Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Boscha groaned as she slipped through the portal door they had fixed to the back wall of her and her roommate’s kitchen. Her eyes glanced around and sighed happily at seeing the lack of a mess that was there. It meant that either Amity had cooked and Luz had done dishes because the poor girl couldn’t let others do them for her if she didn’t cook or Amity had enough strength after classes to summon an abomination to do them. Either way, it meant that she didn’t have to and she was all too happy about that.

That didn’t stop her from her job every morning whenever she came home from work. She paused to first slip off the light armor that she wore for her Isles work and hung it up next to the portal as she always did. It admittedly looked a little… weird in the human kitchen but she didn’t dwell on it. She’d had at least half a year to get used to it being there after all and it was just her uniform for her night market job.

What she did worry about was getting the amount of coffee grounds right for the coffee she made most mornings. While being a potions major had made sure that she was all too skilled at brewing different drinks, she knew Amity was really particular about her coffee and she hated when she got careless and got the balance off. Not when the serious witch usually needed all the energy she could get to get her through a day at school.

However, the work was always worth it because, after five minutes since the coffee started, almost as if by clockwork, Amity slipped into the kitchen. Her hair was a messy mane nowadays that went down to her waist and often looked like it hadn’t been combed in a week, which was usually the case. She let out a small gurgle as she stumbled in and Boscha smirked at her girlfriend before asking, “So, did the smell wake you up or did you get up early?”

Amity gurgled out something incoherent as she came closer and then reached for the pot. Boscha stopped her with a hand on her head before she used the fact that she was almost a foot taller than her old friend to keep her away. “Ah ah ah, you know it’s not done yet and that you always owe me something for making it.”

There was a small whimper at that before the tired girl stepped back. Boscha then came in closer and gladly let Amity wrap her arms around her. After a moment of just holding each other, Amity gave her girlfriend the peck that she was owed for making her coffee before gurgling a little more. She stayed in this state of incoherence for another five minutes until finally she got some coffee into her.

And by some, Boscha meant that the normally refined girl grabbed the pot from where it sat and drank half of it pitch black from it. The rough girl paled at the sight before coughing a little and saying, “I know I like my stuff bitter but, uh-”

“Luz introduced me to Picross last night. I haven’t slept.”

Boscha blinked a few times before breaking out into a long, loud bout of laughter. “I keep telling her not to introduce you to new games on school nights. So, did you manage to beat it or are we pulling you away from your important work on the computer?”

Amity, now that she was a bit more awake, blushed at the teasing before looking away. “Of course I beat the first game. It’s nothing but a bunch of logic puzzles after all so they’re hardly a challenge for me.”

“Yeah, and then she bought five more because she needed more.”

Amity’s head steamed in embarrassment as Luz came in in her pajamas. Much to the pleasure of both of the witches, their human sweetheart still wore the same pajamas she had when they had all first met which also made them about two or three sizes smaller than they should be so what used to be cute was now quite good at being neglige. That of course didn’t help Amity, who was still getting used to the fact that they all lived together and so things would sometimes get… steamy.

Of course, this gave Boscha no end of amusement but she was too tired to try and be sexy right now. Instead, she raised an eyebrow at that before saying, “You know, as the only one of us with a job, I love hearing about you all wasting it like this.”

Luz paled at the call out before scratching the back of her head and chuckled nervously. “Don’t worry, I made sure she didn’t spend more than twenty dollars on it. This isn’t like what happened when I introduced Amity to XCOM.”

“I still want to try War of the Chosen…” Amity immediately regretted saying anything as her two loves turned to her. “Um, I mean, uh,” she glanced away for a second before looking at the portal door. “You know, I really should be getting to class…”

“Mreowr.”

Amity smiled at seeing Ghost leap up to help her out. Her palisman even came with a hair tie for her so she could try to get her mess into a slightly more presentable ponytail that was less likely to get into abomination goo than her mane. She then yelped as Luz tackled her and almost knocked the two to the floor because the poor witch wasn’t ready for it.

Instead though, the two got to share a brief kiss before both Boscha and Luz began to move to get Amity her books and the like. After all, while it was used initially to dodge having to get persecuted for her spending habits, she was also right. Then again, outside of weekends, she could claim she needed to be heading to class at all times and usually be right with how she had almost twice the normal workload than most other students. It was entirely self-inflicted but she was able to take it. At least, so far.

Once she was through the portal, Boscha turned to Luz as the human yawned. “So, did you actually stay up with her or have you managed to get any sleep?”

Luz shook her head to clear it a bit before chuckling a little. “I had threatened to do so with Amity but she said you’d kill us both if at least one of us didn’t get any sleep. She would have come to bed but she had a pretty big test yesterday so…”

Boscha sighed at that. She’d forgotten that Amity had finally had one of the myriad of tests she was always preparing for and the Blight usually goofed off the night of any of those. If she had remembered, she’d have possibly taken the night off to be with them but she also would lose both of her jobs if she did that anytime Amity had a test she considered a big deal. “I still don’t get why you don’t pull her to bed on nights like that. You two can goof off plenty without games after all.”

Luz’s face became flushed with heat before she glanced away. “Well, um, you know, she likes games. Likes being a kid some nights. And, uh-”

“You two still have trouble doing it without me?”

The poor human whimpered at that before letting herself be wrapped up by Boscha and kissing her rough girlfriend. The two then teased each other a little more before it was Luz’s turn to head to class, though she used the front door since her college was actually in the human realm where they all stayed.

That left Boscha alone to head to bed and collapse like she did most mornings as another day in paradise for her rolled onward.

Chapter Text

Amity looked up as she heard Luz giggle from the small table in the kitchen. She was currently working on legal homework which was always her favorite . After all, it wasn’t her fault that every now and then she had to remind herself not to default to what her mom had taught her to do when it came to breaking the law. Her grade was still recovering from the brief course on business law basics…

She slipped off of the couch and walked over to Luz before wrapping her arms around her beloved before burying her face into Luz’s long hair and mumbling, “What has you so happy? Find something funny?”

Luz looked up before pecking Amity’s cheek and then turning back to her laptop. “No. I mean, kind of. I mean… Well, you remember how big the three of us could be at times on the Isles? Or at least back at Hexide?”

Amity nodded and decided to not tease Luz about the fact that at least one of them was still a big deal on the Isles. Everyone clamoring for the now adult Blight heir’s time was one of the problems that had pushed the three to decide to live in the human realm after all. She liked the peace she got here instead. ‘Yeah? Are people starting to make tabloids about us or something?”

Luz shook her head before turning her laptop to her girlfriend. “I mean, we could make up anything we want so kind of, but it’s more that I made us a website for people to ask us questions about life and what not. I thought it’d be a good way for you and Boscha to keep up public opinion about you two while you’re studying and Boscha is taking time off from her Grudgby career.”

Amity hummed to herself before her eyes drifted to Luz and she whispered, “Weren’t you supposed to be working on psych homework today?”

The human paled at the question before she looked at the screen. “Um, uh, anyways! People have already been sending them in and uh, where’s a good one? One that will make you forget- Oh, kids!”

Just the mention of children got both of them to smile slightly before they met each other’s eyes and then turned bright red and looked away from each other. Amity then excused herself to get more coffee while Luz started tapping at the computer. “Oh, come on Ams, we’ve had to talk about it plenty with our moms so why not share with everyone else? It’s not like you and I have anything too exciting to say.”

Amity sipped from her hug before sighing. “I guess. Just, well, you know my initial reaction is always positive bu-”

“But you worry that if your job wasn’t going to someday make you never be around then you’d be overbearing even though I’d be right there to undermine any ‘traditional Blight lessons’ you might try to teach them?”

Luz grinned at her girlfriend’s glare before Amity leaned over the table as she hissed out, “And you keep acting like you could handle seventeen kids instead of the reality that you’re about as responsible as a toddler?”

Luz turned red as she puffed out her cheeks in anger, though Amity’s giggling made it hard for her to stay truly mad. Besides, the witch was right. Even back when they’d first gotten together, Luz liked to talk about how she’d like a large family and dreamt of a house somewhere peaceful where she could raise them properly like her mom did for her. She’d even be able to do better than her mom because she’d be able to help her kids feel accepted, no matter what they were like. And, if things ever got too out of hand, she had two different lovers who could step in and help keep things in check.

Of course, if they were ever around. Amity didn’t like to think about kids much because they ran entirely counter to her goal of becoming a coven head. Even if she did decide to become the abomination coven leader rather than going all the way to leading the Emperor’s coven, she’d be away from the house a lot. She would miss so much with them and any solution she came up with to stay in touch reminded her too much of her own mother’s smothering.

Luz saw Amity’s eyes begin to lose themselves in her coffee before she nudged Amity in the side. “So, how many should I put down? Lucky number seven? Unlucky thirteen? Or maybe just three so there’s one for each of us?”

Amity giggled but it was short lived as both girls paled at hearing Boscha ask, “One of what?”

“Nothing!”

Boscha stared at the two of them for a second before yawning. “I’m too tired for this shit. If it’s under twenty dollars, total, go ahead.”

“Okay, Boscha!” 

Luz and Amity then sighed in relief at seeing her go before Amity reached over and put a hand on her sunshine’s hand. “You’ll, um, embellish on Boshca’s thoughts, right?”

Luz nodded before whispering, “Of course.” She knew better than to go too deep into it with Boscha after all, not with anyone outside of their families. Not even Willow or Gus knew much about Boscha’s past with family. Of her father. Of the bruises. And how Boscha entirely recognized that she used to prey on the weak without a second thought and how there was no one more defenseless to someone than their own child.

Amity slipped a hand into Luz’s as she watched what the other girl typed. They both agreed that going with what they saw was the better idea. How Boscha would smile when she watched kids running around happily. How she’d joke about anyone who tried fucking with any of them she’d tear the asshole’s head off would almost certainly go triple for any child they had.

But everyone already expected the worst of Boscha so they decided to leave anything that they might already think out of the post before responding to the question.

Chapter Text

Boscha sipped on some coffee as she sat down at the small table in the kitchen. Luz had said that they’d been given a pretty tough question and that she didn’t want to make Amity have to deal with it due to her feelings about everything that was related to it. The rough woman didn’t really know what could be that harrowing but…

“Oh.”

Boscha snorted a little at the question before turning on the voice recording software that the website had built into it and starting to speak. “Well, us getting together wasn’t anything major.”

Creak.

“I made nice with Luz and Amity, we had some adventures, and eventually it just kind of happened. I mean, you spend enough time with another person you like and you kind of just slide into loving them. That’s how it was for me. And, I mean, you know how cool I am. The moment I realized I liked either of them, I let them know my feelings and that was that.”

Creeeeeeak.

“The real problem was in getting either Amity or Luz to think that they could maybe threaten their perfect little romance. Can’t risk hurting your girlfri-”

“Boscha.”

Boscha slowly turned around to see Amity standing over her. The serious witch had death in her eyes as her arms rippled with abomination goo. Boscha blinked a few times before asking, “Aren’t you supposed to be at class?”

“A pixie infestation caused them to have to cancel lessons today.”

“Oh.” Boscha and Amity were silent as they stared at each other before Boscha opened her mouth. Before she could say anything though, Amity lunged at the other girl and grabbed her by the throat. The audio recording equipment got hazy after that. What was caught by it though was-

“Oh, the moment I realize- What about the ski trip? Huh!? Because I remember-”

“-wasn’t my fault! You’re paranoid ass was the one who went sniffing the potion without-”

“-se escapo con el portal por el bien de-”

“You know I never found the time to learn Spanish, Boscha!”

“That’s not my fault!”

A few hours later, Luz would find the two of them, half naked, heaving on the floor of the apartment. She blinked a few times at the sight before crossing her arms and saying, “You got Amity down memory lane?”

Amity looked up before groaning. “She said we were obsessed with making sure nothing happened between us.”

“I mean,” Luz said as she scratched the back of her head, “we were but, uh, you remember your last stunt, right?”

Boscha narrowed her eyes at Luz before pecking the idiot’s cheek. “Yeah, but it worked, didn’t it?”

“You didn’t intend for it to get us all together! It was supposed t-” Amity smacked herself to shut herself up before growling a little. “I don’t want to get started again.”

Boscha rolled her eyes before putting a hand on Amity’s cheek and pecking her best friend’s lips. “Look, it’s my way of trying to forget, okay? After all, how it happened doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is we’re together now.”

Amity sighed before kissing Boscha back and cuddling into the rough girl. “I guess, but after everything…”

Luz laid down on Amity’s other side before wrapping her arms around her lover. “After everything, we figured everything out and are happy. There’s no reason to hold onto any old grudges or worry about it anym-”

Both of the other girls cut her off by saying, “Cluz,” before giggling in response to Luz screaming and pulling at her ironically long hair. After all, she still hated the fact that she still loved the look her clone had been sporting now that she was older.

But that was a different story. An all together, far too long story. One could even say it was over a hundred chapters long and not anywhere close to done but that’d be crazy, right?

Right?

Chapter Text

“Alright, the chicken should be done so I’ll be right back with everyone’s food.”

“Take your time, dear.” Amity then turned back to Odalia as the two sat across from each other at the long table that sat in the main dining room of the Blight Manor. Before she was eighteen, she’d never been allowed to sit at the ends because that’s where the heads of the family sat. Now that she was out on her own though, she didn’t really care that she wasn’t supposed to sit here, especially when it was just her and her mother.

Odalia folded her hands in front of her before glancing after Boscha. “You really should be pushing that human of yours to quit that stupid school of hers and let Boscha achieve her full potential. Grudgby star is far better for one’s image than some student guidance counselor.”

Here we go. Amity took in a long, slow breath as she settled in for what had to be the hundredth time they’d had this conversation over the past two years. “And as I have told you, it was Boscha’s choice to decide to work night jobs rather than seek out professional sports and that she does plan to come back to the Isles for it after one of us graduates.”

“Yes, but with how Luz has been doing in her classes-”

“She’s passing most of them, mother, so I don’t think that’s something to be terribly concerned about.”

The two glared at each other as the tension grew in the room. Amity decided to try and swap topics though as she asked, “What did the Conformatorium think of the recent donations?”

One of Odalia’s eyes twitched at that before she said, “You mean the art pieces you sent them from my collection that are now going to be destroyed by those degenerates?”

Amity nodded as she pretended to be inspecting her nails. “Yes, those. The ones that are meant to help brighten the days of those inmates.”

“You gave them away for free. If not for me stepping in, there wouldn’t have even been press coverage of it.”

“Yep.” Amity glanced up before raising an eyebrow at her mother. “The humans call the practice philanthropy and it garners good will with the public.”

Odalia scoffed at the notion before turning her head. “Ah, yes, much like how living in squalor makes you look humble?”

Amity slowly curled her hand into a fist before hissing out, “I wouldn’t call living in another realm being exactly spartan, now would you?”

“No, but I would say not owning a town there when you could is.”

“You know Luz would be uncomfortable if I just bought us a-”

“And your human and her mother can enjoy their dog houses as much as they want but you are a Bli-”

“What have I said about metaphors that liken Luz to a pet?”

“And what have I told you about her place!?”

Slam!

The two immediately stopped as Boscha strode in with a tray of food. She’d made seven different types of chinese food for Odalia to sample today. It was fairly common for Boscha to share the different human concoctions she’d learned whenever they visited the Blight manor as a way of trying to prove that human culture had some level of worth and the smell that wafted out of the kitchen helped both Blights shut up as their stomachs growled at them.

Boscha, as usual, first gave Amity her food first though. Now that the rough girl no longer lived at the manor she had a bit of an easier time not showing Odalia the same level of deference as she had once upon a time so she treated Amity as the head of the Blights that she saw her as. Of course, she still stayed on her best behavior which was part of why she was still welcome to the house, unlike Luz who had a tendency to cause old pieces of art to need to be pulled out of storage after her visits.

Of course, it was still Boscha so, when she finished putting Odalia’s food down in front of the older woman, she said, “I would prefer if you didn’t use such metaphors either, though that has more to do with the fact that Luz is the one who pulls Amity’s leash in bed most nights.”

“WHA-”

“BOSCHA!”

======+++++======

“Mija! Boscha!”

“Mama!” Luz hugged her mom tight before slipping into the house with Boscha. The two always made sure to see each other at least once a month, even if Luz’s school had ended up being a couple states away. It admittedly helped when portal calibrations could at least get her closer to home so she didn’t have to swing plane tickets once a month for the visits but such machinations also wore out Amity and Boscha most of the time so once a month it stayed. She also normally tried bringing both Boscha and Amity but Amity was swamped with studies this month so Boscha it was.

Boscha nodded to Camila before walking into the living room and taking her normal spot of leaning against the sofa while Luz sat on it. She could still remember back when they were still at Hexide and did visits like this while Vee was still around. The basilisk had moved on though to live with Clara and have her own life though so the house was child free now.

Which was probably why the first hour of any of these visits started as an interrogation.

“Have you been eating right?”

“Of course! Maybe not as many vegetables b-”

“I’ve been a bit too tired to cook so I had to kick Amity and Luz about not just making Top Ramen.”

“But, um, I would usually add stuff to it!”

“Yeah, the powder.”

Luz whimpered as the same answer that came most months that Boscha pulled extra shifts at work came around. Her instinct was still to try and look good for her mom even though she knew this always happened. She would say a nice response that was mostly correct and then Boscha would say what had actually happened. Somehow she still hadn’t learned her lesson.

“I’ve been going to all of my classes though! And passing!”

“That’s good.” Camila frowned a little before narrowing her eyes a little. “What about Physics?”

Luz paled at the question before Boscha spoke. “Amity took a look at the grading and you effectively just have to show up and participate to pass, even if you’ll have a like… thirty in the class I think?”

Luz waved her hands frantically in front of her. “Not that I’m taking it easy! It’s all business with me!”

“Yeah, which is why you twice showed up, got marked for attendance, and then ran off to spend some time at my work.”

Camila scowled at that before she said, “Mija, usted dijo-”

“Yo tengo!” Luz then swallowed hard as she mumbled, “Just, you know, I went to the class and then left…”

There was a long silence between all of them before Camila asked, “What job were you going to visit Boscha at?”

Bits of Luz’s hair began to smoke as her face became flushed with heat before she looked away. “Oh, well, you know, her night market work of course! After all, I have no reason to go to Boscha’s other job.”

All eyes then turned to the rough girl who simply raised an eyebrow before turning away. “I’m going to make coffee. Anyone want anything?” She then looked at Luz and said, “And don’t worry, I won’t pour sugar on me.”

The poor girl’s hair lit up like a matchstick at that before she shrieked, “This is nothing,” and then scrambled up the stairs to go put it out. That just left Camila to shake her head, as she so often had to when only Luz and her best friend came over. Still, it wasn’t her place to truly judge. If Amity had no problems with how close Luz and Boscha seemed to be then she shouldn’t worry about it either.

======+++++======

Boscha yawned as she came out of the bedroom and saw a note on the wall about a question on the site. She blinked a few times, looked at the computer, and then went back to doing anything else. After all, as far as her parents went, one was dead and the other dead to her. She cared a lot more about her relationship to her girlfriend’s parents which she’d call just fine, even if Camila made her blood boil at times but that more had to do with Luz needing to grow a fucking spine already than anything else.

Chapter Text

“Bwahahahaha!”

Amity poked her head out of her room before coming out with a black cat in her arms. Their name was Mischief and they were a stray the group had found a few years back. Fortunately, Ghost got along just fine with them and Amity had a tendency to take breaks with both of her cats when she could. She was curious as to what had Boscha laughing like she was, something that was bringing Luz out too. “Uh, what’s so funny?”

Boscha took a few seconds to catch her breath before she grinned at the other two. “Oh, they’re just, hoo, asking about my cats.”

Amity scowled at that for a second before squeezing her kitten tighter. “We’ve talked about this. They’re my-”

“You’re not talking about Ghost and Mischief, are you?”

Boscha’s wide smile was all that Amity needed for her face to turn beat red before she tried to hide it behind her kitten. Luz had a bit of heat to her cheeks but she decided to check what exactly the question was before she took Boscha’s bait. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any real bait to it. “Huh. Huh.”

“So, Luz, you want to try and put it in your own light?”

Luz swallowed hard before pulling at her collar and glancing away. “W-Well, um, I guess Amity would be a bottom, Boscha is a top, and I’m a switch.”

“Technically.”

Luz pulled her beanie down at the callout to try and hide the fact that she was getting so flustered too. Of course, Boscha was right. She was one of Amity’s two doms by technicality but that was mostly just because Amity enjoyed that sort of thing in the bedroom. Of course, she was more into sweet talk and keeping things simple in the bedroom herself. Just being intimate with one of the other two was more than enough for her most of the time after all. But then there were days where she’d come home and…

Amity swallowed hard as she came closer and mumbled, “You’re thinking of the ropes, aren’t you?”

Boscha let out another bark of laughter which turned into a maniacal cackle as Luz mumbled, “I still don’t know how you were comfortable suspended like that.”

Boscha then stood up and wrapped her arms around the other two’s shoulders as her grin refused to fade for even a second. “Yeah, these two are pretty hopeless without me. They’re lucky that I’m willing to help them out then and,” she said as she finally paused and a bit of red came to her cheeks, “I do have to admit that having both of them under me, unable to make sounds as they shiver is one of my favorite things.” Her smile then came back as she said, “Of course, it helps that they can’t do anything to phase me.”

Both Amity and Luz glanced at the other before looking up at Boscha. “Oh, can’t we?”

Boscha blinked a few times before rolling her eyes. “You two know that you can put on the sexiest clothes in the world and I won’t flinch. I’m just not like that. I think Emira called it being Demi or something.”

“You’re right,” Amity said as she put Mischief down, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t get you hot and bothered.”

Luz grinned as she pulled at the collar of her shirt. “Actually, one of my courses has been talking about how good it is to take the time to just talk sometimes. I’m gonna swap to my pajamas, the ones I wear for movie nights, and be right back.”

Boscha blinked a few times before Amity slipped her hands onto her rough lover’s shoulders. “And I could use some time just chatting. College has been so hard after all and I don’t get nearly enough time to tell you about it.” She then met Boscha’s eyes and her gaze let the rough witch know that she was actually being serious when she whispered, “You think I can put my head in your lap and just vent.”

Boscha’s heart felt like it was going to explode as she looked back into those bright, yellow eyes before she coughed and whispered, “Y-Yeah. Of course. I-I can do that. Definitely.”

By the end of the night, Boscha would end up tossing them both onto the bed as punishment for not giving her time to prepare for them to spill their hearts out, especially when they were both more than happy to wear comfy or cute clothes while they did it. They knew exactly what that sort of stuff did to her after all. Not that either ever seemed to mind how she got back at them for it...

Chapter Text

Luz swallowed hard as she walked into the apartment. She had gotten Amity and Boscha’s text earlier in the day saying that they had gotten a question about Boscha’s childhood and, well, the rough girl tried to be calm about it. Act cool and carry on like she always did. Apparently she almost got angry enough trying to do that while Amity kept telling her she needed to be accurate that she almost smashed the laptop. Now the two of them were out for dinner and Luz was supposed to go and join them.

At least, once she got rid of the question so Boscha didn’t try to answer it again. Luz looked at a hole in the wall before sighing and mumbling, “And this is why Amity still has you go to therapy, Bosch.”

Still, she wasn’t entirely sure how to tackle it. I mean, how did you tackle someone else’s trauma? Let alone Boscha’s? Amity would be way better equipped for it since she was technically there for it but, well, the two had started going to couple’s counseling for the problems associated with that aspect of their childhoods and so Luz bet that Amity would have likely been like Boscha in trying to cover up the nastier parts when it came to her involvement in it all. Or, her lack of involvement.

Luz groaned before slumping onto the couch and grabbing one of the plush otters on it. “What do you think, Mr. Snuffles?”

“I think you still need to do it because you love them. Also because you need to tell them that you failed another test.”

“Why must you be right?”

“Because you are on the side of right, you just don’t always like it, Luzura.”

Luz sighed for a second before squeezing the plush. She then slowly began to stare at it as an idea formed in her head.

======+++++======

“Welcome one and all to the great Luzura’s storytelling theater! Today’s tale is that of the Fortune Bound Bitches! Oh, wait, that’s not really kid friendly… We’ll shoot it again later.”

The camera was on a small box that Luz had cut a hole into so that it could be looked in on and also in the bottom so she could stick her fingers through. The first ‘actor’ of the play poked their head out as a pitch black sock puppet with three eyes and a scowl on his face. “I’m Mr. Bad Man. I only care about money and status. I bought into this dumb Blight company thinking that I’d get on their level but I get the shittiest bonuses and no one takes me seriously because I’m dumb and bad and loud.”

Mr. Bad Man then tried his best to knock over a trash can near him but Luz had placed it a little too far for her to reach. At least, without kicking the table to knock it over that way instead. She then made the puppet bend over with a “Harumph,” before bending him back straight as he yelled, “If only I could find someone else who’s life I could make as miserable as mine!”

She then stuck her next finger in to have a gray actor now. “Oh, I’m Miss Never Here! If only I could get out of my dumb mining job by marrying some asshole who thinks he’s way too self important and that I’m bitchy enough to not care about how loud he is so long as he gives me a place to go.”

“Why, I believe that sounds like me! What say you and me get married, baby?”

“Okay, but only so long as you’re not actually pure evil.”

Luz then stood up behind the box to narrate as she put a curtain over the box so she could work on the next bits of set dressing out of sight. “Unfortunately, what she didn’t know was that Mr. Bad Man was indeed a very, very bad man. His large mouth was accompanied by large fists that he used…” Luz paused and paled as she realized that she wasn’t trying to make this ‘child friendly’ before coughing. “To, um, neglect his wife! Yeah! Totally had nothing to do with how often they needed new furniture. He. Hehe. Hmmm.”

“Anyways,” Luz said as she swiped the curtain away to show a water cooler in the middle. She then stuck Mr. Bad Guy back into the scene. “We pick back up about a year and a half later with our pro- er, main character? Villain? Actually, yeah, that one. Definitely our villain. Anyways, we come back to him at his job and still as unhappy as he was before.

“Oh, what is my life? First I get a beautiful child that I think is absolutely disgusting because she got her stinking mom’s pink hair and then the bi- Um, I mean, the jerk left me. Just up and left. Not that my behavior had anything to do with it. No, I’m far too important and powerful for things like introspection or blame!”

“I’m sorry, but what were you saying about my privileges?”

Luz poked her head up over the top of the box to say, “It was then that Mr. Bad Guy met the woman who would be his true partner in crime. The Bad Girl to his Bad Guy one could say. Not that either would call themselves or each other that. Not when they saw kindred spirits.”

The next ‘actor’ to come up was a dark green with a scowl, a small pink circle drawn onto their ‘chest’ and a pair of reading glasses drawn over her black eyes. “I, Odalia Blight, am here to vent about how tired I am after having given birth to my third and greatest child. I fear she might have things like happiness or joy like her older siblings have given each other. Children have this nasty habit of making ‘friends’ though who seem to think I’m a bad mom for no reason! If only I had a toady who would do literally anything to get up in life with a daughter I could use.”

Mr. Bad Guy turned to Odalia before bowing to her. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but hear your woes, my lady. Could I, a lonely worm compared to you, perhaps offer my own daughter? I don’t care about her happiness so if her making you happy will help me, I will gladly make sure she stays a good little girl.”

Odalia looked the other sock puppet up and down before sighing. “I suppose if I have no one else, you'll have to do. Your daughter better not outshine my own though.”

“Trust me, she will know her place.”

Luz pulled the curtain again before rising up again. “However, Amity wouldn’t immediately get to meet our true hero of the story for a few years. Mr. Bad Guy wanted to make sure that his daughter would indeed behave and wouldn’t be like his horrible wife before he set his plan in motion. As such, it wasn’t until Amity’s fifth birthday that we picked back up with our broken family.”

The box now had light birthday decorations when Luz eventually opened the curtain again. Mr. Bad Guy rose up but so did half of one of Luz’s fingers, clothed this time in pink. This one had three eyes and a downcast look to her. She also had glitter because of how she shimmered in Luz’s eyes. Mr. Bad Guy then bent forward a bit to say, “Now, Boscha, this is the best thing that has ever happened to us. It will be the best thing to ever happen to us. Don’t make it so we have to have a ‘talk’ about it, understand?”

Boscha turned away, kind of, from her father before saying, “But you saw how bright and cheery she was! You keep telling me that she’ll be some sort of serious badass and instead she acts like any ki-”

Luz had Mr. Bad Guy gently bop Boscha to stop her but even doing that much made the cheerful girl flinch. She then swallowed hard and had the bad puppet say, “Do you want to keep ‘talking’ about this or are you going to be the loyal friend that you were born to be.”

Luz slipped some of her finger down to sink Boscha down before she said, “A-A loyal friend. I promise.”

“Good, because without Amity, you are nothing.”

It was then that Luz closed the curtain again, coughed a few times to calm herself and then stood up again. “The next time we meet our heroine is close to when I met her! I could do some of the inbetween stuff but, uh, it was kind of… You’ll see.”

When she dove back down, two glitter covered puppets came up. One was green with a star on her forehead, red cheeks but a look of utter contempt in her eyes. The other was Boscha but now long enough that she covered all of Luz’s middle finger, which also made her the tallest of the puppets, angry eyes and a cocky smirk.

Boscha started the scene by throwing her head back and laughing. “Can you believe that weird human that has been coming around? I totally fu-” Luz paused for a second as the word sounded wrong in her mouth before instead saying, “friggin hate her! She’s dumb, loud, weird, and totally ugly! Just the worst, right?”

Amity spun her head around in Luz’s best approximation of an eye roll like this before sighing. “Whatever you say, Boscha. I’m not actually listening to you and haven’t in like half a decade in spite of how much you’ve done for me. Do you think you can just go away or something? Don’t you have Grudgby or something after all.”

Boscha let out a “Harumph,” before saying, “It’s a good thing you’re okay with my sport. My dad hates that I’ve grown to be a drop dead, athletic bombshell that can light a girl's hair on fire if I dress right and bat my eyes. Not that I’d ever want to do that for anyone except you, Amity…”

Boscha leaned in towards her friend but then backed away as Amity looked at her. The serious girl then looked the other puppet up and down before saying, “Eh. Six out of ten. Or that’s what I’ll claim because I know you just fuck with people. You couldn’t actually like anyone and we’re just friends and always going to be that.”

Boscha hung her head down a little before saying, “You mean besties, right? Riiiiight?”

“Sure, whatever you say.”

“Sweet!”

It was only then that finally, Luz put her own puppet into the scene on the other side of Amity. Her puppet was the plainest so far, just being a brown sock with eyes and definitely no glitter but it worked, at least in Luz’s eyes. Amity’s puppet immediately began to fidget and squirm and wouldn’t stop until Luz was gone though as Luz said, “Oh, hey Amity!”

“Luz!” Luz made the puppet fidget extra hard now as the human giggled but the puppet squealed out, “My totally not even a friend Luz! Unless you want to be. We’d never kiss though. I mean, unless she asked. Then I guess I’d have to. But that’d be so dumb. So incredibly dumb.”

Boscha did her own version of rolling her eyes before saying, “Wow, Amity, you sound almost as dumb as the human and her friends. Speaking of, round ears, your friend Willow is ugly, uncool, and even more boring than the dirt that she plays in.”

Luz flailed a little bit before shouting back, “You take that back!”

Boscha’s puppet threw its head back to laugh before saying, “No.”

Amity’s puppet then became still for a moment to turn on Boscha and say, “Actually, I agree with her and until you can stop saying mean things, we’re no longer friends, not that we ever were before.”

Luz then pulled both Amity and herself out of the scene before standing up again and pulling the curtain closed in a way where only Boscha was visible. The mean girl looked down, up, and then turned away as she said, “Well, who needs her? Just because none of our friends like me without her doesn’t matter! It’s not like I’m lonely or heartbroken! Or… Or terrified of what my dad will do when he hears about this. No. Everything is fine. I don’t need her. I never needed her. I’m… I’m worth something without her, right?”

The curtain then closed all the way as Luz looked at the camera. “Boscha was of course not going to be okay. She to this day cannot say what led to her talking to me a few weeks later like she did. If it was Amity, her dad, both in equal measure or what. I’ve told her plenty of times it didn’t matter but, well, Boscha worries about things more than she lets on. She showed just how brave and strong when she invited me and Amity to a high stakes sleepover. If she behaved, she would be welcomed back in. If she couldn’t, her everlasting oath would kill her if she continued to bother either of us. Let us see how that went!”

The scene opened on a bedroom and Boscha on one side of the room while Amity was in the middle and Luz was on the other side. Boscha was the one who couldn’t stop fidgeting and kept tapping a small can next to her from time to time. She also started the scene with, “Um, say, I have these nice photos of the two of us and this old camera that was the first present you ever gave me. Do you want to take a look?”

Amity tilted to the side a little bit. “I mean, the photos are nice and I did forget the good times we had but what camera? I don’t remember ever giving you a camera.”

“But it helped me figure out I like pictures…”

Luz’s puppet then flailed a bit before saying, “Look at me! I’m breaking the few rules I was given because I’m still not Amity’s girlfriend and jealous of her getting close to someone as pretty and strong as you!”

Boscha’s puppet smacked the can over before yelling, “You’re what?”

Amity’s puppet then began flailing around as she said, “Is that alcohol I smell? Have you been drinking? Is that the only reason you actually seem to chill when I’m at your house?”

“My dad makes me because it makes me behave and helps numb the pain of our ‘talks’!”

All of the puppets stopped at that before Luz looked at Amity. “Uh, did you know any of this?”

“What? No! How should I have known?”

Mr. Bad Guy then showed up and yelled, “I’m incredibly unsubtle!”

All of the puppets looked at Boscha’s dad before Amity looked at Boscha and said, “Hey, I’m going to make him into an abomination and you’re living with me now, okay?”

Boscha’s puppet hung its head low before saying, “But I misbehaved. I deserve this.”

Luz spoke next as she said, “I think we all fucked up tonight and no one deserves what you’ve been through.”

“I would care to disagree.”

All three of the girls looked at Mr. Bad Guy before Luz popped her head up and said, “Look, if he had any sort of heart, I haven’t heard about it, kind of like with Odalia. I can’t even give Amity’s mom taking in Boscha because she only said yes because she saw the profit potential of having a Grudgby star under her thumb.”

“But,” she said as she took out all of her fingers and leaned over her box, “that is the end of our story. From there, Amity and I got to watch Boscha grow into, well, maybe not the best person but someone who knew she didn’t have to fight everyone who looked at her the wrong way. And I still can’t think of someone I would want watching out for me more than her because she’s still one of the best friends I’ve ever had. The fact that I get to call her my girlfriend and lover too is just an added bonu-”

Slam!

“We’ve been waiting at the Chilis for like three hours! What is taking you so long?”

“Are those puppets?”

Luz paled before waving at the camera and saying, “Well, until next time kids! And, er, remember to be good to each other and your kids and- No don’t pick that up!”

“Is this supposed to be me? Did you turn my childhood into a fucking kid’s show!?”

Amity tilted her head in front of the camera before saying, “You all don’t need to see this. Bye.”

Click .

Chapter Text

“I don’t know, does she!? ”

Luz paused as she stood in the doorway to the apartment and stared at Boscha. She then swallowed hard before giving the rough girl a wave and saying, “Uh, who and what?”

Boscha got up before crossing her arms. “Apparently the dumbasses online picked up on the fact that your mother might, just might not know how close you and I are. Do you want to field that one? I know how much you love the topic after all.”

Luz paled at the question before taking a step backwards. “Say, I just remembered something that I forgot at the college so…”

“I’m locking you out if you do that.”

That made Luz pause for a second as she had to take a second to weigh the pros and cons to that one. On the pros side, she didn’t have to discuss this. On the cons side, she’d end up having to find somewhere to curl up for the night. Maybe Vee and Clara would let her stay with them? She didn’t like to disturb them though, not when Clara still had a hard time dealing with two Luz’s at the same time because of her histories with both her and Vee. Then there was the fact that Amity would get upset about her not even being willing to tell people back on the Isles when it really was just a problem between Luz and her mother.

And the final thing that made her step inside the apartment with a more confident stride was the fact that Boscha might take this as her being ashamed of being with the rough girl which was never the case. It was just… complicated. “Okay. You can even be relentless on teasing me about it while I talk.”

“Oh, because I need permission all of a sudden?”

Luz giggled at the question before stepping closer to Boscha. “No. Just like you shouldn’t ever have to when I’m being dumb for my own dumb reasons. This one especially.”

Boscha glanced away for a second before sighing. “Just get on with it, okay? While I still want to watch you squirm.”

Luz nodded before sitting in front of the computer. “Okay so, uh, my mom and Boscha. Because that’s the real problem. Me and Amity came out to her pretty quickly after we got together. Well, got together and we could both come to the Human Realm. It always felt weird possibly telling mom about how close Amity and I were before then because she couldn’t meet Amity. After all, my mom is a pretty good judge of character and she likes to know that the people I’m with are people who are going to be good for me. With Amity, she knew that instantly she was perfect for me. With Boscha… Well, she saw her as a bad influence.”

Boscha leaned into frame before saying, “Yeah, an overly sexual, bitchy, scarily strong, bad influence.” She then glared at Luz as she gestured for the girl to continue.

“Well, um, it was a little more than that. After all, while Vee helped mom… cope with the Isles, she still didn’t like being reminded of their scarier parts. Amity’s magic being so controlled and usually helpful in ways around the house made her abominations less scary. Boscha’s penchant for fire magic though and the fact that she can bench press a truck is… less that. Then there’s the fact that she’s always been a flirt and didn’t hide the fact that she was a bully when they met, even if she’d already started putting that behind her-”

“I was down to two muggings a week at that point.”

Luz paused for a second to stare at Boscha before deciding that it wasn’t worth asking about it. That was well in the past at this point. “Anyways, she never really found a way to endear those sorts of traits with my mom. The fact that she also kidnapped me once didn’t help early on and I think my mom always worried that when we went for drives that I was trying to replace my dad with her and, well, my mom is used to me making some pretty bad choices in relationships. She even once talked to me about how I needed to not think about replacing Amity with Boscha just because I was possibly afraid of commitment.”

“Wait, I’m sorry, what!?” Two of Boscha’s eyes twitched before she crossed her arms. “I’m sorry but that’s news to me. She actually thought you might do that at one point!”

“Not because she thought I liked you! And I sure didn’t like you like that at the time either! It was just because my mom thought I might be looking for an out.”

“Oh, that makes me feel so much better! ”

Luz whimpered a little before sighing. “Anyways, we thought about maybe once we graduated that could change. Boscha had given up on picking a fight everywhere she went by then, I was obviously dedicated to Amity, complete with,” she said as she lifted one of her hands to show an obsidian band, “promise ring, and we were going to be more available by living in the Human Realm. When we looked at costs and what not though, we figured out that someone would actually need to focus on work and Boscha wasn’t getting any immediate offers that would cover everything, not while she was still being tested as a professional Grudgby player. So…”

Boscha put a hand on Luz’s head to stop her. After all, the rough girl would let Luz squirm talking about her mom but they had had a week long fight about Boscha’s insistence that Luz go to college instead of working three dead end jobs. She hadn’t been willing to watch Luz not put her compassion and smarts to use though, especially when Boscha’s strength and reflexes weren’t going to fade anytime soon, not if she had anything to do about it. “So I took that onto my shoulders. Three days a week I work in the Isles as a Night Market guard and three days a week I work as both stripper and bouncer for a bar nearby here in the Human Realm. That way we have a steady stream of both Snails and money.”

Luz sighed before burying her face into her arms. “And the look my mom got when she found out I was living with a stripper was… a lot. She tries to be supportive but I think that was one line too far. Not that she hates Boscha for it but, well-”

Boscha stopped Luz again by squeezing her lover’s shoulders. “It’s enough that Luz won’t tell her mom about us. That I’m just living with Amity and her as a friend who helps them with bills. But, it was also her idea for how to make up for it, even though I try to keep telling her and Amity that I don’t want them torturing themselves like they are because of it.”

Luz reached up and squeezed Boscha’s hand before looking up. “Scha, it’s not torture. I wouldn’t want to get married without you after all so if I’m not brave enough to tell my mom about you, I don’t deserve to walk down any aisle.”

Boscha smiled back at Luz before scooping her up into her arms. “Alright, for that, you’re getting cuddles.”

“But I have homework!”

“Don’t care!”

Chapter Text

Luz yawned as she stepped out of her room before her shoulders fell and she hung her head low. Tonight had been… bad. That was really the only way she could put it really. It wasn’t even a special sort of bad where she’d gotten some sort of bad news or was having flashbacks to her fights with Belos. No, it was more boring than that which honestly made it feel all the worse. It wasn’t helped either by how many failed searches for answers to her homework had led to her eyes hurting.

Some water could help with that though. Or maybe milk. Just anything to justify her taking her eyes off her homework right now. Even thinking about it made some sort of pressure begin to push against her skull. She couldn’t just stop though. It was due tomorrow after all. Part of her considered asking Amity for help but she had enough on her plate as it was. No, she should be able to do this herself. She should…

Luz brought her palms up to her eyes to push away tears before she looked around herself. The little apartment was dark as only the light from her room bathed the main room in a faint glow. The television beckoned to her, tempting her to just forget her studies and play video games but she couldn’t do that. She’d already missed an assignment this month because she’d fallen behind on her work and put her grade in jeopardy. It was for a different class than this one but the fewer classes she was a step away from failing, the better.

That didn’t mean saying no was easy. That it made the vice grip on her chest relax at all. She couldn’t justify it though. No matter how tempting, it wasn’t worth letting everyone down. She wanted to graduate with Amity after all, at least before Amity possibly looked for a master’s program. Her mom was excited for her to start helping kids too. And then Boscha wouldn’t have to work herself half to death. It all meant she didn’t have a choice in if she succeeded or not. She had to. Plain and simple.

It was about that time that her eyes adjusted enough for her to notice the dark pink hair that stuck out from one end of the couch. It immediately made Luz pause before she walked over to the back of the couch and looked over it. Immediately, she was greeted by the sight of Boscha who was laid out over the couch in a loose t-shirt and jeans. She must have come home from… Strip club. Tonight would have been the strip club. Which meant it was way later in the night than Luz had imagined, a thought that made the poor girl pale.

Boscha should be in bed though. She must have decided to lay down for a few minutes or something and passed out. In fact, Luz thought as she noticed the tv remote on the ground, she might have been planning to watch something and hadn’t even stayed up long enough to turn it on. How tired did she have to be for that? Or how hard had tonight been on her?

It all made the pressure in Luz’s chest grow worse and worse. At least she had a bit of a solution for it this time. After all, while she couldn’t justify doing anything for herself, taking care of her girlfriend was a different matter. She couldn’t pick her up and take her to her room. Boscha was made of way too much muscle that Luz lacked for her to manage that. Waking her up didn’t seem like a great idea, even if she could offer to cook something for her. She needed her sleep after all.

But maybe she could help her sleep a little better? She’d given Boscha massages in the past to help ease her muscles so maybe she could use one now? They didn’t have the time for that sort of stuff very often nowadays so it would be a nice, unexpected treat. Yeah, that would work and let Luz take a break from her screen so she could come back to it with a refreshed outlook!

Yeah, she knew it was a weak excuse but she didn’t care. Not when she was so desperate for the break from her studies. Besides, the idea of helping Boscha relax was one she was genuine about. After all, Boscha worked herself to the bone for her and Amity. All so they didn’t have to wholly rely on Odalia for their freedom…

Luz shook her head furiously to clear it before carefully straddling Boscha on the couch. She didn’t have a lot of room to squeeze onto it with her, not without digging her knee into her girlfriend’s spine, but she made it work. She was good at being stubborn like that. She considered how useful a bigger couch might be for it before brushing it away. It wasn’t like she got this sort of opportunity very often, not when Boscha would normally tell her not to worry about her.

She was fast asleep though so she couldn’t yell at her about it this time. Not until she was already busy at work. She just had to be careful about lifting up Boscha’s shirt so she could get to proper work.

Proper… work. Luz took in a sharp breath looking at Boscha’s back muscles as she forced her mind to have very, very proper thoughts. After all, now was not the time for more… strenuous acts. Even if it had been a while since any of them had had enough energy at the same time to wrestle under the sheets with each other. Not that Luz needed it but, well, dating two of the most beautiful, sexy girls in any realm was a lot sometimes.

Meanwhile, all they get back is me…

Luz shut her eyes tight before placing her hands onto Boscha’s back. There was some muscle memory from when she would do this after a lot of Boscha’s Grudgby matches back at Hexide and she found her fingers tracing old lines that she’d marveled at before. Pressing into the same spots as always as she began to try to knead away some of the tension she found there.

In fact, it honestly felt like there was more stress than before in her girlfriend. How often did she get to relax? How often was she worried about them? She talked about problems for both of her jobs but usually blew them off as minor nuisances. How often wasn’t that true? Boscha was always so tough after all so knowing what was true and wasn’t was… hard. To put it mildly.

Worse yet, as Luz made her way across the muscles, she found her muscle memory trying to make her push on Boscha wrong. Her fingers were used to Boscha’s back being pure muscle with a lot of definition to it. There still was definition, she still looked like a bodybuilding model to some extent, but, well, it was still less than when she was younger. When so much of her time was built to training and working out so she could be the best Grudgby player in the Isles.

A dream she had put on hold for almost four years now…

And for what? So I could fail at college? So I could pretend that she knew the first thing about helping people? Who am I kidding!? I had been a complete disaster as a kid and I don’t even know if I learned anything from that time! How am I supposed to be a counselor? Or am I supposed to help people? I can’t even help my girlfriends…

“Luz, tears don’t make good lotion.”

Luz’s eyes snapped open at the voice before she looked down to catch Boscha looking back at her. She paled at the sight before she wiped at her eyes. “S-S-Sorry. I’ll, uh, you know, um, I mean, I wasn’t meaning to so-”

The minute she got off the couch, Boscha’s hand shot out and grabbed Luz’s wrist. She then pulled in the sobbing girl so that she crashed back onto the couch with her. Boscha quickly then wrapped her arms around Luz and squeezed her tight and whispered, “Stop thinking. I know you’re being dumb and I don’t want to hear it. Not when you know it’s all bullshit you don’t need to be worrying about.”

Boscha then pecked the top of Luz’s head before whispering, “Unless you need me to hear it. You know you’re one of the only people I’ll put up with this shit for after all.”

Luz stared at Boscha for a long minute before tears began to pour down her face and she began to babble incoherently. She didn’t have to be though. Boscha had given up on her dreams almost four years ago after all and it had only taken a month for the first time that fact broke Luz. The first time the poor girl had collapsed into tears as she claimed to be worthless and not good enough for it all.

And yet, no matter how many times Boscha told Luz that she didn’t care, that it didn’t bother her, it never worked. Not even when she was cheesy about it and admitted that her stars meant more to her than needing to make herself shine anymore. But, like she’d just said, Luz was one of the only two people where that didn’t matter.

Just like how she could always use a massage to help ease the tension in her muscles, she’d say the same words a million times if it meant easing the worries in her beloved Luz-er’s mind.

Chapter Text

Amity sipped on her water before smiling at the psychology major who was trying to chat her up. The boy was trying so hard and was obviously three sheets to the wind so she wasn’t even quite sure he’d hear her if she told him she was taken. Or, worse yet, she could try to tell him she’s a lesbian. Why did humans have such a hard time understanding what that meant or respecting it?

No, she’d enjoy the flattery as she waited for Luz to return from chatting with some of her study friends. Amity didn’t want to lock her girlfriend down just because by some miracle a party had managed to happen at the same time that they both had a night off. Now if Boscha hadn’t been working tonight, the three of them would absolutely be doing something but so it had to be. They were just busy and that was… fine.

It wasn’t even like she didn’t have a test first thing in the morning and so couldn’t be drinking. At least it meant that Luz had a safe drive home. Someone responsible to look out for her. She didn’t get all the chances to see more of the human realm as she wanted so some drunk boy trying to be smart even as he slurred his words? She could handle that.

She would like to know why she felt like something was staring at her though. She took another sip as she tried to casually glance around. She couldn’t catch anything in her peripherals though. Maybe behind her? That thought made her internally sigh but… It was fine. Amity had already compared herself to the other girls at the party after all and, well… They weren’t bad per se…

She then froze as someone had the audacity to pull on her hair. It was almost enough for her to just guess where she needed to summon an abomination fist between the asshole’s legs but she also didn’t want to cause a scene. It wasn’t their fault she was so tired after all. However, it still didn’t make it-

“It doff tashte ‘ike co’on candy!”

That brought an immediate heat to Amity’s cheeks while the familiar voice washed her anger away like a soothing tide. It even brought a smile to her as she whispered, “I’ve been told my lips are even sweeter.”

Luz literally leapt over Amity’s chair before crashing into the ground after her shin caught the left arm rest on the way down. It didn’t even slow her down as she shouted, “Impo-”

Amity giggled more as something close to a whistle of a wheeze came out of Luz. The poor girl seemed entirely frozen as the two women stared into the other’s eyes. Those beautiful brown eyes that meant everything to Amity looked at the serious girl like she was discovering color for the first time in her life. Like beauty itself hadn’t existed before meeting Amity’s beautiful suns. And other things Luz had said to her that melted Amity’s heart.

Drunk however, Luz accidentally clapped Amity’s face as the excited girl grabbed her face. “HOW DO YOU EXIST!?”

It was in the middle of Amity’s snort that the other boy coughed a bit and opened his mouth to say something. He found a lump of… something in his throat though, at least so long as Amity spun her finger in the air. The witch didn’t even break eye contact with her girlfriend though as she whispered, “Maybe I am just something you’re dreaming up.”

Luz whimpered a little as she nuzzled into Amity’s neck. “But you’re so warm! But also, that’s really the only way you could exist. I mean, how are you prettier than my girlfriend? She’s like the prettiest girl in the world!”

As much as Amity tried to not let it, the comparison to Boscha did warm her heart. Then again, she knew damn well that if Boscha was the only one here, Luz would be grinding her face against her other girlfriend’s abs by now. Amity considered herself a little lucky that Luz wasn’t getting handsy already… But only a little. “Maybe I am just from another realm.”

“AND MAGICAL! JUST LIKE MY OTHER GIR- HURK!”

And with that, Amity sighed as she knew she had to get Luz home before she said anything too dumb. Until then, the abomination goo in her dear beloved’s throat had to stay.

======+++++======

SLAM! “Can you believe that these fucking assholes cannot take a fucking hint?”

Boscha started the car with a whistle before messing with the mirror to double check on the people inside the restaurant. She could see through the windows waiters running around as they tried to deal with figuring out why an overweight asshole had seemed to suddenly start vomiting purple goop. It really was a clever trick that Amity had learned to better hide her magic, though usually she didn’t make nearly so much of it.

Such was the problem with Sunday brunch though. “I was a little surprised when you let the threeway comment slide.”

Amity growled a bit before smacking herself. “I was too distracted thinking about when you and Luz tied me up and fucked me blindfolded like a pig on a spitroast! SOMETHING I SHOULD HAVE DONE TO HIM!”

Boscha snorted a bit as she began to move the car and said, “I’m pretty sure fucking him was exactly what he wanted.”

Amity slammed a hand on the dash, leaving a purple print on it as her magic made her body bubble slightly. She was riled up and ready to fight. “You know what I mean! And so should they! But no, for some reason humans can never fucking learn what the fuck their own terms mean. Why make a label for a girl who only likes girls if you aren’t going to fucking listen to it?”

Boscha bit her cheek as she had to stop her from reminding of the deep dive night that Amity had spent deep diving into said topic.That had been… depressing to say the least and it was maybe the least optimistic either had ever seen Luz. Not when the normally cheerful girl had simply whispered, ‘You’ll find we’re like this with most things,’ when asked what else humans treated like this. Instead, she just said, “I wouldn’t pay it much mind myself. If they don’t respect you, fuck ‘em.”

“Great idea!” Amity slammed back into her chair before growing quiet. She then shut her eyes as a pair of tears came down her cheeks. She then curled up more before whispering, “Do you… Do you think I could do that to my mom?”

Boscha took in a long, deep breath but simply let it out afterwards. This was where Amity ended up everytime she let herself get drunk after all. Ignoring ‘proper business edicate’ was still so hard for Amity though, even if she knew this was where she would end up everytime. Her mother had taught her that alcohol was a part of business in her teenage years though and while the goal was to get the client drunk…

Well, sometimes Amity just wanted to cut loose and try to become fun and silly like Luz did and it was always so hard for Boscha or Luz to tell her not to want that. They just wish they knew a better way to get her mind to relax.

======+++++======

Boscha walked into the apartment from the portal door in a black suit. She didn’t think. She only grabbed the bottle of Captain Morgan that Luz kept around for mixers. For when Amity wanted a coke and rum to take the edge off of a long day. It wasn’t around for getting drunk but for flavor. For a buzz. They didn’t keep alcohol in the apartment for that purpose. Not when they were happy together…

“For the one you missed…”

Boscha slammed her fist into the counter, shattering it as she forced the words to stop. She didn’t want to think. She wouldn’t think. Wouldn’t feel. That was what she’d used alcohol before and the familiar burn as she took her first swing was almost comforting for her.

“We’re sorry we screwed up.”

She’d ask for it to work faster but she wasn’t about to ask for the impossible. Besides, she didn’t need it for that. She needed it so she stopped thinking. So she got to a place where she could do anything.

“We-”

Don’t think about it. Don’t think about those bright eyes turning gray. Don’t think about how that smile shouldn’t have been there. Don’t think about how it will never leave. Just keep draining the bottle.

“-love-”

Boscha smashed the bottle on the table and watched it shatter against it. She… She didn’t care. Not as tears poured down her face. Her entire body was trembling. Just like it had standing in that crowd. Helpless. Worthless. Just a complete failure for the two girls she loved.

“-y-”

And then nothing.

Nothing…

Nothing.

Boscha shut her eyes before bringing her hands together. She then made a circle over one of her palms before raising the now enchanted hand up to her head. Then with one more breath, she put it to her ear.

And thanked the buzz she had for helping ease the short lived paint she had before she went to join her girlfriends one more time.

Chapter Text

Knock knock. “Boscha? Please tell me you’re home. I lost my keys and the door is lo-”

Boscha opened the door before stopping to stare at Luz. She looked more pathetic than normal with how patches of mud clung to her jacket, face and hair. One of her eyes was slightly swollen and the skin around it was darker than usual. The black eye was likely why there was a cut on her lower lip where she must have bit into her lip too hard. And yet, looking into her good eye… “Had a fun day, did you?”

Luz giggled a little as she smiled brightly at Boscha. “I don’t know if I’d say that. Getting punked by a bunch of teens was a little too reminiscent of middle school for me. But,” she said as she looked off into the distance, “there was a little witch who needed someone to listen to her. Someone who could let her know there wasn’t anything wrong with her and how she could avoid getting hurt again.”

Her smile only grew stronger as Boscha bopped her on the top of the head. That only made the strong woman more annoyed as she barked, “You’re not supposed to get hurt either, dumbass!”

Luz only laughed it off like it was nothing. Not that Boscha expected a real answer. The idiot couldn’t learn self preservation instincts to save her life. It was that sort of endless love and optimism that Boscha begrudgingly loved, even if during moments like this she hated it. If she’d been there, she would have taught whatever teens turned their ire on Luz who was really to be feared.

She was too tired to press it though. She’d only gotten home half an hour herself from her work in the Isles. There were bright sides to that though as Luz’s voice chirped out happily, “Cooking! Real food! Yes!”

Boscha closed the front door and locked it again before coming back to the kitchen where her pot had started boiling. “Don’t get too excited. I thought you and Ams were on a date night or something so I decided to experiment a bit with the leftovers some. Really bring back my old potion crafting, you know?”

Luz’s fingers rattled against the counter as she peered into the murky, brown liquid as it bubbled. “Ooooh. What is it? Classic tentacle summoning? Medicine that looks bad but is actually miraculously powerful? A mud that is both unbreakable and endlessly stretchy? Oh, but, uh, that would kind of crib on Amity, wouldn’t it? Then again, maybe it could help her? What do you think?”

Boscha pulled the ladle she was using to stir the concoction and sipped it a little before turning off the burner. “I think the stew is ready.”

Luz’s shoulders dropped as she gave Boshca a deadpan look. However, her stomach immediately betrayed her as the smell from the pot made it roar in jubilation for what was to come. That was enough to get Luz’s face to darken as her cheeks burned and she decided it was maybe best to change the subject. “So, uh, if Amity isn’t home yet, do you know where she is?”

Knock, knock.

Both women looked at the portal door before Luz dashed past Boscha to swing it open. On the other side was Viney of all people. The beast tamer grinned at Luz before bracing herself for Luz to slam into her with a fierce hug. “Viney! What are you doing here? How are you doing?”

Viney chuckled a bit as she forced Luz to chill for half a second so she could wave to someone just out of sight. That’s when a claw almost as large as Viney came down and Luz got to marvel at just how big Puddles had gotten since she’d last gotten to see the little bird. “I’m doing well. Just here to deliver something. How are you?”

Boscha moved behind Luz to get something out of the fridge as Luz bounced on her heels. “Oh! I’m doing great! I got to effectively try being a counselor today and it went amazingly! I really think my words helped the little goth girl I was chatting with.”

Viney looked Luz up and down as Puddles put down a long, wooden box in front of the door. “Is human counseling normally dangerous?”

“That’s what I sai-”

Boscha was cut off though by a loud bumping coming from the box as it shook and shuddered. Whatever was within was less than happy, something that finally made Luz wring out her hands nervously before she squatted down to get closer to the box. She then placed a hand on it and waited for purple tendrils came out of the cracks to wrap around her fingers. “Sorry, Amity. I know how upset you get when I get hurt.”

Boscha leaned over Luz before holding out a potion above the crate. “Is there anything we should know about her experiment gone wrong or did she simply fuck up and turn herself into goo? Again?”

Viney smirked a bit. “Only that Puddles had a lot of fun testing Amity mixing the form with beast keeping magic. Did you know she’s got a version of this form that can swim though? I would have thought that was literally impossible!”

Luz’s head steamed a bit because she was quite aware of the ‘otter form’ before Boscha smashed the vile onto the box and watched as the stabilizer seeped inbetween the cracks. Amity wasn’t comfortable making products for people she could charge for as it felt too much following after her mother. Instead, she normally was trying to figure out how to make higher levels of abomination magic more accessible to those with less magic or skill than her so people didn’t have to rely on Blight Industries for personal protection as much. The full, personal abomination form was just the newest version of that. A way for an abomination user to not have to spend as much mana to keep it up, if not make it permanent until the spell was cast again. Then you could easily be your own Abomaton.

Or, you know, turn yourself into nothing but goo every two weeks. Minimum. Boscha didn’t even try to pretend like she could scold Amity though as she lifted up the box. “Thanks, birdbrain. Amity is going to need help being resculpted though so how about you head home? I need to finish this stew and Luz is going to want to try and give her cat ears while her form is still malleable.”

Luz jumped up with a gasp before whispering, “Catmity!” And then chanting that as she tried to take the box from Boscha. Just a second of Boscha pretending to allow it though reminded Luz just how heavy abomination goo could be, despite the fact that Boscha was able to hold the box with one hand. Luz did behave enough to look past her girlfriends and yell, “You need to come over sometime so we can catch up! Any weekend works for me and Amity! At least, you know, if we don’t have too much homework.”

Viney groaned for a moment before mumbling, “Don’t I know that feeling,” and then closing the door. She had her own studies to get back to after all.

Boscha soon left Amity and Luz in Amity’s room. The rough woman smiled as she watched long enough to see Amity’s goo try to reach for the cut on Luz’s face and instead went straight into the idiot’s mouth because she could hardly control herself in the state she was in. It was cute and wonderful and…

Frustrating as Boscha’s hands curled into fists just outside the room. Both of them. They’d each say the other needed to stop pushing themselves so hard or being stupid but they were both dumbasses. What if Amity had been washed away? Or Luz had picked a fight with real thugs instead of just a bunch of bullies? It was who they were but… But…

But it was Boscha’s own fault as her entire body deflated. She could have demanded to go into Grudgby after all. Forced Luz to get a job while her work on the team brought in Snails for them to use. Or maybe have made Amity have to work for her parents for Snails in case whatever team grabbed her wasn’t paying enough. At least then the two wouldn’t have the time or energy to be idiots. They’d have to actually calm down and remember that they had work in another eight hours, if that long, and so need some sleep.

But then they also couldn’t be idiots…

Boscha stopped next to the soup as she found herself being dizzy for a second. Between getting called in early for guard work at the markets alongside a full shift at the strip club last night, she had gotten maybe an hour of sleep in the past day. She was tired and thinking this much didn’t help her. Not when the anger she was trying to muster up wasn’t working. Wasn’t energizing her like it did when she was young.

She slowly pressed her hands against the counter and slowed her breathing as her whole body shook from the exhaustion. It was something she wouldn’t dare doing in front of Luz and Amity. She preferred their smiles. Them getting excited about her cooking instead of telling her to go to bed. Them being able to tell her their stories without worrying about annoying her. 

“Mommy is so strong and she cooks and she’s always here and-”

Boscha squeezed her eyes shut tighter as she pushed the thought out of her head. Or, not so much a thought. A dream she’d been having variations of for a while now. Of kids giving her the same sorts of smiles that Luz and Amity did. Telling her the stories of their triumphs and failures. Of their adventures. Every single time, it made Boscha wake up in a cold sweat because a part of her was still afraid of how she’d be with kids.

But there was a larger and larger part of her that was made happy about it. Just like she was happy to hear that Luz was managing to help people like she wanted to or to see that Amity was pushing things like she was. The two of them were changing the world in ways a Grudgby player simply never could. They’d never be stars like Boshca would have been. Never have every eye on her…

“Boscha, Amity won’t let me give her whiskers!”

“We had to pull them out with tweezers last time, remember!”

Boscha looked back at Amity’s room as she could vividly imagine their beautiful, brown and yellow eyes. Then they mixed together to shift into various options for what they could be some day. Ones that were even mixed with blue too. So many options.

And all of them so vivid and bright and happy and unafraid to take risks. And all looking to her for help and stability that made it easy for them to shine so bright…

Something she couldn’t do if she ever returned to Grudgby.

Boscha stared back into her own blue eyes as they were poorly reflected in the stew. They looked tired and dull. That wouldn’t do. So instead, she shut them for just a moment before opening them again. There they were. Strong. Confident. Able to support the world. But too soft to lead a team. Not when they weren’t meant for that.

They were the eyes one put on for a family. Admitting that gave her so much more energy than her anger or her thoughts of Grudgby did. Not that she considered it too much. Once those eyes were on, she stopped focusing on herself. She had stew to give the other two to make sure they got some food in their systems before she laid down for two hours before having to go back to the club. She had work to do.

Work to do for the future that truly mattered to her.