Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt: Hunter x OC

Montage

"Look at this," Lyra said, having turned over a small log and squatted down to inspect the contents hiding beneath. "Look at the legs on that thing!" A brightly-colored insect of sorts crawled along the edge, seeking a return to the dark privacy it had been enjoying. It had more legs than she could count, and they rippled mesmerizingly as it scurried out of sight. Hunter knelt next to her, leaning over to squint at the small worms wriggling in the soil, and he used a small stick to brush away some of the crushed leaves, revealing another one of the bugs, less vibrant than the first but just as graceful as it crawled onto the twig in Hunter's hands. He held it up toward Lyra, who shifted backward with a little giggle, shaking her head as he dropped it with a grin. They rose slowly, brushing themselves off and stretching stiff joints, and she slipped her hand into his, both of them tight-lipped as though the beaming smiles bursting forth needed to be hidden. Continuing along the path, he brushed his thumb along the back of her knuckles, wondering if he would ever tire of the way her cold hands brought such warmth to his chest.

* * *

"Ha! Gotcha!" Lyra announced, slapping her hand of cards onto the table triumphantly.

"No!!" Wrecker yelled, throwing his own across the room. "I needed one more card! You're cheatin!"

"I would never!" she gasped in dramatic affront.

"Mmm, we need to find a different game," Hunter rumbled, folding his own cards back into the deck and giving her a stern look out of the corner of his eye, pressing his lips together to avoid laughing at her wide-eyed response. He was delighted with the way she was gradually unfolding, increasingly comfortable to be animated or relatively bold.

"How about arm wrestling..." Wrecker grumbled, and now it was Lyra who guffawed boisterously before clapping her hand over her mouth at the ungodly sound that had escaped.

"Bring it on," she said, trying to recover and setting her arm up on the table, holding her hand out for Wrecker's, but he just stared from his seat opposite her with delighted confusion.

"I wasn't serious."

"Ah, I thought it might make you feel better," she continued, realizing then how condescending she might be sounding. "Shoot, I'm making it worse, aren't I..."

"Yup. Get out," Wrecker said, eyes sparkling with mischief as he stood up and solemnly pointed toward the front door. Lyra shifted uncomfortably in her seat, truly concerned that she'd crossed a line despite the playfulness in his demeanor.

"This is my house, Wrecker," Hunter interjected, stretching in his seat with a lazy grin.

"Fine," his brother huffed, winking at Lyra with an accusatory finger in her direction. "But I'm watchin you."

She laughed, taking the deck from the middle of the table and beginning to shuffle it. "Well watch this..."

Hunter caught her eye and they shared a smirk against the backdrop of Wrecker's indignant grumbling.

* * *

The fire crackled noisily in the hearth as Lyra approached from the kitchen, a warm mug of tea in each hand, and Hunter's hand brushed hers as he took it from her. She curled up next to him on the couch, tucking her feet to the side and nestling against him, relishing the weight of his arm across her shoulders. He didn't miss the way her eyes lingered on his lips as he blew across the surface of the tea, making the tendrils of steam dance in front of his face before taking a sip. The smell of cinnamon rolls in the oven filled the small cottage with a coziness beyond comparison, and he leaned his cheek against her hair, taking a deep breath of all the scents of this new sort of life he was still struggling to comprehend. She held her own tea in one hand, the other moving to rest tentatively on his knee.