the golden guard/hunter preferences

★ flowers. (ONESHOT)

hello! i've been doing a whole lot of schoolwork recently i'm sorry :')

"the road had many bends
but we knew that all along
i think it made me stronger
but i would rather not betray myself
just to keep your love at any cost"

"with every careless action
you let me slip away
if you just bought me flowers
maybe i would've stayed"

flowers by MARINA

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( solely from Y/N's pov )

hunter's dedication to being the golden guard was admirable. he was completely devoted—always excelling at his job, making sure that he never failed at missions. and on the rare occasions that he did, he made sure to redeem himself. which was unnecessary, but he wanted to do so otherwise.

and then he met me, just another witch at bonesborough who he happened to bump into while looking for books about wild magic. it was an ambiguous situation, really, being involved with a coven official. not just any coven too, the EMPEROR's coven. of course it was nice, but it was just too good to be true.

hunter wasn't one to let his feelings take over. hell, he never even let "himself" take over. it was always follow the emperor, do this for him, hunt them for that, it was never do it for yourself. and you know what that meant, if he couldn't even put himself first, how in the hell was he gonna do it for me?

it's not that i expected the worst from him. i wanted to give him a chance, he was just misunderstood. guess, not even i could understand him.

they say too much love will kill you.
but what about too little?

here i was now, in front of the emperor's castle, standing in front of him. although, i wasn't sure if it was him anymore.

i knew hunter once. he trusted me enough to tell me his name. he checked on me and made sure i was fine. he'd make sure to drop by whenever he had missions at bonesborough. but that all vanished. 

he stopped checking on me. he stopped visiting. and even if i knew he was in bonesborough, it was like he was avoiding me. i never even saw his face anymore because he just kept that armor on. he never had time for me anymore. i understand that he might be busy, but why does he turn away when he spots me in a crowd of busy witches? i've tried talking to him too, like i always do. but he just shuts me off.

i didn't need him to do anything extravagant for me. i just needed him to show me, even in the smallest way, that he cared about me. then maybe, it wouldn't hurt so much.

it pained me to admit it but hunter was gone. the person in front of me was no longer him—it was just the golden guard.

" look y/n, we can't go on with this. i have other things to focus on. " was all he said before walking away from me. i couldn't even tell if he was feeling the same pain, because he kept his golden mask on. the tone in his voice was no help either. but most of all,

he wasn't even sorry.

i expected this. i knew this was bound to happen. but me predicting this doesn't make it any easier to live with. even if i knew it would happen, i wouldn't be able to do anything about it. all i can do is let it hurt.

he made it obvious that he didn't need me—and maybe i didn't need him either.

still there was this little bit of hope in me, that maybe, in a quick change of events—he'd turn around, and realize what he'd done. he would come back to me, and redeem himself as he does with his failed missions, the possibility of him showing me that he still cared.

I could've convinced myself he loved me, that underneath those layers of armor, was a real boy. a boy who was capable of understanding emotion, a boy who knew how to love.

but alas, that was only wishful thinking.
the boy i once knew was nowhere to be found. he's just the golden guard. and he always will be.

—————

when will i ever write fluff? lol