Disclaimer: I do not own The Owl House or any of its characters. The "Flufftober 2021" prompt list is by Flufftober2021 of Tumblr. I am very addicted to Goldric, but I haven't written anything for it yet. Now's the time to fix that. :)
Who's in Your Head?
(Flufftober 2021 Day 2 – "Sneaking Out Together")
"Psst. Pssst!"
Hunter jerked his head, startling up from the coven documents he needed to approve and swiveling his sight to his bedroom's window.
Edric Blight, in all of his smug glory, leaned against the window frame, very clearly in Hunter's room.
Silence settled in the room.
Hunter's eyes drifted between Edric and the window, studying the situation. "How… How did you get into my room?" he asked. His brow furrowed in concentration.
"That's not important." Edric waved his hand and rolled his eyes, then nodded and jerked a thumb to the window. "Come on. I got something to show you."
The blonde stayed at his desk, still frozen in thought in his chair. He looked to the bird on the surface of the workspace. Even the little cardinal palisman showed confusion at how Edric managed to get in the room without anyone noticing.
"…Seriously, how'd you get into my room?" Hunter asked. One of his hands pressed against the side of his head, digging under the ruffle of hair at the top. "The guard barracks are directly below us. There's a watchtower that makes sure to run at least two extra looks to my chambers at night. Even if you did manage to avoid all of that, there's the fact that you'd have had to grapple or do something to come close to my room, and I would have noticed you."
Edric rolled his eyes. The sides of his mouth curled up, mimicking a Cheshire-like grin. "You're such a nerd…" he drawled, fond affection in his voice.
Both Hunter and the red cardinal looked to each other, and a completely silent and confused conversation played out between them in a range of facial expressions.
The Blight huffed, then dropped the casual pose. "Listen, I wanna break you out from your work for a night to show you something. Come on. I can't hold my breath for so long."
"'Hold your breath?'"
Just as the words left Hunter's mouth, a deafeningly loud gasp echoed from outside the window.
Annoyance flooded the blonde's veins as he got up from his desk chair—the little bird jumping to settle on his shoulder—and stepped over to the window.
Below the windowsill, spinning an illusion from his floating staff and grinning up with a sheepish expression, was Edric Blight.
A few beats of silence settled between them. Muffled sounds rose up from the soldier barracks beneath them, and the light from the castle's watchtower searched the side opposite Hunter's room.
Hunter sighed. "Really?"
Edric shrugged in reply. Hands stopped spinning, and the illusion to Hunter's right puffed out of existence. The illusionist shifted on his staff, patting the green bunny palisman softly. "Seriously, I'm here to sneak you out and take you somewhere fun."
"If I go to this place with you, will you stop bugging me?"
A sly grin lit up Edric's face. "You mean, for tonight?"
The sigh that left Hunter was one that expressed a hint of the total exhaustion he felt.
"Fine," he said, lifting an arm to catch the staff his palisman transformed into. As he hooked his legs over the staff, climbing onto the window, he threw a quick glance behind him. His room was fine, and the soft candlelight would convince anyone that he had just left his room to do something before returning to his work. Even the papers at his desk were mostly completed. "I'm coming. But if I don't like it, I'm leaving."
"Sure, you got it, dorklord."
Hunter fell for a split second, then floated at equal height next to Edric. A glare, less venomous than the ones the blonde had first given him, crossed his face. "If you get me banned from another public building, I'm not going to forgive you."
Edric stuck out his tongue. "No, no fun pranks tonight. But it is equally as fun." He turned his head, craning his neck to check on the watchtower. "Alright, follow me. I don't wanna be here when that spotlight hits your room."
"So… tell me… you having fun?"
Hunter tried to wipe the goofy smile off his face, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. He tilted the Titan-awful party hat on his head, failing to hide the glee on his face. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Uh huh." Edric bumped the bottom of the hat with his index finger, exposing Hunter's flushed face. "Yeah, totally having a terrible time…"
"Shut up."
Edric laughed, and the sound sent flutters through Hunter's heart. The Blight twin leaned against the balcony railing Hunter was sitting on, looking up to the blonde. "What's got you outside? You seem to be liking everything going on."
Hunter waved a hand, carefully avoiding the space where his palisman usually sat (last of what he had seen of his cardinal was the bird twittering happily with Viney's chimera and Edric's bunny). "Oh… it's really nothing. Got a little overwhelmed and hot, so I just came out here for some air."
"You feelin' a little better now?"
Hunter swallowed, lifting up the drink in his other hand. His eyes avoided Edric's. "Yeah… But uh… it is starting to get pretty late… I'll have to head back soon."
"Well, just say the word, and I'll take you back to the castle. No one's going to bother you if you leave early. We all understand."
"It's two in the morning."
Edric shrugged his shoulders in a not-so-innocent way. "Sometimes the party will go until four."
At that, a tired yawn stretched Hunter's face.
The Blight twin laughed as the blonde spluttered. "Guess I said the magic word… Should I take that as a sign that we should get going?"
Hunter nearly tried to deny it, but his free hand lifted to rub at his eyes. "N… Yeah, I think I need to head back. Get in some sleep before tomorrow morning."
"But it is tomorrow morning. Today's morning, if you will."
Edric laughed as Hunter's boot kicked out at him.
They both lifted their hands, and in a moment, their palismen staffs levitated to their hands. Both boys swung their legs over the wood, lifted up from the ground, and turned to the direction of the caste.
Before Hunter could lose his nerve, the boy forced up the words from his chest. "Hey… thank you for convincing me to sneak out." A shy blush colored his cheeks as Edric spun a circle to take Hunter's leftover drink down to the balcony. "I don't get out much, so having a social gathering like this was… really nice."
Edric cocked his head to the side. "Sure, dorklord. Gotta make sure you have some fun every now and again."
Hunter stayed quiet for a moment. "I… wouldn't mind if we hung out more often," he murmured.
"Like, as friends, or as dates?"
Red colored every inch of Hunter's face. "What?! No!" he cried, holding his hands up in mock surrender. His gaze went everywhere but the illusionist in front of him. "I mean… You've been really nice in helping me talk with more people my age, and you always know how to make me happy. Sometimes you can be attractive- Not that we have to date if you don't want to! But uh… oh, Titan…"
A snort left the Blight. "I gotta say, you're really cute when you mess up your words."
Something sparked in Hunter's chest, and he finally looked to Edric. "Hey, don't act so high and mighty! I've seen you fumble through several conversations!"
"We don't talk about those times."
Hunter mimicked Edric's previous smirk. "Uh huh."
"Whatever, dorklord. Let's get you back home."
A touch of sorrow flooded Hunter's chest as Edric began to pull away, lifting up into the night sky. Before the blonde could dwell on anything further, Edric's words called out from the farther distance.
"THAT'S A YES TO HANGING OUT MORE AS POSSIBLE BOYFRIENDS!"
Hunter spent the rest of the ride home with a giant smile on his face, happiness shining in the color of his eyes.
Song Inspo: "Who's in Your Head?" by the Jonas Brothers.
First time writing Goldric, so there's the first-time figuring out stuff. I do plan to write these boys more in the future, and I'll see what I can do to help give them some content. Thank you all so much for reading and supporting! :D