Chapter Text
In another world, in another life, Luz Noceda dreams of a lifetime with Amity Blight.
She dreams of coffee dates and strawberry dresses. She dreams of art museums and messy bullet journals. She dreams of frozen yogurt shops and a wall full of polaroids. She dreams of stolen kisses and holding hands underneath the moonlight. She dreams of breaking curfew and staying up late writing poetry. She dreams of playlists with wordy titles dedicated to her lover and nights spent counting stars.
Luz dreams of Amity.
She doesn't know whether Amity is also dreaming of her. The thought alone is almost forbidden. Luz lets herself fall into this cloud- a pretty, fluffy and pink cloud that smells of vanilla and wood (like Amity).
She lets herself fall in love with the idea of Amity Blight, lets herself become devoted to the idea of Amigy Blight. But it is only at night when she thinks of Amity this way, when Amity lets herself be thought of that way.
Amity is soft. Amity is honest. Yet Amity is wicked and the image Luz works so hard to maintain of Amity shatters when dawn arrives.
Yet she dreams of a world with Amity.
It becomes almost a routine- night falls and Luz allows herself to think of Amity. It’s like Amity is locked inside this wooden box and the moon holds the key. Luz heaves and gives into her desires, seeing yellow and pink and white. When Luz opens her eyes, Amity is next to her, snoring softly.
In the morning, Amity will be gone. Luz will make eye contact with her during the passing period at Hexside and Amity will glare, say something cruel and walk away. At night, they’d meet again.
Luz wasn’t tired of the little game they were playing. Not yet, anyway. It did hurt. It was a small price to pay for a life with Amity.
If there was one.
The sound of curtains shifting and floorboards creaking causes her to rise from her paradise of purple bed sheets and stuffed animals. She bids goodbye to her dreams, wishing for more time with her illusions.
As expected, Amity arrives. She leans on the small platform before hopping inside.
Luz pretends not to notice the rips in her pants or the ways leaves stick from her hair. She ignores the scratches on her face or the cut underneath her left eye, or the way Amity stumbles and falls into her room. She won’t say anything about the trail of blood Amity leaves, or the way Amity pushes herself up and fails miserably to stand.
The hispanic girl slides off her twin-sized bed, frowning. She’s careful to not make noise (though Amity is not) so as to not wake her mother downstairs.
In all honesty, Luz’ mom knows. There is no way in hell she doesn't hear the way Luz struggles to carry a passed out teenager into the bathroom, or how she helps her get dressed or how she sneaks food for the girl. Every morning Luz has to face her mom, Camilia Noceda only gives her a knowing look. She raises a brow, cocks her head to the side and turns, humming to a song from the eighties.
It is always enough to flood Luz with guilt.
If Camilia knows (and she absolutely does), she says nothing.
They begin their weekly routine- Amity groans and hollers and Luz panics. She helps the older girl up and swings her arm on her shoulder, dragging her to the bed. Amity doesn't resist, muttering under her breath words Luz can never decipher. She feels her heart race and Luz inhales, counting to one hundred. When they began this dance, Luz used to drop Amity with a, “Dios mio, sorry!” Now, she effortlessly carries the injured girl to her bed.
She gets down on her knees and pulls the black boots off Amity’s feet. Amity always complains but she’s always too weak to refuse. Next, she gets up and reaches for Amity’s hair tie, loosening the ponytail she carries her hair in. Fingers slide through a tangled mess of green and brown. When Amity finally rests, Luz helps her up again and they make the walk downstairs to the restroom.
Luz curses the lack of restrooms as she adjusts the settings. She moves the knobs and makes the water just fine- not freezing cold, but not steaming hot. She turns and faces the door, giving Amity the privacy to undress and get in the shower. She hears the shower curtain rattle but she stays counting the cracks on the walls.
One, two, three. Four cracks that she doubts will ever be fixed.
The sound of water droplets hitting the floor jolts her awake. A shiver runs through her spine and she eases into talking to Amity about everything and anything.
She talks about her day, about some strange segment the news had earlier or about an injustice Luz saw online. Sometimes, she talks about music or art or her favorite book.
Amity is exhausted, so her responses vary. A groan or a “yeah” or a small sentence, but Luz knows she tries. When she is done and dressed, Luz turns around and helps her. They make the walk back upstairs and Amity crawls into Luz’ bed on instinct.
Luz stares before joining.
Amity always sleeps first. Luz waits next to her, counting ceiling tiles. Sometimes, she counts the glow-in-the-dark stars she snuck on top. She counts to keep her thoughts from Amity, or to keep from feeling Amity wrap her arms around Luz and rest her head on her chest, or to keep from feeling Amity’s heart race. She ignores the way her own heart races and prays the feelings go away.
Amity would be gone in the morning.
Yet for now, Amity sleeps next to her. Her eyes shut tightly and her chest rises and drops. Sometimes, she sweats through the bedsheets and sometimes she sobs, so Luz stays to wait.
“You’re going to get yourself killed.” Luz says once.
The green-haired girl throws her head back and laughs.
“I know.”
She never brings it up again.
Her eyes begin to tire, she feels her eyelids drop and soon Luz is asleep, too. She curls up next to Amity and they sleep peacefully, until Luz’ alarm rings and the disappointment that Amity has gone settles.
When Luz wakes, Amity is gone. So was the torn and ripped outfit Luz left folded on her desk.
She tries to hide the disappointment.
As she tries to get ready for another day of school, Luz scolds herself once more for not knowing when to let it go. Supervillains and superheroes are not meant to mix after all.
And as fate would have it, the Blights are one of the most notorious supervillain families in the Boiling Isles.
The Nocedas, however, come from a lost family of superheroes.
Amity is a villain in training.
Luz is a hero in training.
Fate laughs at them bitterly.