Cupid's Chokehold (Golden Guard/Hunter x GN reader) BOOK ONE | RE-EDITED

~If this is a rom com, kill the director~

"What?" You laugh. "I'm a bard. Now c'mon." You stand up, grabbing his hand and practically dragging him up with you. 

"You- WHAT WAS THAT?" He yells, not following you.

"I can explain when we get farther away from here. They'll know where we were sitting when they come back." You start running, Hunter beside you. "By the way, congrats on committing your first crime!"

After you run for a few minutes, you pause, catching your breath as you lean against a tree. 

"Okay-" Hunter begins speaking through shaky breath. "What the hell was that?"

"Come little children from Hocus Pocus!" You exclaim. "I uh- I love Halloween. Especially the human movies. It felt right for a controlling spell, you know? Considering the context the song is used in in the mov-"

"So that was a controlling spell?" Hunter cuts you off, horror written all over his face. You avoid eye contact, taking a deep breath.

"..Yeah."

"You made them run the other direction? Like a reverse siren?" You nod, and his face looks even more horrified. "You realize the emperor's coven knows when illegal magic like that is used? They'll find us! Er- you."

"I know. But I kinda realllly wanted to try it out. Plus, if I didn't, we'd have been kidnapped!" You protest, starting to walk away. Hunter chases after you.

"There wasn't anything else you could've done?"

"I'm already wanted, what's one more crime?" Tears start forming in your eyes. Not now, not in front of him. It was easy to make you cry, so you hoped he wasn't about to say anything that would make it worse.

"You.. regret it, don't you?" His voice softens, and at the word 'regret' your eyes sting. "Running away?" He confirms. 

"I don't regret running away from the L/N's. They didn't treat me right. I wasn't fed for a week when I mentioned wishing I could try the other tracks at school." You sigh as you stop walking and choke up a bit. "But I do regret when I started.. everything. Stealing, using illegal spells, messing with the coven. It was a joke at first. Like I was playing a game. Then it became normal.. and now.." You're not sure what words to use, but you try to be careful with them. "Now I don't know, it's not right. But I'm numb to it, you know?"

"No, I don't know. I've.. never done anything besides what Belos wants." Hunter confesses, and you're almost surprised. But not much.

"I don't know why I'm even trying to explain how it feels, I met you like a day ago." You wipe a tear from your cheek, smiling sadly at the ground as you start walking again. 

"How old were you when you ran away?"

"How old were you when you started training to become a child soldier?" You reply with a question, not wanting to spill your heart out to someone you barely know. And all that you do know about him is that you don't like him. His voice is soft, and his eyes are filled with something that's hard to lie to. He probably wanted you to open up, so he could use your weaknesses against you.

Little did he know, someday your weakness would be him.

"I don't know." He mutters. "I'm sorry I even asked if you regretted it in the first place. You seemed fine and I made you upset-"

"Why does it matter? We got away, let's just get you to the damn castle so we can stop pretending to be friends." Your words surprise you, and you try being careful choosing your next ones. "I can already tell this is gonna hurt. So can we stop pretending before it's real?" Hunter looks like he doesn't understand what you meant, and you're glad. If he did, he'd be weirded out. You were done with letting your attachment issues letting people grow on you so fast.

"Fine, let's go, criminal." He walks at equal pace with you, and you stare at your shoes while you walk beside him. You just didn't want to need him. Sure, you relied on people. Ophelia, her dads, P/N.

But you couldn't let yourself rely on someone who would surely stab you in the back.

======================

Night had fallen as you arrived in a small town and decided to stay in an inn. Luckily, you had enough snails for a two bed room. No one-bed tropes for Y/N yet. 

"Goodnight, Hunter." You say as you get comfortable. 

"Whatever." He was obviously mad at what you had said earlier, though you weren't sure why. Shouldn't you be mad? You weren't sure either of you should be mad. You could just stay normal acquaintances throughout your journey to Bonesburough. But apparently going on life changing field trips with people makes it hard not to become friends. 

You really wished you were back in Opehlia's bunk bed, petting P/N while she rants to you about how you can't just go around buying hex mix from grocery stores like a normal witch. Before you knew Hunter. And on all levels but physical, you were. Just a teenage criminal and their best friend. without a care in the world.

Maybe if you hadn't slept in the other day, or if you had taken P/N on your 'leisurely stroll' with you. (Leisurely stroll meaning start to your unexpected life changing adventure with the cute person you should hate) 

You don't let any of this make you cry. It only made you more determined to get back home. To leave this whole adventure behind you. Especially Hunter, Maybe in the future, or in another universe, you two could be friends. But not now. Not here.

"Goodnight, Ophelia." You whisper, and her voice is clear in your mind. 

"Night, N/N."

A/N: Uhhhh lmk if you have good filler ideas, I'm fresh out of creativity /j

Btw ty to everyone who's been voting, it means a lot /gen

A/N: Seriously, filler ideas are needed- I'm gonna slow this book down a whole lot from here lol