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Luz hummed to herself as she stood wiping down the front counter of the shop, glancing at her open textbook as she did. Normally she wouldn’t be trying to study and work at the same time, mostly because she had quickly learned since starting this job that Eda would come in and gripe about school in general. Any reminder of school, such a textbook, was an invitation for Eda to launch into a diatribe about how it was a rigged institution that forced conformity on the masses but her boss was out of the store today due to her ‘curse’ acting up again, so Luz was free to do as she wished today.
It was dead inside, but that wasn’t surprising. It had been pouring rain all day and the dark streets outside were devoid of people save for the occasional car whizzing by, sloshing water up onto the sidewalk. Not a lot of people were going to be out shopping for furniture.
Still, she was glad Eda had offered her the job after they had bought their bed from her. Any money was good and it was quiet for the most part.
She slumped over the counter, resting her chin in her hands as she watched the droplets slowly running down the front glass, getting lost in thought and forgetting her book sitting open next to her.
Midterms were upon them and she really needed to do more studying than she had been. Of course, her girlfriend had been doing more than enough for the both of them. Every time Luz got home, Amity would be hunched over their shared desk or sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table with books, papers, and flashcards scattered all around her.
Aye dios mio, the flashcards.
How many nights in a row now had they sat facing each other, Luz, cross-legged on the bed and Amity in the desk chair as Luz held up the flashcards, quizzing her? Far too many now.
Since getting cut off from her parents, Amity’s entire school career hinged on her scholarship, as did Luz’s but her girlfriend took maintaining her immaculate GPA to a whole other level.
For at least a week and a half now, Luz had gone to bed by herself, trying her best to coerce Amity to sleep before midnight but it was always the same thing.
“Let me just finish this page..” she would mutter, never looking up from her book.
Luz sat there and watched her flip through pages until she herself finally fell asleep. Most mornings she woke up and the other side of the bed had at least been slept in but Amity was already gone when Luz got up, either off to study, class, or work.
She’d been slowly but surely watching her girlfriend breakdown into a mess of anxiety and stress. She hardly ate and Luz couldn’t say for sure how much sleep she was getting but it sure as hell wasn’t enough.
She’d had to get up early today and Amity had still been home. She’d watched her girlfriend walk straight into the bathroom door.
Gus and Willow had just sent her a concerned look and she’d shrugged. She didn’t know what to do about it all. Amity was stubborn in the worst kind of ways. Usually, it was something that Luz found endearing until Amity was causing her own suffering with it.
She’d been mulling it over all day as she tapped at her laptop and watched the rain pour outside the shop's front glass and finally had a plan of action.
Not a great plan per se but a plan nonetheless and she was going to put it into action as soon as it was time to close the shop.
If Amity wasn’t going to take care of herself then Luz was going to do it for her, whether she liked it or not!
And she definitely wasn’t going to like it.
By five o’clock the store was still deserted and she could finally pack up and head home but she had a stop to make first.
She really wished that she had remembered to bring her umbrella this morning.
~ ~
The sounds of explosions and yelling blasted out of the speakers into the living room as Gus and Willow smashed the buttons on their controllers, occasionally elbowing and yelling at the tv as they played.
“That wasn’t fair!” Gus yelled as Yoshi went sailing over the edge of the arena and ‘ Game!’ echoed through the room. Willow only snickered as her Ivysaur roared on screen.
“It’s not my fault you fell to your own death,” she laughed, tapping a button and returning them to the character select screen.
“Rematch!” He seethed and Willow snorted but nodded, flicking the stick over the characters.
A loud sigh made them both look over the back of the couch to the dining room table where Amity was sitting, hunched over a textbook, cheek in hand and flipping through the book, eyes glued to the page as they scanned over line after line of tiny, black text.
Her hair was pulled back in its usual style but was far messier than usual and dark bags rimmed the bottom of her eyes.
“You okay, Amity?” Willow asked, making the other woman look up, sluggish, eyes half-lidded and she grunted, leaning back from the table, back popping as she did.
“Yeah… just trying to get as much studying in before my midterm in child development tomorrow.” She slumped back over her book tiredly, picking up a pen and jotting something down on an index card.
“You’re trying to be a librarian though, right? Why do you need that?” Gus leaned back, throwing an arm over the back of the couch to better look at her.
“Because, I want to be a school librarian and most places require a teaching certificate, so I have to get my bachelor in education. Besides, then, if I should change my mind, I could also teach,” she mumbled, her full attention already returning to the task at hand.
“Why don’t you take a break?” Willow suggested but Amity grunted, shaking her head.
“I don’t have time for a break, this test is tomorrow.”
Gus and Willow shared a glance with each other, trying to decide what they should do, Amity looked like she was about to faceplant into the table if not for her cheek in her hand holding her - somewhat- upright.
“Maybe you could…” Willow started again just as the front door burst open and a moderately soggy Luz stepped inside.
“Roomies, I have returned!” She declared and held up a fistful of plastic bags. “...with food!”
“Whoo!” Gus cheered, dropping his controller onto the coffee table as he rushed over to help Luz with the bags.
“Aw, thanks, Luz!” Willow grinned as she stood and moved into the kitchen where Gus was unpacking the bags of Chinese takeout.
“Hey, you,” Luz called, leaning down just as Amity looked up and planted a quick kiss on her cheek. Amity smiled up at her, though her face was tight with exhaustion and the bags under her eyes looked even darker than when Luz had seen her this morning before she left for class.
“I got you dinner,” she said and if anything, that soft look in Amity’s eyes only grew, though the exhaustion did not lessen.
“Thanks, I’ll get to it in a few minutes…,” she said, head turning back to the notes laid out in front of her. Luz hummed to herself and moved to the counter.
“I got you the veggie mix, Willow; the orange chicken is yours, Gus,” she said as they checked the containers.
“Sweet, thanks, Luz,” Gus grinned and he and Willow hurried back to the couch with his food. Luz grabbed her own shrimp lo mein and Amity’s kung pao chicken and moved back to the table. She set her food in the empty space across from Amity and then moved behind her girlfriend, who hadn’t so much as shifted since she’d left.
She reached over her head and plucked the pen out of her hand and before Amity could so much as blink, slid a fork in its place as she sat the container in front of her atop her open book.
“Take a minute and eat while it’s hot,” she instructed as Amity looked up at her as she plopped herself in the chair across from her.
“I just need to go over this vocab real quick…”
“When was the last time you ate?” she countered with a raised brow as she opened her own dinner. Amity pursed her lips, thinking before she sighed and opened the box.
“Thanks,” she said and Luz smiled, nudging her with her foot under the table. A nudge answered her in turn.
~ ~ ~
After dinner Luz joined Gus and Willow playing video games when it became apparent that Amity wasn’t going to budge but she had eaten so, for the moment, Luz was sated.
Only for the moment though.
She did do her best to try and goad Amity into playing with them though with calls of the hero needing a princess but Amity waved a hand, citing that she was too busy with her review. Luz pouted but still played as Link.
Gus and Willow only ganged up on her twice.
At about ten, the two decided to call it a night and Luz nodded, turning off the game.
“I’m gonna take a shower and go to bed,” she called and Amity hummed in acknowledgment but didn’t look up and Luz sighed as she made her way to their bathroom.
When she came out, freshly showered and dressed in her pajamas, Amity had migrated to the desk sitting across from their bed at least.
“Come on, Ames, come to bed,” she said, tossing her towel into the hamper.
“Five minutes, I just wanna make sure I’ve covered everything I need to cover before my test tomorrow, I don’t want to have to talk to my course advisor, he’s worse than useless...” she answered, not looking up and her voice dragged with fatigue.
Luz frowned and sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the time on her phone and waited.
When five minutes had come and gone, she set it on the bedside table.
“Times up, bed, Amity.”
“Hold on…”
Luz grunted and stood, she was tired of waiting and watching Amity work herself into the ground.
In two quick strides, she crossed the room and, in one swift motion, reached down and scooped Amity up into her arms.
“Luz!” she screeched, grabbing her shoulders as Luz turned and tossed her onto the bed.
“Bedtime!” she declared, tone brooking no arguments as she hopped onto the bed next to her.
“Luz, I’m almost done…”
“That’s what you’ve been saying every night for the last week and a half and I've gone to bed by myself every time. You need to sleep,” she argued.
“I know I’ve been busy but this is important, just let me finish…” she started to scoot off the bed.
“Come on Amityyyyy,” she wheedled.
“Luz, I really need to finish…” she started but Luz grabbed her hand, gently tugging her back in, keeping her from getting out of the bed.
“You need to rest…,” Luz insisted.
“Luz…,” she grunted, trying to get up. Annoyance started to bubble under her skin at Luz’s insistence. She knew Luz meant well but she just didn’t get it. “I need to look at my notes…,” she growled but Luz wasn’t having it.
“No, you need to close your damn eyes for more than ten minutes!” she held fast to Amity’s hand and the building frustration and stress of the last few days finally broke free.
“You don’t understand!” Amity, whipped to face her, yelling. The whole room went silent as they stared back at each other. Luz’s eyes blown wide as she looked at the snarl pulling at Amity’s face.
The shock and surprise on her girlfriend's face drowned the fiery aggravation in her belly like ice water over embers.
“I… I’m sorry…,” she mumbled. “I didn’t mean to yell at you…” She turned her head away to stare down at the bed. The silence was loud in her ears as Luz didn’t say a thing and the longer the silence stretched, the more worried she got, worried that maybe Luz was angry with her, she wouldn’t blame her. She hadn’t exactly been the most pleasant company as of late.
The bed shifted and Luz moved around to sit next to her on the edge of the bed.
“Then explain it to me,” she finally said and Amity’s head whipped up at that.
“What?” she asked.
“You said I don’t understand, so explain it to me, what don’t I understand?” she asked and Amity frowned as she stared back at Luz, watching her silently, waiting.
“I just… I need to do well, Luz. If I don’t maintain my GPA I’ll lose my scholarship…”
“I know, I have to too, but you don’t see me working myself crazy, your grades are great, way above what you need,” she said softly but Amity shook her head and buried her face in her hands.
“It’s not just that, I have to do better than just my best. I have to show them that I don’t need them!” she spat and Luz blinked.
“Them?" she asked and Amity tensed. “Them, like… your parents?” she asked quietly and Amity sighed.
“Yes…”
“Amity,” Luz started, reaching up and taking one of her girlfriend's hands in hers and giving it a soft squeeze, drawing her gaze. “You don’t have to prove anything to your parents, the only person you need to make proud is yourself. You’re finally getting to do what you want to do and how you want to do it. Outside of studying yourself to exhaustion, this is the happiest I’ve ever seen you.”
“Yeah…,” Amity reluctantly agreed. Without her parents constantly looking over her shoulder and suggesting what she should be doing with her time and what friends she should be spending it with, she was actually enjoying her life
“You finally have some real freedom, don’t let them sap all the joy out of everything, especially when they aren’t even here!” Luz waved a hand and Amity sighed, sagging.
“I know… I just…” The hand laying on the bed fisted into the sheets. “I want to make them regret it... by being even better than they thought…,” she admitted, voice barely above a whisper. “See what they’re gonna miss…”
Luz scooted closer and wrapped her free arm around Amity’s back, prompting her to lay her head on Luz’s shoulder tiredly.
“That’s stupid… isn’t it?” she mumbled and Luz shook her head, leaning it atop Amity’s.
“No, mi amor, it isn’t… maybe I don’t understand it but I get it,” she whispered against auburn locks. “It’s not gonna help though…If they don’t want to be a part of your life, then forget them.” She nuzzled closer to Amity. “You still have your brother and sister, Gus and Willow…”
“You,” Amity mumbled and Luz gave her another squeeze.
“You’ll always have me,” she agreed, pressing a kiss to Amity’s head. “Now… will you please sleep?” she asked, pulling back to look into Amity’s eyes.
“But I…” she glanced over at her books still sitting open on the desk.
“Amity…” Luz cupped her cheeks, gently turning her head to look at her. “You’re exhausted, you’ve studied all you can, if you don’t sleep then what was all the studying for?” she asked and Amity stared back at her for a long moment, looking into those warm, brown depths.
“Alright, you’re right,” she finally conceded with a sigh. She was exhausted. Bone weary actually. Luz smiled at her and she grunted.
“When did you get so damn smart…,” she huffed and Luz chuckled, leaning forward to press a kiss to her forehead.
“Eh, I’m not, I just know you.” She shrugged and Amity rolled her eyes but smiled. “Now, pajamas!” she demanded and Amity nodded tiredly. Quickly changing and turning off the lamp on the desk and crawling into bed next to Luz, who immediately held open her arms for Amity to snuggle in next to her.
She wasted no time burying her face into the crook of Luz’s neck as her girlfriend's arms wrapped around her and within a moment, her body went limp, relaxed in the warm hold.
Luz smiled to herself in the dark, feeling Amity’s stiff muscles slacken.
“Buenas noches, mi amor,” she mumbled and felt Amity squeeze her, a half mumbled ‘goodnight’, muffled in her neck, along with something that sounded suspiciously like ‘I love you'.
Luz just smiled and let herself drift off.