Edric's POV
"Hunter! Thank you so much for showing up! My mom wasn't going to leave me alone until I proved to her that I was dating someone. After all, I'm the only one of my siblings that isn't already in a relationship, which means that mother is putting all her matchmaking energy into my relationships."

"No problem, Edric. After all, it's just for today. This arrangement is done once you convince your parents that you have a partner at dinner tonight," Hunter shrugs.

"Still, it's a big deal to m- Oh shit! They're here!" I start panicking. We haven't gone over everything (or really anything). We never got a chance to go over the details of my lie. Well, it's too late now. Guess we'll have to improvise and hope we don't seem too suspicious. It's a good thing that I am the master of improv.

"Edric, darling, there you are! Oh, we're so excited to meet your boyfriend, isn't that right, Alador?" Mom says while looking at Dad while hoping for a response. She's not going to get one though. He's already distracted. I turn my attention back to my mother when I hear her start talking again. "You must be Hunter. I would say that Edric has told me a lot about you, but that would be a lie. In fact, the first time I heard him mention you was this morning when I suggested a suitor for him. How long exactly have you two known each other?"

Hunter answers surprisingly quickly, "We've known each other for four years. We met when he decided to attempt pulling a prank on the Emperor's Coven. I say attempted because he failed miserably." How dare he have the audacity to smirk. I am a master prankster, and I didn't mess up the prank that much.

"Ah, yes, I remember that incident. If I remember correctly, he had to clean the entire palace every week for a month."

"Thanks to the Golden Guard, the Emperor lessened his sentence. Otherwise, he would have been forced to accept the lifetime position of being Belos's court jester in addition to cleaning the palace for a year."

That brings a slight chuckle out of my mother. How the hell is this happening? They're bonding over making fun of me?! I shall not stand for this treachery. That was a dark period of time in my life. And of course Hunter is shamelessly praising himself. I must put an end to this at once. Before I can butt in and change the subject, my mom speaks again, "I don't recall seeing you there though."

Hunter chuckles awkwardly before replying, "Oh! Well, I was one of the Emperor's guards." Luckily Mom deems the answer suitable and doesn't push further.
Soon we're seated at the table and ordering our food.

"So, how long have you two been dating?" Oh Titan, I knew we should have rehearsed our lie before coming here. Obviously. Mom was going to be suspicious and start interrogating us in order to expose the lie. Before I can stop myself, I blurt out, "Three months" right as Hunter says "Two weeks." Well, shit. If she wasn't suspicious before, she's definitely going to be suspicious now.

"How exactly have you been together for both three months and two weeks?" Mother asks with a devious look on her face.

"You said it yourself. We've been together for three months and two weeks. We've got a real connection with each other, and we're really good at finishing each other's–" I get cut off by Hunter yelling "SENTENCES." Wow, Hunter. Amazing job keeping your cool. But whatever. Not everyone is as amazing of an actor as me.

"You weren't exactly finishing each other's sentences if you were simultaneously giving different answers." She's got us there. We need a distraction.

I quickly yank the menu off the table. "Oh wow! Look at these desserts! What do you think I should get, Hunter?"

"Luz told me about something called a sundae. How about one of those?"

Here's the part where I nervously ramble to cover up my lies. "YES! I agree. What about you, mother? What desert do you want? They have fondue, souffles, a bunch of flavors of cake, obviously a sundae, pies, and even fried i-"

"Edric Blight! Stop trying to distract me! I know when I'm being lied to, and this whole dinner, both of you have been constantly fidgeting and acting entirely suspicious."

"Mother, I swear we're not lying to you. Hunter and I are definitely in a relationship. A totally real relationship because I am definitely not a liar. Besides, why would I lie to you about something as important as this? How about we get dessert and then continue talking about this afterwards. Hunter, can you please order the desserts?" I say hoping that I can come up with something within that time in order to prevent the truth from coming out. At first, Hunter doesn't move, but after giving them a puppy dog eyed stare, they begrudgingly agree.

Soon, the desserts are arriving, and I eat a spoonful of my sundae. Or, at least I try to eat it. As soon as I try to swallow, I end up choking, leading to Hunter performing the Heimlich maneuver on me. I end up coughing out the thing that caused me to choke and stare at it in shock. Meanwhile, my mom looks stunned, Hunter is extremely confused, and Dad is for once paying attention. My mom is the first to come out of her stupor, and of course the first thing she does is yell at me. "EDRIC BLIGHT! You little buffoon. I can't believe– wait, no, actually I can believe that you managed to mess up this sweet boy's proposal." She grabs Hunter's shoulders and shakes him as if it's somehow going to prove her point. And what's she talking about? Hunter didn't propose to me. It's not part of the plan. Wait a second... did Hunter do this to fix the slip up we had earlier? Of course they did, they're a genius.

Now I just have to go along with this change in plans.

Hopefully that made sense. I don't write that often, but I couldn't not write this story, so, yeah.

In case you didn't read the description, this takes place 4 years after the show. Ed, Em, Viney, and Hunter are 20/21, and Luz and Amity are 18/19.
Belos has already been defeated, and the BI is a democracy now ig. Also, I'm writing this after S2 E11, so anything after that point isn't necessarily cannon to this fic.

The reason Hunter didn't tell Odalia that he's the Golden Guard is because there are still people who hated Belos's regime and hunt down people who used to be part of Belos's inner circle and stuff. They have their own kind of trusted justice, and even though Hunter can take care of himself in a fight, he'd rather just avoid having to worry too much about it.

Hunter is now living with Eda because they were adopted by her.

And Ed is a theater kid, you can't convince me otherwise.

Also I feel like I should clarify that Hunter goes by He/They pronouns in this fic.

I have the general outline for the story done, and I'm about halfway done with writing the next chapter.

Have a great day y'all!

🐍 Karan the Basilisk 🐍
3/21/22