And When Willow’s Actually Ready For A Relationship? Oh, Hunter Doesn’t Know What To Do With Himself.

And when Willow’s actually ready for a relationship? Oh, Hunter doesn’t know what to do with himself. He’s been so ready for so long but now it’s actually happening and it’s taking all his energy not to go absolutely ballistic to instead be like “oh awesome can I have a hug?”

[Refering to situationship]

Agsvdhbk Willow's decision was a very spur of the moment thing. At some point, she just could not take this anymore. She wanted him and she had him but it still felt like there was so much she couldn't do until she asked.

Hunter didn't catch on to the build up, so it was all very sudden. It threw him off balance. And now suddenly all these months of boldness with initiating affection and straightforwardness about wanting a real relationship all goes flying the window and it's like they're back in Camila's house again. Back in their usual wavering dance, where she flirts loudly and he blushes quietly. It's only until the initial shock wears off but it still packs a wallop. Like getting hit with a mallet.

The moment she says it, he goes very still. Like a prey animal. Eyes blown wide. Even his nose twitches like a nervous rabbit. And then there's an abrupt flash of gold light and Willow can't hold back her laughter as her brand new boyfriend (!!!!) is literally bouncing off the walls like a rogue pinball.

And then all at once, it stops, and he's once again standing in front of her. He straightens himself out, clearing his throat with all the dignity he can muster.

Willow politely does not acknowledge that just happened. He still gets a little embarrassed about his involuntary flash zoomies. She thinks it is one of the most adorable things he does, and she's really struggling to not just grab him and smooch all the life and soul out of him. She's already buzzing with her own excitable quirks. She doesn't notice her butt is doing that damn ridiculous waggle and her feet are pattering anxiously until Hunter manages to find his words.

"Awesome," He says with an attempt at polite nonchalance. He sounds like his vocal chords are being held together with nothing but patches and prayers.

"Can..." He chokes on his sentence and then pretends he didn't. "Can I have a hug?"

Willow's jittering nerves cause her relieved exhale to shake. They've gotten lost in hugs so many times that the grooves and curves of their bodies may have altered just to better cradle the shape of the other person. Hugging Hunter is safe. It's familiar. And at a time like this, when she's willingly jumbling her life around and turning everything upside down just because she's utterly obsessed with him, hugging Hunter is such a welcome invitation.

Her hugs have always been too tight. They're of the bone snapping variety. Uncomfortable to some, soothing to others. Hunter is the latter, thank Titan.

They sink into each other. And for a moment, everything is still. Everything but Willow. She can feel herself wiggling. She's over the moon. She's over the sun. She's over every stupid planet in Hunter's space book.

"Okay, I-I gotta...." Says Hunter breathlessly, arms still looped around her.

Willow peers up at him, her stomach already pooling with warmth from the sight of his twitchy smile and glowing red ears.

"I gotta, well, I-...this is. I have a lot to say and I've been waiting to say it." He is continuing, even when it seems like every word is strenuous. "About you. About how I think you're so--I mean, well when I'm with you, I feel-!! Lemme start over,"

Willow tilts her head as she watches him babble, drinking this up like she's trying to get drunk on it.

Hunter inhales, deep and steadying. Then he blurts out "I just want you to know that I--!" only to stagger to a halt when he meets her eyes. The corner of his mouth tries to tug itself upwards. There's a second of resistance, before all of his battle readiness melts into a wide dizzy smile.

"Stop that," He says to her. "Stop that and let me talk,"

Genuinely confused, Willow's smile widens and she finds that her facial muscles won't let her smile any wider. "Stop what?"

"Looking at me like that!"

"How am I looking at you?"

"You know!"

"I really don't," Willow says through a spurt of laughter.

But now he's pointed out that she's looking at him a certain way, she can easily imagine how.

These last few months, he's been looking at her with a kind of soft honest lovesickness that made her bones melt. When she made the mistake of glancing his way and getting caught under his gaze with his eyes burning like that, it became impossible for her to operate as a normal person. She had been all giggles and air.

If she's currently looking at him with any ounce of the power his expression had held, no wonder Hunter is fumbling so bad.

"How am I looking at you?" She repeats, snaking her loose arms a little tighter around his waist.

He loves getting his waist hugged.

It is like being back in Camila's house. When Willow knows she's doing something he likes and she keeps experimenting with combinations (e.g. touching his inner forearm and telling him he's really smart at the same time), just to see how flushed his face can get.

It takes him a moment to formulate an answer. The waist hugging certainly isn't helping him find his words any faster. She sees the way his eyes briefly widen as he feels the squeeze around his midsection. His fingers are on her shoulders and they're worrying the material of her shirt.

Hunter's smile is only getting worse. Wider. Wilder. The limitations of facial muscles simply did not correlate with the volume of emotion that Hunter was capable of.

"Like you like me," He says simply, looking both mortified and elated, that huge grin never faltering. He stared fixated on her collarbone, unprepared to look into her eyes again. "You're looking at me like you like me and it's...it's a lot..."

"I'm a lot," Replies Willow breezily.

"I know..." He mumbles.

Another squeeze around the waist. "And I do like you,"

A panicky giggle falls out of him. His eyes are shyly flicking to hers for brief intervals, as though he's adjusting to the intensity. "I know..."

He does adjust. With time, he's making himself perfectly at home under the light of her hopelessly infatuated eyes, while she is likewise learning to exist under his.

He gets his words out too. And he managed to spit them all out with only minimal stammering, even while Willow continued to have the audacity to look at her boyfriend like she likes him.