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Ever since they were in Belos’s’ mind, whenever Hunter thought about Luz, there was a certain feeling he could not place.
It was not love in the romantic sense, and it wasn’t hate. But at the same time, the label of “friend” didn’t quite fit.
He just wished he had a way to define it.
Hunter was sitting on the couch one day.
Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from behind, that sounded like someone sneaking up on him and laughing.
He turned around to see the danger, and-
Oh Titan.
“Hello, Luz. What great idiocy do you wish to bring to my attention today?”
Luz snickered as she handed him her phone. “It’s just-“ Luz tried to keep herself together. “This photo- it looks exactly like you!”
Hunter looked at the image. It was quite stupid looking, with eye bags and a tooth gap.
“I don’t look like that!” Hunter immediately interjected.
“No offense dude, but you absolutely look like that. It’s a spitting image!”
“Nope, nope, nope, I won’t accept this- this slander!”
“Can’t be slander if it’s the truth.”
“Except it’s not the damn truth!”
“It’s so the truth. Watch me prove it!” Luz said, and tried to take back her phone from Hunter.
“Oh hell no, you’re not getting this until you concede.”
“Then I’ll just have to steal it from you.” Luz said, smugly.
The two wrestled for about a minute and a half until Luz was able to grab the phone. She got up and ran towards the stairs.
“I’ll be right baaack!” Luz said in a singsong-y, teasing intonation before running upstairs.
About 10 minutes later, Luz returned with the image copied on a piece of paper, including Hunter’s hair and scar.
…”Next time you stumble into danger, I’m not helping you.” Hunter said.
“You and I both know that’s a bold-faced lie.” Luz responded.
…”Yeah.” Hunter responded.
“But also, screw you!” Hunter finished.
Hunter was on the couch watching the TV when he heard someone come down from upstairs.
“Good afternoon, mija.” Camila said from the kitchen, where she was doing dishes.
“Hi, máma.” Luz responded.
“…What are you doing?” Camila asked as she noticed Luz moving towards the front door.
“Just gonna go for a walk, maybe get something to eat.” Luz responded.
Camila soon walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
…”Mija, I don’t want you going out anywhere alone. Not that I don’t trust you, but with that pendejo out there, something could happen to you. I just want to make sure you’re safe out there.” the matriarch stated.
Hunter then said: “I can go with her, ma’am. After all, I’m the only one with actual military experience here.”
Camila looked at him with an unsettled expression, and he very quickly and frantically said: “Sorry I spoke out of turn, I was just trying to-“
“It’s OK! You should go, if that’s okay with Luz.” Camila interrupted. Luz soon gave two thumbs up, and then she and Hunter quickly went off.
“You really need to stop flaunting that around like it’s a good thing.” Luz said, as soon as she closed the door.
On the way out, they saw two girls whispering to each other and looking at Hunter.
…”What are those two talking about?”
“Oh. Everyone in town’s crazy over you. They think you look like sort of YA protagonist, I guess. I fail to see it.” Luz responded.
Hunter blushed a little.
…”Why don’t we get something to eat in the town square?” Luz suggested.
Hunter nodded in agreement at the idea.
Soon, they got some snacks, and sat down at a table outside.
Hunter got the feeling he was being watched. His gaze turned towards where he felt the stalker was.
…”Hey. Let’s… try not to focus on that stuff for now, OK?” Luz interrupted.
Hunter wondered what she was talking about before realizing where his gaze was actually headed: the Wittebane Statue. He tried to look away and deal with the feeling inside his head.
However, the feeling became stronger as the two left.
As the two began to head back into the areas of housing, the feeling was still there. Why wouldn’t it go away?
Suddenly, Hunter heard a sound coming from a bush. He then saw a net fly by him, and encase Luz.
“WOAH-“ Luz yelped as she hit the sidewalk with a thud.
“Luz, are you OK-“ Hunter tried to rush towards her before hearing another net being launched and just barely getting out of the way. He then rushed towards the bush and grabbed the person firing the nets.
The person was a man seemingly in their late 20s-early 30s, wearing glasses, a brown sweater with a darker brown buttoned-up shirt underneath, and a pair of dark blue jeans.
“State your name.” Hunter began.
“Jacob Hopkins.” The man replied.
…“Now, “Jacob”, care to explain why you’re tying up teenagers in nets?” Hunter continued.
“That girl is a demon and I can prove it!” Jacob replied.
Hunter calculated how to proceed from here.
“And how exactly do you intend to prove it? Please, go into detail.” Hunter continued. This way, he could gather intelligence before taking whatever necessary action.
“Well, last time this happened, the demon had revealed itself by now. However… she seems to be a lot more hesitant. But not to worry. I have just the thing.” Jacob began.
Jacob then took out a shock collar and began to approach the net which held Luz inside of it. Luz’s eyes began to widen in response.
Suddenly, Jacob found himself companion to a punch in the face.
“Ow! You haven’t even let me prove my case!” Jacob said as he fell onto the floor and dropped the collar.
“Demon or not, you can’t electrocute her!” Hunter responded angrily.
“I’m trying to protect humanity from these monsters! You’d take their side?!” Jacob accused. Hunter then aggressively moved forward, stepped on him, and said: “Y’know, there’s already a lot of people like you. The world doesn’t need one more. Now leave, before things get really bad for you.” Hunter grabbed the collar and stepped on it, breaking it.
“I’m not just gonna leave while she steals your teeth!”
Hunter then pulled out a pocket knife and put it to Jacob’s throat. “Leave. Now.” Hunter demanded.
Jacob then turned around and left. “This isn’t over.”, he proclaimed.
Hunter then turned around and went to the net Luz was trapped in.
“You okay?” he asked as he began to take his pocket knife and use it to cut open the net.
“…Yeah.” Luz said, not sounding the part.
“That doesn’t sound like it. Are you in pain somewhere?”
“Just… hurt my knees on the fall. That’s all.” Luz responded.
Hunter finished cutting a hole large enough for Luz to get out.
“We should probably assess your injuries. Can I see your knees?” Hunter said, with a serious tone.
Luz soon rolled up her pants. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like anything was bleeding, although she did scrape it. But it was nothing she couldn’t deal with, at least by Hunter’s standards.
Hunter then pulled Luz up.
“By the way, who exactly was that guy?” Hunter asked.
“Shoot, I forgot to tell you about him!” Luz facepalmed. “Basically, he’s a nobody. He’s obsessed with witches and demons, and he thinks I’m one of them. He basically wants to… dissect me, I guess?”
“Luz, that doesn’t sound like a nobody.” Hunter responded, concernedly. “It sounds like you have a target on your back.”
“Trust me when I say that he is much more incompetent than he looks.” Luz responded.
Hunter suddenly had a realization.
“Is this the reason Camila didn’t want you to go out on your own?” Hunter said, accusingly.
“…Yeah.” Luz responded solemnly.
Hunter sighed.
“Hunter, I am so, so sorry for not telling you about that. It genuinely didn’t cross my mind until it happened.”
Hunter sighed. “I believe you. But please, never let it happen again. My mission here was supposed to be to keep you safe, and how am I supposed to do that if I don’t even know the source of the danger?” Hunter said, concernedly and firmly.
“I know, I know. I promise it won’t happen again.” Luz responded.
As they began to walk back, Hunter noticed Luz was feeling down. He realized very quickly it was his fault.
“I’m… sorry about what I said back there. I just want to make sure you’re safe.” Hunter said, just hoping to do some damage control.
“Ugh, I know that! It’s just… I’m being stupid. That’s all. So let’s leave it at that, OK?” Luz said, angrily.
Hunter nodded with a tiny bit of fear.
The two eventually walked back to Camila’s house.
Hunter was upstairs with the rest of the squad. Luz and Gus were gaming it out on Smash, and Willow, Vee, and Amity were placing bets.
The TV was blaring, and the people were shouting, and everything was loud, loud, loud-
It’s OK, you’ve done this before, Hunter said to himself.
“GAME!” The TV blared. “HAH! IN YOUR FACE, MR. “I THINK I’M GOOD AT THIS NOW!”” Luz yelled. It hurt, the noise was so loud and it fucking hurt. Hunter wanted to leave.
Hunter decided against it, and then the TV blared again. He soon ran out of the room under cover of the noise, and rushed into the bathroom.
In the middle of the next match, Willow interrupted: “Guys, where’s Hunter?”
Luz and Gus paused the game and looked around.
Luz eventually proclaimed: “I’ll go look for him.”
She then headed off.
She then saw Flapjack flying down the hallway.
“Hey, little guy. Do you know where Hunter is?” Luz asked.
Flapjack then gave a little chirp and began to fly in a certain direction. Luz followed suit.
Hunter was in the bathroom. Even though the yelling stopped, everything was still too loud. The ambient whirring of everything still hurt. Hunter was rocking back and forth, and trying to fight the urge to break down and flap his hands and clap his legs back and forth.
Suddenly, he saw the door open.
“Yo, Hunter, you OK?” He heard Luz ask. Flapjack was on her shoulder. He tried his best not to react, but clearly he failed, as he noticed Luz’s expression shift from concern to… something else. A softer version of the expression she makes before she’s about to annoy the hell out of him for something new. Hunter immediately inferred she was going to mock him for his sad state.
Luz suddenly took out her phone, entered her notes app, made sure her ringer was turned off, and began to type:
is it too loud?
Hunter tried to answer, but… he couldn’t find the words. Ugh, he hated it when his mouth betrayed him like this!
Luz then went back and typed:
can’t talk?
Hunter nodded.
is that yes to both?
Hunter then nodded, against his best interest. He was always taught to be honest, after all.
Luz then typed:
i’ll be right back
She then left Hunter to his fate. She said she would be back, but Hunter knew that was a lie.
However, after a minute, Luz was back with a peculiar-looking object with an arch-shape, two circles at each end of the arch, and two ear-like nubs at the top. Hunter could only infer it was some kind of torture device. He very quickly realized he was rocking back and forth, and stilled himself.
Luz noticed his discomfort, and rushed to type:
it wont hurt you
it’ll help
i promise
She’s lying. She has to be lying. Who would help him, a pathetic failure of a soldier? On the battlefield, such a soldier would be left to die.
He curled up.
Luz then put the device on her own head, and emptied her pockets. She then typed:
see? it doesn’t hurt
and if it does i’ll let you take it off.
She was clearly leaving something out. She had to be.
Do you want to put it on?
Luz texted again. Hunter knew what this was, he knew that if he refused, he would face even greater punishment. So, he nodded.
Hunter grabbed the contraption, inspected it briefly, and moved it hesitantly towards him.
Soon, the contraption was on Hunter’s head and over his ears.
Everything in the room fell quieter. Hunter opened his eyes. The contraption didn’t hurt, but everything still felt a bit too loud.
Luz then typed:
that help? is it not as loud?
Hunter nodded.
Luz then went back to texting and wrote:
good
by the way
when i came back i saw you rocking back and forth
you’re not in trouble
but does moving around a lot help you?
Shit, she saw that?! Okay, Hunter, try not to show weakness. If you do, you’ll only be hurt more. Just answer her. Does it help you…
Hunter thought back to when, sometimes, when things were too loud in the castle, he would go back to his quarters after his duties are finished and pace around and flap his hands and clap his legs together. He often felt a lot more regulated after it.
He nodded in reply.
Luz then texted:
do you feel like you want to do it right now?
Hunter nodded sheepishly.
well
then do what you gotta do
Hunter took this as an opportunity to suppress this urge as much as possible.
Luz looked at him concernedly.
that’s
the exact opposite of what i meant
it’s hard to explain
but the point is
when you have an urge like you do now
you shouldn’t try to suppress it
OK, that’s an obvious trap. There is no way that she’s being honest there. Hunter tensed up and shook his head.
Luz seemed to try to think about something.
Soon, she texted again:
just
follow my lead, ok?
Hunter nodded.
Then, Luz began to flap her hands. Hunter followed suit.
The two intensified their flapping, seemingly in unison.
Hunter began to clap his legs together over and over again on top of flapping his hands. As soon as he realized that, he prepared to stop, but he found Luz was also doing the motion.
The two did this for a few minutes. Hunter didn’t realize it at the time, but Luz was not the one initiating each new intensification or de-intensification, but what was actually happening was that Hunter was the one starting it, and Luz would copy what he was doing, however at a greater degree. This created the illusion that Luz was the one getting Hunter to do these things, which helped Hunter, who seemed to believe it.
Eventually, Hunter began to slow down his stimming, and Luz followed suit. Soon, he stopped.
Everything seemed to finally feel calm.
Luz then took out her phone and typed out:
that help?
Hunter nodded.
…”Can I talk?” Luz said in a soft, quiet whisper.
Hunter nodded.
“Can you?” Luz asked in the same voice.
Hunter tried to say something, but his mouth still betrayed him. He shook his head.
Luz gave him her phone.
Hunter took this and typed:
Do0 yu wanr meee toi uusue tis?,
Tto commcunidtate?
Luz nodded.
Luz began again: “Do you know why… I had you do that?”
No0?.
“Earlier you mentioned that moving around a lot helps you, and… I wanted to get you to do that. After you started, I… actually copied your movements, just to a greater degree.”
Hunter was surprised and confused.
He typed:
Whey ddoid youu want tmee ttot doo thtta?
“Well, you said it yourself, it helps you. And I wanted to help. Also, because… I do it too.”
Hunter let out a small “Hmm?” at that.
“Have you ever seen me… fidget with my fingers, or bounce my leg, or anything of the sort?” Luz asked.
Hunter thought back to all the times he’s seen Luz and realized he does notice a pattern.
He nodded.
“Well, I do that for the same reason you move around like you just did. It helps me.”
Hunter then typed:
It’ms notr rhe same… youe’re just difng smalo thinfs… imm’m atctcijg lije a chilld
“I do it more intensely sometimes too. It’s still for the same purpose. It’s not childish. And even if it was… you’ve been robbed of being a child for too long.” Luz replied.
Willll tehy all djugee m foro thsi? Hunter typed in reply.
“No, no, they won’t. But… if you’re worried about that, then I won’t tell them any of it. It’ll just be our little secret. Got that?”
Hunter nodded.
“Now, next time this happens, here’s what I want you to do: If you need those headphones, you come to me. If you need to leave the room, you leave. And if you feel the urge to move around, don’t try to suppress it. If you do suppress it, that’ll only make things worse. That sound good?” Luz stated.
Hunter simply nodded in reply.
“And even if everyone else says it’s “silly” or “childish”, I promise I will always make sure you have a space to do this. And if you need a little encouragement, I’ll be happy to help.”
Flapjack then chirped:
Girl good! Only want help! OK trust her!
Hunter gave a small smile.
“Now, you good to head back with the others or do you want some time alone?” Luz asked.
Hunter thought to himself. If he goes back with the others, he’s probably gonna hear more of those same loud noises, and he might freak out again. But at the same time, he realized he couldn’t stay here, otherwise he would be intruded upon.
He then typed:
Cna iI ggod ddow nto tehe b aasememtn?,
He then flinched as Luz read it.
“Of course.” Luz replied, and Hunter perked up.
“You wanna head over there now?”
Hunter nodded, and the two got up.
As soon as they got down there, Hunter gave Luz back her phone and tried to give her back his headphones.
Luz took the phone, but said with regard to the headphones: “You can keep those for now. There might still be some background noise. Though I will want them back later.”
Hunter then took them back, and Luz left the room.
Late one night, Hunter couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t tell why, but something bothered him. Maybe it was just one of those nights.
On nights like this, he often liked to head upstairs and patrol. So that’s exactly what he did.
As soon as he did, he heard someone crying in the kitchen as well as a running sink.
He rushed over to see who it was.
It was Luz. Holding a knife in one hand, and a reached out arm in another.
Is she… going to hurt herself?
Hunter rushed over and grabbed Luz’s arms. The human responded by turning around startledly.
“Who’s-“ Luz began, before being cut off.
“It’s just Hunter. Just me. Just Hunter.” Hunter responded. Luz breathed out.
“Now, what are you doing with that knife?” Hunter asked, with a firm voice. Luz appeared to tense up at that, and did not respond verbally.
“Luz. Be honest. Are you trying to hurt yourself?”
Luz nodded, tears running down her spine.
Hunter was shocked. Luz… what? But he stayed composed.
“Give me the knife.” Hunter stated, in an even more firm voice.
“No, I need to-“
“You need to drop the knife. Give it to me, set it down on the table, whatever, but I can’t let you have it. And I’m not going to leave until you do.”
Luz eventually slammed the knife on the table in a fit of anger. “Ugh, fine. Since you seemingly can’t recognize how horrible of a person I am, even though without me none of this would have happened, and- and- and-“
Luz broke down into tears. In response, Hunter extended his arms and pulled her into his shirt.
“Please, just- just let me do this.” Luz said, whilst crying.
“You know I can’t do that.” Hunter said in response.
Hunter then walked him and Luz over to the couch, and let her cry it out.
After several minutes, Luz sniffled, and said: “Hunter, I’m so sorry you had to see that-“
“You don’t need to apologize for anything. I’m thankful that I was able to help.”
The two sat in silence, before Hunter asked:
“What… happened?”
“It’s… it’s silly. Just a bad dream.”
“How bad?”
“Not too bad, just… being back in Belos’s mind. The usual.” Luz responded. Hunter only nodded.
“Ugh, all this is stupid! I shouldn’t be acting like this!” Luz exclaimed. Hunter grabbed her arm.
He struggled to find comforting words until he said:
“Y’know how I freak out a lot? Over… stupid shit? Because it reminds me of… all that. That.. might be what’s happening to you. So yeah, welcome to my life, I guess…. Fuck, I am so bad at this.”
Luz chuckled and said: “Yeah, you’re right, you suck at this.”
The two shared a laugh.
…”Hunter?” Luz began.
“Yeah?”
“What do you think of me? Be honest.”
Hunter perked up. He internally debated on whether to bring Luz comfort or honesty.
He decided on honesty.
“You- it’s… It’s hard to explain. On one hand, you’re annoying. Like, very annoying. And half the time, I want to strangle you.”
Luz seemed down.
“But on the other hand, if anything ever happened to you… I don’t know what I would do. Without you, I probably never would have escaped the Emperor’s Coven. And when it’s just you and I, I feel like I can… afford to be weak. For some reason, you care what I want. And you try to help me.”
Luz then perked back up. “Is that… really what you think?”
“Of course it is. You asked me to be honest, and I’m being honest.”
Luz’s eyes welled up. “Gosh, that’s… I don’t even know what to think of that. But… It’s nice.”
“Do you… want another hug?” Hunter asked.
Luz crashed into his body, and Hunter squeezed her tight.
After the two let go, Luz got up and said: “Well, I’m gonna try to go back to sleep. Have a good night.”
“Yeah, I’m probably gonna do the same.” Hunter replied.
Hunter still found himself unable to sleep. What had just happened ran through his mind.
Hunter then felt two little legs on his shoulder.
Boy worried? Flapjack gave a little chirp.
…”Yeah.”
Why?
“It’s just… Luz tried to hurt herself. I talked her out of it for now, but… I’m scared she’s still gonna try. I know, it sounds silly, because… you always have to get me to not do that. But… I’m still worried.”
Not silly. Is bad. Where she?
“She said she’s gonna try to go back to bed, but… what if she’s trying to… y’know…?”
Hurt self?
Hunter nodded.
How we help?
Hunter thought to himself as to what to do. He then had an idea.
“Make sure she’s in her room. If she leaves the room, follow her. If she does try to hurt herself, try to stop her, like you do to me. And then, get me. Got all that?”
Flapjack gave a little chirp in the affirmative, and flew upstairs.
Hunter let himself calm down. He still wasn’t able to sleep, but at least he knew Luz would be safe.
It had been a little while since everything settled down. Everyone was back on the Boiling Isles, Belos was gone, and The Collector had returned to the stars.
Hunter and Luz were walking around Bonesborough. Because of the concern over ambush by either criminal or loyalist groups, it was decided the two needed supervision (Much to both their chagrin.) Because a lot of the more important people such as Eda, Raine, and Darius were working on planning the rebuilding of the Isles, and because they decided they did not want any more children being thrust into combat roles, Steve was the one who ultimately took on that mantle.
Luz very soon got out her phone and opened her photos app. She snickered and said: “Look at this. I guarantee you’ll laugh. Sorry the recording’s shitty, it’s from the Human Realm.”
Hunter then grabbed her phone and saw what this whole thing was about.
“What, just a stupid video?”
“I guarantee you’ll laugh so hard.”
“I’m not watching it.”
“I’ll give you five snails if you do and hold yourself together.”
…”You’re on.”
It played a video of a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog falling into a pool and then seemingly monologuing to itself:
“Water is such a stupid concept. It contains oxygen but when I try to breathe in it I fucking die. What is this bullshit, who made this?”
Luz looked over to gauge Hunter’s reaction, worried that she’d done something wrong, even though he had been comfortable with this stuff in the past.
Suddenly, Hunter doubled over, wheezing with laughter.
“LU-U-Z, OH MY FUCKING TITAN- TH-THIS IS- ICAN’TFUCKINGBREATHE-“ Hunter yelled out as he was laughing. He grabbed the side of a building as he was having trouble standing. Luz quietly gave a sigh of relief as she watched Hunter laughing.
After a few minutes, Hunter’s laughter slowed.
“Hah! Knew it! Now, I’ll be taking the snails.” Luz replied.
“No fair, you never said anything about you getting snails!” Hunter shot back.
“Dude, that’s literally how bets work.”
“Well, I call bullshit, and I demand not to have to pay.”
…”You don’t wanna pay? I won’t make you… If you beat me at Smash.” Luz had a smug expression on her face.
“I- LUZ, YOU KNOW I ALWAYS LOSE!”
“Oh yeah, what happened to “I only lost that round because I was sleep-deprived”, Hunter?”
“I-“ Hunter sighed. “There is just no winning with you, is there?”
“Nope!”
From behind the two, Steve chuckled.
“What are you laughing at?” Hunter asked him.
“It’s just that the way you two bicker reminds me a lot of how Matt and I used to back in the day.” Steve responded.
…”Oh.” Hunter responded.
…”Wait, “Matt?” Who’s Matt?” Luz asked.
“Steve’s younger brother. Well, half-brother. He’s talked about him at length to many of his colleagues in the Coven.” Hunter responded.
As Hunter went back to the Owl House, Steve’s words couldn’t escape his mind, for some reason he couldn’t understand.
As soon as he got back, he decided to ask him about it.
Luz went into the door, and as Steve was preparing to leave, Hunter said:
“Wait!”
Steve turned around and gave an inquisitive “Hm?”
“I… you said something earlier that… I can’t get off my mind.” Hunter said.
“And what was that?”
“You said… you said that the way Luz and I are bickered reminded me of how you and your little brother do. What… did you mean by that?”
“Pretty much what I said and nothing more. Why’d you wanna know?”
“I… can’t stop thinking about it… for some reason.”
“I take it you don’t exactly know why?”
Hunter nodded.
“You want to take some time to think on it? That usually helps me.”
Hunter nodded and sat in silence for a bit.
Soon, he spoke again:
“I thought… you were sorta implying that… Luz and I were like siblings?”
“Yeah, in hindsight I see why you’d think that.” Steve responded.
“Do you actually think that might be true? Even… a little?” Hunter asked.
Steve shrugged. “Do you?” He asked.
…”I don’t know. It might?”
“Well, you should probably think about that. But I don’t think you’ll know the answer tonight. Besides, I gotta get going.” Steve responded.
Hunter got up and began to head back into the door.
…”Thanks.” He said, as he went back in.
…”Luz?” Hunter said as he opened the door to her room.
Luz looked up at him.
“Are we… like siblings?”
Luz perked up at that.
“I… I don’t know. Why-why are you asking?” She responded, with an emotion Hunter couldn’t quite place.
“Well, it’s just… do you remember when Steve said the way the two of us bickered reminded him of he and his little brother?”
“Mhm.”
“Well… that made me think. About… whether or not we were that.”
“You mean “like that”.”
“Yeah, yeah, just… just a slip of the tongue.” Just wishful thinking.
Luz soon picked up on Hunter’s tone of voice.
“What’s wrong?” She asked.
“Sorry, I’m… it’s nothing.” Hunter replied. He tried to suppress some tears he noticed were building up in his eyes.
“Dude, if you’re on the verge of crying, it’s obviously not nothing. It might help if you tell me. And don’t hold those tears in.”
Hunter sighed.
“It’s just… when you said “you mean “like that””, I just… took that as… a bad thing? I don’t know why, it’s just- I was overestimating.”
Suddenly, Luz came to a realization.
“Do you… think of me that way? As a sibling? Or… want us to be siblings?”
…”Y-yes…” Hunter said, and began to cry fully. Luz gave a testing touch on his shoulder, before fully pulling him in for a hug.
Soon, Hunter’s crying subdued a little, and Luz said:
“Well… about that… I heard Mamá and Eda talking, and… I think I heard Eda bring up a “joint custody” arrangement for you? I don’t know exactly what it means, but I think it means that you would sorta switch on who you’re staying with every so often, so… I guess we would be… sort-of-siblings?”
Hunter perked up.
“Does… that sound good?” Luz asked.
“Y-yeah. Yeah, I think I’d… like that. Hunter replied.