BLOODLINES: the owl house

Not Another (Story) About Love

THE FORBIDDEN HOOTLINGO CRACKFIC 🙏🙏🙏
oh and btw ! i've changed this into a toh one-shot book instead of only lumity. but most of the posts will probably be lumity lol-
aaand i posted this A LONG time ago, i'm just moving it back over to this book instead !

—

Duo scowled at the owl that lay before him. His nemesis, the creature that broke his heart, the bird that was quite undefeatable: Hooty, Demon of the Owl House.

Every battle they have fought, Hooty had been victorious. He wasn't expecting this, for the bird-tube to give up so easily. He was resting on the ground, snoring softly. Duo sat next to him, not even caring about the mud getting into his green feathers. "Hooty," he said.

"Hooty, hoot, hoot..." he responded, opening his eyes. "Ah!" He lifted his neck away from the green owl before him. "Duo? Why are you here?"

"Don't you remember? Our fight. I won. I guess you aren't as strong as you used to be," he looked down. He felt strange...

"It has been a while since our last fight!"

Duo looked at Hooty suspiciously. There was no way he had just lost the brawl. He was too strong for that. There must be a reason he had gone down without a struggle. He stood up, careful not to touch Hooty, and crossed his wings. "I better be going, I have students to teach. I'll be back."

"Bye, hoot, hoot!"

As the two departed, Luz emerged from the shadows. She had watched the whole thing.

And she had an idea.

—

"Where are we going, hoot, hoot?" Hooty hooted at Luz.

"You'll see..."

Getting Hooty to follow her was easy. But Duo was another story. He was very wary of Luz. He didn't know this girl. Did she go to school? Was she smart? Once she started speaking in Spanish, though, he knew he could trust her. Luz had explained how she saw their fight and wanted to help their relationship in any way she could. Lucky for her, Duo really wanted that. And so, he accepted Luz's invitation to the fanciest restaurant on The Boiling Isles: The Snuggly Owlet.

As the human entered, she made sure to keep the door open for Hooty. She led him to a table in the back, passing many gruesome-looking demons on the way. Hooty stopped as soon as he saw the bright green figure sitting at the table.

"Duo," Hooty frowned.

"Surprise!" Luz yelled. She always wanted Hooty to have friends other than Eda, King, and herself. Plus, she loved the enemies to friends trope. "I thought you two could have some bonding time. It seems you guys have a mysterious backstory, so..."

Indeed they did. The two rivals used to be close friends, until one fateful day...

Duo was always the one picking the fights, and Hooty never wanted to hurt him, but that's how it ended up being. It all started years ago when Hooty decided to take classes with Duo as his teacher. He learned so much...until he skipped a day. Duo was absolutely furious. Hooty was his favorite student. His abandonment issues kicked in, and he was fueled with anger. And alas, Hooty had to fight his dear teacher once a year, always on the same day. Ever since then, the two had been enemies.

Duo looked away, taken aback by the sight of Hooty. Luz silently made her way away from the pair, leaving them alone with each other (just as she planned!).

Hooty let himself fall into the chair across from the other owl. Duo looked into the beady black eyes and frowned as well. "Hooty..." he began, but stopped. This was weak. Should he really be saying this, after all these years? "I'm sorry." Hooty was shocked, but he let him continue. "I...I have really bad abandonment issues. When you didn't show up for that lesson, I got really mad. Whenever someone doesn't show up, I get mad. But with you...I cared for you, Hooty. I thought you left me."

"Duo..."

He took a breath in, "I loved you, Hooty."

He flushed. Did...did he really just say that?

"Duo..." he leaned forward, "I loved you too."

Their relationship wasn't mended fully, but it was a start. They stopped the fighting. And now Duo loved Hooty even more.

* 679 words (August 28, 2020)