Chapter Text
Hunter had been living at the Owl House for a few months now, and it was definitely a bit of an adjustment for all of them, but probably more so for him than anyone else. It took a lot of reassuring to convince him that he was allowed to do basic things like missing school when he was sick, resting when he was tired, getting up later than five AM, locking the bathroom door or the door to his own room, spending time with his friends outside of school, reading books that interested him, and a hundred other things that he had clearly been deprived of — or worse, punished for — for most of his life. Eda knew this kid was coming from a bad situation, and she had gotten accustomed to having to reassure him that every little thing wasn’t going to get him in trouble. So, all that considered, she wasn’t too surprised that Hunter panicked after dropping a plate while helping her out in the kitchen one afternoon.
“I’m so sorry, Ms. Clawthorne, I— I can fix it,” he stammered, scrambling to pick up the several chunks it had broken into and assemble them into some approximation of their previous form. She was just glad he was wearing his gloves as usual, so none of the edges would end up cutting him — and thank Titan it hadn’t been a glass, or he would have probably been kneeling on a bunch of sharp little slivers while trying to piece it back together.
“It’s no problem, kid,” she said quickly, bending down to grab the pieces away from him. “We’ve got more plates, and this wasn’t anything special. We can just throw these out.”
“No, you don’t have to! I’ll fix it, I promise.”
“It’s really okay, Hunter. Please, don’t worry about it.”
“I’m sorry.” He quickly got to his feet. “I should have been more careful.”
“Kid, it’s fine. Really. Let’s just move on — no point in stressing about what’s already done, especially if it wasn’t a big deal to begin with.”
He froze for a second, and she wasn’t sure what she had said wrong, but then he nodded. “Right. Of course.”
She nearly sighed in relief. “Alright, let’s just put the rest of these away, then. See? It’s really not a big deal.”
At that, he flinched for some reason, but then nodded stiffly.
Once they had finished cleaning up, Hunter asked, “Should I go to my room, or do you want me in here?”
“Huh? Yeah, sure, go ahead.” She smiled at him. “See you a little later, then?”
He nodded, giving her an incredibly forced smile in return, and then left to head upstairs.
Several minutes passed, and as she lay sprawled out on the couch, Eda couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with Hunter. She had tried to make sure he knew it was okay, but even though he’d been superficially receptive to that, he clearly still felt like something was wrong. Maybe she should go try to reassure him some more, but then again, maybe he just needed time.
She was leaning a bit toward the second option, admittedly partially because her cursed body was practically begging her to take a nap right now — but then she thought about another time Hunter had seemed “off” in kind of a similar way, and the memory of blood and panic and stitching up his wounds had her on her feet immediately. If nothing else, she needed to make sure he wasn’t going to hurt himself.
A couple of minutes later, Eda knocked on Hunter’s door. “Can I come in for a sec, kid?” A long moment passed with no answer, her heart pounding, and she finally said, “I’m going to open the door now, okay?”
When she did, Hunter was standing there completely naked. After awkwardly freezing in surprise for a moment, she quickly shut the door again, assuming she had walked in on him at a bad time. “Sorry!” she called. “I’ll — I’ll come back later, okay?”
No response. Sighing affectionately, Eda headed downstairs. Teenagers.
When she returned after a nap on the couch, her initial knock again got no response. She didn’t want to bother him, but she really did need to make sure he was safe. “Hunter? Can I come in now? I just wanna talk for a minute, you aren’t in trouble or anything.” Ignoring her seemed unlike him — did he have headphones on or something? After several more seconds, she added, “‘No’ is fine, but I’m gonna need an answer if you can hear me, kid.”
That got her an immediate, almost frantic, “Yes, of course, Ms. Clawthorne! Sorry.”
“You can just call me Eda, kid, I…” She trailed off as soon as she opened the door, the sentence dying awkwardly in her throat.
Hunter was still standing in the same spot, still naked. Was that some weird coincidence, or had he really not moved this whole time? And why had he said she could come in now?
Quickly turning away to give him some privacy, she asked uncertainly, “Uh… do you wanna tell me why you’re not wearing anything?”
“I’m ready to be punished now,” he said simply.
That hit her like a punch to the gut.
“Unless— unless you’d rather do it later, of course,” he added. “I didn’t mean to interfere with your schedule or anything — did you need me for something else right now? I’m sorry, I just thought…”
What the fuck had happened to this poor kid?
Eda felt as though she might cry. “Please put some clothes on,” she managed, voice tight. “I’ll come back in a few minutes.” Pausing in the doorway, she thought to add, “I’m not angry,” though she doubted it would do much good.
She was furious, but not with Hunter.
When Eda came back up to Hunter’s room again, he immediately opened the door himself this time, presumably having heard her footsteps in the hallway. Thankfully, he was finally dressed.
“I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely, looking ashamed. “I know that won’t fix anything, but I really am. Please just let me know what I have to do.”
She wanted to reassure him that she wasn’t mad at him, that he didn’t need to do anything to fix anything, that he was safe here, and all of that — but knowing Hunter, convincing him of even one of those things would be a hell of an uphill battle, and Eda needed to address the nagging, worrying question at the forefront of her mind now.
“Hunter… why did you think I would want you undressed?” she asked quietly, feeling vaguely sick. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer.
“Um, for the punishment?” he said a little hesitantly, his tone and expression suggesting she was overlooking something obvious, and none of that was remotely reassuring. “You know, since it hurts more on bare skin.” They both stared at each other in confusion for another moment, then realization appeared to dawn on him. “Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have assumed you would use a switch — I just didn’t know what else you might want me to do, since I didn’t think you had any kind of missions for me to go on right now to maybe make it up to you, and regular household duties don’t really seem like they would qualify as a fair punishment, so I figured some form of physical correction would be the most appropriate — and I just wanted to make things faster for you since I’ve already wasted enough time today, but I realize now that I should have waited for you to tell me what to do, and I’m sorry if I offended you at all, I just…”
As Hunter rambled on anxiously, Eda slowly processed what he was saying. At first she didn’t know what he meant by a ‘switch,’ but the more he talked, the more the pieces came together. She still wasn’t sure exactly what the implement looked like, but evidently, it was something he expected to be hit with. Something he had probably been hit with a lot in the past.
The moment it clicked in her mind, she blurted out, “Titan, kid, you thought I was going to beat you? For what, dropping a plate?”
Hunter flinched, rising panic clear on his face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you haven’t been good to me! It would be completely deserved, of course, I—”
“No, it wouldn’t,” she said firmly, before he could get out another syllable of self-blaming bullshit.
He seemed unsure of how to respond to that, probably not daring to contradict her but not daring to agree with a statement like that, either. With Belos, it was likely he would have been punished no matter what he chose, depending more on the Emperor’s whims than on his own words or actions.
Even though she didn’t intend to replicate that, and it wasn’t her fault the kid would perceive it that way, guilt flared in her at the idea of putting Hunter into what he would interpret as a similarly unwinnable and dangerous situation.
Oh, Titan, the kid looked like he was about to pass out.
“Hey,” she said gently, but strongly enough to grab his attention through the haze of adrenaline. “Can you sit down with me for a minute?” She dropped to the floor, and he followed her more slowly, body visibly tense and shaky with panic.
“Good. Let’s try to calm your breathing down now, okay? You’re hyperventilating.” Anyone else would probably be better at helping him with this, she thought. Raine, or Luz, or any of Luz’s friends, or even Lily — well, alright, maybe not Lily. The thought of her sister’s nervous energy clashing with that of her newest kid was kind of funny, actually — but still, almost anyone else.
None of that mattered right now, though, she reminded herself. If he needed to talk to someone else later, whether another member of the family or a professional, then she would make sure he got to, but right now, she was the one here with him — and she was going to do her best to help this poor kid. “Do you think you can try to breathe with me?” she asked.
“I’m sorry—” he choked out.
“You have nothing to be sorry for right now. You’re having a panic attack, and I just wanna help you get through it, okay?”
He mumbled something that Eda hoped was affirmative. Choosing to take it that way, she continued: “Alright. Try to follow my breathing, okay?” She began taking exaggeratedly slow, deep breaths, hoping that would be enough to help.
It took Hunter a while to get his breathing under any semblance of control again, and Eda was patient, although she was starting to feel a little lightheaded herself.
“Thank you,” he said so quietly she could barely hear him, not meeting her eyes. “I’m sorry — for all of that. I understand if you want nothing more to do with me.”
Something twisted in her chest at the pain in his voice.
“Hey, none of that, okay? You’re my kid now, and I’m always going to be here for you. So are your siblings, and your grandparents, and… Hooty.” She held off on adding ‘your aunt’ for now, since Lilith and Hunter had never gotten along in the coven, and they still seemed uneasy around each other despite how much Eda thought they had in common. “And your friends and of course, your Palisman.” Flapjack chirped, fluttering over to Hunter’s shoulder, and the boy managed a small, shaky smile. “I promise, you are not going to be abandoned. We all care about you very much.” Eda took a deep breath. “And on that note… I think I might need to ask you a couple of questions sometime soonish, if you’re okay with that. I’m not angry with you, and nothing you could answer would change that — I’m just worried, and I don’t want you to be dealing with something awful alone.”
Hunter was quiet for a long moment, picking idly at the carpet. “Can we do it later?” he said eventually.
“Of course.” It was good that he even felt comfortable to ask for that — the last thing she wanted was to push too hard and send him into another panic attack. “And I’m proud of you for telling me what you need, kiddo. Thank you.”
He looked a little surprised at that, but didn’t argue with her.
Progress, she thought. Tiny, delicious scraps of progress.
“What would make you feel safest right now?” she asked him, and there was that blank stare of indoctrinated confusion again. Oh, well. Can’t win ’em all, right?
“I—” He sounded dangerously close to freaking out again. “I don’t know.”
“That’s okay,” she said quickly, hurrying to defuse things before he started spiraling. “Do you want to come downstairs and hang out with Luz and King for a bit while I get dinner started? You kids can help too, if you want. And then we can have movie night on the couch?”
“… Yeah,” he said finally. “Yeah, okay. That sounds good.”
Phew. Eda got to her feet, and Hunter stayed seated, gently petting the Palisman that was now perched in his lap. “I’ll be down in a minute, Mo— Ms. Clawthorne.” He managed another weak smile, and she returned it before heading downstairs.
She would figure out how to handle this. She had to.
Hunter came downstairs a few minutes later, immediately offering to help with the cooking. He seemed to be feeling a little better throughout the evening, and it reassured Eda to see him goofing around and bickering with his siblings like a normal kid as they got dinner ready, Luz and King having offered to help as well. The two of them were more of a hindrance than a help in the kitchen, honestly, but she wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Certainly not for the almost worrying efficiency Hunter usually fell into when he helped her without the others to distract him, where Eda felt like she suddenly had a soldier under her command who knew he couldn’t afford to fail.
As they all curled up on the couch together, her kids squabbling over what to watch and Hooty poking in through a window to join them, Eda still couldn’t shake the worry that the incident earlier had instilled in her.
She knew Hunter had been abused, that much had been obvious almost from the beginning, but she didn’t know the extent of what Belos might have done to him, and just knowing the kid had been entirely ready to accept a beating from her made her stomach turn. Perhaps a bit naively, they had all sort of assumed that accepting the Emperor was evil would translate into Hunter accepting that how he had been treated by him was wrong, but of course it wasn’t that simple. Beyond the whole Grimwalker thing and the Day of Unity and Belos actually trying to kill him, Hunter probably didn’t know what things were completely normal and what were part of the messed-up way he’d been raised — after all, it wasn’t like he’d had anyone to discuss or compare experiences with until very recently.
Startling her from her thoughts, Hunter leaned hesitantly against Eda’s shoulder, and she wrapped her free arm around him. For a moment, curled up on the couch with her family, she felt like things might be okay.