Huntlow Week - 2023
Day One — Halloween
"I can't believe I let Luz talk me into this," Hunter groused, with no real animosity behind it. He looked in the body mirror Gus had gifted him for the basement room he still lived in after moving semi-permanently to the Noceda house.
His pale hair — once again cut short thanks to Willow's tender touch — was slicked back, gelled, and pressed to the curve of his skull, the ash blond sprayed with temporary white coloring that blended almost seamlessly with the white makeup covering his face and neck. Circles of black surrounded his eyes to simulate empty sockets, and his lips were darkened with thin lines dashed across like a skull's teeth.
Furthermore, he was dressed in a black suit complete with coattails patterned with charcoal pinstripes, cut to accentuate his naturally lean frame, his hands gloved in black with designs of phalanges like a skeleton's hands, shined dress shoes … and a bat-shaped bow tie.
Overall, he was a decent image of the beloved human-realm character Jack Skellington.
"I can't believe it," Hunter sighed bemusedly. He had to admit that Luz, Amity, and Vee did good work. There was no way anyone who had seen the film that Luz had shown them during their "first stay" in the human realm would mistake Hunter for anyone else.
"Hunter!" Vee called from the ground floor. "Come on out. Everyone's ready!"
"About time," Hunter said, finally heading up the basement stairs. Luz had insisted on keeping everyone apart, though it was beyond obvious that she focused most on Hunter and Willow. He had a pretty good guess what costume Luz had convinced Willow to take up as she had insisted they stay apart for the costume application as if it were their wedding day.
(As it turned out, a bride and groom — or bride and bride, or groom and groom — being kept from seeing each other on the wedding day was a tradition of the Boiling Isles, too. The main difference was to avoid bad luck in the human realm, whereas on the Boiling Isles it was about being protected by the groom and bridal parties from those who might try to take their place with magic.)
Hunter thumped up the stairs in his dress shoes and emerged into the kitchen, glancing around at everyone else's costumes.
Gus was dressed in a crisp white bed sheet cut to his size that had been sewn with floppy dog ears, a shirt tail in the back and a glowing jack o'lantern light at the long nose, as well as a wide smile inked below the muzzle. Beneath the sheet, he seemed to be wearing all black to contrast the white main costume and blend into the coming night. Hunter blinked and stifled a chuckle that Luz had gotten Gus to be Zero, the ghost dog, to compliment Hunter's own Jack Skellington.
Luz was dressed in what she referred to as a "Victorian" suit — much like his but with a white undershirt and no pinstripes — complete with coattails, her hair temporarily dyed black and slicked backward, with makeup to make her look more pale.
Beside her, Amity was dressed in a tattered wedding dress and veil with tights and white kitten heels, her hair given extensions to fall to her waist and colored teal for the night to match the makeup that colored her skin.
Huh. Another film by the so-called macabre genius, Tim Burton. Victor and Emily. Hunter groaned at the fact that Victor had not actually ended up with Emily at the end of the film, but he and Luz had gotten into enough arguments about that for him to let it slide this time. It was Halloween, after all.
"Here we go!" Camila called. "The last of the bunch." She walked into the kitchen and held out her hands with Luz-like flair. "Presenting … Sally!"
Hunter had long-suspected what Luz had planned for Willow … and even so, he lost his breath at the sight of her costume. A waist-length wig of red yarn contrasted pale-blue makeup on her skin, also lined with black markings resembling stitches. She was clad in a knee-length, v-neck dress of green and brown patches that was still perfectly cut to show off her plump curves, black-and-white striped socks, and black high-heeled boots.
"Whoa! Lookin' good, Willow," Gus said, lifting the front of his costume for a better look and to offer a thumbs-up.
"Camila, you did great on the dress," Amity noted with a smile.
"Yeah, you look great, girl," Luz said, smiling smugly. "If I do say so myself."
"I would think so," Vee said, slithering along in her true form that she had also used during their last Halloween — it was, in her own words, the only time of the year that she could be herself in public — to pick up bags of candy and begin pouring them into bowls for trick-or-treaters.
"Hunter?" Luz prompted, her smug smile growing. "What do you think?"
"Uh-" Hunter could barely think. Willow always looked lovely to him, even when she was covered in soil and her nails blackened from working in her or Camila's garden, when drenched in sweat from a workout, or disheveled from just rolling out of bed. But this was something new, and most of his brain power was being used to burn the image into his memory to add to his collection of Beautiful Willow memories.
"You look really handsome, Hunter," Willow said bashfully, giggling at his slack-jawed stare. If it had been anyone else she might have punched them, but Willow knew Hunter was too sweet and pure to be rude about it. It didn't make logical sense, and she didn't care. She knew, and that's what mattered. His look of admiring adoration was compliment enough.
Hunter finally shook his head and, in lieu of a verbal complement, bowed elegantly toward Willow. "My dearest friend, if you don't mind," he sang. "I'd like to join you by your side." He straightened and began to slowly walk towards her. "Where we can gaze into the stars …"
"And be together, now and forever," Willow picked up, eyes shining as she held out her hands for him to take.
"For it is plain," they sang together, their fingers weaving as they met, "for anyone to see. We're simply meant to be." They laughed and settled their foreheads against one another, basking in the moment as only two nerds in love could.
"Dang," Gus whispered. "Now that's dedication to the costume."
"I think you've got serious competition for cutest couple, mijas," Camila teased at Luz and Amity.
"What? No way," Luz teased right back, gripping Amity's hand. "We got this!"
"Well, let's prove it!" Gus cheered, reaching into a pocket and removing concealment stones specifically keyed to darken their profiles against the night sky. This way they could fly camouflaged to the festival ground instead of Camila having to drive them to and from. He passed them out and summoned his staff capped with Emmeline. "Let's go!"
Everyone secured their concealment stones and followed, calling goodbyes to Camila and Vee as they went. As they all took off, they triggered the glamorous and flew in seeming darkness toward the town square.
Without the pressure to create a working portal between realms — or in Hunter's case, the paranoia of a vague looming threat — Willow had to admit that the Halloween festival was even more enjoyable than last year. She and Hunter held hands all the while as they and their friends strolled through the town square, decked out in all conceivable decorations that so resembled their home, and trying games and treats from any booths that caught their notice.
Hunter pointed out a stand serving hot apple cider and paid for two cups. Willow gently tapped the rim of hers against Hunter's with a giggle before they both tried the concoction that hadn't been served last year. It was spicy, and quite good. Warm, too, warding off the autumnal chill.
"So different from apple blood," Willow noted fondly.
"I dunno," Hunter commented. "It tastes closer than anything else." He hummed in thought. "It makes you wonder if apples originated back home or here. Like, I know leaks happened from titan blood, but more than garbage had to leak through to our world, right?"
Willow smiled dreamily as she half-listened to Hunter discuss and self-debate the logistics, evolution, and history of plants and animals that may have crossed over between the human realm and the Boiling Isles in particular. She loved it when he got passionate about things, and anything scholarly tended to make that happen.
She idly thought back to Hunter's recollection of the very characters they were dressed as. As it turned out, the both of them had related to Jack and Sally in one way or another.
For Willow, she had related to Sally having an overprotective father, even if Dr. Finklestein had been far worse than her papa. From Jack, she had understood his desire to find something new in his life, though he had been surprised by Christmas while she had known very well that she wanted to study Plant magic over Abomination magic.
Hunter's connections had been predictably darker.
On Jack's end, Hunter could understand going through the motions in life for the sake of others, all the while yearning for something different. He could understand stubbornly following a chosen path until something terrible had shown him how wrong he had been. From Sally, he could understand having his life dictated by a mad scientist father-figure who had created him only to serve, and the desire to escape this figurative tower of loneliness.
He had also told Willow that he could understand love being the force to drive that desire to get away.
"Willow?" Hunter asked, looking closely at her. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Willow said, taking another sip of her drink. "Just thinking, is all."
"Thinking about what?" he asked, eyes bright with interest. Willow giggled and bumped his shoulder with hers.
"How smart you are," she said off-handedly. "And how lucky I am to have you."
"I think you've got that backwards, Captain," Hunter said with a smile of his own.
Willow crushed her paper cup and tossed it into a trash can before looping her arms around Hunter's shoulders. "For it is plain as anyone can see," she softly sang.
"We're simply meant to be," Hunter finished and, like the end of the film, they gently kissed before simply hugging each other.
"Ah, that's so sweet," Amity said from a distance.
"Next year, they're gonna be Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart," Luz promised.
"Batata, you know I don't know who those people are," Amity sighed.
"Oh, you will," Luz again promised, then shouted and waved her arms. "Hey, guys, come on! The spooky story hayride is next! And I know Hunter will want to add his two cents into Masha's story!"
As the gang flew home from the festival, laden with bags of candy that would keep them delightfully buzzed and sick for days, everyone was in high if tired spirits. They landed in the backyard, but kept their darkening concealment stones active as Luz ushered them into the house, away from prying eyes.
Using their staffs in the human realm was always a risk, and they didn't want to push their luck.
"Welcome home, kids," Camila greeted as they all wandered into the kitchen. She began passing out baby wipes to clean off their makeup as Gus shed his bedsheet and Hunter and Luz removed their tuxedo jackets.
"Amity gets the first shower," Luz declared. "She has the most makeup to clean off." Everyone traded glances at the clear girlfriend favoritism underneath Luz's logic, but no one seemed able to refute it.
And so the rest gathered in the living room to wait their turns for quick showers.
"So," Willow asked quietly of Hunter when they took their places on the loveseat, Luz and Gus in conversation about the origins and traditions of Halloween and how certain Boiling Isles holidays were similar, "what did you think of Masha's tale this time?"
"It was … still kind of unsettling," Hunter admitted. "The fact that it's been preserved so well in some ways, but left with such an open ending, it-" He sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose. Willow took his hand and drew it from his face to lean up and kiss his cheek.
"It's not about you," she reminded him. "You have nothing at stake in that grisly story."
"Nothing except the monster who made me," Hunter said morosely. "And the poor guy that he killed and then used to do it. It was Belos's origin story."
"Hmm," Willow mused. "In that case, I wouldn't have it any other way." Hunter looked at her in muted shock. "Because if Belos hadn't done those terrible things," she curled her fingers around his, "we wouldn't have you here with us."
"That's kind of messed up, Captain," Hunter noted, but he was smiling with gratitude. He lifted her hand in his and kissed the back of it. "I'm glad to be here with you, too."
They nuzzled until Amity came down stairs and Luz ushered Willow up the stairs because of her heavy makeup, too. Hunter watched her go, trading a look with Willow as Luz pushed her around the corner.
"We're simply meant to be," Hunter sighed.
Welcome, one and all, to the third year of Huntlow Week! Each day will bring a new short tale about our favorite couple. I do Hope you've enjoyed the first day!
*I do think that Hunter would be happy to celebrate Halloween again, even with the terrible events of his first. With all of his friends' and Camila's support and a heaping helping of therapy, he'd be willing to give it another shot. Hunter's resilient that way, I figure.
*Am I the only one who thinks that Luz would be a huge fan of Tim Burton's films? I can't be, right?
*Hunter and Willow's emotional connections to Jack Skellington and Sally came straight from my head. They all just seemed to flow and it was very fun to pen them down.
*Luz's comment about next year's outfits are a reference to my own writing process - Willow and Hunter were originally going to dress as the Final Fantasy characters.
As always, I hope this was fun - stay tuned for six more chapters! Leave a review if you like! And may your own works be fun to read and to write!