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It was late. The party was finally starting to wrap up. The grass was littered with confetti, streamers and crumpled cups that had missed the trash cans or were scattered over the largely unoccupied tables. After the battle, the party had been rapidly relocated from the gym to under the tree which now served as a monument to their victory over Grometheus.
Their victory.
Their tree.
Luz’s eyes sparkled under the shifting lights which dotted the air above them. Throughout the night, Luz had been periodically drawing glyph after glyph, and now, the sky was filled with a veritable swarm of dancing lights. As they swayed together gently in the quiet, slow-dancing to the sounds of nature which had long since overtaken the raucous noise of the partygoers, Amity could only think about how the lights only made her date look more beautiful.
Her date.
Her crush.
She hadn’t even had to ask; after facing her fear of rejection, Luz had stepped in and offered to be her date instead. She didn’t know. Luz couldn’t even recognize herself.
Amity had spent the rest of the night pointedly ignoring how Luz had mentioned doing so as friends. She was going to enjoy this, whatever little bit of Luz she could get, even if that meant playing pretend.
But… how long would she be able to hold it in after this? After learning just how wonderful it could be, to have Luz’s hands around her waist, looking at her like she was the only thing that mattered in the whole world?
It took every ounce of self-control Amity had to stop herself from leaning in.
The potential negatives were far too great to pretend that much.
Because any Luz in her life was better than none. And… she’d hardly been the best person early on. She still wasn’t. She’d jumped at the chance to let Luz face her fears for her, and that certainly hadn’t turned out well. Amity has still been forced to face her own fears, but Luz had been needlessly terrified, perhaps even traumatized, in the process.
Then, another light twinkled past Luz’s eyes, and a selfish part of Amity decided that, despite everything, maybe it had turned out extremely well.
But she needed to stop doing that! Luz was a beacon of altruism in the demon-eat-demon world she lived in. No one as mean or as selfish as Amity would ever be good enough for her.
Which was exactly why, even as Luz held her with that stupid, wonderful smile on her face, Amity still couldn’t admit her feelings to her. Amity wasn’t good enough. Luz deserved better.
And… they were just friends.
More that she should ever have dared to ask for, but far less than she wanted.
But Titan it was hard to be selfless right now.
“Hey, kid!” The Owl Lady’s voice interrupted their dance, and they stopped swaying as Luz looked over to the source. “Let’s blow this hogscicle stand! We stick around much longer and they’re gonna ask us to help clean up.”
“I’ll be just a minute, Eda!” Luz called back, before turning to face Amity again.
She looked nervous. Unsure of herself. It was an odd look for someone that always seemed to exude confidence even when she rightfully shouldn’t.
Amity was pretty sure she knew how this would end. Luz would tell her not to get the wrong idea about tonight. That they’d go back to being just friends. The clock was striking midnight. Her fairy tale was about to end. It was time to return to the unenchanted life her selfishness had earned her; to return home to a sleepless night of pining over Luz and the evening they’d shared.
Amity took a deep breath, steeling herself for what was to come.
“I had a really great time tonight... a-after the fight, of course.” Luz said.
“I did too.” Amity answered, waiting for the “but” to come.
Luz let out an uneasy chuckle.
“So…” Luz began. “I don’t know exactly how it works with Grom, considering how much I’ve guessed wrong already, but… in the human version, there’s a… tradition... that comes at the end of the night.”
In the inconsistent lighting, Amity could only just make out the blush that was coloring Luz’s cheeks.
“Oh?” She asked softly, partially out of curiosity, partially to hide her own dread.
“Y-Yeah,” Luz stammered, “now, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, especially since you, uh, didn’t get to give your gromposal note to your special someone, but…” Luz took a deep breath, and squared her shoulders. “In the human world, after a big dance or party or something, when two people had a really good night together, they usually end it by, um…” Luz crumpled inward slightly, suddenly unable to meet Amity’s eyes. “Sharing a kiss?”
She finished it like a question. Like she didn’t know her own customs… or, probably, wasn’t sure of their applicability to the Boiling Isles.
Amity’s brain short circuited past that line of thought, however. She could feel the intense flush that tore its way up her neck to the tips of her ears, and her mouth was moving before her brain caught up with it.
“You want me to kiss you?!” Amity couldn’t help the way her voice pitched up into an uncharacteristic screech.
Luz winced, suddenly very interested in staring at their feet.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. It’s just a silly thing humans do.”
And just like that, it made sense. Luz was doing this out of a perceived obligation. It was definitely too much to believe that Luz actually wanted to kiss her.
But that infallible logic did nothing to slow the pounding of her heart, or to smother the light of hope that’d bloomed within her chest.
So Amity couldn’t help but hold onto little selfishness as she tried to do the right thing and offer Luz an out, hoping that Luz wouldn’t even dream of taking it.
“Do you want to?”
Luz briefly met her gaze again, offering up a sheepish smile.
“Like I said, it’s tradition.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, either.” Amity offered, trying to hide the dejection in her voice and pretend her hopes weren’t shattered.
“I… wouldn’t be opposed, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Luz shot her that sheepish smile again.
Amity’s heart pounded harder as her hopes reignited.
“I wouldn’t be opposed either.” Amity said quietly, as if the words were fragile, and would shatter at the slightest provocation.
Luz met her eyes again. It was a soft look that sent shivers down her spine, with a matching, dazzling smile that lit up her world.
Amity couldn’t stop herself from shifting her hand from Luz’s shoulder to the back of her neck.
“So…” Luz chuckled. “Shall we?”
Amity knew her lips formed the word “yes”, but she couldn’t hear herself over the pounding of her own heart.
Luz started to lean in.
“Hey, Mittens!” Edric shouted. Stealing Luz’s attention away from her. “It’s time to go!”
… No.
Amity had been so close.
She wasn’t going to let her stupid siblings take this away from her.
She was going to be selfish, just this once. She could deal with the fallout later.
With her other hand, Amity found Luz’s chin, then softly, yet firmly, directed it back towards her.
Then she poured all the feelings she hadn’t been able to express through her lips.
It was messy; unpracticed. The force she’d come in with caused their teeth to clatter together briefly. Their noses squished uncomfortably together. It was obvious that neither really knew what they were doing, and yet, as lighting struck her from head to toe, as Luz pulled her in closer and reciprocated with equal fervor, Amity decided that maybe this was better than the perfect first kiss that always seemed to happen in stories.
Because it was real.
Because she was in it.
Selfishness had always hurt, before. Always made her feel bad. When she’d been forced to drive Willow away, or take action to preserve her “status”, it always came with a sense of crushing guilt that she’d been forced to swallow back down. But here? She couldn’t work up the energy to feel guilty about it. Not when it felt so sinfully wonderful.
With newfound energy and confidence, before they finished, she peeled her hand off the back of Luz’s neck in order to provide her brother a hand symbol of exactly what she thought of his attempted interruption.
They were both a bit breathless when their lips parted, supporting each other forehead to forehead.
“W-Wow.” Luz managed.
“Y-Yeah.” Was all Amity could initially provide in response, but as she came back down to the isles, she was feeling bold.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to, um, doing that more often.” Amity said, shooting Luz a hopeful smile.
“Me either.” Luz said. “I think I’d like that, actually.”
“Me too.” Amity said, her heart soaring.
Eda and the twins were laughing as they approached.
“Alright, lovebirds, seriously.” Eda said, shaking her head. “Let’s go.”
As they pulled apart, Amity noticed that Edric was smirking, and Emira had her palm raised expectantly.
Right. The human thing. The “High Five”. Amity slapped her hand.
“Whoo! Way to go Mittens!” Edric cheered.
“Didn’t know you had it in you, Mitty.” Emira smiled as she placed her hand on Amity’s shoulder and started to encourage her to leave.
Amity knew she must be as red as a tomato, but riding the high of the kiss, she refused to let the twins' teasing get to her. She kept her chin high, until she caught a glimpse of Luz, with Eda’s arm around her shoulder. She looked bashful. Maybe a little guilty.
“Luz?” Amity asked, stopping her sister from dragging her any further.
“It’s just…” Luz shifted her weight back and forth. “I feel a bit bad for whoever you meant to ask tonight. It wasn’t my intention to steal you away, but…”
“Oh, Luz…” Amity shook her head, letting out a joyful laugh as she turned to leave with her siblings. “You can’t steal from yourself.”
Luz’s eyes widened in shock.
“I, what?! Amity, what?! ” Luz called after her.
“Goodnight, Luz!” Amity called over her shoulder, barely containing a giddy squeal as she left the clearing.
Amity was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, but she couldn’t find it in herself to see that as a bad thing.