Chapter Text
Caleb - or Hunter, though his profile uses his alias - says, ‘ Thank you for accepting my friend request .’ and Willow laughs because it took him nearly five minutes to type the hyper-formal sentence.
She says, ‘ no problem ’
He says nothing back.
After a few hours, Willow decides she shouldn't expect anything different from what he’s said, what Luz has said, and what she’s been able to infer about his sheltered life. She turns out her light and debates messaging him in the morning. Just to make sure he’s alive.
-
In the morning he has a comment under their group photo.
This was fun. I’m sorry about the kidnapping.
Willow curses under her breath and rapidly opens their private message window.
Hey sorry could you delete that comment? My dads follow me and i kiiiinda don’t want them to know about the kidnapping bit
It is blessedly only a few seconds before she sees that he is typing. It still takes him a minute.
Oh. Yes, I can do that. I’m sorry.
no worries
(It’s many worries but he doesn’t need to know that.)
A few minutes pass. Then she sees him type again.
How do you delete a comment?
In spite of the situation, Willow laughs, shaking her head.
Its fine I can delete it myself
And, in the time it takes him to respond, she does just that.
Why didn’t you just do that, then?
I mean it’d be rude not to say anything to you first
Oh. Well, thanks. I guess.
Willow is about to respond when she sees that Hunter has started to type again. The dots beside his handle appear, then disappear, then reappear for several minutes and she watches, a weird bubbling anxiety fizzing in her stomach. She knows he’s no good at this, that it likely is the most normal statement he’s writing to her, but that doesn’t make it any less nerve-wracking.
I did have fun yesterday, and I am sorry I ruined it with the whole kidnapping thing.
Willow says, “Oh,” aloud in her room. Honestly, she hasn’t really… unpacked everything that went down with the Flyer Derby the day before, and with Hunter. She knows she’d liked Caleb; he was socially awkward and had a bit of an inferiority complex, but he’d listened and respected her. She isn’t sure yet how she feels about Hunter.
He begins to type again and she panics, not sure she’s ready for what else he might say. She shoots back a reply without thinking:
Nah nothing’s ruined :) honestly I’ve been in more dangerous situations with Luz
There’s a long silence and Willow wonders if she’s made a mistake mentioning Luz. Her friend had told her about her experience with the Golden Guard, which had been equally complicated apparently, with Hunter once again fixing a problem that he created to begin with. Amity apparently had had a run in with him, too, but she had felt less inclined to share the details. Either way it appeared both witches were wary of him, but Willow had no idea how he might feel about them.
Lost in these thoughts, Willow misses that Hunter has replied. She reads the newest message and once again finds herself laughing in spite of herself.
Is ‘:)’ supposed to be a smile?
Whatever else can be said about both Caleb and Hunter, he’s so genuine . Maybe he’d lied about his name and his intentions but his emotions were broadcast loud and clear, incapable of being masked. In hindsight, the most frightening part of being kidnapped had been seeing that he truly believed this was a good thing, that he was helping them by doing so. She wants to grab him by the shoulders and tell him nothing about his life in the coven is normal or okay and that he should get out - but she has a feeling that wouldn’t work.
Yeah it’s a smiley face
That’s cool. :)
So she’s messaging him on penstagram and laughing while he figures out the basics of talking to another person and making sure he knows someone is there. Outside the castle, outside the coven, he’s got a friend.
Hey so I gotta get ready for school but ill talk to you later - if you want
I would be okay with that.
She smiles and, before she can lose her nerve, adds:
by the way I had fun yesterday too
This time his response only takes a second.
:)