There were days where Hunter felt better and days where he felt worse.
Some days, a crowd and some unfortunate thoughts were enough to trigger Hunter and send him spiraling.
That's what happened during another of his and Willow's vacation to the human realm.
There was still so much of the human realm they hadn't seen, so after they got married, they started taking a trip to a new human realm city at least once a year.
Some trips they went to exciting places, like the Great Barrier Reef or hiking up a 14,000 foot mountain.
But this year, they decided to go to a smaller historic town: Savannah, Georgia.
They were able to block out a day and a half to spend there. After a half day at work, they would walk through the more touristy docks with cute little shops and delicious baked goods. Tomorrow, they'd walk through the town's historic district and see some of the old buildings, followed by a trolley tour of a few historic neighborhoods and ending the day visiting the park where they filmed some human movie Luz says has some good memes (they promised Gus they'd take pictures of the bench they filmed the movie on).
At the start of the trip, everything was fine. The hotel was fine. The weather was fine. They found a pretty good place to eat.
The trouble started after dinner.
Hunter wanted to visit a particular bakery that said it sold cake online, but they only had twenty minutes to get there before it closed. This meant they didn't have time to go to a shop Willow wanted to see that apparently sold something called "plant art", since it would also be closing in twenty minutes. Hunter tried to say he didn't mind not going, but Willow insisted.
This already made him feel guilty, but when they got there, it turned out the bakery only sold whole cakes, as opposed to individual cake slices, which Hunter assumed they would offer.
They ended up walking away with ice cream and a package of chocolate covered cookies.
As they were walking along the docks towards some other local art shops, eating their ice cream, all Hunter could seem to think about was how much he had screwed up in just half an hour.
Willow was saying before dinner that she was very interested in seeing just what local artists could do with the local fauna and flora. Because of him, though, she didn't get to go. Then, the whole reason they went to the bakery ended up not even being there. So, Willow missed out on going to the one shop she was excited about for nothing.
And while Hunter kept thinking about this, he also started to become aware of just how how crowded the street they were walking down was.
And just how drunk a good amount of them were.
And how willing to violate his personal space some of them were.
And how fast his breathing seemed to have gotten.
And how much weight is being added to his chest.
"Hunter," Willow stammered, "Are you ok?"
And, of course, the concerned look Willow had on her face after noticing the state Hunter was in.
Suddenly, the guilty thoughts were fighting with his mind's attempts to hold onto that face, onto her concern for him, onto her, like a lifeline.
"Do you want to go back to the hotel," Willow asked.
If this had happened a few years ago, Hunter would've tried to convince her that he was fine and that he just needed to get out of this crowd. This would've inevitably led to Hunter having a full on meltdown in a store.
Thankfully, the therapy and the talks he'd had with his family and friends helped him realize that his feelings mattered just as much as those around him.
Seeing and hearing Willow show concern for him, the love she had for him, reminded him of this.
Yes, Willow would be a bit disappointed that they wouldn't be able to see more of the shops on this street, but she would understand and they would still be able to make memories at the historical district tomorrow.
So, he silently nodded his head and he allowed Willow to link her arm with his and lead him back to the hotel while he leaned on her.
And now, they were both here in the Occupancy Inn, in bed, their heads pressed together. The events of the last hour had been forgotten, replaced with thoughts about tomorrow, and the day after that, and other days to come.
And they were both happy.