Heading home from the Gland Prix, Eda carried a worn-out King in her arms, while Luz looked happily between each of their faces. Eda had always harbored a soft, motherly side, but now she looked at King with open, unrestrained affection, in a way Luz had only seen her engage in nervously before, as if she weren't allowed to and it was about to get taken away.

And King, blinking sleepily, snuggled into her arms. Luz could have squealed with joy over it, but she tried to hold it in.

Apparently, she wasn't too successful, as Eda happened to catch her eye. "What are you thinking about, kid?"

"Oh I'm just really happy to see you're officially King's mom."

Eda startled at the term. "Mom…"

"That's right," King cut in, apparently not as sleepy as they had thought. "You're my mom. And Lilith's my aunt, and your mom is my grandma!" He giggled. "I have a whole family tree now. Can you teach me about it?"

"Later, kid, but let's get you to bed. You're all worn out." Eda rubbed King's skull and he groaned.

"I'm not that tired."

"Yes you are."

"If I go to bed, Luz has to!"

"Oh don't worry, I'm making her rest too."

Luz had been planning to work on her magic, like she had been doing almost every night of late. "Oh, actually, Eda, I'm really onto something with this new spell I'm working on, and -"

"I'll hear about it tomorrow. You're exhausted from all that flying." Eda's smile slipped a bit. "And I'm tired too."

After Eda tucked King into bed, Luz reluctantly pulled on pajamas and went to brush her teeth. She had so much to get done, and her brain wouldn't stop turning over all the new magic she was learning. If she wanted, she could easily stay up tonight and perfect some of her designs, right? But Eda would be disappointed…

Returning to her room, she was already set on working just a bit more, when she heard a distressed "Weh!" coming from the corner.

"King?"

He was struggling, tangled up in something. As Luz rushed to assist him, it became clear that he was caught in her cat hoodie, the fabric falling all around him and caught on his horns.

"Oh my Titan, King!" The sight of the little demon in such an oversized garment was too adorable to even speak, and she squealed, quickly pulling out her phone and snapping pictures.

"Luz, what are you doing? Help me out!"

"Sorry!" she squeaked, and in a moment she had freed his head, which in many ways made him even cuter, his confused, disgruntled face blinking up at her while his body remained lost in fabric. She almost drew her phone out again, but stopped at the glare he gave her.

"Jeez, you really like to take photos of my suffering, huh?"

"Sorry! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He shook out his fur and picked at his claws like a cat acting nonchalant after an embarrassment.

"How did you get stuck in there anyway?"

"I don't know, it, uh, fell on me?"

"I just threw it on the floor."

"Ugh, fine. I was trying it on."

"And here I thought I remembered someone calling this 'hideous' when he first saw it."

"It is hideous!"

"Then why did you try it on?"

"It was only for a second! I just wanted to see what it was like."

That was surprising; King was typically against much clothing unless it was part of some gift like his "offerings." "What wearing clothes is like? I'm sure we can get you some if you want to start wearing them."

"No! Never!" He crossed his arms. "I just wanted to see what wearing the hoodie was like."

"Why this hoodie?"

"Well…" He ducked his head. "I don't know. I was wondering if it had some kind of magic to it, because you always seem so confident in it."

Luz could have laughed. King thought she was confident. "Aww, King. You know I'm not actually all that confident."

"Yes you are! You have so many friends and cool adventures. And I'm…" He tapped his claws together nervously. "I don't really have that. I'm the one that messed up the Gland Prix. I wish I could do the stuff you do."

"King, it's okay you threw up. Do you know how many times I mess stuff up? I'm way more trouble for Eda than you are."

King looked at her in confusion, then moved on in his speech. "And also I'm kind of scared of everything that's going on. And you, you're still so fearless. And I wanted to know how you get through it."

Luz sat next to him. "I don't know. I take it as it comes, you know? It's not the hoodie that makes me able to do that. It's not even me, it's my friends that make it happen. And you and Eda."

"Wait, we're not your friends?"

"No, you are! It's just different, you know? We have a different sort of friendship from the one I have with Willow or Gus."

"Because I'm younger?"

"Well, yeah, but also, you're…I don't know. It's just different. In a good way. You're really special to me."

"What about Amity?"

Luz froze, memories of that tender kiss on the steps of Blight Manor sending her heart fluttering all over again. "Huh?"

"You said Willow and Gus. Why'd you not mention her?"

"Oh, her too. Definitely her. She is also a friend, just like Willow and Gus, so why wouldn't I include her? That's so silly of me. I meant to say it's different from what I have with Willow or Gus or Amity." Luz tried to ignore the fact that she felt her face heating up and her words wouldn't stop flowing.

King tilted his head. "You're really weird."

"I'm not the one trying to steal people's clothes."

"I told you it was a stupid of me. I wasn't thinking." He sighed, and Luz pushed aside her embarrassment to focus on him again. He didn't often open up about his insecurities, though he was doing it more frequently of late. "It's just, I love all these new powers I'm discovering, but also I don't really know what they mean or what's going on. And what if things get even weirder, and I start being unrecognizable?" His tail swished nervously. "I really want to find my family, and have answers. But I also really don't want to lose the family I have. The family I just found. And, as much as I want to find my dad and be like him, I also want to be like Eda. My mom. And I want to be like you, Luz."

Luz froze, her eyes rapidly tearing up, and King held up his paw. "Don't be too mushy about it. It was a dumb idea."

"No it's not! I…I honestly don't know what to say."

King wanted to be like her? Of course she'd noticed his clinginess, and his delight whenever they did an activity together. He thought she was cool, that was certain. But he had never directly stated that he looked up to her. The idea of anyone looking up to her was ridiculous, but King said it with complete honesty.

"So that's also why you tried on the hoodie?"

"Yeah…"

"You're perfect the way you are, King. You don't need to be like me!"

"No, I don't want to be exactly like you. Trust me, I know I'm perfect. I just…well actually…" He hesitated. "I was wondering something."

"Yeah?"

"You know how Eda's my mom and Lilith's my aunt and there's Grandma Gwen now and everybody?" His tail wagged as he rattled off the family terms.

"Yeah, you have such a big family!"

"Well I know you're not really a Clawthorne, but, um…we're kind of family too, right? You live with us and Eda gets all motherly about both of us, and you always help me with things. You said Eda and I are different from your other friends."

Luz tried to stop the beginnings of tears in her eyes, to not turn King away. "Yeah. I think of you that way."

"Well for a while now I kind of thought of you as my big sister. Is that okay?"

Big sister. King saw her as a big sister. Luz gave up on holding back the tears. "Yeah," she said shakily. "I'd really like that."

King brightened. "Ha! That means I get to tattle on you to Eda and you're the one that'll get in trouble!"

Luz chuckled, wiping her tears. "Okay."

He got to his feet, pointing at her for emphasis. "And you have to take responsibility for all my shenanigans."

"You know what, if it means being a sister to such a cool guy, I'll take it. I'm really proud that you're my little brother."

King's eyes widened, arm dropping back to his side. "Really?"

"Heck yeah! I always asked for a younger sibling when I was a kid, and at one point I thought..."

The tentative plans to have another child, talks with Luz about what a little sibling would mean, someone to care for and help out, someone to pass down stuff she outgrew to, and squabble with, and be annoyed at, and love. Excited daydreams about all the stuff they could do together, the things she could show them. Until the news of her dad's illness, and the plans were postponed until he got better. Only he didn't, and eventually…

"Well, here you are!" Luz said, pushing the thoughts aside with a smile. "And hey." She picked up the hoodie, giving it a tentative sniff and wincing. "Oof, this needs to be washed. But, what I was going to say is, did you know it's a common thing for older siblings to give the younger ones hand-me-downs?"

"Hand-me-downs?"

"Yeah! So when the older one outgrows something, they might give it to the little one."

"Oh. Hmm." King tapped his claws against his face. "Like clothes?"

"Sometimes!" King looked back at the hoodie eagerly, and Luz smiled. "Maybe one day you'll fit in it. We have no idea how big or small you'll get."

"I'll be huge! Mightier than the mightiest giant!"

"Okay, well, I think you'll always be pretty tiny. But you're bound to get bigger than you are right now. And either way, when I outgrow this you can have it, okay? Even if it's forever big on you."

"Really? You'll keep it ready? Promise?"

"Promise." She reached out and rubbed his skull as if to ruffle non-existent giggled and leaped into her arms, clutching her shirt while she gave him a tight squeeze. They held the hug for a few moments until Luz had a devious idea. "Now, can I please post the photos I took of you on Penstagram?"

King immediately shoved away. "Ugh never mind, I don't want anything to do with you!"

"Just one?"

"No! You're a horrible monster!" He ran to the door, signaling the end of their conversation. He paused before leaving, to say, "But goodnight."

"Goodnight," Luz grinned, then got up to pull out her supplies and get to work on her magic. Her brain was now aching for sleep, but if she could just work for thirty minutes, she was sure she could get so much done.

King didn't leave as expected. "Uhhh Luz? Aren't we going to sleep?"

"Oh, I was just going to work on some magic for a bit. I have a lot to get done." She tried to suppress her yawn and give him a reassuring thumbs up.

"As your brother, I demand you sleep."

Luz raised her eyebrows. "You're the little sibling, buddy. You're supposed to listen to me."

"I demand it."

Luz hesitated. He had the fierce, demanding tone of a petulant child, but beneath it was a softness and concern she wasn't used to from him. She was surprised he had even noticed; usually he'd leave without a second thought, or even demand she stay up longer, regardless of exhaustion.

"Okay. I can't promise I'll be able to fall asleep, but I'll try."

"Excellent!" King wagged his tail. "Goodnight big sis!"

"Goodnight little bro."