Archive of Our Own ^beta

Monday afternoon, Luz arrived at Amity’s front door with a grin and a container of takeout food. They had moved their newly designated Friday date night to accommodate the coming holiday and Luz being out of town.   

“That was great, Luz. Thank you for dinner.” Amity smiled at her as she sat beside her girlfriend on the couch. “I think you got too much though…”

“No such thing,” Luz mumbled around the dumpling shoved in her mouth. 

“Uh-uh,” Amity hummed, twisting the last of her noodles around her chopsticks.

“I figured we could just kinda call this our thanksgiving dinner together since we're gonna be out of town.” Luz shrugged as she held a noodle up to Ghost, who batted at it before finally slurping it down himself. 

“You will. I’ll be right here Thursday.” She shooed Ghost away before Luz could feed him anymore. She was spoiling him. 

“You’re not going home for thanksgiving?” Luz turned to look at her and Amity shook her head. 

“Nope, I’ll be all on my own over the holiday weekend.” She stood, gathering up their trash and moving to the kitchen trash can. “My dad wanted to fly over, but I told him not to. He has a project going on and it’s just a few days. He’ll come for Christmas. Ed and Em won’t be here either.” 

Luz flopped over onto the couch, throwing her legs up over the armrest to dangle over the side. Ghost was quick to return, hopping up on her stomach and making himself comfortable. She chuckled and scratched his ears. “Where are your brother and sister going?” she asked.

“Some friends of theirs invited them on this fall hiking thing. They're going to hike up a mountain and have dinner at the top,” she said, pulling two mugs out of her cabinet. 

“Oh, that sounds like fun!” Luz smiled and Amity nodded. 

“I’m not sure it’s my brother and sister’s thing, though. I’m pretty sure the only reason Emira is going is because she likes one of them and Ed’s going, so he doesn't have to stay on campus by himself.” 

“So, you’re going to be all alone for thanksgiving?” Luz frowned and Amity shrugged, pouring two cups of coffee. 

“It’s not like it will be the first time. It’s not a big deal. It’s a made-up holiday anyway to help excuse colonialism and genocide,” she grunted, pouring a sickly amount of sugar into one of the cups. Luz snorted.

“I appreciate how aware you are, especially for someone so white they’re practically transparent. I hesitate to ask you about Christmas…” Luz grinned at her and Amity scowled, walking over and sitting the sugared-up coffee in front of her.

“Shut up and drink your coffee.” 

Luz chuckled, picking up Ghost with a silent apology so she could sit up and set him on the floor. Amity sunk down into the space beside her. 

“I know what it started as, but I think it's grown to really just be a time to spend with family or friends and you’ll be all alone.” Luz frowned at her. Amity just shrugged, taking a sip of her drink.

“I can use the time to study or work on some of my midterm projects. You can never have too much extra time at this time of the year. I’ll be fine.” She leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to Luz’s cheek. “Stop looking so worried. Now, are we gonna watch this movie or not?” She gestured to the title screen on the tv.

“Yeah, yeah…” Luz leaned back and held up her free arm, wiggling her fingers in invitation. Amity rolled her eyes but leaned into Luz’s embrace. Her head rested on Luz’s shoulder. Luz enjoyed the warmth bubbling inside as she rested her head on Amity’s and inhaled that sweet lavender scent that Amity’s hair always smelled of. She was relaxed and content, but she couldn’t concentrate on the movie.

She kept thinking about how her girlfriend of two weeks was going to be all alone in her apartment for the holidays. By the end of the movie, she had already decided what she wanted to do. She needed to text her mom.

She was not looking forward to that.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you home?” Amity asked a couple of hours later as they stood at her front door.

“Nah, it’s a short walk. Don’t worry about it, batata.” She grinned and Amity pinked, still getting used to the name. “I’ll text you when I get home,” she promised, leaning down. Amity met her halfway in a warm but brief kiss.

“Be careful,” Amity mumbled against her lips and Luz nodded.

“See ya later!” She turned and hurried to the elevators. The second the doors closed, she pulled her phone out of her hoodie pocket and opened her mom's contact.

Luz: Hola, mami. Would it be okay if I brought someone home for thanksgiving?

Her thumb hesitated over the send button. She knew what kind of box this would open, but there was no way to avoid it. She took a breath and hit send.

Her mom could very well be asleep and she wouldn't have to deal with this till tomorrow.

No such luck. Her phone buzzed only a moment later.

Mami: Of course, Mija! One of your friends doesn't have anywhere to go?   

This was a wonderful opportunity to avoid her mom's questioning and lie, say yes. That would just cause more trouble than it was worth, though, and with a reluctant sigh. She started typing.

Luz: Yes and no. They don’t have anywhere to go, but it’s my girlfriend.

Her phone went silent for about fifteen seconds before it rang. She didn’t even need to look at the caller ID to see who it was.

“Hi mom…”

“¡¿Tienes una novia?!”

Luz sighed to herself

It was after she got home when she texted Amity that she was safe and sound.

Amity smiled from her bed and texted back but a second message popped up quickly.

Luz: You wanna come home with me on Thursday?

Amity blinked at the message

“Huh?” 

~ ~

“Where is this place?” Amity asked, watching the passing signs as Luz drove her car down the highway Wednesday morning.

“We’re almost there.” She grinned. “It’s the next exit.” She nodded ahead of them.

“And we couldn’t ride with Hunter and Willow because?” She glanced at her girlfriend as a semi whizzed by. Luz was not a bad driver per se, but she didn’t have her own car and was not as experienced as Amity or their couple friends. 

“They’re going to stay the whole weekend and I know you wanna work on your midterm projects this weekend. So, we're going to leave on Friday morning. Hunter and Willow aren't coming back till Sunday," she explained.

"Well, now I feel like I'm cutting your holiday with your family short…," Amity trailed off. 

"Wha-? No!" Luz glanced at her briefly before turning back to the road. “I’ll see my mom again in a few weeks at Christmas. And I just went home a few weeks ago. It’s an hour drive, Amity. It’s not like it's that far out of the way.” 

“Still…,” she started, unsure.

Without looking, Luz reached over, groping for her hand till she found it and gave it a little squeeze.  

“No, no still. Mom’s gonna have to go to work Saturday, anyway. Eda and Raine live above their shop. Even if they opened the store, they're never far. It makes more sense for us to head back to school and them to stay,” she insisted.

“If you’re sure.” Amity squeezed her hand back.

“I am, besides, I have some projects that I really wanna get ahead of to lessen the load before Christmas… Oh, that’s our exit!” She turned off the highway and within a few minutes, they were passing a large sign that Luz pointed out. 

‘Welcome to Gravesfield, CT”

“What a… charming name…,” Amity mumbled and Luz snorted. 

“It grows on you,” she promised with a smile, and Amity decided she would take her word for it. 

It wasn’t long before they pulled to a gentle stop in front of a nice if unassuming, house. 

“Home sweet home.” Luz grinned, quickly unbuckling and climbing out of the car. “Doesn’t look like my mom is here,” Luz hummed, noticing the missing car as she walked around the back, grabbing her and Amity’s bag. “Come on!” Luz hurried up the steps, Amity trailing behind her. 

She all but threw open the door with a grin. 

“Anyone home?” she called and from upstairs there was a muted thumping before the sound of a door being thrown open sounded. Looking up, she heard thumping feet in the hall, and then Vee came barreling down the stairs.

“You’re here!” Vee grinned, throwing her arms around Luz.

“We’re here!” Luz grinned, giving her a squeeze. “Where’s mom?” She asked, letting go and stepping back. 

“She ran to the store to get something she forgot for tomorrow.” Vee glanced around her to look at Amity. “Is this her?”

“Yeah, Vee, this is my girlfriend Amity, and this is my cousin, Vee.” Luz introduced them.

“Nice to meet you,” Amity smiled, shaking the teen’s hand. Vee smiled back, but then a curious look came over her face before realization lit up behind her eyes.

“You’re the girl from the poster!” She pointed and Luz’s stomach dropped into her feet.

“The… poster?” Amity blinked and Vee grinned, nodding. 

“Yeah, the one in our bedroom. I’ll show you and you guys can put your stuff away.” Vee smiled.

“Ohhh… yay ,” Luz said, all the while making a sound like a dying cat in the back of her throat. 

Amity gave her a curious look, but Luz wouldn’t meet her gaze as they followed Vee up the stairs with their bags. 

"This is my and Luz's room. Or, my room, since she started going to school." Vee opened the door and Amity followed her in, looking around at the room. 

It was your average teenager's room. Including stuff that was obviously Luz's. 

Who only, by the barest technicality of being twenty, wasn't a teenager.

"Whose bunk bed mess up there?" She nodded to the top bunk that was spilling over with a lot of stuff and Vee looked at Luz, who picked.

"It's an organized mess," she insisted and Amity chuckled, turning and catching sight of herself.

Staring at the promised poster hung on the wall near the top bunk, she blinked. She could feel her ears get warm seeing her face splattered with mud, her lips curling back in a snarl as she slide tackled an opposing player.

Vee turned to Luz with a bright smile. “You forgot to take it with you when you were here last, so I pinned it up on the wall.”

"Yup… you did that…," Luz mumbled as Amity turned a curious but amused look to her rapidly reddening girlfriend.

"I did not buy that!" She held up her hands. 

"Uh-uh…," Amity smirked and Luz sputtered. 

"I didn't…!" She insisted, face so red she looked like she might pop. 

"Do you want me to sign it for you?" she asked with a cheeky grin that had Luz turning nearly purple. 

"Tell her!" Luz squeaked, throwing up her hands and turning to her cousin, who glanced between the two before turning to Amity.

"I have no idea what she's talking about." 

Luz made a strangled sound and Amity thought she might just explode at any moment.

Vee covered her mouth as if that might hide her ear-to-ear grin as she watched her cousin reach a boiling point. 

“It’s okay, Luz. It’s very flattering.” Amity nudged her shoulder, grinning.

“I didn’t buy it!” 

“But it is yours, isn’t it?” Amity questioned and Luz’s entire face screwed up, lips pursed tight and Amity couldn’t keep from grinning.  

Vee seemed to decide to take pity on her cousin before Luz had an aneurysm.

"I bought it for her at a college sports store at the mall. It was before you were dating," she explained and Luz deflated with relief like someone had popped her.

"I got that feeling." She smirked, gaze flickering to Luz, who huffed. "Still flattering," she mumbled. 

"I can kind of see why you didn't want to take it back to school with you now," Vee smirked and Luz grunted, but before she could respond they heard the front door downstairs open and shut. 

"chicas, ¿están en casa?" Camila's voice drifted up the stairs.

"Upstairs!" Vee called. 

"Vengan a ayudarme con las compras."

"¡Ya vamos!" 

Vee hurried out of the room. Leaving the couple alone. 

Luz still looked less than pleased, and Amity nudged her. 

"There's a poster of me on your bedroom wall. I had to." She smiled and Luz grumbled. Amity rolled her eyes, leaning over and pressing a quick kiss to her girlfriend's cheek.

"Will you stop pouting and introduce me to your mom?" she asked and Luz seemed to startle, remembering that they needed to do that.

"Oh, right, yeah! Come on." She grabbed Amity's hand.

"I'll sign the poster later." Amity threw in a final jab, smirking.

Luz made a low grumbling noise in her throat as she led them back down the stairs to the kitchen where Luz's mom and cousin were putting things away.

Now Amity's mirth evaporated like morning dew as they led her into the kitchen.

"Hey, mom!"

Camila turned around and smiled as her eyes fell on Luz, then flickered quickly to Amity before returning to her daughter.

"Mija!" She wrapped Luz up in a tight hug, making the younger woman grin. No matter how few weeks were between her visits home, it was always too long between hugs from her mom.

Camila let her go and took a step back, her gaze turning expectancy to Amity, who swallowed thickly under her gaze. 

"Mom, this is my girlfriend, Amity." She introduced.

"Nice to meet you, Ms.Noceda." Amity held out a hand, which Camila took.

"It's nice to meet you too, Amity. Please, just Camila." 

"Camila," Amity repeated. "Thank you for having me over."

"It's our pleasure! I'm glad you came. The other day was the first time Luz had mentioned she was even seeing someone." Camila settled her hands on her hips and looked at her daughter, almost disappointed.

"Oh, I see…" Amity glanced at Luz, who looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"I just hadn't had a chance yet!" she insisted. 

"Mhmm," Amity hummed, doing her best to keep the grin off her face.

The corner of Camila's lips twitched upward as she shook her head. 

"Ella nunca me dice nada." 

"I'll try to keep you updated from now on." Amity turned to her and Camila's eyebrows shot up in surprise. 

¡Oh! ¿Tú hablas español? She smiled.

"Conversacionalmente."

"Oh, excellent! I hope you like moro de habichuelas and stories about Luz as a bebe.”

“MOM!”  

~ ~ ~

“Your mom tried to stuff me till I exploded…,” Amity groaned as they walked down the sidewalk, hand in hand. The quickly dimming orange light was slowly but surely vanishing behind the skyline. Despite the warm glow, their breaths came out in little puffs of warm air. 

That made Luz laugh.

“That’s how she does everyone. Just wait till tomorrow. Eda and Raine are bringing food, too. I recommend a light breakfast….”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Amity smirked. “I am curious to meet Eda and Raine. You talk about them a lot.”

“Well, they're kinda like a second set of parents. After I met Eda, I spent a lot of time in her shop with her and Raine, and Hunter. Then King later.” 

“Is that his real name?” Amity cocked her head and Luz chuckled. 

“Well, no. It’s Titus. But he wants to be called King so…” Luz shrugged and with a gentle tug on their hands, took them off the sidewalk into the grass, heading into the woods.  

“Where are we going?” Amity asked but her steps beside Luz never faltered. 

“It's a surprise.” Luz grinned at her and winked as they entered the treeline, which seemed to be a mess of close-knit trees, vines, and shrubs, till they turned the surrounding corner tree and laid out before them, winding in between the trees was an old, dirt worn path in the grass.

“Somewhere well traveled I see,” Amity hummed and Luz just smiled, nodding her head.

“Desire paths are one of the neat little things I love!” Luz beamed at her.

“A what?” Amity frowned.

“A desire path,” Luz repeated, nodding to the dirt-worn path in front of them. “You’ve never heard of a desire path before?” she asked, and Amity shook her head. “Okay, so, it’s basically a path worn into the ground either by people or animals to get where they want to go, where there was no path originally. Sometimes they’re shortcuts or detours. Like, the one that connects the backfire exit of the science building with the canteen!” Luz snapped her fingers and Amity knew what she was talking about. She had taken that path many times when running out of her classes to get lunch. 

“I know that one. I walk down it all the time.”

“See! These paths are kinda like a consensus of people, called by the same urge to stray from established paths and take or make a path of least resistance between an origin and a destination.” She waved one hand out across the woods in front of them, a voice full of something akin to awe, eyes full of stars.

She turned and caught Amity’s quizzical stare and smiled in that sheepish way she did, chuckling.

“I wrote a paper about phenomena like desire paths and liminal spaces.” She shrugged, and Amity smiled back at her.

“I’d like to read that sometime.” 

“Oh, yeah, remind me when we get back to school and I’ll find it,” she said, and Amity nodded.

“So, what desire does this lead to?” she asked, glancing up at Luz, who made a choked sound in the back of her throat, her face turning colors, though it was hard to tell in the light of the setting sun.

“Oh… I don’t... We could… if you…,”

“The path, Luz.” Amity rolled her eyes, deliberately ignoring the red on her own face. 

“Right, the path!” She nodded rapidly. “We’re almost there.”   

The deeper into the woods they got, the more shadowed it became, with fewer and fewer rays of light peeking between the foliage. 

It wasn’t so dark though that she missed the large, dilapidated cabin sitting nestled in the trees in front of them. 

“What do you think?” 

“It’s… a cabin in the woods… so, you’ve brought me here to kill me…,” she trailed off and Luz sputtered.

“No!” she yelped, and Amity chuckled. “Just come on.” She led them across the ‘yard’ of the cabin and up the creaky and weathered stairs to the porch. 

Luz knelt down and pried up a loose piece of wood before showing her hand inside. Before Amity could scold her for shoving her into a hole that could be home to anything from snakes to spiders, she pulled out a key. An old one from the looks of it, bronzy with the distinct teeth common to old keys. 

“Ta-da.” Luz grinned at her and stood, moving to unlock the door. “Come on.” 

The floorboards creaked under their feet as they moved into the darkness. The inside was still and quiet outside, their movements, and Amity held tight to Luz’s arm. 

Luz hit the flashlight on her phone and the darkness receded to reveal a room that was far cleaner and more lived in than she had expected.

“What… is this?” she asked, looking around at the slightly more or less clean coffee table in the middle of the room surrounded by a few cushions and beanbags and what looked to be a stack of board games. 

“This is club Clawthorne-Noceda.” Luz proudly introduced. “Hunter and I found this place abandoned years ago, and we spruced it up to hang out in. We still come here sometimes but with being away at school, we have kinda passed it down to Vee and her friends and when he gets older, King.” She moved over to the table and picked up a little box of matches before setting about lighting the candles strewn about, lighting the place up further and allowing Amity an even better view. 

There was even a couch, that while it looked like it had seen better days, appeared plenty serviceable still. Across from her was a recently used fireplace. Luz noticed it too.

“Looks like Vee and her friends were here recently,” she hummed, looking around and kicking an empty bag of chips. "What do you think?" Luz turned to her.

"It's a little creepy. I won't lie."

Luz just laughed at that, nodding. 

"I mean as you said, it's a rundown, abandoned cabin in the woods, but.” She smiled. “But for me and Hunter as teens, it was, ironically, a safe place. Never mind the tetanus shots we had to get… by the way, watch out for nails.” She pointed, grinning as Amity jerked, casting a wary eye at her surroundings. “I’m kidding. We pulled up or nailed them down a long time ago.” She moved over and perched herself on the edge of the couch, patting the spot beside her.

Amity gave it a wary look, but Luz’s bottom lip trembled as she looked pleadingly at her, and with a silent sigh, she moved to sit on the cushion. Carefully at first, as though it might reach up and bite her. Luz rolled her eyes.

“The couch gets cleaned regularly,” Luz promised and Amity hummed, finding that as opposed to what was obviously original, it was much newer and cleaner looking. “This was Eda and Raine’s before they got a new one a couple of years ago.” Luz leaned back, throwing her arm up on the back of the little sofa, and Amity leaned into her embrace.

“What did you mean that this was a safe place for you two?” Amity mumbled, glancing up at her. 

“Oh, I mean, I think I’ve talked about it a little before. I was not a… popular kid growing up, and I didn’t have many… or any friends. Neither did Hunter. He was a foster kid who…” Luz made a face. “... had a rough time. Anyway, after I started working with Eda, we ended up becoming friends and we found this place one summer, spruced it up, and made it a hangout spot.” Luz said quietly, no longer looking at Amity, but her eyes roved around the darkened cabin with a silent tenderness and fondness that made Amity take another look.

All she could see, though, was rotted wood, cracked, and splitting. Little holes in the roof that no doubt let in rain and cause the vague mildew smell that kept wafting through her nose. 

“It’s… a spot.” Amity tried making Luz snort. 

“I know it’s a little rough… but it was a quiet place where we could be ourselves and just… do stuff.” She shrugged. 

“Like what?” 

“Uh, we did a lot of reading. Hunter is a big fan of the ‘Ruler’s Reach’ duology and my Azura stuff. We were also both into trading card games.” She shrugged.

“Magic?” Amity hummed, letting her head rest on Luz’s collar, tucking her head under her girlfriend's chin. Luz scoffed.

“What kind of nerd do you take me for? It was Pokemon.” She turned up her nose and Amity chuckled against her.

“Oh, I’m soooo sorry,” she snorted.

“I’ll forgive you,” Luz sighed like it was a truly burdensome task. “You’re lucky you’re cute like that.”

Amity jabbed her fingers into Luz’s sides, making her squeal and try to squirm away. Amity slung her arms around her neck, pulling her back in close.

“I think you’re lucky you’re cute,” she grumbled at Luz, who just grinned before closing the distance between them with a kiss. 

~ ~ ~

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?” Amity asked for the third or fourth time as she stood in the kitchen entryway, watching Camila orchestrate her daughter and niece like the conductor of a food symphony, calling directions in Spanish and sending the two young women dashing here and there from counter to oven. 

Vee staggered under the weight of a stock pot full of water as Luz skirted by her with a bag of potatoes. 

Camila turned to her and smiled sweetly. 

“Oh, no, cariño. You’re a guest in our home.” 

“She might help a little…” Luz mumbled under her breath. She jerked when she saw her mom shoot her a look. 

“I don’t mind, really…” Amity tried again. She felt bad about not doing anything to help toward the meal. 

“Nonsense, you sit down. The rest of our guests will be here any minute.” Camila assured her with a smile and Amity had the feeling that now was the time to stop pushing it and go sit down. She caught Luz’s eye, who gave her an amiable smile and a wink before going back to peeling potatoes.  

Amity plopped herself on the couch and flicked through her phone. It surprised her to see a handful of unread messages. From varying members of her family. She sighed and figured she might as well get it over with, and opened the text from her mom.

Mom: Hello, dear. How are your grades? Did you ever inquire about the extra class for -

Amity deleted the message, rolled her eyes, and opened the next one from her brother. There was no message, just a photo of a group of young adults standing on a sunny cliff side with a folding table full of food laid out behind them. Amity found her sister in the far corner, face red and the arm of a shorter, grinning woman wrapped around her shoulders, pulling Emira down.

Amity just chuckled, shaking her head and typing back a quick message.

Amity: What’s her name?

She then closed it and moved on to her last message. A text from her dad. Amity smiled to herself as she opened it. 

Dad: Happy thanksgiving, sweetie. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it. Are you doing anything for the day?

Oh, that was right. She still hadn’t told her dad she was dating anyone and apparently her siblings hadn’t either. She hesitated for a minute, fingers hovering over the screen as she tried to decide what to say before finally typing back a message.

Amity: Thanks, dad. Christmas is still coming, I told you the other day... I’m spending the weekend with my girlfriend and her family. I'm okay.

She hesitated only a second before hitting send. Not a moment later, the front door slammed open, and there, standing in the doorway, was a grinning, one armed-woman with a giant mane of gray and white streaked hair holding a casserole dish.

“The Clawthorne’s have arrived!” She declared with a grin. 

“Eda,” a voice sighed somewhere from behind her. 

“Eda!” Luz appeared in the kitchen entryway, grinning from ear to ear before hurrying across the room to grab her up in a hug, making the older woman laugh as she did her best to keep her grip on the casserole dish in her hand. 

“Hey, kid.” She smiled. Luz stood back, allowing Eda to move out of the way so the rest of her family could come in. 

“Happy Thanksgiving,” Raine smiled at her as they came in, another dish covered in foil held in their hands.

“Sup” Hunter nodded to her and Amity as he followed with Willow, who smiled at them, both holding dishes. 

“Hey, guys!” Luz ushered them in as Amity stood from the couch, slipping her phone into her pocket and moving toward them. 

“Luz!” 

Luz nearly toppled over as King ran headlong into her legs, squeezing them. 

“Hey, bud!” She ruffled the seven-year-olds hair with a smile as Raine took the casserole dish from Eda and headed into the kitchen with Hunter and Willow. They could hear Camila greet them all warmly from the kitchen. 

Eda’s hawk-like gaze was quick to turn to Amity, who had stopped beside Luz, her eyes widening as she realized the older woman was looking at her. 

“You gonna introduce me or what, kid?” She looked at Luz, who jerked.

“Right! Eda, this is my girlfriend, Amity.” She held her hand up to her. “Amity, this is Eda, my old boss and pretty much my second mom,” she chuckled. 

“Nice to meet you?” Amity held up her right hand, and Eda glanced at it before holding up her right arm.

Or what was left of it. 

Her right arm came to an abrupt halt just below the elbow joint, a mass of scarring on the tip.

Amity wanted to just die. She didn’t even notice the older woman’s grin and Luz’s sour look directed at her old boss. 

“Eda,” she hissed, and the woman chuckled, holding out her left hand, which Amity shook limply. 

“So you’re the girl that had her all in a tizzy a few weeks ago, huh?” Eda smirked, planting her hand on her hip as Luz flushed, hissing her name again while King tugged on her shirt, trying to get her attention. 

She turned to him, taking her eyes off her old boss and girlfriend. 

“I… suppose so, yes.” Amity nodded.  

Eda nodded, seeming to appraise Amity. 

“Well, glad you got all that stuff straightened out, kid just couldn’t not talk about how pretty and smart and….”

“EDA!” Luz’s head shot up from King, face a ball of fire. 

~ ~ ~

Dinner was as raucous an affair as it usually was, but even more so this year, with Amity in attendance this year for Eda to tease both her and Luz and her own children, of course. This was far from Willow’s first rodeo with the Clawrthorne’s and she knew how to go with the flow of Eda’s teasing. 

Not that it stopped Hunter from getting embarrassed anytime Eda told a story about his youth. He’d been in the system till about the age of ten when he’d become a Clawthorne, so Eda and Raine had been party to too many of his childhood blunders. 

Luz was glad when the meal was over though, and four young adults waved as they headed out the front door.

“We’ll be back later, Mami!” Luz called as they walked out in the cool night air. 

“Why can’t I go?” King pouted as his brother and the others left without him. 

“You’re too young, but someday,” Raine promised, setting a hand on their son's head. King just crossed his arms. Vee also sat on the couch, frowning at them. 

“Next year, Vee!” Luz called at her cousin. The seventeen-year-old just grunted.

“Be careful!” Camila called from the kitchen doorway, where she was drying a plate with a towel.  

“Don’t do anything I would do!” Eda called from the kitchen table with a grin.

“Never do, Ma!” Hunter called back before they closed the door.

It was dark but the streetlamps lit the majority of their walk to the edge of the woods and from there, Hunter and Luz had made the walk so many times to the old cabin, they could do it even in pitch blackness. Though the near-full moon overhead made that unnecessary. 

“Was that story true?” Amity addressed Hunter, who looked back at her. “Did your mom really lose her arm swimming with sharks?” She looked skeptical and Hunter shrugged.

“Who the hell knows.” 

“Wh- what does that mean?! You don't know?” 

“She tells a different story anytime you ask her.” He held up a hand. 

“She told me that the mafia cut it off as a warning to keep her mouth shut.” Willow smirked.

“She told me it got caught in the chord when she was paragliding over the Andys and had to cut it off with a pudding spoon to free herself,” Luz laughed.

“Forever a mystery.” Hunter smirked as they walked up to the cabin and unlocked the door. 

It didn’t take long to get a fire going in the fireplace, lighting and warming up the whole room as they settled around the table.

“Ma and Pierogi gave me this for my birthday last week” Hunter pulled a bottle out of his jacket and sat it on the table. 

“Whiskey?” Luz made a face as Willow dug the four shot glasses out of her purse. “Why can’t it be something… fruit flavored?” She asked and Hunter rolled his eyes. 

“Sorry, I forgot your juice box,” Hunter grunted and Luz scowled at him, her eyes flickering over to Amity. She was getting real tired of being embarrassed in front of her girlfriend this weekend. 

“The name of this evening's game is ‘Never have I ever’ I’m sure you’re all familiar with the rules?” He looked around, regarding them in the light of the fire as he popped the seal on the liquor and poured some into each shot glass

“Amity is new, so she should go first,” Willow offered her up.

“Uh, alright… Never have I ever drank in a cabin in the woods?” she offered and Luz snorted, meanwhile Willow chuckled and Hunter rolled his eyes as the three of them drank.

“Ugh!” Luz stuck out her tongue. “It’s like gasoline!” she coughed. Hunter and Willow didn’t look much better off. 

“Uh, Luz, you next,” Willow rasped and she nodded. 

“Never have I ever been to the west coast.” Willow and Amity clinked their glasses together before throwing them back.

“Oh… that is not good,” Amity coughed. “I’ve had whiskey before, my dad considers himself an amateur connoisseur and that is bad.” 

“Ma said this was good stuff…,” Hunter mumbled more to himself than anyone else, eyeing the bottle. 

“I think Eda just has poor taste, I’ve seen her drink a warm beer she found in a cabinet someone sold her…,” Luz snorted as he refilled the other two girls’ cups. Hunter narrowed his eyes at her. 

“Never have I ever skinny dipped.” He tried and both Luz and Amity took a drink, earning a curious glance from the other couple.

“Not together!” Amity insisted ears red and Luz nodded rapidly, unable to speak as she tried to choke down the drink. Willow just chuckled, nodding before taking her turn.

“Never have I ever had the cops called on me,” she said and both Luz and Hunter frowned before they took a drink, flinching only a little at the terrible taste now. 

“I can explain,” Luz quickly turned to her girlfriend, who smirked at her.

“I thought you said the bail fund money was just for pizza,” she teased. 

“It was Hunter’s fault!”

“I thought you had paid before we left Burger-world!” He defended himself.

“And I thought you paid!” she shouted back. “You don’t know how to pay after eating?” she accused. He made a face at her. 

“Okay, okay, my turn. Never have I ever… crashed a car,” she finally said and with a defeated grunt, Hunter drank, wincing far less than they became more used to it. With that, it came back around to Amity, who hummed thoughtfully.

“Never have I ever rode a motorcycle.” Much to her surprise, Luz took a drink. “Really?” she asked and Luz nodded as she finished swallowing. 

“Eda taught me to ride one. I've been thinking about getting one.” 

“Oh,” was all Amity said, her mind already conjuring up a vision of Luz astride a bike, hair slicked back, leather jacket and all. It was hilarious but there was still something very attractive in the thought. Willow gave her a knowing look.

“Never have I ever crashed a motorcycle,” she grinned, and no one drank. Willow rolled her eyes and Amity smirked.

Hunter wasted no time taking his turn.

“Never have I ever eaten noodles through my nose,” he finally shot back at Luz for earlier, making her turn bright red. Amity shot her girlfriend a bewildered look and Luz did her best not to look at her.

“You were the one who bet I couldn’t!” she scowled before taking the drink. The couple she had already had were sitting in the bottom of her full belly, slowly warming her up and exacerbating the embarrassed feeling that had been simmering since they arrived in Gravesfield.

“Do I even want to know?” Amity mumbled to her. Luz pursed her lips tightly. Any clout her motorcycle riding had gotten her just flew out the window.   

Willow took the reins. “Never have I ever cheated on an exam.” No one drank, and it passed back to Amity. 

“Never have I ever… stayed in a store after it closed?” She tried and both Hunter and Luz took another shot, though they were making faces at each other even as they did. 

“Now I’m wondering if I wanna know,” Willow chuckled at them and refilled the two cups.

“Never have I ever kissed a bird goodnight!” Luz fired back and Hunter blushed as the other two women looked at him. 

“You used to kiss flapjack goodnight….? Or was there another bird?” Willow smirked at her boyfriend, who scowled at Luz sitting across from him, cheeks red, some of which may have been the alcohol going through their systems. She just stuck her tongue out at him. 

“Never have I ever given myself a black eye trying to put on a bra!” He snarled. Amity and Willow gave him a look before turning to Luz.

“My hand slipped!” she defended herself.

Willow pressed her lips together, seeing the fire rising in her friend and boyfriend, and wondered if they should stop. Amity seemed to think the same thing but before they could give voice to this, it seemed Hunter and Luz, both at least five shots deep, were going back at it. As bad as the whiskey was, it was strong enough. They both looked a little red.

Though that could just be anger.

They also seemed to forget they were playing in turns, much less playing a game at all as Luz snapped back at him.

“Never have I ever been caught making out in a maintenance closet!” 

Hunter growled and Willow pinked a little at that. Amity would have asked more questions but the way Luz and Hunter started tearing into each other pushed that thought out of her mind.

“Never have I ever been pranked by my entire class!” Hunter snapped, standing up.

“Never have I ever been stood up at prom, twice!” Luz yelled back, jumping up as well, empty shot glass in hand.

“Luz…,” Amity tried as Willow grabbed Hunter’s arm, calling his name. 

“Never have I ever been tried to be made normal by my mom!” His voice thundered through the cabin, followed by a long beat of silence, Willow and Amity looking at him with wide eyes and mouths hanging open as Luz’s face contorted with rage. 

“Fuck you!” Luz roared, flinging the shot glass across the room where it sailed past Hunter and shattered into a thousand pieces against the wall. She turned and stalked quickly out of the cabin, slamming the door open in her wake. Amity was quick on her heels as Luz stumbled a little drunkenly, on shit whiskey and rage through the woods, leaves crunching underfoot. 

Amity caught up to her, wondering what she should say or do. Whiskey and worry coursed through her veins, the latter far stronger than the paltry two shots she had consumed. 

Luz was seething to herself as her feet carried her down the path. That rage was quickly bleeding away and her eyes were filled with tears. Her feet stumbled in the leaves but before she could even think to fall, an arm wrapped securely around her, steadying her. 

She looked to her right at Amity, who was frowning worriedly at her. The shadows cast by the light of the moon made the sharp lines of the frown even more severe above.

The same light sparkled on the tears dripping down Luz’s cheeks. 

“Oh, Luz,” Amity murmured, reaching up with her free hand to wipe at them. Luz sniffled and leaned into the touch, though her eyes were downcast, refusing to look at Amity.

She bit her tongue. She wanted to ask so many questions but now was not the time. 

“Come on,” she finally said instead and wrapped her arm securely around Luz’s waist and walked the rest of the way back to the house.

Amity silently opened the front door. The living room was empty save King and Vee, both lying asleep on the couch. Warm, and soft voices wafted out of the kitchen though.  

Quietly, she and Luz crossed the living room and moved up the stairs alerting no one. She left the light off; the moonlight bouncing into the room was enough to guide them across the room. 

Luz was still sniffling as she plopped onto the bottom bunk with Amity beside her.

“Sorry,’ she mumbled, finally glancing up to catch her girlfriend’s eye. Amity shook her head.

“Don’t be, it’s okay,” she assured, wiping at the few tears still dripping down her cheeks. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked. Luz shook her head. “Do you wanna lie down?” Luz nodded and curled up on the bed, kicking off her shoes. 

Amity sat there, watching Luz and internally debating if she should lie down or climb up to the top bunk. Luz decided for her when her hand found hers and gave a gentle tug. Amity caught her eyes and the silent plea in them. 

She didn’t hesitate and laid beside Luz, arms wrapped around her waist comfortingly. Luz buried her face in her neck and Amity just squeezed.

~ ~ ~

Luz’s mouth was dry like cotton when she woke up and her stomach felt gross too. The only perk of the morning had been waking up wrapped in Amity’s arms, legs threaded together and her face buried in her chest.

God, she hoped she hadn’t drooled on her.

Amity was a light sleeper and the moment Luz wriggled in her grasp, her mind surfaced to consciousness, blinking blearily against the light in the room before her eyes turned to Luz, who was looking back at her.   

“Oh, Luz…,” she gurgled, pushing herself up on one elbow, eyes half open. “What time is it?” Her voice was thick with sleep. Luz glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Nine fifteen blinked back at them.

“Time to get up,” she grumbled, untangling herself from Amity to sit up.  

Amity watched her crawl out of bed, chewing on her bottom lip and wondering if she should ask about last night. Luz turned and caught her eye and the question in them must have been obvious because she frowned and shook her head.

“Later, okay?” she asked and Amity nodded, pushing those thoughts aside for now, and getting out of bed.

Camila was sitting at the kitchen table sipping on a cup of coffee when they came down with their things and she smiled at them, apparently none the wiser to what had occurred last night.

“Morning, girls. Are you heading out?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’re gonna get back to school so we can work on some projects over the weekend.” Luz nodded and Camila stood and wrapped her daughter up in a tight hug.

“I’ll miss you and be careful,” she said to Luz as she squeezed her.

“We will.” Luz smiled into her mom’s shoulder. When she stood back, Camila turned to Amity, who looked like a deer in headlights as Camila caught her in a hug as well. Luz snickered behind her hand at her girlfriend’s almost terrified face.

“You take care too, Amity and you’re welcome back anytime,” Camila told her when she stood back and Amity smiled at her nodding.

“Thank you, Camila.” 

Vee was still asleep on the couch when they passed through the living room and Luz glanced at her before turning back to her mom, who shooed them toward the door.

“I’ll tell her you said bye,” she breathed. Luz nodded and within five minutes they were on the road back toward school. 

The car ride was fairly silent, Luz wrapped up in her head and Amity concentrating on driving. 

An hour later they pulled up in front of the dorm buildings and Amity was going to say something when Luz beat her to it.

“Hey, can you come up for a bit?” she asked and Amity nodded, turning off the car and gathering Luz’s bag. 

The campus felt almost empty as they crossed the lawn and moved through the quiet building. Even Luz’s dorm was empty. “Skara’s gone all weekend,” Luz explained as they stepped into the room and she sat her things down on her bed before plopping down there herself and looking up at Amity. “I’m really sorry about what happened last night,” she started and Amity shook her head, sitting beside Luz.

“I told you, you don’t need to be sorry, Luz. Just… what happened?”

Luz dragged a hand down her face tiredly, eyes trained on the ground in front of her.  

“I just… I dunno, alcohol but also just…” She pursed her lips, not sure how to word it. Amity placed a gentle hand over hers and gave a reassuring squeeze. She looked up and caught her girlfriend's gentle amber gaze and she sagged forward. “It felt like at every turn the last two days everyone was just determined to embarrass me and make me look like an idiot in front of you,” she finally said. 

“What do you mean?” Amity frowned. 

“I mean, like the damn poster and then my mom and Eda with all their stories, and I dunno but then Hunter started poking fun at me, and I just…” She made a grunting noise, face scrunching up. 

“Luz,” Amity started, pulling her girlfriend’s hand into her lap, held fast between both of hers. “You know I don’t think you’re an idiot. Yeah, you can be a little goofy and dorky but I think those things are endearing,” Amity assured her. Luz didn’t look totally convinced. “Besides, we all do dumb things sometimes. Like me and that very ill-conceived secret admirer thing.” She smirked and Luz’s eyes shot to her.

“That wasn’t dumb!” she insisted, turning to face her. “It made things confusing… yes, but I loved that.” Luz insisted and Amity smiled. 

“Yet plenty of people were telling me it was stupid,” she countered. 

“Well, I don’t care what they think, I liked it.” Luz insisted.

“And I don’t care about any harmless dumb things you’ve done,” she shot back. “I like you just as you are.” She smiled and Luz stared back, realizing it had somehow turned this around on her.

“I…” Luz opened her mouth but found she had no rebuttal to that as Amity looked back at her, smile morphing into a smirk. The one that always appeared when she knew she had won.

Damn, she was good. 

“Okay,” she agreed and Amity leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to her lips. 

“Good…” Her eyes flickered away as she seemed to think and Luz cocked her head.

“What?” 

“I… can I ask you about… that thing Hunter said… about your mom?” she asked and Luz frowned. “Nevermind, I…”

“No, it’s okay,” Luz said, squeezing Amity’s hand. “It was… I told you I didn’t have an easy time with high school, being the black sheep and stuff. I didn’t have any friends, and I kept getting in trouble for being… too much.” 

“Too much?” Amity repeated and Luz nodded. 

“Like, some harmless snakes got loose in the school by accident and apparently my rendition of Juliet was too ‘over the top’ for them,” she quoted. “It was just some chorizo… but yeah. My mom was worried because most of the kids didn’t like me, so she sent me to this summer camp to make friends and… be more normal…” 

Amity’s face scrunched up, anger rising like steam inside her. Both at Luz’s mom and at Hunter, for digging at that.   

“That’s… that’s…” Amity struggled to force the words past the thick block of anger she felt for Luz in her throat. Luz could practically see the steam trailing out Amity’s ears and pulled her hand from Amity’s to hold both of hers. 

“Don’t be mad at her,” she whispered.

“Aren’t you?” she countered and Luz pressed her lips together in a tight line.

“I was a lot, I mean, I still am.” She shrugged. “My dad was gone, and she had to work all the time then and I was always in trouble and had no friends… she just… was worried and didn’t know what to do,” Luz muttered, running her thumbs over the backs of Amity’s hands. “It was a miserable Summer, sure, but I learned some useful things…” She looked up at Amity, who was frowning back at her. “I’m not happy about it, but I also understand why she did it.” 

“Have you ever tried talking to her about how you feel about it?” Amity asked quietly and Luz shook her head. “It seems to still bother you. Maybe you should…”

“Maybe,” Luz mumbled. 

Amity stayed a while longer but Ghost was waiting on her at home and eventually, she had to go. 

“I’ll text you later,” she promised, stepping out into the hall after a brief kiss and Luz nodded. “Oh, and check the front pocket of your bag!” Amity called as she turned the corner, disappearing from view. Luz caught the tail end of a smirk though and as soon as she closed the door, rushed over to her bag and unzipped the pocket. 

She found a large, and carefully folded glossy piece of up paper inside and Luz knew immediately what it was. She grunted, pulling out the poster and unfolding it. 

She couldn’t help the bark of laughter that erupted from her throat.

In the bottom corner, in bright pink sharpie was a message in her girlfriend’s elegant penmanship.

‘ Amity B, xoxo,’

~ ~ ~

Sunday afternoon, there was a knock on the dorm room door and Luz looked up from her computer, frowning. Skara would have just come in and she wasn’t expecting anyone.

She hopped up and moved over to the door to peek through the peephole. Wine-colored eyes and a head of scraggly blonde hair was on the other side. Luz hesitated a second before sighing and stepped back to open the door. 

Hunter stood there, a nervous look in his eyes.

“Hey, Luz,” he mumbled.

“Hey…” 

They stood in awkward silence for a long moment before Hunter sighed and looked up at her. 

“I’m… really sorry about what happened Thursday night. I shouldn’t have said that to you.” 

“I shouldn’t have said any of the stuff I said either…. and trying to hit you with the shot glass.” 

Hunter smirked at that and shrugged.

“I’d have tried to hit me too,” he admitted. “Willow gave me an earful Friday morning, and she was right. We both acted like asses.”

“Yeah,” Luz grumbled.

“So… you wanna go get pizza? I dipped into the bail fund so we can pay this time.” he offered and Luz smiled, nodding.

“Let me get my keys.”