Chapter Text
"Keep your eyes closed, and no peeking!" Camila hustled him down the hallway, with one hand placed firmly over his eyes, and the other on his shoulder to guide him along. "Come on! Nearly there!"
Hunter’s socks occasionally dug into the floor as he struggled to keep pace.
"Where are you even taking me?"
His voice came out squeakier than he'd like.
"Shh, you'll see!" Camila said.
She stopped, and he felt her press something into his hand.
It felt like a marker.
"Okay, open."
Her hands fell away.
Hunter blinked his eyes open, saw the doorframe, and felt his breath catch a little.
The beam was decorated in horizontal lines, in varying colors and thicknesses as they went higher and higher.
Each line had a date, a name, and a number in inches.
They mostly bore Luz's name followed by her age, except for the newest ones at the top where a single one of Vee's measurements was marked.
He stared at the chart for a long moment, turning the marker over in his hands.
"What is this?" he asked.
Camila beamed.
"A height chart! See, every year on Luz’s birthday, we’d add a new line to see how much she’d grown-"
"I… know what it is," Hunter said, a little defensively.
He read the inches, the numbers, the notation of years.
"I mean… I just don’t know why you’re showing me."
Camila smiled.
"Because if you’re staying under this roof, you go on the chart. House rules."
"House rules," Hunter repeated to himself.
He handed the marker back, suppressing a grin.
"Alright. Where do I—?"
She motioned for him to stand with his back against the frame.
Hunter did, squaring his shoulders and eyes widening slightly with the excessive focus he was placing on making sure his mark was accurate.
Camila squinted, then smoothed his hair flat with a practiced touch.
She drew the line with a gentle but deliberate motion, careful not to smudge the marker into his hair.
"And… there we go!" she announced, scrawling his name above the line in all caps.
He looked at the mark, at the name.
His name, in her handwriting, taller than Luz’s, taller than Camila’s own.
The closest name, Vee, sat a few inches below.
The other closest name was above Hunter’s.
‘Dad’ in jagged, shaky purple gel pen.
It was clearly written by Luz when she was just a little girl.
Camila and Hunter stood together for a beat, looking at the chart.
He couldn’t think of anything to say, so he just let the silence fill up the space.
Camila put an arm around his shoulder and gave a squeeze.
"Alright, come on. There’s… one more thing."
She led him down the stairs, careful this time to let him use the rail, both of them conscious that the marker was still cupped in his palm.
Camila didn’t say anything else until they were in the basement.
She flicked on the overhead light.
"Ta-da," she said.
The basement didn’t look all that different than how it usually did.
Except for the fact that just beside the sewing table was one of the guest beds, all set up as neatly as Camila could manage.
"You… made a bed?" Hunter said, voice climbing into a confused, squeaky register.
"I did!" Camila said, with a self-satisfied little nod. "It’s not the couch. And it’s not the basement. You’ll be more comfortable here."
It took a few seconds for his brain to slot the pieces together.
Hunter glanced at the center of the floor where his bedroll usually lay, then at Camila, then back at the bed.
“That’s for— I mean, you made the… That’s for me?”
Camila laughed.
“Of course it’s for you, silly. Who did you think it’s for?”
He drifted forward and pressed a hand into the mattress.
Not like the couch, where you could feel the bar through the stuffing, or the bedroll he had gotten accustomed to in this household.
“I… I didn’t think…” Hunter started, then trailed off, because what was he supposed to say?
Camila waved a hand.
“You don’t need to think anything.” She tugged the sheets back, making space for him. “Go on, try it.”
He hesitated, only for a second, then sat on the edge. The mattress cradled him.
He felt suddenly, irrationally, that if he lay down, he might never want to get up again.
Camila perched on the other edge, smoothing the comforter.
“You can put up posters, if you want,” she said. “Or books. Or, you know. Whatever you need.”
He nodded, not trusting himself to say anything.
Camila gave the pillow a fluff.
“Do you want me to—?” She mimed tucking him in, then laughed. “You’re not ten. Sorry. Force of habit.”
Hunter let himself fall back, straightening his legs and lying dreadfully stiff on the bed.
He let his head sink into the pillow, then, slowly, burrowed under the covers.
“I… don’t mind,” he mumbled, barely above a whisper.
Camila tucked the sheets in around his shoulders as gently as she could.
“There. Snug as a bug.”
She couldn’t stop smiling.
He stared up at the ceiling, where the plaster had a faint swirl pattern.
He tried to remember the last time anyone had tucked him in.
Of course, nothing came to mind. Not even a vague approximation beyond Belos or Darius simply walking him to his room in the castle.
The attempt at recollection was setting off even more thoughts.
The word 'mom' felt foreign in his mind, and yet it was still ringing about.
Camila sat on the mattress, not moving to leave just yet.
“You okay, Hunter?”
He rolled onto his side to look at her, only half emerging from the cocoon of covers.
“Why are you…?” He chewed the inside of his cheek. “Why are you doing all this for me?”
Camila looked at the far wall, as if consulting a list only she could see.
Camila’s voice softened. “You know, you don’t have to earn this. You’re just… a kid.” She ruffled his hair.
Hunter snorted, but it came out as a sound that was almost a laugh. “I’m not a kid. I’m sixteen.”
Camila held up her hands.
“Either way, you need a… a home base.”
She just looked tired, in a kind way.
Hunter let out a stifled chuckle.
“Like… like Captain Avery’s ship?”
Camila’s eyes widened slightly at the Cosmic Frontier reference.
After a moment, she cocked her head and smiled at him, almost proud.
“Yeah. Like the ship.”
They sat in silence for a long time, the muted hum of the basement lights and the faint smell of laundry supplies around them.
Hunter rolled back onto his back and stared at the ceiling, listening to the slight creak of the mattress under their weight.
Camila folded her arms and leaned back, looking at the ceiling along with him.
“Do you… like bouncing around between places to sleep?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“It’s fine. Darius is nice. And so is Eda, but…”
“But?”
He hesitated.
“I… I like it here best.” He didn’t mean to say it so plainly, but once he had, it felt good.
Camila’s face formed back into a smile. “I’m glad.”
She leaned in, elbows on her knees.
“Hunter… how would you feel about making this a permanent arrangement? With me, Luz, Vee?”
Hunter stared, the word 'permanent' echoing in his mind.
His eyelids grew heavy, and he let out a long, drawn-out yawn.
"That sounds…" he whispered, "really good."
Camila grinned.
“I’m glad.” She reached out, brushed the hair from his forehead, and laid a gentle kiss there.
“I’ll… get started on the adoption forms right away, if you want.”
The gesture surprised him so much he didn’t know what to do, or say.
He’s never been shown that kind of affection before.
It was as if he just felt all the muscles in his face go slack, the warmth radiating from the spot on his skin down to the rest of him.
He watched Camila stand and switch off the light.
She moved to the door, pausing to glance back at him.
“Goodnight, Hunter.”
The words echoed in his head as she closed the door behind her.
Hunter curled tighter under the covers, holding onto the feeling as he drifted, swift and safe, into sleep.
As he slept, he remarked to himself in his head about how wonderful it would be, to be a Noceda.