#talk of the town { dash commentary }

[bonkersdbobcat]

No pressure, no pressure!

[grimgrinnrs]

" Ah, finally, something worth talking about. "

[roguelov]

This is my brain dump idea, please excuse my narrator commentary 😂 1.4k of info dump incoming! 🤭

Linaria Bonn of the Bonn family who have a monopoly on most major businesses within her home town.

Early Morning, reader has been up all night worrying about her wedding which will happen this day. It is arranged and while reader is from a wealthy family and has everything she needs and wants, she is very fearful of getting married to the Commodore in charge of her island. He’s older and not a very nice man. Her parents are forcing her into this for political reasons. Maids and everyone bustle in and get reader ready for the wedding. Reader feels like her corset is a trap. Once left alone, reader reaches a breaking point and bolts.

Reader is fleeing from her families manor through the back woods, makes it to the town (by now guards are after her and she has to hide periodically). She knows the ship schedule and that ships are departing so she makes a mad dash to the port. Reader goes up to Shanks, begs for help getting off the island now. Shanks doesn’t think it’s a good idea since she’s obvious a well kept lady, but he can clearly see she’s in a wedding dress, in distress, and running. The Marine’s reach the port and spot reader and reader freaks out, Shanks can’t leave a damsel in distress and wraps his cloak around her shoulders before hauling her up onto his shoulder (He’s one armed by still strong) So the Marine’s see him carting off reader over his shoulder and think he’s kidnapping her and try to stop him, but he and his ship get away.

Backstory of reader meeting the commodore on her sixteen birthday and her parents setting up her arranged marriage. She doesn’t want it, argues and is struck across the face for the first time in her life by her mother. Reader is sitting on a stack of boxes, surrounded by pirates.

Story of how reader got stuck in her arranged marriage, Shanks gives her his room to rest because clearly she’s been up all night worrying and stressing, and some clothes to change into. Reader thanks him and goes in. Only by dinner time the crew hadn’t heard anything from Reader. Shanks goes in with a tray of dinner, only to find reader curled in a corner. She couldn’t get her dress off because of how tightly the strings of her corset were tied (like she was never going to break free of the life her parents sold her for). Shanks set’s the tray down, talks to her and coaxes her to her feet before offering to help her untie her corset. He may be one armed but he’s still quite proficient, that makes reader flush and she agrees. So Shanks unties her corset, revealing the bruising reader has from her governess for when she was being too unyielding to the marriage, especially after she bolted the first time. Shanks brushes his fingers along the bruises, upset by them, reader tells him that today wasn’t the first time she tried running, it was her ditch effort. That just makes Shanks more happy that he helped her out.

He finished untying and leaves her to get dressed and eat alone if she wants, and if she is up to it, he and the crew are on the main deck having a drink. Reader get’s dressed, stares at the tray of food, then goes out to the main deck on good faith. She then realizes that they’re pirates by looking at the Jolly Roger, but shrugs it off because it was pirates who saved her from Marines. Hypocrisy. If there are bad marines, then there are good pirates.

Shanks and the crew plan a day out in a picturesque harbor village just for Lin, the crew is teasing Shanks nonstop about it and telling him to make a move while reader is oblivious to their teasing. So they have their day and it is marvelous and the sun is setting with them walking the boardwalk they stop to look t the setting sun and then they almost kiss (lips brushing) when they’re ambushed by Marines. So the pair go on a wild goose chase through the town to get back to the ship, Shanks is cursing out the commodore who is their for ruining the date but the reader starts giggling and laughing as they near the ship. Shanks only falls more in love with her as they escape onto the ship and set sail, the commodore starts shouting at him for stealing his bride as they leave through a snail speaker? Reader calls the commodore some creative insult and to rub salt into the wound, Shanks kisses reader in front of everyone. And it isn’t innocent.

As the ship sails (after dinner everyone is settling in for the night), reader goes back to Shanks room to put away the stuff he bought her. Shanks then drops by to talk about the whole “I kissed you without your permission and I may be a pirate but I am not an asshole’, reader cut’s him off by kissing him. Obv Shanks isn’t opposed and the pair play hide the panini. Shanks get’s his bed back and get’s to hold reader at night.

The next morning, Shanks is already up but left Reader to sleep in. When she appears for breakfast the crew makes digs at her love life  much to Shanks displeasure, only reader claps back with: at least I have a love life. Mic drop as reader get’s breakfast and something to eat. Then the topic of what reader is going to do since the Commodore is still giving chance. Reader openly disses the Commodore and makes blatant remarks about never marrying an entitled jackass (insert potty mouthed insult/curse) and that she actually likes being on the sea and seeing places as she has never been allowed to leave the manor grounds. So she is going to explore as much as she can. The crew openly invite reader to stay on their ship as long as she wants (Shanks is silent because he doesn’t want to tie her down). He is totally head over heels for reader, but refuses to trap reader by keeping her with him. Thus begins the uneasy romantic relationship between Reader and Shanks. Things are tense but also hot between them as they continue their travels, occasionally talking about reader’s future, arguing over it, and then having makeup sex.

One stop in a village (11 months after she fled home), reader get’s roped into helping out a local elementary school putting on a play. The head teacher sort of becomes friends with Reader and talks about red haired guy who’s eyes always follow reader. Reader tells her that their relationship is complicated. She got out of an arranged marriage because of him and they have a thing going on but he keeps pulling back. Teacher tells Reader that maybe it’s time that she forces him to listen to her and what she wants, aka she wants a life on the ship and she wants a life with him. Reader understands what the teacher is telling her. That night reader approached Shanks telling him that they need to talk. Shanks is like fine but it will have to be after they depart as he promised the villagers he’d help with something and is busy. Reader is like fine. Shanks knows she not really fine with it and gives her a kiss on the head to show that he does care for her.

The next day, reader is helping the kids paint the set when one of them comes into the room crying because they fell and now their wrist hurts really bad. Reader takes the kid to the town to see the doctor, but the doctors office is empty surprisingly. Reader shrugs it off and cleans up the little cuts and scrapes before wrapping the child's arm up so it isn’t injured more until the doctor show up. While they are waiting, there’s commotion at the door, reader is like, there’s the doctor! Surprise! It’s the Marines! So they kidnap  reader and the child (can’t have witnesses). Wake up on Marine ship, reader makes a break for it cause they’re totally underestimated her. So she breaks a few noses with the kid in tote before getting stopped via a very strong kick in the stomach. Reader goes down and experiences Vasovagal Syncope (fainting). They cart her off to a room and a doctor gets called cause hellur Marine just kicked the Commodore’s fiance in the stomach and she flat out fainted.  So basically we have a reunion between the Commodore and Reader, he’s figured out that reader and Shanks are a thing now and is super pissed but whatever, reader’s still got the blood of an aristocrat and that’s all he needs.

Naturally, Shanks goes after his babe

HONEY MY SWET BEAUTIFUL LOVE IM FROTHING AT THE MOUTH I AM SALIVATING I AM ABSOLUTELY DERANGED FUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKK ITS HAS ANGST, ITS HAS FLUFF, ITS HAS SMUT, ITS HAS TENSION, THIS HAS IT ALL

[kyogre-blue]

I huff about the Wrath of the Rock thing mostly bc if I started talking about how badly contracts were done in Liyue I'd never stop lol. What he did with Wanyan was the most in-your-face about it and had me FUMING, yes, but I honestly really want to know what the adepti are getting out of their contracts and why exactly they still had to hold up their end of the bargain when the contractor was supposed to be dead. Like? A contract really is supposed to benefit both parties? What service has Zhongli been providing? NOT kicking them out of Liyue's mountains or something? Is he a landowner? And Xiao's contract is just downright exploiting him - I'd think the translation mistook "contracts" for "oaths" somewhere but no, Yanfei exists.

And I was curious bc I distinctly recall a Liyue NPC praying to Barbatos....checked, her name's Chishui! And she says though it's tradition in Liyue to worship the Geo Archon the winds are what truly determine whether her sailor husband is safe, though she admits it's rare (unsure if she means liyue locals praying to Barbatos or locals praying to another god in general). She says any god will do as long as they keep her husband safe though, so maybe she just has either less patriotism or more common sense idk.

Gahhh unreliable information is so annoying. I remember thinking when I started playing that maybe humans already had their own "type" and their ruling archon just neutrally crystalised it, given it IS supposed to be their own ambitions and all. As it is, now I don't trust anything about vision lore bc I know it's going to get dashed later on rip

Hahaha................. yeah.

But yeah.

In general, one of Genshin's biggest missed opportunities is arguably doing nothing with their gods' supposed ideals.

Mondstadt is freedom town, so that's nice, but there's no actual commentary on freedom, even though there's potential for something juicy with how they walked themselves into the Aristocracy entirely on human free will. Liyue is uh contracts, but "contracts" can mean any of like three different things minimum, with no distinction or examination of any of them. Inazuma tried, but they did not connect Yoimiya's musings, Ei's misguided grief nonsense and then the uuuh revelations (?) she had when communing with her dead sister's spirit inside a magic that went back in time for some reason (???) particularly well. And Sumeru is just a joke, they don't even try.

These seem to be basically just buzzwords that exist for flavor, rather than any real meaning.

I feel like part of the supernatural contracts in Liyue might relate to the weird third party racism that archons engage in for the sake of humans. Like how the oni had to do some weird dance to live with humans and how Azhdaha basically has no rights because won't you think of the humans. Adepti originally start out with a flavor of being fairly alien in their thinking and don't interact with humans well at all, so them having a contract that forces them to prioritize humans is potentially meant to make sure they kill fewer people.

In that sense, the service Zhongli provides is that he doesn't execute all their asses for imprisoning random people in amber and shit like that, I guess?

But they really did not keep any of this consistent.

Which isn't surprising. Genshin never cares about consistency, which is why its lore might be cool but its worldbuilding is pretty awful.

In regard to worshipping foreign gods, its presumably possible. I do recall there's a Sumeru NPC who also prays to Barbatos, though other NPCs near him didn't seem thrilled with that. On the whole, Genshin is hardly going to ever create a tense enough situation where there's acknowledged religious or national fervor that could lead to people getting genuinely targeted for acting in a way that's not seen as socially acceptable. But logically speaking, it's not even just plain "following a minority religion" deal, these gods are also the government and immediately present divine rulers. Barbatos isn't around and Morax is pretty chill, but like imagine if you want to make a shrine to a different god next to your house. How is that going to go over? If you apply just basic "how humans act about things" from the real world.....

[katgametable]

OX Guild Season 2: Bone 2 Pick

Written 21 Apr 2025, shortly after relistening, having watched and listened multiple times previously.

The skeletons have tricked the Oxventurers! They must travel to the town of Bumble, summon the spirit of Ethelfrith the Builder, and ask his blessing to renew the blood magic. Dob is concerned they might not be welcome in Bumble. He suggests bringing a gift, maybe honey? And this turns into disguising themselves as a bee-people band, the Beeples, fronted John Honey-and-Lemon and Paul McCartbee. They decide to scout out first, and go back in the hammer. Dob beats Corazon at billiards while the others admire the seal’s nest. 

They are ejected in a field on a hill overlooking a fortress. It appears the townsfolk have fortified against them specifically. So he proposes zip lining into town dressed as the Beeples. Merilwen suggests ninja zip lining using Pass Without Trace. The band can be if the stealth fails. Prudence hates the band, but the others start workshopping song titles. They end up doing both plans. Merilwen sets up the zip line, Egbert disguises himself as a wasp, Corazon and Dob disguise themselves well, and Prudence refuses to have anything to do with the bee business, declaring herself Yoko Oh-no-bees.

They arrange to zip in convoy, which ends up meaning they all hang on to Egbert. Dob and Merilwen fall off, meaning the others have no Pass Without Trace. As the ones still on the zip line accelerate, Corazon cuts the line, casts Feather Fall, and they all land on the grass. Merilwen dashes up and brings them back under the PWT before the townsfolk can get a good look. Dob goes back to advocating posing as a travelling band.

However, as some guards have come out to investigate, they can duck in when the guards come back (it takes some time to decide on that). It works. They sneak through the town to the crypt. As the door needed to be broken and remade to open, Corazon chips a bit of stone off and sticks it back in with pitch, which opens the door.

Once inside, Dob summons the skeletons. The skeletons explain the procedure. They have to return the hammer to its socket, fill a bowl with drink, light candles, then the skeletons will do a ritual chant and dance, then one of them must call forth Ethelfrith, but it must be an orphan. Merilwen’s parents they saw recently, Corazon and Egbert’s parents were alive last they saw them, Prudence has no idea who her parents are, so it’ll have to be Dob. Merilwen Creates Water to fill the bowl and Dob Prestidigitates it to taste of honey, and Merilwen uses Produce Flame to light the candles - Dob and Corazon get rather excited by the prospect of stage effects. The skeletons dance, and the Flame Skull nudges Dob forward, and he yells, “Ethelfrith, I summon ye!”

Notes from Part One pre-show podcast commentary: No Jane, so Andy takes the lead with Mike. They talk about Wishmaster, which always comes up when the skeletons are around. That’s pretty much all they talk about.

Notes from Part One post-show podcast commentary: Andy notes they don’t usually bother with stealth when returning to the scene of previous crimes. Mike loves the Beeples stuff, but Andy is cautious, given Jane and presumably a number of listeners just hate it. Andy expresses a desire to do a Beeples concert some day. They talk about various beverages before announcing upcoming Mario Golf and Orbpocalypse videos.

Ethelfrith’s spirit emerges, a large, bulky figure. Dob introduces them, and he drinks from the bowl. Dob inquires if Ethelfrith has built concert stages before, but it sounds like they have very different ideas of band composition, and then they get down to the business of the blood pact. Ethelfrith suspected something like that might happen, as the skeletons have had masters previously, but he’s happy to renew the pact. But the Oxventurers are suspicious there might be a catch. Prudence attempts Detect Magic; he’s made entirely of magic but does not appear malevolent.

Ethelfrith lays his hands on the hammer and opens a gap to another dimension to charge it. Corazon asks Egbert how he’s coping with the ghost, but Egbert refuses to believe Ethelfrith is a ghost, saying he’s just an apparition. Then Ethelfrith pauses, saying he’s detecting some sort of magic affecting things. They can’t identify what it might be, but Merilwen speculates it might be someone scrying Egbert. Ethelfrith has to continue, even as a portal develops and opens, hungry creatures starting to come through to eat them. It is a pack of half a dozen Maw Demons. They fight.

There’s a variety of usual tactics such as Agonising Blast and Moon Beam, but Egbert pulls out Turn The Faithless, a very rare use of Paladin abilities, and five are frightened, resulting in a stampede for the portal, until some bomb work ends the effect. But the Guild don’t have much trouble killing them. And the charging of the hammer is complete, and the portal closes. 

Ethelfrith is a little disappointed that the roof of the crypt has partially collapsed, but Merilwen gets the skeletons to lift her up while she Stone Shapes it. The skeletons throw her down once she’s done, but Corazon casts Feather Fall to stop her getting injured, annoying the skeletons.

Ethelfrith is pleased with the Guild, but the skeletons not so much. Merilwen asks Ethelfrith why the skeletons do the bad stuff, and he admits that he’s not very good at magic. But at least nothing’s gone wrong this time…or has it?

Ethelfrith is forcibly banished as a new portal opens, and a cluster of Dragonborn the same size and build as Egbert come through with Liliana, who orders them to seize Egbert, and they snatch him before anyone can do anything to stop it. Dob proposed consulting Binbag, much to Corazon’s displeasure. They have no leads.

Notes from Part Two pre-show podcast commentary: Jane is back with Andy and Mike. It sounds like it was a heatwave in the UK when they were recording. They’ve been to the studio again, and that was the first time they were together in person for about fourteen months, because this was recorded in July 2021. Jane bemoans how she couldn’t wear green during home records due to green screens. Mike has been to the Grand Prix. He and Andy were on a different podcast to talk about wrestling.

Notes from Part Two post-show podcast commentary: Mike had to take a little break from Oxventure because he had a newborn baby to look after, and he and Johnny concocted a way to take Egbert out of it for a bit. No one knew how, even Mike wasn’t sure of the details, but they wanted something more interesting than him just wandering off for a while. His use of a Paladin ability was a little present for the Guild before he left. Jane explains that they get nervous when they have to fight several of anything (although to me it looked really easy). They remark on how the Beeples was a throwaway that pervaded everything. Mike says he acquired a copy of Alien: The Role Playing Game from DiceBreaker and he might want to run a game some time (he did, nearly four years later). They talk a little about Hitman and upcoming videos.

Let’s talk Beeples. The Beeples do make at least one return feature that is absolutely brilliant, and the reason I dressed as “Beeplemania” for the live show. But that is not this episode, so I will leave it at, more to follow.

This is one of the few times the Oxventurers are confronted with the consequences of their actions, which I very much enjoyed. And I did enjoy them just smashing the demons, that was a brilliant bit of combat.

Overall, a very satisfying episode, and a brilliant set-up for what comes next.

[currentfandomkick]

Is it bad i kind of want Jazz to drag everyone else attempting serious calls to the JL into a meeting and they straight up send a whole video with evidence only for it to end with her parents breaking in, a lot of ‘fucking Fenton adults’ commentary the cameras caught with her parents shooting and it Clearly Injuring Someone (i’m thinking second degree burns minimum) with Jazz snapping at her parents?

Maybe have Dash snag the camera and dropping it as ‘hi Phantom!’ Fanboy kicks in as Phantom is seen shushing a glowing green… tank sized angry dog, clearly trying to separate Floating Meta from the Fenton Parents.

Phantom is seen getting said pooch to chill out, shrink down and carried around like a purse dog while Phanton is shushing the pup with baby talk and asking why this many people are here.

Dash just says ‘oh, Jazz wanted to try and get you help for the ghosts and the hunters after you.’

Phantom, humming. ‘That would require them to use their brain. Yes it would, and if they call reports pranks, then they pranks! Yes they do!’

‘… does this have something to do with the scary clock guy screaming about ‘the Allen line is a blight to his existence and stories’ last week?’

‘Eh? One of us tries to respect privacy, and we all know clocky’s biggest rivals in voyuerism is the eyeball brigade.’

‘Tried to End you again?’

‘You’d think after the fifth failed assassination, they’d stop, ya know? hey, i gotta go before Red comes for Cujo—let me know how this pans out—are they threatening to make the town hop dimensions. Again?’

Dash turning the camera to the Fenton Parents being scolded by a pissed off Jasmine Fenton.

“And another thing! All future dimensions hops are to be cleared by the town or Phantom in an emergency!”

“Must i be a part of your mortal family drama?”

“Yes!” “No!” “Spook!”

“Yeah, i’m dipping. Tell Danny the upgrades worked like a charm on the thermos!”

“Wait a minute—give that to me! Technus right?”

“…yes and you are not giving him to Foley again. I don’t care about the bet and fifty years of service, that can be done after death and when this guy is not trying to take over the internet the wrong way. Go viral like the rest of us and then i’ll leave him to it.”

“No, if we send him in the thermos to the JLA maybe they can help!”

“No, they made their bed. If they want pranks, they will be gifted pranks. Maybe they’ll realize we aren’t lying. Or not—other than a few assholes things are mostly under casual chaos and frankly i dont want whatever the GIW got going on to spread, ya know?”

“Phantom i can and will tell Sam.”

“And? She’s liminal and not suicidal.”

“She is murder-y,” Dash muttered under his breath.

“About why you can understand animals?”

“Here’s the thermos, i am keeping my dog and please leash the town’s pet mad occulists.”

“Scientists!”

“You’re too colorful for science. Plus i have seen the wards on your home.”

“They never hurt to add!” jack yelled at Phantom flew off. “Now Jazzy-pants, give us the ghost!”

“Nope. This is for the JLA. He should arrive in a week, his name is Technus and he is a ghost that likes to try taking over the world in a looneytunes fashion mostly as he likes finding new ways to use technology. If you need to, trap him in a glitch and call Danny Fenton. Phantom likes to steal his phone.”

“He does what!”

“I told you to just get Phantom a second line. Its not his fault he’s an alternate Danny that died.”

“Phatom is WHAT!”

End of video.

JL member watching did flag it as possible worry.

Booster and Ted Kord see it and go ‘ph, that’s a Baby Danny Schordinger. He shows up at the Time Police’s place on occasion to yell at us and other agents. What do you mean he’s a prank? He mostly calls everyone out on an embodiment of Timelines’s behalf and delivers lectures for it. What do you mean—what do you mean prank calls?’

Like let these two be the ones to connect dots and poke the JLD with ‘so an embodiment of the timeline has this kid we call Danny Schrödinger. He may have called for help with his non-existent town. Which may have been dropped into out universe and timeline or be a pocket dimension city—unclear—but uh. Ghosts are involved. And the JL now has a ghost in a thermos on the space station. Help.’

The Justice League originally got a ton of emergency calls and emails from Amity Park: a town that doesn't currently exist on any sort of database, record set, and can't be traced at all. So the JL decides to ignore them.

This turns out to be a bad decision because now the calls and emails (including personal contact info) turned into a never ending, untraceable virus of a white haired teenagers parody of Rick Astleys Never Gonna Give You Up.

[anklesalltheway]

*side-eyes Salazar and grins innocently*

You didn’t hear anything.

[stickxrfacx]

Tag dump~!

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[bonkersdbobcat]

@xxlordalexanderxx

"Y'ever get the feeling something bad is looming just around the corner? I'm sure it's fiiiine!"

[fairytales-and-folklore]

Chapter 7: Read Between The Lines

Finals weeks is upon them, and Hunter and Willow have been studying like crazy — staying up all hours of the night, towers of textbooks and loose-leaf papers surrounding them on all sides, turning their living room from cozy haven to academic war zone; dashing out for late-night coffee runs and little pick-me-ups in the form of chocolate chip cookies and lemon loaf slices courtesy of the graveyard shifters at Robin's Roast; quizzing each other with flash cards and tossing little foil-wrapped chocolates to one another for positive reinforcement every time one of them gets an answer right.

In between study sessions with Willow and cry-into-your-pizza parties with Luz ("Why the hell did you let me double major in Writing and Zoology, Hunter? You're supposed to be the smart one who talks me out of doing stupid things! Do you have any idea how many essays I have to write?") Hunter has also been logging several dozen hours craning over his sketchbook, tearing out pages and erasing line work until it's as close to perfect as he's ever going to get by the time Monday morning rolls around, first final of the week his end-of-year portfolio review with Professor Deamonne.

But despite all of his anxious hemming, hawing, and hand-wringing, Hunter comes back home later that afternoon feeling reasonably satisfied with Darius's commentary, clutching a signed slip allowing him entry into an advanced drawing course typically only offered to seniors next semester, singing along to a song that's been stuck in his head on repeat ever since he heard it on one of Willow's cooking playlists a few weeks back as he strolls through the front door.

"Baby, you're like lightning in a bottle. I can't let you go now that I got it. And ooooh, all I need is to be struck by your electric—" Hunter belts out, falling silent on the high note as he takes in the sight of Willow softly dozing on the living room couch, surrounded by stacks of Advanced Botany textbooks and college-ruled composition notebooks filled with pages upon pages bearing her neat, swirling handwriting, little doodles of hearts and flowering vines adorning the margins.

Hunter can't help but stand there and watch her for a few moments, utterly enamored by how adorable she is, sprawled out on her back like a starfish, lips parted in a series of soft little snores. It's the least graceful she's ever looked, and Hunter doesn't think he's ever seen someone so beautiful in his entire life, cheeks beginning to ache from how hard he's smiling.

He's just about to head to his bedroom, taking care to close the front door as quietly as possible and sneak across the living room avoiding all the squeakiest floorboards, when Willow lets out a soft whine, hands coming up to wrap around her arms, shoulders shaking in a little shiver.

Without hesitation, Hunter drops everything he's holding and rushes over to grab the cozy quilt hanging across the back of the couch, making sure to tuck it in at her shoulders as he carefully drapes it over her, catching himself before he gets too caught up in the moment and does something stupid like lean down and kiss her on the forehead, accidentally slipping into boyfriend mode yet again.

He's grown so used to pretending to be Willow's boyfriend these past couple of weeks that it's kind of become instinctual for him now. Much to his relief, the creepy cat-caller hasn't made an appearance at Willow's workplace since that first night, but even though she's pretty sure she's in the clear, Hunter still insists on showing up and walking her home after every shift, just in case. Willow doesn't seem too keen on arguing the point, simply tells him, "Well, if you're sure you don't mind," a broad smile spreading across her face as he offers her his hand — just the the two of them, traversing the sunlit streets of their sleepy little town, hand in hand the whole way home.

But even though the creep never darkens the doorstep of The Golden Garden again, they do spot him lurking at the supermarket one time, and in her panic, Willow makes an impulsive decision, turning on her heel the moment she sees him walking down the aisle, and tugging Hunter toward her by the collar of his adorably kitschy hand-stitched wolf pack t-shirt.

"Hey, what do you want for breakf— oof," Hunter stumbles as Willow pulls him flush against her with enough force to knock a couple of boxes of Apple Jacks off the shelf behind her. 

"Willow, what—" he falters, words coming out a little bit breathless. 

Is this really happening? Right here, in the middle of the cereal aisle?

"Pretend you wanna kiss me," she whispers, hands curling around the back of his neck and tangling in his hair to pull him even closer.

Hunter's whole brain short-circuits, a pleasant shiver running down his spine from every nerve ending connected to the hair Willow's currently touching.

Pretend? Why would he ever have to pretend to want—

"Ugh. Get a room," sneers a familiar voice from right behind them, and Hunter darts his eyes in time to see the infamous creep brush past them with a disgusted scowl, giving the wheel of their shopping cart a petulant kick for good measure as he makes his way through the aisle.

Oh. Right. Pretend-boyfriend duty. Of course this isn't really happening. Hunter's not that lucky.

Also, for that asshole's information, they already have a room. Two rooms, in fact. Because they live together. But that's…that's not really a good comeback. Hunter should definitely just shut his mouth and keep pretending to make out with his pretend-girlfriend who he's totally not head over heels in love with and wishes he could kiss for real.

Hunter braces himself to keep steady, one arm propped against the shelf above Willow's head, the other politely hovering at her waist. He'd back up to give her some extra room if her arms weren't coiled so tightly around his shoulders, holding him there, pressed flush against her. Close enough to feel her heart thrumming like the wings of a hummingbird beneath her chest, matching his own beat for beat.

Their faces are so close together, Hunter can feel her warm tea and honey breath ghosting across his lips, can practically taste it mingling with her watermelon lip balm. Close enough to count the sun-kissed freckles dotted across the bridge of her nose like a dusting of brown sugar cinnamon, brain short-circuiting on a rolodex of gemstones radiant enough to compare to the color of her eyes.

All they can do for the moment is look at each other, chests heaving from the sudden exertion, tying in well with this little charade of theirs.

"Is…is he still there?" Hunter asks, because if he doesn't remind himself why he's pressed so close against her, he'll surely do something stupid, like close the last remaining breath of space left between them and lean down to kiss her.

"Who?" Willow asks, a little breathless herself. She stares at him for a few moments longer and then shakes her head. "Oh! Yeah, he left a while ago. I guess we should—"

"Yeah," Hunter agrees, though he makes no move to leave. "Lots of important, uh…cereal shopping to do."

"Yes," Willow says, forcing herself to look away from him, letting her eyes drift to the space above their heads. "Oh! Speaking of which...looks like they've got one last box of my favorite up there. Would you mind—"

Before she can finish her request, Hunter leans forward, pressing in even closer as he reaches for the high shelf and grabs the last box of Captain Crunch with ease, pausing to linger with his eyes locked on hers for just a moment longer before he steps back out of her personal space and places it in their cart.

Willow closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to steady herself, trying not to think about how soft his hair had felt between her fingers just now, or the way he smelled like Christmas morning, cozy hints of cinnamon and clove clinging to his neck and shoulders.

Before she can even make it through a single breath, she feels a soft, warm weight sink into the palm of her hand. Opens her eyes and looks down to find Hunter's fingers entwined with hers. Glances up at him curiously, head tilted to the side in question.

"I just figured—" he stammers, suddenly looking sheepish. "I mean, he might come back, so maybe we should—"

"No, yeah. We should definitely do that," Willow agrees with an eager nod, squeezing Hunter's hand a little tighter. 

"And also…maybe you should kiss me?" she blurts out without thinking.

Hunter's eyebrows jump to his hairline.

"You— you know, next time…if we happen to run into him again," Willow quickly course-corrects, cheeks blazing pink as the box of Very Berry Cheerios on the shelf behind her. 

"Like, on the cheek or the forehead or something? That's a thing that boyfriends do, right?" she asks around a half-hysterical little chuckle.

"Yes!" Hunter is quick to agree, heartbeat thundering in his chest. "That is totally a thing that boyfriends do."

"Like…" he pauses, swallowing against his nerves. "Like this?" he asks, leaning forward and pressing his lips against the top of her forehead in a quick two-second kiss.

When he pulls back, Willow's face looks just as red as his feels. 

She stares at him for a few moments, and then starts nodding vehemently.

"Uh huh," she says in a low register, almost too soft for him to catch, staring at him like he'd just performed a spectacular bit of magic. "Just— just like that. That was…wow. That was some A+ boyfriending right there."

"I'm just gonna—" she adds, jabbing a thumb behind her as she starts walking backwards in the direction of the frozen section, tripping over her own feet.

Hunter isn't sure what comes over him, a sudden rush of confidence at the way she's looking at him just now, cheeks flushed a maddeningly adorable shade of pink.

"Okay, sweetheart," he tells her in his softest, sundae-melting voice, lips curving up at the corners. "Take all the time you need. Oh, and could you please pick up a pint of our favorite for us to share later tonight while you're there? My treat."

Maybe the wink is overkill, because Willow nearly crashes into a display of Lucky Charms as she rounds the corner, but Hunter can't help it, broad smile bursting across his face as he watches her go.

(Two weeks later, that damned pint of Oat Of This Swirled is still sitting in the back of their freezer, neither of them daring to take the first bite.)

So, yeah. Hunter's gotten so used to pretending to be her boyfriend these past couple of weeks that it's kind of become second nature. So comfortable and easy to slip into, that Hunter often forgets and has to keep reminding himself that they're just pretending.

Hunter breathes out on a long, heavy sigh. If only he didn't have to pretend…

If he was her boyfriend, he could hold her hand as they walk down the cereal aisle every weekend when they do their grocery shopping together.

If he was her boyfriend, he could put his arm around her and she could lean her head on his shoulder, just like his sister does with her girlfriend every time they have movie nights.

If he was her boyfriend, he could kiss her goodnight instead of simply saying the words every night before they head to their rooms.

If he was her boyfriend, maybe they wouldn't have to have two separate rooms.

But he's not her boyfriend, and despite all his delusions and wishful thinking, she'll never see him as anything more than just—

"Hunter?" Willow stirs beneath him, calling out his name in a soft, sleepy sigh.

For a moment, Hunter panics, worried he's woken her — or worse, that she'd caught him in the midst of that almost forehead kiss — but Willow merely rolls over and buries her face into a throw pillow, eyes closed, softly snoring, and Hunter lets himself relax…before a sudden thought makes his heart rate ramp right back up again.

Did she just call out his name in her sleep, then?

No, surely not. Hunter must be hearing things. Willow doesn't dream about him. She must've just mumbled something unintelligible that sounded like his name.

Deciding he's been standing there long enough for too many close calls, Hunter starts to turn away and head back to his room again, when Willow calls out what is unmistakably his name this time, followed by a flirtatious giggle.

Hunter freezes, 99% sure now that Willow is asleep and dreaming about him. He knows he shouldn't pry, but curiosity keeps him rooted to the spot, holding his breath, heart pounding in his ears as he waits and watches.

Watches as Willow wraps her arms around the throw pillow and hugs it close to her chest, lips pressed against the soft, plush fabric in an almost kiss as she calls out his name for the third time in a row, caught on the heels of a long, drawn out, breathless moan.

Hunter's entire body floods with heat, a pleasant tingling not unlike the one he'd felt when Willow ran her fingers through his hair amplified tenfold, radiating down the length of his spine and jolting to the tips of his fingers, crackling hearth turned wildfire.

Gravity betrays him as his legs turn to jelly, knees dipping forward to collide with the edge of the coffee table, catching himself a moment too late as he claps a hand over his mouth to stifle a sharp intake of breath. To his horror, Hunter glances down to see Willow's eyes flutter open, blinking blearily against the soft afternoon sunlight, and in his panicked attempt to flee the scene, convinced he's not allowed to have witnessed such strange, impossible, wonderful, magical things, ends up crashing straight into the garbage bin, knocking trash all over the walkway between the kitchen and the living room floor.

Willow wakes with a sudden start, bolting up and staring straight at him. And oh, there's no mistaking the way her eyes widen the moment she sees him, the way her whole face ignites in a deep, ruddy scarlet. 

She was dreaming about him. She was dreaming about him. She had sighed and giggled and moaned his name while dreaming about him. Oh my god oh my god oh my god.

Willow clears her throat, trying her damnedest to sound nonchalant. 

"Hunter?" she says, and oh god there it is again. Hunter swears his name is never going to sound the same to his own ears ever again.

"Everything, uh…okay?" she asks, taking note of the empty cereal boxes, banana peels, and Robin's Roast to-go cups strewn all over the floor, Hunter nursing a bashed knee as he clutches the kitchen counter for support.

"Oh! Yes. Everything is fine. Everything is so, so fine," he assures her with a wildly pitchy voice, dropping to his (twice-injured) knees and rushing to shove all the garbage back into the bin as quickly as possible. 

"I just— you know, clumsy me," he chuckles, just this side of hysterical. "So sorry to have woken you from a very deep slumber where absolutely no talking happened whatsoever."

Willow's eyes grow wide, cheeks flushing impossibly redder.

"I'm just gonna…yeah," he says, jabbing a thumb behind him as he bolts out of the living room and locks himself in the bathroom, where he stays for the next two hours, flooding their whole apartment in a thick, chilly mist as he takes the longest, coldest shower of his life.

• • •

It's their very last weekend on campus, and Hunter and Willow are cozied up together on the living room couch, second season of Bridgerton idly playing in the background as they veg out with a couple of fun creative projects — the perfect way to relax after a long, grueling week of final exams. Hunter sits at one end of the couch, brand new sketchbook open to a fresh page in his lap, while Willow curls up on the opposite side, weaving a set of cute little crocheted leaves into a bright green half-knitted headband.

Except it's decidedly not relaxing, because Hunter can't concentrate for shit, eyes darting toward Willow every few seconds, distracted by the gentle furrow of her brow as she fusses with her project, the way the tip of her tongue pokes out between her teeth as she unravels and reworks a complicated set of cable stitches, punctuated by a series of soft little groans and sighs.

It's been five days, three hours, and — according to the little black and white Kit Cat Clock softly ticking above their kitchen sink — thirty-five minutes since the incident, and Hunter hasn't stopped thinking about it all week long. The way she said his name — not once, not twice, but three times in her sleep, dreaming about him (and by the sound of it, it was a very, very good dream.) Honestly, it's a wonder he managed to pass any of his exams.

Hunter just can't wrap his head around it. Does this mean she likes him…like, likes him, likes him…in a romantic way??? Surely not. There's no way in hell a girl like that could ever be interested in a guy like—

"Hunter?" she says suddenly, and just like that, a wave of heat curls up the length of his spine. It's been having that effect on him lately, downright Pavlovian the way his whole body breaks out in a sunburnt sugar high every time she so much as says his name. Don't get him wrong, he's always loved the way she says his name, but now. Now it stirs something heady and thrilling inside him, electric currents crackling just beneath the surface of his skin like a live wire lit up in his nerve endings, streaks of lightning bursting across the night sky in answer to her rumbling thunder.

"You seem a little on edge," she tells him, eyebrows pulling together in concern. "Is everything okay?"

"Who, me?" Hunter blurts out, a hint of hysteria to his tone as he struggles to bullshit a plausible excuse. "Must be leftover nerves from the stress of all those exams! Or hey, maybe all that coffee we drank during all those study sessions is finally catching up with me! Ha-ha-ha. Yup! That's gotta be it. Couldn't possibly be anything else. Don't worry, I'm a-okay!"

Willow giggles, thankfully used to the way Hunter tends to get whenever he's had too much coffee and not enough sleep.

"I think I know just the thing," she tells him, marking her place in her knitting before bustling off to the kitchen to brew them both a calming cup of chamomile tea.

"Oh, um— thank you," Hunter manages in response, forcing himself to stare straight ahead so that he won't be tempted to glance in the direction of the kitchen, getting swept up in the episode that's currently playing on Willow's laptop instead.

Hunter remembers watching this show last year when it first premiered, crowded around the television in his old apartment with Willow, Luz, and Amity, eagerly devouring each episode of the new season right alongside them as they tore their way through a snack spread worthy of a regency-era soiree…viscerally aware of every breath, every glance, every inch of skin pressed against Willow's shoulders and thighs as they sat packed together on the couch through all the spicy scenes.

Thankfully, they're only in the beginning stages of the plot, so it hasn't gotten too hot and heavy just yet. If they had to sit through that episode alone together, he's pretty sure he'd burst into flames. Although, that almost kiss scene is still pretty steamy. Viscount Bridgerton worries that Miss Sharma has been stung by a bee and starts to panic, terrified he's about to lose the love of his life. And this is only episode three. Hunter rolls his eyes. Ridiculous that it took these two lovelorn idiots seven whole episodes to finally act upon their feelings for one another.

"Honey?" Willow asks, setting a tray with two steaming mugs of chamomile tea and a jar of clover honey on the coffee table in front of him.

Not for the first time, Hunter's whole brain short-circuits.

"Uh—" he falters, glancing up at her in a pleasant sort of shock. "Yes, dear?" he blurts out without thinking.

Willow's lips curve into a dimpled smile. 

"I was asking if you wanted honey in your tea," she clarifies, biting her lower lip to stifle a bout of giggles.

Hunter's face heats in embarrassment. 

"Oh," he sighs, struggling to keep his heart rate in check. "Um. Yes, please."

"You got it," she replies, stirring a generous spoonful of honey into his tea.

"There you are," she says as she hands him the mug, impish grin hidden behind the lip of her teacup as she deliberately waits for him to take his first sip.

"Sweetheart," she adds with a playful wink, and Hunter chokes on his tea.

• • •

Once Hunter's nerves finally calm down (the tea truly does help) the two of them settle into a comfortable silence, the gentle click of Willow's knitting needles paired with the soft lilting string quartet covers of the show serenading him as he sets to work on a new sketch — a tranquil scene of honeybees buzzing about a country garden. (Perhaps he'll break out his watercolors and give it to Willow as a gift.)

It's all very domestic and peaceful, so of course this is the moment his loudmouth sister comes bursting through the front door, frantically asking where the cookbook Aunt Lilith sent them off to college with is — it's Amity's last night before she flies back to California for the summer, and Luz wants to go all out and make her something special — and whether she can rifle through his room, in case it somehow ended up among his things during the move.

Too caught up in his drawing to care, Hunter waves her off with vague threats of break anything and I'll kill you, to which Luz responds with a cheerful, "Love you too, bro!" as she bolts into his bedroom.

Luz is perusing Hunter's bookshelf, moving a few things around to see if the cookbook somehow ended up behind one of his ridiculously extravagant leather-bound hardcovers, when two little slips of paper fall out of the same worn and well-loved novel, From Bones To Earth: A Study Of Wild Magic — first in the lineup from Hunter and Willow's favorite series.

She knows she shouldn't pry into her brother's personal business, but after ten whole seconds of holding herself back, curiosity wins out, and Luz eagerly unfolds them, revealing two handwritten notes inside. The notes are a few years old at least, both of them written in faded black ink on ripped-out pages of a college-ruled composition notebook — the kind Hunter and Willow used to favor for note-taking back in high school.

One says Hunter & Willow in neat, swirling handwriting, penned inside of a little heart that twists and curls around the words like flowering vines. The other says W.P.P. + H.W.W. written in a pristine, slanting scrawl, carried on the wings of two little cardinals with hearts in their eyes.

"Whoah, what did I miss?" she gasps, torn between shock and utter delight as she claps a hand over her mouth.

A second later, Luz comes barging into the living room, brandishing the two little slips of paper in Hunter and Willow's faces as she shouts, "I missed a lot!"

"Uhh…Luz? What's—" Hunter starts, eyebrows arched in concern. 

"How long have you two been dating?" Luz interrupts, one notch below frenzied.

Hunter's pencil slips out of his hands and slaps the paper, while Willow slips several stitches and drops her knitting project, bright green ball of yarn rolling across the living room floor.

"What?" they ask in twin tones of alarm.

"Don't play dumb with me," Luz retorts, but there's no bite to her words, only giddy excitement. "I found this in one of your books, Hunter. I'd know your handwriting anywhere."

She lets the note labeled W.P.P. + H.W.W. fall into his lap, and Hunter picks it up to examine it, eyes growing wide with horror.

"That's not mine!" he splutters, but the steady blush pooling in the hollows of his cheeks says otherwise. "Those could be anyone's initials!"

"Except it's clearly Willow Paulina Park, isn't it, Hunter William Wittebane?" Luz challenges with a victorious smirk. 

Hunter swallows thickly.

"And you," she says, turning her interrogation on her best friend. "After all the notes we passed in class…I suppose you're going to try to tell me that you didn't write this?"

Luz hands Willow the slip of paper with the words Hunter & Willow written in curling calligraphy, the little heart-shaped border brimming with flowers and vines so obviously her signature style.

Willow's heart skips several beats.

"How long have you guys been sending each other these adorable little love notes?" Luz demands, pacing the living room floor like she's had six shots of espresso (which, knowing Luz…likely.)

A lightbulb goes off in her head, and then she's slapping the coffee table as her lightspeed brain formulates a thrilling theory.

"Oh my god, you've been borrowing books back and forth from each other since freshman year of high school!" she exclaims. "Has this been going on for that long and I didn't even notice? When were you gonna tell me? My brother and my best friend — oh, this is amazing! This is like, all of my sappy rom-com dreams come true."

Luz glances back and forth between the two of them, beaming smile slowly slipping off her face as she clocks the looks of mingled horror and mortification on their bright red faces.

"Oh my god," she says softly, hands coming up to cover her mouth in shock. "You don't know. You've been in love with each other all this time and you never even knew."

The silence that follows is resounding, the only sound two soft gasps from either side of the couch.

"Welp, I've officially made things awkward," Luz says with a guilty chuckle, bouncing on the balls of her feet. 

"I'm just gonna find some recipe on the internet and wing it, leave you two crazy kids to talk. Okay, byeeeee!" she calls out in signature Eda fashion, which, despite having no biological connection, both Hunter and Luz seem to have inherited.

Luz huffs out another awkward laugh and waltzes out the front door, the resulting slam leaving a deafening silence in its wake.

The two of them sit there steeping in the silence for a few moments, neither of them daring to move, until—

"How long?" Willow ventures in a small, disbelieving voice.

Hunter sighs, letting out a breath he feels like he's been holding in for nearly six years.

"Do you remember our first week at Hexside, when they held after school sign-ups?" he asks, watching Willow nod from out of the corner of his eye, not quite ready to look at her just yet. "Well, at one of the stands, there was this really cute freshman with glasses and braids, who by all accounts, looked like she should've been this soft-spoken, book-smart nerd, but who was trying to petition the school to let her captain her own roller derby team."

Willow exhales on shaky laughter, surprised to learn that he'd been the one to fall first, that he'd known who she was weeks before she'd ever even seen him.

"Next day, your name came on the loudspeaker over morning announcements. 'And last but not least, we are pleased to announce that Willow Park, Captain of The Emerald Entrails, Hexside High's first roller derby team, will be holding tryouts later this afternoon,'" he continues, nostalgic smile spreading across his face as he recites from perfect memory. "I worked up the nerve to sign up all day, but chickened out at the last minute. Fortunately, the captain herself was gracious enough to personally recruit me the following semester, even though there were at least a dozen applicants ahead of me at the time."

Willow smirks, knowing exactly what he's getting at. In her defense, he really was very graceful on a pair of skates.

"Best second-in-command I could have ever asked for," she tells him, and from the corner of her eye, she sees his whole face light up in a smile as bright and warm as the feeling brewing inside her chest right now.

"For me, it was the first day of winter break, a few weeks after I'd met Luz," she says, and the memory unfolds in her mind, crystal clear as the day it happened. "She invited me over to your house for a sleepover. She'd been talking you up like you were this cool, aloof, slightly grumpy older brother…but then I saw you, lying upside down in an armchair, reading one of my favorite books aloud to your little brother, pulling silly faces just to make him laugh, practically swimming in this big, cozy-looking, bright yellow knitted sweater, fluffy blond hair falling in front of your eyes like a golden retriever…and that was it for me. That was the moment. Just…instant crush. I was supposed to be hanging out with Luz that night, but all I wanted to do was keep talking to you."

Hunter stares at her, utterly spellbound, and then his lips quirk into an amused smile.

"Is that why you call me Golden Boy?" he asks.

"Is that why you call me Captain?" she retorts.

The two of them break out into a fit of giggles, finally chancing a look at one another, both of them smiling so hard their faces start to ache.

"So you've liked me for years," Willow ventures, stunned by how surreal it feels to say the words aloud. "And I've liked you for years…but somehow, neither of us have ever managed to figure it out so we could actually do something about it?"

"That about sums up how stupid we are, yes," Hunter says, ducking his head in a sheepish chuckle.

"Well…" Willow says slowly, tilting her head to the side in thoughtful speculation. "We could do something about it now."

Hunter looks at her, and then quickly looks away, casting his eyes toward the ceiling as he reaches out into the space between them to offer her his hand. Willow takes it, thumb rubbing soothing circles against his faded scars.

Spurred by a spark of bravery, Willow scoots a little bit closer, giggling as Hunter mirrors her every move, until the two of them are sitting right next to one another, entwined hands resting in the dip between their knees. Hunter chances another glance over at her, and Willow follows suit, smitten smiles curling across both of their faces. Eyes flicker briefly to each other's lips, then back up again, sparks flying behind locked gazes of warm woodland brown and soft forest green.

Hunter surprises himself by being the first one to make a move, free hand reaching forward to tuck a loose lock of hair behind her ear, letting every touch linger as his fingertips chart a slow and steady trail down the side of her face, until he's gently cupping her cheek in the palm of his hand, his own fierce adoration mirrored back in her eyes as she gazes up at him like she's been dreaming of this moment just as long as he has.

"I love you," he whispers, voice like a flood dam bursting as he carefully tilts her chin up to meet him, closing over half a decade's worth of distance as he presses his lips against hers.

Hunter kisses her and it's like the world is a jigsaw puzzle that finally found its missing piece, fireworks and shooting stars and all those fairy tale clichés you read about in story books paling in comparison to the electric current thrumming through his veins, warmth like a soup bowl-sized mug of magic healing cocoa flooding his entire body as Willow kisses him back just as passionately, soft hands finding purchase along the curves of his jaw to pull him even closer.

Everything about it feels so right that Hunter wonders whether he should take a moment to mourn the lost time they could have spent doing this, if only they'd been brave enough to say something sooner. But then, maybe everything happens exactly as it's supposed to. Maybe something this good takes time. And besides, now they've finally found each other, they've got all the time in the world.

The hand on Willow's cheek moves until it's gently cradling the back of her neck, shivers stirring down the length of her spine as he tangles his fingers in her hair, tea and honey mingled with a bright burst of summer watermelon overwhelming Hunter's senses as his tongue swirls across her bottom lip.

Willow's breath hitches in the back of her throat, hands curling around the collar of his shirt as she tugs him toward her with a fervor, giggling at the soft surprised oof that rushes out of him as the two of them tumble backwards, the weight of his ribs settling between her hips at her eager insistence, one hand steadied at her waist, the other carefully supporting her head as she lays back against the couch cushions.

Willow's had countless daydreams like this, but nothing compares to the reality of being held in Hunter's arms, held in his gaze like she's the most precious thing in the world. He must have looked at her like this a thousand times over the years, but she never knew the weight it held until now. 

Slowly, wanting to savor every touch, Willow lets her hands drift up and over the well-muscled curves of his shoulders, delighting in the soft whine low in his throat as she threads her fingers through his hair, gently tugging at the roots to pull him closer, blissed-out laughter rumbling in his chest as she whispers, "I love you too, you know…in case that wasn't obvious," before drawing him in for another kiss.

Hunter kisses her like she's his haven and he's a ship lost at sea, reveling in the way she giggles and sighs as he plants fevered little kisses across the curves of her cheekbones and the tip of her nose, determined not to miss a single inch of pale freckled skin as he slowly works his way downward, lips pausing at her pulse point when he feels her heart leap beneath his touch.

Feeling brazen, Hunter decides to try something he only ever thought he'd be able to do in his wildest daydreams, tongue darting out to graze the delicate juncture between her neck and the underside of her jaw, sucking a series of soft little bruising kisses along the column of her throat, a rush of pride surging through him at the way it makes her shiver and sigh beneath him, calling out his name in the same way she'd done the day he'd caught her dreaming about him, right here in this very spot, because yeah, he did that. He's the reason she sounded like that. His name on her lips.

If she'll let him, Hunter will gladly spend the rest of his life trying to elicit that wonderful, magical sound as often as he possibly can.

• • •

They're a little late showing up to Amity's farewell party (because listen, they've got about six years' worth of making out on the couch to make up for, and they're not about to waste a single second of it) but Luz forgives them when they walk in holding hands, cheering so hard the downstairs neighbors bang on the ceiling with broomsticks.

In the biggest plot twist of all time, Amity shouts, "Called it!" the moment they walk through the front door, relieved to finally be able to admit that she's known about their not-so-secret crushes this whole time, clocked them from the very first moment they all hung out together fall semester of freshman year, and that she can't believe her girlfriend, self-appointed Rom-Com Queen, took this long to figure it out.

After a fair bit of teasing and I told you so's, the four of them settle in around the dinner table, laughing and chatting about finals and summer plans like they would any other night, except that Luz's smile is just a little bit brighter as she glances back and forth between her blushing brother and her best friend (Hunter making due holding a fork with his left hand so that he doesn't have to let go of Willow's) sharing conspiratorial smiles with Amity as they excitedly make plans for all the double dates they'll be able to go on next semester.

A little while later, as they're letting their food settle, Amity and Willow are huddled together around Amity's phone, laughing as she shows Willow an embarrassing video of Professor Hermonculus (an engineering professor who was very mean to Willow before she dropped his class last year) bending over to pick up their fallen exam books and tearing a big hole in the backside of his trousers.

Luz tears her eyes away from her giggling girlfriend long enough to glance over at Hunter, smirking as she catches the all-too-familiar look in his eyes — if this were a cartoon, he'd have little pink and red hearts floating above his head right about now.

"So, you and Willow, huh?" she asks, playfully nudging him in the shoulder.

"Yeah," Hunter exhales on a soft, lovelorn sigh, gazing at his girlfriend (wow, that's his girlfriend — he honestly has no idea how he managed that) as she throws her head back in laughter, a furious blush creeping into the tips of his ears when he notices it — a little red mark in the shape of his lips, just below her left ear.

"Dude. Pick your jaw up on the floor. You're staring," Luz teases, though really, she can't say shit, besotted smile spreading across her face as she watches Amity flip a long lock of lavender hair over her shoulder.

"Sorry," he huffs out a laugh, ducking his head in a sheepish smile. 

"She's just so…" he trails off with another dreamlike sigh, glancing up at Luz and flashing her a cheeky grin. "You think I have a shot with her?"

"I don't know, I'll ask. Hey, Willow!" Luz calls across the table, smirking as the two of them glance up from Amity's phone. "My dorky older brother's got a big, embarrassing crush on you, and wants to know if you're single."

"Sorry, I have a boyfriend," Willow preens, sending Hunter a playful wink.

"Oh yeah?" Hunter asks, lips curving up at the corners as he pushes back from his chair and walks toward her, offering her his hand and lifting her to her feet. "What's he like?"

"Gorgeous warm brown eyes, adorable fluffy blond hair like a golden retriever," she says as she gazes into his eyes and runs her fingers through his hair, brushing back that one stubborn lock.

"Devastatingly handsome," she grins, lighting up at the radiant smile that spreads across Hunter's face. "Cute little gap between his two front teeth whenever he smiles."

"Tall as a goddamn sycamore," she pretends to pout, giggling when he leans down to kiss her dimpled cheek, one hand curling around hers, the other settling at the small of her back as he leads her in a slow, swaying waltz around the kitchen.

"Smart. Funny. Kind. Very good with his hands," she praises as Hunter steadies the strong, gentle hand at the back of her waist and carefully dips her backwards, mesmerized by the way her pretty white sundress twirls around her knees like the petals of a flower.

"He's an artist," she adds with a flirtatious wink as he pulls her back up to meet him, fingers curling over the sleeve of his matching button-up shirt as she wraps her arm around his shoulder.

"And you're a work of art," he tells her as he buries his nose in the soft jasmine and honeysuckle of her hair and presses a kiss to her temple. "Sweetheart."

"You guys are so gross, I'm gonna vomit rainbows," Luz jokes as she pretends to retch into a nearby trashcan.

"You're one to talk, miss 'she's so cool and classy, how in the world am I ever supposed to ask out a cotton candy haired goddess like Amity Blight?'" Hunter retorts with a teasing smirk.

Amity's eyes grow wide with sheer delight, turning to Luz and mouthing the words cotton candy haired goddess? a preening smile curling across her lips.

Luz's face blushes bright as a tomato.

"Okay, fine. You win," Luz relents with a sheepish smile. "We're just as bad as Eda and Raine. Being embarrassingly uncool and totally smitten in front of our crushes is just the curse of our bloodline, I guess."

"We're not blood related," Hunter reminds her with an amused arch of his eyebrows.

"Ehh, potato, tomato," Luz says, and Hunter snorts into Willow's shoulder.

After they've helped clear the table and stacked all the squeaky-clean plates in the dishwasher, Hunter and Willow decide to call it a night and head back to their apartment early, citing the excuse that they want to give Luz and Amity some alone time on their last night before summer break (and admittedly, craving a little alone time of their own.)

"Have fun, you two! Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Luz teases as she scoops the pair of them up into a bone-crushing hug, following it up with a suggestive wink that backfires spectacularly when Willow pulls back to fix her with a cheeky grin and says, "You forget, I used to share a wall with Amity back when the two of you first got together. Given some of the things I've overheard, sky's the limit on the kind of shenanigans we could get up to tonight."

"Willow!" Luz exclaims, torn between laughter and embarrassment as both her and Amity's faces turn a brilliant shade of red.

"Gross," Hunter makes a sour lemon face, but then the implication of what Willow has just suggested finishes processing and he glances over at her, adding a hopeful, "But also?" as he tilts his head in the direction of their apartment, eyebrows raised in silent question.

Willow looks up at him, arching hers suggestively in response, a flirtatious smile tugging at the corners of her lips as her eyes dart meaningfully toward their front door. Oh great, Luz muses, they've learned to communicate with just their eyebrows now.

"Oh gross, my best friend and my brother," she groans, pretending to vomit behind Amity's shoulder. "Ugh, go be gross in your own apartment and please spare me the details on the drive home tomorrow."

"Translation: we love you both and we're very happy for you," Amity chuckles, shaking her head in fond amusement as she loops an arm around Luz's waist and waves them both goodnight.

Together, the two of them make their way back to their little home away from home across the hall, waving goodnight to their friends and wishing Amity a safe flight, excited to reunite the following fall.

• • •

Adult Content: The following scene contains sexual content between adult fictional characters.

• • •

The moment they step back inside their apartment, Willow leans back against the door and pulls Hunter flush against her, drawing him in for a kiss, and in an instant, it's like they never left. Hunter's hands are everywhere, tangling in her hair (out of her signature braids, spilling in soft loose curls around her shoulders) skimming across the curves of her cheeks, tilting her chin up to meet him in a hungry press of lips against lips.

And if this is Hunter holding nothing back, then Willow is a woman possessed, little teeth marks framed by smudges of watermelon pink peppered across his jawline and the column of his throat, fingers threading through the hair at the nape of his neck, working their way up in a series of slow, gentle tugs that have him groaning into the curves of her collarbones.

Hunter wraps his arms around Willow's waist and lifts her up until she's pressed right against him at her core, ballet flats slipping off her feet as her legs lock around his hips, fingers feverishly tearing at the buttons of his shirt, driven crazy by each flex of the muscles in his forearms when he'd rolled up his sleeves at dinner tonight.

"Bedroom," she gasps as his fingertips skate the hem of her sundress, earning her a breathless chuckle as he leans in close and growls against the shell of her ear, "As you wish, Captain."

Willow barely has a moment to melt into a puddle before he's sweeping her into his arms in one swift, graceful motion, carrying her down the corridor as she buries her face into his neck and giggles his name. In her pretty white sundress and his matching button-up shirt, Hunter can't help but feel like he's carrying his bride to their honeymoon suite.

"Mine or yours?" he whispers into her hair as he presses a kiss to her temple, coming to a stop in front of their bedroom doors.

"Mine," she tells him, fingers dipping into the opening of his shirt to curl into the soft patch of hair sprawling across his chest as she adds, "But next year, let's make it ours."

"I like the sound of that," he whispers, leaning down to capture her lips in another kiss as he turns the handle to her bedroom door.

The moment they cross the threshold, the mood shifts from insatiable passion to gentle intimacy, sinking into a deep, languid kiss Hunter doesn't dare break for even a second as he slowly lets her slip out of his arms, gently touching back down onto the ground. The instant she's on her feet again, Willow sets out to finish what she started, loosening the rest of his buttons and splaying her hands across his bare chest, eager to explore every inch of uncharted territory, curling across the curves of his shoulders to gently slide his shirt down his arms.

She breaks the kiss just long enough to meet his eyes as one of her fingers dips below the waistband of his trousers in a silent question: Is this okay? Hunter nods vehemently, adam's apple straining against the column of his throat as Willow makes quick work of them, sliding them down his hips to join his button-up shirt in a pile on the floor, until he's left wearing nothing but a pair of boxers that leave very little doubt that he wants her just as badly as she wants him.

Willow's eyes trek a slow trail back up to his own, burning with a heady mix of nerves and desire as he gazes back at her, heart skipping a beat at that soft intake of breath when she turns around and tells him it's his turn. Ice and fire thrill down Willow's spine as shaking hands skim across the curves of her shoulders, carefully brushing her hair to the side so he can gain better access to the zipper pull at the top of her dress, chills like the kind you experience when you hear a hauntingly beautiful symphony performed a cappella in a cathedral prickling her skin as he leans down to press a soft kiss to the back of her neck.

And then he's slowly sliding the zipper down her back, exposing first her shoulders, then her waist, then the small of her back, until that pretty white dress pools at her feet, revealing a matching set of deep forest green intimates underneath, like she'd planned for him to see her like this when she'd dressed for the party hours before.

He's breathing so hard she can feel the rapid rise and fall of his chest against her back, warm breath ghosting across her skin. She does a slow spin in his arms until she's facing him again, staring up at him like they both just jumped off a cliff, but that she couldn't be happier she was holding his hand when they did, giddiness bubbling up inside her chest at the way he looks at her, lips parted in reverent shock, eyes hungrily drinking her in the same way she'd looked at him moments before.

"Wow," he breathes, lips pulling up into an awestruck smile as Willow giggles and bites her lower lip, smiling hard enough to give herself permanent dimples.

"Bed?" she asks when Hunter continues to just stand there, caught up in the thrill of looking at her.

"Oh," he says, still a little breathless. "Yes, of course."

Never taking his eyes off of hers, Hunter wraps his arms around her waist and sweeps her off her feet into another bridal carry, softer and slower this time, settling in against the headboard with her curled up in his lap.

For a moment, they just stay there like this, eyes eagerly drinking in every detail of each other's faces, Willow's hands carding through his fluffy blond hair, Hunter's fingertips tracing constellations in the freckles that dapple the bridge of her nose and the curves of her shoulders. He chases them with his lips, pressing searing kisses against the bare skin of her shoulders, across her collarbones, up the length of her neck.

"Knew you'd like it if I kissed you here," he whispers, another surge of pride rushing through him at the soft stuttered moan she makes when he kisses the pulse point at the corner of her jaw again. "Never thought I'd get the chance. Always figured you were too good for someone like me."

Willow pulls back to look at him, a war of emotions sparking in her eyes like a live wire.

"You are amazing," she tells him, planting kisses across the scar that winds from the edge of his jaw to the curve of his cheekbone, just below his eye. In the light of the setting sun, Hunter's eyes are almost crimson, heart of a wildfire blazing in his irises.

"I love you so much," she says, bringing his hands up to her lips and punctuating each word with a gentle kiss along one of his jagged scars.

"I always have, and I always will, until—" she pauses, frowns, and shakes her head. People always say things like I'll love you until the end of time, until the day I die, until the world stops turning, but something about that has never sat right with Willow. That kind of thinking implies there's some kind of end to all of this. And that's just not them.

"There is no until. I'll just always love you," she amends, vibrant green eyes blazing with deep-rooted affection. "And I want you. All of you. Even the parts you think are broken."

Hunter's lips part in surprise, eyes suddenly misty, and then he's kissing her, an endless chorus of I love you, I love you, I love you branded into her skin with each press of his lips. In this slow dance of tentative touches and eager kisses, the two of them end up under the covers with Willow astride his hips, slowly slipping out of the last remaining layers that separate them. 

Hunter's hands roam her body, fingers fumbling with the clasps of her bra, needing to be closer to her, to kiss every inch of her. Willow leans back, tugging the damnable thing off in one quick, fluid motion, giggling at the look of stupefied awe on Hunter's face as he drinks her in, gaze lingering longingly over every perfect curve, swallowing nervously as his eyes drift down to where they're both connected, nothing separating their most intimate parts.

"I've never done this before," he tells her, admitting it like it's a flaw. "Any of this."

"It'll be a first for both of us," she replies softly, surprised to find she doesn't feel nearly as nervous as she always thought she would be. She'd always hoped it would be with him.

Willow leans in to kiss him — once, twice, three times — and when she pulls away he chases after her, pressing his forehead against hers and staring into her eyes with such fierce adoration it makes her want to cry.

With a slow, steadying breath, she leans back, tilting her hips upward in invitation, watching as he takes himself in hand and guides them until he's hovering just below her entrance, before slowly sinking down onto the length of him, both of them stuttering out gasps as the brand new sensation overwhelms them.

Willow takes a moment to adjust, responding to Hunter's frantic whispers of are you okay? with an enthusiastic god yes, and then she's moving, rocking her hips back and forth in a slow, steady rhythm that renders them both incapable of more than incoherent moans and sighs in the shape of each other's names, hearts in their eyes as Willow takes him in like he's a breath of fresh air in a field full of wildflowers, Hunter gazing up at her like she painted the night sky and hung all the stars just for him.

✨ Read Next Chapter | Chapter Masterlist ✨

Until You Meet Someone Who Makes The Fall Feel Like Flying

The Owl House » Huntlow

Title: Until You Meet Someone Who Makes The Fall Feel Like Flying

Author: fairytalesandfolklore

Fandom: The Owl House (Masterlist)

Relationship: Hunter | The Golden Guard x Willow Park

AO3 Rating: Mature (a complete collection of author's notes, inspiration credits, content warnings and tags can be found on AO3)

Summary: Hunter and Willow have been secretly pining for one another since freshman year of high school, and now they're going to be college roommates. They're just moving in together, it's no big deal. Surely this won't change anything between them.

Hunter isn't sure at which point exactly he fell in love with her — when her fingers brushed through his hair as she checked him for a concussion, or when she brought him a soup bowl-sized mug of hot cocoa, winked at him, and said, "I put some extra marshmallows in there for you, helps with the healing, trust me" — but from that night on, Hunter knew that he loved her. And he hadn't stopped loving her, all the way to this exact moment five years later, where he now sat opposite her on his threadbare couch, faced with the prospect of living with her for the next seven months.

Read On AO3 | Read On Tumblr: Chapter 1 » Chapter 2 » Chapter 3 » Chapter 4 » Chapter 5 » Chapter 6 » Chapter 7

[chxosbringer]

“ ...I only took a nap. Dear Grima what have I come back to...? ” They must be the sane sibling.

[monster-or-man]

For some reason, Achim feels like he is being talked about. It only made him smirk smugly, holding his head up high.

[silentfellchild]

Okay maybe it’s okay for her siblings to throw her--but only a little bit!

She is still Small.

[gildedbarbarian]

I agree with so much of this! I'll put my commentary under the cut too just for the sake of not clogging up anyone's dash or spoiling anything!

Spoilers up to chapter 146 below the cut!

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who feels torn between the dichotomy of how final this feels and also the sheer amount of story left to tell. I haven't really seen anyone else talk about how final some of this (namely, the sheer length of the arc paired with the feeling of "let's get all of our allies together to fight off this very personal affront to our state of being" of it all). It feels to me like Sakura has very rapidly begun to see and understand things that I frankly expected to take longer within the story itself, and I think that adds to the finality (in feeling) of this whole arc.

That said though... we are missing a lot. I would say Suo and Sakura's backstories are the biggest nuggets of information I feel we're lacking as of this moment in the story, and I simply don't see how either of those could be addressed in a satisfying matter within the confines of the remainder of this arc (which I think, likely, we're heading towards the tail end of?). Honestly, it feels like with the exception of Umemiya, Hiragi, Tsubaki, and Kaji, we have a very surface view of who a lot of the cast is at their core. (This is also excluding anyone that the Bofurin cast has fought. Fights being conversations has opened a lot of doors to understanding antagonists.) This isn't a bad thing, necessarily, as we've only had 146 chapters so far to engage with these characters (of which there are many) and some of them (Sakura and Suo in particular) seem to keep things very close to the chest. It just feels like if things were to end here, we'd have more unanswered questions than answered ones. I would be genuinely shocked if there wasn't some sort of context provided to Sakura's current living situation before the story wraps up, I just can't even begin to wrap my mind around where it goes from here.

Kiryu is also of massive interest to me personally, and additionally I'd like to know more about Sugishita and how he got attached to Umemiya as he is now. I don't necessarily think that either of those backstories are integral to the progression of the narrative, but I do think that they'd both help flesh out our understanding of the world they both (and all) live in, similar to how Tsubaki's in particular did.

I very specifically looked for Kotoha while reading Umemiya's childhood chapters (and holy shit, what chapters they were). While there was one child in the background that I think could pass as Kotoha were it addressed more, I do agree that there's a general lack of her presence there. We effectively know nothing about her at this stage outside of the minimal details provided in early chapters, and that seems odd to me with how integral she was to the beginning of this story really... lifting off? She provides a sort of grounding and context that the Bofurin members are simply incapable of as they're wrapped up in all of the wild shenanigans of the plot, and to leave her so fully skeletal as she is right now feels like a strange choice. So I guess to amend my previous statement, if there's three backstories I expect that we'll get a fuller context for by the actual end of the story, it's Sakura, Suo, and Kotoha.

Sakura's goal for himself was to reach the top (which is, by his original definition, not possible with Umemiya there). The goal established for us by Kotoha's narration in the anime (a slightly different spin, sure, but not strictly irrelevant imo) was that this is how Sakura ultimately becomes the town's hero. Neither of these things have been accomplished yet, though it does feel a bit like we're closer to the anime-only goal than the goal Sakura explicitly stated for himself. I'm honestly not sure how relevant the difference between these two things is, if there is any at all, but it is something I've been pondering for a few days now.

The "opening act" title card felt significant for a number of reasons and I can't quite personally make heads or tails of what the intention was. Simply because it falls on chapter 100, there's part of me that wonders whether or not it was a sort of denotation of milestone within the story. But given that we've seen nothing else like it before or since, I'm not sure I quite buy into it. Alternatively, though, I do agree that the choice of "opening act" is quite significant here. To have this arc considered the opening act (with no subsequent bookend to be seen) leads me to think that there's a lot more incoming for this story and that, just as you said, the first 85-90 chapters were a prologue of sorts. We were learning the ropes, exploring the world, finding an understanding the main players. If anything, this is the call to action in a hero's story. What's coming next is... somehow much, much bigger than this.

Admittedly, it's difficult for me to fathom how subsequent arcs could up the anty on what we're seeing now. In terms of relying on/rounding up allies and reflecting on the concepts laid out for the protagonists by the narrative, this arc feels similar to the Thousand Year Blood War arc of Bleach (on a smaller scale, of course). While I do agree that Sakura doesn't feel fully cemented in himself yet, like he's got a long way to go towards truly believing and understanding that his friends, his senpai, his found family will not waver or fault him for his weight in this journey, the way in which both Endo and Takiishi are directly and personally connected to Bofurin as a whole is hard for me to shake. That said, and to your wording at the very top of your message, this feels like an ending. That doesn't necessarily mean the ending.

Between reading your post and responding with my own, I think I've talked myself into believing that we're moving towards a much broader-scale story and threat than the first hundred or so chapters of the story (or even 146, if we're being honest) indicated. This, combined with the plethora of unanswered questions and hints at characters that we've barely even seen yet (Bofurin kid who "saved" Umemiya, anyone?), and the fact that Sakura doesn't seem to have fully grasped what he's being taught about himself definitely paints a picture of more arcs to come. And honestly, there's a massive chance that we just don't really have the context for where things could go from here. If chapter 100 was just the start of the opening act, then who knows how much narrative there is left to tell.

Thank you so much for your response to my original post, it was an absolute delight to read! Apologies if you didn't make it this far in mine, I didn't realize how much I had to say until I started typing it all out.

Also! If you did a full analysis of Suo, I would definitely read it. Just saying.

so I'm reading the Wind Breaker (Satoru Nii) manga... and uh... I'm in the 120's for chapters and this feels.... like a final fight kinda? Do we know if we're already gearing up for the end?

[mythreeocsofhenrystickmin]

((Dang I just found out that Corruption bunny and I had a oc named Bianca. I should change my oc name Brianna just in case if anyone got mistaken of the name.))

[ask-the-tiny-trio]

((I like actor AUs. They're sweet and make us happy because our favorite characters didn't die :'D))