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1 Week till Grom.
Given what has happened since the last Grom, Hunter thinks he can be forgiven for completely forgetting about it—in fact, he only remembers it when he comes down to the dining room one morning to his sisters sitting at the dinner table.
Luz has several pieces of paper and an open book in front of her as she talks excitedly, waving her pen more than actually writing with it.
Meanwhile Vee is sitting across from Luz, eating a bowl of cereal while looking at her sister with a mix of fondness and exasperation.
"-would be an amazing reference to The Good Witch Azura!!!!"
"What's going on here?"
Vee turns to look at her brother. "Well our smitten little sister here," she pauses to ruffle Luz's hair. "Is trying to come up with the best way to sweep Amity off her feet with a Gromposal."
Hunter's eyes widen, "Grom?"
Vee raises an eyebrow, "Uh, yeah? Grom is in a week, I thought you knew this? And already had a date?"
Oh.
Ever since that 'Blood Coven' stuff that Luz and Emira took care of for Amity, Hunter has been talking to Luz's traumatized friend (okay that doesn't actually narrow it down at all), Biscuit. And by talking, Hunter means flirting. And, well, by flirting he means Hunter's version of flirting which seems to be working very effectively.
Hunter met Biscuit the first time Biscuit came to the Noceda manor. He was looking a bit down so Hunter decided to be a kind host (it definitely didn't have anything to do with him being very cute) and make sure he was okay.
Hunter still isn't sure what caused it, but when Biscuit looked at him he looked. well. Hunter can only describe it as 'somehow more in love than Luz and Amity' which he hadn't thought was even possible.
Getting that reaction from a cute stranger caused Hunter's brain to skip several steps and so he called Biscuit cute and ran off without even learning his name.
(He then proceeded to scream to Vee about it.)
"Wha- No!???!??? I'm not going to Grom with Biscuit!???!???!???"
Both sisters look at Hunter like he's fallen into their trap.
"Vee never said a name, Hunter~" Luz sing-songs.
"Yeah yeah, you got me." Hunter crosses his arms, trying to ignore how red his face is. "I just haven't asked yet."
"Well, you better! What if someone else asks him?" Vee teases.
"He doesn't go to Hexside, that's not something I need to worry about." Despite this, he does get a little nervous over the thought of someone else asking Biscuit, I probably should just take a leap and ask him out...
"You're making that face again." Vee states.
Hunter apprehensively asks, "What face...?"
Vee smiles smugly, "The face that means you've realized I'm right."
_________
That night as Hunter was laying in bed in his room scrolling through wolf pictures on his scroll, (the human realm has some incredible creatures! And one of the perks Hunter gets from Amity basically being his sister-in-law is a new wolf picture every week!) he thought about what Vee had said that morning.
if I don't want to ask in front of Luz's friends I'll need to ask him to meet me somewhere...
Hunter switches to his conversations with Biscuit and starts typing,
Hello Biscuit, I would like to see you in person tomorrow at
But before he can finish, his crystal ball (which is on his bedside table) gets a call from... Biscuit?!
What the- I was just-???
Hunter sits up and accepts the call.
Biscuit looks... Well. he looks like he's going to die from sheer nervousness, Like he was simultaneously hoping that Hunter would answer immediately and wouldn't ever answer.
So uh, not what Hunter expected, but now he's feeling nervous himself.
"Uh, what's up, Biscuit?"
"CAN I BE YOUR GROM DATE?!"
OH! THAT'S- they're definitely both blushing now!
"I!- UH!- I was going to ask you tomorrow!!!" Hunter turns his scroll so Biscuit can see his incomplete message.
Biscuit reads for a few seconds before-
DISAPPEARING!?!?
Oh no wait, um, actually he just jumped off his bed and is pacing, and, ah, that's a lot of stimming, Hunter is now even more red than before.
It took some time for Biscuit to calm down enough to speak, (Hunter definitely wasn't staring at him this whole time, and he definitely wasn't blushing the more he—definitely didn't—watch) and when he had he crouched in front of his crystal ball.
"I'M YOUR GROM DATE!!" Biscuit shouted with glee.
"Yeah!!! And I'm yours!!!" Hunter responded happily. (And nervously, he is blushing a Lot.)
I have a Grom date!!!
_________
It's only as Hunter is eating breakfast the next morning that something sets in and he loses his appetite. I have a Grom date.
_________
Last Grom was... A lot. to make a long story short: Luz got chosen as Grom Queen, later Amity Blight, (the human who had become Luz's friend) volunteered to be Grom Queen. In the end. Luz and Amity defeated Grometheus together, creating what's become known as the Grom Tree. Since then Grometheus hasn't reappeared.
And Hunter and Vee both got stood up.
Getting stood up isn't fun. He's beyond relieved that Luz enjoyed(?) the night despite the chaos on her end, but Vee never deserved being stood up. As for himself?
Well...
Hunter doesn't remember the guy he asked out.
Doesn't remember his appearance, his name, what track he was in, or if he used other pronouns aside from he/him.
So Hunter's not really bothered by it!
Or that’s what he would have said, but the rising dread within him at the realization that he has a Grom date makes him think otherwise.
But it's fine!
Hunter knows that Biscuit wouldn't stand him up and he'd much rather not let this worry ruin anything for him, luckily, he's pretty sure he can just push this worry aside and it'll be fine.
_________
[Clothes Shopping]
_________
It's the day of Grom and it's not fine.
[Grom]
_________
In the days after Grom, some Hexside students would notice that they had not seen a certain student since Grom, and they would learn that that certain student fell mysteriously deathly ill.
That certain student's first day back to school (exactly a month since he had fallen ill) happened to be one of the days that Biscuit—Hunter's new boyfriend—walked Hunter to school, and that certain student was one of many that day who on the steps to enter Hexside witnessed Hunter and Biscuit's first kiss.