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Huntress takes good care of herself. She is mindful of her studies, exercises her body often, takes her boyfriend on romantical dates and makes sure her family’s name isn’t being dishonored. Her grades are excellent and she is an exemplary student and girlfriend.
She balances her duties as a member of the student council, her school work and going out with Finn as perfectly as possible in order to keep herself and her family name proper.
That’s why she can’t stand her cousin. Hunter who is late to school, who doesn’t take care of his grades, who doesn’t have to work out to keep that stubbornly big body of his.
They had grown apart over the years as they got older, both of them taking interests different from each other. It had gone to the point where Huntress couldn’t understand how he wasn’t ashamed of his behavior, and the kind of image he was putting their family in with his poor performance in school and his seeming disinterest in it all.
Huntress had joined the student council and become a hall monitor, showing how she was nothing like him and how seriously she took school.
One of her duties as hall monitor was to write down the names of the students that got late to school, and this time, he was taking specially long to show up.
The teacher beside her, Kim Kil Whan, looked at his watch and clicked his tongue in annoyance over the students that still haven’t come without any sort of justification.
“I think we’ll have to close up the gate. We’ve waited enough”
Huntress nodded, looking over at the clipboard with the names of every student and preparing to mark down the ones that were late.
“Wait up! Don’t close the gate!”
Huntress and Kim Kil Whan turned to look at the source of the voice. The two missing students were running up to the gates, desperately trying to make it inside. Well, one of them was, Hunter on the other hand was just speed walking, being fast enough to not be left behind by the other student, but also showing no sign of putting any effort into getting in time.
Huntress furrowed her brow, and checked her watch.
The girl, Fionna, got inside the school grounds just in time. Unfortunately, right after that, it was officially too late. Huntress slammed her clipboard on the ground, cutting off Hunter from getting in.
“You’re late”
“O-oh… ok”
Huntress wrote down Hunter as being late while marking Fionna as arriving just in time. She gasped a sigh of relief, while being scolded by Kim Kil Whan for arriving on the verge of being late.
Huntress watched them get inside the school, and handed her clipboard to Kim Kil Whan.
“I should be going to my class to, teacher”
“You’re quite right. Have a good day then Miss Huntress”
Huntress bowed her head slightly and went over to class.
“Woah! I still can’t believe I made it in time!” Fionna cheered, finally being able to take a break from running all the way to school. She cursed her faulty alarm for not working.
“I can’t believe she didn’t let me go without a late mark just for a second” Hunter sighed, following behind Fionna.
“Well, you should have been faster, Hunter. I have my excuse with the alarm, but you just chose to wake up late”
Hunter hummed, not denying Fionna’s accusation, but really not feeling like it was such a big deal. He was late by just a second after all.
Suddenly, Hunter felt the hairs on the back of his head stand up, and he started walking faster to class. Fionna also quickened her pace after seeing Hunter suddenly go faster.
“Hey, what’s the hold up?”
“I can feel her glaring at my back”
Fionna looked back, and saw in fact Huntress going also to class, looking straight at Hunter’s back. For a moment, she looked at Fionna, giving her a small smile and a nod. Fionna waved back at her.
“She seems to just be making her way to class like us”
“She’s so demanding” He sighed, not slowing his pace and getting to class, followed by Fionna and Huntress behind him.
In class, Finn smirked when he saw Fionna.
“Almost late again?” She pouted and sat on her seat.
“Alarm broke, ok?”
And with that, the class finally started.
“I’m sure she hates me”
“Whaaaa-? No way! She’s very nice! She was just doing her job as hall monitor”
Hunter and Fionna were at their usual place to have junk food for lunch after class.
“She isn’t very nice to me. She’s always demanding so much of me…”
“Well, maybe because your grades aren’t that good” Fionna said, pointing at Hunter with one of her fries.
“Well, yours aren’t that much better either. Didn’t your brother one up you and start getting better grades?”
“Aghhh! Don’t remind me about it! He was so smug about it!” She poured her bag of fries into her mouth in frustration. “He’vv vheen ztudying wiz-” She choked on her fires, and took a large sip of water to swallow everything down. “Ahhh! He’s been studying with Huntress lately from what I’ve heard… must be trying to get on her level or something”
“That would make him more ‘ proper ’ boyfriend to her” Hunter made air quotes with his fingers, rolling his eyes.
“Are you going to eat your fries?”
Hunter shook his head, and allowed Fionna to take them, just enjoying his vegetarian burger.
“You should calm down a bit with the fries”
Fionna gave him an annoyed look.
“Not you too, I already have mom pestering me about my body all the time”
“Sorry, sorry” They ate in silence for a while, until Fionna finally broke it.
“We could maybe ask them if we could join them in a study session. When we study on our own we… end up not studying much” She blushed and threw him a smirk while saying the last part.
“Studying with my cousin? I don’t know if she’ll even want to…”
“Come on, we just have to give it a try! Finn improved quite a bit, and it’d help us get some better grades… And you could show her you are interested in getting better”
“I’m still not sure…”
“It’ll be fine!” Fionna waved her hand up and down dismissively, trying to reassure him.
Hunter still wasn’t sure if it’d be a good idea, but decided to give it a try.
“Hey, Huntress! Do you have a moment?” Fionna approached Huntress just as she was leaving school.
“Yes, do you need something, Fionna?” Huntress replied with a friendly smile, before throwing a mean glare to Hunter, behind Fionna.
Hunter was already starting to feel uneasy.
“Well, we were wondering if we could join you in a study session someday… Seeing how much Finn improved after studying with you, we could use some help as well”
Huntress looked at Hunter up and down, eyes cold, judging him.
“You really want to improve your grades?”
Hunter rubbed the back of his head, unable to stop his nervousness when his cousin hardened her eyes at him like that.
“Y-yeah”
“Please, Huntress! We’ll really appreciate it!” Fionna pressed her palms together, trying to appeal to Huntress to help them.
She thought about it for a while, to the point Fionna and Hunter started to sweat a bit.
“Alright. Since you have decided to improve, I’ll help you out”
“Thank you so much, Huntress!” Fionna jumped and hugged Huntress tightly, with one leg bent and in the air.
Huntress returned the hug and gave Hunter a strange look. For a moment, Hunter felt as if Huntress was teasing him for receiving a hug from Fionna like that. A thankful, kind embrace for the help she could provide that he could not.
But before Hunter could gather his thoughts, Fionna pulled back and Huntress’ eyes softened to look at her.
“Come tomorrow to my place after class. I’ll help you study then.” She turned to look at Hunter, giving him again a hard look. “You know where it is, right?”
“Y-yeah, of course I do”
“Good. I have a date to go to with Finn now. Don’t be late tomorrow”
“We won’t! I swear!” Fionna tried reassure her.
“I wasn’t concerned about you”
Huntress then turned around and left the school grounds, where outside the gate, Finn was waiting for her.
“See? It wasn’t so bad!”
“I don’t know, it was pretty hard for me…”
“Don’t sweat it! She said yes! That was the important part!”
“I guess…”
“So they are coming to your place to study?”
“Tomorrow, yes”
Finn and Huntress were sitting together on a bench, with Huntress on top of Finn, and Finn wrapping his arms around her. He laid his chin on top of Huntress’ head carefully, in between her branch antlers. The sweet scent of her leaves filled his nose, and Huntress wrapped her own arms around his.
“Fionna must be pretty fed up that I got better grades than her on the last exam if she’s coming to you”
“Your sister is a good girl, maybe a little impulsive, like yourself.”
“Hey!” Even though Finn complained, there was playfulness in his voice.
“I’m more curious about my cousin”
“Hunter? Why? He’s pretty chill”
“He is too chill. If he’s genuine about wanting to improve his grades, maybe there’s some hope to him after all”
“Geez, you are so harsh with him”
She looked up to meet his eyes, making her antlers move to be on each side of his neck.
“I’m not harsh, I expect of him the same I expect from myself. And he is always lagging behind.”
“You also expect too much of yourself”
Finn lowered his face, careful to not hurt himself or Huntress with her antlers, and gave her a peck on her lips.
“Aaaand, you also enjoy messing with him every now and then, right~?
“Hmm.” Huntress neither confirmed nor denied Finn’s accusation, and just smiled through it. “Will you come to study as well?” She completely avoided the question.
“Maybe not. I feel like Fionna and I wouldn’t concentrate if we were both there”
“I see. Don’t slack off on your studies. Rising grades can lower just as fast if you don’t keep studying”
“Sigh, yes ma’am”
Finn closed his eyes, dejected, but quickly opened his left eye again, giggling a bit and hugging Huntress closer. She smiled softly and leaned against him. His prosthetic arm was cold and lifeless, but the rest of his body was warm, strong and soft. She always felt at ease hanging out with him.
The next day, Fionna and Hunter walked out of school together, as they usually do. But instead of going to the nearest junk food place or just hanging out in the nearby forest, they were on their way to Huntress’ place to study.
“Ugh… now that we have to go I’m getting lazier about it” Fionna groaned.
“Don’t pull yourself back now. Huntress would get really mad if we ditch her now”
“Yeeeeeah, I know… Why can’t studying be more fun!”
Hunter sighed. He should know that just when the moment to go study was going to get close, Fionna would get second thoughts and would try to get out of it.
“Come on, Fionna. If we are late Huntress will get mad”
“Uwaaaaaahh… I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if we are just a tiny bit late? Please Hunter?” She tried putting puppy eyes and begging him not to go right away.
Hunter sighed, and got closer to Fionna, to the point she had to look up at him from how close their bodies were, almost touching.
“E-eh? Hunter what are you- woah! Hey!”
Hunter picked Fionna up and put her on his shoulder, carrying her as if she weighed nothing at all.
“Hunter put me down! This is embarrassing!”
“I’m sorry Fionna but I really don’t want to make make her mad this time”
“Alright! Alright! I get it! Put me down! My skirt! It's going to show!”
Hunter froze and quickly put Fionna down on the ground. They made their way to Huntress’ place in silence, their faces flushed red. Eventually, when they were at the entrance of Huntress’ place, Hunter finally broke the silence.
“Sorry”
“D-don’t sweat it.” Fionna sighed, and looked at him, forcing a smile. “Let’s get this over with, ok?”
Hunter smiled back, softly.
“Yeah”
“You came in time. Good. Please sit down”
Huntress waved at the large table in the living room. There were a few snacks on the table, which made Fionna immediately go sit on an empty chair, to start chewing on them. Hunter sighed, and went to sit beside her.
His cousin put a hand on his chest to stop him, looking at him with those cold and hard eyes of hers.
“You sit on the other side”
“Ah, alright”
Hunter decided to not antagonize and anger her any further and just did as was told, sitting on the other side of the table, in front of Fionna. He looked at the snacks, but one look of his cousin that had sat beside Fionna told him that she’d smack his hand if he took any of them.
Studying with Huntress went surprisingly better than Hunter imagined. Not only did she help Fionna out on Maths, her worst subject, but she also eventually moved away the snacks so she wouldn’t get distracted by them when she realized her focus was diverting.
Huntress even helped Hunter with his own problems, catching him up in subjects he missed from getting late other days or not paying enough attention in class. Hunter realized that she was actually trying to help them out.
When she said that she would help them, Hunter had thought it was some elaborate way to keep glaring and treating him like a disappointment. Instead, she acted like she was invested in actually helping them improve at school.
At some point, Fionna’s stomach complained with a low groan.
“Owww… maybe I took too many snacks… Hey, Huntress, where is the bathroom?”
Huntress raised an eyebrow and pointed to the hall.
“Third room on the right”
“Thanks! Be right back!”
Fionna sprinted towards the bathroom, almost slipping when turning to the right on the hallway, leaving the two cousins alone.
Hunter could feel the tension in the room get thicker as Huntress started glaring at him. She didn’t say anything, but Hunter could feel her cold eyes picking him up, analyzing and judging him.
“Why-” Hunter hesitated for a moment, as Huntress hardened her eyes on his face. “Why are you so hard on me? We used to be closer when we were kids”
Huntress’ eyes moved around, but Hunter could tell the hardness from before was missing. She was looking at him still with an inquisitive gaze, but there wasn’t the harsh judgment he was used to.
“Things were different then. We both have responsibilities. You walked away from them”
“What did I even do wrong!? Suddenly one day you started looking at me like I was nothing! I didn’t understand- I still don’t understand! So why!? Why do you hate me!?”
Hunter was panting when he was done, his chest weaving as he finally let it all out for her.
“Because you gave up”
“What?”
“Everything started seeming easy for you. You never worried about anything. Image, studies, everything came easy to you. You barely work out yet are strong. You barely study yet you are smart. You don’t manage to get into a friend group yet you got yourself a girlfriend that loves you”
Hunter blushed at the last part, looking away from her.
“It seemed that everything I put an effort into you didn’t care, starting to miss school because of some flowers or not caring how your actions made our family look. I just wanted you to put an effort to succeed, because I know you are better when you care”
“Not everything comes as easily to me as you think…” He rubbed his neck. “If I’m honest, I was intimidated by the amount of dedication you always put on everything. I thought that you were already perfect at everything”
“That’s silly. I wasn’t born with straight As”
“I know, I know… I guess I just… was afraid of not matching up to you… Sorry for giving up so easily”
Huntress’ eyes softened, and let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.
“I guess I was also pretty hard on you. Sorry”
“It’s alright, now I understand”
He smiled, and Huntress smiled back. They both felt like they had taken a weight out of their chest, finally their feud being lifted.
At that moment, Fionna came back.
“Wooo. I’m back! What did I miss?”
“Nothing, let’s continue studying” Huntress said, urging Fionna to sit back down.
“Ok, class, here are the results of yesterday’s test. I’m happy to see there’s been some improvement” Queenie said, satisfied, handing the class the papers of their test back.
Fionna was biting her nails in anticipation. The results of this test would show whether her efforts studying hard paid off or not. Queenie handed Fionna her test, and she immediately looked to the grade.
“Yes! B+! In your face, Finn!”
“I also got B+”
“I don’t care! Look Hunter!” Fionna cried tears of joy as she showed her test to him.
Hunter smiled back, looking at his own test, his grades having improved quite a bit as well. He looked at his cousin, who also was looking at him. They gave each other an understanding nod.
Huntress then turned and went towards Finn’s desk.
“You weren’t slacking off, right?”
“Eh? N-no”
“Then we’ll have to study more. We can’t have your grades stagnate now”
“ Sigh , alright”
Hunter couldn’t help but let a soft chuckle out after hearing that. Huntress looked at him funny, and then turned to keep talking to Finn. What did that mean.
“See, Hunter? Asking Huntress for help totally paid off!” Fionna said, as they got out of the school, all classes ended.
“I guess you are right. In the end… I guess she doesn’t really hate me”
“Of course she doesn’t! Let’s go on a date to celebrate!”
“Alright, I guess we deserve that. Uhm?
Hunter saw her cousin right behind when he turned to look at Fionna. She quickened her pace to get to them and grabbed Fionna’s shoulder.
“Oh! Huntress! Thank you fo-” Fionna was cut off when Huntress suddenly sealed her lips against hers without a warning.
Hunter’s mouth dropped, eyes widened, and as soon as Huntress leaned for the kiss, she pulled back, gave Hunter a cold stare and said, “Don’t slack off” and then just left, leaving both Hunter and Fionna speechless, with the later’s face a deep shade of red.
“Wha-what was that?” Fionna gasped.
“I think… she doesn’t hate me, she just likes messing with me”
Huntress smiled, as she went to meet Finn.
“Was that really necessary?” He said with a light blush on his face.
“Don’t be jealous” She smirked, giving him a kiss on his cheek.