Chapter Text
“Can he stay over, Dad? Please! Pretty please!”
“Well, I don’t know…”
“It would be just like when Willow is over!” Gus tried his hardest to sway his utterly unconvinced father.
Perry Porter, - not as if he needed an introduction as he was prominently featured on the Crystal Ball’s only news channel - was looking the two boys up and down with a quizzical glance.
Hunter was dressed in his best - borrowed clothes from Viney who kept them around just in case Puddles messed up her outfit. And he washed up in the gym showers. So on all accounts, he looked like a normal boy, - if a nervous wreck of one.
If it wasn’t for the huge scar on his face.
He knew it wasn’t normal for normal people to have scars - let alone one so big and noticeable. Hunter thought that it would never bother him. It was common for the scouts, back in the Coven nobody batted an eye.
But Mr. Porter was staring at his scar.
Adults tended to do that more, he noticed. After the animosity between him and Hexside died down the students were more ready to accept him than the teachers. The teachers mostly stared. Mostly at his sorry state, but also at his face - his strange, unnatural eyes, the horrible gash on his face, and the missing chunk of his ear.
He couldn’t even begin to imagine what Mr. Porter might be thinking of him. ‘What strange creature his son had dragged in?’
Flapjack was sitting on his shoulder. He politely chirped when introduced but since then he did his best to appear as fluffy and cute as physically possible.
“Is he a… new friend of yours?” Mr. Porter reluctantly asked.
“We play Flyer Derby together!” Gus continued with sufficient enthusiasm to sell it. Hunter prayed he wouldn't say more.
Mr. Porter doesn’t seem the be buying it anyway.
Now he turned to Hunter.
“So, your name is Hunter, right?” he still seemed reluctant, but at the very least Mr. Porter reached a hand out to him. Hunter didn’t waste a minute to shake it, - good, good, he can do niceties. He tried not to think about how his hand might be shaking.
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh, please no need for that. You can call me Perry, or Mr. Porter if that’s better.”
“Of course, Mr. Porter.”
Hunter was really glad he didn’t let the others talk him into taking off his glow. He can feel his palms sweating already.
“So can he stay?” Gus jumped in again. It seems that he chose persistence as his strategy. Hunter wasn’t going to question it, after all, Gus knew best what worked on his father. And so far they haven’t been outright denied, so things aren’t going that badly. Maybe they can convince him.
“Just for a couple of days, no big deal.”
“No big deal? Gus, you can’t just spring something like this on people!”
Hunter takes back everything. This is going horribly.
Mr. Porter sighed and rubbed the ridge of his nose. “Do your parents know about this? Did they agree?”
“Well, uhm-”
“He doesn’t have any!”
“Gus!” both Hunter and Mr. Porter turned to the youngest in disbelief.
“What?!”
Mr. Porter sputtered, but he didn’t remain stunned for long - much to Hunter’s disappointment. “Your guardian then?” he asked. “Somebody must be looking after you, young man.”
Hunter bit his lip and glanced over at Gus. The younger only shrugged, looks like Gus could only carry the mission so far.
What should he do? Admit everything - hey, by the way, I'm the former Golden Guard. And his guardian? Ah, he is his uncle, the Emperor, you might have heard of him? Don't even worry about it. Yeah, that's not going to work. And he didn’t want to tell the most famous journalist everything about himself. On the other hand, if there was something Hunter learned from his past with Belos was that at this point lying would only make things worse. So, maybe a compromise would suffice.
“I wouldn’t want to return to him, sir,” he said but he didn’t have to confidence to look Mr. Porter in the eyes.
Pathetic. He should have the decency to face the man if he is going to rely on him housing him.
Unbeknownst to Hunter, behind him, Gus was giving his father the biggest pleading demon-puppy eyes he could muster. That, combined with Hunter’s pitiful display, and the fact that Perry’s heart wasn’t made of stone, got the man swayed quickly.
He sighed deeply, raising his hand to rub his temple. “Fine, he can stay.”
“Yes!” Gus jumped in celebration.
“You can go upstairs while I have a little conversation with my son,” Mr. Porter looked at Gus in a way that said he wouldn’t be tolerating an argument on this.
“Aw, man.”
Gus quickly told him where his room was so Hunter, doing as he was told, made his way there. He had a good idea of what Mr. Porter wanted to talk about, - really, it couldn't be many things - he just hoped he wouldn't be too hard on his son.
Hunter felt bad, technically it was his fault. He would have been fine holing up in Hexside, - it might have been easier now that he didn’t need to hide and the staff was preparing the place for the students to hide out there for the Day of Unity. But in his defense, Gus was very persuasive and he didn’t want to disappoint his newly gained friend.
Gus’ room was exactly what his illusion looked like. He didn’t get a good look at it back then, but he found it familiar nonetheless.
It looked unremarkable, just a regular room if not somewhat bigger than his own back at the castle. But then there was the ‘Human Artefact' collection, a prominent centerpiece of the dresser. Now that Hunter looked around, the whole room was filled with bits and bobs that made the whole thing come together as unashamedly Gus’ room. Scattered pieces of clothing, a lost sock, crumpled pieces of paper with scribbled-out writing on them, lovingly tapped-up drawings - most of them featuring giraffes for some reason. Hunter never would have guessed that his new friend had an affinity for the most heinous creature ever known to witch-kind but he wasn’t going to judge.
Outside of observing Hunter stood there like a statue. What was he meant to do? Would it be polite to sit down? But where? On the bed or the chair at the desk? He had a bag filled with - well, not his belongings those were at the castle and he probably won't be seeing any of them again - firstly books he picked up about Grimwalkers, as well as his old uniform that he didn’t know what to do with, as well as his old outfit. And some hex mix but that’s it.
As a compromise, Hunter put his bag down against the foot of the desk. It seemed the most out-of-way place to put it.
Now what?
Gus was still not here. He wondered how badly he was being lectured. Hunter could only hear faint fragments of a conversation.
Flapjack chirped and nuzzled up against his cheek.
‘Don’t be nervous, my boy. Everything is fine.’
“I’m not nervous, just-” he didn’t have an excuse. It was probably easy for Flapjack to know what was going through his head. He didn’t know much about the witch-palismen bond, but if Hunter had to guess being able to tell feelings would be part of it. Or maybe Flapjack was just good at reading him.
‘Everything is fine,’ Flapjack continued to chirp into his ear.
Hunter sighed. “I know. It’s just… I guess I’m just on edge.”
‘Boy being silly. Gus is friend, and so is Emmiline. They can be trusted.’
“Easy for you to say.”
‘Boy will see too.’
Hunter scoffed. “It’s hard to believe that people would open up their homes for a total stranger, just like that.”
‘But Gus isn’t stranger.’
“You know how I meant it.”
Flapjack gave him a look, he could tell that his palisman was pitting him. Wouldn’t be the first time Hunter managed to say something that provoked that reaction. Before he could have elaborated on his point he could hear footsteps coming up the stairs. He quickly shushed Flapjack just in case it was Mr. Porter.
Instead, Gus came barrelling through the door.
He looked oddly happy for somebody who got a talking too.
“How did it go?” Hunter asked wringing his hands together.
Gus waved him off. “It was fine. Dad just told me to tell him next time before I bring my friends home. But to be honest I think he was more surprised that I have more friends than Willow and Luz.”
“Oh… and did he say anything else?”
Gus walked over to his bed and basically plopped himself down. It must be a very soft bed because he bounced slightly.
“He agreed to you staying,” Gus said throwing his hand up. “I worked my charm. And managed to convince him that I would be lonely now that he has to work overtime with the Day of Unity coming up.”
“Wait, you hadn’t told him?”
“About the Day of Unity?” he asked and when Hunter nodded he turned to rub the back of his neck. “I don’t think he would believe me.”
Hunter, bolder now that the owner of the room was present, sat down beside Gus.
“Hey, we still have time,” he said. “Maybe we can convince him not to go.”
“That’s going to be hard, man. My dad reported on everything regarding the Boiling Isles since forever,” Gus sighed. “Even if he wouldn’t be a believer in the whole sham, dedication to his work would make him go anyway.”
That was not a good predicament.
Hunter looked his friend over. He didn’t know what to say to make him feel better, he didn’t know how to talk to him most of the time. Flapjack chirped at him encouragingly.
He hesitated, then Hunter gingerly put a hand on Gus’ shoulder. The younger boy turned to him and Hunter gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
“Maybe we can change his mind.”
Gus brightened. “You think so?”
He nodded. “Stranger things have happened,” he joked. Flapjack chirped along in agreement.
Gus’ smile turned just a bit more genuine. “Thanks, man.”
Yeah, now they just needed to figure out how to do it.