[He thinks about what it might feel like to be with Dylan on the dance floor and his cheeks flush but they're mostly hidden by the mask.]
[It's something a lot of people their age wouldn't admit. Having a fantasy of someone sweeping them off their feet.]
[Hunter barely knows anything about romance. It's not like Belos talked about normal growth stages for a kid and teenager, and having any interest in romance, despite being at an age where you started to be interested, was something that got in the way of him being the perfect, obedient little tool. He couldn't be interested in anyone else when Belos wanted to be his entire world.]
[Normal people grew up and had friendships and sometimes crushy feelings about other people but he wasn't a person to Belos. Just a thing. Something to use and discard if he couldn't be controlled.]
[His only window into that bit of normalcy came from palming a few teen romance books here and there, out of sheer curiosity. He used to hide them under his mattress with his books on wild magic and adventure books like his copy of Ruler's Reach.]
[The teen romances always created a strange but welcome warmth in his chest, a feeling that now sometimes stirred when he was around Willow.]
[...But they also used to make him a little sad for what he was missing out on.]
[Indulging in this isn't necessarily because he and Dylan have some deep connection or something. They're still tentatively building a friendship. But Dylan is really kind and has a big personality like the friends who'd reached out and saved Hunter from Belos' influence. For his kindness alone, he deserves someone giving him that kind of normal teen experience. Someone wanting to dance with him at a dance.]
[And Hunter craves it for himself. Normal things he's never been allowed to have, like dancing with someone at Grom. They both deserve those kinds of experiences. All people their age do.]
[(Even if he has no clue how to dance. He'll just have to figure it out as he goes.)]
[Dylan has the chocolate to be daring. Hunter doesn't. But he does have the mask. He musters up the old confidence he used to have as the Golden Guard and pushes himself away from the railing, twirling around to face Dylan.]
[He goes into a slight bow and holds out his hand.]
cw: mentions of child abuse
[It's something a lot of people their age wouldn't admit. Having a fantasy of someone sweeping them off their feet.]
[Hunter barely knows anything about romance. It's not like Belos talked about normal growth stages for a kid and teenager, and having any interest in romance, despite being at an age where you started to be interested, was something that got in the way of him being the perfect, obedient little tool. He couldn't be interested in anyone else when Belos wanted to be his entire world.]
[Normal people grew up and had friendships and sometimes crushy feelings about other people but he wasn't a person to Belos. Just a thing. Something to use and discard if he couldn't be controlled.]
[His only window into that bit of normalcy came from palming a few teen romance books here and there, out of sheer curiosity. He used to hide them under his mattress with his books on wild magic and adventure books like his copy of Ruler's Reach.]
[The teen romances always created a strange but welcome warmth in his chest, a feeling that now sometimes stirred when he was around Willow.]
[...But they also used to make him a little sad for what he was missing out on.]
[Indulging in this isn't necessarily because he and Dylan have some deep connection or something. They're still tentatively building a friendship. But Dylan is really kind and has a big personality like the friends who'd reached out and saved Hunter from Belos' influence. For his kindness alone, he deserves someone giving him that kind of normal teen experience. Someone wanting to dance with him at a dance.]
[And Hunter craves it for himself. Normal things he's never been allowed to have, like dancing with someone at Grom. They both deserve those kinds of experiences. All people their age do.]
[(Even if he has no clue how to dance. He'll just have to figure it out as he goes.)]
[Dylan has the chocolate to be daring. Hunter doesn't. But he does have the mask. He musters up the old confidence he used to have as the Golden Guard and pushes himself away from the railing, twirling around to face Dylan.]
[He goes into a slight bow and holds out his hand.]
Who says you can't still have a moment like that?