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Willow knocked on the front door of the Noceda home, shouldering her backpack as she waited. She was a little bit early, but she was always a little bit early when she came to spend the night in the human realm. They were all always a little bit early. They were all a little bit predictable in that way.
The door opened and Hunter appeared, his expression blooming from bored to delighted, face flushing as his ears swiveled up. "Willow! You're early!"
"Again, I know," she laughed, brushing her hair over her shoulder.
"It's almost like you don't see us all every day anyway," Hunter chuckled, swinging the door open before he made an overdramatic sweeping motion with his hands to usher her inward. "Welcome to la casa Noceda. Again."
Willow bounced inside for their monthly human-realm-sleepover before she stopped in the front entranceway and blinked slowly. She heard the door shut behind her distantly, but across the room and leaning against the entertainment center was… Hunter.
"Uh," she said slowly, before she turned around again to look back at… Hunter. She shook her head and turned back to the couch where Gus was already sitting and waving cheekily.
"What are you doing?" she asked him, letting her bag drop.
"I'm not doing anything," Gus said, waving his hands in front of his chest. "This is all on them!"
Willow frowned and looked back at the Hunter that was leaning against the wall, who finally laughed and ran a hand over his hair.
"Sorry, sorry," he said as he stepped away, "Me and Vee having been trying to fool Luz, and you guys make great practice."
"Oh!" Willow laughed in relief. "I see. So Vee opened the door?"
"I didn't say that!" said the Hunter that had opened the door. He crossed the room to stand beside the other Hunter and they both shifted into the same clearly practiced position, leaning on one leg with their arms crossed and ears pointed downward. "I said me and Vee have been trying to fool Luz. I didn't say which of us was Vee."
"Well, it sort of implied you weren't Vee," Willow pouted, looking at the Hunter #2 who had been leaning against the wall. "So which one of you is Vee?"
The Hunters exchanged looks before turning back to her and raising an eyebrow each.
"Come on," said Hunter #1.
"I told you. We're practicing," said Hunter #2.
"They want you to guess," Gus snickered. "They did the same thing to me when I got here."
"Hm," Willow hummed thoughtfully. She adjusted her glasses and set a hand on her hip, inspecting the two Hunters that stood before her.
Virtually identical, she couldn't see anything off between the two. Both had the same short but mussy white-blonde hair, both wore the same soft orange sweater and jeans, both had the same red-pink scars and hazel brown eyes. She gestured for them to turn around and they did. Nothing. Willow had to think of something else.
"What are my dads' names?" Willow asked.
"Harvey," said the first Hunter.
"And Gilbert," said the second.
She tapped her chin and crossed her arms. "Hm…" She pointed at Hunter #2. "What's Hunter's least favourite subject at school?"
"Magical theory," he yawned, "I already know everything and it's boring as hell."
She turned toward the first Hunter again. "How many species of wolves are there?"
"Three primary species, but there's almost forty subspecies," he replied coolly.
She pointed at Hunter #2. "What was the last team we went against in flyer derby?"
"Blotterdale," Hunter answered confidently. "We won."
"Hrrrm…" she hummed more aggressively, tapping her foot, before pointing at Hunter #1. "What's Gus's boyfriend's palisman?"
"Matty is not my–!"
"A flamingo," the first Hunter replied, rolling his eyes.
Hunter #2 suddenly burst out laughing, frilly ears flicking out. "Oh my god, is it really?"
"Got 'em!" Willow cheered, before blowing imaginary smoke off her pointer finger.
"You did better than I did," Gus mused, "It took me a few more questions to realize I could just quiz them about Cosmic Frontier and win immediately."
"But you both had to quiz us! We're doing great at this," the real Hunter grinned cheekily.
"This is so silly," said Willow.
"It is silly!" Vee burst, before she shook out her head and put it back as it was, a perfect imitation of Hunter. "We're doing silly human sibling things!"
"I think shapeshifting into your brother is like, as non-human as it gets," Gus scoffed.
"It's the spirit of the thing," Hunter dismissed. "You two might be only children but I have siblings now, and my research indicates that it is imperative to my mission to be annoying."
"I thought that was a younger sibling thing," Willow said dubiously. "Aren't you the oldest?"
"Technically no," Vee shrugged, crossing her arms and settling back into their little practiced casual pose. "I'm a little bit younger than Luz, but–"
"–But I was already walking and talking when Belos pulled me up," Hunter said with a dry bitterness to his tone. "I reestimated recently and I think I'm technically eleven."
"Haha, wow! I kind of hate that!" Willow laughed nervously.
"Wow. I'm older than Hunter," Gus said with wide-eyed awe. "Hunter is the baby."
"Oh, don't pick on him!" Vee huffed. "He's a good big brother. You gotta count in Grimwalker years."
"Oh, I know!" Willow dismissed. "But did you tr–"
They all froze when they heard a key in the front door lock and Vee and Hunter scrambled to both get back into position, standing side by side with the same posture and expression.
The door opened and Luz stepped inside.
The Hunters grinned in sync and spoke in a clearly rehearsed tandem. "Hey, Luz, can you guess which–"
"That's Vee," Luz interrupted, pointing at Vee. She continued past them to dump her books at the kitchen table.
"How does she always do that?" Vee pouted, ears frilling immediately as her tail thumped out against the carpet.
"Middle child secret," Luz answered, digging around in the fridge. "If I told you I'd have to kill you."
"I don't know if you guys' experiences are universal," Gus said dubiously.