Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This isn’t a chapter, this is where I’m listing my incredibly specific poly & disability headcanons as well as request info! You can skip this and start reading the fics, which start in the next chapter, if you’d like!

Willow (they/them) is transneutral, panromantic, and currently dating Hunter and Luz. Hunter (he/they) is transmasc, demi-biromantic, and dating Willow. Luz is genderfluid with bracelets to indicate Luz’s current pronouns, biromantic, and dating Willow and Amity. Amity (she/her) is sapphic and dating Luz. Gus (he/they) is demi-homoromantic and is in a QPR with Matt Tholomule (he/him). Vee (it/they) is agender, unlabeled, and dating Masha (they/them).

They all have ADHD, and everyone but Matt and Vee are also autistic. Luz and Hunter both have PTSD, chronic pain, and seizures. Hunter, Gus, and Amity both have chronic fatigue. Willow and Luz are both diabetic. Luz and Gus both have dyscalculia. Hunter is a DID system and both he and Amity have depersonalization derealization disorder. 

Hunter’s co-host is Cephus (they/she), the protector and the Golden Guard ‘persona’ we see in The Owl House. They split off from the prior acting Golden Guard, Caelum (he/him), years ago when the stress became too much for him to handle. Caelum is currently a traumatic memory holder (...Belos) and at times serves as an unintentional persecutor. They also have an AuDHD symptom holder in the form of a Chief O’Bailey fictive named Bailey (they/them), and a gatekeeper named Briar (she/he). Everyone is aware of this, but Willow in particular is ride or die platonic friends with all of Hunter’s headmates.

Most of these fics will likely take place post-canon, when all of the characters minus Gus & Matt are in college, but I'll make sure to put context in the notes before every fic (along with any potential TWs!) If anyone ever wants to request an idea, headcanon, or oneshot, feel free to either leave it here or send it to my tumblr linked in my profile! No matter what, thank you so much for reading!

Chapter Text

Uneasiness crawls beneath Hunter’s skin. It’s some ungodly time in the morning, but he’s too busy to check. Too busy to do anything else. All they can do is sit here at their desk and feel the harsh blue light from their computer hits his eyes as he continues to type. The keyboard is nothing beneath their hands. He’s too tired to feel it. Too tired to proofread whatever he’s writing. All that matters is finishing this essay. What better time than now? What else was Hunter going to do at this time? He could sleep–no, they only get to sleep when they’re finished. Just finish the essay. Hunter’s hands went back to the keyboard, fingers fumbling each and every key they pressed. Just finish the essay. Thoughts melting together into nothingness as their mind numbed. Just finish the essay. Their hands getting harder and harder to move across the keyboard. Just finish the essay. The feeling of sunlight burning his eyes. Just finish the essay. Just finish the essay. Just finish the essay just finish the essay just finish

“Hunterrrr,” Their partner’s sleepy voice calls from somewhere inside the apartment, “Hunter, come back to bedddd..”

Just finish the essay. “Ten minutes..,” he calls back.

“Mhmmm..”

He wants to go to bed. He wants to hold them, put his head on their tummy, and fall asleep right there and then. But they have work to do. They can cuddle when they’re done. He can wait. They have to wait. With that, his hands find their way back to the keyboard. Just finish the essay. It hurts to type. Just finish the essay.

“Honey…it’s been half an hour, and I don’t want to interrupt you if it’s important, but don’t you think..it’s a little early for this?” A significantly less tired Willow calls out.

Hunter pauses. It is early. Maybe they should go back to bed. But–but if they finish this now, then they don’t have to do it later, and he can sleep in all day with the knowledge that he did something useful. He opens his mouth to reply, but nothing comes out.

“You okay in there?” 

Nothing comes out.

“Hunter? I can’t tell if you’re asleep or stressed out, and, um..I’d like to come and check on you in that case.”

nothing comes out

“If I don’t get some kind of reply, verbal or just texting me if spoken words are hard right now, anything, I’m going to check on you. Okay?”

just finish the essay

“I’m coming in, okay? I’m not mad at you. I just want to put a blanket on you if you’re asleep, or help you if you’re going through it right now. Just checking on you.”

just finish the essay just finish the essay just finish the essay just finish the essay just finish the es

“Hey, honey? Are you alright?” Hunter wasn’t sure when Willow got here. Wasn’t sure when the sun rose.

A quiet “..not..finished” was all that left his lips.

They look down at him. “Do you mind if I have a look at it?” He nods, and Willow pulls up a chair to look at the paper that they’ve typed out. They reach a hand out to Hunter, silently asking if physical touch is okay right now, and Hunter leans into Willow’s shoulder from his chair to give a nonverbal confirmation. Willow runs a hand through his hair and they start explaining what he remembers of typing it, how much of his grade it's worth, how desperately he needs to finish this paper. How desperately they need to just finish the essay. Just finish the essay.

Hunter’s nostrils have a way of flaring when they’re teetering close to the edge of a spiral. A sign that would be missed by anyone who hadn’t spent hours looking at his face, would be missed by even Hunter himself. Willow waited until Hunter paused to breathe for air, and interjected with a “I understand that this is important to you, hon, but I have to ask. Did you sleep like at… all last night?”

“..um..ye–no. Absolutely not. No.”

Willow softly kisses the top of Hunter’s head. “Thank you for telling me, honey. I appreciate that.” Hunter smiles, squeezing their hand. “So, when is this essay of yours due?”

“...monday”

“It’s. It’s Tuesday, hon.”

“Well–yeah, but what if we make plans this weekend? Then I have to finish it this week, and I could get more homework this week, and I wouldn’t have to worry about that if I just finished it now! I can spend the rest of the day hanging out with you, take you on a date, I don’t want this..stupid thing to ruin any plans.”

“Honey. My plans this weekend are to hang out with my boyfriend. That’s you. I don’t care what we do. I would enjoy sitting next to you and playing with your hair while you wrote this essay. And if we happened to have made plans or arranged a date, we would reschedule them if it made you less stressed. Okay? With all due respect, the only thing you’re going to do by working yourself this hard is burn out, and while I’ll be there to help you, I don’t want you to feel shitty if you don’t have to.”

“...you’re not mad at me, are you? You’d tell me?”

They kiss the top of his head again. “I’m not mad. I would tell you. I’m only concerned as your loving partner that you might overdo it and tire your body out.”

“but–I could finish it now–”

Willow cuts him off. “No. It’s cuddle time.”

Hunter looks over at Willow. “Cuddle time?”

“Yeah. Says right here, legally, you have to be in my arms. In our bed. Cuddling. That’s why it’s called cuddle time. I don’t make the rules.”

He looks over at his essay.

“I won’t..make you if you really don’t want to, of course. I just think a break would really do you some good right now.”

“I wouldn’t mind being put on a mandatory break.” Hunter smiles. “Cuddle time sounds nice.”

“Mhm, yes, have you saved your work recently?”

“Yeah, it autosaves! It just saved itself to the cloud!”

“Awesome, great–” Willow reaches over, closes the laptop with a smile before taking Hunter’s hand in theirs, “--and now, you’re being put on mandatory break time. You have the right to remain silent.”

Hunter giggles, allowing Willow to help them out of his chair and lead them to their shared bedroom where the two of them collapse on the bed instantly. Hunter reaches an arm out to spoon Willow close to themself, but Willow holds up their pointer finger, a sign for ‘ one minute, please’ , takes off their glasses and puts them on the desk table next to the bed. They turn back to Hunter then with a smile.

“You really wanted this cuddle time, huh?” They laugh and boop Hunter’s nose. He nods and leans into their partner’s touch. “Dork. I love you so much.”

Hunter gently holds Willow’s hand and kisses it with reverence and the quiet softness of the universe saying good night to itself. It sends those oh-so familiar butterflies through Willow’s tummy again. They don’t know how their boyfriend manages to make them fall for him again and again, but Willow will never tire of this. “Sweet boy.” They murmur and Hunter grins, a faint scarlet creeping up to his cheeks. They will never tire of that sight.

Willow leans back and Hunter wraps an arm around them, putting his head on their partner’s tummy. They absentmindedly rub a pattern into Willow’s skin as Willow runs a hand through his hair.

“Thank you for taking a break for me, honey.” They slip their hand into Hunter’s.

Hunter giggles. “Thank you for looking after me.”

Willow lets go of his hand and goes back to petting their partner’s hair and Hunter wraps their arm around Willow again, holding them close to himself. They softly kiss the top of Hunter’s hair in between kisses and Hunter smiles, burying their cheek further into Willow’s tummy. His breathing slows, causing Willow to giggle.

“Are you sleepy?”

“Noooooo.”

“Are you sureee?”

“...nooooooooo..”

“Sleepy boy. My cute sleepy boy.”

Hunter laughs, the reverberations of which are felt in Willow’s chest. They will never, ever tire of this feeling. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“You can go to sleep, honey. We have a long day of cuddle time ahead of us.” They smile.

“With Cosmic Frontier movies?”

“So many Cosmic Frontier movies.”

With that, Hunter wraps a leg over their partner and stills. Willow reaches a hand down to trace small patterns, old glyphs Luz taught them once to ensure the recipient would have good dreams, along Hunter’s back lovingly. His breathing slowed again, and Willow smiled to themself, looking down at their partner.

“Good night, honey.” They whisper, careful not to wake Hunter up.