Archive of Our Own

Luz steps out of bed, rising to the window and peering out of it. It's a warm day and the sky is pretty, all around what should be a nice vibe for doing things. But for some reason, all she wants is to lie back down.

She'd already been laying there for at least an hour, and in that time absolutely no motivation arose for her to do anything. She's felt that a lot lately. She isn't sure why.

Her mother (the biological one, not Eda the Owl Lady) is fine with her spending time here now, even sleeping over at the Owl House, but every time she's here, there's an empty feeling that Luz just can't shake.

She could hang out with friends. But the school year is over, Willow's on vacation right now, and Gus has a summer job that leaves him little time for leisure.

What about Hunter, you may ask? Well, that's the thing. Now that he's taken up residence in Eda's home, she already sees him every time she's here. And he's not really the type to 'hit the town' anyway.

Then there's her girlfriend. Ugh, Luz feels kinda bad that they haven't been spending as much time together. It's like since a week or so ago, her passion for exploring and experimenting and being silly and dumb and chaotic… it's just not there.

Is it the number of choices? She thinks maybe. There's so much freedom offered to her, just like there was when she first arrived. But it's different now that she's gotten familiar. Things are less exciting, and she's not so easily put onto something new. It takes more deliberate effort.

Luz is very thankful, absolutely thrilled that she is being offered this freedom, but she's still felt unmotivated to actually do anything with it.

Heading to the bathroom for her morning routine, Luz notices that the small muscles she had been building on her legs and arms have shrunk. She groans, cursing herself for not exercising more. Amity's such a cool jock, she's so strong and buff and athletic…

U-uh, ahem. Yeah. Amity's so well built for things like sports, or even just general intensive physical activity. And Luz loves physical activity! She had created a workout routine with Amity's help that was meant to help Luz increase her endurance, so she could keep up with Amity on her morning runs. But of course, she couldn't stick to it. She sighs, wondering if Amity will be disappointed.

"Hey, kid, what's up?" Eda greets her happily once she finds her way downstairs.

"Nothing," Luz replies sleepily, making her way to the fridge.

"You know, I was talking to Raine the other day…" Eda says after Luz comes back with breakfast. She pauses for dramatic effect, looking for the way Luz's eyes light up at hearing more about Eda's love life. The glow is much dimmer than usual, and Luz doesn't even look up when Eda mentions her lover. "They let me know about an Azura-related event happening in the middle of Bonesborough today," She explains, sipping her apple blood. "It's for some annual book-lovers thing. I thought maybe you and Amity'd like to go."

"I guess," Luz says unenthusiastically, fiddling with the food on her plate.

"You don't sound excited." Eda says, her expression changing to a worried one.

"I am!" She says, with all of the force but none of the will. "I'll have to ask Amity, maybe we can go."

"Alright, you do that," Eda says. "I need to check up on a little rascal I unfortunately allowed my sister to babysit. Which is more likely - King burnt Lily's house down, or she gave in to King's demands and bought him a hundred new stuffed toys?" She jokes.

"Why not both?" Luz says, shrugging.

"Ha! Right you are," Eda says, putting her heels on. "I'll be back in a bit, then I can take you guys into town, okay?"

"Okay," Luz says, and Eda closes the door.

"Alright, Luz, get yourself hyped for this," She murmurs to herself. She has to actually force herself to be excited, otherwise it doesn't come.

But it doesn't matter how she's feeling, Amity would love this and she doesn't want to bring down the mood.

Her typical expressiveness has taken a downturn over the past days, so she spends a few minutes staring in the mirror and memorizing exactly what expressions she needs to make to appear as if her emotions are genuine.

Summoning up the courage, she calls Amity to invite her.

"Oh, that sounds cool!" The girl replies enthusiastically, upon hearing Luz's description of the event. "I would love to go, if you want to."

"Uh, yeah!" Luz says, feigning excitement. "Eda should be home soon, so just come over when you're ready and she'll take us there."

"Alright, I'll be there soon," Amity says. "Love you," She adds, signing off.

"Love you too, sweet potato," Luz says, hanging up the call. Okay. So that's done.

While waiting, Luz paces around the house, quickly going over multiple scenarios in her head. She wants to be ready for anything. Even if something unexpected happens, Luz has to make sure she responds to it as her usual carefree, cheery self. She certainly wouldn't want Amity to worry about her, nor Eda. Or anyone else for that matter.

Her girlfriend arrives after just a few minutes, and Luz greets her with a hug.

"How you doing, sodapop?" She asks with a large smile.

"Sodapop?" Amity questions the pet name humorously. "That's a new one."

Nervously laughing, Luz replies, "Well, you're sweet and sugary, so it fits."

Amity holds her hand to her mouth, attempting to block out both a laugh and a blush from the other girl. "Y- yeah. I'm, uh, I'm doing okay, to answer the question."

"Just okay?" Luz asks, taking Amity's hand. "Is that a 'some things are wrong' okay or a 'I'm just normal' okay?"

Amity's laugh flutters, astounded at how well Luz understands her. "It's an 'I'm normal' one. 'Cause this week has been pretty average. But seeing your face made it a whole lot better," She says slyly.

"Aww," Luz coos. "You're so adorable."

Just then, the door creaks open, a tiny Titan child rushing through. Seeing Luz and Amity's hands interlocked, the boy groans, "Eww, teenage romance!" Before bounding off to the kitchen.

Sighing with a smile, Eda enters the house next, immediately taking notice of Luz and Amity and how close their faces are, and wondering if she and King interrupted something.

"Alright, lovebirds," She groans lovingly. "If you're ready to go, we don't have all day."

"Oh! Wait, wait, just one second!" Luz says, running upstairs. She comes down less than a minute later, grabbing Amity's hand as they head out the door.

When they get to the convention, Luz is struck by how decorated it is. Each stand is color-coded with ribbons and posters to advertise what each book is, and there's tents behind them which only add to the mysterious aura.

Luz doesn't recognize all of the titles, which is no surprise, the Human Realm and Demon Realm have little overlap in literature. She's still been reading a lot of Boiling Isles books lately, often ones recommended to her by Amity. Azura is still her number one, of course.

The girls decide to check out some of the other stands first, saving the best for last.

Eda notices a favorite of her own, which is surprising, as Luz rarely ever sees her reading. Then again, from what she knows about Eda's past, she sounded like a major bookworm and is probably familiar with quite a few of the older novels. The group makes their way to that stand first, which is labeled 'Queen Witch'.

"Oh. My. Titan." Eda's mouth drops as they enter the tent. "This is a dream come true."

"I don't get it," Amity shrugs. "It's just a bunch of weird clothes."

"No, no, no, this is more than that," Eda says. "The book takes place in a human city. I've wanted to find clothes like these for years, but I've never been able to, here or the Human Realm."

"That's because no one in the Human Realm has worn this stuff for eighty years, Eda," Luz explains, finding it amusing that all this '40s noir clothing is so enticing to Eda when everyone back home would call it outdated and for people twice her age.

"Well, they're all missing out!" She says, grabbing leggings, dresses, vests, skirts, and other miscellaneous add-ons, essentially all of which are in dark colors. "I'm gonna look so cool in these, it'll start a whole new fashion trend in both Realms," She says to herself, popping in to the changing room while Luz and Amity laugh.

"Luz, maybe you should follow her lead," Amity suggests, tapping her elbow.

"Pfft, no way, I don't look that good in dark colors," She discards the idea. "I mean, you know me, eccentric and colorful is where it's at!" She exclaims, noticing Amity's golden, sparkly eyes and instantly changing her mind. "Okaaaay, fine." She says. "But don't expect much."

Amity comes with her, grabbing casual items for herself to try on as well. By the time both of them are finished changing, Eda's still in her own changing booth.

Luz wonders to herself what's taking so long. A bad fit, possibly? Or maybe Eda's too caught up gawking at herself in the mirror. Yeah, that's definitely it.

Amity giggles when she sees Luz, who's too in awe of Amity herself to notice.

"You look like you came out of a movie or something," Amity comments.

"Was it a good movie?" She says, posing heroically. Luz kinda wishes she picked an outfit that showed a bit less skin, though she doesn't mention that.

"Ermm… that's debatable," Amity says. "Let's just say- beloved by audiences, critically panned."

"Oh really?" She replies, feigning confidence. "And does this 'audience' include the pretty girl in front of me?"

"U-uhm…" Amity chokes on her words slightly, blushing at the unexpected comeback. She's not left unarmed for returning the flirt, though. "Don't tell anyone," She says in a mock whisper. "But I might've only gone to see this movie because of its cute lead actress," She says, poking Luz's collarbone.

And Luz doesn't understand why, but when Amity does that this time, it makes her extremely uncomfortable. Somehow she's become immediately aware of each tiny part of her body, where they are, and what areas of her skin are visible and left out in the open air.

Was it because Amity pressed her finger to Luz's bare skin this time? Poking at right below Luz's neck is a common tease from Amity, and it's usually silly and cute and romantic. But now that her top is open at the, well, top, it's like that whole area is an uncertainty for her. Why did she wear this? Ugh.

"So, what do you think of mine?" Amity asks, twirling, and the cuteness of that act takes Luz out of her head, if just for a moment.

"You look cute," She says, still taking in the smaller details of Amity's outfit.

"That's it?" She giggles. "Luz the wordsmith runs out of words to smith," She jokes.

"N-no, no, I was just…" She glances at Amity again, the other girl's quizzical look encouraging Luz to finally say something. "This isn't your usual style, my brain is all befuddled trying to figure it out."

Amity giggles again, that cute half-snort of a giggle. "Wow, Luz, I wasn't aware my clothing choices had such an effect on you."

"I-I-" Luz stutters to a massive degree, turning bright red at that. "You-" She tries to let her voice slip through the cracks, but it's impossible to get more than the first word of a sentence out. "Amityyyyyy-" She squeaks like a teapot, red-hot like one too, and if she could, Amity would be unsurprised to see steam bellow from her ears. The purple haired girl giggles.

"Oh my," She exclaims, a confident swagger in her voice. "And you say I'm the tomato."

Luz covers her face, trying her darndest to not appreciate Amity's comments. She fails, however, and despite feeling like she could fry an egg on her skin right now, wraps her arms around Amity with the speed and completeness of a football player.

"You- are-" She needs a breath between nearly every word. "The cutest- thing- in my whole world- and you're my favorite person," She takes a big breath. "But you're too much sometimes!" She exclaims, breaking into laughter, Amity laughing throughout the entire exchange.

"And who's fault is that for falling in love with me?" Amity says slyly, giving Luz a little kiss on the cheek.

"Stooooop it!" Luz pouts, her voice cracking and her face only darkening. "It was mine, okay?" She tries not to laugh, continuing, "I fell in love with you and now I can't escape your cuteness! Please stop with the flirting, I'm gonna die!"

Amity giggles at Luz's dramatic display. "Okay, okay!" She says, cracking up. "I'll give you a break," Amity shrugs, stepping towards Luz a foot or two. "If you'll give me a kiss," She adds, wiggling her eyebrows.

Luz pauses, her beet-red face contrasting with the confidence of her outfit choice. Groaning, but now struggling to keep up appearances, Luz says, more unenthused than usual, "Alright, alright, I'll kiss you."

"Wait, Luz," Amity says. "I was just messing around. You don't actually have to kiss me if you don't want to."

"What?" Luz furrows her brow, confused at Amity's shift in tone before she backtracks and takes note of her own. "Oh, no, it's alright! I wanna kiss you," She says, which is true, it does make her excited to kiss Amity, but usually it takes no effort on her part to feel that excitement. Right now, it does. "If you want me to," She says with a low voice, putting all the flirtatious pressure on Amity for once.

And the strong fall! The renowned flirting expert, Amity Blight, stares back with shy eyes, replying, "Uh-um uuh. Yes. I mean!" She scratches the back of her neck hesitantly. "Please. Or- um. Of course yeah." Fed up with her own display, the flustered girl throws her arms down and simply finishes with, "Just kiss me," while staring at the floor.

"Can do!" Luz exclaims, slowly and dramatically walking up to her, then taking Amity's hands in hers. Carefully, Luz presses her head to Amity's, their noses softly touching as Amity raises her head. Then, swiftly, Luz presses her soft lips to Amity's, who, somehow taken aback by the very action she asked for, only manages to close her eyes and lean in to it seconds after Luz does. They share that kiss for a good few seconds, before Luz pulls away. Amity wanting it to continue, she follows Luz's lips, and they meet again near her center of gravity, another few seconds before Luz ends the gesture.

"I love kissing you," Amity says when it's over.

"Yeah, um, me too," Luz says awkwardly. "Your lips are, um… really nice to kiss." She internally hits herself for the awkward phrasing.

"Yours are too," Amity says, stepping down from the area one step above the rest of the store. So that's why she seemed so tall! Amity's already taller than Luz but she had an extra half-foot there. "Maybe it's just the adrenaline, but you always look so cute when we're about to kiss."

"As if I'm not always cute," Luz jokes, sliding up next to Amity and making her blush. "But yeah. I get that too. Like, I already think you're the prettiest girl in the world, but when we kiss it's like woah. How did somebody at the top of the pretty ladder climb another ten steps higher? You just look so precious."

"Says the girl so precious she tried on old people clothes because her girlfriend thought she'd look cute," Amity teases.

"Hey! You changed too," Luz shoots her right back. "I think that was just an excuse 'cause you wanted to try on more human clothes," She accuses the girl.

"Maybe a bit of both," Amity replies innocently.

"Alright, guys!" A middle-aged witch enthusiastically bellows from behind them. "Whatdya think?" She gestures grandly.

Both girls, dressed in not all that different clothing from Eda, turn to look at her.

Both immediately burst into laughter, struggling to contain themselves at the sight of Eda in an old, much too preppy looking black vest and skirt.

Eda's expression falters, and trying to regain control, she yells out, "Hey! I know you think it's funny but to people my age, I'm a real fashionista!"

"Eda, even people your age in the Human Realm would laugh at you," Luz replies, still struggling to keep herself together.

"You look like Luz's grumpy old hamster," Amity says, recalling the photos Luz had shown Amity of her former pets.

"And not on one of his good hair days," Luz adds, hysterical laughter between the two combining greatly to Eda's annoyance.

"Grrrr!" She shakes her head. "But what if I add…?" She enthusiastically grabs an oversized fancy hat and places it on her head. "Ta-da!" She continues in a posh British accent, flicking the edge of it so it wobbles on her head. "My bippity-boppity hat."

"You look like a photo I'd see on Penstagram with the caption 'is she lost?' with like eight emotes after it," Amity comments. "And all the comments would be like 'that's my dog Snurfle, he ran away 'cause I tried to bathe him, please bring him back," She says in an overly childish voice.

"Yeah, well, I'll show you," Eda groans, shaking a fist, walking up to the clerk where you pay for things. "Hey! Underpaid and overworked early twenties adult male," She says to him. "How cool do I look?" She asks, twirling and posing to add to the aura.

"Queen Witch brand is not responsible for any instances of being made fun of for your questionable clothing decisions," He says in a deadpan voice, pointing at a plague on the wall that says exactly that.

"Yeah, well, what do you know?" Eda says, mocking the sign more than the actual cashier. "Never tried to be cool, but here I am! Coolest witch on the Isles and everything I touch becomes the next big thing! It happened with glyphs, didn't it?"

"Technically I was the one who taught you glyphs," Luz replies. "Also people aren't exactly doing glyphs as a fashion statement, they just take less energy to perform."

"Well, what about King?" Eda says. "I found him, raised him, and he'll be the next big thing."

"I guess you are right about that, in a weird way…" Luz murmurs to herself.

"Ha! See?" Eda says, humorously jesting them.

"Are you gonna ring up or not?" The young cashier says, interrupting their silly back-and-forth.

Casting a spell circle and snapping her fingers in it, Eda poofs in and out of a few different outfits, before returning to her typical red dress, the others in her arms. She places them on the counter to be rung up.

"Are you two buying anything?" The cashier man asks, noticing that Luz and Amity are both still in the outfits from earlier.

"Oh, who's the grumpy old hamster now?" Eda says in a silly mocking tone.

Amity glances at Luz, looking for her thoughts first and foremost.

"I'm not actually buying this," Luz says, moving to slink back down the aisles and change back into her regular clothes.

"What about you, Amity?" Luz can hear Eda ask from behind her. "That fit looks good on you."

"Y- yeah," Amity says shyly. "Yeah, I really like it. I'll pay you back."

"Aww, no need," Eda says. "Anything for my kid's girlfriend."

Luz finds herself staring at the dress for a while too long after she changes out of it. There truly is one part of her that really wants to wear something like that, something so confident and revealing, but at the same time, even having it on for a minute gives her intense anxiety.

There's just something about knowing that what you're wearing allows others to see parts of your body you don't normally let them see. You're letting them judge you. And it's a permanent judgment, even when you have something else on, they'll still know how they felt about that one clothing item. Whether they felt you were ugly and were relieved when you covered up more. Whether they believed your body was inferior to theirs or not up to their standards.

Amity isn't even a judgemental person, and obviously Eda would never judge her, but still. In public, in private, she just hates allowing herself to be judged like that.

It's weird, though. There's a lot of those thoughts lately. The insecure ones, the frightened ones, and the ones that really worry what other people think of you.

She's always made an effort not to care, to be herself and say 'who cares what they think of me'?

Then again, she's usually not nearly as downtrodden as she's been today. This whole thing at its core is truly just a distraction, it's something she's doing not because it seemed insanely fun (though it has been fun so far), but because engaging in something like this takes her mind away from the defeatist and exhausted feeling she's had too much lately.

Staring into the mirror and examining her eyes and facial features, Luz reminds herself to stay positive, and to keep in mind that she's worth something.

"I love you," She whispers to the figure in front of her, though it doesn't one hundred percent feel like her. Still, saying that so directly to herself does feel nice. She digs in her bag a few inches, feeling the comfort of the off-white fluff grasp her hand. She squeezes it a few times, before zipping up the bag and heading out.

"Ready to go?" Eda asks as Luz returns, swiftly moving to lock arms with Amity.

"Yep!" She says, feeling especially proud of how that word came out so pure. You would never in a million years believe that the girl who said it struggled with anything in life.

"Ooh, we should go to the 'Sheltering Sky' one next!" Amity says. "I've never seen anybody else talk about that book, but it's so good."

"Ooh, if you like it then it must be awesome," Luz says lovingly. "To the tent!" She exclaims, the girls running off as Eda sighs at the spry youngins and their unending energy. Just trying on those clothes was enough to tire her out.

"I'll be on this bench if you need me!" She yells out, Luz giving a thumbs up in return as the woman sits down.

When they get inside, Luz and Amity are struck by how different this tent is to the other one. Which makes sense, it's literally a whole different book, but instead of racks upon racks of slightly-cute-yet-pretentious-and-outdated clothing, this one features a few large dance floors, with each tile lighting up in a particular rhythm.

"Um, Amity, are you sure this is the right place?" Luz asks nervously, caught off guard by being taken from such a dull and casual environment to somewhere loud and filled with shining colored lights in every direction.

"Of course!" She smiles, the silly thing. "The book is all about rhythm and music, so I bet that's why they made this for the festival," She says.

Paying the entry fee of a few snails, the girls step on to the dance area. "Look, Luz!" Amity exclaims excitedly, pointing at the screen. "It says we can win prizes based on how good we do. Ooh," She gawks as an image passes by. "I could win an art book!" She says excitedly.

"Well, let's win you it then," Luz says, the two moving to the front to begin, and selecting the two-player mode.

Simple instructions flash across the screen, telling what each of the colored dance tiles are for and when in the song should they be pressed. The girls decide to split up responsibilities, each taking half of the colors so they don't have to focus on six different audio cues at once.

The first few songs go by in a breeze, some easy to follow along with new wave and pop hits. Amity blows Luz out of the water, of course, considering she's much more familiar with the songs. Even then, they've made it three rounds in and the girl hasn't missed a note.

"How do you do that?" Luz pants exhaustedly. "I barely got a passing grade."

"I guess my memory is just good," She shrugs. "I've always found that songs like these really make my brain tick."

"I hope they slow down a bit," Luz replies. "I'm getting really tuckered out," She gestures, wiping her forehead.

"You'll be alright," Amity giggles. "Do you want me to try to take one of the colors off your hands?" She asks. "It wouldn't be a big deal."

"You sure?" Luz questions. "Four different tracks is a lot to pay attention to."

"I'll be fine," She reassures her. "I've heard all these songs a million times. How about I take purple?"

"Purple?" Luz asks, knowing how much of a task that is. The purple rhythm is the drums, one of the more difficult rhythms to follow on these songs, with their unpredictable and progressive sequencing. "Well, I guess it does fit with your hair," She jokes, and Amity smiles. "Go for it."

The next few rounds go by about the same, it feeling much easier at first now that Luz only has two things to pay attention to.

After the spiking in difficulty as the two get further, Amity offers to take another color, this time orange.

"I don't know, Ams," Luz says sheepishly. "I feel like it'd be difficult to keep track of something like that when you already have a lot on your plate."

"Don't worry about it," She says. "Even if it's unpredictable, that's what makes it memorable, too," She explains. And that was that, Amity now taking care of the extra track, one for minor sound effects or backing vocals.

Luz only has one thing to think about now, and it's the guitar. But on songs with as lively and bouncy playing as these, that's almost like following three rhythms!

It's not even necessarily following the rhythm that's tripping her up. Luz is good at that, she loves music and can really keep something going at a consistent pulse.

No, the problem is her energy. Moving all over the dance floor here just to press a tile when a red guitar light shows up is still really exhausting, and she isn't sure what she has left in her.

She isn't sure what is left mentally either, her brain has been made so narrow by the constant assault of energy and bright, flickering lights, that even with all her brain power devoted only to this, it's still very difficult to achieve focus.

Then she looks over at Amity, who is… really really really cute right now. Or, uh, um- what she means is Amity is completely killing this, there's hardly a bead of sweat on her and she's hitting each panel perfect enough she looks like a robot designed for the task.

Which, considering how she's nearly doing double the work this game expects a player to be capable of, that's a fair comparison.

Luz feels immensely hot, like the outdoors are engaged in a nasty heat wave and the interior has zero applicable air conditioning. She can feel herself getting a little woozy, but she tells herself just a few more minutes. That's all she needs to do. Then Amity can get that cool art book and be a total geek about it and show Luz all the awesome art in it and explain everything to her about it and she'll just geek out right back and match her excitement because Titan, even if Luz never heard about this book before today, she could listen to an academic speech from Amity on it and there's few things she'd enjoy more.

Surprisingly, the last song is the only one to break the mold, being slower than any of the previous ones rather than increasing in intensity. It's a sensual love song, and before it can begin, the overseer of the game makes the two of them equip a belt that forces them to dance together. Ah, perhaps that's where the difficulty comes in.

Or perhaps not. At least with Amity taking care of the majority of the task, Luz finds it easy to make it from tile to tile, keeping the guitar fully synced throughout.

A shrill winning noise bursts out of the machine, and Luz rushes to pick Amity up in celebration.

"Ooh-woah," Luz shakes a little, putting her back down after maybe a few inches. "Sorry, too worn out," She giggles.

"Congratulations, you're the first team in five years to make it through all ten rounds!" The game's conductor rejoices.

Luz laughs to herself, pointing a thumb in Amity's direction. "It's all thanks to her, I just picked up the crumbs." Amity shyly giggles to herself, holding one hand on top of the other.

"In any case," He says. "Since you made it through every round, that means you both get a choice of any prize we offer," He explains, leading them to the prize table.

Amity grabs the art book she had spoken about, turning to Luz.

"What do you want?" She asks.

"I don't know," She shrugs. "Just pick me out something."

Amity surveys the options, eventually deciding on a stuffed toy in the shape of an otter, a fitting gift for her 'otter with a dark side'.

"Oh my," Luz says cutely, taking the animal. "You didn't tell me there were otters in this book."

"That's because there aren't," Amity says. "Technically that is a middle-aged man." She points at the toy.

Both stare blankly at each other for a moment, before bursting into laughter. Amity explains on the way out that his name is Marvin and a rogue science experiment caused him to resemble an otter in appearance. Luz says in response that she will, "Treasure him forever, regardless of his mortal origins."

"Did you just imply that otters are immortal?" Amity questions.

"Are you telling me they're not?" Luz says. "I mean, look at their cute faces," She coos. "Anything that adorable has lived through some tough times. Like the Dark Ages!" She happily exclaims, to Amity's bemused amusement.

"Yeah, yeah, Luzura," Amity says, smiling and giving in to Luz's silliness.

"Oh, yeah!" Luz perks up. "That reminds me, we should probably do the Azura one now, since we don't know how much longer the festival is."

"Good call," Amity says. "Shouldn't we go find Eda first though, to tell her where we are?" She asks.

"Yeah…" She secedes. "How about you save a spot in line and I'll go find her?" Luz suggests.

"Alright," Amity nods. "I'll see you there," She winks, then immediately curses herself for doing something so embarrassing.

Luz blushes a bit anyway, giving a quick salute and a, "G-Great Witch Luzura, signing off!"

In truth, Luz just wanted to rest for a few moments. Eda would probably be able to deduce that if they weren't at Sheltering Sky, they probably made it to Azura, so she takes a few minutes to lie down on a bench and try to calm herself down.

Her brain is really going. There's a lot of things it won't shut up about. Some of it is just 'Gonna go to Azura with Amity!', 'Maybe grab some food later!', stuff like that. Other fragments are less casual and more worrying.

'I can't believe I nearly lost us that game!'

'I'm weak and puny.'

'Why is everything so hard today?'

'Am I an eyesore?'

'I don't feel like usual.'

'Don't you dare ruin this.'

Laying here, with the hot sun beating down on her, many of these feelings only repeat themselves. She's so uncomfortable, her mind's so hazy and it's hard to feel anything but emptiness. She notices the intensity and speed with which her brain was moving begins to pass its way down through her. It settles on her heart.

Oh no. No. Not this, not now, not this… no. Oh. Here it comes.

She runs.

She runs, righting herself from the bench and sprinting to the nearest corner.

She runs, finding a dip between two tents and slipping through it.

She runs, finding an empty spot behind it and plopping herself down, nobody allowed to watch this but her.

She runs, inside, attempting to block it out herself.

She runs, the sprint of the sunrise too faint to get away from the bursting explosion.

She runs, slinking to her side, holding her face down and knees close.

She runs, breathing, breathing, breathing, breathing.

She runs, never letting any air out.

She runs, pushing those knees into her chest, a mild fighting instinct against something too large to fight.

She runs, those same insecurities slugging her to the ground she's already down to.

She runs, accepting each and every one as a truth that cannot be ignored, the manic darkness screaming as it blocks out the light.

She runs, sobs and tears releasing themselves as her final defense mechanism struggles to hold up.

She runs, the faint echoes of truths now murky with desperate and convincing untruths.

She runs, the struggle of control presenting itself outwardly, her legs and arms moving on their own.

She stops.

She stops, head dropping completely to rest on the dirt, Luz held down in a pond of her own sorrows.

She runs.

She runs to Luz's side, a half embrace at the end of her steps.

"Kid, what's wrong?" Eda's voice pleads. "Are you okay?" She grasps for Luz's arms, but only finds her worry increased when the touch brings zero outward reaction.

Of course, there is an inward one. There is always an inward one.

"Luz!" Eda yells, tears forming in her eyes. "Can I help you? Do you need help?" She asks. Getting no answer, Eda deploys the fastest method she can to help Luz calm down. "Hey, hey," She says, taking both hands off of her. "It's okay. There's nothing to be afraid of." She tries to offer reassuring words. "Everything is safe." She bites her teeth together in frustration. "I love you?" She says, hoping that will somehow do something. "For Titan's sake, Eda, why do you have to be so bad at this?"

No, no. Luz screams internally. Now Eda thinks she can't comfort her. Eda thinks she isn't good enough. That isn't what she wanted at all!

"Do you want a hug?" She asks, one of the only comforting things that come to Eda's mind.

"I- ah- okay," Luz says through brisk breathing. She can't seem to slow it down. She doesn't know if Eda hugging her will do anything, but she has to let her try. For both their sakes.

The older woman wraps her arms around Luz, crying into her shoulder.

"There, there," She says awkwardly, just wanting to relieve Luz of what has to be a truly dreadful feeling. "Just breathe. Just remember you're safe. I'm here, I'm here for you."

"A-ah-ah," Luz's verbalizations fail to register as more than panicky and shallow breaths, and she realizes that Eda's smothering hold and pinprick touch is doing the opposite of helping.

Yet, somehow, even in this instinctual and largely realized form, Luz still tells herself to just hold on, to let Eda do what she thinks will help. Luz doesn't have a solution to this problem, but she refuses to create another one by telling Eda she doesn't either. She wouldn't want her mother figure to feel powerless like that. So even if it hurts, Luz lets Eda hold her tight to her chest, the Owl Lady's words only dropping closer to a whimper with each one.

"Luz…" She whines, then says her name again. "Please come back to me…" She whispers. "Please, kid, you're safe, and you're with people that love you. I don't know why your body doesn't want you to think so, but I want it to stop!" She cries out, Luz unable to do anything but cry in response.

Now overwhelmed and out of her element, Eda puts Luz down, frantic stepping back. "Kid, you just hold on! I'm gonna go get your girlfriend, okay? I'm so so sorry this is happening to you, just hold on a little longer!" She says, running off.

Luz turns over to her chest, breathing in the fresh Boiling Isles grass with each manic intake of air. She curses herself for being so weak. Now Eda's scared, and she's worried for her. Worst of all, she must feel so inadequate for being unable to help. Luz prays for some safety, some angel that could come down from heaven and quench the flame of the beast that has such a ravenous grip on her heart.

Some angel turns her over. Onto her back. Eyes toward the sky. She doesn't hear what the girl says. Not at first, anyway. But with a firm yet careful hold of her face, the girl with colored hair speaks again.

"Luz," She says. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" Luz looks up from her to see a terrified Eda behind her. One with a pained expression. "Nod if you do," She instructs, all of her words so far said singularly. They don't flow together. They aren't as a package.

Luz nods, and Amity releases the touch. "Okay, can you tell me where we are?" She asks. "It's okay if that's too much for you."

"I- ah," She releases from her mouth, nothing easy to say right now. "We are-" She says. "At the carnival. No. Fest- festival. Books."

Amity nods in confirmation, a sad smile and misty eyes with it. "Okay. Good job. Can you name everyone you see?" She asks.

Luz nods frantically. "You. Amity. And you. Eda. Ah- and me." She manages to point at her own arm. "Luz."

Amity laughs, seeing a hint of serenity return to Luz and grasping for it. "You're doing so great, you know that?" She says. "Okay, can you name five things you can see? No people this time."

"I-I- yes," She says, confirming the ability but yet to perform it. "I see- tent. Sky. Grass," Her eyes dart to each one as she goes. "Uh- um-" She struggles to find more.

"It's okay, it's okay," Amity reassures her. "Take your time. You already got three, just two more," She says, and Eda behind her is intensely taking note of Amity's calm demeanor. Her soft vocalizations. Eda wasn't particularly either of those, and she's thankful Luz has someone like Amity who's so well-versed in these things. "Here," Amity says, holding up her watch.

"Watch." Luz names the item, and Amity moves to unzip the waist bag she's wearing. She searches for the stuffed otter that she had gifted Luz prior, but instead pulls out an off-white blanket, holding it up next to her.

"Ah- ah- ah-" Luz's breathing quickens pace at seeing the item, and her body automatically reaches for it, snatching it from Amity's hands. For a moment, she presses it to her face, before violently shoving it back in her bag.

"Okay, okay, I shouldn't have touched your stuff, I'm sorry," Amity apologizes. "Okay, um, oh Titan, oh Titan…" She rubs her forehead, the break in pace completely throwing her off guard. "Luz, can you- count for me? Can you do that?"

She tries immediately. "O-one, t-two, t-th-t," But with breath so shaky, it's hard to continue.

"It's alright if you can't say it, just count in your head, okay?" Amity says. "Do you want me to count with you?" She asks, and Luz nods. "Okay, take a deep breath after each one, and only let go when I say the number. One." A large pause. "Two." Another one. She continues to ten before repeating it multiple times.

"Seven." Amity says, a few circles into the cycle. In between seven and eight, she says, "Okay, after we get to ten, I want you to close your eyes. Eight." She counts. "And when you do, imagine the safest place you can think of. Pretend you're there. Nine." Luz begins another breath. "And take note of all the calm feelings that place gives you. Focus on them. Ready? Ten."

Luz pictures herself back at home, the Owl one, surrounded by everyone she loves. Her mom, her mother (Camila is mom or mami, Eda is mother), King, Willow, Gus, Amity, Vee, Hunter, and others all surrounding her, somehow all fitting on the same couch. They're each under the same blanket, and there's something being watched in front of them.

A chorus of voices all ring out, yet still individual, and they tell her everything she could ever want to hear.

'You're a good daughter.'

'You're a good girlfriend'.

'You're a good friend.'

'You're a good sister.'

'Your best is good enough.'

'You're stronger than you think.'

'You deserve happiness just as much as everyone does.'

'You are talented, even if you don't know it.'

'You're extremely lovable.'

'You're beautiful, inside and out.'

'You make people's days- no, lives, better.'

'Your insecurities are lies, and they don't reflect what people truly think of you.'

"Are you alright, Luz?" Amity's voice asks, a tone that suggests she's asked it a few times, though she remains calm. "You stopped taking deep breaths."

Luz opens her eyes, and realizes Amity is right. For a second, her heart drops, before she focuses on her breathing again, finding it in as calm a rhythm as that final love song she and Amity danced to.

She shoots up, rushing to put arms around Amity, and then Eda. Tears stream down her face, soaking the other two's clothes, but they couldn't care less.

"I'm okay. I'm okay!" She rejoices. "I'm safe and here and I can breathe again!" Luz exclaims, taking a big whiff of the air. "Thank you guys so so much, I thought I would be stuck like that forever."

"It's her you should thank, all I did was bumble around and make it worse," Eda says, half to herself and half to Luz.

"Don't beat yourself up," She says. "You tried your best."

"Yeah, I guess," She sighs. "At least little Boots over here showed me what to do for next time. I hope there's not a next time."

"Me too, Eda, me too," Luz says, relieved and Amity is only burrowing her face more into Luz's chest, thankful that she's okay. "Um, actually, I think I need to not be touched for now," Luz backs away, the freeing wind wearing off a little and reminding her that just because she isn't dying, doesn't mean she's back to normal.

"So, do you wanna talk about what caused it?" Amity asks as Luz sits down. "That usually helps me."

Luz turns to look at the both of them, their worried faces only adding to her sad one. She tries to speak, but instead of forming words, it's tears that release themselves.

"I'm so sorry," She whimpers.

"What are you sorry for, kid?" Eda asks, plopping down on one side of her as Amity does the other. Both leave about two and a half feet between them and Luz.

"I'm sorry that," She coughs out. "That I made you deal with me. Today was supposed to just be fun and I ruined it."

"Luz, you didn't ruin anything," Amity pleads with her. "You struggling is so much more important than some dumb day at the fair."

"Yeah, all we want is to help you feel better," Eda reassures. "There's no point if one person isn't having any fun."

"I just…" She pauses, shaking her head. "I shouldn't."

"Why shouldn't you?" Amity asks.

"Because, you have your own lives and your own problems," Luz says. "I have mine and shouldn't force them onto you."

Amity smiles sweetly. "Luz, I'm your girlfriend."

"And I'm, uh, your Owl Mom," Eda adds. "By being those things, we've chosen to value your feelings as much as our own," She says. "We wanna help you. We want you to share your problems so it isn't just you that carries the weight, alright? Just like you always do for us."

"Um," She peers into both of their eyes, finally sighing and speaking. "Okay. I guess I've just been unmotivated lately. Things have felt off. Everytime I do something I would've loved before, it feels like it barely matters to me anymore."

"Oh, Luz…" Amity's face crumples as she speaks. Eda on the opposite side is wearing the most motherly expression Amity has ever seen.

"And I try to just force myself to do things, but it's still tough," Luz continues. "I don't wanna feel like this, and I don't know why I do. I keep thinking if I just pretend things are normal, act like my usual self, then it'll be okay. But then I fail at that, like right now, and I just feel worse."

"I'm so sorry you're feeling that, kid," Eda says. "I shouldn't have invited you out here today. I wouldn't have if I knew."

"It's okay," Luz says. "Today was still fun. The most fun I've had in a while," She smiles at Amity, recalling back their silly antics from earlier. The girl blushes. "But I keep doubting myself, and pushing myself so hard… and then I get mad when doing that hurts."

Luz grabs the bag she had brought with, pulling out that fluffy white blanket from before. She holds it tight to her chest.

"This is something I've had since I was little," She says. "I don't know why, but touching it always helps me feel a little safer. I know that sounds dumb."

"That isn't dumb at all, kid," Eda says. "King has things like that too, you know. Like brother, like sister."

"Yeah, and Edric and Emira do too," Amity adds. "I even have a, um, little stuffed animal I like to hug when I'm sad. Comfort items. That's what they're called, right?"

Luz smiles, happy that both of them can relate to her. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right." She holds the item closer to her face. "I, um, don't usually bring it everywhere - I used to but I grew out of that - it's just today, I don't know. I felt really insecure, I guess."

"Do you want to talk about that?" Amity asks.

"Y-yes," She whispers. "I do. I think the biggest thing I've been feeling bad about- it's my body."

Eda scoots back a few inches, staring at her with knowing eyes. "Hey, Luz, I can leave if you two want to discuss this privately. I get if it's more a 'girlfriend thing'."

"No, no," She softly shakes her head. "It's okay. I think I should be open about this, if I can really hope to heal from it."

"So, what about your body makes you insecure?" Amity asks, before backpedaling. "S-Sorry! That was a terrible way to phrase that question, I didn't mean it so bluntly."

"It's okay," Luz softly replies, silencing her girlfriend. "I guess it's like, I look at you," She says. "And you're so athletic and strong and can do all these amazing physical feats," She sighs, Amity lightly flushing. "Like back there," She gestures. "And then there's me. Weak. Kinda pathetic. And I can't stick to an exercise routine to save my life. I feel like, in comparison to you, it's just- why would anybody wanna be with a girl like that? I get so sad thinking about it because I have none of that talent. I can't keep up with you."

"Oh… Luz," Amity breathes with the softest love in her voice. "You don't have to match me in everything - or anything - to deserve my love. I love you for you. Not how you look or move or the quickness in which you tire out. You're beautiful, a-and you're awe-inspiring, no matter what. It doesn't matter what your body looks like or what it can do. Especially not compared to mine."

"Yeah, it's not a competition," Eda adds. "Everyone has their own stuff. You have talents Amity doesn't, she has ones I don't, I have ones you don't. And no one is pathetic just because their body is a certain way. I mean look at me," She holds her arms out, gesturing. "Frail, pale, thin as a rail, terrible fashion sense, apparently," She laughs, recalling the moment from earlier. "I'm far from a girl that'd make the cover on 'Witches Monthly', I can't compete with those models!" She exclaims. "But I'm still cool," She emphasizes the 'ooh' sound, posing, "And I'm still bew-tee-ful."

Luz laughs at Eda's silly effort to cheer her up. "You're right," She nods to herself. "I shouldn't be so harsh on myself."

Amity sweetly smiles at her words. "If you ever need to be told or reassured, I'm here and I'll never stop thinking you're beautiful. Inside and out. No matter what you think of yourself, everything about you still amazes me. And I'm not the only one, I can tell you that."

"Yeah, kid, do you even know how awesome you are?" Eda adds. "It's a good thing I never had a daughter before you, or you would've come along and blown her out of the water!" She laughs at her own joke.

"Eda!" Luz scolds her.

"Yeah, yeah. But I am thankful you showed up in my life," She continues more seriously. "You made it better in every way."

"Aww," Luz coos. "Thanks, Eda." She pushes herself up to wrap her arms around Eda's neck. The older woman softly pats her on the back, just feeling happy her silly ramblings were appreciated. Then Luz switches to Amity. "And you two, sweet potato," She says, placing a kiss on her cheek before initiating the hug.

"Would you still like to go to the Azura one?" Amity asks when she's finished. "No pressure. It's totally okay if you don't want to, you've had a long day."

"Aww, thanks for caring about me, but I think I can handle it," She says. "I'll tell you if something goes wrong."

"Okay," Amity nods, the group standing up to head back to the main area.

"I'll come with you guys," Eda says. "I saw they had costumes there. Hope they've still got some in my size."

"Ooh, costumes?" Says Luz excitedly. She giggles at Eda's comment. "It would be so funny to see you in an Azura-themed costume, Eda."

"Funny? Nah," She says. "There's nothing funny about it. I'll be the most intimidating witch on the Isles!" She jokes, and both girls laugh.

The line isn't too long when they get to the Azura stand, since it's nearly the end of the day.

When the group enters, Luz finds herself struck by all the decorations. Dazzling lights and ornaments hang from above, their colorful sparkle adding to the atmosphere. The grass inside is vibrant green, a contrast to the sunbeat grass and patches of dirt on the outside. There's a few areas made easily distinct; costumes, other clothes, accessories, and general merch. Then there's another area labeled 'spells'. Luz's vivid imagination runs with that one.

First they go through the other merch shelves, finding things they recognize from the books. Eda grabs a few things she says she can, "Wear around the house."

Luz giggles. "Your idea of leisure wear is… a choice," She comments.

"What?" Eda asks perplexedly, holding up a black witch's dress with red accents and a few dozen shiny metal spikes poking out of it. "It's no worse than your pajamas," She says.

Luz performatively gasps. "Did you just insult my pajamas?"

"No, it was a compliment," Eda replies mischievously, going back to sifting the racks.

Once the gang has found everything they wanted, they make their way to the front desk to pay.

"Oh. My. Titan." Amity's mouth drops, pressing her face to a cabinet beside the register. "Azura and Hecate figures!" She squeals, jumping up and down while flapping her hands.

"Throw 'em in the cart," Eda sighs. There is no cart. In fact, shopping carts do not exist in the Boiling Isles, which means Eda must be getting pretty used to Human Realm phrases. She has been doing a lot of shopping there lately, much to the dismay of every supermarket employee in a thirty mile radius. "It's all on me today."

Amity giggles to herself as she grabs the figures. "Now I can make them kiss."

"Amity!"

"Don't 'Amity' me, I know you were having the exact same thought," She says.

"Ugh," Luz groans, questioning how it is possible for Amity to understand her so well. "Of course I was! You are my Hecate, after all," She gushes. "Or my Azura if you want, I shouldn't hog one of them."

Amity blushes wildly, averting her eyes. She was not expecting the table to be turned that quickly. Thankfully, Eda speaks up, taking the focus off of her.

"So, what is this spell thing?" She asks the person running the place.

"That's our newest add-on, just this year!" She says enthusiastically. "You can try on using different spells from the Azura series. I can ring up a go around for you with all this stuff, if you'd like."

"Uh, yeah," Eda says, curious about the idea. "Get these two a go on that."

After the clerk finishes ringing up all of their purchases, she explains to them how this activity works.

"First, you select a spell on the training wand," She says, pointing at the one in her hand. "You have to be standing here on this red area for it to work," She taps her feet on the concrete that has been painted red. "Cast a spell circle in front of the wand, put it through the circle, and then say the words from the book. Do you need cards with the words on them?" She asks.

"Nah, I'm good," Luz replies. "I've had these memorized since I was nine."

Amity giggles. "Me too." Then the woman steps off of the red area.

The two begin by trying out some of the simple spells. There's one Azura uses in an early chapter to fool a food critic by changing the taste of their meal. Luz could spend a whole day just playing with that one, especially since its casting language is specific to the taste you wish to conjure.

"By the scent of a Lily, you will now taste chili!" Luz exclaims, pointing the wand at Amity. She watches Amity stand there, arms at her side. "...Did it work?"

"I have absolutely no idea what I am tasting," Amity says. "But I think it did," She laughs.

Luz gears up for another one. "Have you ever tried this dish?" She asks in a wildly entertaining voice. "It's fried fish!" She finishes, casting the spell.

Amity giggles, "Yes I have, and I recognize it," She says, recalling the time she stayed over at the Nocedas and Luz's mother cooked them fish.

"Okay, your turn," Luz says patiently, an expectant look on her face. It takes Amity a few extra seconds to come up with the rhyme, and she's less flashy about it than Luz.

"Um, what animals have fur and silk?" She says, elevating the words barely above what a normal question would be. "I'm not actually sure they have fur, but - spider milk!" She casts the spell.

"Hmm." Luz examines the taste. "You know, for being made by spiders, I wouldn't have expected it to be so sweet."

The girls try a few more silly ideas, eventually making a game where they suggest the most disgusting sounding things they can think of until one of them refuses to be casted on, although the bad tastes are rather nullified and not particularly offensive, so they go for quite a few rounds. Eventually, they get bored and try to test out some of the other spells, carefully making their way through the spellbook as not to miss any of them.

Amity can't stop giggling as she casts a spell from one of her favorite scenes. In this section of the book, Hecate puts a spell on a foe of hers that replaces their outfit with as many ugly things as it can find in the surrounding area.

"I shall create a low fuss, when I make your attire atrocious!" She says, pointing the wand at Luz. All of a sudden, Luz's clothing changes into some of the most nonsensical items at its disposal. She's wearing a poster on her head in the shape of a beret, and her pants have so many tears in them, they may as well be Swiss cheese. On her upper body is a white t-shirt with red lettering and an arrow to Luz's face. The shirt reads 'Dum Dum', and Amity can't stop laughing.

"What? What?" Luz asks, the contagious laughter spreading to her and also being picked up by Eda watching from the sidelines. She looks down at her shirt. "Oh, come on!" She exclaims, the roaring laughter in the room getting higher.

After everybody has calmed down, it's Luz's turn to cast something on Amity. She chooses one of Azura's most memorable spells, which she used in the climax of book three.

"Let this boat be shared, as we float in the air," Luz says softly but full of whimsy, casting the spell. She's unsure how this one could possibly be pulled off, but the idea of her and Amity getting to float along beside each other is too romantic to pass on.

Eda's eyes widen when the children she's looking after suddenly disappear, but she's reminded by the event runner beside her that this is simply part of the experience.

For Luz and Amity, it's a seamless transition. They find themselves feeling weightless, peering around and taking in beautiful scenery of stars and planets. It really feels like they were taken to space, the only thing confirming that's not the case is the warmth of the air and the ability to breathe. Well, and the beautiful purple flowers and pretty lavender lights in the sky.

"Come here, Luz," Amity says sweetly, motioning her closer. Luz weightlessly floats through the atmosphere to get to Amity's arms, and she tightly hugs her. "This is nice."

"Mm-hm. And your face makes it nicer."

"Aw, shut up, you little raindrop," Amity giggly jests with her.

"Raindrop?"

"I know, not my best, is it?"

"No, no," She says. "I kinda like that. Wait a minute, did you mean Boiling Isles raindrops or Human Realm ones?" She says in mock suspicion.

"I-I-I-" Amity stutters, extremely embarrassed. She begins to ramble, "T-The Human Realm, ones, I swear. I was thinking of it as this cute little thing, like how when it rains in the Human Realm, it really calms me down, and I just thought-"

"Hey, hey," Luz says. "I wasn't accusing you or anything, I was just joking," She softly explains. "Sorry."

"Sorry." Amity says back, getting slightly flustered that she replied to a 'sorry' with another one. "I-I mean, it's okay. Um, it is okay to touch you right now, right?" She asks. "You said something earlier about not wanting to be touched. S-Sorry, I should've asked beforehand."

"It's fine," Luz brushes it off. "I'll always tell you if I don't wanna be touched. I wouldn't have crawled into your arms if I didn't," She smiles lovingly.

"Y-Yeah," Amity grins back. "Alright."

The two of them float there for a few minutes holding onto each other as they bob up and down and drift across the empty sky. They can feel themselves turn over, upside down and at other unusual angles, but with no bearings to orient from, it doesn't trip the nausea such a thing often does.

"Hey, sugar plum?" Amity says, unable to stop the smile from rising whenever she calls Luz by a pet name.

Luz giggles at the name; there are few things she appreciates more than her and Amity's back and forth of miscellaneous pet names. It seems like they have a new one every day. "Yes, strawberry jam?"

Amity giggles back but she stays on topic. "So, um, about earlier…" She says, Luz's brow picking up. "I've been reading up on a lot of stuff lately, about, um, ADHD…" Her face gets hot as she continues, wondering if Luz will think she's too intrusive or something. It is Luz's brain, after all, and she's the only one that understands it. Still, it's worth trying to help. "Do you think that the, um, bad thing that happened today was a result of burnout? I've read a lot about specifically ADHD burnout, and you mentioned that you would try really hard to push yourself, but it would end up making things worse. It kinda reminded me of that."

"You've been researching about ADHD all for me?" Luz asks with excited eyes, feeling utterly and entirely appreciated. "You're such a good girlfriend."

"The question, Luz," Amity reminds her to stay on topic, regardless of how sugary those words are.

"Oh! Yeah," She giggles at herself. "I think you might be onto something. Ever since the Day of Unity, and then what happened after, things were slightly weird," Luz says. "I thought just going back to normal would make it go away. And it worked for a bit, but then I got really unmotivated, and pushed myself harder and harder to act normal. Hmm, it's a cycle, I guess," She pauses for a brief moment, figuring out what to say back and how those words could change her future. "Thanks, Amity. You're totally right. My ADHD brain is probably just super burned out, and I haven't been very nice to it lately. Thanks for helping. I think I could probably use a good few days… or weeks," She adds, "Of rest without many commitments."

Amity smiles, caressing Luz's warm cheek. "In that case, would you like to have a sleepover? We could just sit around, or talk, or play fun games…" She stops herself. "Of course I get if you wanna be alone! I just wanted you to know I'm here for you."

"Aww," Luz coos, her arm around Amity's back, head under hers. "I think that sounds awesome. We could have a big staycation! And maybe we could invite Willow and the others over. Just a calm, relaxing hang out for a while where I don't force my brain into hard work. I think that would really help me."

"Awesome. Should we start it tonight?" Amity asks.

"I'm open whenever you are, Queen Blight!"

"I'm not a queen."

"You're my queen."

"So what does that make you?" Amity laughs. "My king?"

"No, I can still be your queen," Luz says. "Two queens!" She happily exclaims. "Then again, I don't really wanna rule a kingdom, too much work," She yawns, and Amity giggles. "Maybe we can just be the silly old couple who live in the woods and have been married for fifty-seven years."

"Luz, we're both teenagers," Amity replies plainly.

"Yeah, but old couples have such a cozy vibe!" She says. "How about I roll up to some old married couple, and when they're not looking, steal it from them!"

"You're so silly," Amity says softly, booping Luz's nose.

"And you love it," Luz replies back, Amity's own nose receiving a soft kiss from Luz.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," She says. "But yeah… I like being the cute and cozy couple."

"It fits us." Luz replies, and Amity warmly smirks, kissing her lips.

All of a sudden, the surroundings change, and Luz and Amity drop to the floor, arms still wrapped around each other.

With a perplexed expression that morphs into teasing confidence, Eda leans on one of the barrier rails and says, "Ah, so the lovebirds return."

The two immediately disengage, embarrassed to present such public displays of affection.

"H-Hey, Eda," Luz laughs nervously. "Um, can Amity stay over tonight?" She asks, putting an arm around her girlfriend's waist.

Eda softly cackles to herself. "You two are the sweetest thing. Of course she can stay over. Now come on, we have to go, they're closing down the stand."

"Aww, but we didn't get to test out all the spells," Luz whines.

"Come back next year!" The event organizer yells on their way out.

"Hey, that was a pretty awesome way to end it though, you have to admit," Amity comments, prodding Luz's elbow.

"Yeah, you're right. I still wonder how they pulled that one off," She says.

Amity grins. "I guess we'll never know," She replies.

"Or we'll have to come back next year and find out," Luz says devilishly, giving Amity the response she was looking for. "And trust me, next time will feature way more kissing!"

"Luz!"

"Come on, cookie jar, we both know a kiss in space; favorite kiss of the human race!" She says in a silly tone.

"Oh my Titan. I think the rhymes in there were contagious," Amity giggles to herself, pretending to be annoyed.

"Or I'm just rhyming for fun," Luz shrugs, adding in a near murmur, "Trying to woo my honey-bun."

Amity's entire body explodes with giggles at that one, and Luz is sure the red and pink coloring on her cheeks stretches for miles in both directions.

"You are the dorkiest person in the entire world, Luz," Amity replies once her words return to her. She adds softly, "I can't believe someone as lovable as you exists."

"Aww, you're so sweet!" Luz happily exclaims, giving her a big hug as the girl is practically bouncing on her feet. Amity notices the excitement and its signature movements right away. "You're just as lovable," She smiles. "You could say…" Amity braces for the silly punchline. "Being around you is a treat."

"You're insufferable," Amity jests, kissing Luz on the cheek.

"And who was it that fell in love with me?" She replies mischievously, Amity rolling her eyes.

"I fell in love with you," Amity admits in exasperation. "And when I'm around you, I never feel blue."

Luz gasps, shocked that Amity has joined in her antics. "Amity Blight!" She bellows in a posh, scolding voice, and the other girl giggles. "For the crime of rhyme," Luz stops herself to laugh, adding, "That one wasn't even on purpose," She continues where she left off. "I hereby sentence you a fine of one kiss on the fair lady Luz's lips!" She exclaims.

"Oh, well," Amity wiggles her eyebrows. "If that's my punishment, maybe a life of crime is in the cards for me," She confidently flirts back, moving in to Luz.

"Kids, I can hear everything you're saying," Eda butts in, interrupting their moment. Although she is in front of them and they cannot see it, the most loving smile is drawn across her face.

"U-uh-" Both of them stutter, flushing red at the attention being brought to their romantic display.

"Yeah, let's wait 'til we're alone to be all mushy," Amity laughs to herself, holding Luz's hand all the way back home.

There is nowhere Luz would rather be in that moment of pure endearment, each tiny piece of her overcome by that warm red doting heart that beats so fondly for Amity.

It is nice to be taken care of.