mmm this idea lives in my head so I'm finally writing it rrjgejg
set before yesterday's lie, so they're gathering ingredients for the door
also hmm yes romantic
•••

Willow seemed to end up being on lookout the most.

It was fine by her, though, as often Gus was there too. However, what seemed to annoy her is that there was also a lot of coven scouts that they had to fight off. And the one they saw the most had a different outfit and mask, it was a yellow color, and he never went for a fight. Only observed what went on.

Then, for the past couple missions, Gus had been put on lookout somewhere else, the scouts stopped attacking them, and the yellow scout had approached her. That's how Willow learned he was the Golden Guard, the Emperor's right hand man.

And now she was seeing him everywhere. He always left, however, when he saw Luz. Strange.

Willow didn't mind being on lookout, but if she could go one mission without seeing the Golden Guard, that was fine by her.

Yet, that was never the case, was it?

The group needed one more thing for the door; the thing was tape. It was incredibly rare on the Isles, and Luz had used the last of her spares, so they had to hunt someone down for it.

Their extensive research led them to a restaurant owner who ran his restaurant on the night market that had tons of tape. Eda, Luz, and King were going to talk with him.

Willow and Gus had been placed on opposite sides of the restaurant, near windows, to warn the trio of a raid.

Willow had just sat down when she looked out the window and saw that freakin Golden Guard, along with three scouts.

She sighed, and turned on the walkie talkie.

"A raid might be happening, there's some coven scouts here." Willow spoke into the device.

"Alright," Luz replied. "Let's make this quick."

Willow looked up and saw the coven scouts and that guard talking to a waiter. She eavesdropped, hearing bits of there conversation.

"Not...Raid"

"Just want.."

"Table over..."

"There."

The Golden Guard started walking quickly, being followed by the waiter and the scouts. He slid into the seat across from Willow and stated an order.

"Two boxes of Appleblood, and a plate of Griffin eggs... to share. Then don't come back over here and make sure no one else is in the room." He ordered and watched the waiter run off, before focusing his attention on Willow.

He took off his mask, pushing it to rest in top of his head.

"Our paths seem to cross a lot, Ms. Park." He spoke, resting his head on his hand and tapping the wooden table with his finger.

Willow pushed up her glasses. "Yeah, they do. Why are you here?" She questioned.

"Oh, just arresting people at the night market, and I got hungry. How about you?" He said nonchalantly.

"None of your business." She didn't answer the question, and he seemed annoyed.

He adjusted himself, sitting straight up and crossing his arms, then looked down at Willow. She could feel herself shrink down. He raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, keep your secrets. Is it your first time here?"

"Mhm." Willow nodded.

The waiter came back with the food and appleblood, setting it down in front of the two warily, before scurrying off.

Hunter grabbed a fork and started eating. Willow just drink a bit from the juice box. She zoned out, think about how she could sneak off and warn the others about this. She realized she couldn't, as after the waiter left, the scouts stood and blocked the exit. So maybe if-

"Try it." Hunter's voice cut through her thoughts.

"Huh?" Willow was confused, until she noticed he was holding his fork close to her mouth, and the fork had some of the egg on it.

"Try it," He repeated. "It's really good."

Hesitantly, Willow bit down on the fork and took the food, and Hunter gently removed the fork from her mouth and smiled.

He was right, it was really good.

Willow grabbed her own fork, and grabbed some more for herself. Well, she hadn't eaten since she left school, how'd she not notice she was this hungry?

As she went on to finish the plate, Hunter set his fork down and took a sip of appleblood, a small smile on his face. Yeah, he'd fallen for her, alright, now all he wanted was to convince her to join the Emperor's Coven.

'Could this be counted as a date?'  He wondered.

As Hunter was getting ready to offer the idea of joining the coven to Willow, a huge crash! sound was heard, and Willow stopped eating. Getting up, Hunter's hand interlocked with hers, grabbing her attention.

"Can we do this again sometime?" He asked, almost timid.

It was very different from the Golden Guard Willow was used to.

She smiled at him. "Sure."

"My name is Hunter." He added.

"Got it." Willow nodded, making plants grow from the ground and engulfing her. "See you around, Hunter."

-

Rejoined with the rest of the group, Willow explained in detail about the dinner she had.

When she was done, everyone was confused.

"Did he just want to spend time you with you?" Luz pondered aloud.

"There were no strings involved? He didn't hurt you?" Eda was concerned.

"Obviously, he couldn't resist Willow's charm!" Gus spoke up.

"Yeah, it was weird." Willow agreed, her mind going over and over the events.

He seemed to stick out a lot more now, in her mind.

All Willow knew though, was she definitely wanted to see Hunter again.