Chapter Text
All day at school, Amity is tense.
Tonight’s the night. It has to be. Her parents are leaving for a work trip tomorrow morning, and they won’t be back until the weekend. It’s the perfect opportunity. This is her chance to tell them the truth about her and Luz, and she has to take it.
She knows that, and she’s going to do it. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t terrified.
She can barely concentrate in any of her morning classes and, in one of them, her teacher speaks sharply to her about her lack of attention. Normally, something like that happening would send Amity into a full-blown spiral of anxiety, but today she hardly notices it.
She’s hours away from telling her parents that she’s in a relationship with a human. Next to that, what’s a reprimand from a teacher?
At lunch, Luz immediately picks up on the tension she’s feeling. She sits close, and her hand finds Amity’s under the table, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Amity squeezes back, and the physical contact helps to ground her. Her foot taps against the floor repeatedly, an outlet for her nervous energy.
It’s not long before Willow and Gus notice that something’s up as well. “Everything okay?” Willow asks, glancing at Amity and Luz in turn.
Luz glances over at Amity, who gives her a tiny nod. Leaning in, Luz says, as quietly as she can, “She’s telling her parents tonight. About us.”
“Oh,” Willow says, and she and Gus share a worried look.
“Is that-” Gus starts to ask, but Luz shakes her head, and he cuts himself off.
Amity appreciates that. She doesn’t think she could handle anyone questioning her decision right now - she’s doing enough of that on her own already.
“We’ve got a plan,” Luz explains. “It’s going to be okay.” She gives Amity’s hand another reassuring squeeze.
“Can we talk about something else?” Amity asks. “I could really use a good distraction right now.”
“Of course,” Willow says. “Want to hear about how Luz almost got eaten by a plant today in class?”
“Hey, I did not!” Luz protests. “I had the situation totally under control!”
“Sure you did,” Willow replies, giving Amity a knowing look. Then she launches into a description of the incident. Before long, Luz joins in, equal parts defending herself and adding further embellishments to the story. It’s funny, as stories involving Luz often are, and Amity finds herself laughing along - her anxiety temporarily loosening its vice-like grip on her.
Then the bell rings, signaling the end of lunch, and she has to leave her friends and her girlfriend behind and return to class alone, where her fears once more take her firmly in their grasp.
Amity tries her best to concentrate on the lesson, but she stares at the words written on the chalkboard without really seeing them. Images of her parents - coldly disappointed, or full of red-hot anger - swim before her eyes. The scenarios in which they threaten her are terrifying enough, but they have nothing on the ones in which they threaten Luz.
That’s what has always frightened Amity the most about telling her parents - the distinct possibility that once they know, they’ll threaten to harm Luz in order to ensure her obedience. It’s still her greatest fear, in no small part because if it happens, she’s not sure that she’ll be able to hold firm in her resolve. She has to - she’s promised Luz that she won’t let anything come between them, and she’s promised herself that, too. The thought of being forced to give Luz up, of losing the best thing that’s ever happened to her… she can’t imagine anything worse.
Except for one thing. The thought of Luz being hurt, because Amity was too selfish to do what was needed to keep her safe. That’s worse.
She knows Luz doesn’t agree with her, though, and she’s promised her girlfriend that she won’t let her parents win. She and Luz are in this together, for better or worse. Now, she just has to find the strength to keep that promise.
At long last, and at the same time all too soon, the school day ends. Luz is waiting for Amity at the front gates.
“Can I walk you part of the way home?” she asks, with a soft smile.
“Yes please,” Amity says.
When they’re far enough away from the school that there are no other students around, Amity reaches out and takes Luz’s hand. She’s normally very careful about displays of affection where others could potentially see them, but she figures it hardly matters now, since the secret won’t be a secret for much longer. And she desperately needs the comfort that holding her girlfriend’s hand brings.
Eventually, they reach the point where they will have to part ways. Luz stops, and Amity stops too, turning to look into her girlfriend’s beautiful brown eyes.
“I guess this is goodbye,” she says. “I’ll message you, when…”
She trails off, not needing to finish the thought. Luz takes Amity’s other hand as well, holding them both and squeezing them gently.
“You’re the strongest person I know,” she says, and Amity has to laugh at that, because how can that be true?, “And you can do this. I’ll keep this near me all evening,” Luz promises, holding up the scroll Eda picked up for her secondhand a few months ago, once it was clear she wasn’t leaving the Isles anytime soon, “So if you need any help, just let me know and Eda and I will be there, okay? I love you.”
“I love you too,” Amity says, trying not to cry. She’s terrified that this will all be taken away. “Can I kiss you?” she asks, and when Luz nods she kisses her hard, desperately, clinging to her as if this is the last kiss they’ll ever share. Because it might be.
Then she pulls away, and with a final longing look at Luz, she leaves.
***
Amity’s parents aren’t home yet when she arrives, so she heads up to her room to pass the time until they get back.
She doesn’t even attempt to get started on her homework, knowing full well that there’s no chance she’ll be able to concentrate. Instead, she paces relentless circles around the room, unable to sit still.
It’s not long before the twins sense something is up, and come knocking at her door.
“Everything okay, Mittens?” Emira asks. “We can hear you stomping around in there from across the hall.”
“Yeah, it sounds like you’re trying to wear a hole in the floor,” Edric chimes in. “What’s wrong? Did you call your teacher ‘Mom’ again?”
“No! That only happened once!” Amity practically growls, stomping over to the door and opening it a crack, glaring at her siblings.
“According to your diary, it happened at least twice,” Edric corrects her, with a shit-eating grin. Amity briefly considers slamming the door in his face.
“What do you want?” she says instead.
“Why, to know what’s upsetting you, dear sister,” Edric says, batting his eyelashes innocently.
“Yeah, Mittens, you seem tense,” Emira says. “Well, more tense than usual, anyway,” she amends, with a teasing grin. “Won’t you tell us what’s wrong?”
Amity sighs. It’s probably better if she tells them what she’s planning, so that it doesn’t come as a total shock if she and their parents get into a screaming match, or if she ends up having to leave the house in a hurry.
“You’d better come in,” she says, opening the door and stepping aside. Ed and Em enter her room, teasing expressions gone. Something in her voice must have tipped them off.
Vaguely, she motions for them to sit on her bed.
“What’s going on?” Emira asks, sounding worried. “Are you okay? Did something happen with Luz?”
“No, Luz and I are fine,” Amity says. “And nothing’s happened. Yet.”
“Yet? What’s that supposed to mean?” her sister asks, eyes narrowed.
Amity sighs, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at her siblings with as much determination as she can muster. “I’m going to tell Mom and Dad,” she says. “About me and Luz. Tonight.”
Her siblings look at her wide-eyed, momentarily stunned into silence.
“Wow,” Edric says.
Emira frowns. “Are you sure that’s such a good idea? What if they, y’know…”
“I know the risks,” Amity says firmly, trying to sound more certain than she feels, “But it’s something I need to do. We can’t keep hiding our relationship forever - it’s not fair to either of us, and it’s getting harder and harder to keep it secret. It’ll be worse if Mom and Dad find out by accident. It’s better if I tell them. Besides,” she adds, “We have a plan. In case it... doesn’t go well.”
“You have a plan,” Emira says flatly. “And what might this plan be, exactly?”
“If Mom and Dad try to force me to break up with Luz, I’ll leave home,” Amity explains. “I’ll go and live in the Owl House with Luz. She’s already cleared it with Eda.”
Amity stands up straighter as she speaks, looking down her nose at her siblings and attempting to radiate confidence. Sure, she’s a scared fifteen year old girl who’s considering running away from home to escape her terrible parents, a plan which feels shakier than ever right now, but she can’t let them see how scared she is. She’s made her decision, and she’s going to go through with it. No matter what.
“We’ll help you,” Edric says. “If it comes to that.”
Amity blinks in surprise. “You’re not going to try to talk me out of it?”
Emira shakes her head. “No. If you think this is the right thing to do, we support you.” She pauses. “And honestly? I’m impressed. I didn’t know you had it in you, to stand up to Mom and Dad like that.”
Amity swallows nervously. “Well, I haven’t done it yet.”
“No, but you will,” Emira says. “You’re clearly determined. And we’ve got your back, okay?”
“Okay.” She smiles at them, a little shakily. “Thanks.”
“Do you want us to be there when you tell them?” Edric asks.
Amity shakes her head. “Not in the room. But… stay nearby. Please.”
“Of course,” Emira promises.
The twins hug her, and for once, Amity lets them. She appreciates their concern, and their offer of help.
She’s as ready as she can be. Now, all she can do is wait.
***
The sound of the front door opening and closing, and her father’s deep voice traveling up the stairs, sets Amity’s heart to racing.
They’re home.
She stopped pacing a while ago, and she’s just been sitting on her bed, alternating between trying to distract herself with a book and messaging Luz on her scroll. They’ve been talking about everything but the impending conversation with her parents, and Luz has been relentlessly cheery and upbeat - telling funny stories and sending Amity lots of what she calls “memes”.
Amity sends her girlfriend a quick message to let her know that her parents are home now, then composes herself and adopts a carefully neutral expression. She’s decided that the best time to speak to them will be after dinner, and she needs to hide how anxious she is until then, or they’ll know something’s up.
Before too long, there’s a knock at her bedroom door. “Amity, dear, dinner’s ready!” her mother calls.
“Yes, Mother,” Amity replies. Her throat has gone dry. “Be right down.”
She stands up and quickly checks her reflection in the mirror, making sure the mask is in place and her emotions are well hidden. It’s not bad, but her eyes give her away. Closing them, she takes a few deep breaths, slowly emptying herself of emotion.
When she opens them again, a bored, disinterested girl stares back at her.
Perfect.
Dinner is uneventful. Ed and Em are quieter than usual, refraining from joking around or making subtle digs at Amity like they would normally do, but her parents don’t seem to notice the difference.
They ask Amity about her day and she answers in as few words as possible. It’s not like they’re actually interested - they only care when she does something wrong, something “unbecoming of a Blight”, as they like to say. The rest of the time, she may as well not even exist, as far as they’re concerned.
Well, she’s tired of being treated like an accessory. She’s her own person.
After dinner, the twins head upstairs, giving her encouraging smiles when her parents aren’t looking. Her father gets up from the table as well, probably intending to retreat to his study.
“Wait,” Amity says, barely managing to keep her voice from cracking. “Before you go, there’s something I would like to speak to you about.”
The words hang in the air - hard and brittle. She imagines them falling to the ground and shattering, sending shards of syllables everywhere.
Alador Blight sits back down. She has his attention now.
No going back. You can do this.
“Yes, Amity?” her father says.
Her parents look at her expectantly from across the table, and Amity feels herself shrinking under their gaze.
“Well, what is it, dear?” her mother asks impatiently, when she doesn’t say anything right away.
Amity takes a deep breath, gathering every ounce of courage she possesses. She tries to remember the script she prepared, but the words have flown away from her like a flock of frightened pixies.
Time to improvise, I guess. Like Luz would.
Warmth blossoms in her chest at the thought of her girlfriend, and she takes heart in it.
I’m doing this for you, Luz. For us.
“Do you remember,” she asks her mother, “The day a few months ago when I was sick, and my friend from school brought me the homework I’d missed?”
Odalia’s lips tighten in a barely disguised sneer. “The human girl? Yes, I remember.”
“Well, um, there’s something I need to tell you about her. She’s, uh...”
Just say it.
“She’s my girlfriend.”
Silence. Her parents just stare at her for a few moments, their expressions inscrutable. Amity does her best to sit up straight, resisting the urge to cower in fear.
You haven’t done anything wrong, she reminds herself. Loving Luz could never be wrong.
“How long has this been going on?” Odalia asks, voice tight with barely concealed anger.
“Not long,” Amity fibs, knowing they’ll be even angrier if they find out she’s lied to them for months. “A couple of weeks.”
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” her father asks, frowning in displeasure.
“I was afraid you’d be angry,” she admits, truthfully.
“Then you have some sense at least!” her mother snaps. “A human, Amity? Really ?”
Amity feels her own anger swell at her mother’s immediate dismissal of Luz. Her hand clenches under the table, fingernails digging into her palm. “Luz may be a human, but she’s stronger than most witches I know!” she exclaims. “Not that it matters, anyway! What matters is that I love her!”
Oops. She hadn’t been intending to admit that.
Her parents are momentarily stunned into silence, so Amity continues. “Look, I don’t expect you to approve. But I’ve made my decision. Luz is the one I want to be with, and nothing you say or do to me is going to change my mind.”
She raises her chin defiantly, meeting their eyes and refusing to back down. Her mother’s face is white with fury, but her father looks almost… amused. She’s not sure what to make of that.
“I warned you about letting her dye her hair back,” Odalia hisses at Alador. “This is what comes from indulging her in her childish rebellion! A human, Alador!”
“Dear, this is what Amity wants,” her father says, and his expression is almost… calculating.
“What Amity-”
“May I speak to you in the study for a few moments?” her father interjects.
Odalia sighs. “Of course, dear. Amity, stay where you are!” she says sharply, with a pointed look at her youngest child.
They get up and leave the room, and Amity does as she’s instructed. She stays where she is, and she waits.
What on the Isles could they be talking about in there?
Her mother’s reaction is pretty much what she expected, but her father… it had almost seemed as though he’d been coming to her defence. She has no idea what to make of that - sure, he’d sided with her when she’d dyed her hair brown again, but that was hair. Dating a human is a far greater transgression.
Amity can’t make sense of it - can’t predict what’s going to happen when they come out of that study again.
Her parents are only gone for around five minutes, but to her it feels like hours. When they return, she’s surprised to see that her mother’s expression is no longer furious, but is instead almost… smug.
Oh, no. What are they planning?
She doesn’t like the look of this at all.
They take their seats across from her, and she waits to learn her fate.
“Amity,” her father begins.
Here it comes.
“... Your mother and I have decided that you may continue to date the human girl, so long as it does not affect your performance at school.”
Amity blinks in surprise.
Wait. What?!
“T-thank you,” she manages at last, eventually. “If that’s all, m-may I be excused?”
“Just a moment, young lady,” her mother says.
I knew it was too good to be true.
“You will bring this ‘Luz’ to dinner on Saturday,” Alador says. “Your mother and I would like to meet her.”
Wow. Okay. She was not expecting that.
“O-okay,” she stammers. “I’ll tell her.”
“Good. You may go now,” her father says.
Amity flees.
Once she’s safely back in her room with the door closed behind her, her legs give way and she sinks to the floor. The adrenaline is wearing off, leaving her suddenly dizzy.
Resting her head on her knees, Amity sits there and tries to make sense of what just happened.
They said I can keep dating Luz.
Never in her wildest dreams did she expect it would be that easy.
What did Dad say to Mom, to change her mind?
Just then, there’s a knock at her door. Amity gets up, moving over to sit on the bed. “Come in,” she calls.
Ed and Em poke their heads in, and she motions for them to enter. They shut the door behind them, then tentatively approach her.
“Did you talk to them?” Emira asks.
Amity nods.
“How’d it go?”
“We couldn’t hear anything,” Edric adds.
“There wasn’t much to hear,” Amity says. “Mom was mad at first, but then Dad asked to talk to her in private. When they came back, they… they said I can keep dating Luz.”
Her siblings are silent. It’s a day for being shocked into silence, Amity thinks.
Ed recovers first. “Hey, that’s amazing!” he says. “Come on, give me a… what was it called again?”
“A high-five?” Amity supplies.
“Yeah, a high-five!”
Amity dutifully high-fives her brother, although she can’t really share in his excitement. She feels almost… numb. And there’s something else, too. A sense of… wrongness.
The calculating look in her father’s eye. Her mother’s anger giving way to smug satisfaction. The fact that she knows - she knows - that neither of them should be okay with this.
Amity looks at her sister, and she can tell that Emira feels it too.
Something isn’t right about all this.
“They want me to invite Luz to dinner on Saturday,” she says. “They want to meet her.”
Emira frowns. Edric looks between the two of them, confused.
“What’s wrong?” he asks. “Shouldn’t you be happy?”
“It’s just…” Amity begins. “It all just seems… too easy.”
“Maybe Mom and Dad really have turned over a new leaf,” Emira says, but she doesn’t sound convinced.
“Or maybe they think they can use me to gain information about Luz... and Eda and Lilith as well,” Amity replies, giving voice to the thought which, over the last several minutes, has slowly been taking shape in the back of her mind.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions just yet,” Emira says. “But I think you’re right not to just take them at their word. This isn’t the kind of thing they’d normally be okay with.”
“I know. That’s what worries me.”
“You should talk to Luz about it,” her sister says. “The two of you just need to be careful, that’s all. And I know you probably want to message her, so we’ll get out of your hair. Come on, Ed.”
At the door, Emira pauses. “Maybe just… don’t tell Luz everything tonight. I’m sure she’s been as anxious as you, and she’ll be so relieved to hear that Mom and Dad approve of her dating you. If I were you, I’d probably let her take the win, tonight, and talk to her about your suspicions another time.”
Amity nods. “Thanks, Emira - that’s good advice. I’ll just tell her the good news tonight.”
Emira smiles at her approvingly and then the twins are gone, closing the door behind them. Amity summons her scroll, and begins composing a message to Luz.