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Maybe this was a bad idea.
A thought Hunter was still getting acquainted with. Growing up, there was no room for doubt. When Hunter pursued an idea, he simply must follow it through no matter what might happen later. To admit an idea was bad was to admit he made a judgment for his own action, a honor solely reserved for-
-No, this was a bad idea. Hunter breathed in steady. But when he released it, it came out as shaky as stormy winds. He looked down at his hands and counted 8 fingers and 2 thumbs. Two hands, he could fix this before Darius got home.
The first question to answer: When did it become a bad idea?
Hunter thought about what led to here, every step he had done, every ingredient he had gotten, every theory he had read. A small part of him piped up that it went wrong the moment he had the idea, but Hunter hushed that down with a whistle between his teeth. Experimentation was a part of living, Darius had said. Only recently has Darius been experimenting with Alador again. Hunter had never seen Darius smile so wide and so much as he explained what they were doing all day in the lab. Many only had seen the Head Coven side of Darius, the him that could silence opposition with an icy stare. This Darius was much older, wiser, and happier.
So it didn't start out as a bad idea because Hunter was trying to make Darius happy. And that was never a bad idea.
Hunter realized that probably the part where it became a bad idea lied in the fact that he chose to do it in the kitchen and not an actual lab.
Second question: how could he clean this up?
It wasn't like Hunter could summon abominations to help. He figured cleaning the cabinets, walls, and ceiling first would definitely be a good place to start. He was lucky that he had listened to Darius about what to wear in a lab because the sheer amount of glass everywhere would have been a nightmare in anything but his boots. Piece at a time, Hunter focused on that. Bad ideas can be fixed. Like Darius had said-
“-What the hells happened?”
Hunter gave a weak grin, his confidence failing at the sight of Darius standing right at the entryway, mouth agape as he scanned the room. He should have moved faster. He shouldn't have frozen in fear. It was a bad idea from the start, think he could-
“-is that goo gold? ”
The question was soft and spoken as if holding something precious. Hunter followed Darius’ gaze upwards. There, right above him, was a clump of mess that glittered in the light. In Hunter's panic, he had failed to notice it himself. In his defense, he was surrounded by goo. The explosion happened so fast and Hunter was too caught in his shortcomings to notice.
Darius reached out and the golden coin sized amount reacted properly, going to his hand. His eyes widened as he maneuvered the dollop between his fingers.
“I can explain-” Hunter began.
“-oh, please do.” There was no sarcasm or joke in his voice, but it teetered on the edge of excitement.
An old fear nearly took hold of Hunter. It wasn't his first time hearing that phrase. He couldn't stop the tears building up in his eyes. He knew Darius was different, but he couldn't stop it. He felt the old throne room's walls closing in on him. It was so silly a trigger that Hunter hated himself more that this was the breaking point. He had been doing so well.
“Hey, hey, hey-” Darius approached him, rounding the island carefully as to not slip on the glass. “Hunter, listen to me.”
Hunter did not lift his head when he felt Darius lay a hand on his back. “Kitchens can be cleaned, glass can be replaced.”
The sobs wrecked him still.
“How many fingers and thumbs do you have?”
Hunter checked again. 8 fingers and 2 thumbs. He mumbled so.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Hunter checked, really accounting for how he felt. Luckily, he had enough sense in him to wear layers and goggles so the blast didn't injure him. He mumbled so.
“Then you're alright. Hunter, you're alright.” Darius pulled him into a hug. Hunter clung to him, feeling all too old to be crying like this. “And you should be proud of yourself.”
That caught Hunter by surprise. He looked up at Darius, unable to voice his confusion.
“You followed lab safety protocols, which is something I know I wasn't doing when I was your age. It took me losing a finger before I started taking them seriously.” There was a laugh in Darius's chest only Hunter could hear. “Alador still teases me about it.”
Darius squeezed Hunter in his arms. “We can clean this up together, okay?”
“You don't have to help.” Hunter muttered miserably as he started regaining control over himself.
“No, I want to.” Darius pulled away, but held Hunter's shoulders to look him properly in the eyes. “Because I want to see what you did to make this.” He held the golden goo out, eyes bright with excitement. “Because this is advanced level abomination magic experimentation.”
“But I can't do abomination magic.” It sounded weak coming out of Hunter's mouth.
“I know, but you did this!” Darius grabbed a surviving glass, placed the golden goo in it, then a small plate to cover. “We'll discuss it after we clean and get dinner. I want to figure out how you did it and see if we can replicate it in the lab. You should come with me, Alador would love to see it.”
That old fear finally crumbled away, leaving Hunter only able to match Darius's smile with his own. “For now, let's get started.”
Hunter had never been so excited to clean.