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neoncherryblossom · 7 months

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Hunter, U (coming home)

From this ask game.

Home (noun): the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.

Hunter was six, when he learned a house isn’t always a home.

It could be. So, Hunter simply assumed that his home was the Emperor’s Castle, because even if it wasn’t a house it served as one to him, housed him and gave him a roof over his head whenever he was there.

Hunter hadn’t known the difference was a bit more drastic than that.

(Hunter wasn’t sure he liked learning exactly how different a house and a home really was.)

It became a little game almost, for about a month. Going around to other Scouts, asking them what they thought the difference was between the two terms. It was even more frustrating to learn that home meant a variety of different things, that some Scouts didn’t even consider their previous living conditions ‘home’, almost as if they purposefully separated the two terms, one seemingly softer and more emotionally driven than the other. So Hunter did what he always did back then, and tugged his Uncle’s robes after dinner, watching his Uncle’s tired gaze fall onto his.

“What’s a home?” he asked, bright eyed and curious, his fingers clumsily bundling up the pristine cloak. “And how is it different from a house?”

Uncle almost flinched and his eyes darkened in a way that made Hunter reflectively take a step back, flinching, worrying that he disturbed Uncle somehow. He-he couldn’t have, he couldn’t, he specifically waited until Uncle was done his dinner and he saw his Uncle be the Emperor earlier so why would-

A hand clamped onto his shoulder as his Uncle kneeled, lowering himself until his soft eyes met Hunter’s.

“Of course, there’s a difference between the two silly,” his Uncle said with a kind smile, one that Hunter happily returned. “A house is simple. Just a place one lives. But a home? A home is what you make it.”

“But-but some Scouts said they had a house before here, but not a home. How come?”

“Hunter have you been bothering the other Scouts?” There was a chuckle in Uncle’s voice, a light scold, but it still made Hunter squirm uncomfortably and made him whisper an apology. “Now now, none of that. Some circumstances prevent young witches from being able to call where they live home. And that’s unfortunately just a result of a bad upbringing. I like to think home as more of a who rather than a where.”

And that made Hunter perk up, his brows furrowing in confusion. “H-huh?”

“Like this old castle? It’s just a castle Hunter,” and Belos hugged him close, his cheeks burrowing into his Uncle’s shoulders. “But you? You make it home. I’ll always be home with you.”

And Hunter couldn’t stop his giggle as he wrapped his arms around his Uncle, lightly bouncing on his toes because that made sense! He didn’t think the castle was home, it was too big, too full of faces he wasn’t supposed to talk to, too lonely when his Uncle became the Emperor and too busy to spend time with him. But now? When Uncle was allowed to just be Uncle and all his, when Hunter could be selfish and love him all alone? That was home, that made perfect sense!

“You’re my home too Uncle,” and in a whisper so quiet, one he hoped his Uncle wouldn’t hear- “I’m glad you found me.”

Uncle was quiet after that and quickly shooed him away, lightly tapping his head for being too fidgety, but that was okay. Hunter grabbed his frog plushie and his notebook and crossed out the dictionary’s definition of home- that wasn’t the right one after all!

Home (noun): Uncle.

He hummed, closing the journal and hugging it and his plush to his chest, giggling to the ceiling, hiding the biggest secret in the world. It wasn’t a full sentence he thinks, it didn’t have a subject and predicate, but it was enough. If Uncle was the subject then Hunter would be the predicate, and he would always follow after his Uncle, because he would always go back home.

Hunter liked home. Home was warm and safe and busy, but home was always there.

(It would be years before he thought back to that time, to the inciting incident that linked the word home to Uncle.

Sometimes, when the nights were dark enough, he wishes his Uncle wasn’t home, because maybe that would make it easier to separate them even after he was gone.)

It wasn’t more than a week after the Day of Unity when he snuck out of Camilla’s basement, quickly making his way up to the roof, Flapjack silent but there.

“I’m homeless now,” he admits after ten minutes of silence, before he backtracks. “I’m houseless now.”

‘Why Hunter switch the words?’ Flapjack cautiously asked, hopping on his shoulder and lightly playing with his hair.

“Because-” and he swallowed, leaning deeper into Flapjack’s touch. “Because you’ve been houseless this whole time. You lived with me, but you couldn’t even relax most of the time. But… if I still agree with anything Belos has told me, is that home is…”

And Hunter trailed off, because he’s never once thought of home as anything other than his Uncle before and he realized someone else popped into his mind first popped into his head when he thought of being home for awhile now.

“I’m not homeless,” he breathed, so quiet Flapjack had to lean in closer, because Flapjack cared what he thought and that’s still a new feeling for him, even when Darius- “Because you’re my home.”

(He’s been lying to himself since he got Flapjack. He lied because at some point, home became Flapjack then Uncle and he didn’t want to admit to himself what that meant.

What Uncle would do.)

The flutter of happy excited chirps made him giggle and the feeling of Flapjack burying himself into his shirt made him snort.

“Stop someone will see us!”

‘Home, home, I’m my Hunter’s home~’ Flapjack sang, digging himself deeper as Hunter burst into laughter.

(He learnt what Belos- not Uncle and not Emperor but Belos, the person under all the lies- would do just because Flapjack existed.

Hunter was never his home. In a twisted way, the Demon Realm took whoever Hunter was- was made from from Belos, and all the Grimwalkers were just a cruel imitation of Philip twisting each of them into being someone they’re not; all so he could have the illusion of the home he was looking for.

Hunter will never understand why Belos did any of the things he did. Why he still cares so much about killing all witches, why he’s so desperate to win, but Hunter almost understood Belos’ thought process, almost understood disregarding himself as someone more than what he was, instead of who he was.)

“You know what I’d like Belos?” he grunted and shoved Belos down because Belos wasn’t home, this was, Camilla and Luz and Willow and Gus and all of them. And Flapjack, first and foremost home would always be Flapjack and Belos hurt him so Hunter, not Caleb not Evelyn, Hunter was going to fight back this time.

(It was too late. Because just like Hunter had fought and fought and fought because Flapjack was his best friend, his family, he hadn’t thought that he was also Flapjack’s home. That no matter how weird Flapjack was acting lately, he still loved Hunter and he would fight till his last breath for him too.

And despite being surrounded by his friends, by people who made him feel safe, Hunter still felt alone, because Hunter didn’t have a home, not without him.)

The term, ‘I’m home’ still felt like a betrayal in his thoughts, two years later.

(A betrayal to Flapjack, because he didn’t care enough about Belos anymore to worry about what he would think, in his spot beyond the grave.)

And even if he didn’t write it down anymore, he mimicked a behavior from his childhood, back when he was a little less jaded, back when he was a lot lonelier, and asked all the adult figures in his life what they thought ‘home’ was.

“A place with my family. Both new and old mijo,” Camilla responded, giving him a quick kiss on his forehead.

“A place where you feel safe kiddo. And a few smiling faces to boot and I can’t complain, can I?” Eda answered, her tone nostalgic as she looked to where King and the Collector were playing Uno.

Everyone’s answers were slightly different but all revolved around the same concept.

Safety.

People you care about.

“Somewhere where you feel understood,” Luz leaned into him and he dropped his head onto hers, the two of them sitting on the roof of her home, one of them where they were all stranded, the place he admitted to Flapjack- “That’s what I always wanted anyway.”

Understanding.

His feet took him down a familiar path, and his mind couldn’t help but wander to Darius, because even though home was the people in it for almost everyone, Darius was the one who understood it being a person.

(“For the longest time… Eber was my home Little Prince. When he became Coven Head I…” and Darius trailed off, guilt swirling in his green eyes. “I should have done more to turn him away. I tried, I really did, but a part of me always thinks about how selfish I was. The part of me that kept whispering that maybe if Eberwolf was there, maybe the place would be a little less… suffocating and a bit more like home.”)

Hunter inhaled and exhaled before his hands found their way to the door handle, and the door swung open with ease. He walked in and locked the door behind him, then poked his head into the living room, the sight of Darius reading Cosmic Frontiers on the living room floor (because he was feeling left out of Hunter and Eber’s conversations and was determined to have full context) and Eberwolf on the couch, slowly braiding Darius’ hair, pausing to wave at him, making him smile.

“I’m home!” he declared, his bag slipping from his shoulders and onto the floor, walking over as Darius handed him the book so Hunter could explain all the human terms in it, because the both of them liked listening to Hunter’s rambles and Hunter was sometimes still in awe that he found people who care.

(Because he wasn’t sure why he never notices when people become home until they’re already too intertwined. Because he wasn’t sure why everyone he cares about- friends and family alike- easily slip into it. All Hunter knows is that he’s going to cling as selfishly as he did to it when he was six, because home to him wasn’t a place or a person, but a feeling.

Home was love.

And Flapjack was the one that taught him that, so no matter how hard it sometimes gets without him, Flapjack gave this to him, so Hunter wanted to make sure his first friend’s gift was appreciated, somehow.)

Home (noun): All the pieces that make up everything you love. They are the pieces of himself that others have carved with love, not harshness and scars. Home is everyplace and everyone he holds dear.

Uncle always called Hunter selfish, for wanting so much of his time.

Hunter now embraces that, because even if he was too clingy and loved too much-

He was happy.

And isn’t that what was supposed to matter?

“Hey Eber,” he called the demon as he eventually wrapped up his tangent and plumped next to Darius, his head lying in the older man’s lap. “Can I try braiding Darius’ hair?”

(Because he was home.)

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thebest-medicine · 2 years

Text

Three Times Hunter Got Tickled and One Time He Didn’t

Fandom: The Owl House

Words: 4,414 [read on AO3]

Summary: Hunter slowly opens up to the people in his life who have shown time and again they care for him. Maybe being vulnerable around others isn’t the worst thing in the world. [warning, contains: fluff, tickling, tickle magic]

Characters: Lee!Hunter, Ler!Flapjack, Ler!Luz, Ler!Willow and the rest of the Emerald Entrails (ft. Palisman) briefly Lee!Luz and Ler!Hunter

Asks/Prompts/insp:

A/N: Thank you all for sending me these after I posted about toh ideas. I enjoy all of these ideas and had to write something up, taking a little inspiration from each.

I. Flapjack

It was nice having someone to talk to, someone to care for, someone who seemed to want to be around him through everything he’s been through recently.. someone who wanted to stay with him. It was no secret that Hunter had a soft spot for his Palisman, despite how he lowered his voice to a whisper when he would dote on Flapjack or remind the sweet palisman how much he loved him.

Hunter, content that he was (not truly) alone, read aloud to Flapjack, laying back against the bed they had taken up residence in at the Owl House.

King and Luz had worked out a draft of the sequel to Ruler’s Reach, which Hunter had all but jumped at the chance to read when they mentioned it. They had found the sparkles in his eyes and the way he tried so hard to play it casual so, so endearing.

Hunter sometimes paused when reading if he didn’t quite understand something about it. A reference, a word, an interaction between characters especially, since he didn’t have much personal experience on that front.

Flapjack had been around for some time, it seemed, and had some reassurances and answers at times. Other times, he watched Hunter excitedly try to work it out or research some new vocabulary.

This time, he had stopped in confusion after reading about a character’s knees going weak and them falling into laughter just from their friend grabbing their side unexpectedly. Since when did people react like that to being surprised? Maybe they were…. nervous about some, unspoken chemistry between them? And sudden close contact brought all the butterflies in their stomach out in a burst of laughter? He felt a pang of familiarity when he started thinking about it for a second too long.

Flapjack noticed he had gone quiet and tweeted curiously at him.

“Hmm? Oh I was just… that seems weird. Why would touching someone make them laugh..?” Hunter wondered aloud to Flapjack, who chirped cheerily in reply.

“Really?” Hunter gave him a skeptical look.

Flapjack flew up a few inches above him, tittering louder.

“What? Ok…” Hunter set the manuscript to the side and watched Flapjack curiously.

Flapjack chirped approvingly and landed on Hunter’s chest. He sang a few more directions only Hunter could seem to understand.

“Huh? Why would I-“

Flapjack chirped impatiently.

“Fine, I promis-“ He cut himself off with a hum in his throat as Flapjack perched up on his collar bone and leaned down, nuzzling against his neck and under his chin.

“W-hehe- what are you doing?” Hunter finally opened his mouth to question Flapjack only to open the dam as giggles began to sputter out.

Flapjack moved lower to the side of his neck and brushed against a spot just below his ear. Hunter squealed quietly. “Hehey- this feeheheels hehe weird ahaha- oh Ti-hihihihihiton!”

Flapjack chirruped excitedly, and with a burst of energy to match, wiggled further into the crook of Hunter’s neck.

“Hey! Flahahahapja- Aha- okahahay, okay! I gehehehet it I get it!” Hunter chuckled out exasperatedly. “Ahaha-And I don’t think I hahaha- can keep my promiseehehehee to not push you away much longer!”

Hunter’s hands wrung into the blankets as he tried to stop himself from stopping Flapjack and fought the urge to hide his face.

Flapjack tweeted approvingly with a final brush up against Hunter’s chin.

“We gotta keep that a secret…” Hunter sighed tiredly as he reached a finger up for Flapjack to perch upon. “Promise?”

Flapjack fluttered and chirped disapprovingly.

Hunter’s eyes widened. “Wait- what do you mean no???”

II. The Emerald Entrails

Hunter sped across the field, feeling the wind flow through his hair as he gripped his staff tighter. As Skara drove a player from the other team into his trajectory, he and Flapjack shot disappeared in a flash just before colliding with the player. Hunter reappeared in a flash of gold on his staff, flipped upside down as he passed over the startled witch, reaching out swiftly to grab their orange flag.

Just as he flipped back up, letting out a cheer as he readied himself to speed toward the goal spikes, he heard Gus cry out to him.

Hunter’s breath rushed out in a huff as he felt the impact of another witch slamming into him from the side. How had he missed them? Gus sped toward them, and Hunter tossed the flag he’d captured to his teammate just as the other witch wrestled his own flag off his staff. Hunter felt a pang of shame having been the first on their team to lose his flag. He made his way to the sidelines with a frown on his face.

The game continued with a rush as though nothing had happened. Willow took out another witch’s flag as Skara and Viney seemed to herd the other team around the court. Hunter felt himself flush as he thought about their opponents not even being that strong. How had they gotten the better of him?

Hunter continued frowning as he watched the game, his thoughts racing and focusing in on what he could have done better, and… hoping there would be a next time. What if they didn’t want someone like him on their team? What if they found someone better? Gus and Viney lost their flags simultaneously and joined him on the sidelines, pulling him a bit from his thoughts. They stood nearby chatting about their plays as Viney healed a few bruises of Gus’s. Hunter watched Willow and Skara work together seamlessly, truly impressive witches, to snag and place the last 3 opposing team members’ flags. They did it basically all without him. Hunter sighed, then jumped with a start as Viney tapped his shoulder.

“Well? Anything?” Viney asked again.

“Huh?” Hunter blinked at her.

“Did you hear anything I said?” Viney let out a laugh. “Are you good? Need anything healed?”

Hunter turned to face her. “No, yes, I’m fine. I mean- I was out so early I didn’t have time to get hurt anyway.” He stated quietly, turning back to the field and frowning.

Viney gave Gus a look.

Willow and Skara landed as Gus and Viney rushed them with a large bucket of Ghoul-Aid. “Another Entrails Victory!” Willow declared. Hunter didn’t immediately run to greet them, falling a pace behind the other two.

Willow took one look at him and shouted, “HUNTER! Get in here!” He felt a firm vine push him into the group for a hug. He tumbled forward without much protest into the other members of his team. They embraced him. He felt his face and ears warming up, and something… lighten inside of him as he let himself be hugged. He almost smiled.

“We did great!” Skara smiled, giving everyone an extra squeeze before letting go with a laugh.

“Yeah..” Hunter quietly agreed. He still felt instinctively like he let everyone down, despite their reassurances since they started playing together.

He turned away from the group as Flapjack transformed back and chirped at him, landing briefly on his shoulder. “Wh- Nothing!” He argued softly with the little bird as he walked away from the group.

More punctuated chirps.

“Seriously! I’m fine.”

Flapjack tilted his head with an inquisitive titter.

Hunter made his way to the sidelines and started collecting the few things he had brought with him.

Flapjack fluttered off his shoulder and hovered in front of his face, making him pause and stand up straight. “Oh come on!”

Hunter leaned in close with a sigh. “Okay. Fine! They don’t need me. Didn’t you see? They do fine without me.” He whispered.

Flapjack chirped at him once, then landed back on his shoulder as Hunter started to step around him. Flapjack nuzzled his little cheek and beak against Hunter’s neck, just behind his ear. Hunter’s face started to heat up again with a blush. “He-hey!” He scrunched his shoulder up a bit.

Flapjack move to his other shoulder, doing the same. Hunter let out a small laugh which seemed to draw the suddenly quiet group’s attention to him.

“Hunter? Where are you going?” Gus turned to ask him. “And what’s so funny?”

“Trying to ditch us already?” Willow teased, waving him back over.

“No… I.. I was just going to…. go hom…e….” He said weakly, kicking the toe of his shoe into the dirt.

“What? Why? We haven’t even celebrated yet!” Willow moved toward him. “Stay for a bit, please?” “

Hunter stopped in his tracks, bowing his head. “You guys played amazing.. I know I wasn’t… helpful today and I apologize, Captain.” He looked down at the dirt beneath Willow’s shoes.

“What are you talking about?” Willow gaped. “You are a-ma-zing at flyer derby.”

“Everybody gets got at some point in the game! That’s why we are a ~team~!” Skara emphasized.

“But I let everyone down today…”

A now familiar feeling of a large vine shoved against him, and Hunter was quickly swept back over to the group.

“You. Did. Not.” Willow and the rest of the team insisted as they embraced him. “Let. Anyone. Down.”

“Accept our love!” Gus cried out as an order as the whole team squeezed him tight. Everyone’s palisman started to join in too, crowding around the only open space which happened to be… Hunter’s hair and neck. Hunter felt warm and not just in his cheeks from the kindness they showed him. But, he wasn’t one to forgive himself easily. He resisted a bit, fighting to keep his frown. His mouth opened to stutter out some kind of excuse for why he was undeserving of their love and appreciation.

But that thought was suddenly interrupted when Flapjack started nuzzling into his neck again. Hunter made a small noise in his throat, his frown fully faltering. He started to flinch and squirm subtly in everyone’s grip.

Willow looked up and grinned, “Aww Flapjack’s trying to get him to smile!” The edge of her lips turned up in a smirk when she made eye contact with Hunter and saw him fighting down giggles. She knew that look anywhere.

Soon the other palisman took a cue from Flapjack and started nuzzling into Hunter’s neck. His teammates still had him trapped in a bear hug from all sides, and these palisman were really starting to, well, tickle. Hunter squirmed a little more noticeably as he chuckled out a half-hearted. “Let me gooo.”

“Not until you really smile!”

“And stop apologizing!”

“And acknowledge your skills are sick!”

“And accept that we all love having you on this team!”

Everyone yelled back at him cheerily in response. Hunter would have continued to protest but he was too busy trying his hardest not to laugh from these pesky palismen.

Willow gave Hunter a look as a strangled squeal crawled its way out of his throat. “I think they might have the right idea…” She grinned as she caught his eye.

“W-Wait.” Hunter felt the grin that had been fighting for its place on his mouth take the upper hand as he saw a dark smirk spread on Willow’s face. She wormed her hands around within their hug, a large tangle of arms. Hunter’s arms were somewhat pinned to his sides due to the sudden embrace of his teammates. Willow reached his stomach and ran an experimental couple of fingers against the uniform shirt.

Hunter’s smile curled as he fought the urge to laugh, imagining it would only serve to make this situation worse for him. His face flushed a deeper red and his ears to match.

“Aww.. our favorite teammate has some ticklish entrails!” Willow chuckled as she wiggled her fingers in a claw against his middle.

Hunter sputtered, wiggling himself to escape the hug just as he started to laugh out loud. Figuring there was no way around and up was full of tickly palisman, Hunter decided to go down, and fell to the ground as Viney, Gus, Skara, and the Captain smiled down at him like hungry sea monsters who just caught a ship. Hunter squeaked as they laughed and launched at him, piling onto Hunter haphazardly and poking and tweaking at his sides, stomach, and knees. Gus got a hand up by his neck like he had seen the palisman try earlier and was rewarded with a scrunch and a high pitched giggle.

“Hahahah noooo hahaha guys!” Hunter whined, though he was definitely feeling better now than he had been a few minutes ago.

Willow squeezed up both of his sides before slowing to a stop, instructing the others to pause their fingers as well.

“So Hunter. I really want to let you up here.” She started.

“Ok. Great.” He replied, panting.

“But-“

“But…” He swallowed, eyes darting to each of his teammates.

“You need to STOP being so hard on yourself. We seriously love having you on this team. You are amazing.”

Hunter broke eye contact as she spoke.

“I wanna hear it.” Willow insisted as she and Skara and Viney kept him pushed to the ground.

“Hear- what? No!” Hunter protested.

“I wanna hear you agree that you’re amazing..” Willow sing-songed. “Or we’re gonna have to tickle you some more until you do!” She grinned wolfishly.

Hunter let out a small squeak, face turning somehow even more red as his team held him on the ground smiling and teasing. “N-no wayahahaha hey!”

Skara and Viney each squeezed his above his knees while Willow poked into his stomach. Hunter’s hands flailed about as he let out a laugh without much of a fight. Gus and Flapjack along with the other palismen brushed against his ears and neck and collar bones, making him cackle.

“Okay- okayhaahahahy ahh- I get it hehehe!” Hunter pleaded with them between squeals and swells of laughter. Hunter was fully smiling now, his self-deprecating mood be damned.

There was something about the way that his teammates cared enough to reassure him. The way they were determined to see him smile. The way they all were so open with kindness. The way that they were certainly killing him right now- but were also being deliberately gentle with him.

Hunter squeezed his eyes shut as laughter started to pour out more freely. He was dying but he was also enjoying the strange and fun yet unbearable closeness amongst his team.. his… friends. He thought perhaps he would have been flushed just from these thoughts alone. But he didn’t have to worry about that, because the wiggling fingers attacking various spots kept him red and thoroughly too distracted to think about much.

“I wanna hear it…” Willow reminded him.

Hunter gasped at a spot Willow found on his lower ribs. “Okay- ALRIGHT!” He cried out. She stopped but kept her hand in place. The rest slowed down a bit but kept poking and squeezing intermittently at his knees and neck. “I’m ahahahahaha I’m an amazing flyer derby plahahahahayer!” Hunter giggled out.

“And?”

“And whahahahaat?” Hunter whined, looking up at her.

“And person!” She tweaked the spot on his ribs again. Hunter threw his head back with a squeal.

“Wh- Why???????” He whined louder.

Willow reached her other hand across his abdomen and began to tweak his lower ribs on both sides, making Hunter jump under her touch. “Why? Why what?” Willow responded. “Why are you an amazing person? Why do you have to say it? Why are you so ticklish?”

Hunter let out a noise of protest as she teased.

“Well, the first one, I can think of plenty of reasons!” Willow continued.

“We should make a list!” Gus smiled.

“Nooooooo..” Hunter whined through giggles, fighting the urge to cover his face.

“Excellent flyer!” Willow began.

“You’ve got the moves dude!” Skara agreed.

“Sweetest relationship ever with Flapjack!” Viney added.

“Guhuhuhhuuys!”

“Ok we can go into detail about how great you are later, speaking of, that brings us to number two! You have to say it because it’s THE TRUTH!” Willow worked her fingers up toward his underarms and upper ribs, making his laughter heighten in pitch.

“As for the last one, why are you so ticklish, I’m not sure we can ever know the answer!” Gus quipped with a smile.

Willow leaned in closer to Hunter, catching his eyes. “Well, we can at least find out the How and the Where, maybe not the why!”

“I wonder if you could figure out where someone’s ticklish with healing magic?” Viney pondered aloud.

Hunter was pretty sure all the blood in his body was pounding in his head, making him blush from his neck to his ears. He couldn’t take this much longer. Still, they did seem to be gentler with him than he had seen others be. No one was tickling too hard or too fast. He was fully embarrassed and full of laughter but he could breathe. He was just also dying. He would have to…. Say nice things about himself.

He laughed endearingly as he fought weakly against Willow and the others, not doing much to stop any of the tickling attack. His arms fought between clamping down, covering his face, struggling to push away hands on his middle, and swatting at the ticklers attacking his neck and ears. Both were futile. “Ahhahah I’m ahah I’m amazing I’m amazing! Hahahaa please!” He finally yelled through his laughter.

The feeling stopped all at once. “And don’t you forget it.” Willow said with a wink as she helped him to his feet.

Skara punched his shoulder playfully as he got up. “Good game. Can’t wait til the next one!”

“Need any healing after that?” Viney asked with a chuckle and a wide grin.

Hunter chuckled. “No. I’m good.” He looked up only to see Willow giving him a look. “I mean! I mean I’m amazing!” He blurted out.

They all laughed after a beat.

III. Luz (& Magic)

“No way! Get that away from me!” Gus cried out with a lightness in his voice as he rounded the corner into the living room. Hunter looked up at him with alarm.

“Come onnnnn! Help me figure out how it works!” Luz’s voice called back from behind. She appeared a few seconds later, booking it after Gus. They both had smiles on their faces. Hunter tried to assess what was going on when Gus darted behind him.

“No way! I saw what you- what you did to Amity! And Willow!” Gus shrank himself behind Hunter, who instinctively put his arms out to guard Gus from their friend.

“What? What happened?” Hunter gave Luz a strange look. “What is going on?”

“She’s going to torture meeeeee!” Gus whined. He had a smile in his voice though.

“What?” Hunter scrunched his eyebrows at the human. She seemed to have been looking for an opening, a paper in her hand which Hunter assumed contained a glyph combination, like he had seen her use before. “Ok seriously what is going on? Are you ok? Is Willow ok?” Hunter didn’t know what to make of them.

“I just found a new… interesting glyph combo… and I’m trying to test it out!” Luz explained as she reached out a few times for Gus unsuccessfully. She growled, playfully frustrated.

“Wait..” Luz stopped, looking up after Hunter blocked her attempt to grab Gus again. “Maybe you can help me instead!” She got a huge grin on her face.

Gus started to back away from Hunter, laughing nervously as he looked for the next place he could run to or hide.

“I don’t think I want to do.. whatever is making Gus sprint away from you..” Hunter glared at her.

“It’ll be really quick though! I promise! Nothing bad will happen!” Luz smiled, putting on her best honest look.

Gus laughed. “Depends on what you call bad!”

“Are you ticklish, Hunter?”

“What?” Hunter almost squeaked. Luz gave him a look that made him feel like he should definitely answer no.

Luz didn’t wait any longer for their protests before she reached out to slap a glyph onto Hunter’s chest. He looked down at it and her hand as she tapped it. He flinched at the touch.

And then suddenly it was… a feeling. “What did? What did you do?” Hunter felt his skin start to buzz, tingle, like Luz’s hand was still there, but also in 20 other places, lightly moving like Flapjack’s feathers. But there wasn’t a hand there. He gasped. Hunter’s mouth curled up at the sides as he took a few steps backward, falling into Gus.

“It’s a new combo I learned- by accident.. I just don’t know if it..makes someone feel ticklish? Or just tickles them? Or just makes them laugh?” She pondered. “Gus, Willow, and Amity agreed to help me out with some research but then Gus chickened out when the other two started laughing! I’d love to hear your notes though!” She pulled out of a pen and paper and beamed at Hunter.

Gus giggled as he caught Hunter, who was twitching and had his mouth squeezed shut.

“Well it’s-“ Hunter gritted his teeth. “It’s working- haha- ohohohoh no- Titan- how do you stahahhop it?” He dissolved into giggles as the feeling spread and got worse.

This was one of the first times Luz had seen a genuine smile or heard a real laugh from him. She was kind of glad Gus found her a new test subject.

“I’m- not sure how long it would last, but you can also stop it like this.” Luz reached down to the paper still adhering to his chest and pulled it off. Stopping the sensation from spreading further down to his legs or up to his neck…

“That was… terrible.” Hunter laughed. “Never do- wait.. actually.” He reached for the hand Luz extended to help him fully to his feet. “You know what, it was super interesting, Human. In fact, I think you should try it for yourself.” As she was helping him and Gus up, Hunter reached into her pocket and grabbed a handful of her new pre-drawn glyphs.

“How many of these did you make?” Hunter teased. “Do you think they amplify the effects if you use more than one?”

“Um… I don’t know!” Luz stuttered with a nervous smile, eyes wide and bouncing between Hunter and Gus. She bolted backward down the hallway, only to be chased this time by the two witches and their laughter.

IV. Hunter (& Magic)

Willow emerged with a pink face from Luz’s room, followed by Amity, as they finally managed to remove the tickling glyph from each other. For some reason they could not seem to get it off themselves… They heard a squeal of laughter down the hall and went to go help Gus if Luz had captured him too, only to realize the laughter was coming from Luz herself.

Gus and Hunter high-fived with matching grins as they finished slapping a glyph onto Luz’s back, stomach, and finally a third just above her ankle. Luz contorted and wriggled on the ground with silly, full body laughter.

“That’s what you get!” Gus jeered at her and then smiled,

“Shuuthuhuhut up I dihihihidn’t even gehehet you! Juhuhust Hunter!” Luz managed to correct him between cackles.

Willow let out a laugh at the sight, walking up behind the boys. “Well.” She panted, still giddy from the tickling glyphs she and Amity had just escaped after being left to giggle indefinitely by Luz. “Looks like you guys took care of revenge for us.” She scooted between Hunter and Gus, watched on fondly as Luz snorted and curled and tried desperately to peel off the pesky glyphs.

“Hehehehehehehelp me!” Luz cried, looking to Amity who had yet to condemn her to this life of giggles. “Sweeheheheheheet potato! Dohohohon’t let them dohoho this!” She curled up like an armadillo only to end up flailing about as different spots started tingling, her feet, her neck, her sides, as the glyph magic spread.

“Aww…” Amity gave her a sympathetic look. “I‘ll help.” She paused, a slight grin gracing her still pink face. “Soon...”

Luz wailed in betrayal as she continued kicking and swatting at the not fully there tickling.

“So, Luz, is it worse with more than one? Like you hypothesized?” Gus cooed at her.

“OF COHOHOHOOURSE IT IS!” Luz cackled. “Pleasahhsshheehehehe have merceehehey!”

“Alright, alright.” Amity and Gus both reached down to remove the glyphs, leaving Luz a giggly puddle on the floor.

“So… she got you with the tickle glyphs too, hmm?” Willow wiggled her eyebrow at Hunter.

“Oh-” Hunter turned red. “Uh, yeah.” He felt a tinge of embarrassment bubbling in his middle. He hoped his ears wouldn’t turn red too. “She was, well, trying to get Gus, but-“

“Aw- did you save him?!” Willow pulled him into a quick hug. “How sweet.”

Hunter gave a half-smile, still rebooting for a second when she let him go. “Um- yeah- sure, I guess.” His ears were definitely red.

Gus startled Hunter when he grasped onto his shoulder from the other side, dramatically reciting, “My hero!”

“You know what, we should see if we could use something like that as a secret weapon for flyer derby!” Willow said a little too evilly for Hunter’s liking.

“Maybe we... don’t bring those things to practice with everyone.” Hunter laughed nervously, knowing he was still a bit pink.

“Aww don’t worry! We’ll be so nice to our hero!” Gus and Willow continued to tease while reassuring him.

They whisked Hunter away from the other two girls without any protest from him. Amity knelt down beside Luz, who wiggled closer and leaned her head back in her lap, still giggling lightly.

“That was prehehetty bad, omg,” Luz giggled as she stared up at her girlfriend with puppy dog eyes. She broke eye contact for a moment. “Sorry I left you and Willow like that to chase after Gus…”

“Well, I would’ve liked to have gotten a little payback, but I think Hunter and Gus took care of that for now.” Amity told her softly. She walked two fingers cheekily up Luz’s arm toward her face and tapped a finger on her nose. “Although at some point, I think I should help you figure out whether there’s a difference between your new trick and the real thing…”

Luz gaped at her, a nervous protest forming on her lips.

“Don’t worry.” Amity pressed a kiss to her temple. “Not today.”

Luz giggled. “Okay.” And she let herself melt into Amity’s touch, content to rest right there in the middle of the floor.

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