in regards to that text post you tagged as hunlow followed by "listen to me". i have a chair. i am sitting down. i'm listening if you want to explain.
Waaah I am all jumbled up so this is not gonna be very eloquent but lemme do a little word vomit here.
Anyway. The poem 'Yes & No' by Natalie Wee and the complete huntlow overload it gives me every time I read it.
It works from both their perspectives on how they view the other person. Those parallels do be paralleling. I might blabber about it from Hunter's POV....another day. But because the poem is written by a woman and refers to a 'Him' lets focus on Willow's side of things. It's the side that gives me the most brainrot anyway. I really do love a good subversion. A girl who thinks she is too monstrous for a boy whom she views as too gentle.
I think very often about Willow's relationship with her own powers. The show went somewhat into depth about how being 'Half a Witch' destroyed her confidence. The part of her that could not excel at anything that wasn't plant-centric. There's nothing particularly complex about her feelings of inferiority. It's very easy to understand. She's Mildred Hubble coded.
HOWEVER it's also shown in her debut episode that Willow losing control of her emotions can lead to big destructive outbursts. This is the part that was touched on as a conflict in For the Future, but was never really explored at length.
This ability of hers is extremely dangerous. She can severely hurt both herself and the people around her. Surely, that must be a frightening reality for a little girl to live with.
I wonder when these outbursts first started. I wonder if that incident in the detention pit was the first time her own magic nearly killed her. I wonder if something happened on the day of Amity's birthday party when little Willow felt like she had lost everything. I wonder a lot of things. But mostly I wonder how being like this since she was young has effected Willow's mindset, her behaviour and her complexes. What does she think of herself? Is she afraid of what she's capable of? Is she afraid of her own emotions?
Anyway, with that in mind. Here is the poem. Beat by beat.
reasons to not kiss him:
1. you weren’t raised to love tender.
Willow was born and raised to be a sweet gentle girl with a soft spot for plants. She's silly and lighthearted yet mature for her age and tries to remain rational in irrational situations. She allows hugs from Gus and she allows Luz's touchy affection and cooing over how cute she is.
But by "love tender", I interpret it as Willow not knowing how to love and be loved in a way that puts her in a vulnerable position. The bleeding open wound kind of love. She's already been thrown away once in her life like she's something disposable so she has decided that it will inevitably happen again. Willow has already braced herself for Luz and Gus finding other friends and leaving her behind. She's loved them so sweetly this whole time but she's always been keeping them at arm's length, scared to pour too much of her heart into their hands. She's simply savouring the time she has with them until they drift away.
But Hunter is a different story. There is something about him that demands she love tender. And it's terrifying that she feels the pressure to do so. And it's even more terrifying that she so badly wants to.
2. when he’s around all you do is tremble. when he’s around you want to get on your knees. look how much power he has over you. it’s dangerous.
Willow is a girl who has been carelessly discarded like her feelings meant nothing, made to feel like she was a waste of an existence and who is also deathly afraid of herself and the unstable magical battery pulsing inside of her. This results in having to lock up her more reckless emotions in order to keep everyone safe, but also to protect her own heart. She's gotten good at it. And she's also now perceived as an iron clad witch who cannot be weakened.
But the presence of Hunter reveals something very concerning. She can be weakened. His smile and his voice and his entire disposition is a breach of the barriers she has spent years building. He is capable of puncturing her clean through. And the part that makes her lips tighetn is that he's not even aware of it.
It doesn't sound so foreboding on the surface. So what if he can make her smile until she can't stop smiling? So what if he can make her laugh until she's breathless? But then she'd have to regain herself and realize that as harmless as that is, it's a result of her losing control of her emotions. Which she rarely does anymore. And it's all because of him with his soft eyes and his kind smile and his shy adoration for her.
And if he can do that, he can do far worse to her. That's the scary part.
3. he’s too good at forgiving and you’re too good at violence.
4. you know what they say about monsters. you know what happens to the boys who love them. are you going to do that to him?
5. your hands don’t know how to be gentle. think about the last beautiful thing that shattered in your palms. the fresh rosebuds crumbling between your fingers like a bruise. you wolf-boy, you war machine. you wouldn’t know how to hold something magic and not destroy it.
Willow is not stupid. She's not unobservant. Hunter did not need to stay a word for her to realize that he is a boy who has been wronged by someone who he loved with his whole aching heart. He has been hurt in a way that will leave his heart aching forever and ever.
But it's a sharp sting to know that in spite of that, he continues to fall deeply in love with every person who shows him compassion. Nothing can burn out his warm glow. He loves and he loves until he's sick with the stuff. And Willow doesn't know how he does it, but his glow is so nice to graze in. Once you get too close to him, you don't want to leave.
When Willow hugs him, his fingers tentatively twist into the sleeves of her cardigan. She sees how he looks at her and she knows he'd like nothing more than to squeeze her tight and drown in her.
He's in love with Willow the way he's in love with everything and she desperately wants to give him everything.
She wants to place her hands on his cheeks and watch as she melts into her palms, finally satiated after all he had been starving for.
She wants to fall in love with him.
But she can't. Because she knows he'd fall in love with her too.
And then eventually, she would hurt him. Like he had been hurt before.
She can't trust herself to not hurt him.
And in the aftermath of the hurt, she would cry herself hoarse with ragged apologies.
And because she was kind and because he knows she didn't mean to hurt him, he would squeeze her tight and say "It's okay."
Then she'd hurt him again.
"It's okay."
And again.
"It's okay."
A painful cycle that spins until there's barely of him left.
And Willow is scared that by that point that she'll be too weak for his soft eyes to ever let him go.
She doesn't know what will become of her.
She doesn't want to find out.
So to stay on the safe side, they will never begin.
6. if you hurt him it might kill you
7. if you hurt him you might kill yourself.
8. you are very bad at rehabilitation. this is one addiction you’d fail to give up. he’s going to ruin you for all other kisses and all other boys and you’ll spend the rest of your life trying to forget his name.
Willow has analyzed the situation and she's come to the conclusion that if she allowed this sweet boy entry to her briar n' bramble guarded heart, they'd bend to his will, clearing a path to the delicate structure. And once he holds it in his hands, he'll leave his fingerprints all over it.
This is the damage she's talking about.
The damage he can do to her.
9. you still aren’t sure he isn’t a dream.
10. if you kiss him, you might wake up.
You would think, with all this lamenting Willow does over Hunter's existence, that he's making her miserable.
Far from it.
She's reluctant to admit it, even to herself, but she's already addicted to whatever it is that he's emanating. Like a flower stretching towards the sunlight.
Sometimes he doesn't feel feel.
Typical of an overthinker to not believe that could be as wonderful as it seems.
In an ideal world, they could both make each other happy.
If she doesn't ruin everything.
Mistletoe kisses. Parasitic in nature.
What if she leeches all the light left in him?
What if a kiss is her wakeup call?
reasons to kiss him:
1. because he’s beautiful.
He's so beautiful.
2. because he asked.
He's begging. He's begging every time he looks at her. He certainly doesn't mean to. Nor does he know that he's doing it. But somehow, without saying a word, he has crumbled to his knees begging for her to pour of a little of her heart into his lips to warm his blood.
He wants her to love tender and be loved raw. And he wants to do the same.
And if she said no, he would simply reply "that's okay."
But she doesn't want to say no.
She wants to give him everything.
That's the problem.
And even worse....she is pretty sure she is about to crack.
She will give him everything.
Because...
3. because he preceded please with, i’m not afraid of you.
My brother let me do a stupid little doodle in his sketchbook because I was bored so have this
Commissions now OPEN! i will draw for you . let me do it ,
If you’re interested, please email me at rileyclaw.art@gmail.com!
my Commission TOS
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You can also have my cloak if you get cold.
I grant you refuge from hurt and suffering.
With words of sacred scripture I shield the oranges from the sting of phosphorous and the shades of cloud from the smog.
I grant you refuge in knowing that the dust will clear, and they who fell in love and died together will one day laugh.
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.
Please consider: Huntlow ghibli hug
These but with Hunter and Willow
Huntlow gives strong Ghibli vibes
Here’s the first chapter of my new Zelink fic!! I’m gonna try to update this every Saturday until it’s finished, but I’ll post any updates to the contrary here on tumblr.
Hope you like it if you decide to check it out! Love you all :DDD
Peachy | She/her | 21 | Asexual Panromantic 🖤🩶🤍💜/🩷💛🩵✨I write sometimes✨https://ko-fi.com/peachy45018
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