Sorry I was gone for a bit there, I decided to take a break.
Anyway, someone called last chapter the season finale so consider this a season premiere!
For the second time in his life, Hunter woke up to find Willow in his arms.
This time, though, it was on purpose. She was breathing softly as she slept, warm and cozy and it was just a feeling that he adored as he gently squeezed her and buried his face in her hair. For him, this was the best thing in the world, waking up beside her with her wearing one of his shirts and a pair of his sleep pants. It was the perfect way to start the new year off right.
Willow shifted slightly, and he moved his head so she could turn over like she was trying to do without knocking him in the nose. They were only a couple of inches apart.
"Good morning," he told her.
"Morning." She pressed a kiss to the side of his mouth and he let out a bit of a whine before pressing one to her lips. Willow let out a giggle and snuggled into him.
"How'd you sleep?"
"Good. Your bed is really comfy."
"Really? Is that all that's comfy?"
She started giggling again and he really couldn't hide his massive goofy grin. Her laugh made his stomach squirm in the best possible way and he just wanted to listen to it forever. But he couldn't… wait, what time was it?
Wiggling himself free, he grabbed his phone off the nightstand and passed Willow her glasses as he sat up and checked the time. It was just past eight in the morning. Shit. Willow had to get home soon. And more likely than not, his mother would be knocking on his door to ask him to get up so they could have breakfast. But he just wanted this moment with Willow and it only got better when she sat up beside him and hugged him from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder. He could feel her pressing against him and good God she was soft.
"You wanna sneak me downstairs before your mom gets up?" she whispered.
"I think I'd better, you got your clothes?"
"Mm… I'll just steal yours." She grinned at him, and he let out a groan.
"You're killing me, Will."
She pressed a kiss to the scar on his jaw.
"Seriously, you're fucking killing me."
"What? Your clothes are comfy. I can wear them to sleep at home, too."
I love you.
The words popped into his brain unbidden before he could stop them, though thankfully he managed to stuff them down before they could make it to his mouth. They'd only been together for a few weeks, way too soon for those three words that would mean crossing a new line in their relationship. So to keep himself from saying them, he turned so he was facing her and started to kiss her. She leaned into it, and before he knew it they were laying down, her half on top of him as they kissed. His hands rested on her back, and he resisted the urge to bring them down further—
They were interrupted by a knocking at the door, one that had them both turning red and Willow leaping off him.
"Hunter? It's time to get up!" his mother called.
"Shit," he muttered under his breath before raising his voice to answer. "Just a minute, Ma!"
"All right, breakfast is almost ready." He let out a relieved sigh before she continued. "There's enough for Willow, too. Both of you come on down and eat before you take her home."
Hunter felt his ears burning as he listened to her footsteps recede.
"We'd better get going," Willow murmured, and Hunter nodded, swallowing hard as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up.
In the hallway, Willow slipped her hand into his and they headed downstairs to find everyone else already sitting either at the kitchen table or at the counter. Luz gave him a smirk.
"Good morning, lovebirds," snickered Gus.
"Shut up, both of you."
"It smells good," Willow said, grabbing a plate and spooning some scrambled eggs onto it.
"It's fantastic," Mattholomule agreed, nodding. "This is the kind of stuff you guys eat at these Noceda sleepovers? Invite me again."
"You have an invitation next time," Vee assured him.
Amity was staring at her phone, narrowing her eyes in annoyance.
"Something wrong?" King asked her, his mouth full of bacon.
"My mom wants me to come home. Something about one of our clients needing the Blights' support—ugh. I don't even need to be there, she can do it herself."
"What kind of support?" Luz inquired.
"Legal. He's going into court, apparently, and the Blights are backing him. She won't tell me anything else until I get home. As usual."
"Bitch," Hunter muttered, not meaning to say it out loud. Amity shrugged.
"That's fair. She is." She put her phone down and leaned her head against Luz. "Whatever client is getting dragged into court, I hope he loses. He's supposedly one of our biggest and that means he's an asshole."
"Aw, you're so bloodthirsty this morning," giggled Luz, kissing Amity on the cheek.
"Weirdo." Hunter flicked the back of her head and she stuck out her tongue.
Something was up.
Luz could tell as soon as she got back from walking Amity home. In the time she'd been gone, Darius had shown up in what could only be described as his business attire. Her mother was sitting on the couch, holding a letter in her hands on official-looking stationary.
"Hey, Mom, what's going on?"
"I'll explain when Hunter gets home," her mother sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I got this right after midnight."
"They deliver mail that late?"
"Not mail," grumbled Darius. "A threat. Of sorts."
The front door opened and closed behind Luz, Hunter taking off his jacket and tapping the snow off his boots. He seemed to be in a good mood up until he spotted Darius and the paper in their mother's hands.
"What's… happening?" he questioned. "Where's Vee?"
"She's over at Eda's," Camila explained. "Both of you, sit down. We need to talk."
Hunter and Luz glanced at each other before obeying and sitting down in chairs. Camila wordlessly handed the paper over to them and Luz and Hunter read it between them. It was a lot of legalese she didn't understand except for the words "custody dispute", "vacate adoption", and three names—"Camila Alma Maria Noceda, née Alvarez", "Philip James Wittebane", and "Hunter Caleb Noceda, née Wittebane". Hunter seemed to understand more of it, based on the anger that crossed his face.
"He's fucking not."
"I'm afraid he is," Darius sighed. "He's suing your mother for custody of you."
"I'm sixteen. I'll be seventeen in a month, for fuck's sake! He can't just come in and take me away after thirteen goddamn years."
"Money talks, and Phillip Wittebane has plenty of it. I'm going to be representing your mother in court but we wanted to let you know what was going on since it concerns you."
Hunter curled his fingers around the arm of the chair, shaking with rage.
"When did you get this, Mom?"
"Last night. Phillip's lawyer showed up at midnight to hand this to me. I'd say they've been planning it for a while, based on the smirk on the little bitch's face."
"Whoa," whispered Luz, surprised by her mother swearing. It so rarely happened out loud, Hunter was the one with a foul mouth in the family and Luz wasn't even sure where he'd picked up half the words he'd spit out.
"With any luck, it's just going to end with him being denied custody. It's been too long and you're old enough to choose where you live. Your birthday is in a month, you'll be seventeen. That's just over a year until you're legally an adult. It's a vital period since you'll be starting your senior year in the fall."
"Yeah. So even if they tell me to, I'm not going anywhere until I go to college."
"Smart boy." Darius nodded. "So… I'll be interviewing people who were around back in the day."
"Like Mr. Blight?" inquired Luz.
"You've spoken to Alador?"
"Once. He said Hunter looked like Caleb and he remembered what a crap-storm the first custody case was."
"First?" Hunter asked, quirking an eyebrow up.
Darius sighed and then told them a story.
Apparently, Phillip had interfered with Darius having custody of Hunter back when Caleb and Emily's deaths had only just happened. Had he not Hunter would've been raised by Darius, never leaving Bonesborough. Would he have been childhood friends with Amity and Willow, maybe? A bridge between them to stop Amity from ending the friendship? He and Willow could've been childhood friends to lovers, maybe. She didn't know. And they'd never know because of Phillip. She knew that she wasn't going to let go of her big brother without a fight, though. That was one thing she knew for absolute fucking certain in her mind.
"How can I help?" she blurted.
"Be there in court. That's all you need to do."
"I can help you talk to people! I'm good at getting information!"
"Luz—"
"No, I have to do something."
Her eyes went to Hunter, tracing the scar on his jaw that had been left behind by the same man who was now claiming that Camila was an unfit parent. A scar left in a fit of anger against a toddler. Who had more than likely been so scared of his uncle that he hadn't even cried, he'd just stared in horror without realizing exactly what was happening. She'd seen pictures of Hunter when he was little, she knew how small he'd been, knew how terrified he'd been when he first became a Noceda. Phillip was the reason for that fear and she'd be damned if she let him get his hooks into her brother again.
"Please. Just tell me. I want to…" She inhaled and stared at the floor. "I wanna help."
"And you can help by staying away from Phillip outside the courtroom. We only have a couple of weeks to prepare," Camila told her eldest daughter.
"But Mom—"
"No buts."
Luz shrank back in her chair. Mama's word was final.
"WE'RE BACKING PHILLIP WITTEBANE?!"
"Amity, no need to shout."
"NO! Now is the perfect time for me to shout—do you know what that bastard did to Hunter?!"
"He is one of our biggest clients, Mittens. We'd be remiss not to back him with how much money we'd lose. He's more than likely to win."
Amity let out a growl, Ghost winding her way through Amity's legs to try and comfort her. Odalia curled her lip at the sight of the cat but said nothing; she'd been trying since October to get rid of the feline and every single time the cat got back in.
"Please, just try not to make a scene. He's a very respectable member of the community and Camila Noceda is an outsider. It would look bad for you."
"Camila Noceda's a good person." Amity picked up Ghost and hugged her slightly. "Her kids are good people. Hunter doesn't deserve to go back with Phillip—Mr. Wittebane might kill him."
"He might not. Hunter looks exactly like his father, after all. Shame he takes after him in personality, all soft-hearted and—Amity!"
Amity was running upstairs, leaving her mother behind and jostling Ghost slightly as she slammed her bedroom door shut. The lock clicked into place and she began breathing heavily as her cat jumped onto her bed. She started pacing, biting the tip of her thumb as she internally deliberated over what to do. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, a text from someone, but she couldn't think straight as Odalia began knocking on the door, demanding for Amity to open it so they could talk.
Amity Mae Blight had no interest in talking to her mother at this moment.
Finally, she managed to get her breathing under control and sat down on the bed, pulling her phone out of her pocket and seeing it was messages from Luz as Odalia's footsteps receded.
Luz: Amity
Luz: He's taking mom to court
Luz: This is bad
Well, that answered the question as to whether or not Luz knew about the case.
Amity: It gets worse
Luz: How?
Amity: Blight Industries is standing behind him in court
Amity: That's what my mom was texting me about earlier
The three dots kept appearing and disappearing. Amity began to internally panic; she and Luz had only been together for a month, were they going to break up already?
Luz: Did you tell her?
Luz: What P did to Hunter
Amity: She won't listen
Amity: Too much money to be lost if he loses
Luz: Money, your mom's worried about money
Luz: You guys have enough of it without that bastard
Amity: She won't listen! I told you
Luz: I know
Luz: Just stay away from all this, please, for your sake
Luz: I have to support Hunter on this, him and Mom
Luz: I don't want you to get in trouble
Amity took a deep breath and sighed.
Amity: Okay. I'll try to talk to Dad, see if I can get him to listen
Luz: Hope so
Luz: Hunter's pissed
Luz: Gtg but I'll text you later
She set her phone down and flopped down so her face was buried in her pillows before she let out a scream. This was messed up, this was so messed up. Her mother was going to ruin everything. If this went Phillip's way, Hunter would be back in the hands of the man who'd marked him for life, someone who'd potentially mess him up worse than before since now Hunter could fight back. And Amity would lose everything she'd gained in the past year, these friends and her girlfriend who meant more to her than she could ever say. She started crying, burying her face in her pillows deeper to muffle the sounds.
There was a soft knock at her door.
"GO AWAY, MOM!" she yelled.
A moment of silence.
"Mittens? May I come in?"
She sat up. That was her dad, not her mom. Quietly she slid off the bed and unlocked the door, finding Alador on the other side wearing his grease-stained coveralls and his goggles still. He was looking at her with concern and she felt a lump in her throat.
"Stop her. Please."
"Stop who?"
"Mom, she's… Mr. Wittebane isn't a good person. He can't win this case."
Alador raised his eyebrows and nodded.
"Tell me what you can."
And Amity took a deep breath before she began.
Going back to school felt… weird.
Vee could feel stares on her as she made her way across the building, the kind of stares she'd faced back in Gravesfield where everyone knew something bad had happened to you and there was nothing you could do to erase it from everyone's minds. Word had spread through Bonesborough that Phillip Wittebane was going to wrest his nephew away from his adoptive family and as to be expected, the town was almost completely split down the middle on which side to be on. Many people had respect for Phillip and more specifically his money and reputation in town. Meanwhile her family was a single mother with three kids who had been there less than a year. She could see how someone might take issue with that.
It didn't make it okay. None of this was okay. Hunter had been a Noceda longer than she'd been alive. He was happy. He fit so well into a place that would feel empty without him, like something was perpetually missing.
"Hiya, Baby Noceda."
She whirled around to face Boscha.
"What do you want?"
"I heard about your brother. It's so tragic he was ripped away from his family like that."
"We're his family. Not Phillip." Vee didn't have any patience for this girl. None whatsoever.
"Not according to Mr. Wittebane. You know, Hunter stands to have a lot of money in the future if he'll just stay quiet. He won't listen to me, though, so I thought I'd ask you to tell him as much."
"Why would I do that?"
"Uh, because. It'll be better for him. More money, more power, more status here."
Vee felt her eye twitch.
"No. That doesn't matter to him."
"You sure?"
"I've known him my whole life. He's been a Noceda longer than I have. Trust me, I know he doesn't care about status or whatever. If he did he would've pretended to like you and dated you when we moved here."
The last statement slipped out before she could stop it and Boscha stared at her with wide-eyed disbelief.
"How dare you, you little brat!"
"Leave us alone, we have enough to deal with without you butting in with your half-baked opinions."
She whirled around and began walking away quickly. Unfortunately rugby had made Boscha very quick and given her a sort of grip Vee couldn't easily break. The older girl grabbed her wrist and yanked her back.
"Oh no you don't!"
"Let go!" Vee twisted her wrist, trying to free herself as Boscha tightened her grip.
"You can't talk to me that way, you hear me, Noceda?!"
"I can when you're bothering me and won't leave me alone! Let go!" She squeezed her eyes shut as she struggled to free herself.
Suddenly she felt a set of hands grab her and a second pair force her and Boscha apart. Opening her eyes she saw Gus and Mattholomule. Gus had been the one to separate her and Boscha while Matt pulled her away.
"Bug off!" Gus snapped. "She's right—the Nocedas have enough to deal with without you."
"You okay?" Matt asked Vee.
"I'm fine. It's just my wrist."
She glanced at it and knew that she might have a bruise there with how hard Boscha had grabbed her. But she could deal with that. It wasn't a big deal right now.
"Whatever." Boscha scoffed and walked away.
"Thanks," she told the boys.
"Not a problem, Valentina," Matt told her.
"Don't call me that."
"I can't wait until this stupid thing's over and people stop talking about it," Gus sighed.
"They won't, though." The three of them started walking. "Stuff like this doesn't go away easy, not in a town this size."
"How do you know?"
She paused for a moment.
"It didn't go away in Gravesfield. When… something happened to me, everyone looked at me different. They talked about me. Pitied me. It's happening now already."
"Are you going to clam up again?" Matt inquired.
"No. I can't. Not this time. Hunter was there for me when I needed him back then and he's my brother. I can't afford to go quiet."
"We're right there with you," Gus promised.
"Yeah. And if Boscha gives you trouble, I can take her on."
"No offense, Matt, but she'd lay you out flat before you got a chance to land a hit," Vee giggled.
"You don't know that!"
"She does!" Gus sang, and Matt let out a scoff.
Vee took a deep breath and glanced over at someone who'd been staring at them before they looked away quickly.
The court case was due to start soon.
She had to be ready for it.
HIIIII, I'M BACK
Updates may get slower as I try to give this court case the justice it deserves (hehehe).
So long and thanks for all the fish!