Of Nuggets, Nocedas and Nighttime Conversations:

One month has passed since the fateful day Luz and her friends came to earth…

...

It was another quiet night at the Noceda house. The two boys both lay in the basement, staring up at the ceiling. Unsure if his buddy was asleep yet or not, Hunter lay in silence, trying to will his racing, anxious thoughts to slow down. Unsettling thoughts of Belos. Goopy monsters. Murderous star children. But especially…Caleb.

Who was he, really? And who was Hunter? As it turns out, he was neither witch nor human. He was a Grimwalker…so, somewhere in between?? That vision he'd had in the bathroom mirror earlier that morning had really done a number on him. He still couldn't stand without shaking, and Caleb's pained, betrayed face kept flashing into his mind.

"So." Gus's voice broke the silence. "You cut your hair?"

"Uh…yeah. Well, I didn't cut it this nicely. That was…the captain's doing."

"You serious?" Gus turned onto his side to face Hunter. "I didn't know Willow could do haircuts like that."

"Neither…did I…"

Hunter pondered in silence some more, thankful his head was suddenly filled with much more wholesome thoughts. The captain. Willow. Her cute pigtails. Her glowing smile. The way she skidded around the flyer derby field on Clover, mud and green stripes on her face accentuating her sporty Emerald Entrails uniform…

"Hunter? Hunter, did you hear me?"

"What?" He snapped out of his daydream.

"I asked you how long it took her. To cut your hair."

"Oh. Uh, I dunno. Twenty minutes?"

Gus nodded. "Well, hey. It's a good look for you."

"Thanks." He said, still thinking of Willow.

Gus pursed his lips. "Okay, enough about hair. What do you think about Willow in general?"

Hunter felt his face darken with blush. "W-what do you mean? The captain? She's…nice, I guess. Funny. Strong…"

"…Anything else?" Gus smirked.

"What? What do you want me to say? She's energetic, agile, positive…and pretty, I guess." Hunter offhandedly added, cheeks the same color as his unnaturally pink eyes. "That's what you meant, wasn't it?"

"I wasn't thinking anything like that!" Gus gasped a very obvious fake gasp. Hunter rolled his eyes.

"…I can totally tell, dude. Just so you know."

"Huh?"

"That you like Willow! It's written all over your face."

"Huh? Oh, right, Willow! I…well, I…"

"Come on, man, you just admitted she was pretty." Gus egged him on.

"Well, yeah, of course she's pretty. She's more than that, though, of course. She's skilled, smart, amazing with plant magic. The only witch I've seen with more proficiency in the subject was Miss Snapdragon."

"No kidding." Gus whistled. "Anything else you want to disclose?"

"Well…her eyes are… cool. They're like, the same color as a human realm tree. It's exotic looking, almost. Wait-" he realized, sitting up in bed. "Gus, you're not gonna tell her any of this, are you?!"

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Gus waved his hands frantically, and Hunter couldn't tell if he was being honest.

"You sure?"

"Hunter, I give you my solemn illusionist word."

"So, your word's just an illusion, then?"

"No! Dude, look, I swear. On my life. That I won't tell a soul." He raised his right hand and crossed his heart.

Hunter laid back down. "Good. Thank you."

"The question is, are you ever gonna tell her?"

"…Why would I tell her? That sounds…unnecessary."

"I don't know. Maybe in case she likes you, too."

Hunter also turned over on his other side, and Gus saw the hope in his scarred face. "You think she might…like me?"

"Maybe. Who's to say?" Gus shrugged, mentally reviewing the dozens of times he'd seen Willow act unusually friendly and sweet toward the former Golden Guard. Even after finding out he was the former Golden Guard.

"Well, what if we both like each other? What then?" The older boy puzzled.

"Um…you date her." Gus helpfully explained.

"What do you mean? I've already dated her. She's fourteen years old."

"…No, no. My dude…no." Gus fought back the urge to laugh. "Like, date date her. You know, romantically?"

"Oh." Hunter went a little pinker. "Romance. Hm. I never bothered with such things as a scout. Belos forbade relationships between coven heads, and lower-ranking members had to follow a strict 'no PDA' policy. I did see two scouts holding hands once, though. Brought them to the conformatorium myself."

Gus sat up in bed. "Okay. I'll explain. So, dating is when you like, are together with someone. Someone you like. You spend lots of time together, you do activities together-"

"I know what it is, Gus. I'm not brain dead. I just…me and the captain? Do you really think-?"

"Hey. Only time will tell." Gus smiled.

"Y-yeah. I guess you're right." Hunter rolled back onto his back and stared at the black, empty ceiling above.

Gus shut his eyes and was starting to drift off when Hunter spoke again.

"You know, the other day when we walked in on that random couple in the library -"

"Oh, I remember this!" Gus was awake again instantly, sniggering. "The ones who were kissing?"

"…Right." He twiddled his thumbs together. "So, say the captain and I were to, hypothetically reach a mutual agreement to enter one of these…these…'relationships'-hypothetically!" He restated. "Would we do that face-squishing thing, too?"

"Probably." Gus shrugged again. "If you guys were both into it."

Hunter's ears were nearly the same color as Flapjack. "…Huh."

Awkward silence.

Eventually, Gus sighed and flopped back onto his pillow. "Yup. Well, buenas noches, Hunte-"

"Wait." Hunter said. "One last thing, Gus. How would you recommend explaining to the captain that I…y'know…"

"Gonna be honest, I'm not sure. Romance is one great illusion I have yet to pierce through." Gus extended his hand theatrically, then lowered it. "But, I bet Luz or Amity would know. Or Camila."

"Y-yeah, that makes sense…" Hunter agreed. "Thanks. Goodnight, Gus."

"Night, Hunter."

The next afternoon…

It was another overcast, windy afternoon in Gravesfield. Red and yellow leaves swirled past the windows of the cozy little Noceda house. Inside, Vee and three of the witch kids gathered around a warming oven, cookie sheet laden with half-baked dinosaur nuggets inside.

"Explode with goodness! Explode with goodness!" Gus and Willow chanted.

Hunter fingered the rim of the stovetop. "How does this even work without a basic heating spell?"

"You'll see." Vee said. "Careful, though. Leave 'em in too long and they turn to ash."

"Hi, kids! How's it going in here?" Back from the clinic, Camila entered the house and sniffed the air, setting a purse down on the counter. "Mm. Trying our hands at cooking again, I see."

She glanced at the group of four. "Wait. Where's Luz and her novia?"

"They're on a walk. Something about seeing the fall leaves." Hunter said.

"Ah, they are quite lovely this time of year. We should all go together sometime this weekend." Camila smiled. "Well, it seems like you've got dinner in order, at least a side dish. I'll go change, do some laundry and let you handle it." She started down the hall.

"We won't let you down!" Willow vowed with one of her cute determined smiles and a salute.

"Sixth time's the charm!" Gus added.

Hunter had a sudden flashback to the week before when Gus had set the pasta pot on fire and melted through the side of it. The other kids seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"I still don't know how you set a pot full of water on fire." Vee teased.

Willow laughed as Gus grinned embarrassedly. "It was hot water…??" He shrugged.

Hunter had to chuckle a little as well.

The door swung open, and Luz and Amity were pushed into the house by a strong burst of wind.

"Whew! It is blustery out there!" Luz shuddered, one arm around the purple-haired girl. "You still cold, batata?"

"I'm fine." She assured, drawing Luz's varsity jacket tighter around herself. "Thank you."

"How were the leaves?" Willow asked.

"And what made them so exciting?" Gus asked.

Amity's face lit up. "Oh my Titan, you guys! I've never seen such pretty colors on trees, anywhere! You just have to see them!"

"I've never seen such a pretty smile anywhere." Luz responded.

Amity turned to face her. "Batata…"

She giggled and, like Luz's mom, smelled the aroma wafting from the kitchen. "Hm. What smells so good?"

Luz came into the kitchen, bent her legs into right angles and pointed to the oven like a gremlin. "Dino nuggies!"

Amity also came over, bent down, and examined the oven. "What…are those?"

"Little bites of heaven, Amity, little bites of heaven."

Hunter then remembered Gus's suggestion from the night before. He glanced up at his two friends. They seemed so happy to be with each other. He shot a quick sideways glance at Willow and felt his face heat up.

I would ask them what I should do. But it would feel…weird. I don't know why, but I feel like what works for them wouldn't work for me or the captain. But why would I know that?? Do I even know anything about this kind of stuff??? Do I even know anything??!

All these conflicted feelings were making his head hurt. He rubbed his temples and tried not to let other intrusive thoughts of Caleb or Belos or gilded halls full of their memories run rampant…

Apparently, he didn't try hard enough.

"Uh, you guys watch the tiny meat lizards. I'm going to go to…the…bathroom." Hunter backed away, hoping they weren't weirded out by the stiffness of his voice.

He dashed into the bathroom as fast as humanly (Grimwalker-ly?) possible and locked the door behind him, hands trembling so much he could barely work the doorknob. He faced the framed mirror and ran his fingers through his shorter hair. He sighed in relief as it didn't suddenly triple in length again.

What was wrong with him?

It's okay. He tried to remind himself, breathing slowly and evenly like Gus had shown him. It's safe. We're all safe here. Camila's watching out for us. I'm safe.

Safe…

Minutes ticked by. Feeling his heart rate start to slow down, he stood there and took several more deep breaths.

Well, that had been irrational of him. He could probably rejoin the others now.

Opening the door and starting back to the kitchen to help with the so-called 'dino nuggies', his sock foot tread on something. A loose comic book. Hunter lost his balance and his other foot slid out from underneath him. "WoAh!"

Almost falling over into the next room, Hunter stuck out his arms and caught himself in front of Camila on the stairs leading to the basement. She turned with a start, almost dropping a large basket full of dirty clothes she was holding. "Ay, Hunter, are you alright? Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry. Slippery hallway." Arms shaking once again, he propelled himself back into a standing position, letting the adrenaline drain out of him. "Whew."

"You could have broken something." Luz's mother sounded so genuinely concerned.

"I-I'm okay. Thanks." Hunter was about to head toward the kitchen. Then, he remembered the rest of Gus's suggestion. He indecisively stood by the head of the stairs as the middle-aged woman descended, looking between her and the kitchen entrance. Camila turned and noticed.

"…Did you need something, Hunter?"

"No, no. I'm okay. I just wanted to ask, uh, I mean…did you need any help with that?" He noticed the overflowing laundry basket in her arms.

She flashed him a touched smile. "I'd love some help, mijo."

Hunter followed her to the basement, taking the basket off her hands on the way down. They came to the weird clothes-eating twin metal boxes, and Hunter set the basket down on the cold floor.

"Whew. Thanks." Camila opened one box's mouth and began reaching for clothes to take out, stretching out her back. "Not used to such a heavy basket. Could you also unload the dryer for me, por favor?"

"Oh. Um…si." Hunter eased open the hungry mouth of the other cloth-devourer. He peered inside hesitantly. Was he sure he could trust the fact that it looked like there was more than enough room in there for him to get sucked inside? Eaten alive?!

"Don't worry, sweetie, it won't bite." Camila assured him.

Hunter nodded and began pulling soothingly warm articles of the Hexsquad's freshly cleaned clothes out of the clothes box. He rubbed a shirt against his bare arm. "Oh, these feel really warm." He reached inside much more bravely and grabbed huge armfuls, burying his face in them. "Mmm…"

Camila laughed. "You know, it amazes me what you witch kids find new or unfamiliar. The Boiling Isles must be a very different place from our Earth."

Embarrassed, Hunter straightened back up and began loading clothes into a nearby empty basket. "Yeah. Different." He agreed. "But also kind of similar, I guess."

"How so?"

"Well…Luz says there's a school here. We have schools in the Demon Realm, too."

"Hexside, right?" Camila responded. "Luz has been telling me all sorts of stories. Although I couldn't tell if that 'detention pit' was a figment of her imagination…"

"No, it's real. It's very real." Hunter said. "It used to scold me for raiding vending machines in the dead of night."

Camila's eyebrows raised. Hunter immediately regretted mentioning his time living alone in the abandoned auditorium of the school.

"I-I mean, not that I stole anything-that's illegal! I used snails I still had from the coven. Most of the time…"

Camila turned to face the boy. "Luz told me these past weeks have been very hard on you."

"What? Did she go into any specifics?"

Camila looked taken aback at his suspicious and fearful tone. "Well, no. She just said you've realized a lot of things about your job and your past that were hard to swallow. She called you…what was it…a 'sad and mad boy?'"

Hunter sighed. "But she didn't tell you anything else?"

"Not that I recall. She seems worried about you, though. All your friends do."

Hunter finished loading the basket with delightfully warm clothes. "I'm fine, really. They don't need to worry about anything."

"Willow told me she's overheard you having nightmares."

Hunter fumbled the last few articles of clothing in his hands. "She has?"

"She went down to the basement one night to grab something and said you were moaning and tossing in your sleep."

Hunter was silent for a long while. "Oh. Well, I guess I still haven't totally worked out…everything…"

"It's alright, baby." Camila reassured. "You don't have to tell me what's going on, but I'm here if you need."

"Thanks, Camila. That means a lot."

"Of course." She reached out and touched one of his shoulders. Hunter sat there and accepted the gesture almost without flinching. He was getting better at that.

When she relinquished her hold, he stood up with the full clothes basket and cleared his throat. "Ahem. Anything else you need help with?"

"Well, you could help me fold these down here and we could bring them up."

"Sure."

Camila sat down on the couch Gus typically called his bed and Hunter sat on the floor next to her.

"I've been meaning to catch up on laundry. It's been just Luz and I for so long, I've forgotten what a full load was like. Helps to have a helper."

Hunter gave a tiny smile. He began folding clothes of his and Gus's, as well as some of the girls' (he carefully avoided touching…undergarments), many purchased from a nearby thrift store earlier that month.

He held up an emerald-green cardigan with ruffles adorning the sleeves and the hem. He folded it neatly, the same way he used to fold his capes and placed it in the Willow pile. He next picked up a shirt patterned with purple flowers, remembering how Willow had looked wearing it the other day. He also placed it in the pile.

"So, Hunter…"

"Yeah?"

"I have to ask: Do you mind the sort of of food I've been making? Or would you and the others rather I track down…I don't know, horse intestines or something?"

Hunter stared at her. "What you have is fine. It's great, actually. Good food. I think I speak for everyone when I say we're just happy to have free food and shelter. Don't… trouble yourself too much."

What the Titan is a horse? He thought.

Camila nodded thoughtfully, pulling Amity's black overalls out of the basket. "Thank you. I hope it is. I don't know, I just, I've never met beings from the demon realm before, much less housed, fed, and clothed five of them. This past month has been interesting for me, and all of you, I'm sure."

"Yeah. It's been a weird month. Weird but good."

"Well, I'm glad. I'll help you kids as long as you all need."

"…Thank you."

Hunter focused his attention back on the task at hand. He took Gus's favorite blue dinosaur shirt and folded it, setting it next to the Willow pile.

He stared at the two piles of clothes belonging to his two closest friends.

He knew he had to tell them everything at some point. Vee and Amity too.

He just didn't know how. Or when.

He needed more wisdom.

"Camila?" He looked down at his hands, which had started shaking again.

"Yes, Hunter?"

He took a deep breath. "This might seem out of nowhere…how would you tell someone something that might make them look at you differently? Something personal and…complicated."

In response, Camila set down Luz's green sweats and turned to more fully face him. "Well, that depends on what sort of thing it is."

When she saw that Hunter was biting his lip and nervously tapping his fingers she added, "It's okay. Like I said, you don't have to tell me exactly what."

"…Okay. Let's just say I recently found out…some things about myself that I'm not sure I know what to do with. Secrets directly involving someone else, who even keeps appearing in my dreams. I've got to tell the others the facts at some point, but I keep putting it off. I'm scared that she might-that they might hate me."

Camila was quiet, hand over her heart. Why did it look like she was trying not to smile??

Finally, she spoke again. "I think I may know what you mean."

"You do? How?"

"I have my ways." Camila picked up another shirt and started folding it.

"Luz did tell you." Hunter growled.

"No, she didn't, I…kind of picked up on it myself, mijo." She placated him.

"Oh."

How-?

Camila just shrugged and began folding a pair of black leggings.

"That Willow Park is a sweet girl, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is." Hunter agreed, wondering why the subject was suddenly changing. Maybe it was a human cultural thing he didn't know about?

"I just wish I was brave enough to tell her the whole truth."

"You know, you remind me of myself when I was younger." Camila reminisced. "I was terrified to tell Manny how I really felt about him."

"I'm sorry, Manny?"

"Luz's dad." She clarified.

"Oh." Hunter didn't know much about Luz's past except that her father had passed away when she was young. "Right. Go on."

"He'd invite me to his cool parties and wave to me in the halls. But nothing beyond that. For years, we were just acquaintances." Camila fingered the shirt in her lap, looking off into the distance. "Then one night, he asked me if I wanted to go to a convention with him and his friends. Even though I could barely utter a few words around Manny, I accepted. He picked me up wearing the most intense Lord of Orbs cosplay, and we had a really fun time with his friends. That night changed my life for the better.

Of course, even as Manny finally started noticing me, I still didn't want to say anything. For two years, I remained his good friend. But then, one day walking home from school, my feelings suddenly came spilling out like vomit.

I told him he was the sweetest, most interesting man I'd ever known, and I'd like to date him someday-"

"Wow. What did he say to that?"

"Well…let's just say by the time the next convention rolled around in the fall, we were newlyweds."

"Really?"

"Really. After establishing a strong friendship, the rest was history. Things fell into place for us. And then we bought a house and had Luz, and-"

She stopped, staring at the shirt in her hands and fiddling with it. A tear splashed onto the fabric. "Sorry. I haven't had a reason to talk so much about Manny, mi amor…for years."

"Oh, it's fine." Hunter said. "Sorry to bring it up."

"No, no. I appreciate you listening to my rambling." She wiped a tear from her eyes, laughing. "You're a sweet boy, Hunter."

Hunter paused.

"So what you're saying about Willow-uh, that is, if I happen to like her-is that I-"

"-should take things at your own pace." Camila said. "Don't let anyone tell you when or how to say you like her, I mean-if you happen to like her, of course." She winked. "Do what feels most right to you, and to her. I promise, if I had told Manny the truth even a year earlier, things would not have worked out the way they did."

"That…actually makes sense."

Hunter could see the bottom of the basket now. He finished folding an an orange sweater with a pumpkin stitched onto it, putting it in the Vee pile.

"…so, besides Willow..."

Camila focused her attention on him again.

"I've also been trying to figure out how to tell everyone that I'm a…well, you see-"

There was a clang and several voices screamed from upstairs. A shrill, high-pitched tone began sounding, cutting Hunter off. The boy cringed and covered his ears.

"Ay, is that the fire alarm?! Kids? Kids!" Camila was on her feet and upstairs so fast Hunter doubted he could have beat her zipping on Flapjack.

"Wait! Do you need my help?!"

"I've got this one! Your stay and finish folding, please!"

Hunter began folding more feverishly than he ever had in his life.

Camila pounded up the stairs to the kitchen. The fire alarm shrieked and wailed at regular intervals.

"I thought the evil alarm clock was bad!" Willow's voice could be heard from not far away.

Camila reached the kitchen doorway, panting. She paused, taking the scene in. The oven was wide open, smoke pouring out as if it were a chimney. Producing most of the smoke was a cookie sheet flipped upside down, sitting on the interior of the door. There were two slimy purple blobs on either side of the pan, sticking and burning to the oven. They almost resembled a pair of…mittens?

Several tiny dinosaurs as black as charcoal littered the floor around the oven. The kids all stood frozen in horror. Gus had hopped onto the counter, Willow close by. Luz and Vee stood behind, holding their arms out. Amity stood in the middle of it all, purple goop coating half of her arms like monstrous gloves.

"H-hi, Camila." Vee greeted.

"What on earth happened?" Camila asked.

Amity looked as if she had just accidentally dropped a puppy off a skyscraper. "I dropped the pan. Aah!" She cried as the oven door started to catch fire as well, fueled by greasy abomination.

At lightning speed, Camila retrieved the fire extinguisher she had bought for cases such as these. Leveling the device at the oven, she sprayed white fluff until the fire fizzled out. Smoke billowed around the room and the kids started coughing. Camila propped open a nearby window. The alarm still still screamed at all of them as the smoke slowly started filtering out.

"Whew." Camila said, coughing as well. "Is everyone alright?"

"I'm so sorry!" Amity looked as pale as death as she un-summoned her makeshift pot holders. She knelt down and helped Camila and Luz gather up the overcooked dino nuggets.

"It's quite alright, sweetie." Camila said.

"Yeah, it's all good." Luz loudly reaffirmed over the sound of the alarm, giving her hand a squeeze. "We'll just have to make a note to ourselves!"

"No using abominations as oven mitts?" Gus yelled.

"I was going to say 'bake no longer than twenty minutes', but that too!" Luz hollered back.

Camila had found a step stool and was trying to disable the little round alarm on the ceiling. She ripped out a couple batteries, and the noise abruptly died down. Luz got to her feet along with Amity, the latter biting her lower lip as she looked at the oven covered in abomination and fire retardant. Luz noticed the concern.

"Aw, it's okay Amity. We'll just clean up and put in another batch."

Amity smiled shakily at her girlfriend. "Okay."

She studied the blackened abomination adorning the oven. "Well, I don't know if I'm getting that abomination to follow any more commands."

"I'll get the rags." Gus offered. "Wait, will roasted abomination goop wash out of a human oven at all?"

"I could try to suck it up?" Vee offered.

"No, Vee, you might inhale the smoke. " Camila said. "Willow, can you go grab the oven cleaner from the downstairs closet?"

"Sure." The bespectacled witch jogged away with Clover at her heels, bare feet smacking the floor.

Hunter fumbled his three different clothes piles into a basket as Camila rushed upstairs. He haphazardly set the rest of the folded clothes into the basket, looking around the basement to make sure he hadn't missed anything. He poked his head under the couch and found a couple stray socks and such that had been pushed underneath. He retrieved these clothes and folded them as well, guessing which respective witches or basilisk they belonged to.

Gah, even from here, that Titan-forsaken alarm made his ears ring. Why wasn't it off yet? Wouldn't it have turned off if the fire was out?

…Was anyone in danger?

Deciding to abandon the laundry and make sure his friends were alright, Hunter started for the stairs. "Camila? What happened? Is everyone-oof!"

In his blind panic, he rammed into something at the foot of the staircase. No, someone. He heard a voice yelp as he made impact. He toppled forward, knocking over the unnamed person and landing on top of them. Soft warmth broke his fall.

"Ugh. Stupid socks."

The side of his head hurt where it had hit the corner of one of the stairs, but luckily the rest of him felt unharmed.

Hunter opened his eyes and looked down at the sleeve of a green striped t-shirt. In horror he realized who the shirt belonged to. His face flooded with color.

"Captain!" He recognized. "G-good afternoon."

He had landed on Willow sort of diagonally, angled by the upward slope of the stairs she had fallen onto, his head a little past her shoulder. He hastily stood up and scooted away, cheeks and ears on fire.

"I apologize. I should have been looking where I was going. Are you alright?"

"Yeah. It'll take more than that to really faze Willow Park." She assured, groaning a little, rubbing her back and sitting up.

Hunter eyed her from head to toe. She looked generally unhurt. He stood up and stuck out his arm. She took it, and he helped her to her feet. She blinked down at him, a little taller than him standing on one of the stairs.

"Are you alright?" Willow wondered. "That was quite the fall you just took."

"Y-yeah, I'm okay. You kind of broke my fall, actually-so…uh, sorry about that. But also thanks for…minimizing potential damages?"

Titan, I'm an idiot.

"Oh. Yeah." Willow's eyes glanced downward then back up at him.

Hunter came to realize his hand was still in hers. He folded his arms behind his back. "Um…"

She chuckled, then stopped with a look of realization. "Shoot, what was I down here for again? Oh, yeah, oven cleaner! Excuse me." Hunter moved out of her way, and she quickly walked by, glancing at him curiously. Hunter reddened yet again.

Willow found a little closet at the far end of the basement and retrieved a spray bottle of oven cleaning potion. Spinning back around, she came back toward the stairs.

All Hunter could do was stand there, staring at her in mortified silence.

Wait. Silence?

"Hey, the alarm turned off." He realized.

"Yep." She replied.

"So what exactly happened?"

"Oho, you missed all the action." Willow said. "Amity burned her hand, dropped the nuggets, started a grease fire. If you wanna come help clean up and remake them, we could probably use the help."

"Y-yeah. Okay. Give me a minute, I'll just finish up with this laundry."

She turned and jogged back upstairs, waving and winking. Hunter rubbed the back of his neck.

That was terrifying.

'Thanks for minimizing potential damages'? What the heck was I saying??

Ugh, it's like I can't form a half-decent sentence around her.

A whistle came from next to his ear. "Flapjack? Where have you been?"

Twitter tweet-tweet chirp tweet-tweet!

"What do you mean?" Hunter asked his palisman.

Flapjack whistled several more phrases which Hunter alone could understand. "I know." He whispered to the cardinal. "Well, what was I supposed to say?"

Chirp tweet! Twitter-tweet, twitter-tweet-, twitter-tweet! Tweet tweeeet!

He ended with a long, low whistle and eyed Hunter amusedly.

"Well, thanks for bothering to tell me now." Hunter crossed his arms.

Flapjack tilted his head. Tweet-tweet, twitter-tweet-tweet-chirp tweet. Twitter-chirp-tweet.

"I know, I know. Wait, who's Evelyn-?"

Flapjack fluttered off his shoulder into the kitchen.

"Hey, wait up!"

"Aaand, done!" Luz pulled out a tray of golden, steaming chicken nuggets.

"Ooh!" The witch kids chorused.

"I call the ones with wings!" Gus said, pointing to a little breaded pterodactyl.

"That one kinda looks like a stonesleeper!" Vee observed the tiny stegosauruses.

"Okay, let's just let them cool for a minute." Camila said.

"They look so…round and friendly." Willow mused.

"Yeah, aren't they supposed to be based off of these guys?" Hunter held up a book full of fearsome dinosaur photos to show Luz.

"Who cares? Let's find out how they taste!" Gus said.

Camila brought the pan to the table along with a stack of paper plates. "You kids have fun. I'm going to read my book." And she was gone.

"Woohoo, dino nuggies! I'm grabbing the ketchup!" Luz pulled open the fridge and grabbed a big bottle of red sauce. Her friends stared at it in horror. "Oh, it's not blood, you guys. It's tomato stuff." Luz explained.

"To-ma-to?" Amity frowned.

"Trust me on this." Luz plopped the bottle next to the tray and loaded a few nuggets onto a paper plate. She squirted a pile of ketchup onto the plate as well. "It's just dipping sauce. Although, it can be blood if you want it to be."

Taking a dino, she dipped its head into the ketchup and ripped it apart grotesquely with her teeth, roaring like a dragon losing its voice. The kids laughed while Hunter just stared.

"…What?"

"Ooh! Let me try!" Gus took some ketchup and dipped a nugget. He boldly declared, "I'm going to devour you, tiny meat chunk!"

"No please! I have a family-aaaagghhh!" Gus adopted a higher voice for the dinosaur's voice lines and moved it around like a puppet before crunching down on it savagely, ketchup staining his teeth.

Amity giggled, eating her own nuggets like a normal person. Hunter nibbled at the little breaded creature as well, eyebrows raising at how good it tasted.

"Let me try, let me try." Willow dunked a nugget, almost completely immersing it in ketchup. "Agggh! The entrails! They're everywhere!" She dragged the T-rex across her plate in a slow zigzag, leaving a trail of 'blood' across it. She cried out painfully in her own high-pitched 'dino voice' and stuck the nugget in her mouth. "Boop."

Hunter spluttered and nearly choked, snorting.

"You good?" Asked Luz, face full of nugget.

"Y-yeah."

Hunter could feel his face flushing to the hue of the ketchup, although that could have just been from a lack of oxygen. He cleared his throat and started more slowly on his second dinosaur nugget, leaning his hand against his cheek. He absentmindedly gazed at the plant witch.

Everything's so confusing right now, and this 'crush' isn't helping.

I may not know exactly what these feelings are or where they come from. I only just barely learned where I actually came from.

Well, I know being around her makes me happy. For now, I think that's enough. But maybe I'll tell her everything. Someday.

Willow stood up from her chair. "Oh my gosh, I almost forgot! No one move!" She dashed down the hall.

Flapjack approached Hunter again with a bright whistle.

"Hi, Flap." Hunter murmured with a smile. "Yeah, you can have some. Although, it is made out of bird…"

"Hunter, you're bleeding!" Amity pointed. "Oh, wait, it's just tomota stuff."

"Tomato." Vee said.

Hunter wiped ketchup off his chin. "Thanks."

Willow reappeared, camera gripped in her fist. "I had to document our first successful attempt at human realm cooking!" She held up the device. "Everyone say, 'seventh time's the charm!'"

"Seventh time's the charm!" They all cheered. Hunter grinned, holding up a nugget next to his friends.

For the first time in a long while, I feel free. I feel happy. And I feel safe.

Safe.

He blinked as Willow's camera flashed, surrounded by the people he loved.

...

The End