After he finished eating, Gus spent his time playing with the ball with Matt and King; the young Titan had in fact awakened and although he was still half dead from sleep he didn't want to go back to sleep; indeed, he seemed intent on playing and having fun at all costs. Gus suspected that the experience he had the night before had made him understand the fleeting nature of life, but instead of hiding again as he did before, King had decided to fight this fleetingness by no longer wasting even a second that he could spend with his friends. In a way he was happy for him: being an ex-spider who had spent a good part of his life closed in a house, he knew with absolute certainty that the young Titan was doing well to stop putting walls between himself and the world external but rather to demolish those that already exist and think only of living fully, as it should be.
Matt had also become a little more open and above all more active; Gus didn't know if this was due to the fact that he was no longer a crab and therefore no longer had a predominantly nocturnal lifestyle, but his friend was much less sleepy and somewhat more inclined to play, while maintaining a little of his grumpy nature. Gus thought that Matt had been very open to him throughout the time they had known each other, but that day he was behaving even more libertinely, not just waiting for him to propose some activity but taking an active part in the games. Maybe it was because he had become human, or because they had experienced a life-threatening situation the night before, or simply because he felt he was in his element since technically being a crab he was galvanized in the presence of sea water.
The three played a lot with the ball, waiting for their friends to return; none of them wanted to go and disturb the couples, and they didn't even want to waste time looking for the twins, so they just had fun on their own. However, while they were playing they saw Willow return with a dark expression on her face; Seeing her so down, Gus got worried and ran to her. "Hey...Willow, what happened?"
Her friend bit her lip. "I confessed to Hunter... he rejected me"
Gus's eyes widened at those words. "Oh... Willow, I... I'm sorry..." he said, not knowing how to cheer her up. Had Hunter rejected Willow? Really? Why on earth had he done that? Those two seemed to go so well together...
Willow shook her head. "It doesn't matter, disappointments in love sometimes happen. Let's just think about having fun, I need to distract myself"
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? I can..." Gus tried to say.
But Willow stopped him immediately: "No, I told you I just want to distract myself. Let's play"
Gus wasn't sure if ignoring the problem was a good idea, but he gladly accepted his friend's request and simply introduced her to their game. And in fact that activity seemed to help her a little: after just a couple of well-aimed balls, she seemed to return to her usual self, and she laughed and joked as before... although Gus still noticed a small shadow in her eyes. And Luz also noticed it when, returning to shore after finishing making out with Amity (obviously without ever taking her hands off each other), she saw her so playful but at the same time a little saddened. It didn't take long for the puppet to put two and two together: "Hey, where's Hunter?"
"Oh, we split up. He'll be back soon" Willow replied. And then she admitted: "I revealed my feelings to him. He told me he doesn't feel the same"
"What!?" Luz immediately ran to hug her friend. "Oh, Willow! I'm so sorry..."
"Hey, hey, it's okay!" Willow tried to calm her down, though she didn't make an effort to get her to end the hug, clearly enjoying the comfort.
"No, it's not okay!" Luz exclaimed, now fully gone into protective mode. "You can hug me all you want! And let off steam! And when that idiot comes back, I'll..."
As luck (or misfortune) would have it, Hunter returned to them at that very moment, and as soon as she saw him, Luz literally jumped on him. Needless to say, Hunter simply grabbed her by the head and brought her a safe distance from his face, and she could do nothing but squirm and rant. "Ugh! Let go of me, artichoke hair! If you broke Willow's heart I swear..."
"Luz, calm down! You misunderstood!" Willow was quick to tell her. "He didn't break my heart, on the contrary, he was very kind. He even apologized for not reciprocating my feelings, as if it were a choice and therefore his fault! I have nothing to reproach him for. We decided to just remain good friends"
"Uh... really?" Luz murmured, stopping embarrassed. Willow nodded, and at that point Hunter finally let her go, or rather threw her directly into Amity's arms. "Yes, that's how it happened" the boy said. "I understand that you are angry, you are her friends after all and you hate to see her hurt. If you want me to leave..."
"No! No, it's no use. I don't hold a grudge against you" Willow was quick to tell him.
"She's right. None of us are mad at you" Gus said, and he glanced at Luz who nodded as well. "We have no reason to if you behaved so well with her. You don't have to leave, just stay and play with us; we're all still friends after all"
Hunter seemed pleased with that statement. "Well... thanks" he murmured, and albeit somewhat reluctantly he joined their ball game.
It was in this way that the day continued; however, it did not continue for a long time since it was already early afternoon and the kids also had to take into account the time to return home since their parents or fairy godmothers had ordered them to do so before the sun set. However, they had time to spend a couple of hours playing ball in the water, a game which the twins also gladly joined in as soon as they returned (and judging by the amount of sand that Edric had on him, Emira must have thrown him to the ground several times ); and quite later also Boscha and Skara, the latter half dazed and with several lip marks on her neck. They had fun the whole time; and even Willow, despite the confession going badly, showed no signs of sadness, even though it was clear from her look that she was really upset. The thing that caught Gus's attention, however, was that Hunter, although he tried to hide it, had a very similar look; the boy was good at faking his expressions, but the ex-spider still noticed a strange light in his eyes. Which made him very suspicious. However, the time to leave came in the end; so the kuds collected their things and started heading home; Hunter said goodbye to everyone and was about to take flight with his staff, when Gus approached him and whispered: "Hunter... did you really reject Willow because you didn't feel the same about her?"
Hunter seemed to darken at those words. "Could there be other reasons?" he asked in a tone that should have been rhetorical, but he didn't sound that way at all. "Mind your own business, Gus"
Despite the rude response, Gus didn't give up. For a brief moment he saw the strange look in Hunter's eyes again, and this time he was able to identify it: it was the same look Luz had had when she tried to push him and Willow away because she thought she was a danger to them. "Hunter... did you by any chance refuse her because you fear exposing her to some risk because of your... job?"
Hunter's body stiffened. "I told you to mind your own business" he replied, and with that he took off and quickly flew away.
Gus watched him go with his mind full of doubt and worry; he felt that his friend was upset by his words, so he probably got it right... but he also felt that he was upset by something else. Maybe... there was something more that scared him. Yes, that's right, he was scared: Gus didn't think it was possible, but he recognized a bit of fear in the boy's voice. The same boy who hadn't shown the slightest fear in fighting greater basilisks, five-meter tall fishermen or hordes of fanatics, and who had almost faced even a witch. What in the world could be so terrible that even someone like him would be scared? Gus wasn't at all sure he wanted to know, in fact he was sure that once he found out he would curse himself for it... but he still promised himself to investigate a little more thoroughly.
In any case, the kids set off for their homes; and since it was still a little before sunset, at Luz's request her friends decided to go to Bomesborough first to say goodbye to Boscha, Skara, Edric, Emira and, of course, Amity. It wasn't difficult to understand that this was just an excuse to stay close to the lavender-haired girl for as long as possible, but deep down everyone was really touched by seeing them together, so they didn't mind doing as they want. So they traveled to Bonesborough, accompanied Boscha and Skara to their homes, and then finally headed to the Blight Manor. Once they got there, both Luz and Amity seemed very disappointed at having to part ways, but they knew they couldn't hold back forever. "Well... see you tomorrow, then" the puppet said.
"Sure. And thanks... it was a really nice day" Amity replied.
"Thanks to you. I was able to overcome my fear with your help. I can never thank you enough" Luz replied, and of course the two girls kissed passionately again.
"Mittens, at this rate you will run out of saliva" Emira teased. "Come on, say goodbye and let's go inside. I want to lie on my bed, chase Edric and play in the water and walking all day has made me tired"
"Seriously, are you tired from this? And then you'll be surprised if I tell you that you should do some sport. You're definitely dramatically out of shape" Edric teased her, totally ignoring the fact that he was just as tired as she was.
Emira glared at him. "Do you want me to kick you, beloved brother?" she hissed in a voice that seemed to come straight from a grave.
"Ok, fine, now let's go inside the house" Amity quickly said before the situation escalated, and then she looked at Luz again: "Well... bye, then. And... thanks for accepting my feelings"
"Thank you for becoming my awesome girlfriend!" Luz answered her with a broad smile. The two girls reflected in each other's eyes for a moment longer (in their heads, in those of their friends it was a good thirty seconds), and then they finally separated their hands; when they did they felt as if they had been deprived of a piece of themselves and their palms became cold, and they could almost feel their fingers burst into tears. But despite this they said goodbye and Amity, Edric and Emira entered the Blight Manor, while Luz, Willow, Gus, Matt and King turned around and headed towards the Owl House again.
Meanwhile, without their knowledge, someone had been observing the whole scene. Alador had looked out slightly from the window of his laboratory, on the top floor of the house; he had only done it on a whim, and he had told himself that it was only to check that Edric and Emira had returned alive from their trip (since yesterday's experience had made him a little paranoid), and he had planned to give just a glance and then go back to his work, but he couldn't help but notice Amity among them too; and despite himself, he had also been able to see the passionate way in which he kissed Luz. He should have turned around immediately and pretended nothing had happened, he knew it; but he hadn't succeeded. He had looked at that tender scene with a heavy heart. He couldn't remember ever seeing Amity so happy... although, it had to be remembered, the times in his life he had looked at Amity could be counted on one hand.
He was still observing this when he heard a voice from behind: "Hey, man! Give the kids some privacy!"
Alador almost fell to the ground in fright, and he turned to see that Darius had appeared behind him. "What the...? You can't get behind us like this!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Do you have any idea what my wife would do to you if she knew you entered our house without permission?"
"Yeah, I guess she wouldn't be happy about it... especially since I'm on her blacklist now, so I doubt she'd mind tearing me apart" Darius admitted, but he didn't seem too concerned at the prospect. "Anyway, to answer your question, long story short I went to the beach to see one of those kids for something, the boy had done something stupid, I tried to advise him, he ignored me, I pretended to leave but I stayed hidden nearby because I hoped he would listen to me but then it didn't happen, and after he left I decided that since I was already there anyway I could be a good guardian and make sure the kids all went home and didn't got into some more trouble after last night, and when we got here I decided to say hello to you"
Alador rubbed his hair. "So… first of all there are a lot of morally unacceptable things in what you said. I'm pretty sure spying on kids is considered stalking"
"Says the one who tried to rob me yesterday. Theft is slightly worse" Darius reminded him. "I didn't have any malice in my actions, I was just supervising. I closed my eyes every time one of the couples started getting busy... and I kept well away from that dark-skinned girl and the one with the magenta hair, given that even if I didn't see anything I'm pretty sure that they didn't just limit themselves to that but that they also did quite a bit of activity under their shirts"
"Urgh...! I didn't want to know!" Alador grumbled. "Anyway, you can't enter my house and laboratory without invitation. I don't know how it works for djinn, but for humans it's trespassing"
"Stealing a lamp is theft" Darius repeated; he was clearly intent on using that excuse endlessly to maintain moral superiority.
Alador slammed a hand over his face. "What do you want?"
"Oh, come on, haven't you ever had someone come up to say hello to you for no reason?" Darius told him putting his arm around his neck and giving him a few punches on the sternum. "I confess that I took a bit of a liking to you yesterday, even if I still consider you a big idiot who throws away his own happiness. I wouldn't mind getting to know each other better"
"Darius... first, personal space" Alador said pushing him away. "And secondly, no, I don't want to get to know each other better. Now go away before my wife realizes that a magical creature has managed to sneak in here"
"Oh, come on! Why do you always have to keep people away?" Darius protested. "Are you allergic to social relationships, by any chance? It's lucky that your children didn't take after you... although they certainly inherited stubbornness, but in a good way"
At the mention of his children Alador darkened and turned away from the djinn, returning to focus on his inventions while ignoring him. Seeing that he had hit a nerve, Darius dropped the joking tone and became serious again: "Dude, why are you so stubborn? I can see that you would like to have a different relationship with your family. Why don't you try to build a new one?"
Alador shook his head as he began to screw a screw into his telescope. That djinn really didn't want to mind his own business. "It's too late for that now. None of them will ever want to have that kind of relationship with me"
"Oh, but why are you humans so stubborn? Even that boy I tried to talk to made the exact same mistake! Is believing you know how others will react a distinctive trait of your species or is it simply a trendy fetish In this area?" Darius grumbled. "Giving up without trying first because you assume that they will react in a certain way is stupid, only they can decide how to react, not you"
Alador didn't answer, but he stopped moving the screwdriver and seemed to stiffen. Taking that reaction as a good omen, Darius tried to push his hand a little more: "I'll tell you what you need to do: first, go to your youngest daughter and talk to her; second, go to those two overly hyperactive twins and talk to them; third, go to your wife and apologize for whatever you have done. They will decide how to react to your words. Maybe they will tell you to fuck off and throw you out of the house, but maybe instead they will listen to you at least a little and reflect on the your words. Who knows, maybe in a few weeks you could find yourself sitting at the table joking with the twins and with your youngest daughter sitting on your lap, and with your wife pressing a kiss on your forehead promising you a good fuck as soon as the kids will have fallen asleep"
"My wife is more likely to bite my ears off" Alador retorted. "Believe me, she's pretty pissed off at me. The only reason she hasn't done anything to me all these years is because she was charitable enough to ignore the wounds and just keep the distance between us. If I tried to reopen those wounds... I seriously doubt that I will come out of this with all my body parts in place"
"Well... I know how bitter women can be, and the fact that your wife is a witch doesn't make things any rosier for you..." Darius admitted; in fact trying to reopen the wounds of a witch's past was the equivalent of courting death. It was one thing to take the risk with a normal person, who would have limited himself to screaming and even if he had completely lost control would have had kicks and punches as his only weapon; it was one thing to run it with a witch, for whom a single moment of madness was enough to transform her interlocutor into a toad. "... but that's no justification for backing down. I clearly see that you care about these people, so you have a duty to at least try. Listen to me... if you continue like this you'll only get regrets. Maybe none of them will accept your excuses, and yes, maybe your wife will be pissed off enough to tear off your legs and arms... I don't know, I don't know what happened between you two so I don't know how angry she might be. But at least you'll have tried. Better than getting old and going into the grave with nothing but the regret of never having acted"
Alador didn't answer again, but his gaze became dark and thoughtful and he clenched his fists slightly. That silence lasted for about a minute, then Darius said: "Look... I understand that you need to think, so I'll leave you alone now, but... think about it, okay? If you love someone, it's worth fighting for that person, even if you're scared of how they might react. Don't throw away your opportunities". Not receiving any other response, he sighed and headed towards the window: "Well... I'll go then. If you need a friend to talk to, you know where to find me. Just come every now and then, I'll buy you a coffee" and with that said it turned into a purple liquid again and disappeared passing through the cracks in the window shutters. Alador was left alone in his laboratory, and slowly sat down in his chair and let out a long sigh.
AU Alador: "You can't commit morally unacceptable actions just because you're one of the good protagonists!"
Canon Eda: "PATHETIC"