Archive of Our Own

It's a school dance at Hexside, the first one since Grom. While the festivities may not be as large as that dance, this seasonal celebration is still rather formal, and of course, Luz and Amity are going together.

Amity's excitement is through the roof. Grom was a very special night for her, and they weren't even dating then! Luz is her girlfriend now, which means every moment of this will be even more meaningful.

When the two enter the gymnasium, Amity is instantly struck by the scale of it all. Large lights line the ceiling, shining down on the dance floor brightly. There's loud music playing from a DJ booth across the room, and already many people dancing to it, the reverberations enough to rumble the floor.

There's vendors set up at nearly every corner, all offering variations of treats like popcorn and cotton candy. The sound of hundreds of students speaking and yelling produces a large echo throughout, as vibrant colored lights from the music booth shoot up and down every wall.

It's quite the spectacle, and Amity can't imagine just how far the school officials had to go on their lengths to making it happen. She's never seen anything like this - but it seems like ever since Luz showed up, that's a common occurrence. For her and the rest of Hexside.

"You wanna get up front?" Luz asks, hand intertwined with Amity's and smile on her face as the rainbow light cascades over it. "I know you aren't as much of a dancer as me, so it's cool if you wanna stick back here."

"N-no. It's okay," Amity says. "I may not be the best of dancers or anything," She says. "But I should try new things. Plus," She teases. "I wanna see the look on people's faces when they see your human dance moves."

"Hey!" Luz says lightheartedly, and Amity laughs. "Honestly, everyone at home looked at me the same, so I don't think it has to do with me being human."

"You're right," Amity says, a dabble of pink on her cheeks. "It just has to do with you being cute."

"Where'd that come from?" Luz asks, Amity's flirty remarks taking her by surprise.

Amity tilts her head adorably, pointing at her heart. "From here."

"Awww!" Luz holds Amity by the hips, lifting her into the air. "You're so- ugggggh!" She exclaims, smooching Amity on the cheek.

"I take it that was a good 'urgh'?" Amity says as Luz places her back on her feet.

"You're a good 'urgh'," Luz says with fake annoyance, trying to make a flirty comeback, but Amity just giggles. "What?"

"According to your last two sentences, I am both so urgh and a good urgh," Amity says, still giggling. "Truly insightful."

"Grrrrrr!" Says Luz with a silly infliction, cheeks dipped in red. "How do you always know exactly how to trip me up? I'm raised by the most 'thirty and flirty' witch on the Isles but you're so much better at flirting than me!" She says with a mock pout, crossing her arms. "No fair."

"Some people are just naturals," Amity says in a posh voice. "Speaking of, maybe you should, um, d-dance with me." She adds, but loses some of her confidence in the process.

It seems Luz makes up for that loss, as she puts her hands over Amity's. "Are you trying to say I'm a natural at dancing?" She grins.

"T-That was the implication, yeah," Amity says, feeling awkward at how long her flirty line has been lingered on.

"Well, then, Ms. Blight," Luz says, dropping one of her hands and offering it to Amity. "May I have this dance?" She asks. "Sorry, that was dumb. I was already holding your hand and then let go of it just to-"

"Just shut up and dance with me," Amity says, embracing the offering quickly. 

Immediately, she wooshes Luz closer to the main dance floor, the two of them keeping hold of each other as they sway. Eventually, they come to a stop, the other couples all occupying the space around them.

"You know, these colored lights are fun." Luz says.

"Yeah?" Amity replies, able to sense the setup.

"Yeah. It's like I can kinda see what you'd look like with different hair colors," Luz smiles. "Red, blue, yellow. And you know what?"

"What?" Amity asks, the focus on her already beginning to make her blush, and when the punchline hits that effect will be tenfold.

"You look pretty in all of them."

"Oh my Titan."

"Too cheesy?" Luz asks.

"No, no," Amity dismisses the idea. "That was so cute."

"Just like you." Luz laughs, unable to stop herself. "Okay, that was cheesy."

"I like you cheesy, though," Amity says. "I like- cheese."

Luz giggles again. "Okay, I'm sorry, but you saying 'I like cheese' while we're on the dance floor and supposed to be all romantic is really funny. And cute. Super cute."

"Which was your favorite?" Amity asks, confusing Luz with the return to the earlier comment. "You said I looked pretty with any color of hair. What did you like the best?"

"I know it's a copout, but my favorite is how you look now," Luz says.

"You're just saying that because you're used to it," Amity replies.

"Maybe. But it's also just, like, that day," Luz says. "That day was crazy and way too eventful. I show up at your house and you've got this whole new hair color, and then you kiss me?"

"I came on strong, didn't I?" Amity says, cringing at her past self.

"I needed that," Luz laughs. "I wasn't a hundred percent sure I even had a crush on you until then," She says. "I mean, clearly I did, but I didn't know I did," Luz continues. "And I'm usually really bad at asking crushes out, and really oblivious if someone actually likes me."

"So me doing that helped you ask me out?" Amity asks.

"Y-yeah. Of course, the whole tunnel of love thing was all Hooty, I wouldn't have done something so crazy-"

"You were so embarrassed."

"So were you! Well, okay, part of that was my fault 'cause I overreacted," Luz says. "Can you believe that I still wasn't sure you liked me after the kiss?"

"Seriously?"

"I know, I know," Luz says. "Like, I was pretty sure, but there was this voice in the back of my head that said 'what if she kissed you platonically'?"

"Luz! I literally said you snuck into my heart, dummy," Amity says, jokingly poking Luz's collarbone. "How did you interpret that platonically?"

"You can platonically sneak into someone's heart!" Luz exclaims.

"Well, yeah," Amity says. "But the context was pretty obviously romantic."

"Okay, let's swap roles here," Luz says. "If you were me and I gave you that kiss, what would you think?"

"Um, that this super awesome pretty girl who I have a huge crush on just kissed me and I need to go lie down?"

"Well, yes," Luz says. "That part is very accurate."

"But I would also be like 'Yes! She likes me! Massive win!'" Amity says, her tone trying to emulate Luz.

"I would not say 'massive win'," Luz jokes.

"You totally would. Anyway," Amity continues. "Then I would be like 'hey really awesome cute girl, do you wanna go out with me'?"

"I think you're not taking into account the amount of panic this situation caused me," Luz says.

"Panic?" Amity's tone immediately switches to something more worried. "What do you mean? Did- did I scare you or something?"

"Other than the normal scariness of a crush, you were kinda intimidating," Luz says, and seeing Amity's expression change to something hurt, amends it with, "Not in a bad way! It was just- you are this amazing, cool, super nice, incredibly talented, humbler than she lets on, very highly regarded witch," Luz says, possibly those praising words being a little overly long. "And I was just like 'What could she want with a girl like me? How do I not make a fool of myself?'. Of course, I did end up making a fool of myself and somehow it still worked out."

"That's because, like I said, I'm not as cool as you think," Amity says. "I'm not really those things."

"You are to me." Luz says. "I think you're amazing."

Amity giggles and blushes. "I think you're amazing, too."

"Can I kiss you?" Luz asks, and the question pulls Amity back to reality.

She was so sucked in to this warm and romantic moment, so enthralled with the swaying and the looking in Luz's eyes… she almost forgot they were at a dance. Where there's like, people and music. Woah.

"Not if I kiss you first."

Both girls go in for it, each trying to be the one that initiates the kiss. They meet in the middle, bonking faces together and laughing at their own stupidity.

"Okay, okay," Luz says, taking notice of how close they are now. Amity's arms are wrapped around Luz's shoulders, and her own are almost fully around Amity's back, like a hug. "What if we do this? One of us kisses the other, then the opposite, and we alternate?"

Amity giggles. "But who's gonna go first?"

"How about the number one cotton candy haired goddess I know?"

"Implying you know other cotton candy haired goddesses."

"Maybe I do," Luz jokes. "You don't know my life."

"You don't."

"Okay, fine, I don't," Luz says, finally relenting upon seeing Amity's cute face. "But even if I did, you'd still be my number one."

"Yeah, well," Amity flushes pink. "Even if I knew other, uh, brown haired human girls, um, you'd also still be my favorite," She says awkwardly, Luz giggling.

"The master flirter finally breaks," She says.

"Oh, shut up and kiss me," Amity says, rolling her eyes as she darts in for a quick kiss, a slight peck on Luz's lips, before returning to her position holding her arms on Luz's shoulders. "Okay. Your turn."

"I see what game you're playing," Luz says, leaning in for a silly smooch. Before she can even pull away, Amity sneaks in again, another tiny kiss she gifts to Luz. "You are so cute, you know that?" She says. "My tiny heart's gonna explode."

"Luz, there's no way your heart is tiny," Amity says.

"Are you saying I have a big heart? Aww."

"You do. It's one of my favorite things about you."

"You're amazing," Luz says, and she kisses her again.

"And you're special." Amity responds, a loving golden glint in her eyes.

"And you're wonderful," Luz says with emphasis, beginning a war of positive adjectives between the two.

When they've finally begun to run out of new ones, Luz repeating one Amity had already said, the cotton-candy haired girl giggles and says, "You're silly," as she boops Luz's nose.

"You're silly, too."

"What, are you just stealing my lines now?" Amity says in jest, her smile stretching to the edges of her face.

"Cut me some slack, I'm not an English teacher," Luz jokes.

"Don't give me that, Noceda," Amity says. "With how much you talk about your fanfictions, there's no way you aren't an expert with words by now."

"Okay, okay, you got me," Luz replies, fake surrendering. "But it's different when I'm writing."

"How so?" Amity asks, tilting her head. Her tone is more serious, suggesting she hadn't predicted the punchline at all.

"Well, for one, I don't have your cute face in front of me," Luz says. "That makes it hard for me to think of any words except, well, all the words I just said."

Amity giggles, pink dusting her cheeks as the girl averts her eyes. "You wanna know what words I think of when I see your face?"

"I dunno - dumb loser?" Luz jokes, immediately making Amity's face droop.

"Luz," Amity says, and she's serious. "Please don't joke like that."

"I'm sorry, it's just something I used to do," She says. "I don't know why it came back there. Self-deprecation, huh," She laughs nervously.

"Well, don't listen to it," Amity says. "I don't like hearing you talk badly about yourself. You're super awesome, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll try not to do that," Luz says, her girlfriend nodding.

Right then, the DJ begins yelling about a dance party, and putting on some faster music, which apparently cues all of the Hexside students to stampede onto the floor with them. Before it was mostly couples, now almost everyone has showed up.

Amity immediately notices as the song starts just how loud it is. It's a shocking difference from before, and she's convinced the volume must have been increased.

Luz lets go of Amity's hand and begins going absolutely wild, the other girl giggling at her silly dance moves.

"Come on, Amity!" Luz yells over both the music and people. "Strut your stuff, girl!"

"Um, I don't know if I can dance without a partner," Amity replies.

"What?!" Luz asks, unable to hear her words over all of the noise.

"Um," Amity whispers. "Y-yeah, okay!" She says, in complete opposition to the original statement.

The pastel haired girl has absolutely zero clue how to do this. At first she tries to copy Luz, but everything comes out either wrong or clearly inferior to her, and she's afraid she looks stupid in front of everyone, Luz obviously included.

She switches to a more wild form, opting now to move her body in slightly random motions in rhythm with the music. This… does not work and she's convinced that her body appears possessed by some entity. Probably a worm. Possibly Hooty.

That makes her feel even dumber, so she switches to another form that is much simpler, only tapping her foot, bobbing her head, and occasionally swinging her arms. Yet somehow... this makes her feel even more pathetic than before!

"How do you do this?" She yells in question.

"Do what?"

"Dance!"

"I don't know!" Luz laughs loudly. "I just stop caring what other people think and let myself vibe with the music!"

"So it's just intuitive?"

"Pretty much!"

Well that doesn't help. She has no natural connection with this! How is she supposed to just- do it? Not to mention these lights. Ugh, whose idea was it to turn them up that bright? She can't look up more than fifty degrees or they're blinding, and her neck isn't a fan of that either!

This is far from ideal. She's started to actually feel- annoyed? This has gone from a very calm and nurturing experience to a super over the top and intense one very fast!

The music is too loud. It was just fine for the slower songs. But they were quieter! These are louder! And WHY IS THE DJ TURNING IT UP MORE????

It's not physically painful. Not like a loud concert. But it's very mentally taxing, and kind of worse than if the uncomfortable feeling was physical, because the sound feels like it's coming out of every orifice.

And the crowd is so thick. Why is the crowd so thick? Who thinks it's fun to be up in the front where you're getting rocked back and forth as well as smushed? Yet essentially the whole crowd is pushing forward.

And apparently everyone knows the words to this random song, 'cause they're all singing along. Wait, is that- yep. Amity can hear another subset of people who, rather than singing the actual lyrics, are making noises in time with the beat. Are you guys just trying to replace the song with your voices or something?

This room is very loud. And bright. And crowded. And oh Titan, is someone lighting off some kind of smoke bomb? Now the room is louder. Also it smells weird.

Amity briefly considers heading to the bathroom, but decides against it. Luz is here and she's having fun, Amity just needs to loosen up. Don't take the annoyances so seriously. Things aren't actually that bad. Luz clearly isn't bothered. Why can't she be like Luz?

It's probably nothing. Yeah, she's a little uncomfortable, but this is still a fun party. She can't just bounce at the slightest inconvenience. Even if her brain is viciously telling her it's about to become a much larger inconvenience.

Just keep, um… dancing isn't really the right word. Attempting to dance is more like it. Attempting to fit in.

Luz is smiling. She's backed away from all of the other people though, using a larger space to go further in her dance moves. Amity is beside her, and she's kinda wanting to cover her ears right now.

You ever had that moment where you know things aren't catastrophically bad at this moment but you also are aware that if this interaction continues this way, they will be? Yet for some reason you do literally nothing to stop it? Amity's life is very defined by such moments, and this is one.

Why. Is. This. Room. Like. This.

Loud, uncomfortable, hot, crowded, sweaty, bright, and constantly moving. Not to mention very claustrophobic to the point you feel eyes are always on you. Watching.

Oh no. Okay this is really bad. This is really scary. She's scared. She's actually scared now. Of what, Amity has no idea. But it's inside her and it's screaming. Get out.

She doesn't follow its advice, instead becoming more and more unenthused with this. How has this night become so disconnected from what it was? It was so happy and peaceful like an hour ago. Now it's this.

What is happening to her heart? It's beating - no, it's sweating. Her heart is sweating. Her limbs are slightly shaky, her eyes have a deadness to them that makes it clear she's having no fun. She doesn't tell Luz. She probably couldn't tell her, to be honest, speaking is too much right now, but she doesn't even show her.

That is, until about ten minutes later, when everything melts.

Okay, she actually has to get out. Like, if she doesn't, she will scream and cry. She might even hurt someone. She can't do that. Everyone would hate her forever. No matter the ramifications, even if it ruins Luz's night, she's leaving.

She finds Luz in the crowd, slowly making her way towards her. It's killing her how pervasive everything is that it's just as bad regardless of where she stands in the crowd.

Okay, just a few words. She can do that, right? Maybe a dozen words, maybe less. A little statement to tell Luz she's leaving, maybe say why.

All she says though, when the girl taps on Luz's shoulder, is a single word, almost whispered in her ear.

"Leaving."

Luz pauses, confused at the singular word. Amity is already power walking to the door, ready to push through absolutely anything to get there. There's two students standing in front of the exit and she's forced to walk straight between them, bumping both rather forcefully. But who cares.

Luz finally catches up with her outside of the auditorium, where Amity is feeling minor relief having removed herself from the situation.

"What's wrong?" She asks. A simple question. Thankfully only one as well. She thinks she can answer that.

"I can't." She says. Okay, not the greatest of answers, but better than nothing. The way she said it though was an issue and she knows it. What's wrong with her? Luz didn't cause the problem yet when speaking with her, Amity's tone is scathingly angry, like she feels extreme disdain for whoever she is talking to.

It hurts. Luz doesn't deserve that tone of voice.

"What can't you?" Luz asks, a strange but still simple question.

"It's all-" She wipes tears from her eyes and continues walking. This doesn't feel real. She feels… dead. "So much."

"What is?" Luz asks. "The music?"

"All of it." Amity says, fists still clenched.

"Okay." Luz says. One word. An easy one. How is she so calm when Amity's world is ending like this? "Do you want to go back to the Owl House?"

Amity pauses. She was planning on going home, probably crying herself to sleep. Screaming into her pillow about how worthless she is that she can't even do this and that Luz is probably angry with her. But maybe…

She turns back to Luz. Silently, the girl nods.

Amity doesn't say a word on the way back. Thankfully, neither does Luz. All she does is tell Hooty to be quiet, rather seriously, and let Eda and King know that perhaps now is not the time to play their favorite board game, the one they always fill the neighborhood with yelling about.

"Aww, but it's board game night!" King says in exasperation.

"Board games can wait," Eda replies. "This seems important."

"I know, I know."

Luz carefully leads Amity up to her room, where she lays her down with a bundle of blankets both below and above her. After checking that off with her first, of course.

"So, can you tell me what went wrong?" Luz finally asks. "It's okay if you can't," She says, kneeled at her girlfriends bedside. Amity is wrapped up like a little burrito, but it's not nearly that tight.

"I-I'm sorry," The tiny girl manages to squeak out. Tiny in soul, not in size.

"What are you sorry for?" Luz whispers.

"I ruined your night."

"Amity," Luz says carefully, holding a hand to her face, silently asking if it's okay to touch her. The girl nods, and Luz starts caressing her cheek. "You didn't ruin anything. You were awesome tonight. You made me smile and laugh. You made me really happy."

Amity finally manages to smile, and the expression feels so nice to do, it takes everything in her not to cry at the relief it brings her.

"You made me very happy too." Amity says, Luz producing a smile of her own.

"But something went wrong, right?" Luz asks. "I can tell something hurt you."

"Nothing hurt me," She says. "My brain is just annoying."

"What did your brain do?" Luz asks.

"I don't even know," Amity says, and, of course, here's the tears. "I just- got really scared and knew I had to leave 'cause it hurt so bad."

"What hurt?"

"I don't know. All of it. The music, the lights, the people."

"Hmm."

There's a small silence between them, Amity looking at Luz. Looking for something.

"Luz," She says. "Do you think I'm a freak?"

"What?!" Luz's voice accidentally goes above the whisper she was keeping it at, before dropping back down. "Amity, no. You're wonderful. I love every part of you."

"Even the part that freaked out for no reason and ran off, then nearly yelled at her girlfriend for literally no reason?"

"Amity, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you see a lot of the things you don't like about yourself as flaws," Luz says. "But they're not. They're just differences."

"How is that a difference?" Amity asks.

"Well, like you said. The lights, the noise…" Luz begins. "You said it felt like too much, right? Like, overwhelming?"

Amity nods.

"Remember when I told you I thought you were autistic?" Luz asks.

"Yeah?"

"Being heavily affected by stuff like that is a big symptom of autism," Luz says. "Like, one of the most common ones. It's also common with ADHD but it's not a huge thing for me personally."

"So, what? I react to all that stuff horribly because I have autism?" She asks.

"It's called overstimulation." Luz says. "Everything your brain processes is a form of stimuli. Light, temperature, sound, all that stuff. Autistic people often struggle when there's a lot of that happening at once. Loud noises, bright lights."

"That's what that room was." Amity says.

"It was. And usually the symptoms of overstimulation are like, increased heart rate, feeling of panic, lots of sweating, you might even feel like you want to cry."

"That is exactly how I felt."

"I really think you're autistic, Amity," Luz says. 

"You called this stuff differences. Why?" She asks. "All it seems like is weaknesses to me."

"Autism isn't just the bad parts," Luz says. "Problems like this suck, and they're the hard parts of being autistic, but there's nothing wrong with it. You know, some of the most unique and special people ever were autistic. Your brain is a little bit different, which is pretty cool honestly. It means you think of stuff in different ways than other people do."

"Like what?" Asks Amity.

"Autistic people are often super passionate about things they like," Luz says. "That's a common neurodivergent thing in itself, but autistic people often can get super into something and feel really strongly about something, which makes their thoughts about it super cool to hear."

"That is definitely me."

"Autistic people are also really caring," Luz says. "A lot of people actually think autism creates less empathy, but it's the opposite. You often love things stronger, you consider others' points of view more, you feel for other people in unique ways."

"Hmm."

"But okay, this is getting to be like an educational thing now," Luz laughs. "I can be your autism teacher- or, um, autism academic?" She giggles again. "Later. Are you still feeling overwhelmed?" She asks Amity.

"Yes. Very."

"Okay. I'm gonna try to help," Luz says. "Obviously, I'm not autistic, or at least I don't think I am, so if I tell you to do something you don't like, just tell me," She says. "But I think I should be able to help you calm down."

"Please do," Amity says.

"Okay, do you feel comfortable covering your ears?" Luz asks.

"Um, okay." She says. "Like, fully?"

"As much as you can so you barely hear anything."

Amity nods, covering both ears with her hands forming a seal.

"Can you close your eyes?" Luz asks, her voice louder so Amity can still hear her.

Amity nods, closing both eyes.

This feels… good, actually. Kinda safe.

"Now I'm gonna ask you to do a breathing exercise," Luz says, lying on the floor beside her. "Is that alright?"

"Yeah," Amity replies, surprised how easy that word came.

"Okay, breathe in with your nose and choose a number to count to," Luz says. "Some people do five, some do ten- I usually do eight."

"Okay," Amity says, beginning to breathe in.

"Once you finish counting, hold the breath for two seconds, then let go," Luz says, and Amity does so. "How did that feel?"

"Good. Yeah, that helps, I think."

"Awesome. Just keep doing that."

Amity continues the activity, her eyes and ears still closed, and her breathing, the one thing she focuses on. After a bit, she feels Luz begin to stand up.

"I'm gonna go switch off the light, is that okay?" She asks.

"Yes." Amity says after finding a window to say it.

She doesn't know exactly where the feeling came from, but at this moment, there's a massive wave of relief that floods over Amity. It's so amazing and so unexpected that immediately, the girl begins to cry.

"Amity!" Luz exclaims, rushing to her side. "What's wrong? Did I do something bad?"

"No, no." Amity smiles. "I just- everything was so painful before, but now I can feel the hurt draining out of me. It's such a relief." She says, tears wetting below her eyes.

"Oh."

"Thanks, Luz. Um, can you, like," She's unsure exactly what she wants the girl to do. A hug would be too much, and she's not sure she wants her face touched right now. "Cuddle up next to me or something. I don't want a hug, but like, I want to feel that you're there."

"Okay!" Luz says enthusiastically. "Like this?" She asks, her body sliding up beside Amity but her head below hers as not to get in the way.

"Yeah, that's perfect." Amity says. The way it feels to have Luz's head and the rest of her body just lightly snuggled against her is exactly what she wanted.

Another twenty to thirty minutes go by, and neither of them move. But there comes a point where Amity notices the panicky feeling is almost gone. Not fully, but almost. Yet it feels like she's reached the end of this activity, so slowly, Amity removes her hands from her ears, opening her eyes.

"How do you feel?" Luz asks, noticing immediately.

"A lot better. But still a little weird."

"Do you wanna try another thing?" Luz asks. "To get that last bit of weird out?"

Amity nods.

"Okay, so, there's this thing called 'stimming' which is common in all kinds of neurodivergency," Luz says. "But it's very different for everybody, so if what I tell you to do feels uncomfy, just tell me."

"Okay."

"So, stimming is basically like, different movements you do, most of the time they're very natural and you don't even realize you're doing them," She says. "They can be reactions to different feelings - boredom, anger, excitement - and might help you cope with them or express them."

Amity nods.

"One of mine that I do is tapping my feet, almost like I'm running in place," Luz says.

"I noticed that." Amity replies. "It's very cute."

Luz tries to shrug off a blush as she continues. "One thing I've noticed about your stims is when you're excited, you often flap your hands. Especially against your body, like your knees. Do you wanna try doing that?" She asks. "It might help you deal with that unwanted feeling you talked about."

"Um, okay," Amity says, but can't get herself to do it. "I'm sorry."

"What's wrong? Does the idea make you uncomfortable? You don't have to do it."

"No, I'm not uncomfortable with it," Amity says. "I just feel embarrassed to do that in front of someone. Like I'm a freak."

"You're not a freak," Luz says. "Stimming is one hundred percent normal, and it's good for you. Still, I can leave if you don't want me to see it."

"No." Amity says. "I don't want you to leave. You're right. I shouldn't feel bad about it. Okay." She takes another deep breath and begins to flap her hands against her knees. "Okay, that actually feels really good." She says.

"Does it feel like your brain is being filled with happy chemicals?" Luz asks.

"That's exactly what it feels like."

"Good. Let everything out, okay? You might feel a little exhausted afterwards," Luz says. "But it'll be a very happy exhausted."

Amity nods and continues the action, a smile lighting up her face, which she can't stop.

"Sorry, I feel really dumb," Amity says, giggling. "But also really happy."

"It's not dumb if it's helping you, batata."

"Yeah. I know." She says.

Once Amity is finished letting all of the energy out, the same energy that drilled itself deep into her body and spread through her brain like water, she lays back, staring at the ceiling.

"Ooh, I've got an idea!" Luz says excitedly, running to some night light contraption and turning it on.

In an instant, the entire ceiling lights up with stars, spread out in a beautiful array of diamonds, each one inset like if on the outside of a beautiful wedding dress.

"Do you like it?" Luz asks, lying back down next to her.

"It's beautiful." She says. "Just like you."

"I- uh- stop it! How do you do this?" Luz gestures, blushing wildly. "It's like you plan everything you say in the perfect way just so you can add a flirty remark at the end."

"You like it, though."

Luz tries to stop a smile, but it's no use. "Okay, fine, I really like it." She pretends to pout. "Hey, uh, Amity?" Luz asks, after a bit of lying down and watching the stars sway. "About earlier, when we were talking about words each other made us think of…" She says. "I'm curious. What are the first words you think of when you see me?" She asks.

Amity giggles, turning to look at her. Both of their bodies are sprawled out on the floor, and Amity leans in to give Luz a kiss on the cheek, before she answers the question.

"My angel."