he's well..." she gestured at him with her hand before trailing off. "A very good friend of mine." She said looking into Hunter's unimpressed eyes with an insincere smile.

"Nice save," he said flatly, making her insincere smile turn into an insincere grin.

"Look, you've been in love with Willow since you met her make a move already," Luz said pulling Hunter's attention back to her.

He winced and looked over his shoulder at Willow feeling the butterflies come to life just at the sight of her.

"I can't. It's not the right time," he said keeping his eyes on Willow.

"When will it be the right time, Willow?" Gus asked her as she turned back to look at him. She sighed feeling her shoulders drop as she pouted at her best friend.

"I don't know," she said.

"Don't know what?" Hunter's voice answered from behind her as he walked up to the pair. Willow jumped surprised at his sudden appearance.

"I- um-" she choked out before her mouth snapped shut unable to say another word just hoping he hadn't been there long enough to hear what they'd been talking about.

Hunter gave her a confused look as Gus raised his eyebrow at his panicking friend's behavior. He rolled his eyes before turning to Hunter with an excuse to save her.

"She doesn't know how she's going to carry all the bags of fertilizer from the market back to her garden now that I've got plans with Matt."

"Oh, I can help." Hunter offered easily. Gus clapped his hands together turning to make eye contact with Willow's narrowed eyed expression which told him she knew exactly what he was doing.

"Great!" Gus said with a grin. "You see, Willow it was an easy fix." He smiled at her tight lipped response.

"Yes, thank you, Gus."

"Anytime, Willow."

Hunter looked between the two of them even more confused at the way Gus batted his eyelashes at her with a self aware innocent smile and how Willow looked at him with narrow eyes and pursed lips.

"So...?" Hunter said just to break the tension. The two of them snapped their attention to him and suddenly he wished he'd never said anything at all.

"Let's go," Willow slipped her arm through Hunter's pulling him away from Gus.

"Bye! Have fun you two," Gus called after them with a self satified grin plastered to his face. Willow refused to look back.

________________________

After the two of them had made their way back from the market with bags of fertilizer slung over their shoulders, Willow had made her way inside to change into her gardening overalls expecting Hunter to leave, but when she came back out he was in the middle of her garden talking to Clover and Flapjack getting the bee to tell the cardinal how Hunter should work with the plants in front of him. Willow watched him for a minute with a fond smile before joining them kneeling down in the dirt greeting them all and getting to work.

The two worked side by side chatting idly here and there for hours even as the sun started to go down they were still kneeling in the dirt.

"So," Hunter started. "You nervous for tomorrow?" Stealing a look from the corner of his eye as Willow sighed letting her arms drop to her lap.

"I mean, a little," she turned to look him in the eye as he did the same. "But after everything we've been through this past year, a grom doesn't really seem that scary anymore."

Hunter laughed, "Yeah, after facing an actual ancient deity a Grom monster doesn't seem so bad."

The two of them laughed the air around them feeling relaxed and warm.

"I am excited about my dress, though. Luz and Amity helped me pick it out, they said I look good."

"Of course you do," he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Willow couldn't help how her heart started jumping in her chest.

"Well, you haven't seen me in it yet," she said nervously looking away tucking a lose hair behind her ear as she felt her cheeks warm.

"I don't need to, you always look beautiful."

Willow looked up at him with a slack jawed expression before snapping herself out of it laughing through her next words. "Y-yeah right." She kept her eyes on the plant in front of her.

"I'm serious," Hunter doubled down and Willow couldn't help her eyes drifting back to his face. "Even now, in your ratty old gardening overalls, with dirt smudged on your face," he chuckled and started pulling his glove off his hand Willow's eyes glued to his movements as he raised his hand to her cheek. The warmth radiating from his finger seeped through her skin and as she could only focus on the rough feeling of his thumb on rubbing the dirt smudge from her cheek, he could only focus on the softness of her skin. "You're the most beautiful witch I've ever met." He let the words slip out of his mouth before he could second guess himself.

Willow couldn't tear her eyes away from Hunter's holding her breath as she waited for his next words, the colors of the setting sun lighting up the world around them in pinks and purples. Something in her said, this is right, but her voice caught in her throat.

"Willow, I- I wanted to-," Hunter cut himself off swallowing before looking away from her eyes slipping his hand from her cheek and back into his glove. The air around them shattering like glass. "Um- I just wanted to say, good luck tomorrow. You're gonna kick that grom's butt." He looked back at her with a nervous smile. Willow took a shaky breath in before schooling her face into a matching smile.

"Thanks," she said hoping her disappointment didn't come through her voice.

"Well, um it's getting late. I should probably get back to Darius' place before the sun goes down." He said hurredly standing up, feeling like he had to run away from the situation he'd created. Willow followed his movement standing to face him. "Goodnight, Willow."

"Goodnight, Hunter," the two stood in front of each other for a long moment neither knowing what to say next while Flapjack cheeped directly into Hunter's ear making the blond wince before transforming the palisman into staff form and flying away.

Willow watched him disappear into the horizon, her shoulders dropping once he was out of sight, her face falling into her hands as she groaned at her own stupid behavior.

Why didn't I stop him?

She rubbed her eyes before turning to stomp back into her house ready to collapse into her bed and scream into her pillow, and about a boy no less! Her plan was thwarted however by her dads swarming her the second she walked through the back door.

"So? Did he ask you?" Harvey asked excitedly.

"What?" Willow looked at her dads as if they'd asked her if she loved ladybugs.

"To grom," Gilbert interjected. "We saw you two in the garden, did Hunter finally ask you?"

"You two knew?!" Willow threw her hands out to her side in exasperation. "How long have you known Hunter liked me?"

"Well, honey he called us 'sir' when he met us," Gilbert cringed.

"And he was incredibly formal about the whole thing," Harvey added.

"So, you two knew when you met him?" Willow felt like her world had flipped upside down once again. Her dads looked at each other with matching cringes. "Oh my titan, I hate this day." Willow said with all the melodrama of a teen with a crush before she pushed past her dads to make her way up to her room.

"Wait, did he ask you?" Gilbert called after her.

"No!" She shouted before closing her door solidly behind her.

Harvey and Gilbert winced.

________________________

Despite last night's disappointing ending Willow was ready to face the grom that night especially after her dads came up to comfort her with eye-scream and cheesy crystal ball comedies of the three Strzygi from back when crystal ball films were still in black and white. Now she was enjoying the high of getting dressed up with her best girls Luz and Amity, doing their makeup and hair together feeling beautiful in her soft green dress with a skirt that twirled so smoothly when she spun around making her feel more like a princess rather than a grom queen. Amity and Luz wished her luck before they left her by the door to be introduced by Gus, the emcee for the second year in a row.

Gus took her hand tightly in his and looked deep into her eyes, "You got this."

They smiled at each other before he pushed the doors open stepping onto Emmiline as she took her staff form lifting him into the air easily as he announced Willow's entrance.

As she walked through the open gymnasium doors the sea of students and teachers parted to give her space. As the floor opened up and she walked down the ramp to where the grom was waiting for her Willow was suddenly hit with all the eyes on her, how all of her deepest fears would be on full display in front of every person she ever knew. Titan, she hoped she wouldn't be making a fool of herself tonight.

Before she could fully climb into her own head about the upcoming ordeal the grom monster's gooey form took the shape of the Emperor in his most monstrous moments and Willow found herself instinctually falling into the fight.

The grom took many forms that she hit with thorny vines errupting from the ground, using Clover at other points to fly away as the grom shifted and merged into many different montrous shapes, from ladybugs to the collector to any other monster Willow had ever fought. The two of them almost fell into a pattern like a dance, her beathing had grown heavy at the exertion each new spell, dodge, and fight move caused her and just when she felt like her muscles would give out on her from exhaustion the grom shifted again into someone she really should have expected earlier, the taunting voice all to familiar as it sing songed the words that had been hurled at her during her weakest moments.

"Half-a-witch Willow," the grom stood on the ground at the height of her biggest bully, Boscha. Standing behind her a faceless mass of the grom taking the shape of a crowd of kids all taunting her with the name she lived with for years.

Willow drifted to the ground to stand right in front of the Boscha lookalike, trying not to think about how the real thing was probably in the audience right now. Dropping Clover as the palisman transormed back into a bee and flew off to the side letting Willow handle the fight on her own.

"I'm not afraid of Boscha," Willow said confident that her statement was the truth.

The grom grinned making Boscha's three eyes glow green as she took a few steps towards Willow.

"You're right, you're not scared of her," the grom spoke as its form shifted and changed once more turning into Willow from two years ago dressed in an abomination goo covered uniform and short disheveled hair. "You're scared of her." The grom grinned at the little step back Willow took in surprise at the sight of her own face and the sound of her own voice. Of every form she expected, her own wasn't a face she expected to be staring back at her tonight. "You're scared you will always be me," the grom spoke with Willow's voice as it took slow steps toward her making Willow unconsiously step back each time. "Scared that they were always right about you, that you will always be half-a-witch Willow. The weakling. The failure. The-"

"Stop!" Willow shouted her eyes clenched shut tight, planting her feet throwing her arms out to her side as twisted brown vines looking more like roots sprouted from the ground in response, the green glow of her eyes spilling out of her closed lids.

The grom actually stopped moving caught off guard by the violent reaction of the plant witch. Willow took a deep steadying breath before opening her eyes, the green glow long gone, she took a small step towards the grom.

Willow took the grom's hand softly, a hand that was technically her own hand looking into her own eyes with a softness so different from just a moment ago.

"I'm not scared of you," Willow spoke gently gazing into her own green eyes knowing exactly what she needed to say. "I love you. I just wish I loved you when I was you." She smiled before pulling her younger self into a hug, letting her eyes slip closed for a moment. Willow wanted to experience this moment for herself trying to let the gym full of witches dissolve away.

The grom's arms stayed outstretched at its sides a shocked look on its face, as Willow pulled back from the hug she took the grom's wrist before putting her other palm on top of the grom's as she lifted it again underneath was a small pink flower right in the center of the grom's hand. As Willow let go even more small pink flowers began to sprout along the grom's body until the entire thing was covered in them for just a moment, before it burst into an explosion of little pink flowers raining down over the entire gym.

The crowd stayed silent for only one second of processing before errupting into cheers as they were all covered in flowers. Willow could only laugh as she watched im wonder as the flowers fell around her like rain, the crown of grom queen coming into place on her head.

Across the gym Luz, Amity, Gus, and Hunter stood in a group watching her each with pride on their faces. Hunter couldn't tear his eyes away from her as she laughed and spun in the flowers she'd created, she looked like a dream. The world around him felt miles away as he watched her.

Gus tore his eyes away from Willow to steal a glance at Hunter next to him. He couldn't help but nudge his friend teasingly knocking Hunter out of his trance lighting his face up like a tomato at being caught.

"Try not to look too lovesick," Gus teased before he hopped onto Emmiline in her staff form holding the mic up to his lips as he flew towards Willow.

"And that's your grom queen, witches and demons! Let's hear it for Willow Park!" Gus announced into the mic as he scooped Willow up to sit on the end of his staff lifting her into the air to be cheered on by the other students in the gym. The flowers from the grom still falling through the air as she laughed at her friends antics.

"So, you gonna ask her to dance?" Luz asked sliding up to Hunter's side as he watched Willow fly through the air with Gus.

"After that there will be a line of people asking her to dance," he responded without taking his eyes off Willow.

"So be the first in line," Luz pushed him gently in Willow's direction.

"Luz," Hunter stumbled forward before turning to face her instead. "It's just it's not the-"

"The right time," Luz rolled her eyes finishing his sentence for him. "Listen, take it from someone who was always looking for the right time, it doesn't exist." She slapped her hand down on his shoulder. "Also Eda's been doing her best, but she found Hooty's plans for your own version of his tunnel of love and she can't hold him off forever."

Hunter cringed looking back to Willow still in the air with Gus hyping her up.

"Ok," he turned back to Luz. "I'll do something- something soon."

Luz looked like she was about to say something more before Amity noticing the look of a caged animal written on Hunter's face took pity on him and stole her girlfriend away to dance. Hunter met Amity's eyes and mouthed a 'thank you' to her, she nodded and mouthed a 'you're welcome' back.

Gus brought Emmiline to hover a few feet off the ground to allow Willow to step off gracefully her hand in his. Once she was securely on the ground Gus let Emmiline turn back into her chameleon form and landed on his feet next to Willow.

"So, grom queen, can I have your first dance?" Gus took her hand with a toothy smile.

Willow giggled and almost said yes before she spotted someone else over Gus' shoulder behind him.

"Well, unfortunately, mister emcee, I think your dance card is already punched." She smiled at his confused reaction before a finger was tapping him on the shoulder.

Gus turned around to find Matt standing behind him with a nervous smile on his face.

"Hey," Matt said the one word and Willow watched as Gus' entire body tensed up.

"H-hey," the response stumbled out of his lips.

"Wanna dance?" Matt asked gesturing with his thumb at the dance floor over his shoulder hoping he came across as casual.

"Yes!" Gus blurted out excitedly. "I mean, yes, yes I would." He grinned taking Matt's hand without even looking back at Willow as if the second Matt came into veiw he forgot she existed.

Willow rolled her eyes smiling fondly as her friend walked away from her. Although she almost chased after them once the crowd decsended upon her.

Witches approached her from every direction, some congratulating her others asking her to dance and others just trying to get through the rest to speak to her. She felt like the walls were closing in as she tried to stumble through responses to everyone, until in an instant someone had grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the dance floor that had taken the place of the grom fighting ground.

As her mystery rescuer and/or kidnapper pulled her in wrapping his arm around her waist and holding her other hand out starting to sway to the music Willow was face to face with Edric Blight.

"Sorry, you looked a little overwhelmed felt like you could use a hand," he smiled at her and Willow immediately felt all the tension melt from her body.

"Thank you, I needed the rescue," she placed her other hand on his shoulder falling into the easy sway of the slow dance.

Edric chuckled, "Anything for Mittens' best friend."

Willow grinned at him and Edric's face shifted into a more serious expression before he spoke once more.

"You know, back when all that stuff went down with you and Amity, I don't think Emira and I really knew you existed until you were gone, but for whatever part we had in it we just wanna say we're sorry."

Willow smiled, "Thank you. I don't blame you guys, I think Odalia had a lot more control over all of our lives than we really thought. I mean we were all kids back then, but thanks it means a lot to hear you say that."

"Of course," Edric smiled. "And hey it all worked out in the end you and Mittens are best friends again and anytime you need an expert illusionist Emira and I are always here for you, although considering who your other best friend is maybe you won't."

Willow laughed and Edric easily joined in. As she caught her breath Willow looked around her at the crowd watching the two of them dance, knowing the second this song was over they would be swarming her again and an idea popped into her head.

"Actually, Edric, I think I could use the help of an expert illusionist right now," she grinned at him as his face shifted into a conspiratorial smirk at her words.

Hunter watched as Willow danced with the male Blight twin wishing that he'd been the one to take her hand and lead her to the dance floor instead, but then the Blight twin was twirling Willow around and lifting her into the air with complicated dance moves that captured the attention of everyone else in the gym and Hunter felt like something wasn't quite right with the image in front of him. The dancing didn't really feel like Willow, then from the corner of his eye he caught as one of the side doors to the outside balcony was seemingly opened by the wind. As he focused on the door Willow came into being through the glass, the Blight's illusion falling away the second she was through the threshold. Willow smiled thinking she'd escaped without being seen.

Hunter smirked, now that felt like Willow.

He took a glance around him making sure nobody was watching him as he made his own way to the same door Willow had escaped from. Slipping silently out the door he caught her leaning against the railing looking up at the night sky, as he closed the door behind him the music faded to the background almost leaving the two in complete silence.

"Neat trick," Hunter said breaking the silence. Willow looked over her shoulder to smile at him.

"You caught me," she said as he made his way over to her.

"Yeah, well, I know how you are with crowds," as he spoke he absentmindedly slipped his jacket off placing it on her shoulders without really registering what he'd just done as he went to lean against the railing next to her.

Willow on the otherhand felt her brain start screaming and her cheeks light on fire at the first touch of his warm jacket enveloping her.

"You were amazing out there, by the way," Hunter spoke stealing a look at her through the corner of his eye before turning back to the view in front of them. "But I'm sure you already knew that. I was right by the way, you look gorgeous in your dre-"

"Why didn't you ask me?" Willow interrupted him turning to face him head on letting her hip still touch the railing.

"I- huh?" Hunter stuttered as he turned to her in surprise.

"To grom. Why didn't you ask? I would've said yes," she said looking up into his eyes feeling her nerves race through her veins.

"I- you-" he blinked before letting his body untense shaking his head. "Right, as friends, yeah?" Trying to give her an out.

"No," Willow shut down his insecure reasoning in an instant. "As a date."

Hunter's eyes widened to the size of saucers and his cheeks lit up like a stop light as he kept his eyea locked on her steely gaze.

"You- me- I- huh?" The words that spilled from his lips felt more like sounds than actual responses. Willow couldn't help the breathy laugh that left her lips.

"Remember when you said I had one blindspot? I think you might have the same one," Willow shifted closer to Hunter watching as the realization finally hit his eyes. Unconsiously he leaned in closer to her too.

"And what exactly would that blindspot be?" His voice had taken on the flirty tone she instantly recognized from that day after practice and Willow knew her next move.

"Let me make it obvious," she spoke quickly before placing her hands on either of his cheeks pulling him down to connect their lips in a kiss that felt a year too late.

Hunter only stalled for half a second before he let himself melt into the kiss wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her body flush to his. Willow's hands slipped from his cheeks to wrap around his shoulders.

She pulled back just far enough to speak her lips brushing Hunter's the whole time, "Did that clear things up?"

Hunter laughed, his head falling down to her shoulder as he gathered himself.

"I feel like I've been thinking about that for a year," he spoke into her shoulder.

"Yeah," Willow cringed. "I heard."

"What?!" His head snapped up to look into her eyes, the panic in his own clear. "Who told you?"

"Well," Willow bit her lip. "Remember that day after practice when I showed up at the library?"

"I knew you were acting weird that day."

"Yeah, well I kinda noticed you were maybe flirting with me and when I asked the team they kinda sorta said you'd been flirting with me since we met." Willow cringed as she finished speaking. Hunter groaned and let his head fall back eyes closed in frustration.

"Of course," he looked back to her and smiled. "Well, at least it got us here, right?"

"I'm just sorry it took me so long to realize things," Willow pouted at her own blindness.

"Yeah, that is on you, I have it on good authority I was extremely obvious the entire time," Hunter responded smiling as Willow laughed at the joke made at his own expense. Hunter took her chin between his fingers lifting her face back to look him in the eye. "Willow Park, will you go on a date with me?"

She smiled, "I would love to."

Hunter matched her smile before leaning down to connect their lips once more.

"Finally!" A shout at the door startled them out of their kiss and the couple turned to look at where the exclamation had come from finding Gus standing there with Luz and Amity and basically every other person in attendance at the dance watching the pair of them. Gus turned back to the crowd. "Ok, who had grom at exactly 9:21pm?"

"Gus!" Willow yelped in surprise. "You had a betting pool on us?"

"Of course we did," Amity interjected. "And I did, Gus." The purple haired witch turned to the emcee.

Willow let out an offended noise as the crowd turned their attention towards settling up their bets with Amity and Gus just as quickly as they'd had their attention on the new couple. Luz separated from the crowd as they all started to turn back to the dance inside the gym.

"Congrats you two," she slapped a hand on either of their shoulders. "Can't wait to be your maid of honor at the wedding." Luz slapped a sloppy kiss to Willow's cheek before running back to the rest of the grom crowd.

"Wha- that's- Luz!" Willow spluttered yelling after her best friend as a she threw a mischevious wink over her shoulder closing the balcony door leaving Hunter and Willow alone in a much more awkward silence.

The two of them stared at the door for a moment in silence unsure how to move on from that before they turned back to each other. Willow realized as she looked back up into his eyes that her arms were still wrapped around his neck and his still around her waist.

"Well, that was humbling," Hunter finally broke the silence and Willow found herself giggling despite herself. Hunter smiled at her, "You wanna go back in and dance?" He asked.

"Eh," Willow shrugged. "I'd rather talk about where were gonna go for our first date."

Hunter matched her grin and the two of them got lost in each other, happy to forget that the rest of the world existed even if just for a moment.

[xyxofspades]

garroth-is-done / trans-garroth is proship fyi

Hey anon unless you’ve got receipts I’m taking this with an immense grain of salt. I can’t go through their old blog bc it’s gone so I can’t double check. And if you’re talking about the “ship and let ship” in their bio, that phrase can apply to several things.

It can apply to serial killer x victim, it can apply to employee x employer, it can apply to toxic relationship ships. Am I particularly fond of these? No, not really. But these are ships that can contain adults.

My line is drawn when people are shipping family- and I mean literal family. I.e: people shipping the Blight twins from The Owl House I have a problem with that. Luz x Vee, I also have a problem with that because I think adopted siblings are still siblings. But I have no problem with people shipping Luz x Hunter because they aren’t literally related or related by adoption. Hunter was taken in by Darius iirc? I don’t like the ship, but fundamentally I don’t see a problem with them, hence, ship and let ship.

And when people are shipping children in nsfw spaces. It’s okay to ship Dipper and Pacifica. It’s not okay to bring that ship into nsfw because they’re children. “Oh, Xyx, what about characters who are like 17 like Oikawa from Haikyuu? Highschoolers are minors but they get up to stuff all the time!” Yeah, true, god knows I did. But the difference there is that they generally have a more developed brain than a 12 year old? Honestly though, still makes me uncomfortable so I avoid those too.

Another thing is that when you go into people’s inboxes like this and just drop “so-and-so is proship” without any evidence, how am I to be sure you aren’t just spreading rumors? You’ve given me nothing to work with. This is like that time in high school someone started a rumor that I died when I did not, in fact, die. And everyone believed it because no one bothered to text me and fact check it. Also some people can get witch-hunty about this sort of thing. I’m not saying you were trying to start anything, not what I’m saying at all, but the internet has been known to have a hair brain trigger with untrue or incomplete information.

Ultimately, some of us have jobs. And real life responsibilities and issues. I’m not gonna sit around and go “oh this person is bad” when I have other shit to do. Especially when the person trying to convince me “this person is bad” leave nothing on my doorstep but the phrase “this guy bad” and the internet is not gonna cultivate itself for you. You are responsible for weeding out what you don’t want to see. This is like the first rule of internet and especially the first rule of fandom, don’t like; don’t read. The block button is bright and shiny. Let’s say the person you’re talking about does happen to cross one of the boundary lines I’ve set for myself. It’s very easy for me to unfollow and block. It’s that simple. Unless they’re genuinely hurting someone, it’s not my problem and it’s not yours either. I have other shit to do and a car payment to make. I’ve got college classes to attend.

I feel like someone gonna read all this and take away that I’m proship. I’m not proship. I’m an adult with better things to do than bicker on the internet. Let me bold this so it’s easier to read

I am an adult with better things to do than bicker on the internet.

[neurodihuegent]

my personal willow headcanons

as of 9/30/22:

her korean name is park sooyoung (박수영)

in s1 it was implied that willow's dads deterred her from the plant track because the abominations track offered better job opportunities, but i also feel like they were against her pursuing the plant track because of her health: i headcanon that she has a health condition that stems from her bile sac that can trigger fainting spells if she uses stronger forms of magic.

willow is the mom friend to the point where she swallows her own emotions if she feels like that's what best for the people around her: similarly to luz, she takes on other people's issues as a distraction from her but not nearly as self sacrificial.

willow loves her friends to death but she also has the social battery of a pear so sometimes, she goes through long periods of time without seeing them. luz and gus are used to it, and tend to not question it as long as they don't go 4 days without hearing from her.

willow's 2 major love languages are words of affirmation (which stems from the bullying and torment she experienced), and physical touch.

i despise the crew sometimes for not showing their relationship on screen 💔 but she's very close to eda... most of their off camera interections consist of them giving each other the "🙃" stare at gus/luz/king's antics.

it's easy to tell when willow is upset because if she's in a bad mood, she just goes completely silent to try and avoid snapping at people who may or may not deserve it.

when willow was younger she used to beg her dads all of the time for another sibling. that stopped when she was 11. 😭

she's the one friend who everyone's parents immediately fall in love with.

most of her interests in canon revolve around plants and sports, but i like to believe that willow also loves traveling. when she first had her fallout with amity, her dads took her on trips all over the boiling isles to help cheer her up.

if willow attended human college, she would have a major in human development & family sciences with a minor in psychology.

her most played artist is sza and her last twitter account got suspended for her demanding that sza put out her second album already.

[danicadenniss]

Totally Spies 2024: Clover

Fullname: Luna Rosalie Lewis

Aliases/Nickname: Clover, Luz

Age: 14

Dates Of Birth: February 9th, 2010

Gender: Female

Height: 5'1 (188cm)

Ethnicity: European (part English, part Irish, part French)

Eyes Color: Ocean Blue

Hair Color: Light Reddish Blonde/Magenta Ombre

Complexion: Fair Skin (a little pale complexion)

Skin Type: a light brown beauty mark under her right eye

Homes: Beverly Hills, California (Born in London, England)

Religion: Catholic

Occupation: Beverley Hills High School Student, Beverly Vista Middle School Student (formerly graduate), Elementary School Student at Saint Christina School (formerly, graduated), Spy, WHOOP Agent,

Hobbies: Sketching, Drawing, Artworks, Reading, Studying, Listening To Christian Music, Spies & Noir podcasts including Cybersix, Going to Church with her family, Hanging out with her friends and family, Designing styles and spy suits, Piano lessons, Spending quiet time before bed/during Study Hall, Cheerleadering, FCA Club, Enjoy some afternoon tea, every afternoon

Goals: To become an artist/fashiondesigner, To save the world from threat

Favorite Color: Red, Burgundy, Magenta, Hot Pink

Family Members: Lawrence Lewis (father), Stella Cambridge (mother), Serena Celestia Lewis (older sister), Selene Iris Lewis (younger sister), Gerald Charles Lewis, Trent Lewis (paternal uncles), Charles Lewis III (paternalgrandfather), Grace Lewis (neè LaBride, paternal grandmother), Charles Lewis II+ (paternal great grandfather), Celina Lewis+ (neè Wale, paternal great grandmother), Charles Lewis I+ (paternal 2nd great grandfather), Cassandra Lewis (neè Spencer, 2nd great grandmother)

Role in the team: European Stylist Leader of the groups

Best Friends: Samantha Nyad Simpsons, Akari Yui Huang, Britney Kaiya Chopra, Dean Ace Simpsons, David Diego Rodriguez, Blaine Kai Huang

Rivals: Candace Margaret Sweet, Amanda Erica Xhanos, Sarah Dominique, Caitlin Kelly Thompson, Marvin Robert Smith-Xhanos, Tim Erin Scam, Chet & Kyle Kate

Love Intersts: Jennifer Anderson

Fashion Choices: Celestial Elegant as a beautiful and elegant girly girl while she wearing off the shoulder, camisole tops, leather/jackets/vests/dusters, denim/celestial patterns skirts, above the knee dresses, capri/mini leggings and wedge sandals/low heels boots/flats. She dislike wearing hooded sweater,sweat shirts, sweat pants, shorts, maxi dresses/miniskirts and sneakers/high heels

Sexuality: Bisexual

Favorite Movies: Mystery, Noir and Christian

Favorite Books/Novels: Cybersix

Favorite T.V. Show: Mystery Documentary

Favorite Music: Christian Pop and Worship

Favorite Drinks: Peach Iced Tea and English Tea

Favorite Foods: Vegetarian French Cuisine Except Ratatouille

Worst Fear: Her father is being kidnapped by villains including her evil uncle Trent

Favorite part of being a spy: Being a leader of the trio

My version of Clover is not different from the original, for her design I made her a part English, part Irish and part French, she and her family were born in London, England in Western Eupore, after she graduated from Saint Christina School when she was 11 with her parents and her sisters, from London, England to Beverly Hills, California as she attended to Beverly Vista Middle School, and then she attended to Beverly Hills High School, she meet Sammy and Alexia, since childhood, she passed the art history exams as a top student before she and her family moved to USA from England after she graduated from Saint Christina School as she chose to work for W.O.O.H.P, her mother is an Irish surgeon and her father is a half English and a half French well paid psychologist, one of her sisters is 4 years older and younger than her, she is a college student and she is a middle school student. Clover is lean intelligent and beautiful part English, part Irish, and French fair/pale skinned girly girl teenager, with waist length wavy light reddish blonde/ magenta ombre hair tied up in a high ponytail, slightly reddish orange eyebrows, long thin eyelashes, ocean blue eyes, a light brown spot beauty mark under her right eye, heart-shaped lips and she wearing some makeovers like hot pink eyeshadows cherry red eyeliners, and matte rosy lilac lipstick, wearing some jewelry accessories and elegant celestial aesthetic clothes including off the shoulder/camisole tops, denim/leather/jacket/vests/dusters, above the knee denim/celestial patterns skirts, above the knee dresses, capri/mini/finest leggings, low cut socks and wedge sandals/low heels boots/flats instead of fashionable including hooded sweater, sweat shirts, sweat pants, shorts, maxi dresses, miniskirts, sneakers and high heels combat boots, as her goal is to graduated from high school and attended to go The University of California, Berkeley, to study for art and design fashions. Inspired by Iris from Lollirock, Nya from Ninjago, Rainbow Dash and Cheerlie from My Little Pony Gen 3, and Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

[frogspond200]

𝚈𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝙻𝚞𝚣 𝙿𝚝.3

Requested by: Anon

Ask: Hello! Can we get a part 3 to the yandere Luz story plz I really want to see how it turns since it's really good

Warning: general Yandere behavior

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It was raining outside, and Luz was pacing back and forth in her room, unable to contain her anxiety. She had spent hours trying to convince the reader to stay, but it was no use. In the end, the reader had insisted they wanted to leave, and Luz had no choice but to comply.

The sound of footsteps outside made Luz look up from her thoughts. In the dim light, she could make out the reader's silhouette as they made their way towards the window. "Wait, don't go!" she cried, rushing over to block their escape.

However, the reader was more determined than ever. Without a word, they brushed past her and opened the window, stepping out into the rainy night. As the reader vanished from view, Luz rushed outside in pursuit, calling out their name.

"Come back!" she cried, but her words were met with silence. She ran as fast as she could, searching for the reader's form among the darkness. But after a few moments, she stopped in her tracks, realizing that she was alone. With heavy heart, Luz turned around and began the long walk back home.

As Luz walked back home, her thoughts were jumbled. She was filled with a mixture of anger, disappointment, and loneliness. Her heart ached for the reader, and she blamed herself for pushing them away.

As she approached the front door of her house, she found herself staring at the raindrops streaming down her face. She had always found comfort in the rain, but now it only served as a reminder of what she had lost. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to block out the pain.

It had been three years since Luz had last seen the reader. In that time, she had grown up and become a young adult. She had finished high school, worked various jobs, and was now attending college.

Luz's days were filled with classwork, studying, and socializing with her friends. But every night before bed, she found herself thinking about the reader. Although they had been apart for a long time, Luz still felt a connection to them. She missed their voice, their laugh, and their touch.

After a few months of struggling to forget the reader, Luz decided to take matters into her own hands. She knew they were still living in the same town, so she began trying to find them. She asked her friends and family if they knew what the reader was up to, but no one could provide a concrete answer.

As the weeks turned into months, Luz felt the hope of finding the reader slipping away. She had tried everything, but it seemed like the reader had simply disappeared without a trace.

However, one day, her luck finally changed. Luz was walking back from class when she heard a familiar voice behind her. She stopped in her tracks and turned around, her heart racing as she recognized the reader. They had grown up and looked different compared to when Luz had last seen them, but there was no mistaking those eyes.

"Reader," Luz breathed, unable to believe it was really them. With tears in her eyes and butterflies in her stomach, she ran up and embraced them. "I thought I lost you forever," she whispered, burying her face in their shoulder.

As Luz held the reader in her arms, she suddenly felt their body go rigid and stiff. A look of panic spread across their face as they tried to break free, but Luz was too strong for them.

Luz frowned in confusion as she realized the reader was struggling against her grip. "Reader?" she asked, trying to loosen her hold on them. "Are you OK? What's wrong?"

The reader's panic only intensified as they pushed and pulled against Luz's arms, but she wouldn't let go. "Let me go," they begged, their voice tremoring with fear.

After a few moments of silence, Luz took a deep breath and lifted her head to meet the reader's eyes. She could see the pain and confusion on their face, and she knew that they needed answers.

"Reader, please," Luz said softly, her tone full of remorse. "I'm sorry for everything I did. I know I took it too far and I should have respected your boundaries. I was just so afraid of losing you that I went crazy. I never meant to hurt you."

A wave of emotions crossed the reader's face as they took in everything Luz was saying. They had spent years trying to forget about the girl who had caused them so much hurt, but now, here she was, apologizing and trying to make amends. The reader didn't know what to say or how to feel in that moment, but deep down, they wanted to believe that Luz was sincere in her apologies.

"You should've told me that sooner," they finally said, their voice soft and raspy. "But I guess it's better late than never."

The reader's acceptance of Luz's apology was a moment of vindication for the girl, who had spent so many years regretting her actions. And while it might take time for her and the reader to rebuild trust, this was undoubtedly a step in the right direction.

Luz couldn't resist the urge to give the reader a hug, and this time, the reader willingly returned the gesture. The two stood there in silence, each enjoying the warm embrace, before the reader reluctantly pulled away. "I still need some time," the reader whispered. "But I want to try again."

Luz's eyes widened as she heard the reader's words, her hope growing with each passing second. "You're serious?" she asked, her tone full of joy.

The reader nodded, their expression serious yet hopeful. "But I need to know you've changed," they said. "That you've left the past behind and you're ready to move forward." They took a deep breath, gathering their courage before continuing. "I think we can make this work," they said gently, "but I need to know I can trust you. Can I trust you?"

[secretly-of-course]

I've been thinking about Luz in the time skip. We know she graduated from Gravesfield and is going to college in the demon realm.

I wonder if she did human realm school for most of the year, and then speedran demon realm school on her summer breaks so she could graduate on time to attend demon realm college.

I’ve been wondering that as well because I seriously doubt she’d stop attending Hexside, but summer semesters would make sense

[l-egionaire]

It's a Wonderful Luz AU

Since its Christmas time and I floated the idea before, I figured I'd offer my headcanons on what I picture Luz's life would be like if she never went to the Boiling Isles.

She manages to snatch her book back before Owlbert steals it and, after getting a ride from her mom and having a long talk with her about WHY Camila wanted her to go to camp (including telling her about her own friendless past), Luz goes to Camp Reality Check. She tries her best, but she just can't manage to enjoy herself their and has a pretty bland time. Once she comes home, she just chalks it up as a boring summer experience and, to cheer herself up, goes to a new nearby bookstore to buy herself the latest Azura book.....where she happens to run into a girl who's ALSO a huge super fan. The two get to talking and soon, they decide to meet up and talk the books.

Over the next few months, the two of them bond and find they have a lot in common. From spooky interests, to people finding them weird, to loving spooky animals (Luz is a snake person whereas the girl is a spider fan) and their friendship ends up turning into romance.

Over the course of her high school years, along with her girlfriend, Luz slowly gains a small group of friends who're just as weird and kind as her, including a new girl who recently moved from California. She gets people who like her for her and help her tone down her more intense moments. She doesn't really stop being an outcast at school, but she wasn't an outcast alone any more.

After graduating, Luz attends Gravesfield University, majoring in creative writing. Not only does her girlfriend attend with her, but she also finds that the friend who'd moved from California is her roommate. She spends her college years developing her writing skills and working on her first novel. On the day she and her girlfriend graduate, Luz pops the question to her, barely getting all the words out before her girlfriend practically leaps on her and agrees to marry her.

Once she's done with college and gets married, she gets a job teaching English at her old high school, using that as a way to pay the bills while continuing to work on her novel. After five years, she finally finishes and publishes "The adventures of Astrea Plaga" which gets a lot of coverage as a cult classic.

Luz and her wife go on to have two children, Astrea and Jason, and they all live a nice, happy life together in Gravesfield.

[lenkagamine133]

Okay, but you know Luz is going to do as many college AU scenarios as possible while attending school.

Amity, Willow, Gus and Hunter are 100% with it as long as she promises not to go too far (they all knew it was a lie when she agreed, including Luz)

[thegoodvvitch-luz]

NAME: Luz Carrero Noceda GODLY PARENT: Hebe AFFILIATION: Arts and Crafts Attendant SPECIES: Demigod ABILITIES: Eternally youthful appearance, fast healing

Manny Noceda met her mom at a convention.

Both of them, actually! He met Hebe midway through college at Cosmicon in 2002 while in full Captain Avery cosplay and the two stayed in character together the entire day. When Luz was old enough to know the details, he described it as a whirlwind romance that spanned the entire weekend, and then a month later Luz was left in front of his apartment. He met Camila at the same convention six years later, this time with his young daughter in tow in a costume of her own. 

Their romance had taken a little longer, but it was built stronger. Manny stayed wildly in love with Camila until the end of his days.

With her dad gone, Camila stepped up and took on the responsibility of raising Luz. Luz knew now what a monumental task it was; not only raising a demigod, but Luz. She never made it easy, but Camila never gave up on her. She never took the easy way out by leaving her at Camp Swynlake to grow up with the year-round kids. Every summer when she dropped Luz off at Camp Swynlake, it was with an express promise to write every day and to be the first one at the gate to pick Luz back up.

(They usually needed the extra time to convince Luz not to try and sneak out whatever magical being she’d gotten attached to that summer; up to and including a pegasi foal, several rainbow fish, a pig with a beard and a concerning understanding of human language, and even one year a giggling Vee.)

Each year, though, it got harder and harder for Luz to leave camp. She loved her Mama, more than anyone! But the mortal world just didn’t suit her. She pulled on her normal disguise like an ill-fitting jacket that came out every fall and shed it at the first opportunity. She longed for summer and for the chance to run free and learn things like combat instead of struggling through english class. Camila wanted Luz to go to college after high school, but after weeks of begging, Luz convinced her mom to let her take a gap year to work at the camp as a counselor instead. One year turned into two, and into three, and every time she visited her mom she promised she’d think about rejoining the mortal world again. But until she had a real reason to leave, Luz was staying right where she was.