The Owl House (Hunter x Reader)

Chapter 14: Safe?

Hunter refused to let go of Y/n's hand for the duration of the night, wordlessly reaffirming his grip every once in a while.

Y/n, exhausted, was slumped against his shoulder with King on her lap while Eda bustled around the house. "Are you sure we're safe here?" Hunter asked as Hooty and Eda clamped down the steel platings over the windows.

"We'll be fine," Eda responded sternly, walking over and pulling Y/n from the couch. "The best thing all of us can do is get some sleep. We can talk this over more in the morning."

Y/n yawned and nodded tiredly. "You need my help?"

Eda smiled gently and guided her towards the stairs. "You need to get your energy back. It's been a long night, for you especially."

"Okay, Mom," Y/n agreed sleepily, swaying slightly on her feet as Eda helped her to her room. Hunter moved to follow them, only for the Owl Lady to stop him in his tracks. "I'm not done with you yet. Stay here."

She motioned for King to climb into her arms as she took her children upstairs, leaving Hunter sitting uncomfortably by himself.

"HI!" a shrieky voice cut through the silence. Hunter yelped and promptly fell off the couch. 

"It's nice to meet you, new friend!" the bird tube stuck its' face-end-thing closer to Hunter, grinning. He stood up, brushing off his clothing and glaring at the house demon.

"Was that really necessary?" he grumbled, lightly pushing the intruding creature out of his face. "Yes!" the bird exclaimed, shoving past his hand and entwining his tube?body? around his shoulders. "You're not a bad guy anymore! Now you're on our side!"

"I'll be the judge of that," Eda declared suddenly, staring at the teenager suspiciously. "Put him down, Hooty."

Hooty dejectedly unwound himself and slid back towards his place in the walls. Hunter nervously cleared his throat as Eda's golden eyes bore into him. 

"How do I know you're not going to hurt her again?" she asked finally. 

Hunter felt a stab of guilt as he remembered the look of betrayal on Y/n's face as she had slipped into the magic-induced sleep. 

"I don't know what to tell you," he sighed. "I regret what I did. She drives me crazy but I do care about her. A lot. I don't want to see her in anymore pain."

Eda frowned. "It's gonna take more than that to fully trust you, after all you've done to my family. I'll let you stay because my daughter clearly likes you. But I've got my eye on you, understand?" She leaned closer. "If you mess this up I'll feed you to Hooty."

Hunter glanced warily to where the bird had slunk off to. "Can he actually...?"

"Doesn't matter. The warning stands." Eda turned on her heel and motioned for him to follow her. 

Looking back once more at the door, Hunter followed her upstairs and around the hallway. She stopped in front of a doorway and pushed it open. "There's a bathroom across there," she pointed, and waved her finger in a circle. A pile of blankets and pillows appeared on top of the current mattress.

"Try and get some sleep," Eda advised, her voice far softer than it had been earlier. Hunter nodded and moved to enter the room. 

He froze when Eda quietly spoke. "I should thank you, anyway. You did get my daughter back to me."

Hunter cleared his throat and struggled to respond. Both of the two clearly had issues with sentiment. Eventually the Owl Lady took off down the hallway, leaving Hunter to stare around the room. 

The usually comforting presence of his armour sickened him as he remembered the malice in his uncle's words as he toyed with Y/n, enjoying the pain he was inflicting on her. The fact that he had watched, doing nothing, as Belos had shown that cruelty across the Isles, and the 'Golden Guard' had helped him. 

He tore the metal plates from their straps, stockpiling them on the ground. Even when the gold metal had been shoved away behind the collected boxes, he still felt like he was trapped. Looking down at his hands, he gripped into the worn leather of his gloves. 

Ripping them off, he stared down at the crisscrossing black lines where the creases on his palms should be. Where they WOULD be, if he were normal. 

He forced his eyes away from the marks, slowly picking up the gloves and drawing them back over his skin. Just another thing to remind him of Belos that he'd need to keep.

The mattress sunk as he lay back onto it, the pile of blankets collapsing and falling out around him. Life, gloves, magic, everything he had came from his uncle. Without it, who even was he anymore?

A quiet knock sent him jolting up in a panic. For a second he wondered if the bird tube was really here to eat him alive. 

His visibly relaxed when Y/n pushed open the door, holding onto a candle that sent a barely-there halo of light around the room. "Hey," she smiled tiredly, leaning against the doorframe. "Can I come in?"

Hunter nodded, and she moved to sit next to him on the bed. "Aren't you tired?" he asked her, concerned, moving the candle to the ground. She sighed, moving her hair back from her face.

"I was worried about you," she admitted, before resting her head in her hands. "Mom didn't threaten you all that much, did she?"

"No, no, nothing I couldn't handle." he chuckled, shifting and loosely wrapping his arm around her side. She leaned into his shoulder as they both visibly relaxed in eachother's company.

The candle flickered, and Hunter looked down. Y/n's eyes had fluttered closed as she settled into his embrace. He smiled and tried to move as carefully as he could, laying her down amid the sheets.

He went to move a couple of blankets to the floor, with the intent of making himself another little bed beside her. Y/n stirred at his movement and he froze, eventually giving up on his task as she burrowed herself closer.

Letting the tension drain out of his body, he finally let himself drift into darkness as the candle blew out.