Out of the six, Gus had the least trouble sleeping. Even then, Gus still had bad nights like everyone else in the house. Some nights, like tonight, Gus just couldn’t fall asleep no matter how tired he got, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he wanted his brain to just shut up. Usually he would talk to Hunter, but unluckily for him, Hunter actually fell asleep at a normal hour tonight. They knew that he'd most likely be up in a bit, but until then, Gus was left alone with his thoughts.
Sometimes he’d worry about his dad, sometimes he’d worry about Hunter, sometimes he’d worry about everything, but tonight he worried about their best friend. Willow wasn’t okay. Him, Luz, and Camilia all knew it. She seemed fine enough most of the time, but some mornings it seemed like she’d been awake for hours, cleaning, cooking, working on the portal. The worst part is that she refused to talk to him about it. Maybe this was it, they thought, maybe Willow finally realized that he wasn’t good enough for her, and she was too sweet to tell him. Soon all of them would figure it out, that he wasn’t as good as he made them think. At the end of the day, he was just a big fricking fraud.
Gus stood up and walked up the stairs as quietly as he could. He walked into the kitchen and turned on the kettle. Tea usually helped the others fall asleep, maybe it would help him. With a twirl of his finger a mug appeared before him. As he watched the water boil, they heard some footsteps from the stairwell.
Luz woke up. Again. She grabbed her phone and checked the time. 12:53. She put her phone down with a sigh. Her eye-bags were starting to rival Hunters. She tiptoed out of the room and down the stairs.
“Hey Hunt- Gus?”
“Hey Luz. Want some tea?”
“Sure, I think we have chamilme.” Luz took a seat on the counter, “What’s got you awake? Nightmare?” Gus shrugs and makes a hum, grabbing 2 tea bags. “Hunter’s asleep?”
“For once.”
Luz chuckles, “Good for him.” she grabs her cup of tea from the counter, “Cheers to not sleeping.”
Gus holds up his mug, “Cheers.” They clink cups.
“Thanks for the tea.”
“It’s all I’m good for anyway.” Gus jokes.
“Gus-”
“I know, I know. You’ll all find out anyway though.” He might’ve whispered that last part a bit too loudly.
Luz offers a sad smile, “What’s got you spiraling this time?”
They sigh, offering their troubles, “It’s just… Willow won’t talk to me, and she’s obviously not okay.”
“She’s not talking to any of us. Trust me, she’s not mad at you.” Even if she was, Luz thinks, she won’t be mad much longer once she finds out I helped Belos meet the Collector.
“What if she is and she’s just really good at hiding it?”
“Didn’t you guys work on her garden today? She could’ve asked anyone to help, but she asked you.” She points her spoon at him.
“Yeah, and she also helped me with baking cookies the other day.”
“You see? She doesn’t hate you. She avoids talking to us, yes, but she doesn’t hate us.” She doesn’t hate me yet. “All we can do until she opens up is remind her that when she’s ready, we’ll be there.”
“When she’s ready, we’ll be there.” Gus repeats with a smile, “Thanks Luz.”
“No problem.”
-Moth, they/them