Chapter Text
The first thing Hunter thought when he stepped out of the car was a half-humored, ‘ of course, he bought a purple house.’
It was a quaint little two-story, Victorian in style and tucked away in the far corner of a dead-end street that was about a 5-minute drive from the main road. It had a little overgrown yard, a long pebble driveway, and a white front porch that was in desperate need of a new paint job. It was a fixer-upper for sure, Hunter quickly noticing one of the broken porch steps and a few of the boarded-up windows on the second floor, but he didn’t really mind it too much. It was nestled comfortably around tall Cedar trees that surrounded the back of it, and the flaws somehow made it… easier to take everything in.
There was an ironic joke somewhere in that thought, screaming about how of course, he would only feel comfortable around other broken things. Hunter pushed the thought down as he went to stand in front of the parked car.
“Well, what do you think?” Darius announced, following Hunter out of the driver's seat to stand in the driveway. He crossed his arms as he leaned on the front of his car hood, looking over the place with gentle eyes. “I’m more of a modernist myself, but unfortunately that hasn’t quite taken hold yet in West Virginia. Still, fresh beginnings, and all that. And I don’t think I did too badly.”
“Yeah no, it’s-uh, nice. Secluded,” Hunter commented, rubbing a gloved hand over his arm awkwardly, trying to think of other good descriptive words he could use. “Purple .”
“Pewter,” Darius corrected.
Darius ignored Hunter’s eye roll like a seasoned pro, probably in favor of not starting up their practically daily debate of Darius’s almost obsessive eye for the finer details in life and Hunter’s, apparent, lack of one. “But, yes, I figured some fresh air would do us some good. Away from all the loud hustle and bustle of city life. No bright lights, no blaring car horns at all hours, no heavy-footed upstairs neighbors. Hell, I think our nearest neighbors are at the end of the laneway.”
Hunter leaned over Darius’s shoulders to see where the man was pointing to. Sure enough, he could just make out a red brick house barely poking out behind some thick trees at the end of the road, almost a mile down. Hunter made a humming noise in acknowledgment as Darius continued.
“Just a nice, quiet little place for us. It’s only about a 20-minute bus ride to your school. I got room for a home office. There’s plenty of backyard space for you to, I don’t know, do whatever it is rebellious teenagers do,” Darius listed off, giving Hunter a playful side-eye.
“Oh yeah, cause you know I love doing rebellious teenager things,” Hunter mockingly joked, waving his hands around for emphasis.
“Well, you could start ,” Darius mused back, before giving Hunter a little tap on the arm with his elbow. “Got plenty of time to figure it out. This is as good a place as any to start a new life. Our new lives.”
Hunter swallowed, and nodded along. He was secretly grateful Darius wasn’t throwing the word ‘home’ around. He didn’t know if he was fully ready to commit to something like that. Not.. not yet, at least. Not when everything that had happened back in Gravesfield was still so… raw in his mind.
This was just so new to him, overwhelmingly so. He didn’t exactly know how to feel about it all. He didn’t know how to compress it so that it fit inside his chest.
And, ok, he was a little excited. Moving into a new house, in a new town in a completely different state, of course, there was a sense of eager wonder there. Hunter had always been one to try new things. To broaden his worldview. He had been sheltered all his life.
But new didn’t necessarily mean good, and there was a level of fear attached to all of this that was… daunting.
He was apprehensive, to say the least, to let anything sink in quite yet. He was worried about what would happen if he let his guard down too much, let himself get too comfortable in all this… new. What would happen if he got used to this new life? What would happen if he ended up liking it.
And what would happen when this would all, eventually, be taken away from him. Again.
Darius had never verbalized that what this was, whatever it was they were building together, had any sort of weight to it. That it was permanent.
And sure, he had asked for a transfer at his last job, bought a house, enrolled Hunter in a new school, and treated everything like these were just the obvious next steps in the story. Darius uprooted their entire lives, from everything Hunter had ever known (the good along with the bad) at the drop of a silk glove, just so Hunter didn’t have to spend one more minute in the same city as…
But what did that really mean? He had signed all the paperwork that made Hunter his legal problem, but that was only until Hunter was 18. What would happen to him after that? What was he supposed to do then?
It was safer to treat everything at arm's length, Hunter had decided earlier that year, when Darius had first taken him in. That way, it was easy enough to grab if he wanted it, but painless enough to let go if he needed to. If nothing was tethered to him, if he wasn’t attached to anything, then he would never lose anything. Nothing would ever be taken away from him. He could just continue to drift along, and never have to worry about an anchor that would, ultimately, drown him.
“Right… a new start,” Hunter murmured, not meeting the older man’s eyes even though he knew Darius was pinning him down with one of those steeled side eyes that could have meant a hundred different things.
“Well, we made pretty good time getting here. The movers won’t arrive till this afternoon, so, here,” Darius said suddenly, standing from his leaning position and fishing out a pair of keys from his pants pocket. He threw them at Hunter in a way so that the teen would have to scramble to catch them, and expertly avoided the glare Hunter sent him when he turned his back to head to the trunk of the car. “Why don’t you grab your duffle and go pick out a room. The master is on the ground floor, but there are about five other bedrooms to pick from. Anything on the second floor is up for grabs.”
Hunter took a look at the keys in his hand. There were 4 in total on the little keyring, each taped and labeled with a different location. Front door . Shed . Cellar . Attic . As soon as he was done picking out a room, Hunter knew exactly the first place he was exploring. “Five? Really? Don’t you think that’s a little excessive?”
“Uh, have you met me? You’re lucky I settled and we’re not living in some nice penthouse apartment closer to town,” Darius called from the trunk, rummaging around a few boxes to pull out Hunter’s duffle bag. “Besides, I’m not totally convinced there isn’t something horribly wrong with this place, considering the absolute steal I got it at. Multiple choices in bedrooms might be the best of our problems.”
“Do you think the place is haunted?” Hunter half mused, walking over to grab the duffle Darius held out for him. "This place definitely has some horror movie murder vibes to it."
“I was thinking more along the lines of water damage and wood rot, oh take this box to the kitchen while you’re at it, but wouldn’t that just be our luck? Leave one tormented existence for another," Darius remarked, pulling out a medium-sized box labeled 'kitchen' in neat, purple sharpie and handing it to Hunter with a smirk. "Good thing I'm sending you in first, huh?"
"If it really is haunted, and I bite the dust because of some ghost, you're the first one I'm coming back and haunting," Hunter shifted his duffle over his shoulder so that he could take the box Darius handed him with both hands. "And you're gonna wake up one morning to find all your favorite silk shirts crumpled on the floor and your Waterford Crystal dishes with watermarks."
Hunter quickly dodged the lazy swat Darius made at him and turned to jog up to the house, only smiling a little when Darius called out a fervid 'brat ' with absolutely zero heat behind it. He took the porch steps two at a time, hopping over the one broken step, before coming up to the door. It took him a few tries, but he managed to get the door open on the third attempt, slowly shoving it open with his foot as he readjusted his hold on the box he had previously been balancing against his hip.
"If there are any ghosts in here, now is the time to make your presence known," Hunter called out loud enough for Darius to hear, just to get a snort out of the man. He waited a few moments, patiently, but when no one answered back, Hunter decided it was probably safe enough to take his chances and enter.
The house, though it looked a little rough and weather-worn on the outside, was actually fairly clean on the inside. The dark, hardwood floor and stair banister looked brand new, and the walls were painted a fresh coat of off-white. There was a huge fireplace in the living room that was gated off, probably due to the season, and a large kitchen that opened up into a dining room on the other side of the staircase. Hunter walked over to the kitchen, noticing that some of the appliances looked a bit out of date, and set the box down on the kitchen island.
Readjusting the grip he had on his duffle bag now that his hands were free, Hunter took his time walking back into the living room. For the most part, everything was pretty bare, the only thing the previous owners left were some heavy curtains that hung closed in front of the large living room windows, keeping the room fairly dark. Noticing a light switch on the wall, Hunter walked over to it and flipped it, but he figured the electricity got turned off because the room continued to stay barely lit.
Sliding his duffle onto the ground next to the stairs, he walked over to the curtains and pulled them open, flinching a little at the sudden change in light. Hunter wondered how long it's been since anyone had lived there, because a bit of dust floated off the fabric, illuminated in the early afternoon sunshine, when he moved the thick curtains to the side.
Darius must have noticed the movement because he had stopped unpacking the car to give a little wave when he saw Hunter standing in the window. Hunter gave a little wave back and couldn't help the small smile crack on his lips when Darius dramatically mouthed ‘ ANY GHOSTS? ’, to which Hunter replied with a less than impassioned, ‘ not yet. Gotta check upstairs .’
When Darius had given him a thumbs up, Hunter turned to grab his duffle from the ground before heading up the stairs to check out the earlier mentioned real estate ( and ghost bust, if needed ).
There really were, to his surprise, five different rooms for him to choose from, along with a bathroom at the end of the hall and a few linen closets tucked away here and there. He even found an old-fashioned laundry chute next to one of the bedrooms, but when he tried to peek inside, the chute door gave a horrible screeching sound of metal scraping metal and a spider web that got pulled apart with the movement of the door. Hunter quickly slammed the door shut again though, when he saw something large, black, and with far more legs than he cared to count move, and decided that he would just bring his laundry down the old, old-fashioned way. Carrying it in a laundry basket down the stairs.
All the bedrooms seemed to have different layouts and sizes to them. There was one room closest to the stairs, with a built-in bookshelf and one of its boarded-up windows facing the front yard that Hunter thought would make a good office for Darius. One of the rooms was quite larger than the others, probably another master with its own, separate bathroom attached. Another bedroom had a large, walk-in closet in it.
Hunter, however, found himself drawn to one of the back bedrooms at the far corner of the house. It was on the smaller side, compared to the other bedrooms, but Hunter didn’t really mind it considering it was far bigger than anything he was used to sleeping in before. The closet was a decent size, and it had multiple windows for plenty of natural light to filter in through.
What drew him to the room, however, was the large window seat that overlooked the backyard. Hunter let his duffle bag drop to the floor as he climbed to sit in the wooden nook to get a better look outside. The back yard was far more dense and lush than the front yard, with large bunches of weeds and towering overgrown sunflower plants. There wasn’t any fence to separate where the yard ended and the forest beyond it began, and if Hunter took a closer look, he could just make out the shiny blue of a creek not too far away. Hunter would definitely be checking that out when he had time, if nothing else but to try and fill in that pesky, rebellious teen activities quota Darius had tasked him with.
He sat there for a few more minutes, playing with the straps on his gloves as he took in the peaceful scenery below. This was where he was going to be spending the foreseeable future at. This was going to be his new ho-
Hunter took in a deep breath, and held it in long enough to hurt, before letting it draw out slowly through his nose.
Don't do that. Don't be hopeful. Take it slowly.
This was going to be his new room. He could put a desk by the door. His bed in the corner. Small things that didn’t have to be permanent, but could be his in the meantime. This was manageable. This wouldn’t hurt him.
After a few more slow breathes, Hunter remembered the set of keys he still had in his sweater pocket. Pulling them out, he thumbed through them till he found the key labeled Attic.
Hunter had long since stopped believing in supernatural wardrobes that could send him to other, wondrous, worlds. He didn’t believe in transporting game boards or keys that could open doorways to other realms. He was 15, and magical gateways that could carry him away didn’t exist in real life.
What did exist, though, were hideaways. Little pockets of space he could hide himself away in for hours on end. Spaces like underneath his bed. Kitchen cupboards. Attic corners. Spaces where he was safe in, away from giant hands that squeezed too hard and shouting, angry voices that vibrated in his chest.
He didn’t need to hide away anymore. Not since that last visit to the E.R. Not since Darius took him in.
And Darius had assured him, a hundred times over, that he was safe. That he didn’t need to tuck himself away anymore, or find the fastest exit out of every room he walked in. Darius had promised, when he had first told Hunter about the move, and when he had signed all those guardianship papers for the court, and when he had held Hunter’s hand in that hospital room nearly a year ago, that nothing bad like that was ever going to happen to him again. That he was, finally, safe.
Hunter hasn't caught the well-dressed man in a lie yet, and so far Darius had a clean slate as of the past year for being right.
But Hunter still found himself hunching his shoulders anytime someone closed a door a little too loudly. He still clenched his teeth and held his breath whenever someone would brush past him. He still kept one, hesitant and careful eye peeking over his should. Just in case. Even when Darius assured him that he didn't need a 'just in case' scenario anymore.
And it wasn’t like Hunter didn’t believe him. It wasn’t about believing that Darius would keep him safe. That Darius was safe. It was just…
Old habits . Hunter reassured himself, tightening the straps on his gloves so that they were a little too tight against his wrists. Yeah, it was just a cautious, old habit. And from what he’s been told, those tend to die hard. It wouldn’t hurt anything to just… take a look.
And with that, Hunter pushed himself eagerly off the window ledge and stumbled out of his newly appointed bedroom, tripping over his duffle as he went. It only took him a moment to find the little knotted rope hanging from the hallway ceiling, but it took him an embarrassing amount of time trying to reach it. If anyone asked though, he caught the rope on the second jump, and no one but the ghosts could prove otherwise.
A bit of dust came down when he had pulled the cord, Hunter coughed and held a sleeved hand over his nose before he tugged the ladder down any farther. It protested a bit, like it hadn’t been used in years, but Hunter finally managed to pull the creaking ladder down the rest of the way, the last metal rung clanging loudly when it hit the wooden floor.
He jerked the ladder a bit, making sure the thing was sturdy enough to hold his weight, and once he was satisfied that he wasn’t going to break anything after only being in Darius’ new house for a half-hour, he climbed up the steps to the locked attic door. Wrapping his arm around one of the steps for stability, Hunter used his other hand to sort through the key ring till he found the one he needed for the door. The lock itself was a little rusted over, but Hunter was patient, and a bubbling excitement of discovering what was on the other side of the door helped to keep his hand steady until he finally managed to unlock it with a satisfying click. Pocketing the keys once more, Hunter readjusted his weight on the ladder so that he could open the door with both hands, and gave a steady push.
The first thing he noticed was that the attic itself was a lot bigger than he had thought it would be. He had pictured more of a crawl space, but he was pleasantly surprised to find that, when he pulled himself up the rest of the way, he could stand upright and still not be able to touch the top of the roof.
The second thing, was that there was absolutely no light source except for the dull light coming from the hallway below.
Hunter had never owned a smartphone till Darius had gifted him one a few months ago, and he was still getting used to all the many, various functions the flat little thing could do. Begrudgingly, he pulled the cell out of his pocket and almost blinded himself when he turned it on. He'd have to ask Darius how to control the screen brightness, but in the meantime, he squinted through the light as he fumbled through the settings, looking for the flashlight button. It took him a bit longer to find it than he cared to admit, but thankfully, no one was around to witness his technological fail.
Unfortunately for him, it was all a wasted effort, for there wasn't much up there besides space and an abundant amount of dust that covered every conceivable surface. Again, he knew he wasn't going to find any magical wardrobes or transporting keys, but Hunter was at least hoping for an abandoned box or two to rummage through. Instead, the only things left behind that he could find were a few old coat hangers, a string of Christmas lights with some bulbs missing, and a few more of the 8-legged laundry chute monster's friends. Not much in terms of bragging rights, but he supposed the space itself was a cool enough find.
If he got some better light up there and maybe brought up a broom and dustpan, a few pillows, and some books, this place wouldn't be so bad to hang out in. And if he added a bit more rope to the ladder cord, he could even pull the ladder back up, and stop Uncle Philip from being able to get to him-
The thought came out of nowhere, and hit him like ice water.
A gasp ripped out of his throat like a knee-jerk reaction at the sudden image of his uncle, tall and towering over him, those piercing blue eyes boring burning, disappointed holes into his skin, and suddenly he couldn’t breathe. His heartbeat began racing in his chest, and all too familiar fear seized his body as blood roared like a drum in his ears.
He dropped into a crouch position, his legs feeling like they could no longer support him as he clutched the little phone to his chest. He tried to make himself as small as possible, squeezing his eyes tightly. Because no. No, no nonononono no-
Stop it. Don't think about him. Don't- Breathe. He's not here. He's not... You're safe.
You're ok. Breathe! He's not here. He's not here. He can't touch you. He can't see you, he's-
He’s not here! He can't find you. Hecan'tfineyouhecan'tfindyouhecan'tfindhecan'tTOUCHyouhecan't-
" Hunter ?"
Hunter snapped his eyes open, falling backwards and hitting the dusty floor with a startled yelp, his phone sliding a little out of reach and illuminating part of the room in a large arc.
"Hunter? Was that you? Are you ok?" Darius called again from the bottom of the stairs, his footsteps growing louder and quicker and Hunter found himself scrambling to correct himself. His heart felt like it was doing its very best to catapult itself through his chest. Hunter pushed a gloved hand over his heartbeat, hard, trying to force it to calm down with pressure.
"Ye-yeah! Sorry, I'm- that was me!" Hunter called back, fumbling to grab his phone and accidentally blinding himself in the process. “I’m- ack! I’m up here!”
“Up her- are you in the attic?” Darius’s voice sounded alarmingly close now, and Hunter did his best to even out his breathing. His hands were shaking too much to figure out how to turn off his flashlight, so he just shoved the entire phone into his pocket and rubbed his face hard enough to see stars. He was absolutely not going to get caught having a panic attack. Not now. Not when they had barely even had a foot through the door of their new lives.
He hadn't seen his uncle in almost a year. It was pathetic of Hunter to get so worked up at the mere memory of the old man. He had to get over this. He had to move on. Darius deserved better.
Calm down. Calm down. Don’t think- just… be normal. Breathe and be normal.
“I’m- yeah. I’m here,” Hunter responded, hating how forced his voice sounded. He kneeled over the opening and peered over. Darius was standing with his arms crossed at the bottom of the ladder, looking curiously back up at him.
“There you are. I wondered where you scurried off too. I've been calling your name for the last-,” Darius pauses, his usual sharp green eyes hardening as he stared up at Hunter. “You’re filthy.”
Hunter blinks. Once. twice. The words not really registering in his still flustered mind. “I’m... huh ?”
“I leave you alone for 10 minutes,” Darius notes, unfolding his arms to wave a hand in Hunter’s direction. “And you’re absolutely covered in dust.”
“Oh,” Hunter replied meekly, looking down at himself and oh. Yeah. In the hallway light, he could see himself a little better, and sure enough, there was a thin dusting of dirt covering his clothes and the exposed parts of his legs and arms.
“ Oh, um, sorry,” Hunter responds eloquently, trying to dust himself off the best he could, leaning away from the attic opening so that no dust would fall onto Darius below.
“You don’t-,” Darius started, before sighing and rubbing the back of his neck in exacerbation. Darius had been doing that a lot lately, and though Hunter wasn't really sure why, he still felt a shard of shame chip its way into his shoulders at the action. “It’s fine. Just, come down here please.”
Hunter obliged, and Darius took a step back to allow Hunter to climb back down. Hunter tried to pretend that his footsteps against the metal rungs of the ladder didn't sound like loud cannon fire, echoing through the empty house hollowly.
“What were you doing up there anyway?” Darius asked, folding his arms over his chest as he gave the attic a suspicious eye when Hunter was squarely back on the floor. “Please tell me that’s not where you decided your new room would be.”
Hunter could feel an embarrassed heat color his face, and he tried to turn his head away so that Darius wouldn’t notice. Because he couldn’t- he just couldn’t admit to Darius, the man that had sacrificed so much for him, told him tirelessly that Hunter was safe, what he was really doing up there. What he was looking for up there.
"I was just exploring," Hunter mumbled, because a half-truth would hurt less than a full one, where he'd have to admit that he was hey, surprise! A messed-up kid still looking for an escape from the boogeyman. "And uh, no. I chose the one at the end of the hall."
Darius regarded him with an even glance, not bothering to follow and look down the hall where Hunter had meagerly pointed to. Hunter was used to being on the receiving ends of these sorts of glances. Darius had the habit of staring him up and down, like the answers to all the man's many questions were somewhere hidden in the folds of his second-hand clothes or the wrinkles in his brow.
Hunter had used to make a game of trying to figure out what the glances meant when he was younger, when his uncle would occasionally let Hunter tag along on some of his business meetings, and stick Hunter under the not-so-appreciative nose of Darius while the older man attended to some appointments. Darius would always make a quiet huff about it, saying that he was an attorney, not a babysitter, but would eventually give in and just stick Hunter on the couch in his office while Darius silently worked at his desk. Every once in a while, Darius would look up from his papers, scanning hunter with bright, green eyes, and Hunter would try to guess what was going through the young man's mind.
He thought he got pretty good at it after a while. Most of the time, Darius would just pin him with an annoyed glare, which told Hunter that he was already in a bad mood, and to not make it any worse by being rowdy. So Hunter was always on his best behavior during those times. Always sitting still on the couch and reading whatever magazine was left out on the coffee table as quietly as he could, turning the pages softly so that he didn't annoy the man further. Sometimes, Darius would just meet him with a curious side-eye, not really knowing what to make of the general existence that was a 10-year-old Hunter.
Those were safer moments. Moments Darius didn't mind answering Hunter's excessive questions as much. Moments where he would explain some legal term or court case he was working on with only half his usual exacerbation. Hunter liked those moments. Darius' half-cocked glances felt warmer. More patient. Kinder.
There were a few looks Hunter didn't like though. When Darius would look at him with green eyes that were soft and leaf-like, something sad and concerning crossed over his face like a shadow that Hunter was entirely the cause of. He hated it when Darius looked at him like that. It always made him feel an embarrassingly large need to hide whatever part of himself that was making Darius sad away, like it was shameful. Like he had done something wrong.
Hunter would take Darius glaring at him any day over Darius looking at him with such a look of... well... pity wasn't the right word. Distress wasn't either. Whatever it was, it made Hunter's stomach twist in anxious, self-conscious knots.
This look, however, was more analytical than curious, like he was searching for something in Hunter's face that could answer a question he didn't want to ask. Hunter didn't much care for these kinds of looks either. Hunter had always been good at tests, but he couldn't very well supply what Darius wanted for him if he didn't know what it was the man was searching for.
Hunter settled for patting down his hair, hoping the reddened heat on his face wasn't spreading to his ears when a bit of dust was brushed off.
"Well, good then. Glad to hear it," Darius finally replied, and Hunter guessed that he had found whatever it was he was looking for, because he turned and began walking back down the stairs. "The movers just called, looks like they made good time too. They're only about 10 minutes away."
Hunter was about to move to put the attic ladder back in place, but stopped when he noticed Darius gesture for him to leave it and follow him down the stairs. "I want to try and get the electricity up and running before then. Do you still have the keys I gave you?" Hunter fished them out of his pants pockets and handed them over once Darius had gotten to the bottom of the stairs.
"The previous owner told me that the circuit breaker is in the cellar. Everything should be in order, we just need to turn it on," Darius threw the keys up in the air before catching them and giving Hunter a suspiciously devious smile. "How do you feel about exploring a bit more of the house?"
Hunter wasn't an idiot, far from it, actually. He had the Wechsler Individual Achievement test scores to prove it. Darius was pretty good about hiding the intentions of some looks. This one, however, was one Hunter could see through a mile away.
"You afraid of the dark, Darius?" Hunter teased, already knowing the answer as he crossed his arms and leaned against the stair banister. He hadn't reached the final steps of the staircase yet, so Hunter was at eye level with Darius when the green-eyed man rolled his eyes.
"More like I'm not a fan of small, damp spaces that'll ruin my new Ceasare Attolini dress shirt I just had shipped from Italy, thank you very much," Darius huffed, patting down said dress shirt like the mere mention of a crawl space had somehow ruined its integrity. "Besides, since you're so eager to explore, I figured-"
"You mean, since I'm already covered in dust."
"-that once you turn the water on, you can take a shower and stop tracking said dirt throughout the rest of the house before the movers get here with all my cleaning supplies, yes," Darius finished dryly, waving his hands around grandly like he was trying to speed through the point he was trying to make. "Look, this entire outfit cost about a third of my paycheck and it'll take 3 minutes, tops, to turn on the breaker."
Hunter was going to do it, obviously. There was never a question about him not doing it. If Darius asked him to backflip off the roof, Hunter wouldn't waste a second getting a ladder out. He just didn't need Darius knowing that.
"Fine," Hunter replied in one long breath, like it hadn't been a split-second decision on his part. He rolled his shoulders and gestured for Darius to lead the way, which the man did eagerly, probably glad for the little fight Hunter gave.
"Why did you wear such expensive clothes on the day of our move, anyway?" Hunter asked, following Darius past the living room and kitchen to the back of the house. "Won't you get, I don't know, sweaty carrying stuff in?"
"You never have an excuse to not look your best, little prince," Darius let the childhood pet name roll off his tongue like it was second nature, leading the way until they had reached the back door, to which Darius held it open for Hunter like it was a grand gesture. "Besides, I hired movers for a reason. Until I get my ironing board set up, I'm not putting a single wrinkle into these dress pants."
Hunter hummed at the image of Darius, in his Gucci loafers and tucked in dress shirt and slacks, directing a bunch of movers with his leather couch and boxes upon boxes of skin care products like a commander at war, and had to bite the inside of his cheek so that he wouldn't be caught smiling.
The early afternoon sunlight felt warm on his skin, the hot August heat a stark contrast to the muggy, city air in Connecticut he had known all his life. The view of the overgrown garden he has seen from his window didn't even compare to his view of it now. The vibrant greens and yellows of the plants and flowers seemed to pop out at him like they were the reason the colors had a name. There was a gentle, pleasant breeze that played and pulled on his messy hair, carrying an oaky and earthy scent along with it. And though he couldn't see it, if he was quiet enough, Hunter could just make out the sounds of rushing water of the creek not too far away.
Hunter stood there with his eyes closed, breathing in the sunshine and raising his head up to the sky like it was a blue he could feel.
Ok. Ok maybe... maybe he wouldn't mind getting attached to this place. If it was peaceful like this all the time... then maybe...
Maybe he wouldn't mind, one day, calling this place his hom-
"Good lord, you would think with a padlock this big, the previous owners were hiding some sort of terrible, horrible monster down here," Darius wondered out loud, pulling Hunter away from his thoughts abruptly. Hunter immediately put his arms down, turning around to see Darius hunched over the cellar door, fiddling with the cellar key and a midevil-looking lock with an annoyance that Hunter could practically taste.
Right... one day... maybe.
Hunter let out a slow breath, walking over to peer over Darius's shoulders. "Is there a laundry room down there?" He asked.
Darius didn't stop forcing the tiny key into the ancient lock, but he did give Hunter a curious side-eye at the sudden question. "It's on the first floor," Darius replied slowly, an unspoken 'why do you ask' hidden in the subtext of his answer.
"I'm pretty sure there's a monster living in the laundry chute," Hunter supplies, and when Darius raised his brow in confusion, Hunter put up his hands and wiggled a few gloved fingers at him. "The eight-legged kind."
"Now look who's afraid," Darius snorted, turning his attention back to the lock-in his hand. "Didn't peg you to be an arachnophobe."
"When they're the size of a small dog, then yeah," Hunter remarked holding his hands out to show just how big the spider was. He didn't care if it was a little exaggerated. "I think I'm in my right to be a bit wary."
Darius stopped was he was doing, mouthing the word 'small dog' to himself, before turning fully and facing Hunter with a creased brow. "You're joking."
When Hunter shook his head, Darius just stared back at the lock with a frown of disbelief. "Well, that's... yeah ok that's a problem we'll tackle a different day." He responded, before the ancient lock opened with a satisfying and hearty clunk.
"For right now though," Darius announced with a triumphant smile as he chucked the lock over his shoulder like it had done him a personal offense before throwing open the cellar doors. Stale, damp air immidietly greeted their noses, and the only thing Hunter could make out was a few concrete steps that went straight down into pitch-black darkness. Hunter swallowed and paused, flexing his hands opened and closed as he stared into, what could only be described as, a void.
He wasn't afraid of the dark. Really. And he certainly wasn't afraid of small, cramped, stuffy places, but it wasn't like he was exactly looking forward to this either. He was starting to regret agreeing to this so easily. He should have at least bargained for pizza rights, at the very least.
But, no, what was he thinking. Darius had tasked him with this measly little chore, the very least Hunter could do was follow through with it without complaining about the dark like a child. His uncle had asked him to do far more. Hunter had experienced far worse. He could do this.
But before he could force himself to take a step forward, Darius was already marching down past him, rolling up the sleeves of his pristine white shirt as he went.
"Wait," Hunter called out, confusion like electricity sparking through his veins as he shot a surprised look at Darius. "I thought you-,"
Was all Hunter could get out before Darius turned back to him, shooting Hunter with those familiar, sharp green eyes and a cocky, half-baked grin that Hunter was having a very difficult time deciphering. "Well? You coming, little prince?"