The rest of the day at the amusement park was full of more food, rides, and a shopping spree at the end when the teens were leaving. Hunter was able to buy the hair clip discreetly, hiding it away in a coat pocket from Willow before she could notice. The sun was dipping low in the sky as they finally left the park, the six discussing what to do next.
"We could go see a movie!" Gus suggested, swinging his bag of knick-knacks to point at the movie theater nearby, smacking Matt in the process.
"OW! GUS!" Matt went to grab his arm, pulling Gus into a head hold. Hunter snorted, giving a laugh before looking to a nearby clock tower.
"We only have about two or so hours until I need to take this one home, so a movie might not be the best idea." Hunter said as he motioned to Willow, being careful not to whack her with his own bag. He knew it would be way too easy for her to put him in a headlock, and unlike Gus he wouldn't be able to break away.
" We could go hang out at The Owl House until curfew hits?" Luz suggested, Willow, Gus, and Amity all nodded in agreement. Matt and Hunter looked over the others, both uncertain but for different reasons.
"I don't know...I have never been over there before and I have heard some bad stories about it." Matt said, shrugging as he crossed his arms.
"Yeah...also Eda might not be comfortable with me considering...you know." Hunter shrugged, practically feeling his Coven Brand burning under his glove. He felt Matt's eyes on him, the boy still not in the know.
"Well...there is the first time for anything, right?" Luz piped up with a smile. " Eda will not mind either of you, I promise. She had actually been wanting to talk to you, Hunter, if you would allow it. She isn't gonna pressure you or anything, though!" Hunter felt his ears flatten before he looked over to Willow in uncertainty. She gave an encouraging smile up to him, her hand squeezing in his.
"...Alright...I am in." Hunter looked back to Luz, then to Matt. " How about you?" Matt narrowed his eyes slightly, before curiosity got the better of him and he gave a nod. With their destination agreed upon the group mounted their staves and headed in the direction of The Owl House, Hunter feeling particularly nervous. If he was seen entering her home, what would happen? Would he be labelled a traitor? Did he really need to worry about this? The entire coven thinks he is information gathering, after all. Will Eda actually try to attack him?
What felt like too soon the group landed in the dirt yard of The Owl House. Before Hunter could even assess his surroundings a piercing voice shot through the air.
"OOOOOHOOOO! We have Guest! HOOT HOOT!" The house demon grew out his neck, moving to look over everyone before stopping on Matt and Hunter. " I haven't seen your noses around here before! Are these intruders, Luz?"
"They are cool, Hooty. This is Matt and Hunt-" Luz was cut off before she could finish Hunter's name, Hooty gave a loud gasp and proceeded to throw his face into Hunters.
" YOU ARE WILLOW'S BF!" The owl screamed into his face. Hunter felt his ears pinning down as he leaned away from the bird, unsure if he should follow the instinct to punch it, kick it, or summon the Golden Staff to whack it since Lil' Rascal was now resting on Willow's head.
"Hooty!" Luz let out a warning tone, but it didn't help as Hooty circled around Hunter, looking him over while blasting off gibberish questions that Hunter could not understand. The owl worm was starting to contract around him, not even realizing as it, snake like, almost touched Hunter. Big nope! Hunter reacted on instinct, his hand outstretched for The Golden Staff to be summoned to, then teleporting in a flash of red out of Hooty's grasp before the demon could even lick a feather on him. Hunter landed a few feet away, spinning around and aiming at the staff at Hooty, who stopped and stared at him with blank eyes for a few moments before jolting slightly.
"Oh my goodness! I am so sorry! I get ahead of myself way too much sometimes, hoot hoot." The bird retracted its neck until it was back in the door frame. " Names Hooty! And welcome to The Owl House!" The door flew open, Hooty making a grunting 'Ow' noise as he hit his beak against the wall. Hunter lowered his staff, raising his eyebrow before looking to Willow, then to Luz.
" Classic Hooty." Luz shrugged before going to head inside before stopping as she glanced at Matt, whose mouth was agape and finger pointing at Hunter. "Oooh right…"
"T-THAT THE- AND YOU JUST? Y-YOU'RE THE-?" Matt's false starts got him nowhere, but at least brought Hunter's attention onto him. Hunter flicked his ears, looking at his staff before back to Matt.
"...Well, does that explain how I know Scooter Crane?" Hunter shrugged, putting the staff away. " You keep this information close to your chest, Matt. No one, and I mean -no one- outside of this group knows."
"W-wait wait wait? B-but you guys all know- And he is The- And-" Matt's brain was malfunctioning from the shock of it all. The Golden Guard, Leader of the Emperor's Coven, Right-hand man to Belos himself...was dating Willow Park, acting pretty much like an older sibling to Luz, and had a nerd out earlier at the Park when he saw a ride that went upside down, but had no seat belts, and proceeded to explain the physics of how that worked without magic. Gus slowly put his hands on Matt's shoulders to gently lead the boy into the home.
"We can explain later, Matt. Let's just get inside, ok?" Gus said as he finally coaxed Matt into the living room. Hunter felt his ears flick with uncertainty before he felt Willow, once again, wrapping her arms around his. His uncertainty melted away as he looked down at her, it was amazing how much strength she gave him by just her touch alone. He smiled down at her before letting her lead him into the house before stopping her.
"Did you text your Dad?" Hunter asked. He wasn't about to get in trouble if Willow forgot, which she did from what he could tell. Her eyes went wide before she quickly whipped her scroll out and sent off a message to Eun.
"Now I did! Thank you for reminding me." Willow smiled up at him, before dragging him a bit more forcibly into the house.
He was half expecting the moment he stepped in to be trapped in a cage or something, but as he passed the threshold into the house he looked around with a bit of wide eyed wonder. It was a lot less...messy than he thought it would be, but still had a charming clutter to it as the walls were lined with different human items, weapons, and posters. Hunter snorted slightly as he eyed the wanted poster, obviously well taken care of, on the wall.
"You know, one of the weirdest things was after Eda lost her powers was the uproar we got from Bounty Hunters who were trying to get that reward." Hunter mentioned, looking back to Willow. " It was kinda sad to see how convinced they were that they could snatch The Owl Lady."
"HA! The lot of them couldn't get me now!" Hunter jolted slightly, turning to look to Eda who was leaning against an arch way that led deeper into the house. " Nice to see you, Blondie. By the way you are dressed I take it you are here not to arrest us?" Before Hunter could reply a grey-black blur appeared from behind Eda, suddenly Hunter felt claws digging into his chest as King scampered up to the top of his head.
"HA! He couldn't even STOP me!" King raised his fist in the air in triumph, leaving a confused and baffled Hunter standing there. He heard Willow's giggles under the laughter of Eda, Luz, Amity, and Gus, which was the most important to him...though Matt still looked baffled and pale as he sat on the couch, eyes on Hunter.
"Ok, King, you little devil!" Luz scooped the demon off Hunter's head, spinning him in a hug before setting him down on a chair. Hunter went to fix his hair before Willow pulled him in the direction of the couch, joining Matt who was at the end of it still looking like he saw the ghost of Titan himself.
"Are you going to keep staring at me like that the rest of the night?" Hunter asked, giving a small snarl at Matt.
"...You are the Golden Guard?" Matt asked, unable to wrap his head around the truth. " As in...leader of the Emperor's Coven...and you are currently sitting in The Owl House?"
"Might if I ask what you were expecting under the mask?" Hunter leaned back on the couch, not thinking about his actions as he wrapped his arm around Willow's shoulders, pulling her into him slightly. Matt's eyes darted to her, then back to Hunter, then back to Willow.
"W-well…" Matt looked to the table, he really wasn't sure what would lay under The Golden Guard's mask. Half of him honestly thought The Golden Guard was just an abomination made by Belos, but yet here was this roguish teen with scars. He spent the day with him none the wiser that this weird nerd who appeared out of nowhere, swept Willow off her feet, acted like he had always been part of this friend group, and was honestly probably one of the smartest people he had met was The Golden Guard. "I-I mean, you guys are just COOL with this?" Matt looked around the room to everyone else.
"Well...we know Hunter." Amity said with a shrug as she sat on the floor across from the couch. " If he wanted to arrest us or anything, he would have done so already."
"Yeah, his ulterior motives for hanging out with us is really just being allowed to be a teenager." Gus said...a bit on the nose. " And of course wooing Willow." Hunter shot his eyes to glare at the youngest, he knew his face had turned red.
"I mean, he isn't wrong." Eda snorted and let out a laugh, Hunter's glare going to her before he settled back on the couch, becoming aware of his arm wrapped around a giggling Willow.
"Where did Luz go?" Hunter asked, trying to drive the conversation off of him. As if summoning her, she ran back into the room holding what looked to be a small package.
"I found it!" She announced before slamming the package down. The group looked down at the package that read 'Uno' on it.
"Uno?" Gus asked, picking up the package to look it over.
"It's a human card game!" Luz rubbed her hands together. " And this version is the 'dare' version!"
_AN_
Y'all know I sucker for truth or dare stuff! Next chapter will be a fun one! Thank you guys for reading! As always please leave a review, I love you!